Broadrick tipped his head at me and moved NB to the spot beside him on the couch. "You know your boyfriend has some skill in this area."

We met online in a chat room while I'd been looking for someone to help me break into the high school server and change my sister's grades from As to Cs. His first act of subterfuge led to our loving relationship. Who didn't fall for the guy who helped you commit internet crimes?

"You said you'd taught me everything you knew." And I'd tried all the tricks Broadrick taught me.

"Babe." He smirked, and I narrowed my eyes.

"What?" I asked and then pinched my lips into a tight line of disapproval.

His shoulders shook with his laugh. "You always hold something in reserve."

My eyes widened from their small slits. "What? Why?"

"So, I can look cool in situations like this." Broadrick gave half a shrug.

"I'm not sure," I said and glanced at the television, not wanting to meet his gaze. "What if there's something on it I don't want to see?"

I asked it as a question, but I was pretty sure there were things I didn't want to see on that thumb drive. It had a password protecting it. You didn't lock down family vacation photos.

"There's only one way to find out," Broadrick said and held out his hand, waiting for me to put the thumb drive in his palm.

Damn him. He knew me too well. I had carried it around with me. I grabbed the small black device from my pocket and placed it in his hand. As much as I hated to admit it, Broadrick had more resources than me.

"I think he's up to something, but it's not a girlfriend." I'd actually be relieved if I found nude photos of a woman on the drive.

Broadrick left the couch and grabbed his laptop from the kitchen table. He placed the machine on his lap when he sat down next to me again. NB grunted at the disruption but continued on with his nap.

"I saw the boxes in the spare room," he said as he booted it up. "I thought we were turning it into a home office."

He thought a lot of things. "I'm almost done unpacking."

It took time to unpack and make sure everything made it to its proper place in the house. If I didn't put things away right the first time, I'd never be able to find anything later. At least in the boxes I knew where they were.

Broadrick shoved the thumb drive into his computer and then brought up a messenger program. He typed quickly in the box, and I did my best to read over his shoulder.

"You're messaging Spencer?" I asked. That seemed like cheating. Spencer was the main technology guy at Ridge's security firm. I didn't really know what he did, but it sounded high tech. He also had a dog who ate everything in sight. Everything. "You said you had skills."

The edge of Broadrick's lips tipped up. "Spencer is an asset that I have access to, so... skills."

He started a program and then did a bunch more clicking.

Three flashing dots signaled Spencer typing back with a quick response. "Does this pertain to Operation Killdeer?"

Broadrick answered fast. His fingers flew over the keyboard. "No, this is for Vonnie, and she is here."

Interesting.

"Needed that warning, huh? What's Operation Killdeer?" I didn't like the sound of it. It had kill in the name. Nothing good used "kill" in its name.

The computer flashed, and Broadrick tapped the screen to get my attention to it. "Nothing, but look at this."

A spreadsheet loaded on the computer. A series of entries with words created from random letters. Numbers filled the cells in the same row.

I squinted. "Did it get messed up while opening it?"

Nothing on the page made sense, and it only got more confusing as Broadrick scrolled down through hundreds of rows filled with gibberish.

"It might be in code," B said and then typed the same thing to Spencer.

I leaned back on the couch. "Great. So not any naked pictures but more puzzles."

Broadrick turned toward me with a disgusted expression. "You thought there'd be naked photos of your aunt on here and you let us open it?"

"I'd hoped for naked pictures not of my aunt."

His expression only grew more uncomfortable. "What do you think your uncle is doing?"

"I have no idea," I answered truthfully. My phone buzzed in my pocket. "It's obviously some kind of ledger. Right?"

Broadrick gave me a slow nod as he scanned the sheet. "It looks like it, but why write it in code?"

The GPS app on my screen lit up from the notification, and I clicked on it to watch the small icon representing my uncle's van move across town.

"I've got to look into this," I said and stood up.

Broadrick came with me. "You need backup?"

"No." I waved my hand at the front door and put on the black leather coat that used to belong to him. "Stay here and see if you can crack that code."

We both knew he'd have better luck than me, especially if he had Spencer helping.

I followed behind my uncle's van as he drove down Main Street and then past the wooden pelican that greeted people into town when they visited.

"Where are you going this time?" I leaned forward in my driver's seat to watch him as I kept my distance. If I lost him, I'd have the GPS to help me find him again. It allowed me to stay a little further back than I normally would when tailing someone.

Ten minutes outside of town, in the middle of nowhere, my uncle pulled into the parking lot of a seedy apartment building. Well, as seedy as it got in this section of small town. Rather than cute balconies with potted plants and seasonal decorations, this building had chairs thrown around the areas. At the first apartment, a small black grill leaned to one side. That had to be a fire hazard.

Someone had slung a long rope between two buildings and had their laundry hanging out to dry. Kids ran under the long sheets as they blew in the breeze.

Uncle Richard drove to the far set of apartments, forcing me to park one building away from him and use my car binoculars to get a better view. I lowered my visor in hopes it gave me a little cover. I really needed to keep a newspaper in here to help when I wanted to hide my face behind something. People read the paper in their cars all the time. Right?

A man wearing a white sleeveless T-shirt and jeans approached my uncle's white van, and he smiled at the gentleman. My stomach fell as Uncle Richard opened the car door and got out. I grabbed my cell phone and snapped a picture of the two the best I could with my zoom.

Richard shut the driver's door and opened the side door to the van. I leaned closer to watch his moves, taking a picture every five seconds to make sure I missed nothing. He grabbed a plain black backpack from the van and passed it on to the man.

They tilted their heads at one another and then the man left.

"What in the hell?"

Uncle Richard leaned against his van, waiting. Another minute later a woman walked up to him. She had a black backpack in her hands and exchanged it with a bulging one from the van. My stomach fell with each person who approached my uncle and left with a backpack. About half brought him empty ones in return.

My eyes widened at the last person to approach my uncle. She had long blonde hair tied up into a high ponytail and wore a pair of black leggings and a thick pink sweater.

"Emma Richards?" I whispered as I stared at her. We'd graduated together. She had at least two suspensions in high school and liked to party, but seeing her caught me off guard. I waited as she collected a black backpack from my uncle and then turned to leave after a quick conversation with him.

If only I could hear what they were saying to one another. A group of kids walked by my Camero with their eyes on my tinted back windows. I'd drawn too much attention to myself. As quickly as possible, I backed out of my space and left the apartment complex loaded with pictures of my uncle and his clients. Aunt Claire was right. Her husband was up to something.

Uncle Richard wasn't cheating. He was doing something so much worse.