Her Heart-Stealing Cowboys [Hellfire Ranch 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (22 page)

They all went into Tag’s office. He closed the door and waved to the two chairs. “Whoever wants to sit, sit.”

No one moved. Tag shrugged and propped his hip against his desk. He took a deep breath. “We had a break in the case today. Two of them, actually.”

“What happened?” Rebecca asked.

“We found a bloody latex glove in the garbage bin behind The Chrome Barrel. The lab is processing the glove and the scene now. Tarah said there are multiple prints on the dumpster. She didn’t sound hopeful of finding anything useful. It looks like the killer just used the trash bin as a handy dump site.”

Wade frowned. “Is that why you called us down here? To tell us about the glove?” It didn’t make any sense to him. Tag was no longer a suspect. Why would they need to be apprised of this new information?

“No,” Tag said. He looked at Boone and nodded.

The FBI agent stepped forward and looked straight at him. “This is strictly under the table. I’m not authorized to tell you or show you what I’m about to.”

“If it’s going to jeopardize your investigation, then don’t say anything,” Rebecca snapped. “Wade is not a law enforcement official but I am an official member of the court of law. Don’t blow your case with loose lips.”

When Boone turned his dark, enigmatic stare on Rebecca, Wade bristled. He sure as hell didn’t like the look the agent gave her. Wade stepped closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist.

Boone lifted a brow and his mouth quirked but he didn’t offer any commentary.

Wade thought that was a good thing. He was pretty sure if the agent had said one smart-assed comment he’d have clobbered him.

Spending the night in jail was not something Wade had a whole lot of interest in doing.

“This doesn’t really have anything to do with finding Fischer’s killer,” Tag said. Worry lines creased his forehead. More wrinkles were stamped up and down his uniform shirt and it smelled of cedar. Wade figured his friend probably changed shirts after rummaging in the trash. “Go ahead, Boone,” Tag said.

Rebecca huffed and crossed her arms but didn’t object again.

Boone looked right at him. “We found something on Fischer’s computer down at the FBI lab. The boys down there are working on it right now, but when I told Tag what they said, he suggested we talk to you.”

Wade started. “Me?”

“Yep.” Boone opened his laptop. The screen flared to life. “We found a second drive on the computer. It was well hidden and half of what we’re finding seems to be written either in some crazy-ass code or it’s all just a bunch of shit designed to drive us nuts.”

“It’s working,” Tag said.

Energy revved Wade’s senses. His fingers itched and he looked at the laptop. “What kind of code?”

“We don’t know. It’s nothing the lab techs were familiar with. Our best hackers are working it right now but it’s going to take them time to figure it out. Looks like something Fischer came up with himself.” Boone grimaced. “Unfortunately, it’s not one the highest priorities we have at the moment.”

“I thought you said the FBI was giving this case its full attention,” Rebecca said.

“They were. Unfortunately we had some intel pop up a couple of hours ago pertaining to another, larger, case. My tech agents are needed urgently for that job.”

“Figures,” Carson muttered.

Boone’s brow twitched. “I’m still assigned until this matter is cleared up.”

“Which means you refused to leave, huh?” Rebecca said.

“Pretty much. My superiors are not happy with me and if they get insistent about pulling me, there’s nothing I can do.” He looked at Wade. “Word is you’re a pretty good hacker yourself.”

“You are?” Rebecca asked.

The incredulity in her voice made Wade’s neck redden. He clamped his hand on her waist and looked down. Instead of disbelief, she was looking up at him with interest.

He smiled. “Well, a little bit.”

“Little bit nothing,” Tag said. “Wade has been known to change a few public records here and there.”

“Nothing important,” he said quickly. “Just a few things that made life a little more interesting. Besides, that was when I was young. Much younger. I haven’t done anything like that in years.”

“You’ll have to tell me about them sometime,” Rebecca murmured. She shifted her gaze back to Boone. “What do you want him to do now?”

Boone motioned to the computer. “Take a crack at hacking his code. See if you can find anything that even remotely points to his killer. I’m pretty certain you won’t but he had that shit hidden for a reason.”

Wade stepped forward. “It would be better if I had his actual computer.”

“No can do,” Boone said with a shake of his head. “This is a complete copy of his drive, though.”

