The Liar

He thought of Matt, wondered if his friend had done the deed yet. He decided not quite, because once he had, Shelby would surely get a call or text from Emma Kate.

He hoped it was soon. He could keep a secret, but they made him itchy.

He glanced over at Snickers, riding as any self-respecting dog would, with his head out the window, his tongue happily lolling. As impulses went, the dog was a good one.

It didn’t take long to establish Callie in the backyard. Her kid heaven included her prized bubble maker, a puppy and the old family dog.

“Just look at Clancy, running around like a puppy himself. I think Snickers has taken five years off him with this visit.”

“She’s still got a couple more pups over there.”

“I think the one’s enough right now. I’ll go get my laptop so you can relax. Why don’t I get you that beer first?”

“I’ll take it.”

While he waited, Griff considered the what-ifs. If her computer had been compromised, as his had, it could mean the Ridge had some sort of cyber thief trolling. That might make the most sense.

But it struck him as odd that both his and hers would be targets, and pretty much back-to-back. That played as more personal, more direct, to his mind.

He let the possibilities roll around in his head as he stood at the kitchen door, watching the two dogs play tug-of-war with his homemade toy while Callie danced around them in a flood of bubbles.

Moving to the Ridge hadn’t been an impulse like the puppy. He’d thought long and hard about it, considered the angles, the pros, the cons. But the decision had been, like the pup, a good one.

It was a good life here. Quieter than Baltimore, but he liked the quiet. Some culture shock here and there, but he knew how to adapt and adjust.

And wasn’t it interesting—or fortuitous—that months after he’d settled in down here, Shelby had come home? He might just make tomorrow’s word “serendipity.”

“Oh, Griffin!”

“What?” He spun around. “Somebody was in your comp, too?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t look. The Master Suite.” She said it with a flourish, with capital letters. “It’s wonderful, it’s gorgeous. I knew it would be. I saw it happening, but finished, it’s— I’m going to have a whole box of tissues handy because Mama’s going to cry buckets of joy and delight when she sees it. It’s all just perfect, just what she wanted. And you left it sparkling clean.”

“Just part of the service.”

“You put flowers in there.”

“Also part of the service for exceptional clients.”

“Your exceptional client’s going to cry happy tears and take a soak in that big tub the minute she gets home. When I can afford a house, you’re hired.”

“I’ll put you on the list. Let’s have a look at that.”

“All right.”

She put the laptop on the counter, booted it up.

“Have you downloaded or uploaded anything today?”

“Clay sent a couple more pictures of the baby this morning in an e-mail, but that’s all.”

“Let’s see.” He tapped a few keys, brought up her history first. “Did you go into any of these documents, go to any of these places this afternoon?”

“No.” She lifted a hand, rubbed at her throat. “No, I haven’t touched it since this morning, and then only to check my mail.”

“Shelby, somebody went to these places and into these docs. And you can see here, the data’s been uploaded onto another drive. Copied to another drive.”

“Just like yours was.”

“Yeah, just like mine.” Those clever green eyes sharpened with temper. “You should call your brother.”

“Yes. God. Would you do that? I need to see if— I have to check my banking.”

“You do that now. I’ll make the call.” He stepped back, put in a call to Forrest.

“Everything’s still there.” Her voice trembled with relief. “It’s all still there.”

“Forrest is on his way. You’re going to want to change your passwords. But . . .”

She looked up from doing just that. “But what?”

“It just seems to me if somebody was going to pull money out of your account, he’d have done it. I changed mine minutes after whoever this was hit my comp, but he’s had hours to wipe you out, if that’s the reason.”

“What other reason is there?”

“Information, maybe. E-mails, accounts, sites we frequent, calendars. Most of my life’s on my computer. We’re . . . involved, right, you and me?”

“I— I guess we are.” It felt strange to say it out loud.

“And both our computers are hacked into, about twelve hours apart. Maybe you should take a look around your room, check if anything’s out of place or missing. I’ve got my eye on Callie.”

With a nod, she hurried off.

He glanced out the back door again. All was right with that world. A pretty little girl, rainbow bubbles, a couple of happy dogs, all backdropped by the smoky green hills.

But outside that picture, something was very wrong.

•   •   •

IT TOOK A LITTLE TIME; she wanted to be thorough. But she found nothing out of place.