Chapter Five
Ally wasn’t sure what she was expecting when she entered the Devil’s Playground, searching for Jessie Lyon.
In theory, she should have gone to the larger agencies, eager to charge Sheldon Construction outrageous prices for finding her brother.
The hotel security manager had convinced her to take a chance on Jessie, claiming she was exactly what Ally needed. Now, as she watched Trey open up Vincent’s laptop, satisfaction washed over her—she’d made the right choice.
A larger agency would likely have surrounded her with investigators eager to run up the bill while spreading a large net over Vegas, hoping Vincent would trip into their snares. There was something about the way Jessie talked and how Dylan acted that gave her confidence they’d find Vincent.
Then, there was Trey Pierce.
She couldn’t figure out how to take him. He didn’t look at her with the cool businesslike gaze of her peers, the few who saw her as an equal and addressed her as such. He didn’t look down his nose at her, objectifying her as a toy waiting to be used and abused if she’d let him. Trey treated her as an equal, which was a welcome sensation in the middle of the chaos swirling around her.
Except there was something else strange about his attitude, the way he studied her, and the way he spoke at times about her family with his tone verging on bitterness.
She’d searched her memories on the car ride over, looking for any possibility they’d met before, and found none.
But still…
Ally shook her head, tossing the thought aside. She had bigger worries than how some hacker viewed her.
No matter how handsome he was.
“All right. Let’s take a look at what he’s got here.” Trey hit the power button. “I’m hooking in his cell phone as well.”
“I think he’s got that locked up,” she said.
His smile sent a raw rush of heat right to her core. “I’m pretty good at getting past barriers.”
She shook the sensations off, blaming it on exhaustion.
Ally moved to where Edgar was pawing through a series of folded shirts. “Don’t worry. We’ll find him.”
Her words seemed to annoy the caretaker instead of consoling him. “I swear, from now on, I’m going to cuff the bugger to my wrist every time we go out.”
“This isn’t on you. I know Vincent. When he puts his mind to something, he makes it happen. If he hadn’t managed to dump you at the ATM, he would have come up with something else. He’s got to start being responsible for himself—this is too much to put on you.”
“Your uncle…” Edgar rubbed his forehead. “He’s going to be bouncing off the ceiling when he finds out.”
“Why?” Trey interrupted.
She glared at Trey as he repeated his question.
“Why? Why the hell should you or anyone else be responsible for his actions?” Trey asked as he studied the screen. “He’s an adult.” There was a sharpness to his words, catching her off-guard. “You can’t be holding his di…” He stopped, and Ally knew exactly what word he was censoring.
“Holding his hand all the time. At some point, he’s got to grow up and take the fall for whatever he does when he goes off on these little escapades. A real man doesn’t run away or need a babysitter to keep him in line, never mind keep his adopted sister from having her own life.”
Ally bit back her response, seeing Edgar’s jaw tighten. She touched his arm, hoping it’d be enough to settle the older man’s temper.
“I do it because I’m paid to,” Edgar said. “It’s part of the job—just like when I escort a client to a brothel or make sure the groupies are out of a rock star’s apartment the next morning. Doesn’t mean I agree with it, but it’s what I’m there to do.” He looked at Ally. “She does it because she loves her family and is devoted to them. A personality trait most people would find attractive.”
“Understood.” Trey nodded.
Edgar began refilling the drawers, folding the clothing into short, efficient piles.
“Right. Ally, can you come with me, please?” Trey stood up with the laptop and phone. “Better to do this in your suite. Give Eddie here some room.”
Edgar glared at him. “Edgar. Only Vincent calls me Eddie, and I’ve yet to break him of that bad habit.”
“Sorry,” Trey said. He eyed the older man. “No offense, but you and I have seen men like this, the type who bend the rules until they break and then leave others to bear the burden. It’s all fine until someone gets hurt—or worse.”
A glance passed between the two men. Edgar nodded before turning back to his work.
Ally patted Edgar on the back before following Trey into her own suite. She closed the door, giving the loyal handler a bit of privacy.
“Don’t be so hard on Edgar,” she admonished Trey. “He’s been with us for almost a decade.”
Trey sat at the table. “He’s a good man. Most others would have left by now.” A few seconds later, he turned the computer to show her the sign-in screen. “Vincent’s got this password protected. Any idea what it is or what it could be?”
“No. Can you break into it?”
“As I said before—sure can.” Trey nodded. “But for the sake of appearances, let’s make this legal. Is this official property of Sheldon Construction?”
“Yes.”
“Then I have your permission, as an official company representative, to bust this open in order to assist in finding your wayward employee?” He cracked his knuckles, making her wince.
“Yes.”
“Right.” His fingers flew over the keyboard. “Let’s see what I can… Oh.” She heard the laughter in his words. “Might want to tell Vincent to change his password from Guest123 when he gets back.”
