“You think he orchestrated this?” Jack asked, waving a hand at the screen. “Got someone to tag his bar so he could give us the footage? If that were true, why wouldn’t he give us the video when we asked the first time?”
“I don’t see him for it,” Gideon said, shaking his head.
“What if Mr. Titty is multiple people?” I asked. All eyes turned to me, and I cleared my throat. “Would that change your opinion?”
Gideon frowned at me. “What do you mean?”
“I started looking at the graffiti today,” I said, pulling out my phone. “That’s how I ended up at Rock Bottom. I was taking photos of every tag I could find because I noticed something strange. There are two styles that Mr. Titty uses, and to me that says two people.”
After selecting all the photos I’d taken, I handed Jack the phone so he could transfer the pictures to the big screen. A moment later, they were up, and Connor’s fingers were flying over the keys. It took him less than two minutes to get all the pictures dropped onto a map of town so we could see the distribution of photos.
“The breasts on the church doors are one style,” I said, pointing to the spot on the map. Connor clicked the photo and dragged it over to one of the many screens. I gestured to another photo. “Compare that to the tag on the hair salon.”
We went through all my pictures, and I categorized them on two screens. All the men were silent and watching.
“One style favors large breasts with tiny nipples. The signature is always angled upward, and there’s a lot of overspray.” I pointed to the other screen. “These breasts are more pear-shaped, and the nipples are more realistic. The signature is clearly different, and the spray is much more concentrated.”
“It’s two different people,” Gideon agreed, staring at the screens. “Maybe three.” He gestured to the big breasts, subtly different in a few of the images.
“The other thing I noticed was the location of the tags. Most of them are on Mars family buildings.” I felt the weight of everyone’s attention turning toward me, and I fought not to foldunder the pressure. “I got curious,” I said, a little defensively. “I mean, I married into the family, right? And then Caroline made a comment about the museum being paid for by your grandmother, so I started Googling buildings in town when I found a tag. Most of them belong to your family, or at least have some sort of historical significance.”
Knox’s fingers flew over the screen, and at least two-thirds of the graffiti locations lit up. “She’s right,” he rumbled.
Bennett clapped me on the back and wrapped me in a hug, laughing. “I gotta go talk to Grandma Mars’s computer guy. He did something right when his algorithm picked you, Sadie.”
“It’s just a theory,” I protested, but I was struggling to fight my proud grin.
I glanced over to look at Gideon, who had a strange look in his eyes. When Bennett dropped his arms from around me, he reached over to tug me closer. His hand went around my arm, thumb stroking the inside of my elbow. “Good work,” he murmured.
“So who are they?” Jack asked, returning to the issue at hand. “And are they the ones who threatened Sadie?”
“And how do we find out?” Knox added in a quiet rumble, his brow drawn in a deep frown. Silence settled over all of us in the wake of his question, and I glanced at the brothers and cousins, waiting for someone to answer.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Isn’t it obvious?”
Gideon, who’d been scowling at the screens, lifted his head to stare at me. “What’s obvious?”
“We need to set a trap,” I said.
They all turned to look at me. Gideon understoodme first, and his scowl deepened as he crossed his arms. It was Connor who looked most confused; he was the one who finally asked, “How would we do that?”
I spread my arms. “Easy. Use me as bait.”
GIDEON
She was out of her mind if she thought I would allow her to put herself in harm’s way. Out of her fucking mind.
SIXTEEN
SADIE
“Absolutely not.” Gideon’s voice was a whip crack in the small room. Stillness followed his words. Computers hummed in the resulting silence.
The rustle of my clothes sounded loud as I crossed my arms to face Gideon. “You got a better idea?”
“Yeah,” he said, stalking closer. “I lock you in a room until you stop walking into danger.”
“When have I ever walked into danger!”
