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Together they concocted a plan in case Chucky ever came back for his stamp collection. Hunter told her that if the flash drive contained anything illegal, Chucky would likely stop at nothing to retrieve it.
“Why?” she asked.
He shrugged and smiled deviously. “Many reasons, but mainly because I would stop at nothing to get it back in the same situation.”
He’d tried to plug the flash drive to take a quick look, but it was password protected.
“I know someone who can crack this,” Hunter said. “Her name is Jocelyn.”
“Kendall’s wife?” she asked.
Hunter nodded. “And if she can’t do it, I have no doubt that her brother-in-law, Clay Forrester, can get in. Maybe I’ll start with him.”
“Why?”
“Kendall will be pissed if I involve his wife in anything not completely above board. Clay has”—he paused as if searching for the right words—“let’s say he has a different and less rigid set of standards. He’ll definitely help us when I explain what happened to you.”
Hunter then took possession of all of it. He was the one who called his friend Clay to see if he could break through the password protection and if he’d be willing to.
Jessica had worried about fixing the box. Hunter told her he’d make her a completely new box, distress it to look older, darker, and battered, and then carve a message into it so she could always claim it was hers. He’d even film it so she could prove it.
Clay called less than an hour later, having cracked the password encryption in about five minutes. He’d also mentioned to Hunter that there were several interesting videos contained within the small device, although he’d been vague as to the exact content.
They’d proved to Jessica very quickly that the stamp collection wasn’t what Chucky was after. He wanted the flash drive and what was on it because the information contained therein could put him in jail.
Jessica honestly hadn’t known firsthand what was on the flash drive. Hunter and Clay had both insisted she remain completely in the dark, but they also told her the prosecutor would be interested. If it ever even came to that.
This morning’s surprise visit to the bank unfolded better than she’d expected.
The prosecutor had filed charges against Chucky immediately. His wife, having found out what he was charged with, had loudly abandoned him in jail earlier in the afternoon, according to Duke.
Duke also asked him about the two men who’d ransacked her storage space in Chicago, her hotel room at the Enclave Inn, and stolen her car. Chucky ratted them out before he even finished his question. He even drew a map to where they were hiding out waiting for further instructions. He thought it would help get him released.
Duke assured her it hadn’t. But he had two more thieves in custody. They returned the favor, immediately ratting out Chucky and spilling every detail of what he’d paid them to do, including following her inside the bank the day after her ex had called.
They’d witnessed her leaving the bank vault where the safe deposit boxes were housed. Which was how Chucky discovered she possibly had a safe deposit box, according to the two men. With Chucky in jail for all he’d done to her, all was right with the world now as far as Jessica was concerned.
Jessica’s joyful reverie was interrupted when the phone rang five minutes before she was about to leave to meet Garrett and Seth for dinner.
The front desk told her a gentleman had asked to speak to her and wanted to wait until she was available. She packed up her things and headed to the lobby.
Mr. Barrington stood near the concierge desk. Seth and Garrett were also waiting for her already. Her old boss and Seth were chatting inanely about hotel ownership when she arrived. Seth probably wanted to punch him. Mr. Barrington could be a little bit pompous sometimes. Or rather all the time.
“Jessica.” Mr. Barrington reached out a hand. She warily accepted it. His expression was one of sheepish resignation. He dropped her hand, put an even more earnest smile in place and said, “I wanted to find you before we left, and personally say how sorry I am for what happened regarding your job at Barrington hotels.”
“Well…” Jessica paused, pasting a smile across her lips with difficulty, wondering what to say next. No problem, my whole life was turned upside down, but what the hell let’s be best friends forever now? Uhm…no.
