Page 111 of Asher's Assignment
Stroud pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do I want to know how you found all of this?”
Asher lifted a shoulder. “Most of it’s public record. Or stuff that can be accessed with a private investigator’s license.”
“You don’t have a private investigator’s license.”
Not contradicting him, Asher just stared. He didn’t, but he didn’t care.
Stroud huffed a short sigh. “So, what’s her relationship to Lennox?”
“I’m not sure.” He set the laptop down and opened it, showing him what he’d found. “I’m also running a facial rec program, trying to find her social media accounts. Maybe they’ll tell us something. If nothing pops up, we’ll have to talk to her.”
“We?”
“You. Me. You and me. I don’t particularly care, so long as it happens today.”
“Look, I get that you’re all gung-ho to take action, but police work is a process.”
“A slow one. And I don’t have to follow your rules.”
His chin coming up, Stroud leveled a stern look on Asher. “So far, I’ve tolerated your antics because they’ve proven useful and mostly harmless. But don’t push me, Horn. I won’t tolerate you running around like we’re in the wild and lawless old west.”
Asher blamed the next words that came out of his mouth on stress and a lack of sleep. Because they certainly weren’t ones that would win him any friends. “Respectfully, Detective, there’s very little you can do to stop me. You have no idea who I am or what I’m capable of. With a few strokes of my keyboard, I can send your entire life into disarray. With a few more, I can give myself a new identity. One that would wipe Asher Horn off the planet. So, let’s move past the bloviating and onto what truly matters, yeah?”
Blooms of color popped on Stroud’s cheeks. Asher could see the anger seething just below the surface in his gaze, but he was beyond worrying about what the man thought. His only goal was bringing Lennox down.
“You know, I might be a small-town detective, but I’m far from dumb or unconnected. You’d be surprised at who I know and what I’m capable of.”
“Honestly? I don’t care. I want Lennox. Preferably in a hole in the ground, but I’ll settle for seeing him in a cage.”
The stern look on Stroud’s face didn’t waver. “I didn’t think to check you for weapons. Should I?”
“I haven’t been home yet.”
At Stroud’s rough intake of breath, Asher held up a hand. “But it wouldn’t matter, because I’m not normally armed.” He didn’t bother to tell him that Edie and Audra might be, though. “I’m an analyst, not a field operative. Look, I’m not asking to lead the charge when we find Lennox. I’m just asking for you to feed me information so we can do it faster.”
“Right, but if we don’t do it legally, he’ll walk.”
“So, hire me as a technical consultant. I’ll work dirt cheap on this case, and your department can utilize my proprietary software.”
Stroud crossed his arms, the stern look morphing back to a curious one. “What sort of proprietary software?”
“It’s basically just a bunch of algorithms that let me search legitimate databases faster.” Sensing he had him on the hook, he pushed forward. “So, are you calling the prison, or am I?”
Forty-Six
The world came back into focus for Esther with a rush. The dull noise filling her ears became a roar of sound as her eyelids fluttered. Fuzzy ceiling tiles swam in front of her eyes.
Where am I? Her bedroom ceiling didn’t look like this. What was that whirring noise? And the hissing?
The feel of her own breath on her face drew her attention to the stiff plastic strapped to her face. What?—
An oxygen mask.
Everything rushed back.
The evilness in Lennox’s eyes as he aimed his pistol at Asher.
Her instinctual urge to protect him.
