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Tanner’s long fingers wrapped around hers where her hand rested on her legs. “I agree, and that’s why we’ve got Noah on the lookout. Ronnie has also volunteered to do some lookout shifts during his time off, and when Richard Whitaker heard about it, he offered also.”
She had to smile at Whitaker’s name. “How is our old friend the jackass?”
“He’s coming to the wedding, you know.”
The other officer was Tanner’s counterpoint in the northern section of the county. He’d accused both Bree and Tanner of murder last year, but then had helped take care of Bree when Tanner had been near death in the hospital.
“I’m glad Marilyn will have protection,” she said. “But we both know these are temporary measures.”
“Just because Jared’s lawyer managed to convince a judge that he’s not a flight risk doesn’t mean that he’s not going to go to jail for a long time for what he did to her. I’ve seen the evidence. So even if we have to take turns watching over her and the kids for the next four months until the trial, we’ll do it. Everyone is willing to help her out in that way.”
She squeezed his hand, her heart filling up almost painfully with the emotions she felt for him. He was such a good man. Willing to do whatever he had to do to make sure the people who depended on him were safe.
“Thank you,” she whispered, wishing she was better with words. Better at expressing everything she felt inside herself for him.
He brought her hand to his lips. “Marilyn and those kids deserve a fresh start. A future that doesn’t involve pain or fear. All of us want to give them that.”
“I do too.” And she was going to do whatever she had to do to get the information she needed from that computer. If she could prove that Jared had been around Risk Peak during the fire—hell, anytime since he’d been released—he’d be spending the rest of his time awaiting trial behind bars.
Where he belonged.
They pulled up at the bonding office, attached to the courthouse and Denver marshals’ office.
“I’m just going to introduce you as a computer expert,” Tanner said as they got out of the vehicle. “I don’t think anyone around here knows either of us, so introducing you as my colleague shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.”
She gave a brisk nod. “IT colleague here to help make sure that data is running smoothly between two different systems. Got it. Piece of cake.”
They signed in at the front desk and made their way up a single flight of stairs to Parnam’s office. The door was half open and Parnam, a pudgy man in his midfifties, an office phone lodged between his shoulder and jaw, gestured for them to come in. His voice was a blend of boredom and exhaustion as he read a series of numbers to whoever was on the phone.
Bree and Tanner took seats across from his desk as he hung up.
“Mr. Parnam, I’m Tanner Dempsey. This is IT expert Ms. Daniels.”
Bree noticed how adeptly Tanner avoided lying. Kept it just general enough to avoid telling any untruths. Bree was an IT expert, after all.
“Dempsey. Ms. Daniels.” Parnam nodded his head at both of them. “I’ve already sent you all the reports I have on Jared Ellis. I looked into the case a little myself, and I really am sorry Mrs. Ellis wasn’t notified. We had two people retire in the last six months and their positions haven’t been backfilled, so, like I said, things just sometimes slip through the cracks.”
Tanner raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry to hear you’re trying to work three people’s jobs, because in a situation like this, Mrs. Ellis could’ve been hurt or worse, not even knowing there was any possible danger out there.”
Parnam settled his weight back in his chair. “Well, in my defense, Ellis does have the ankle monitor on. If he had gone anywhere near his wife, it would’ve set off all sorts of alarms. That thing is unhackable.”
Bree got straighter in her chair, trying to swallow the words bubbling up her throat at his utter faith in technology. She’d spent most of her childhood within an organization that made it their mission in life to hack information systems and use it to their advantage.
Nothing was unhackable.
Next to her, Tanner cleared his throat. His fingers, resting on his knees, made a swiping gesture over and over. She got the message: don’t do anything stupid like argue with Parnam. She forced herself to relax in the chair.
“Be that as it may,” Tanner said. “Ms. Daniels is here to make sure there won’t be any problem with the data communicating between the Denver County and Grand County systems.”
“Whatever.” Parnam let out a weary sigh. “What do you need?”
“Ten minutes on the monitoring system,” Bree responded. “I’ve already made sure our system is ready. I just need to double-check a couple of things in your system.”
Parnam nodded and escorted Bree and Tanner to a separate office that contained a computer, a worktable with miscellaneous electronic equipment and sensors, and a couple of hard plastic chairs.
“This is where everything is calibrated and connected. Every offender to be fitted with a monitor comes in here, and those with the particular version being used for Jared Ellis come back once a week to make sure the calibration is still correct and the GPS system is online.”
“But Ellis hasn’t been back yet, right? He’s not scheduled for a few more days?” Tanner asked.
