Merry and Bright(24)

“Oh! Sure.”

When she was gone, Maggie pulled the vial of her formula from her briefcase and turned to Jacob. “I think it’s all connected to this.” She slipped the vial into her pocket. “The slashed tire. My home intruder. The odd visits from Scott . . .”

The odd visits from Scott. He was behind this? Why? It made no sense at all. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.” Leaving him, she rushed down the hall and barged into Scott’s office.

The room was large and plush, the desk and other furniture all inventions he’d sponsored. The desk was an alloy material that couldn’t be scratched. The couch was one of the brand new magnetic designs, a flat pad sitting on the floor now but when a switch on Scott’s desk was hit, the cushion bent in half, providing back support, and floated off the ground, held there by the opposing magnets buried in the cushion. It wasn’t activated because of the fatal flaw of the design—when switched on, everything in the room that was metal—the phone receiver, paper clips, letter openers—went flying rather violently through the air to stick to the couch. The inventor still had the scars to prove it.

Scott sat at the desk now, with three big screen computer monitors going, one that looked like a patient monitor, revealing blood pressure, heart rate, pulse, etcetera. The second screen was a global positioning system, but before she could catch sight of the third, Scott looked up at her, jumped guiltily, and hit a button on his keyboard that shut everything down.

“What was all that?” she asked.

“Nothing. Just . . . work.”

“Are you stalking me, Scott?”

“What?” He looked genuinely shocked. “Why would I stalk you?”

“I wish I knew. Someone’s been in my office twice now, clearly looking for something. And then there’s my tire. And someone in my condo. And you and Tim acting . . . weird.”

“No. Not weird, I swear. And maybe Tim needed something—”

“My files were trashed, Scott. Maybe I should just call the police and let them sort it out.”

“Okay, let’s not get crazy here,” he said, losing a little of the tan he’d bought himself. “I’m sure we can figure this out in-house. I can figure this out in-house, I’m sure of it.”

She looked at his computer, wishing she could see what he’d been working on, what had made him jump so guiltily. “So you want me to . . .”

“Do nothing. I’ll handle it. I’ll check into it immediately and get back to you.”

“I still think that the police—”

“Totally not necessary.”

“Scott.”

“Give me until noon, okay? Just a few hours, Maggie. If I don’t have answers by then, you can go to the police. We’ll go to the police.”

“Fine. Noon.” She walked out of his office, knowing that somehow she needed to get a look at his computer—alone.





Jacob found Maggie walking the hallway, lost in thought. “What are you doing?”

“The average person walks the equivalent of five times around the equator in their lifetime. I’m just doing my part.”

“Maggie.” She was clearly tense again, as she’d been before last night. He’d had great success at unwinding her then, getting her to relax, turning her into a pile of boneless jelly.

She’d done the same for him.

And that had been great, but it’d gone deeper for him. It’d always been deeper for him. Walking away was going to hurt, big time, and yet that’s what the plan had been.

She looked at him with those gorgeous, heart-and-soul eyes, and voiced his thoughts. “I know I said I wanted a one-time thing.”

“Technically, it’s been a three-time thing, at least for me. For you, it’s been more like a six-or seven-time thing—”

“My point,” she said, blushing, “is that I lied, and not just because I need your help now. I do need your help, but I just want you to know I lied because you scare me.”

That was just convoluted enough to make sense, and he linked his fingers with hers. “Well, we’re even there. You scare me too. How can I help, Maggie?”

She stared up at him, her heart in her eyes. “I need Scott preoccupied for a few minutes so I can snoop on his computer. Any ideas?”

“Yes.” He pulled out his cell and called the crane operator, who happened to be in the lot still loading his equipment. “Dan? I have a favor . . .”





Two minutes later, Scott got word his Mercedes was blocked in by a crane, and he went running out of the building.

Maggie helped herself into his office, locked the door behind her, and went immediately to his desk. One touch to the mouse had all the computer windows flickering to life. It took her a moment to grasp what she was seeing, and when she did, her heart stopped, then kicked back into gear when someone knocked.

“Maggie?”

At Jacob’s voice, she ran to the door to let him in, then locked it again behind him.

“No one saw me,” he said, looking around at the neat office, at the pad sitting on the floor. “What is that?”

“Magnetic couch. When you flip that switch on the desk, it floats in the air, but duck because anything metal in the room goes flying through the air. Look at this.” She pointed to the screen. “Scott’s been busy.” One window had Maggie’s picture and bio up, along with the stats and ingredients on her body cream, with the surprise and critical element Scott had alluded to, and it wasn’t a thickening agent. The second window revealed a heart rate and pulse monitor. The third was the GPS system, with a grid map of the city, the highlighted portion blinking in on downtown, specifically Sixth Street. More specifically, this building.