“They recovered it, but it was just a picture, they said. Or at least that they could see at the moment,” he said.

  “That was around the time you were having issues with your computer,” Ivy said. “I remember now. You were complaining it was slow and it felt as if something was running on it, but you couldn’t find anything. It’s coming back to me now because you had it at the repair shop when we had the break-in.”

  “Break-in?” Hugh shouted. “What?!”

  “Calm down,” she said. “I don’t need everyone else in the building to know we are fighting.”

  “We aren’t fighting,” he said.

  “Could have fooled me,” Ivy said.

  “Be quiet, Ivy,” Brooks said, rolling his eyes playfully. He turned to Hugh. “With all your research into Dahlia you didn’t know their place was broken into?”

  “No,” he said. “I’d have no reason to know that.”

  “That is how Brooks and I met,” Ivy said, sliding her arm through her fiancé’s. “He was the investigator on it. All three apartments were trashed. Lots of break-ins around the area.”

  “Were the suspects caught?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Brooks said. “But I wasn’t convinced it was them.”

  “Hey,” Ivy said, slapping his arm. “You told us it was over with. Why would you lie?”

  “I didn’t lie,” Brooks said. “Just that it didn’t line up in my mind, but the case was closed. It was two kids not from the area. They’d go out at night and just drive around hitting random houses that had no security. They couldn’t remember every house they hit. But their attorney had them admit to them all. What more was I going to do?”

  “Shit,” Hugh said. “I need to see those files.”

  “Does someone want to tell me what is going on?” Ivy asked.

  “What’s the date of the break-in?” he asked. He was flipping through pages on his pad. “Between November sixteenth and the twentieth?”

  “I’d have to look it up,” Brooks said.

  “It was the eighteenth,” Ivy said. “I remember because it was Luke and Heather’s engagement. Remember, Dahlia? I don’t forget those dates.”

  “Ivy is right. It was that night. The Saturday before Thanksgiving,” she said.

  This was just too much for her to comprehend at the moment. There was no way it was Shawn who broke into her apartment.

  “I need to see everything you’ve got on their break-in,” Hugh said to Brooks. “Do you remember what was taken?”

  “Jewelry,” Ivy said. “All of ours and cash. Nothing else. They just trashed the house. I joked about wondering if they thought there were quarters in my pillowcases or under the cushions.”

  “Food was all over the kitchen,” Brooks said. “As if they were looking for jewels in cereal boxes. It never felt right to me, but it did match other break-ins. Not all, but some. The two arrested said if they were high enough, they just trashed it for fun.”

  “I wish I’d known all of this,” he said, looking at Dahlia.

  “What do you want from me? It was so irrelevant in my mind. As Brooks said, the case was solved. You never told me the dates that Shawn was out of town.”

  “No,” he said. “I hadn’t.”

  “That’s right. You asked me if I’d seen him. You said he rented a car and put a lot of miles on it, but the GPS wasn’t working and no one knows where he went. But he wasn’t here.”

  “That you know of,” Hugh said.

  “Do you really think he could have been?” Brooks asked.

  “I don’t know anything other than the facts. An email was sent to Dahlia, her computer was acting up after, then there was a break-in? When you got your computer back, everything was fine?” he asked. “The guy didn’t say anything to you?”

  “No,” she said. “He told me he cleaned it up and that was it. Maybe he said spyware got on it, but I’ve got anti-virus software and I never open up junk either. I’ve had no problems since.”

  “Can I have your laptop?” Hugh asked.

  She sighed. “Seriously?”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I need to have someone look it over.”

  “And I don’t get a chance to go in and take anything off of it?” she asked. Not that there was anything horrible like pictures, but it was still intrusive. Her search history, for one, on all sorts of baby things. She was pleading with him hoping that he’d understand.

  “No,” he said. “We’ve got a tech in the office to check it out. Don’t worry.”

  She snorted. “Easy for you to say. It’s not your personal life and search history on display.”

  Ivy grinned. “Like you’d be searching anything I’d do.”

  “I don’t want to know,” Brooks said, smiling.

  “I’m sure Dahlia’s biggest search is business suits or investments,” Ivy said. “How to save two more pennies, maybe?”

  “Very cute,” Dahlia said. She went to her room and got her laptop. When she turned, Hugh was standing in the doorway and walked in.

  “I’m sorry. What don’t you want anyone to see?”

  “My search history on baby stuff,” she whispered. “No one is supposed to know.”

  “Don’t worry. That is easily brushed off. You’ve got a sister with a child. A boss that is pregnant. You could be looking up things for a friend. No one will say a word about it.”

  “If you say so,” she said.

  “You’re pissed at me,” he said.

  “Do you think?” she asked sarcastically.

  He let out a sigh. “We’ll talk more later. What’s your password?”

  She grabbed a pen and wrote it down on his hand. “There, if you mess it up, then I’m sure your tech can figure it out anyway.”

  “I’ll talk to you later,” he said when they walked into the living room.

  “If you’ve got time,” Brooks said, “we can go to the station now and I’ll get you what you need.”

  “Guess I’m staying here tonight,” Ivy said. “My sister probably needs me too. How much ice cream do you have, Dahlia?”

