The DEA’s involvement in the case could undermine the work Ree and Quint were putting in. Ree didn’t like it one bit. The fact that it seemed to be a trigger for Quint wasn’t helping matters. His body language had changed the second he heard the news. And if she was blind to that, anger practically radiated off him.
While he pulled together lunch, she reached out to Nick.
“No answer?” Quint’s eyebrow came up in disapproval.
She left a message for Nick that was cryptic enough in the event it was intercepted and then nodded toward Quint. “I’m sure he’ll get back to me when he can.”
There were all kinds of reasons Nick might not have his phone with him in the apartment. But it could be a power play. His way of letting her know she wasn’t a priority. In which case, he was a class A jerk, and working together was going to be real “fun.”
A quick lunch of grocery store–prepared chicken salad on a lettuce leaf was enough to keep her stomach from growling. Before she knew it, there was a knock at the door.
Ree hopped up and checked the peephole. She opened the door and welcomed Angie inside. “What is that?”
“I made a little bowl of trail mix. I hope it’s okay,” Angie said. “It didn’t seem right to show up empty-handed.”
“Of course, it’s great,” Ree said, taking the large bowl. “Warm?”
“I like to pop mine in the oven and pour it into a warm bowl.” Angie blushed. And then Ree realized why. Quint stepped into the entryway.
“You must be Angie,” he said, sticking out his hand. “My name is Quint.”
“I, um.” Angie cleared her throat before continuing. She shook his hand, and her cheeks turned several shades darker. “Saw you down at the gym today. Nice to meet you.”
“Any friend of my wife’s is always welcome,” he said, seemingly unaware of the effect he had on the opposite sex. Or maybe he was just so used to it that it no longer registered.
A twinge of jealousy pinched in the center of Ree’s chest.
“I’ll put this on the counter,” she said.
“Thanks,” Angie said, following Ree as Quint took his spot in the kitchen.
“Did you get any studying in today?” Ree asked.
Before Angie could answer, there was another knock at the door. Ree excused herself, checked the peephole, and then froze. What was Nick Driver doing standing on the other side of the door when he should have called first or returned her text?
Ree took a step back so she’d be in Quint’s view, and then shook her head. The face she made should hopefully clue him in to the fact that this scenario was about to go downhill quick.
“Hey, honey, I asked a neighbor to borrow a couple of eggs,” Quint said, maintaining a straight face while in full view of Angie, who’d taken a seat across from him.
A shot of adrenaline caused Ree’s heart to pound. She cracked the door open and made a face that she hoped would tell Nick just how unwelcome he was at the moment.
The agent started to speak, but she shushed him, praying Angie couldn’t hear. The young woman was a busybody. Quint started whistling, providing some background noise as cover.
“Thank you for the eggs,” she said to the agent.
His eyebrows drew together before it seemed to dawn on him this wasn’t a good time.
“Anytime,” he said with a salute.
She mouthed the word go.
“Tell your husband to stop by when he has a chance,” Nick said a little louder this time.
“Anything important I should pass along?” Ree asked.
“No. Just swinging by to say hello,” the agent said with a scowl.
“Will do, then,” Ree said before saying goodbye and closing the door. She could only hope Angie hadn’t caught on to the fact nothing had been handed over and Nick had no idea about the eggs.
Angie rounded the corner after Ree fisted her hands and before she made the “handoff” to Quint. The wall should have blocked their real activity from her view. Quint opened and closed the fridge.
“Who was that?” Angie asked.
“This new guy I met at the gym. His name is...” Quint pretended to draw a blank, which was smart when Ree thought about it, because now it could be anyone in the building.
“Is he on seven?” Angie asked. “Because I know everyone on our floor and some from others.”
Before Quint could respond, another knock interrupted them.
“I’ll get it,” Ree said. She turned around and checked the peephole before opening the door again. “Lola, come on in. Angie just arrived as well.”
Lola smiled as she entered the apartment. She had a laptop tucked under one arm and a bottle of wine in her free hand. She leaned in cheek to cheek and made a kissing noise as she greeted Ree warmly.
“I brought this for you and your husband.” Lola held up the wine. “Welcome to the building and to Houstonian NightClub.”
“You didn’t have to bring us anything,” Ree said, taking the bottle and stepping aside so Lola could greet Angie with the same warm acknowledgment.
“Please, it’s nothing,” Lola said with a small headshake. “A small gift.”
Quint joined them, and another twinge of jealousy hit when Lola gave him the same treatment.
“I see you brought the offending piece of technology,” Quint said.
Lola smiled. She seemed less affected by his looks, but she was probably hit on dozens of times a night by wealthy, good-looking men. Then there was Constantin, her boyfriend. A guy with the nickname Lights Out probably didn’t like his girlfriend flirting with anyone else. She would have learned very quickly to hide any reactions she had to other men.
“Yes,” she said. “I hope you can fix it. My boyfriend keeps telling me to buy a new one, but then it has to be set up again and I have all my pictures stored on this. I’m used to it and I know how it works.”
“I’ll give it a look and see what I can do,” he said as she handed over the device.
“And I’ll open this.” Ree held up the bottle. “Four glasses?”
“I’m in,” Angie said with a bounce.
Lola nodded.
“Honey?” Ree asked Quint. He moved to her and planted a tender kiss on her lips.
“If you’re pouring, I’m drinking,” he said with a wink. “Why don’t you ladies take the living room and I’ll work over here at the counter?”
Angie and Lola moved to the living room and took seats on the sofa while Ree located a corkscrew and then handed it and the bottle to Quint. She was fully capable of opening the bottle herself but had learned a long time ago the best way to get cooperation from others and disarm them was to show weakness in their presence.