Wade nodded absently. He flexed his fingers. “This might take a little while.”

“All right. You can work at Wallace’s desk.”

“How about Doreen’s?” He didn’t want to sit at the dead man’s desk. The idea was ghoulish and unsettling.

“Are you crazy? She’ll know if one thing is out of place and I’ll have to listen to her bitch about it for a week,” Tag said.

Wade rolled his shoulders as he picked up the computer. “How about yours?”

Tag looked at Rebecca and steel suddenly glinted in his eyes. “No. I have something to discuss with our counselor here.”

“Me? What?”

Deputy Carson cleared her throat and gave him a smile. “I’d offer you mine but the boss here hasn’t done any paperwork since Doreen’s been gone. Sorry.”

“Shit,” Wade muttered.

Boone clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t think about it so much, Wade. Just sit down and do what you do.”

“Easy for you to say,” he muttered.

Boone grinned as he walked out of the office.

Wade looked at Rebecca and Tag. He frowned at the sheriff’s stiff posture. “What’s going on?” he asked.

Tag didn’t lift his gaze from her. “It’s about that phone call you took earlier today. I’ll fill you in when you’re done.”

“But—”

Tag looked at him. “I need you on this fast, Wade.” He waved a hand at Rebecca. “This can wait.”

“Then wait until I’m in here, too,” he said. He knew he sounded irritated, but he was. He didn’t like being kept out of the loop.

Tag’s face softened. “There isn’t any new information on her case,” he said. “I just want her to tell me what’s going on.”

Rebecca cleared her throat. “Sounds like you already know.”

Wade wavered then sighed. “Fine.” He looked at Rebecca and jerked his chin toward Wallace’s photo strewn desk. His stomach churned again. “I’ll be right over here if you need me.”

“For Pete’s sake, I’m just going to talk to her, not burn her at the stake.”

Wade managed a grin. “Sometimes with you they’re the same thing.”

He turned and walked to the desk. He sat the computer down and pulled out the chair then placed his hands on the keys. Within moments he was eyeballs-deep in files, folders, and hidden code.

He whistled as he dug through layer after layer of crap. No way did this guy have a fetish for LOLZ cats. He must have had a thousand JPEGs of the goofy critters but the files all had the same creation date. They were merely camouflage.

He dug deeper and found a file with the same date that was named close to the others. He didn’t know why it caught his attention but it did.

He opened the file and a password-protection window popped up.

“Huh,” he said.

“What’s that?” Stewart looked up with a half smile. “Did you say something, Mr. Merritt?”

Wade shook his head. “Sorry, just making noises.”

“Oh, all right.”

The office phone jangled and Stewart picked it up. “Sheriff’s office.”

Wade squinted at the screen and tapped his finger to his chin. If he were an ex-Marine turned criminal, what kind of password would he have? It wouldn’t be obvious. The man had proven to be a pretty decent wiz.

Despite his own reasoning, Wade tried a few easy things like the Marine’s inception date, the last duty post he knew Fischer had been in, and the unit’s name. Nothing.

He swiveled in the chair. “Tag,” he hollered.

Through the glass window of his office, Tag looked up with a frown. He was bent close to Rebecca who had an equally irritated expression on her face. She shoved at him and stood up then stalked from the room.

Tag raked a hand through his hair then came into the office. “What did you find?”

“I need a password.”

Tag shrugged. “Hell, I don’t know. You’re the computer genius.”

“Yeah, but you knew him.” Wade couldn’t keep the respect out of his voice. “This guy was a pretty damn good hacker himself. He really knows his stuff. If I put in the wrong password too many times, I could end up in a wormhole or corrupting the data.”

“You mean erase it?”

“Nah, chances are it won’t go someplace we can’t retrieve it, but it would take for-freaking-ever. I’d just rather try the easier approach of breaking his password first.”

“What do you need for that?”

Wade shot a cautious look at Boone and cleared his throat. He lowered his voice. “I have some software at my house that might help.”

“Don’t worry, Merritt,” Boone called out cheerfully. “I promise not to arrest you for possession of illegal software.”

“It’s mine, not illegal,” Wade said.

“Right,” Boone said.

