Brutal Obsession (The Safeguard Series, Book One) (8 page)

K
eane had purposefully
chosen to survey the small office before focusing on Ashlyn Ellis. The elegant décor was all her. She liked the polished appearance that stated professionalism. That was evident through the vintage hand-tooled oak furniture, as well as the small collection of leather-bound classic books with gilded edges that revolved around justice system and the Constitution. The warmth of the earth tones was meant to put people at ease and yet there was a formal air to the room, almost as if the office was meant to prevent a person from seeing behind the pretense.

His initial impression was that it appeared little had changed since his last encounter with her.

Ashlyn was still a strikingly beautiful woman. Her long chestnut hair hung in waves down to her lower back when she didn’t have it contained in a clip to give herself a more professional appearance. He recalled having been there when she’d run in and out of the bathroom experimenting with different hairstyles.
Was this too that or was this way better for this situation
…and so on. There was a confidence within her now that signified she no longer doubted herself. Her full lips and high cheekbones were as usual embellished with varying shades of rubies. Her blue eyes appeared to be more of a sensual grey, although at the moment they were looking at him warily, as if wondering why he’d chosen to accept a job protecting her when their last encounter had been nothing less than a mutual battleground.

Keane wasn’t quite so sure of his reasoning either, but he’d have time to sort through his motivations later once he’d heard her story.

The small amber-colored throw on the arm of the leather couch clued Keane in that Ashlyn had spent a night or two here over the course of the last week. Otherwise, the knitted afghan would have been folded to perfection and put away in the bottom cabinet of her bookcase. She’d always liked things tidy. There could be more than one reason for that, actually. She’d had a habit of staying at work as she was nearing the end of an important case, kibitzing over minor details of the testimony prior to closing arguments. She was a creature of habit and he—unfortunately—knew a lot about her daily routines because he’d been one of them. Was that why her latest admirer had taken it upon himself to enter her home uninvited? Was he a recent eviction from her life? Had he missed her warmth after having grown accustomed to it like he once had? Or was this one drawn from the tide of humanity that she ignored each day on her trek through life?

Ashlyn had a headache or else the bottle of ibuprofen wouldn’t still be sitting on her desk. The glass of water she’d used to swallow the pills was currently still half-full and positioned on the Edwardian side table sitting atop a stone coaster next to a Venetian crystal pitcher that most likely cost more than the simple black leather Boston dress shoes Keane was wearing. That point didn’t really bother him. She was accustomed to the finer things in life, courtesy of being raised in a rather wealthy family. What concerned him was the offense she seemed to take at his appearance here in her little world.

The one thing that stood out to everyone present above all else was the look of surprise that was plastered across Ashlyn’s face upon seeing him enter her office. It shouldn’t have given Keane a sense of satisfaction that she hadn’t been prepared for his presence, but it did. All he wanted to do to make the moment complete was to reach over to her and use one finger to pop her jaw back into place.

Agent Coulter had already stepped forward and shook hands with the two men currently standing in front of Ashlyn’s desk. Both men introduced themselves before Ashlyn had a chance to walk back around her desk, albeit somewhat pale. Keane noticed the barely perceptual limp as she favored her left foot. It had only been two days since she’d called 911 upon discovering someone had been in her apartment and her wound still had to be quite tender. Leave it to her to wear those shoes today. She’d always worn heels if she had to appear in court or she would have changed into flats around the office. It appeared she hadn’t had time to make that switch.

The police had doubted Ashlyn’s timeline of the night, according to the tone evident in their report. They’d all had a rude awakening when it was verified that an unknown perpetrator was undeniably keeping tabs on a high profile federal prosecutor by hacking into her private security system. The fact was that whoever had breached the system had only been uncovered once the database logs on the security company’s Oracle server were produced for the FBI Cybercrimes Division the next day. Now it was in Agent Coulter’s hands and he’d gotten exactly nowhere in the thirty-six hours he’d had the case. It appeared Keane might be here a while, if all he was going to do was protect his former lover from a threat someone else was going to investigate.

Keane wasn’t pleased with his new employer’s track record in the least. As a matter of fact, he’d been somewhat serious about that thirty-day probationary period once he’d discovered who his first client would be.

