“The man has already proven he’s capable of violence, and there are several instances in the emails where Brenda said that she feared for her life. What if he did kill her and that’s what the hacker is after? Proof of a murder.” He sighed heavily and dropped his forehead in his hands, then looked up at Quinn, eyes bleak. “This is just supposition. I have no proof, so I can’t take this to the cops. Ethan and I worked hard to build this business, and being wrong could destroy everything.”
“I know. What do you think we should do then? I know what Rowe would do if this happened at our office.”
Shane’s lips twisted. “Yeah, so do I and we’re not going there. Look, Quinn, if this is what we’re facing, I want to get this guy. Just like you. But we have to do this legally. The need to find this hacker has gone past critical. We’re going to have to step up our game and when we do find the hacker, we’re not going to instantly turn the person over to Spring either.”
Quinn just stood there, feeling awkward, embarrassment from the night before still a hot flush in his body. He turned to his workstation and set his messenger bag on the desk. “I’ll go ahead and check all my traps, see if anything else happened overnight.”
“I still have emails to go through, and I want to go through your Taft pictures again. Plus, I was thinking about the hacker’s reference to Villefort and Danglars in the second email. If the mayor did kill his wife, he would have most likely needed help to get away with it.”
“Oh shit.…” Quinn softly whispered as random thoughts started falling into place so that the bigger picture was finally coming into focus.
“What?”
“The hacker hasn’t just been after the mayor. We’ve already seen her taking apart his network.”
“We figured that from the Villefort and Danglars message,” Shane said, his face twisted with confusion.
Quinn shook his head. He wasn’t saying this right. “The rash of scandals that have hit the city recently. If the mayor wanted to hide a murder, he probably would have needed the medical examiner in on it because he would have been able to cover up anything that pointed to murder in his report.”
Shane thrust both hands through his hair and tightened his fingers in the curls. “The same one who’s now being investigated for money laundering.”
“And the mayor lives in Indian Hill.”
“Where the chief of police is now embroiled in a sex scandal and is poised to lose his job as well as his family.”
“We know the mayor is one of the four. Who’s left?”
Shane dropped his hands back to his desk and shook his head. “I don’t know. The election is just over two weeks away. We’re running out of time.”
Quinn paused and licked his dry lips. He hated how…hesitant they were being with each other. He missed the flirting. That feeling of closeness. He should never have lost his temper and his shoulders slumped as he sat down.
“Quinn?”
“Yeah?” He looked over his shoulder to find Shane not looking at him for a change.
“I missed all your texts this morning.”
He had no idea what to say to that, so he gave what he hoped was a realistic laugh and faced his desk again. “I’ll make sure to bug you with extra ones next time to make up for it.”
“I hope you do.”
There was something in Shane’s voice that sent pinpricks over his arms and the back of his neck. If he’d had to describe it, the closest word would be sad. No, not sad. Melancholy.
Hell, he much preferred smiling, flirting Shane. Too bad he didn’t have the social skills to lure him back. With his palms sweating, Quinn logged in and began to methodically check his data crawlers.
Shane sighed and papers rustled as he got to work.
A couple of hours passed with Shane only leaving the room to grab them more coffee. Quinn still hadn’t remembered to bring his creamer, but he drank a cup to be polite. As the sweet flavor hit his tongue, he moaned and pulled the cup away in surprise.
“Where did you get this?” he asked, his eyes bouncing up to take in Shane’s slightly anxious expression.
“A new creamer I picked up this morning.” A little half smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “I noticed when we stopped at Starbucks the other day before going to Krohn how you take your coffee. Thought you’d like this better than our regular creamer. That work?”
“Yeah, it’s perfect. Thanks.”
Shane’s smile grew and he nodded. The tension that had been holding his shoulders stiff released and he relaxed a little more. “No problem.”
Quinn turned back to his computer, one hand still wrapped around the coffee cup while a gentle warmth settled in the middle of his chest. Shane noticed how he took his coffee.