Not that he would let up on her protection. Another reason to go to Louisiana with her. He bet he and Armie LaVigne could bond over how to protect Noelle.
Noelle sat up suddenly, her eyes going wide. “Madison texted Cara my name.”
Oh, she’d put something together. He watched her as it was obvious her brain was working overtime. “Yes. Cara thinks she was interrupted. Likely it was when they took her and created the accident in her lab.”
“She was in the building when she sent it out.”
“Yes, according to the location service on her phone.”
“Could she have been in the locker room?” Noelle asked.
There was no way of knowing exactly where she was. “I suppose so.”
“Someone was going through lockers the day I got attacked. Madison’s locker. My locker. What if they were looking for something Madison left me? The woman hated me, but I might be the only person she would trust to go up against Jessica Layne. She always teased me for being all upright and honorable. And our lockers were close. What if she was running and she knew she only had a moment to hide something?”
“But they’ve searched the lockers. You’ve used yours. You would have found something.”
She shook her head. “But I didn’t look up. I might not even be tall enough to feel for it. Madison kept a magnetic box in her locker. Our lockers were done by a designer, and they have an almost cathedral shape to them. Up at the top, Madison found a metal fastener she could put the magnet on. It’s how she kept her expensive jewelry safe, but I never heard of anyone else using it like that.”
“How big was it? Big enough for a thumb drive?” He wasn’t interested in jewelry, but he would be in any type of data Madison might have pulled down when she’d figured out she was in danger. “How would she have gotten in your locker?”
“She was smart. She could have figured it out. Hell, she might have watched me and memorized the combo so she could play a prank or something. She did that a lot. Hutch, I think that’s where it is. If she left me something, it’s in that locker.”
Hutch felt his jaw tighten because that meant what had happened that day wasn’t a coincidence, and it hadn’t been someone trying to hurt Noelle. They’d been looking for something. “They know she left you information.”
“But they didn’t find it,” she insisted. “They looked in the locker, but I bet they didn’t find it. Madison painted the magnetic box almost the same color as the locker. If you don’t feel for it, you won’t know it’s there.”
She was getting excited, but fear was what he felt.
Whatever was on that drive, Jessica Layne had been willing to kill for.
“I think I’m going to call Tag.” He was going to move her. “There’s clothes for you in that bag I brought in. Get dressed. I think we might make that trip to Louisiana tonight.”
He would have someone bring him a car and take off. If Layne even had a whiff that there was an investigation, she would want all the loose ends tied up.
Noelle was a loose end.
“Why? Hutch, we need to get to that locker,” Noelle said.
He grabbed her cane and handed it to her. “Someone will. I promise. But it won’t be you.”
He dragged his boxers and jeans on and reached for his cell just as it lit up and started to hum. Michael. He swiped to accept it because Michael had the night shift watching Kyle. Had he slipped out again? “What’s going on?”
“We have company. I need…”
The line went dead.
And then the lights went out and Hutch realized the night had taken a deadly turn.
Chapter Eighteen
It was so dark. Without windows to let in any light, the room that moments before had felt warm and safe now sent a chill through Noelle.
“What’s happening? Did we have a power failure?” She couldn’t see Hutch at all. At least she’d managed to get her cane in her hand.
A light came on, splitting the utter darkness. Hutch held his cell in his hand and illuminated part of the room for her. “Cell service is out, and Michael said we had company. I need you to get dressed as quickly as possible, baby. I’m going to start my laptop and pull up our security feed.”
“I thought we were safe here.” She opened the bag MaeBe had dropped off for her and thanked the universe for underwear since hers had been ripped off. She quickly got into the jeans and T-shirt while Hutch hauled his laptop out with the hand that wasn’t holding the flashlight.
“Even if someone cut our power, the security system has a backup,” Hutch explained. “And if they think they can break in, they should think again. The windows are bulletproof, and the locks would take a long time to cut through. I can access the security cameras and listen in through the comm. It looks like the backup is already online.”