  “Not enough.” Now that Ivy brought it up, she was craving it.

  “Then I’ll go get some and we can have ‘men suck’ sundaes.”

  “Sounds like a great dinner to me,” she said, lifting her chin to Hugh.

  Dahlia watched both men leave her apartment; Ivy grabbed her keys and purse too. “Good thing Brooks was meeting me here to get more things. I don’t have to go back to his place to get my car. I’ll be back in about twenty minutes.”

  “Fine,” she said. It’d give her just enough time to cry, which she did the minute Ivy shut the door.

  26

  NO GLUE

  “You know Dahlia is innocent of anything, right?”

  Hugh turned to look at Brooks when they were walking into the State Trooper barracks. “Yeah.”

  “She’s a square peg that fits neatly into a square opening with no glue needed to keep her in place.”

  He snorted. “That’s a good description.”

  “Hey, Brooks. What are you doing back?”

  “Luke Remington, this is Hugh Crosby. I’m sure you both have heard of the other.”

  He shook hands with the man who was engaged to one of Dahlia’s coworkers. The best friend of Dahlia’s boss’s husband. An ex-Army Ranger and sniper.

  Yeah, he’d looked into the guy when he got a name. It’s what he did. Just wanted to know more about those around him.

  “Nice to meet you,” he said.

  “Likewise,” Luke said. “What’s going on?”

  “Brooks has some information that I need on a case.”

  “The one with Dahlia?” Luke asked, his arms crossing. “I hope you don’t think she has anything to do with what is going on?”

  He hadn’t been aware everyone knew but then remembered Dahlia told her bosses. That didn’t explain how another coworker found out.

  “Luke knows,” Brooks said. “Not everything. Just how you two met and that Dahlia was questioned.”

  “Oh,” he said. “No. Dahlia is not a person of interest. She hasn’t been. But new information has just come to light tonight.”

  “The break-in,” Brooks said. “I never believed it was those two kids.”

  “Shit,” Luke said. “Seriously?”

  “No proof right now, but it’s worth looking into,” Hugh said. “Nothing more than gathering what I can to pass onto those in Chicago.”

  Luke nodded and moved away.

  “Everyone loves Dahlia,” Brooks said. “She’s always been the quiet sister. The one that had to step up more.”

  “It seems it,” Hugh said. He was surprised Brooks was sharing as much as he was.

  “I’m not sure what Dahlia has said about Ivy. She’s the baby of the girls and maybe a bit needier than the rest of them. Or used to be. I don’t see it.”

  “You like it though,” he said, grinning. “That she depends on you.”

  Brooks smirked. “It has its moments, but I’m fine with it. Scary as fuck at times, but you know that.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I also know not everyone can handle it.”

  “Dahlia can handle anything. Those three girls can,” Brooks said. “The way they were raised and lived for the first eighteen years of their life. They saw and did things we’d never see. They have an appreciation for more than we would. Things we take for granted. Not one of them would take the easy way out either.”

  “I know,” he said. “My gut told me Dahlia had nothing to do with this when I first met her. Before I even met her.”

  “Yet today you went in there guns blazing that she lied to you,” Brooks said.

  He sighed. “I’ll apologize. I don’t normally get that way.”

  “It’s hard not to when you think you’ve been betrayed,” Brooks said. They were in his office now and he was logging onto his computer.

  What Brooks said had hit home.

  He did feel betrayed and was an ass for thinking that.

  Dahlia had never given him any reason to feel that way.

  But when the call came in, there was some embarrassment that those in the office knew he was dating Dahlia.

  He was going to have a child with her.

  And yet, he wondered if she’d kept anything from him.

  If he’d had half a brain and was using it when it came to her, he would have realized what a dick he was being.

  “I’m not normally twisted up this way,” he said.

  Hugh figured he could talk to the guy. He never had anyone to talk to. Not another guy.

  Most of his friends he had with Keri were spouses of Keri’s friends. He’d never trust them not to share that information and have it get back to his wife.

  But Brooks was marrying Dahlia’s sister. He was in law enforcement too. With the baby coming, they’d be family of sorts.

  “Been there and done that,” Brooks said. “Not sure if you’d heard Ivy and I had a rough patch months ago. More like I was an ass and hurt her. I’d never do it again.”

  “I heard bits and pieces,” he said.

  “You’d understand more than most. There was more to it, but not the time and it’s in the past.”

  “We all have shit in our past,” he said quietly.

  Brooks looked at him. “Just know Dahlia is tough. She’d be there for you when maybe your ex wasn’t.”

  “I’m starting to realize that. If I can break through that wall she put up tonight.”

  “I will admit I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Dahlia yell before,” Brooks said.

  That didn’t make him feel any better.

  “I’ll figure it out. There are always ups and downs,” he said.

  Brooks pulled up the file and then moved his laptop closer so Hugh could read what was written. “Can you just bring it to their apartment and the pictures?”

  He’d have this file sent to him and go over it in detail, but he was more concerned about Dahlia’s place than anything else.

  “Sure,” Brooks said. “Their place was trashed. Ivy had nightmares for months about it. She wouldn’t wear her clothes until everything was washed first.”

