Honey Trapped

Chapter Twenty-Two

Brogue poured over his findings one more time before rubbing an agitated hand along the back of his neck. For the last two days, he'd been nose to the grindstone, digging into his newest case. Donna Screnci worked for The Group, a contracting firm which dealt with most major government agencies, including the FBI. Brogue knew just enough about computer forensics to make a complete mess of things if he didn't get the right people to help him sort through what he was seeing. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but with all of the techs out of the office for various reasons, he was at an impasse. The only thing he knew for certain was that Donna, for whatever reason, had hacked into their network multiple times.

He didn't know why. It didn't seem as if she'd tapped into anything specifically, but with his limited knowledge, he couldn't be sure. If that were his only problem with this case, Brogue wouldn't be so aggravated. With a grunt of frustration, he looked around for Williams and called her over.

A few minutes later, Williams was shaking her head. "This can't be a coincidence. There's no way in hell that woman's luck can be this crappy."

Brogue's hands lifted. "Hey, I'm just reporting what I've gathered so far."

Williams leaned over Brogue to read what was on his computer screen. "Are you sure?"

Brogue rose from his seat and gestured for Williams to take his place. "That's why I called you over. I want to make sure I'm right."

Brogue pulled up a chair and sat, waiting patiently for Williams to go through everything he had. He checked his phone and frowned. No notifications.

"It looks like you're not wrong. It's definitely coming from Pria's place of employment. I guess that explains why Ma'am was so adamant you take this one. You're already connected to it. Sort of." She looked up at him. "What are you going to do?"

Brogue turned the laptop to face him. "I'll hand it over to Tony, unless you want it."

"Oh hell no." Williams looked horrified at the thought. "This requires getting close to Pria again, and the last thing I want is you breathing down my neck the whole time. How do you want to approach this?"

Brogue checked his phone one more time before putting it in his pocket. "Actually, I was thinking we could just ask her for help this time."

Williams sputtered out a laugh. "That's ballsy."

"I know. But it makes sense."

"It does. You'll need to see if Tony wants this one. The case I'm working on now is taking me out of state. I was actually getting ready to leave." Williams stood and opened her arms wide. "Bring it in."

With a sinful grin, Brogue gave Williams the hug she asked for. He bent his head and whispered something in her ear that made her squeak and swat at his chest sharply.

"I love you, man."

"Right back at ya, woman."

She walked away saying loudly, "I'll bring you back a pillowcase."

A few nearby agents laughed. Since the verdict three days ago, he'd been the butt of many such jokes. Yesterday he'd shown up to the office and found a slew of pillowcases covering his desk. Some were gift wrapped, some had raunchy notes attached. He'd thrown them all away, but when he'd walked into the office this morning, the pillowcases were back, this time secured to his desk with duct tape and a few balloons that said I love you tied to his chair. Leave it to Pria to turn him into a laughing stock. Not that he could blame her.

He walked over to Tony, who was at his desk. But before he could speak, Tony was already shaking his head. "Whatever it is, no."

"You don't know—"

"I don't need to. Your face says it all. I've got too much on my plate right now."

"At least take a ride with me. I need to speak to Pria, and I'd rather not do it alone."

Tony burst into laughter. "Definitely not. My wife would hate you for getting me killed in the line of duty."

"You don't even like your wife," Brogue drolled.

"Good point," Tony conceded. "Whatcha got?"

Brogue took a seat and broke it all down.

Tony rubbed a hand over his jaw as he listened, but was soon shaking his head. "That's not much to go on. Let me see your computer."

Nearly an hour later, Tony was frowning. Tony was much better with computers than Brogue, but even he was no expert. "Why does this look familiar to me?"

"Because we've seen it before. This was Pria's signature when she was operating as Mr. Pibbles."

Tony sat back in his seat and gave Brogue a level look. "And you're sure it's not Pria? Leopards don't change their spots."

"I know it's not. This is coming directly from her place of employment, but she hasn't been to work in weeks, and most of these entries were done while she was in court. She even turned in her work computer before taking time off and only picked it up yesterday for the first time. I know when I lived with her, she refused to own a computer, and on days she worked from home, the moment she was done, she completely shut everything down. She said her phone was all the technology she needed."

"She works in IT, though," Tony said. "Those techy types love their toys."

"Right, but juvie gave her a healthy fear of going back. She refuses to own one. I guess it's possible it could have been done through her phone. I'd need to subpoena her phone records to be sure."

Tony scratched at his jaw. "I doubt something like this was done through her phone. Especially if she was at the courthouse. The connectivity there is spotty at best. Tell you what, let me dig a little deeper. I'll get back to you before the end of the day with my thoughts. But you're on your own when it comes to Pria."