He shrugged. “She taught me when I was in school. I used it when I took college classes to take notes. It’s faster than writing the whole word and I guess I liked the novelty of it.”
“Well, it works for you, for sure.” Ephraim said, shaking his head. “I remember one of my foster mothers being a secretary and doing that. I’d look at the notes she’d transcribe at night on the computer and couldn’t read any of it.”
“It takes a little study, but not much.” Reed said, his flush still high. “Let’s get back to this Curtis guy. You think he’s the one trailing you?”
“Pretty sure. He’s worked as a freelance security and protection guy for about ten years. He’s older, but still in good shape, if I remember. And, if he’s in this area in the middle of winter, he’s not on vacation.” Ephraim said.
“Let’s look at the list of ex clients you have.” Reed said and frowned at Ephraim’s head shake.
“I don’t think it’ll do any good until we get Wood.”
“But we need to know the possibilities.” Reed argued and Sophie realized a little supremacy war was going on.
Ephraim scratched his chin then shook his head again. “We’ll only be wasting our time.” At Reed’s objection he continued. “Look, I understand you want to cover all the bases of research. But with the kidnapping attempt, I think Wood is getting impatient to get the job done. If we spend time researching the clients, we lose time finding Wood.”
“We still need to address those men,”
“There are a couple of women on the list,” Sophie inserted and watched Reed’s surprise with a small spurt of satisfaction.
“Okay, men and woman,” he groused.
Sophie decided this battle needed to come to an end. “What if we send the list to your boss and have him research them? Ephraim, he found out about the man who’s been following us pretty quickly. Don’t you think his resources are bigger than ours?”
The men looked at her and then both nodded. “I’ll send Hank the list I have and ask him to look into them.” Ephraim stood and walked over to the other side of the room to call his boss.
“You think that’ll work?” Reed asked and Sophie shrugged. “I think we need to make some progress, and I also think you two ex-soldiers were going to argue for another thirty minutes.”
He grinned then made a couple more squiggles on his notebook. “Stubborn runs in my family.”
She shot a look at Ephraim, “His too.”
Ephraim joined them at the counter with a laugh. “I told Hank what you said, and he told me you might need to become a consultant, Soph.”
She smiled in return then sobered. “So, what is the plan to draw this guy Wood out?”
“Draw him out?” Ephraim frowned at her, his eyes narrowing. “We don’t need to draw the guy out; he’s been on our tail every time we go out in public. I’m surprised he hasn’t found your house.”
“And why do you think he hasn’t?” Reed asked. “You haven’t made an effort to remain anonymous, have you, Ms. Brown?”
“Sophie,” she prompted and shook her head. “I don’t put my personal business on social media, but I do advertise my cleaning business.” At Ephraim’s worried look she reassured him. “It’s an email address. I have a cell phone, don’t share that with anyone other than my clients and my friends.”
“And your house? Is it in your name?” Reed asked and she nodded.
“So, why hasn’t this guy done some research and found your address? Or followed you to the cabin?”
“He tried to when he followed us in town,” Sophie said and explained in more detail the twists and turns she’d made when she’d driven home from the police station.
“Still,” Ephraim tapped his fingertips on the counter. “If I had the job, I’d have found the address in no time. You don’t hide from the public, even if you don’t spill your entire life on one of those media pages.”
She glanced around the room, her stomach suddenly feeling queasy. “Could he have been watching us here?”
“No,” Ephraim assured her with a hand on her arm. “I haven’t exactly been up to par, but I haven’t lost all my skills. Every time I’ve been outside, I’ve looked for evidence of another person on the property, nothing. And even when I’m inside, I’ve been alert.”
She remembered the times he’d sat in front of windows in the dark, unable to stand because of his balance issues, but still on guard.
“So, what is the man thinking, not covering the house?” Reed asked and Ephraim shook his head. “Don’t know.”
“Does this make a difference?” Sophie asked and when they looked at her, she continued. “Well, we want to draw Wood out. Does the fact that he’s not followed me to the cabin make a difference in that plan?”
