“Tell me you aren’t getting too deeply involved, mija.”
“Of course not. But I’ve just spent the last forty-eight hours with him. If there were something off about him, I think I would have noticed by now.”
My dad just nodded. “You talk to Robert. You understand more about this computer stuff than I do.”
“I will.”
It seemed like everyone was in the office. But, again, everyone was often in the office around the clock, especially when we had a big case going on. And this was a big case.
Robert was upstairs in what we liked to call his bat cave. It was a dark room at the back of the building where he had his collection of computers. There were laptops, desktops, motherboards, and all kinds of cannibalized parts all over the room. It was organized chaos that only Robert really understood.
He didn’t even look up when I tapped on the door and walked in.
“Did your father tell you that we tracked those emails back to the client’s computer?”
“No,” I said, cold fingers beginning to dance around my heart.
“Yeah. The computer at his office.”
“How did you do that?”
He touched a finger to one of the monitors. I leaned forward and read the code. I knew quite a bit, but I wasn’t nearly as proficient in computer code as Robert. But I could see the bouncing IP addresses as clear as day.
“That’s Lucien’s computer?”
“Yeah.”
“And it doesn’t go anywhere else after that? I thought you were convinced the emails originated at his brother’s computer.”
“That’s what they wanted us to think. But I found the tracks they tried to hide.”
I just nodded, totally aware that contradicting Robert wouldn’t get me anywhere. Besides, he knew what he was doing.
And I was screwed.
“Is it possible someone used his computer to do this? Someone other than him?”
“Sure,” Robert said.
“Is there any way to prove that?”
He shrugged. “No. Not really.”
“So we still don’t know for sure who we’re dealing with.”
“Pretty much.”
I groaned, leaning forward and burying my face in my hands. Robert reached over and patted the back of my head.
“You look different in those clothes.”
“Gee, thanks.”
He was grinning when I looked up. “You almost look like a princess.”
I inclined my head slightly to acknowledge him. “Keep working on it, Robert. I really need to know who wrote those emails.”
“I will.”
I went downstairs to my office, my thoughts playing with the puzzle that Robert had just presented. Could someone have gotten to Lucien’s computer and sent the emails from there? If so, who? His personal assistant seemed like an obvious choice, but that made her a bad choice simply because it was so obvious. But who else?
I dropped into my chair and stared at my own laptop. There had to be something I was missing. The whole thing just seemed suddenly off. Emails from his own computer. An attempt to steal a device that was days away from getting a patent. Was my dad right? Was there more to this than what we were seeing? If so, what?
I was missing something, and I had to figure out what it was before it was too late.
Chapter 15
Lucien
I was on the couch running code on my laptop when Jacob walked into the house, pulling his suitcase behind him.
“Long drive?”
He didn’t say anything, just walked past me and went to his bedroom. I followed, pausing in the doorway to watch him flip on his computer and check for emails.
“Were the parental units annoyed that we all fled early?”
“Not really. I think they wanted some time alone with Rachel to try to figure out what she’s going to do next.”
“Adrienne suggested they make her go to work in fast food.”
Jacob snickered. “Could you see that?”
“I had the same reaction. But Adrienne had a point when she said that it would probably scare her into going back to college.”
“It might.” Jacob glanced at me. “Where is Adrienne?”
“She went home.”
“Really? I didn’t think the two of you were at that point yet.”
“What point?”
“Where you’re okay being apart.”
“I’m okay with her going home as long as she comes back.”
Jacob just shook his head as he turned back to his computer. I was about to leave when he said, “Hey. What’s this?”
I walked over to stand behind him and looked down at his screen. It was an email sent from my email address. But it wasn’t from me.
You should warn your brother not to mess with fire. He’ll take you all down with him.
“What does this mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s from your email address.”
“I didn’t send it.”
“Lucien…”
“I didn’t send it, Jacob.”
I backed away, tugging my cellphone from my pocket.
“Who are you calling?”
“Adrienne.”
“Why? What the hell is she going to do? What’s going on?”