Page 71 of Knot for Me
He frowns. “If you’re unhappy here, you don’t have to stay. We won’t force you.”
“I’m not going anywhere, I’m only having a pity party. Besides, you guys are the best auction found pack I’ve ever been with.”
Rolling his eyes, he focuses on the phone again. “Mind if I take this to my office?”
“What for?”
“I’m going to try tracing the number.”
“Have at it. Don’t read my messages.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “What are you worried about?”
“Nothing.” Only that he might find out everything I’ve told her and my mom via text. Nothing is too incriminating, but I’d rather die than let him read thewhy are you complaining? Take the knotmessages from my mom.
“Uh-huh. Right. I’ll stay out of your messages. Dinner will be here in an hour.”
“Okay.” I chew on my lip and look out of my window.
“Reading tonight?”
“Probably.” I shrug. The last few nights he hasn’t been in the library to keep me company. It’s a bad idea to miss someone you’re not supposed to like.
Seems like I’m full of mistakes lately.
“I’ll be there too. Save me a spot.” He checks his man bun, making sure a hair hasn’t fallen out of place.
I nod and watch him walk out of the room before lying back on my pillow and groaning. There’s no telling what this creepster leaving me messages will do to my freedom.
ChapterSeventeen
CORY
Cursing at the computer screen, I retype the number and run it through the program again. The same result as the last time I ran it shows. I grind my teeth. Nothing. The number doesn’t trace back to a person. It’s a burner, and I figured as much but knowing I can’t find the asshole pisses me off.
Lucas walks in, and I glance at him. His eyebrows draw together, and he grimaces. “No luck?”
“Nope.” I switch programs and open the emails. I type in the IP address and search for the location it returns. “Of-fucking-course.”
“Nothing?”
“It’s smart,” I tell Lucas. “They knew enough to hide their actual location. They probably used an encrypted email provider and a dark web browser. Fucking bastard.” It’s annoying that the bad guy knows what he’s doing; it makes my job harder. I’m no computer genius but I’ve taken enough networking classes to know how to trace someone based on their email address. This guy knew better than to use a traceable email provider. I hate being shown up.
“How worried do we need to be?” He stands next to me and leans closer to the screen. “Think they’ll try to contact her again?”
“Maybe. The emails are threatening. With what happened to Emily, I don’t think we can take any chances. He’s calling her now, which shows escalation too.” I shake my head. “I think we need to be on alert.”
“The calls were ballsy.”
“Whoever it is knew we weren’t home. I can’t see someone pulling this with us home.”
“So what?” He side-eyes me. “You think it’s someone we know?”
Sitting back, I shrug. “Or someone who knows us. We’re in the eye of the public every week. It wouldn’t be hard for someone to figure out our schedule.”
“I’ll call in a favor with Pack Dramo.”
“That’s not a bad idea.” Their pack is on the board of the police authority, and they have access to the best gear. Since they also own Ascension Security, they have high-grade monitoring systems, motion detectors, heat sensors, and audio. The works. It makes our current system look like a baby monitor. We have the audio and the visual, but the other features would add an extra layer of security. Plus, they have auto-alerts when the systems trip. If someone tries to take down an Ascension Security system, they can expect a SWAT team to swoop in shortly thereafter.
