Page 92 of Serve ’N’ Protect

Her thick blond hair was tucked behind her ears, but a few wispy tendrils had escaped to frame her face. She looked like an angel. His angel. To him, she’d never been more beautiful. It took every ounce of willpower not to take her in his arms and kiss her like he wanted to. Like he needed to.

“Start at the beginning,” Chang said. “From the minute you walked in the door.”

She set the gel pack he’d given her on her lap. Before starting, she took a deep breath then blew it slowly through her open mouth. “As you know,” she said, looking at Trooper Collins, “I’ve been staying with my parents. I only came back for my external hard drive. The security system was set, so the first thing I did was enter the code and turn it off. Then I went to that table.” She pivoted on the sofa and pointed to the side table closest to where Markus stood. “I opened the drawer, looking for the hard drive. That’s when he spoke to me. Somehow, he’d managed to turn off the alarm without triggering it, then reset it. He told me he already had the hard drive, but he wanted my laptop.” She drew her brows together. “My new laptop.”

Chang’s pen stilled over his notepad. “Meaning you got a new one to replace the one that was stolen when your house was burglarized?”

“Yes, and when I refused to tell him where the new one was,” she continued, “he…” She swallowed hard. “He hit me.” Gingerly, she touched her fingers to her cheek.

Markus’s hand tightened around the gel pack. There were already signs of another bruise on her creamy skin. If he hadn’t already been taken away to the hospital to have his injuries examined, Markus would have pummeled John Smith again and twice as hard for laying hands on her.

Mansfield’s words lit up in his mind brighter than gunfire. When you love someone, you’ll do anything to protect them. Ironic that Markus had so much in common with the man who’d tried to murder him. Because he knew without a doubt that he would do anything to protect Cassidy. Even kill.

“On top of everything else this guy’s looking at,” Chang said, “we’ll tack on assault charges.” His voice softened. “Did he hurt you in any other way?”

Her brow furrowed again and she bit her lower lip the way he’d come to realize she did under stress. “He, uh, shoved a gun against my head. I thought…”

Markus couldn’t take a second more of seeing her like this and took a step toward the sofa, intending to go to her, when Ghost sat up and snugged his big head against her shoulder. Cassidy threw her arms around his dog, burying her face in his fur. Markus had never been jealous of Ghost before but right then he wished like hell that he was the one wrapped up in her embrace.

Trooper Collins was first to break the silence. “Would it be easier for you to speak with me privately?”

“No,” she mumbled against Ghost’s neck. “I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute.” She took another deep breath, and her voice trembled. “I thought he was going to shoot me. I really thought it was over.”

She straightened and swiped a glistening tear from her cheek. Damn, but that one little drop of salty water gutted him. “What else do you want to know?” she asked, her voice steadier now.

“What else did he say to you?” Chang asked. “Try to be as detailed as possible.”

“Okay. When I asked him why he was doing this, he said he was getting paid to do it.”

“Paid to steal the laptop?”

“And the external hard drive,” she answered.

“Did he say who was paying him?”

“No, but I think I know who it was.” She paused when Ghost landed a lick to her chin. “There are only two other people who know I even had a new laptop. Markus, because he bought it for me. And Walt Teedle. I think Teedle is behind this. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

Chang’s brows rose. “Walt Teedle, as in Teedle Tech Industries?”

She nodded. “Normally, I’d be concerned about safeguarding a client’s privacy, but if what I suspect is true, then I don’t give a crap.” Her voice hardened. “I’m a certified public accountant. Walt Teedle hired me to do an audit of his personal and company assets. He said he needed it done before Christmas. After my house was burglarized and my laptop was stolen, I called Teedle to let him know that I’d need more time. I also told him I’d be getting a new laptop that same day and that I had stored most of what I needed to finish his audit on an external hard drive. Then this guy—John Smith—broke in tonight, looking for my new laptop, the external hard drive, and to—” She put her fist to her mouth.

To kill her. Markus’s blood boiled as he finished her thought in his head. He distinctly remembered that call she’d made to Teedle, and it had been clear to him that the guy had tried getting her to do something illegal. He’d bet her refusal was at the root of all this.

“Did Smith actually say Teedle hired him to steal your laptop, the hard drive, and to murder you?”

“Well, no,” she admitted. “Not exactly. But when I asked him why Teedle would hire me then try to kill me, he said it wasn’t his problem.”

So he hadn’t denied it. That still wasn’t an outright admission, and it probably wouldn’t hold up in any court.

When Chang began tapping his pen on his pad, Markus knew what the guy was thinking. There was still no concrete connection between Smith and Teedle, but Cassidy was on to something. Professionals might not give up the names of their clients, but Markus agreed with her angle on the new laptop.

Markus cleared his throat. “You told me you asked Teedle more than once for receipts and invoices because the numbers on his annual income statements he gave you had no supporting documentation. Didn’t he offer you a bonus if you could finish the audit without that information?”

“That’s right.” She turned to look at him over Ghost’s head. “I started to get a little suspicious then, but I just didn’t want to believe that someone of his stature in the community would be trying to do something illegal. But now…” Slowly, she shook her head. “The more I think about it, there were a lot of other odd things about this job.”

“Odd? How so?” Chang asked.

“Well, first he offered to pay me a lump sum rather than an hourly rate, which is more customary, and the lump sum was sizable to begin with. I was just starting up my freelance business, and I was so happy to get the job, let alone one from someone like him. I figured if I could get the audit done on time and do a good job, he might recommend me to other companies. It was a win-win.” When she let out a disgusted huff, Ghost snorted back. “I should have known it was too good to be true.”