“Now, how about the other question?”
She gripped the steering wheel tighter. Saying it out loud would do one of two things: make her discovery seem sillier or realer. She worried it would be the latter.
“I broke into Riley’s email account last night.”
“Remind me never to underestimate your sleuthing skills,” he said, but sat straighter. “Didn’t the police already go over his laptop?”
“It was his web-based account that I accessed.”
“What did you find?”
“I never expected my brother to be a quote-of-the-day type.”
Mick turned so that his knee came up on the seat. “He was receiving quotes in his emails? What kind of quotes?”
“Strange ones. Mildly menacing when taken individually but more sinister when I looked at them together.” She moved her head to push away the shiver that settled at the base of her neck. “But I can’t take them as a group since they all came from different email addresses.”
“Wouldn’t a quote-of-the-day come fromonesource? Like one newsletter?”
Rachel blinked rapidly. She hadn’t thought of that. “One was from a guy who’s been dead for four hundred years. ‘I shall be as secret as the grave.’”
“That’s creepy, all on its own.”
“It could have been a warning, but it also could have been just a quote.” Either way, she couldn’t resist shivering.
“But you don’t think so.” Like earlier, it wasn’t a question.
She shook her head. “One of the other quotes wasn’t attributed to a speaker at all. ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’”
Mick planted his hands on the dash. “You’ve got to stop asking questions. It’s not safe.”
At the vehemence in his words, Rachel hit the brake, causing the van to slide. Once she’d managed to correct, she frowned over at him. “What was that for? I didn’t share this with you so you could tell me what to do.”
“Then why did you tell me?”
The heat of his stare on the side of her face made her squirm. “Because I needed someone to acknowledge that Riley could have been set up.”
He didn’t answer. What had she expected him to say? That they had enough evidence to go right away to the Mount Isabel PD? She couldn’t tell him that she’d come to himbecausehe was a stranger rather than despite it. That among the people she’d known all her life, she suddenly didn’t know whom to trust.
Neither spoke as she turned from the salted and plowed two-lane highway onto the snow-covered side road. Up ahead, his pickup was buried in snow across from a blank area of sky with piles of debris where a house used to stand. She turned around in the driveway, pulled to the side of the road about thirty feet behind his truck and parked.
Mick unbuckled his seat belt and turned to face her. “If your theory is correct—and I’m still not saying it is—don’t you recognize the risk you’re taking in digging around for answers?”
He’d said nearly the same thing last night, but she shook her head, still rejecting it. “The email senders can’t even know that I accessed Riley’s account.”
“But if they were in the station, they know you’re hunting for answers.”
She shifted in her seat as he’d confirmed her concern. “All anyone who saw me can say for certain is that I’m furious Riley was forced out of his job. Which is true. And I want him to get it back. Which I do.”
“Maybe. I still wish you’d leave the investigation to the professionals, but it’s clear you’re not going to stop. So, I’m asking you to come to me at least if you find new information.” He held out his hand, palm up. “A back channel, if you will. I might even be able to help.”
She stiffened. “I didn’t ask for your help.”
“The emails are a start. But we still need to find more information before taking your theory to the police.”
“And there is nowe.” She needed to remember that. It would be dangerous for her to rely on him. Or anyone else. “As I said, I didn’t ask for anything from you.”
“Are you willing to bet Carly’s and Carissa’s safety on that belief?”
