The color actually rose in Caroline’s cheeks. Maybe because she was remembering that he hadn’t used a condom the night before. He was still kicking himself over that, but the kicks would have to wait. He made a circling motion with his finger for her to continue.
“My contacts are split as to whether or not Scotty is up to his old tricks again,” she explained. “He hasn’t gotten caught for anything, but he also hasn’t been as chatty online as he normally is. Sometimes, being quiet is a way of not letting others know what you’re doing.”
That was true in the world of law enforcement, too. “You think he could be involved?” he came out and asked.
“Yes,” she said without hesitation.
And that was plenty enough for him. Jack took out his phone so he could get Scotty’s contact info.
Caroline stood, picking up the notepad she’d been using. “I already have his number. I got it from one of those contacts, but I should be the one to do this. Scotty would be more likely to talk to me about this than a badge.”
He didn’t have to think long and hard about that. She was right. So he handed her his phone.
“Any chance that your name and number are in Scotty’s contacts?” she asked. “Because I don’t want ‘Marshal Jack Slater’ flashing on the screen.”
“I haven’t talked to him in a while, and I’ve gotten a new number since then.”
With a nod, she pressed in the number from her notepad, put the call on speaker and waited. After three rings, the call went tovoice mail. He saw the brief debate she had with herself about what to do, but she left a message.
“Scotty, this is Caroline Moser,” she said. “Call me back at this number ASAP. It’s important.”
Good. Of course, if Scotty did call, Jack would have to pass his phone to Caroline. He didn’t want the man hanging up on them before he even got the chance to question him.
Jack saved the number Caroline had dialed to call the man and put it under Scotty’s name. He was still in the process of putting his phone away when there was a knock at the door. As he’d done since this whole ordeal with Caroline started, he moved in front of her and made sure it would be easy for him to reach his weapon before he answered it. The person standing there was exactly who Jack had expected it to be.
Zeller.
And surprise, surprise, he wasn’t happy.
Jack had riled Zeller so much in the past twenty-four hours that he was going to owe him a huge apology if it turned out that the marshal was innocent. But Jack had no intentions of believing in that innocence just yet.
There was water dripping off Zeller’s hair and running down his face, and that caused Jack to glance out the front windows. The storm had moved in all right, and it was pouring.
“I didn’t put anything on Caroline’s computer that caused the location of her house to be breached,” Zeller spat out, though Jack wasn’t sure how he could even talk with his jaw muscles that tight.
“Who told you about that?” Jack immediately asked.
Jack hadn’t thought it possible, but the muscles tightened even more. “I have friends at the office, and one of them alerted me that you went behind my back and had my computer checked.”
“I did,” Jack readily admitted. “And as you obviously know, the techs found something. Care to explain how that tracking program got from your laptop to Caroline’s?”
Of course, if Caroline’s theory was right, a hacker could have made it look as if Zeller’s computer had been used. But no way was Jack going to share that with a man who might want them dead.
Zeller opened his mouth as if ready to shout out an argument, but then he stopped and lowered his shaking head. He stayed that way for several long moments before his attention came back to Jack.
“I didn’t do this,” Zeller said, his voice weary and hoarse now. “I’m being set up, and the person’s doing a damn good job of it. I’m being investigated and people are talking. Even when I’m cleared of the computer charges—and I will be—my reputation will be hurt.”
In the beginning, it would be. Jack couldn’t see a way around that, but a bruised reputation was a small price to pay for getting away with murder. Heck, Zeller could get away with the computer charges, too, because there might not be enough evidence to pin this on him. A lawyer could argue that plenty of other marshals would have had access to his workplace computer.
“It’s either Kingston or Lily who’s doing this,” Zeller went on. “Kingston maybe because he’s carrying out some sick beyond-the-grave orders from Eric.” He looked at Caroline. “You know that Eric was capable of doing something like that.”
She nodded. “Eric was capable of a lot of things, but he liked to taunt. That’s not happening here. The tracer on the site was, well, sneaky. And, yes, Eric could have managed to get someone to do that, but he would have wanted me to know that he’d bested me even after he was dead.”
Caroline was right, but Jack could mentally play devil’s advocate and see this from a different side. Kingston could have done it as an homage to a twisted SOB that he admired. If so, Kingston might not be in the mindset of gloating and taunting.
And that left Lily.
Jack wasn’t sure if Lily had the computer skills, but the woman had enough money to hire someone. Plus, setting up Zeller and having him arrested and convicted would definitely get any heat off her.
