“Lilacs. Definitely lilacs.” Pepper fanned a hand in front of her nose. “You do have a higher standard of garbage in this area, don’t you?”
It made no sense. Jack glanced around, but there was nothing there that explained the smell. The dumpster was down at the end of the alleyway, and he couldn’t imagine what would possibly make it smell like an explosion in a perfume factory. “Someone throw a perfume bottle at the side of the building?”
Parker took a deep breath before moving forward, rapidly examining the area at the base of the brick wall before sprinting back to their side, a shard of purple glass held gingerly between two fingers. “You’re brilliant.”
“Oh God. Get rid of it.” Pepper caught hold of her nose, pinching it tight. “I love that scent, but this is way too much even for me.”
Parker hightailed it toward the dumpster, while Jack examined the wall more carefully. “That’s the answer. Someone threw a bottle against the wall.”
Beside him, Pepper stiffened slightly. “Oh, shit.” She turned to Jack, catching hold of the front of his shirt. “I wonder…if this was my fault.”
Behind them, Parker was back. He cleared his throat. “You want to explain that a little more clearly?”
Pepper’s usual devil-may-care attitude cooled slightly. “I’m sure it’s nothing. But…”
Jack slipped his arms around her. He ignored the fact that Parker was glaring just over her shoulder. “If you’ve got something that sheds light on this, say it now.”
She had her stubborn face on. “I don’t want to say anything and get someone in trouble for no reason. What if we check the security tapes first?”
He caught her chin in his hand and tilted her head up until she had to meet his gaze. “Pepper. Who do you think did this?”
“One of the guys I traveled with seems to have some issues. I didn’t think he knew how to get ahold of me, but when Kendra returned my suitcases the other day there were some things missing. Including a makeup bag that might have had perfume in it. Lilacs.”
Parker was no longer standing quietly behind him. “You’re telling us someone is stalking you? That’s unacceptable.”
“No shit, Einstein.” Pepper twirled on her brother. “I don’t like the idea, either. But it’s pretty childish, throwing my stuff at your building, and I’m still not about to accuse anyone until we have some proof. So let’s go look at the security tapes.”
Only when they cued them up, the tapes showed nothing but static for the previous twelve hours.
“How the hell is that possible?” Jack demanded. He had no idea what was going on, but the idea that someone could have it in for Pepper made his blood freeze.
Pepper pointed to the time signature. “You’ve got a digital security system that’s a dinosaur. The scans are easy to corrupt if you’ve got enough interference in the area. Somebody shut down your system before they did this.”
“Seems like a hell of a lot of work just to throw some perfume at our back door,” Dean commented, having joined them in the staff room.
“Unfortunately, it’s not really that difficult.” Pepper poked the recording device they were examining. “Since your system is so ancient, it wouldn’t take too much knowledge to knock this out even from a distance.”
“It’s still a lot more work than simply walking up and spraying graffiti. Somebody planned.” Parker turned on Pepper. “That’s it. I’m escorting you to work every day until we figure this out.”
“No way,” Pepper snapped. “I mean, fine that you’re worried, even though I think it’s just some stupid one-off event, if it is Adam. I still don’t understand how it could be him in the first place—he didn’t know my real name, so I don’t know how he could’ve tracked me down to my new job. But if it is him, I don’t need you babysitting me.”
“Of course you don’t need Parker looking after you,” Jack interrupted. “You get me instead.”
It was Parker’s turn to stiffen in dismay briefly before nodding. “Surveillance is yours. Ask for backup if you need a hand.”
No way was anyone going to touch Pepper, not with Jack on the job. “I’ll take it from here.”
Parker left abruptly, Dean hard on his heels as they headed toward the front of the building.
Pepper leaped in front of Jack, catching hold of the front of his shirt and jerking his head down toward her level. Her bright green eyes flashed with furious frustration. “I don’t like it when you talk about me like I’m not right. Fucking. Here.”
“I don’t like it that someone out there might have it in for you.”
She rolled her eyes. “They threw a bottle of perfume. I’m in danger of asphyxiation, not of being kidnapped and sold as a sex slave. And I don’t mind being more careful for a while, but you really need to stop trying this alpha-hole business on me. I will cut off your balls, and you can take that literally or not, however you prefer.”