38
SALINGER
“His name stars with a J.” I frown.
Faulkner looks up from where he’s texting someone from Hawthorne’s couch. “Is this your new super-secret crush?”
“No, this is the stalker who is after Mandy.”
“Sure, we’ll just look through every man in the city with a first name that starts with J.” McCarthy snorts. “That will be easy and fun.”
Fitz scoots over on a rolling chair.
“You’re going to scrape up the floor,” Hawthorne complains.
“This would be a lot easier,” Whitman says with a sigh, “if we had Crawford’s resources.”
“You know, Walker and Cyber Security developed some software to help narrow down searches by parameters,” McCarthy tells me as Whitman searches onInstagram for males in Seattle with names starting with J. There are thousands of results.
“I’m not asking any of the East Coast Svenssons for help.”
“Can we set a trap? You know, stake Mandy out in the middle of a field and nab him when he shows?”
“I tried something similar but no bites,” I admit.
“I can’t believe you haven’t convinced her to give up the name.” Hawthorne looks up at me.
“He’s losing his touch.” Faulkner shakes his head. “He’s not young and pretty anymore. I think I see a little bit of a receding hairline.”
I slap his hand away. “Just tell me if you find anything.”
Benji Isaacs is alreadyin a private booth when I arrive at the restaurant.
“You didn’t tell anyone you were here, did you?” He looks around nervously, beckoning me closer. “She can’t know we’re meeting.”
“Linda?”
Isaacs nods. “She’s going crazy—she’s out to get me. It’s a revenge plan. She won’t see reason. She doesn’t trust you because we’re friends,” he whispers from behind a menu held up to block his face. “She’s got half the board on her side, and she’s turning the rest of them against me. At my company. That I built!”
I don’t say it, but I’m pretty sure it was his father-in-law’s company where he was given a cushy job and sort of failed upward.
“We need to strategize.” He grabs my jacket lapels, panicked. “I’m going to be pushed off the board. I need thisproject. I have child-support payments. We have to get rid of Linda.”
“Let me put some feelers out, see if I can get someone to convince her to change her mind.” Though I’m not hopeful.
“I’m ruined. Ruined!”
My life is collapsingaround me. Mandy is in danger, and I don’t have a chance in hell of getting that port contract now.
Mandy isn’t at the office when I return from meeting with Isaacs. I don’t want to stay there—I feel antsy without her, and there are too many distractions. I need to sit in my study and think about what I can do to salvage the port contract.
As I drive back to the penthouse, I stew on it. I need to convince Linda to give me that contract. How? Blackmail? Bribery? Does she have any children who need jobs? Is there a way I can somehow turn Isaacs into a sacrificial lamb to show Linda I’m on her side?
If only she hadn’t decided to usurp the throne from Isaacs.
Then, there’s Mandy. The flowers last night have to be an escalation. I don’t recall any other incidents of the stalker sending her gifts to the office. He’s getting bolder.
When I walk into the penthouse, Seward confirms that Mandy returned and hasn’t left, but where is she? I frown, drop my briefcase in the study, and head upstairs, half wondering if I’m going to find her in my bedroom. It wouldn’t be an unwelcome surprise.