  The pictures came up on the screen and he was scrolling through them.

  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary from a break-in by two kids out having fun.

  “Amateur,” he said.

  “Yes,” Brooks said. “Which is why they closed the case when the two kids confessed.”

  “But you didn’t think it was right?” he asked.

  “Not then, I didn’t. How can you just plead guilty to something you can’t even remember?”

  “They obviously had a court-appointed attorney,” he said drily.

  “They did. They didn’t care,” Brooks said.

  He was scrolling through other pictures of break-ins. There were similarities. “These others had small electronics stolen. Dahlia and Ivy had some jewelry and cash. Not even iPads? That is small enough to carry.”

  “That is part of why I didn’t think it made sense. Ivy’s was on the bed. It would have been seen when her pillows were being tossed around. It fell on the floor and would have been heard.”

  He started to wonder if it was Shawn who was trying to make it look as if it was a robbery to cover up what he was really after.

  “Good point.”

  “What are you thinking?” Brooks asked. “Or can’t you share?”

  “Can you email that file to me?”

  “Sure,” Brooks said.

  “Walk out with me,” he said.

  Brooks was grinning. When they were in the parking lot away from everyone, Brooks said, “What did you want to tell me?”

  “Off the record because I feel as if you’re family and you heard what you did tonight. I’m going to have the tech check out Dahlia’s computer. I’m wondering if maybe Shawn emailed her something by mistake. Records or software to hide, anything. Something is hidden in that picture.”

  “It does seem odd that she had a problem when she opened that picture.”

  “And once he did it and realized, he needed to get her computer to destroy the evidence, but it wasn’t in the house.”

  “He didn’t come back for it though?” Brooks said.

  “He wouldn’t want to risk it at that point,” he said. “This guy is a coward. In his mind he might have figured he was getting away with it. Enough time had passed, he probably got cocky. Or he realized he didn’t need what he sent. No clue. We haven’t figured anything out other than something was attached to that picture because the file was too big.”

  “You know more about him,” Brooks said.

  “Not enough. It’s not my case either.”

  “Don’t suppose you can go question the guy?” Brooks asked.

  “I doubt it. I’ve got to report what I know to the Chicago office. They are going to want Dahlia’s computer if anything shows up on it. She’s going to be pissed.”

  “You would be too,” Brooks said. “She lives on her computer. She’s probably ticked she doesn’t have it now.”

  “I’ll try to put a rush on it,” he said. “I texted the tech already, he was still at the office working late. If we know what we are looking for, he might be able to find it faster.”

  “I hope,” Brooks said. “I’d ask if you could keep me posted, but I doubt you can tell me much more than you have.”

  “I’ll tell you what I can,” he said. “Family and all.”

  Brooks grinned. “You’re so far gone on her, aren’t you?”

  “I’m not sure how it happened,” he admitted. “Not that I think Dahlia is aware.”

  “Oh, she probably is,” Brooks said, grinning. “But she might make you work for it now.”

  Not what he wanted to hear, but it’s not like this was an unfamiliar situation in his life either.

  He drove back to his office, met with Logan and handed over Dahlia’s laptop.

  “Here is her password,” he said. He explained what Dahlia told him about the picture in the email and what happened when she opened it.

  “That’s helpful,” Logan said. “I can just run a program to look for hidden files. Something has to be there and we know it. The email was too large to just have a picture attached. It’s possible it’d be dormant now and not causing any issues, so she wouldn’t recognize it. The repair place wouldn’t have either. I’m going to search for anything added from the date of that email. Any activity from then until it was at the repair shop.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “How long do you think it will take?”

  “Could be ten minutes. Could be ten hours. I’m not staying here all night though,” Logan said. “Even if it’s your girlfriend.”

  “I didn’t think you would,” he said. “I’ll be working at my desk for a little while longer if you need me.”

  “I’ll be here another hour or so,” Logan said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  “One can only hope.”

  Logan was already punching in keys and typing in code, then he pushed the laptop aside. At least he wouldn’t be viewing any of Dahlia’s searches at the moment.

  Hugh went to his desk and got to work. He wanted to call Dahlia and see how she was doing, but he was pretty sure she was probably stuffing her face full of ice cream.

  Maybe he could find some Mexican or tacos and bring them over to her.

  He pulled his phone out and did a search of places to find it and wasn’t having much luck.

  “I’ve got something.”

  He turned to see Logan standing there.

  “Really?”

  “Yep. Easier than I thought. One file buried deep. The guy is stupid. It’s called Niece’s Fund.”

  “Idiot,” he said. “He could have been more creative, but I guess it’s better than calling it Amelia.”

  When they got back to Logan’s desk he saw the file and burst out laughing. “Holy shit. It’s all the activity of the missing money.”

  “It looks it to me. It’s a file of transactions and accounts. A summary of sorts. Guess he loves his niece a lot. There is no total and I’m not running it on this file but eyeballing it we are looking at probably over eight million.”

  “I need this file,” Hugh said. “It’s got to be sent to Chicago. I’ll call and let them know it’s coming. Are you done with Dahlia’s computer?”