“Hey,” Kyle said.
Hutch held a hand out. “You are not the primary on this case.”
“Well, we’re not going to have a case at all if you keep talking,” Kyle complained.
“I definitely think I’m smarter than you.” He was starting to irritate her. And her heart was pounding because no one challenged her like this. No one. She was the sweet, innocent Noelle who couldn’t walk as well as the rest of them. She was treated with a politeness no one seemed to understand marginalized her, too, because she wasn’t allowed to be passionate. She could hurt herself. She was weak and fragile.
It felt good to snarl a little his way.
He stood, his palms flat against the desk, as though he didn’t quite trust himself if he didn’t plant them there. He stared at her, every lean line of his body predatory, and yeah, that did something for her, too. “You probably are, but I’m about to prove that I’m a better game player than you are because I’ve already hacked your system. I did it with my phone. With my phone, Noelle. That’s how easy it was. You have spyware all over it.”
She gasped at the thought. She wasn’t bad with computers herself, but she’d had no hint that there was spyware. “But I have security on it.”
“And whoever uploaded it to your system knew exactly how to get through,” Hutch explained. “Do you know what else I found on your system? Because I can let you guess or I can send it straight to your father and let him handle the problem.”
She felt her face flush because she thought she knew what he was talking about. It was habit for her to write down her thoughts. It helped her organize them. She had lists all over her system, but only one that Hutch could threaten her with. “You wouldn’t. You don’t have any reason to.”
Kyle frowned. “I seem to be lost here. What exactly are we doing?”
“She believes someone murdered Madison Wallace, and she wants to find the killer.” Hutch let the words sit there like a bomb that was definitely going to go off right in her face. “On her own. She’s got lists of suspects. She thinks someone screwed around with the chemicals Madison Wallace was using. And somehow she’s not connected the dots here.”
“There is such a thing as coincidence.” But now that he said the words out loud, she could hear how dumb she sounded. “I don’t know why anyone would hurt Madison. Not for the same reasons they would hurt me. Everyone hated her, but she was a rock star. From what I can tell, she was on the verge of a breakthrough. We didn’t work on the same projects, so I don’t think my computer problems are connected.”
“And I think they are,” Hutch countered. “Who do you think your father is going to believe?”
He had her in check, but she still had a move to make. She turned to Charlotte. “Mrs. Taggart, I will do whatever you want me to do. I’ll be a good girl and follow every protocol you think I need, but I would like another agent to work with. Kyle said there’s a woman on the team. I would feel safer with her.”
“Don’t. I haven’t done a damn thing to make you feel unsafe,” Hutch argued. “I might have hurt your feelings, but don’t push that shit on me.”
“I’m feeling a little unsafe now because you’re being very aggressive.” He wasn’t really. His words were, but she didn’t feel physically threatened. He was, however, threatening her peace of mind because her heart was pounding, and she wondered what would happen if they were alone.
“Ian, do you remember that year of my life I spent being tortured so you could get your brother back?” Hutch said the words to his boss, but his eyes were steady on her.
Tortured?
“I do,” Taggart said evenly.
Hutch’s jaw went tight, straightening to a razor’s edge. “I’m calling that in now. This op is mine. I am in charge. We do this my way or you get on the phone with Sheriff LaVigne because one way or another she’s not going home alone tonight.”
“I thought the cotton candy machine was the trade-off for a year in hell,” Taggart said.
Hutch finally turned that stare his boss’s way.
Taggart sighed and focused his attention on Noelle. “Ms. LaVigne, Hutch is the only agent available to work your case. In light of what he’s found, I’m going to assume he’ll want close cover, and he’ll probably need to get into your office at some point. You’ll have to decide how to integrate him into your life. And pretty quickly.”
What did that mean? “Kyle has to come with me to the office?”
“No. I do. Kyle is strictly muscle, but he does have to stay close.” Hutch straightened up, seeming to relax a bit. “You recently went home. Does everyone know you went home to visit your family?”