“Ashlyn, I’m sure Mr. Garner explained to you about the limits of the services he’s contracted with SSI,” Keane said, noticing the way she’d crossed her arms. She’d taken a defensive posture early on. She’d always had the tendency to be cold in air-conditioned rooms, but the chill to her soft skin had him wondering just how much this incident from the other night had rattled her. She was literally a block of ice. “Have there been any recent developments I should be made aware of?”

Keane had spent his flight going through the dossier that Calvert had so graciously provided, as well as having already briefly discussed the case with Coulter. There wasn’t anything new to add to the investigation, but that didn’t mean Ashlyn hadn’t run into trouble since this morning. It was highly unlikely, considering Gina had said her employer had been in court all day as evidenced by the heels.

“No,” Ashlyn responded, her gaze seeking out Agent Coulter’s to reinforce her answer. “Unless something has happened that I’m not aware of. I haven’t checked my email just yet.”

“Unfortunately, nothing,” Coulter replied, only to then remain intentionally silent after slipping his hands into the pockets of his matching suit slacks. It was apparent he wanted to speak with Ashlyn in private.

“Mr. Sanderson, give me a call if you need anything from our office,” Jarod interjected, as if that checked off a box on his list of to-do things. Keane nodded as he took the man’s business card, aware of how busy someone of Garner’s high-ranking position could be. He slipped Garner’s card into his wallet and produced his. Jarod’s record was spotless; his family was somewhat a little too perfect on paper, and he had a reputation of getting things done. Keane was sure there were a few bodies in the family closets, but nothing to do with Ashlyn’s case. “And please give Townes my regards when you speak with him. If you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment I’m actually late for.”

Jarod Garner took his leave, having already pulled out his cell phone to stare at the screen. It didn’t go unnoticed that he’d been receiving multiple messages in the span of the three minutes they’d spoken. Victor Wright stayed behind, clearly not having picked up on Agent Coulter’s intentional silence.

“I’ve taken a quick look at Ashlyn’s home security system, as well as her private computer network,” Victor professed, appearing to want to take a seat. He remained standing when no one else moved. “I’ve had my people modify what firewalls they could remotely and will replace some other vertical firewall logging preferences this evening. The permissions on the log access files were set to allow pretty much anyone to erase files. I thought you should know.”

“I appreciate that,” Agent Coulter said, surprisingly accepting of Victor’s offer to do the enhancements. Keane speculated to himself as to why, especially after having indicated he’d cleared no one as a suspect…even those who worked closely with Ashlyn. “Would you please give us a private moment with Ashlyn?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Victor replied, finally having comprehended why there was a slight tension in the air. “Ashlyn, you’re still okay with the changes we discussed?”

“Yes,” Ashlyn conceded before addressing Victor. “But is there a chance you can stop by tomorrow morning, say around six-thirty? I’m going to be pulling a late night this evening and I really can’t afford to—”

“About that,” Agent Coulter interjected before Keane could intercede and voice his own objections. There were too many variables right now and as much as Ashlyn would like to work on whatever case she was currently prosecuting, there were more important things to deal with—like her personal safety. “I think it best if Victor is able to upgrade your systems this evening.”

Ashlyn looked as if she was going to argue, but didn’t as she took the time to study Coulter and his body language. She was used to doing so in the courtroom and Keane imagined she was fairly good at it with the suits she’d dealt with every day. She didn’t disappoint when she slowly nodded her acceptance to the change in her schedule.

“Fine,” Ashlyn replied deliberately, adding on a strained smile. “I’ll let my staff know. Victor, what time works best for you this evening? Can I still use my network while you’re logged into my system’s preferences?”

“I’ll need to bring one of my technicians to install some additional hardware, so it’ll be roughly in around an hour and a half.” Victor lifted an arm and looked at his watch as if to confirm. Keane was surprised Victor wasn’t sporting one of those iWatch models out on the market now. The cyber unit chief gave a nod of verification before offering his hand to Agent Coulter. “I’ll have a memorandum of what system changes we’ve done sent over to you immediately so you can forward the report to your cyber analysis team.”

