Page 59 of Watch Me
I finally looked at her. “Thanksgiving?”
“Yeah. Thanksgiving is in three weeks.”
“I sure fucking hope so.”
I wasn’t nervous when I saw Detective—no,SergeantValor and his partner walk into the IT department. I was in my office, with the door open. I knew he and the other detective would be by eventually because my processwasn’tfoolproof. But I knew how to cover my tracks, and it was only a matter of time before they’d find the malware program I’d created and then put onto each computer via the link each student and staff clicked on when they needed to create their Lakeshore U profile. I also knew that they’d realize all three ladies were studentstoo.
I wasn’t worried because I was still one step ahead of them. I wasn’t stupid. I’d never tie my shit back to my work. What I had done was create a copy of our database and used that along with the pictures of students from their student IDs to findmywomen to watch.
After the cops left, I felt giddy. I was flying high all day and wanted to celebrate my win. I knew Reagan wasn’t working since it was Wednesday, and she only worked Thursday through Sunday nights, but I wanted to go to Judy’s and have a drink to rub it in their faces.
Three drinks in, Jack walked through the door. I knew he frequented Judy’s, and I was secretly hoping I’d run into him, even if he was the director of IT—my boss—and I was more or less a peon who did the gruntwork.
His gaze met mine, and we both smiled. I’d always thought he was handsome, especially for an older man. I assumed he was at least fifteen, maybe even twenty years older than myself. “Boss,” Igreeted.
He slid onto the barstool next to me. “I didn’t know you came here too.”
I grinned. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
Jack slowly smiled. “Oh yeah? Tell me more.”
I leaned my head close to his and whispered, “Then I’d have to kill you.”
Another drink for me, and three for Jack, and we were both feeling good. We got closer and closer, our shoulders touching, our hands brushing against each other. Then his mouth met mine, and everything changed.
For the better.
I’d never expected to have sex with my boss, but it was so good. So good that I started to think women were no longer my thing. I needed a man to bend me over and fuck me hard. And that was what Jack did in the bathroom of Judy’s.
And many nightsafter.
Ethan didn’t go to school with me like he had the last two days. Instead, he went to the precinct. I didn’t blame him. I could tell everything was weighing heavily on him. How could it not?
While out in public, I was trying not to show that it was getting to me. If the killer was watching, I wanted him to think I wasn’t scared. But sometimes I’d catch myself worrying about everything, and honestly, I didn’t likeit.
Ethan wasn’t sharing any details with me, but given that I was studying CSI, and from what I’d remembered from college, I figured the police probably didn’t have DNA or fingerprints or anything that would lead them to the killer.
When I was at the crime scene, I’d expected to see a disaster, but to my untrained eye, it looked almost staged, though the amount of blood on the couch said otherwise. That led me to believe the woman was unconscious when she was brutally stabbed.
Until Ethan and Shawn solved the case, I was never drinking from anything I didn’t pour myself. In fact, I hadn’t been to the coffee shop except for the day after we found the wood plaque on my wall. It wasn’t because I didn’t trust them, but at this point, I couldn’t trust anystranger.
My phone rang in my purse as April and I walked to class. “I need to get this,” I said to her after taking my phone out. It was Maddie. “Hey, honey.”
“What’s wrong?”
I stopped walking, causing April to stop too. “What do you mean?”
“You usually call me every day while you walk to class, and I haven’t heard from you in days.”
“Oh,” I sighed. Really, I hadn’t called her the day prior, notdaysas she put it, but itwasunusual for me not to call her while I walked to class. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“Then why haven’t you called?”
“I …” I looked at April. She looked concerned, but I smiled, hoping she’d know that my phone call wasn’t bad. “I met a new friend, and we’ve been walking to class together. I’m sorry.”
“Oh,” Maddie replied. “I thought something was wrong.”
I frowned even though she couldn’t see me. “No, nothing’s wrong,” I lied. “Are you doing okay?”
