On her way home Georgia tried to reach Curt Dixon, but there was no answer on his cell, and he didn’t return a text. She wondered if he’d gone back to Tennessee. He’d said he might. Maybe he wanted to forget all about Dena and the Resistance and move on with his life.
Back home she fixed a Diet Coke with lemon and called Paul Kelly.
“So what’s this I hear about Franklin Porter cornering the silver market?”
Kelly cackled. “Old news. That was forty years ago.”
“What happened?”
Kelly launched into an explanation of how the Hunt brothers hoarded silver in the 1970s and drove up the price more than seven hundred percent. “At the time Porter was more of a wannabe tycoon, but he’d bought a bunch of silver, too. Turned out he wasn’t as greedy as the Hunts.” Once the commodities exchange levied heavy restrictions on borrowing to buy silver, the Hunt brothers defaulted on their loans, and the market panicked. “Porter was careful not to overleverage himself, so when prices dropped he made out like a bandit,” Kelly said.
Georgia wasn’t sure how people made money when prices fell, but she was willing to take Kelly’s word for it.
“Who told you about Porter?” he asked.
“Ruth Marriotti.”
Kelly harrumphed. “The woman knows her history.”
They talked more about the case. Georgia told Kelly she was looking for Jarvis’s sister but so far had been unsuccessful.
“You sure that’s where you should be spending your time?” he asked.
First Erica. Now Paul. It was enough to make her second-guess herself. But she didn’t tell him that. “Actually, I am. At least for the time being.”
Dusk was settling in when she heard the scratch of a key in the lock. The door opened. Jimmy.
She greeted him with a smile. “Howdy, stranger. This is a surprise.”
He came over and took her in his arms. “I missed you.” He kissed her.
When she came up for air, she said, “Me too. I’m sorry for being a bitch the other night. The night I left.”
“You okay now?” He searched her face.
She ran her hands over his hair, pulled him to her, and kissed him again. He tightened his hold. When they parted, she said, “Much better now.” She released her hold. “Hey, did you come down here the other day when I was out?”
“When?”
She told him.
He shook his head. “That was the day we busted a meth dealer in Kenosha. Why?”
“I think someone might have broken in, but I can’t figure out how.”
Jimmy stiffened.
“They didn’t take anything. But things were, well, moved around. Like my laptop.”
“Do you think someone was copying your hard drive?”
“There’s nothing much to copy.”
“Except your history. All the background checks you did. Other info you downloaded.”
“That’s what I was thinking. But why?”
“You’d know better than me.” He went to her laptop and raised the cover. “I suppose we could have someone take a look at it at the crime lab.”
“I appreciate the thought, but what do I use in the meantime?”
“I don’t like the idea that someone is surveilling you.”
“You think I do?”
“On the other hand, maybe it was Vanna or JoBeth. Maybe Vanna forgot something of Charlie’s. Or needed to know where to pick it up.”
Georgia considered it. “I hadn’t thought about that. You’re probably right.”
“But if it wasn’t, I don’t think you should be alone right now. Why don’t you come to the apartment?” He grinned. “We can do a test run.”
“A test run?”
“Of living together.”
She sucked in a breath. “Wow.”
“Wow, what? You don’t like the idea?”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it.” She smiled. “It’s tempting.”
“That’s the second time you haven’t ‘thought about it.’ Think about this. If we lived together, imagine all the things I could help you think about.”
She laughed. “That’s got to be the most convoluted thing that’s ever come out of your mouth.”
“And I thought it was pretty clever.”
“So tell me. What kinds of things can you help me think about?” She brushed her fingers down his cheek.
“I’ll show you.” He took her hand and led her into the bedroom.