“Mr. Wright,” Keane acknowledged, shaking the man’s hand and noticing the firm grip once again. Victor was confident in himself, which wasn’t surprising given his position. There hadn’t really been anything about him in the report, but Keane would follow up with Brody to see if anything of note stood out in the man’s background or his personal habits. “We’ll see you shortly.”

Keane didn’t miss the way Ashlyn compressed her lips in displeasure, most likely directed at him down multiple avenues. There were things they needed to discuss and he might as well set the ground rules early, but he wouldn’t do so in front of Agent Coulter. Keane would allow the agent to make his request and then try to extinguish the sparks before they ever had a chance to spread like wildfire.

“Ms. Ellis, I’m sure you’ve already been notified by your paralegal regarding the results of today’s investigations,” Agent Coulter started out, walking closer to Ashlyn’s desk and resting his hands on the back of the guest chair. “We found nothing here in your office, which lends itself to certain conclusions.”

“Why are you making it sound as if that’s a bad thing?” Ashlyn asked with her gaze solely on Coulter. She wasn’t ready to deal with Keane and he completely understood her motivations. He’d had the entire plane ride to come to terms with their prior personal and future professional involvement. “We spoke about this yesterday morning. I don’t think someone with this type of interest has anything to do with my work or the people I work with. It’s most likely someone I might have run across in my apartment building, the cleaners or maintenance guys, or maybe the coffee shop I like to frequent. I’m not unaccustomed to reading people either, Agent Coulter.”

“I’m not saying you aren’t, but have you considered the individual we’re looking for doesn’t need to monitor you here? Whoever it is we’re seeking has a very extensive knowledge of computer systems and technology in general. I believe we’re looking for a male, most likely in his thirties due to the range of his experience at remaining undetected while conducting surveillance. I imagine it is also someone you’ve run into on more than one occasion and he’s taken a simple gesture as something more than what you intended it to be. This isn’t your average stalker, Ms. Ellis, and I believe your life could very well be in danger now that you’ve rejected his initial advances.”

“Rejected him?” Ashlyn said those words as if warning the federal agent to continue. Keane pulled out the guest chair Garner had vacated earlier and took a seat, somewhat enjoying the developing scene before him. He’d thought of Ashlyn often over the years, missing her quick wit and the challenges he’d faced when debating with her over everyday things. She’d kept him on his toes those three months they’d been together and he could honestly say he’d missed it…not that he would ever tell her that in a month of Sundays. They’d had their chance to get it right and both had chosen to walk away. “You make it sound as if I’ve brought this on myself. I didn’t invite this man into my home. I work at least sixteen-hour days, if not more. My job requires me to be on twenty-four hour call, because these cases your agents dig up don’t prosecute themselves. Have I turned down invitations to dinner? Yes. Have I rudely rejected some guy? No. So I don’t appreciate you making it seem as if I’m to blame for someone else’s inability to accept no as an answer to his unwanted advance.”

“Then let me rephrase,” Agent Coulter countered, not backing down from the profiles he’d most likely gotten from the behavioral analysis unit on the perpetrator and one on Ashlyn herself. Keane casually reached out and took a mint from the crystal dish positioned near the corner of her desk. “The subject we’re looking for believes he was rejected and we have no idea how he is going to react to the authorities being called in or the fact that you now have twenty-four hour protection, which will make it that much harder for him to gain access to you. I’m on your side, Ms. Ellis. We are not the enemy. We understand that you did nothing intentional to precipitate this individual’s level of interest in you. He has most likely developed a warped sense of self and a corresponding lack of interpersonal coping skills due to some trauma in his life. You popped up on his scope somehow and he was determined you are worth his focus and affection as he knows it.”

Ashlyn inhaled slowly as she backed down from the affront she’d sensed being made, regrouping and then motioning with her hand for Coulter to take a seat. He declined with a shake of his head. Keane moved the mint to the other side of his mouth as he waited out this terse discussion, not in any hurry to be up next in the batting cage. It was a test with her. Everyone got their turn sooner or later.
Only ten cents a try to knock the huge chip off of her shoulder
, he imagined the carnival caller shouting.