“Okay.” Elisa’s response was in a small voice, not frightened but definitely subdued. “What do you think he did?”
“Well, the tires didn’t look flat when we came through the parking lot tonight.” Alex rubbed his chin.
A smile tugged at Elisa’s mouth, and he looked at her askance, but she waved it away. “No flat tires is good. But what’s the worst-case scenario?”
Not everyone would want to know, but Rojas could respect her preference. He’d want to know the worst, too.
“Could be something as dangerous as an explosive if we’re talking worst case.” Cruz delivered that bit of information in a flat tone. “But not likely in such a public place, with your ex messing with you the way he has been. If your ex wants you back, he’s not going to want you back in pieces.”
Well, probably not. Some stalking scenarios did escalate to deadly situations. None of them was an expert, but it didn’t look like it’d gotten there yet. Rojas had a call in to a friend at the police department, though. Just in case.
“More likely, he placed a tracking device on your car.” Cruz finished his assessment. “Quick to install and easy to figure out where you are any time.”
“So what do we do next?” Elisa asked.
“Well, I have a police friend I want you to talk to.” Rojas watched her closely. “We’ll give this video to them, too, and file a police report.”
Her eyelids shuttered half closed, and her face went blank. After a moment, she spoke quietly. “I went to the police when I first left. They kept asking me over and over again if I was certain I wanted to file a report, apply for a restraining order. Instead of writing down what I told them, they kept offering me counseling.”
Son of a bitch. Even if her ex didn’t have influence at the police department she’d gone to, receiving that kind of resistance had to have been frightening. But if her ex did have contacts in the police department, it gave an added level of complexity to the sort of person they were dealing with. Rojas filed it away to consider later.
Cruz broke the silence. “Can you give us your ex’s full name and address? I think it’s about time we find out what there is to know about him.”
Elisa nodded. “I can tell you about his company and his educational background. He doesn’t really have much in the way of family. Parents retired out of country.”
Cruz tapped the desk thoughtfully. “I’m not as curious about his bio. Can you think of why he’s willing to put so much effort into tracking you? Hiring people—that takes money and effort to find the right, discrete kind of people. It’s a risk when it comes to his reputation.”
Elisa opened her mouth and closed it, a couple of times. She started to rub one hand up and down her opposite forearm. Her wrist brace was going to leave scratches in the skin of her opposite arm.
“Why don’t you tell me while we get you settled upstairs for the night?” Alex offered. “Cruz is probably going to be here with Gary’s computer for a few more minutes.”
Cruz nodded. “Any information is good, but I’m going to do some searches, too, to dig into any background you might not know about. Tell Rojas what you can think of in the meantime.”
“Okay.” Elisa paused. “His name is Joseph Corbin Junior. Chief Information Officer of Corbin Systems. The company is global, but the headquarters are in California.”
As she gave them both home and company addresses, Cruz made notes on a pad of paper and nodded. “Good enough to start. Let me get Gary’s computer back up to decent speed and double-check the network security.”
Basic information wasn’t what was eating at her. She hadn’t relaxed after leaving Cruz with that much.
“C’mon, you must be tired.” Rojas gestured toward the back stairs up to the studio above the school.
“It’s been a lot for one day.” She looked around, somewhat twitchy.
He watched her, considering. “Gary and Greg are going to be here soon and stay the night. If anything triggers the security, the police will be here in minutes. You won’t be alone. I’d stay, but Boom—”
“Oh, no. Boom needs you. You’ve already spent too much time today on me, and she’s still recovering.” Guilt tinged her words, and she started to open the door leading to the stairs.
“Hold up. Let us go first.” He wanted to address the guilt she was feeling over taking him away from Boom, but he applied his focus to clearing the stairs and the upstairs area first.
Stairs were always the toughest to clear, especially narrow ones like these.
Cruz called from the office. “Camera feed shows the upstairs as clear.”
Rojas relaxed a fraction but didn’t speed his ascent, letting Souze take the lead. Knowing the cameras didn’t pick up anything helped, but nothing replaced the accuracy of eyes on the area. A skilled intruder could see security cameras and hide.