Trust in Me by Dee Tenorio Page B

quality of thinking for herself. She also had to come to things her own way, and unfortunately, that included sharing information.
    So he watched silently as she looked over her shoulder to check if anyone was listening before pulling bags out of his arms and shoving them onto the checkout counter. Then she grabbed his sleeve and led him around the small corner to where her boyfriend sat like a flattened cockroach in the desk chair. Locke frowned at the intense hunch of Cole’s shoulders as he typed on Susie’s laptop. The screen had a number of windows open, as well as a few black-backgrounded ones, the type basic and white and flying upward with each line Cole put in.
    Locke didn’t know much more about computers than the programs he used for his businesses, but if he remembered correctly, that was programming junk. “What the hell are you two doing with Susie’s computer?”
    Cole jumped, but that might have had more to do with Locke’s volume than any real fear. The smartass had lost that over the summer thanks to a small fistfight where he hadn’t died at Locke’s hands. Times like these, Locke rather missed the younger man’s instinctive terror.
    Amanda’s hands unleashed their flapping fury on his shoulder again. “Geez, Locke, I told you to be quiet.”
    “Because Susie doesn’t know you’re hacking her system?”
    “Yes!” his sister hissed.
    Locke drew back. She always did surprise him with her honesty. “Explain.”
    “Look, we get a lot of questionable email. Most of the time it’s spam and we just delete it. It picked up when the catalog went out over the summer and we were just deleting them and keeping the orders. We also got a lot of requests for the models’ contact information, which we of course never gave,” she added almost as fast as his brows rose.
    Though it was a tastefully sensual lingerie catalog, he’d been beyond pissed when he found out she and Susie had posed for the pictures themselves. Neither one had exposed their faces, which might have been a relief if anyone in town had missed the memo concerning their identities. The knowledge that his sister and his woman were both likely pinups for any guy lucky enough to have snagged a copy wasn’t his favorite factoid, but he’d come to terms with it. Mostly.
    “But there were a few coming in that were getting under Susie’s skin for some reason. They just didn’t take no for an answer and you know how she hates that.”
    Cole choked on what had to be laughter, making Amanda cringe.
    Locke waited for her to go on.
    “I wasn’t sure why, but I could tell they were bothering her more than the spam. I haven’t been getting the email, so I was shocked when I saw the one that came in today. It was…” She looked at the computer, her brow creasing, her frown pulling the corners of her lips into a deep frown.
    Locke looked from her to Cole and back again. “Was what?”
    “Vicious.” She looked as if she tasted something foul. “Susie read it and then, next thing I know, she’s practically running up the stairs. She locked herself up there and she won’t answer me.”
    His teeth ground together. “And you didn’t come get me?”
    Irritation flashed over Amanda’s face. “Excuse me if I was more concerned with my friend’s well-being than running to my big brother, whose business—I might add—this actually isn’t.”
    She could add all she wanted. They both knew it was his job to subtract anything that might threaten either her or Susie. Especially Susie. “Show me the letter.”
    “I don’t know if I—”
    “Not that I’m a fan of interrupting Jackmans on a tear,” Cole suddenly said, still not bothering to turn his chair. “But I think the point is moot, Amanda. You wouldn’t have told him this much if you weren’t going to tell him all of it. And from what I’ve been able to dig up, none of these emails are particularly suspicious anyway.”
    Locke moved closer to the computer, trying to make sense