Page 26 of Cipher

“They still call.” She leaned back in her chair, gaze shifting toward the ceiling while she searched her memory. “The recording archive crashed last winter, and Eric called Mr. Hendrick himself. He had him open the bridge from the office, and the rest of us got the banner about thirty seconds later.”

None of the suspicious sessions carried those surrounding actions. Which meant someone had used Stowe’s valid support credentials without following the human procedure that normally accompanied them. The account could have been stolen, but Stowe could just as easily have bypassed the rules himself.

“Who uses the terminal in the deputy workroom after evening shift change?”

“Almost anyone on patrol.” Bex tapped the stylus lightly against her thigh as she considered the question. “They use it for reports, overtime forms, schedule requests, and checking court dates. Tuesday night would’ve been worse than usual because the evening shift stayed late to give statements after Nina’s call, and the overnight deputies came in early when Dad locked everything down.”

“Busier room means fewer people noticing who sat at the terminal.”

“Exactly.”

The search of Bex’s personnel file had lasted less than four minutes, short enough for someone to gather the information and leave before anyone questioned why they had used that workstation. The contractor access began ninety-four seconds later, but the different credentials left the same unresolved possibilities. One person had breached both systems, or someone inside the department was working with another person capable of controlling Stowe’s remote account.

“Who would’ve known the fake rollover would pull 2-Adam-9?”

“A dispatcher, patrol supervisor, or deputy listening to the radio could figure it out,” Bex answered without hesitation. “But they’d need to know the eastside coverage pattern, the road closure near Willow Gap, and that 2-Adam-14 was tied up on Ridge Road. The CAD map shows where the units are, but it doesn’t explain how Dad prefers to cover the rural zones when staffing is thin.”

“That helps.”

A pleased smile spread across her face before she returned to the worktable.

I asked her a few more questions and listened intently to her answers.

She had no idea how much her insight shaped my investigation. “Thanks.”

Her mouth curved into a grin. “You sound impressed.”

“I was impressed on Wednesday.”

“You hid it well.”

“I was trying to stay away from you.”

Bex glanced at me with satisfaction dancing in her eyes. “How’d that work out?”

My gaze drifted over her body before coming to a stop on her lips. “Pretty damn well.”

Her laugh moved through the room while she returned to her studying, and I caught myself watching her instead of working. Bex had given me something the logs never could. I could find the invisible hand inside the system, but she understood why the person attached to it had chosen that particular lie.

Around noon, I left Bex with her head bent intently over her tablet and went to the kitchen to make us some lunch. While I put together some sandwiches, I called Raines and arranged for him to come to the house the following morning with information I needed. I also filled him in about the dark SUV and probable scouting attempt.

“Nine tomorrow morning,” Raines confirmed before hanging up.

Bex and I worked through the afternoon and evening. I only stepped into the secure office a few times to accomplish a task for the club or Black Castle, or to check on the SUV search. It produced dozens of preliminary matches but nothing strong enough to identify the vehicle.

I’d also taken a break earlier to add charging cables to the nightstand on her side of our bed, then placed a second beside the chair she had chosen in the study. Then I’d warmed the color temperature of the kitchen lights before lowering the intensity until softer light settled over the black counters and dark cabinets. Seeing the room through her eyes had made the problem so obvious that it irritated me for not noticing it sooner.

Darkness was falling when I found Bex in the kitchen. “You fixed it.”

“Told you, baby. Change whatever you want.”

Pleasure spread across her face with enough force to make the minor adjustment feel far more important than it should have.

I held out my hand. “Come with me.”

Bex slid her palm against mine with curiosity bright in her eyes, and I took her hand, leading her to the rear hallway. Then I opened the household-access controls, pulled up a setting, and pressed her thumb to the scanner. The system captured the print, and I repeated the process with her index finger, adding her profile to the exterior doors, kitchen entrance, bedroom wing, household security controls, and study.

“You’re adding me to the house,” she murmured, watching her name appear beneath mine.