“It is,” Wade muttered to Tag. “It’s just not exactly something I’m
supposed to be doing. Involves reverse engineering and recoding of—”

Tag lifted a hand as his eyes widened. “Don’t,” he said in a strangled voice. “Do not tell me. I don’t want to know.” He looked at the laptop. “Can you get into it?”

“Tell me about Fischer.”

“Boone, get over here,” Tag ordered.

Wade grinned and lowered his voice even more. “You just love tweaking that tiger’s tail.”

Tag snickered. “He deserves it.”

Boone joined them. “Who deserves what?”

Wade blinked. He was no good at on-the-spot lying.

Fortunately Tag was. “Fischer. He deserves us being all up in his business. Remember how that little weasel was always getting into everyone else’s?”

“Yep. He was a little old lady in disguise. Always wanting to know what was going on, but ask him in return and he’d just as soon shiv you in the kidneys as answer a question. So what’s up?”

“What do you know about him? I need some sort of personal information that I can use to get in,” Wade said.

“He was an ass,” Tag offered.

“A suck-up, too,” Boone said. “He was always in Colonel Reed’s office. Usually bitching about something someone else did.”

Wade cleared his throat. “I was looking for more personal information.”

The men stared at him.

“Like what?”

He felt like he was talking to a classroom full of stubborn seventh graders. “Like his birthday, his mother’s maiden name, his hometown. That kind of stuff.”

Boone looked skeptical. “You said he’s a hacker. No way is he going to use a password that easy.”

“Yeah,” Tag agreed. “You’d be better off going home and getting your software.”

Wade shoved his hands in his pockets. “Just give me something,” he muttered.

“I don’t know his birthday. Didn’t give that much of a damn,” Boone said. “He was from someplace in Wyoming though. Gillette, I think.”

Tag nodded. “Sounds right. His mom’s name was something weird, remember? Reetsa or Leetsa.”

Boone snapped his fingers. “Leetha.”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

They looked at him expectantly.

“Well? You gonna try that?” Tag demanded.

“What else?” Wade asked. “I want as much information as I can get before I try. I have three, four attempts max. After that I run the risk of meltdown and total lockout. Did he have any girlfriends?”

“No,” Tag said.

“Unless you count Olivia,” Boone said.

Wade started. “Olivia?”

Tag snorted. “In his dreams, Boone. You and I both know that pissant never had the balls to approach her.”

“Yep. But he still wanted her. Man, he wanted her bad.”

Wade narrowed his eyes and turned around.
Surely it couldn’t be that easy.

He typed in Olivia’s name.

Incorrect password.

He tried Olivia followed by the unit’s name of Hellfire.

Incorrect password.

Wade had a feeling he was close, though he had nothing logical to back that up. He just
knew
that Olivia was the key somehow. Was it possible that Fischer’s obsession led him to defy the ultimate computer rule? Random passwords are nearly impossible to break but something meaningful was totally different. Had he really been that hung up on her? God, he hoped so.

Wade closed his eyes and set his fingers on the keyboard.

“One last try,” he muttered.

6-5-…
His fingers hesitated over the keypad. Would Fischer have used a one for the I in Olivia’s name or go the straight T-9 texting route? While he sure as hell hoped Olivia was the password, Wade now had to decide if it was 6-5-4-8-4-2 or 6-5-1-8-1-2. He rubbed his fingers together, took a deep breath, and entered the second set of digits.

He opened his eyes and hit enter before he could rethink his choice.

The computer hummed and whirred and a document popped onto the screen.

He spun around. “Gentlemen, we’re in.”

“How long will it take you to decode it?” Tag asked.

Rebecca saw the tension in his face even though his tone was nonaggressive.

“Don’t know,” Wade replied. “Depends on what kind of system he used and what’s included. For all we know, it could be his grandmother’s cherished pie recipes.”

Rebecca giggled then cleared her throat when Tag, Wade, and Boone pinned her with dark stares. “Hey, don’t want a laugh, don’t make a joke.”

Deputy Carson strolled over. “Mind if I look?”

Everyone turned to stare at her. Rebecca hoped her surprise wasn’t as obviously pasted on her face as it was on the men’s.

“You know computers?” Boone asked.

Deputy Carson shrugged. “I know codes and ciphers. I was a geeky kind of kid.”