Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“That would be nice. I can make lunch.”
“I’ll bring dessert.”
“For lunch?”
“Why not? We’re adults. There are no rules.”
“In that case, can I put in an order for cheesecake?”
“We can get our Golden Girls on,” he agreed, giving me a smirk. “Noon?”
“Noon?”
“I’ll be here.”
Then he was gone.
And I couldn’t nap.
Because I was too excited to see Nave again.
That, I was sure, was not a good sign.
Because the last thing I could let happen was to catch feelings for the person who was helping me navigate this new life.
I needed to get a grip.
He was just a nice guy.
Doing a nice thing.
That was it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Nave
“It’s… complicated,” Junior said, dropping down in his office chair.
“What’s complicated?” I asked, trying to nudge his dog a bit so I could sit down beside her.
“Well, if this guy is as good as you say he is, there’s not likely any way for me to monitor him without him knowing about it.”
“I thought you were some computer genius.” He’d been tinkering the whole time we’d been growing up, but it seemed like he took things to a whole new level while I’d been away.
“Sure,” he agreed, leaning back. “But there’s always someone better. Sounds like this Ben guy is better. How the fuck did you even come across him?”
“I was working with what I can only call the redneck mafia. They were trying to pull off a string of armored truck robberies. Had a couple of inside guys, even. But there was just one problem.”
“Security cameras.”
“Yep. So they found this guy. Fuck if I know how. I was just tasked with going to make sure the jobs were done.”
“You were with him more than once?”
“Four times over a few weeks. Months, I guess. The heists were spread out so it was harder for law enforcement to stop them.”
“And you went there after?”
“During. My boss wanted us to watch the footage disappear before the cops could even see it.”
“They didn’t trust the guy?”
“They didn’t trust anyone. That’s why two of us had to go to that glass house in the middle of nowhere. Plus, paying what they were paying, they wanted to make sure the job was done.”
“What was his office like?”
“Lot of screens. Several computers. An entire wall full of external drives.”
And another full wall of pictures of Lolly, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. They’d shown the progression of his obsession with her. From a dewy-faced temp at his tech office to a woman clearly starting to catch feelings. But from there, it went darker. She seemed less confident, more confused. Then, there were the images of when he got her alone in his glass prison. All the fucking light left her eyes.
“You don’t have a last name for him?”
“I can ask Lolly. But his name was Ben, and he ran some sort of tech business. Maybe he still does. I don’t know. I just know he became, mostly, a recluse once he built the glass house.”
“I’m sure he still does. Good way to appear legit to the IRS and shit like that. Though if he’s as good as you say he is, he probably doesn’t need help laundering his money.”
“Is it really possible for him to follow her via CCTV and shit like she thinks?”
“I think if anyone knows what he’s capable of, it’s her. She lived with him for years. Saw what he could do. And, yeah, I guess. If I were obsessed enough, I could probably do it. All you need is one sighting. Then you just… hop. And when you run out of CCTV, getting into people’s doorbell cameras and indoor cameras is alarmingly easy if you know what you’re doing.”
“That’s horrifying.”
“Why do you think the club has never put cameras inside, except for short spurts when there were known and active threats? It’s not worth the wrong person getting their hands on your private conversations. Or, worse yet, church meetings.”
“Never thought of that before.”
“And the cameras everyone does have are not those name-brand ones that connect to any sort of cloud. Most of them have old-school wired systems that connect to DVR or closed networks. I’ve floated the idea of creating an app for them so they can check when they’re not home, but they’re even paranoid about that. Which is fair.”
“And if Ben is even more tuned into the risks of security systems, chances are that his cameras are just as closed off.”
“Right.”
“And his laptop or computer would be unhackable.”
“Exactly.”
“Damn. Alright. It was worth asking.”
“I’ll look into the guy. See what I can find. Suss out what his skills really are. Just so we know exactly who we are dealing with here. But, until then, I agree with Lolly; she should stay as hidden from cameras as possible.”
“What if I had her change her hair or something?”
“Come on, man. This isn’t the nineties. Most CCTV footage has facial recognition software. She’s better off with sunglasses and a hat when she is leaving the homestead or the clubhouse.”