Quint opened the bottle as Ree pulled out four glasses.
“Lucky us, they all match,” she quipped, trying to shake off the heaviness of their earlier conversation and the near-miss of Nick showing up moments before Lola. As it was, Ree couldn’t be 100 percent certain the two of them hadn’t walked right past each other as she left the elevator and he got on. At least Lola hadn’t seen him at Ree’s door or questioned them about the agent.
Ree filled four glasses as Quint retrieved his laptop from the living room and set it next to Lola’s on the counter.
“In case I need to look something up,” he said.
“He’s so good with those things,” Ree said, setting a glass in front of him using the pass-through. She balanced two glasses in one arm and held the third in her free hand. Walking into the living room without spilling was a true testament to her ability to save every drop of a good wine.
“Password?” Quint asked over his shoulder. Lola shouted out something that sounded a lot like her birthday.
Ree sat on the plush rug opposite the bowl of treats and hoped Quint could get something from Lola’s computer.
“THIS IS GREAT, THANKS,” Quint said to Lola. Shock struck like a stray bullet when her wallpaper filled the screen. A kid who was the spitting image of Lola and looked to be about two and a half to three years old was the background for a cluttered desktop.
First things first, Quint organized her desktop. He moved icons into a new folder he created and marked Stuff.
“I need to run a diagnostic tool,” he said aloud, but he doubted anyone heard him over Angie’s laughter and the buzz of conversation. Ree’s opening the bottle of wine was a brilliant move. There was plenty of time for the drink to wear off before her shift, and it might loosen up Lola and Angie.
Quint grabbed the flash drive he’d set out in case he got the chance to use it and plugged it in. Thankfully, she didn’t have an Apple product since they did away with regular USB ports a while ago, and that would have made this job a whole lot more difficult.
As he copied her hard drive, he poked around on her device. There wasn’t much more than an endless number of pictures of her kid, and Constantin. The ones with Constantin only went back a year or so, giving Quint the impression the kid didn’t belong to him. She seemed to mainly use her PC for surfing the web and shopping. She kept way too many tabs open, so he closed all of those. Her battery was low.
“I’m guessing the power cord is at your place,” Quint said.
“Yes,” Lola said, turning to look at him. “Do you need me to go get it?” She started to get up, but he waved her off.
“I have enough power to get by, but you should think about replacing the battery if you want to keep this laptop around. Keep it charged between ten and ninety percent for optimal life,” he stated, figuring he needed to throw out a few facts for credibility’s sake. He was also doing his best to distract himself from the fact that Nick had shown up after Ree called and left a message. It was exactly the kind of thing that could make a case go haywire, and he planned on having a few choice words with the DEA agent when the time was right. The incident was also going in Quint’s report. Normally, he would cover for anyone and have a fellow agent’s back. If this guy was as great as his file would have everyone believe, he should have known better than to pay a surprise visit.
When the files were finished copying over to the flash drive, Quint pulled it out and set it to the side.
“I noticed you have virus protection software installed,” Quint said to Lola.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” she asked.
“No. No.” He shook his head. “It’s the first place hackers look.”
“I thought it was the opposite. It has a shield,” she said.
“The software keeps a back door on your system for any experienced computer nerd to walk through. I’m removing it now,” he said.
“Won’t that leave the front door open?” she asked. Good analogy.
“I’ll build a custom firewall,” he said. “It’ll be the best way to protect what’s inside.”
She nodded and said, “Ahhh, okay. That sounds much smarter.”
Quint was finished uninstalling her so-called virus protection software and the firewall was up in less than fifteen minutes. “Normally, when a computer just shuts down by itself it’s overheating, it has battery problems, the heat sink fan is being temperamental or there’s a virus.”
“It sounds like I’ve been holding the door open for a virus,” she said. “Maybe that’s what is happening?”
“It’s possible. It might take a few minutes to check.” He downloaded virus-scanning software before adding, “The most likely culprit for something like this would be bad RAM. It’s swappable, but let’s hope it’s a battery issue. That’s easier to replace.”
“Do batteries just do this?” she asked, leaning in his direction.
“If the battery can’t give consistent voltage due to it being old or having something like water damage, then the laptop will shut off,” he informed.
“Water damage is possible. I sometimes have it open in the kitchen when I’m using it for a recipe,” she said. “My kitchen is the same size as yours.”
“That might explain it,” he surmised. “I’ll order a new battery and have it delivered to your place.”
“I’m in nine-three, same as you. The only difference is the floor,” she said with a proud smile. Looking at her now, he realized she reminded him of the famous actress Penélope Cruz. He would mention it to Ree later.
He ordered a new battery for Lola to be delivered to her place. The convenience of online ordering would provide her with a brand-new battery tomorrow. He had to give it to Houston, it had the online ordering and delivery operation down pat. He also thought about Constantin and his truck business. How easy would it be to slip trucks in and out of the city along with all the home deliveries going on? Pretty damn easy.
Glancing over at Lola, seeing her quiet strength, he wondered how she’d ended up in a relationship with someone like Constantin. Looks could be deceiving, Quint knew firsthand, and yet she didn’t seem the type to be involved with the criminal element.
The round, angelic face beaming at him from the computer might explain why she worked at the bar. She could work nights while the kid slept. She must have someone to help with mornings considering the fact that she was at Pilates this morning. There was no kid in sight now. Did she have a live-in babysitter?
The computer dinged, indicating it was finished with the scan, as Quint took a sip of the wine. He checked the screen. There were two suspicious apps he could uninstall, and one he figured he should leave in. But how did he tell her someone had installed spyware on her laptop?