Ally sighed as the laptop screen changed, a black and red sports car filling the background as it continued to boot up. “Are you kidding me?”
“Nope.” Trey smirked. “This happens a lot. People don’t want to take the trouble to pick something they might forget, so they go for the easiest one. Problem is, it’s easy for people like me to figure out.” A few more taps. “His phone is CoolGuy321, for future reference.”
She couldn’t hold back a groan. “Of course, it is.”
“Right, then. Let’s take a look. Check if he’s got any emails from any new ‘friends’ he was going to go visit, or if he downloaded any electronic flyers or went to websites marked for the Las Vegas area. Browser history’ll give us some of that if we’re lucky. On the phone, I’ll look up any recent calls and contacts and cross-reference them against the business connections—maybe he left something there.” He looked toward the couch. “Might as well make yourself comfortable. Doubt this is going to be as fast as it was getting past the front door.”
She yawned as she sank into the leather cushions. Her shoulders ached, her legs ached, even her teeth ached.
It was all too much, losing Vincent and then meeting Jessie and Trey. Her world was spinning out of control, and she needed to center herself, settle her jangled nerves.
She closed her eyes, wondering what could go wrong next. All she was asking for was a little time of her own, some peace and quiet where she wasn’t running from one crisis to the other, putting out fires set by her damned fool of a…
“Ally.”
The soft voice jolted her back to reality. She shot up, almost head-butting Trey, who was kneeling in front of her.
“Hey. Hey.” He put his hand on her cheek to steady her. “Whoa, there. Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
She leaned into his touch, drawn to the heat. It took an effort to pull back and remember where they were, what they were doing.
Another time, another place.
She filed it away in her memory.
“You fell asleep,” Trey offered. “Not surprised.” He smiled, his dark eyes meeting hers. “You were even snoring a bit. Kind of cute.”
Her cheeks burned. “How long has it been?” Ally murmured.
“About an hour. Edgar looked in to make sure you were okay then went back to finish searching the rooms.” He gave a wistful shake of his head. “Wouldn’t have bothered you, but you’ve got to take a look at this.”
She blinked, pushing away the last of the fogginess. “What?”
He rose, towering over her. He offered both hands to help her up.
She drew a ragged breath as she stood, the recent memories falling into place.
Las Vegas. Vincent. Trey.
“I went through his emails, checking if he had made arrangements to meet someone. Nothing but the usual business notes, full of hyperbole about how great the project was going to be. A lot of big promises, the usual from guys like this. Same sort of data on the phone. Whatever he was planning, he did in person. Not hard to do in Vegas—just walk down and ask the concierge for referrals, and you’ll get an earful. Clubs, restaurants, they know it all.”
She nodded, remembering how she’d found Lyon Investigations. He guided her to sit at the table in front of the laptop.
“Browser history wasn’t anything other than what you’d expect. A lot of searches for how to win at poker—but no online gambling sites, so that’s a positive sign. A few dirty pictures in a folder, but nothing illegal. Then I hit this, tucked into a subfolder in a subfolder, deep down.” His finger nudged the screen. “A series of locked, passworded folders, and no, not Guest123 again. I can crack them, but wanted to give you an update in case you had some idea what they were.”
She scrubbed her eyes, banishing the last bits of sleep. “Don’t have any idea. Do you think they’re related to his…outing?”
“I don’t know.” He hesitated. “There could be anything inside. If he’s got it locked up, and it’s got a legitimate password, it wasn’t meant for your eyes, or anyone’s but his own.” His blue eyes searched hers. “Your call. I know you gave permission earlier, but this…this is a bit more than just pulling up his sign-in password. Might be sensitive material.”
Ally paused, caught up in the steady gaze.
“Do it. I don’t care about his porn collection or his bootleg movies. I need to see everything on that hard drive,” she said.
“Done and done.” Trey plugged his cell phone into the laptop, the short cable connecting the two devices. He stroked the small screen, pulling up images she didn’t recognize.
“You’re pretty good at that,” she said as he leaned in next to her, fingers shifting to tap both the tiny screen and the keyboard. His left arm curled against hers, his chest brushing against her back.
It was hard to resist slipping back into the hazy dreams of only a few minutes ago, letting her mind wander away from the here and now.
She barely caught herself before she leaned back into the impromptu embrace. Her hand flew to her mouth, covering a forced cough as she straightened up and berated herself for not paying attention.
“There.” Trey’s heated whisper scorched her ear. “Open, says me.” His fingers drummed out a last rhythm. “Right. All yours.”
The screen changed, the expanded window showing a series of folders. She took charge of the trackpad, opening one after the other.
“I don’t know what I’m looking at. Do you?” he said, still standing behind her.
Her stomach sank.
“Yes.”