Zy frowned. “Tessa takes her laptop home with her more often than not. She always said it was in case the bosses needed something during evening and weekends.”
She was the receptionist. What were the odds of that? “Or maybe she does that in case a certain cartel needs answers day or night.”
“How do we prove whether that message came from Tessa?”
“Without her computer, we don’t.”
Zy’s frown became a scowl. “What about Walker’s rescue mission in September? That went off without a hitch.”
“The one I missed because of truck-stop sushi, where Laila had been freed. Right…” Trees searched the files for emails corresponding to those times. “No. Nothing.”
“Were the bosses keeping the details of that rescue mission better under wraps? Or…wait. Wasn’t that when she went to Tennessee because her father died?”
That sounded familiar. Trees clicked onto a calendar, then nodded. “You’re right. She wasn’t around to learn about the plan and pass it on.”
He hated to say it, but he could see her step-by-step betrayal—just as easily as he could tell it crushed Zy.
“But she was back in plenty of time to rat out the location of Valeria’s safe house in St. Louis.”
Just to be sure, Trees cross-checked that timeframe, then nodded. “I just accessed the server’s October backup. Sure enough, here’s another communication from the Gmail account to the secure mail host, forwarding the email Walker sent me—via Tessa—with the location’s floor plan. And like before, she sent the email in the middle of the night.”
“She told the drug lord exactly where to find his estranged wife?” Somehow, Zy still seemed surprised by her duplicity.
He obviously didn’t want to believe the woman he loved could be so guilty.
Trees hated it, but he had to keep bursting Zy’s bubble. “Yep. All the way down to the location of her bedroom.”
Zy’s expression hardened over. “Anything else? Did she divulge the location of Valeria’s safe house in Orlando, too? And who would she be talking to now that Emilo is dead?”
Valid question, one he’d like the answer to so he could explain to Laila. Maybe then she’d do more than try to trust him. “I can’t tell.” Trees clicked around, but no luck. “I don’t see specific communications this month, but she might have realized someone was on to her and switched up her mode of talk. I won’t know until I get my hands on her computer. You gotta get it for me, man. Now.”
Zy nodded, looking like a man heading into a dangerous, bloody battle.
“I know this is going to fuck you up for a while. I hate that like hell for you, but without her computer, I can’t prove what Tessa is up to or how she’s doing it. And if I can’t do that, more people may die.” Trees looked down the hall, at the light from Laila’s room shining this way. “People who deserve to finally live.”
Zy nodded and stood, looking grimly resolute. “I’m on it.”
Trees sipped on another cup of joe and waited for Zy to return with Tessa.
Over the past couple of hours, his buddy had sneaked into the receptionist’s house and prowled through her laptop to verify that the Gmail account they’d been looking for did, in fact, belong to her. Then Zy had cuffed the little turncoat to her car to bring her out to his place. In the meantime, Trees had asked Madison to hang out at Tessa’s duplex in case her daughter, Hallie, woke in her crib. Thankfully, she’d agreed. Now he was just waiting for Zy and Tessa to roll up.
This was going to be ugly.
Since Laila had finally fallen asleep thirty minutes ago, cuffed once again to her bed, Trees paced the porch. Zy had ninety minutes before he had to call the bosses and present their timeline of Tessa’s betrayal. Trees had already pieced some of it together, but to fill in all the blanks, Zy would need to question her. What his buddy really wanted was a pound of her flesh. Not that he blamed Zy. He’d like some revenge, too. Her greed or need for cash or whatever her excuse for going rogue had not only broken Zy’s heart but nearly cost Laila and her family their lives more than once.
Finally, the pair pulled up, the little sedan’s headlights bobbing down the gravel road leading to his ranch house. Trees jogged down to meet them and opened the passenger door, uncuffing Tessa’s wrist before he tugged her out of the car. “Let’s go.”
With one hand, she clutched a blanket around her seemingly naked body and sent him an imploring stare. “Trees… Talk to him. Please. It’s not what you think—”
“Shut up,” Zy snapped, his command full of fury and heartache. “God, how fucking low are you willing to stoop? It’s done. You’re caught. We’re over.”
The pretty blonde shook her head. “But it’s not—”