“Before we brainstorm how you can help, I need to ask if you’re interested in an assistant?”
“An assistant? Where did that idea come from?” Mason asked.
She explained about Julia Smith’s brother, Brad. “He was a private investigator in Idaho. I think he wants to get his foot in the door here.”
“I’m not sure there is enough business for the two of us, but give me his information. Since neither Idaho nor Montana require us to have a license, we get a lot of hacks here.”
“I had no idea.”
“You said he and his sister are new in town. Is he human?”
“I’ve not met him, but Julia is human.”
“After what you told me, I wouldn’t feel comfortable being around any human for a while.”
She held up a finger. “What better way than to give false information to one? He might say something to one of these vigilantes. We need to find out where the leak is coming from.”
“A leak?”
“Someone must not only be telling these humans we Grangers are werewolves, but also where to find us.”
Mason dragged a hand down his jaw. “I’ll tell you what. Have him call me, and I’ll meet with him, but no promises. If I think he’s a good guy, I probably could use someone to do more of the mundane jobs.”
“See if he can file!” Tawny smiled.
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“I love when I can help someone.”
“Me too. Back to what you think I can do to find this underground group.”
“Maybe do some research on these other vigilante groups. One was in Florida, another in Colorado, a third in Utah. I don’t know any dates, however.”
“I’ll see what I can find out, but I won’t be sharing that research with Brad.”
“I’m glad you’re being cautious.”
“Speaking of cautious, you should probably not use your cell phone to communicate, unless you’ve installed some anti-spyware software on it.”
“Seriously? I’ve never had a need to do that.” Besides, she had no idea which app to use.
He opened a draw and handed her a flip phone. “Unless you do, use this one. It’s primitive, but it’s clean and untraceable.”
“Thank you. Speaking of needing things cleaned, Alex and Liam live outside of town. Maybe you could do a sweep of their house as well as check their phones for bugs. From then on, we can meet there to discuss any new developments.”
“I can do that. Where do they live?”
Crap. “You know, I’m not really sure. I can text you the address, but when I do, I’ll say the property is for sale and that you should check it out. That might throw someone off the trail.”
He chuckled. “You would make a good private investigator, but you don’t need to worry about being traced if you use the new phone.”
“Whatever.” Tawny pushed back her chair. “I need to pack my stuff and then head on over to their house—as soon as I know where they live.”
“If you know their number, you can use my landline. I can assure you, it’s not been bugged—or better yet, use your new phone.”
“I hate this.” She checked the number on her cell and called Alex on her new one.
“Hello?”