The more I looked at the files on the break-ins, the more convinced I was that we were dealing with some serious professionals. Out of the seven homes that had been hit, four safes had been opened without any damage, two had been bounced and their hinges warped, and I suspected they took the Kensington's because they couldn't get it open fast enough. It was one of the more complex safes on the market, so that made sense.

All of the homes had one key component in common: ArmorTech security systems. ArmorTech was the parent company of Daycon Securities, ATR Securities, and HomeSafe Technologies—all of which were used by the victims. I had contacted ArmorTech on Monday morning when I first discovered the connection, but by Thursday they still hadn't found any data leakage on their end.

Thursday night, with my feet propped up on my home office desk and a takeout container of General Tso's chicken balanced on my lap, I stared back and forth between the two bulletin boards on the wall. The one on the left was all the robbery info I had. The one on the right had the faces of eleven missing women tacked to a map of North Carolina.

Neither case was going anywhere.

My phone rang. It was Shannon.

I answered it on speakerphone. "Hello?"

"Hi, Nathan. It's Shannon."

"Hi, Shannon." I popped another bite of chicken into my mouth. She had called twice that week and had texted me steadily since she left town. I still wasn't sure how I felt about it—definitely not sure enough to postpone my dinner for the duration of our conversation.

"How was your day?" she asked.

I swallowed. "Not too bad. Still working. What's up?"

"I wanted to let you know that I spoke to Caroline Bryson today. Leslie's mom."

My boots landed on the floor with a thud as I sat up straight in my office chair. "Oh, really?"

"Yes. She said she would be happy to speak with you, since you're a friend of mine," she said. "She wants to know if you can come back to Asheville this weekend."

Sure she does. I could talk to Caroline Bryson on the phone and we both knew it.

I thought for a second. "Yeah, I could drive back tomorrow after work."

I swear to God, I could hear her smiling.

"Great! I'll let her know to maybe plan for Saturday," she said.

"Awesome. Thanks, Shannon."

"Hey, Nathan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you...um...Do you want to stay with me?" Her voice cracked on the other end of the line.

If I were a better detective, I wouldn't have been surprised by the question. I thought for a second. Free place to stay, probability of sex... "Sure, I guess." Then I remembered her damn dog and almost winced audibly.

"Great! I'll text you my address in case you don't remember how to get here," she said, her voice bubbling over with excitement on her end of the line.

"Fantastic. I'll head that way tomorrow after work," I said. "Thanks, Shannon."

"My pleasure. Bye, Nate."

I hung up the phone and stared at it for a long minute.

Reese was right. I have a girlfriend.

****************

Author's Note:

He's kinda dense sometimes. :)