Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
As I scanned the map, a pattern popped out. The funny thing about random patterns is that they’re never actually random. By attempting to make something appear random, you still end up with a pattern.
All of the stores were in different towns, but they weren’t evenly spaced as most “random” patterns tended to be. There were clusters and sections where it looked like there should be a shop but wasn’t. Some of that had to do with whether they sold the right plant.
The similarity that stuck out to me was the distance of all of them to one location. And when I took into account the dates the flowers were sent from each shop, it was clear that the stalker had started closer to this location and worked their way out to the shops an hour away but never went any farther.
The similarity point was a five-to-seven-mile grid about two towns over in the next county. I set up some bots to analyze specific data points about the area, then marked it out on a paper map.
Shortly after lunch, Ash sent me a text to head to Blaze’s office.
“Need to get to a meeting, baby.” I gathered up some of the information I’d collected, as well as one of my laptops. “You wanna stay here or go up to the room?”
Thea yawned and stretched her arms out. “I think I might go take a nap.” She gave me an impish smile. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She shifted on the couch and winced. “And I’m a little sore.”
I grinned, completely unrepentant. “I’ll kiss it all better later,” I promised as I fished a keychain out of my pocket. “This opens the door to our room. Make sure you get everything you need out of here. I’ll get your biometrics in the system tomorrow so you won’t have to wait for me to let you in.”
Thea had been packing up her bag, but she stopped to stare up at me. “You’re going to put my finger and retina in your system so I can open the door without you here?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed, puzzled at her reaction.
“How many other people can access this room without you?”
“King and Blaze.”
“And now me.”
“What’s tripping you up about that, baby?”
“Well…it’s just…in reality, we barely know each other.”
My heated gaze scanned her from head to toe. “Beg to differ, baby.”
Thea blushed hard and giggled. “The biblical sense doesn’t count when it comes to trusting someone with access to everything you own. Particularly a fortune in equipment that I’m sure includes stuff I could be hauled away by the FBI, or whoever, just for knowing about.”
“I can’t give you access to the skiff room,” I told her with a shrug.
“The what?”
“Skiff or S-C-I-F—a secure room or data center that protects sensitive security information from surveillance and leaks. Prez had it installed when he took over, and we started hiring out our…unique skills. It also doubles as a safe for other things we need to protect.”
“Unique skills?” Her baffled expression reminded me that we hadn’t discussed the workings of the club, particularly our main income source.
“Conversation for another day, baby. I need to get to my meeting.”
“But you still haven’t told me why you’re giving me access to this room without you.”
“Because you’re mine.”
Ash, Echo, and Ace were waiting with Blaze when I arrived, and I lifted my chin at them in greeting.
“King is on his way. From what he said and the sound of Stella laughing hysterically in the background, I gathered there was a diaper situation with Cadell.” Blaze winced. “As in, I think it ended up all over him.”
Echo guffawed loudly, and Blaze turned his gaze to the road captain and muttered, “Laugh it up, Echo. That’s gonna be you soon enough.”
That shut him up real fast since they’d just found out that Violet was pregnant a few days ago.
We talked about some other club business for a few minutes until King, Kevlar, and Cross strolled in.
Blaze’s office was set up much like King’s, but the conference table was a little smaller. We scattered around, sitting at the table, the couch, or other chairs in the room.
King looked at me, but I shook my head. “Might be onto something, but I want to know what Ash found first.”
Ash sat across from me at the table, and he slid back the manila envelope he’d taken the day before. “Nothing,” he stated grimly.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered. No prints left us with very little to go on.
King stood from the couch and moved over to sit next to me, then held out his hand for the envelope, which I passed along. He opened it and removed one of the letters, scanning it closely.
“I’ll take a look at the ink,” he offered. “There’s a very slim chance that it could lead us to the printer that uses it. If I can figure out how old it is, and you can give us some kind of geographical lead, maybe we can match the printer to the buyer.”