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“Yeah,” she said. “Whatever Zoe’s having.”
Julia pushed through the door and spotted Zoe seated in a booth in a now-closed section of the restaurant. She hurried over and slid onto the seat across the table from her friend. “Zoe. Thanks for coming tonight. Saves me a stop on the way home.”
Zoe nodded at her, but didn’t smile. Julia’s stomach twisted into a tight knot. “What’s wrong?” she asked quietly.
“Whoever broke into your house last night put some really bad programs on your computer,” she said in a low voice. She glanced around at the closest patrons, three tables away, and leaned closer to Julia. “The creep would have been able to record every keystroke on your keyboard. Capture your credit card numbers, passwords, bank account information. He could see your business accounts. This wasn’t some kid playing around. This person wants serious information about you.”
Julia frowned. “Me? Why would anyone want that? My life is pretty much an open book. Everything I have is wrapped up in this restaurant.”
Julia stared down at the table and closed her eyes. Took a deep breath. Madeline’s had been the sole focus of her life for the past two years. It meant everything to her. If Zoe hadn’t discovered that spyware, whoever had installed it on her computer could have taken everything.
Sick to her stomach, she said, “Who could have done this? If they just wanted to know about Madeline’s, they could have read my blog. I don’t have a lot of money, other than what’s left from my parents’ estate, and my passwords are random and encrypted.”
Zoe stared at her for a long moment. Sighed. “My guess? They were after money. Contact your bank and tell them your identity might have been stolen. Not to release any money from any accounts without contacting you first. Then close those accounts and open new ones.” She reached across the table and gripped Julia’s hand. “Put a hold on your blog for the time being. Until we figure out what’s going on.” She hesitated, as if trying to decide what to say next.
“Whatever it is, Zoe, just say it.”
Zoe nodded slowly. “Okay. Have any other weird things happened lately?”
“Define weird.” Julia stared at her friend, her heart pounding again.
Zoe tilted her head. “Any problems with the restaurant? Have you had any strange encounters on the street? Any accidents recently?”
Julia leaned against the back of the seat, her stomach roiling. “Yeah, actually,” she said.
Zoe leaned closer, ignoring Josh who set two glasses of red wine on the table. “Tell me.”
“We had a problem in the kitchen a week ago. The stove stopped working during the evening rush. Fortunately, Diego, one of the pizza cooks, repairs appliances in his day job. He was able to figure out what was wrong and fix it.”
“And what was wrong?” Zoe asked.
“Something to do with the wires to the burner igniters,” Julia said, waving her hand in the air. “Diego fixed it in, like, twenty minutes, and we comped dessert to the patrons who had to wait for their food. It was a pain, but not a killer problem.”
“And if Diego hadn’t figured out was wrong and hadn’t been able to fix it?” Zoe asked.
“It would have been a major problem,” Julia said slowly. “The night would have been ruined. We’d have to turn people away.” She drew a deep breath. “We would have gotten lots of bad reviews.”
“Okay.” Zoe drummed her fingernails on the table. “Anything else?”
Julia shifted on the seat. Looked away from Zoe. “Yeah. Today, after I left your office.”
“What happened?” Zoe asked, grabbing Julia’s hand.
The terror roared back, making her shiver. “I almost fell in front of a bus,” she whispered. “It felt as if someone shoved me. Who would push a random person in front of a bus?”
“Maybe not so random, Jules.” Zoe took another drink of wine. Let go of Julia’s hand and smiled at Josh as he slid their plates in front of them. “Thank you,” she said, then waited until Josh was gone and looked at Julia. “Will you do something for me?”
“Anything, Zo. You know that.” Zoe had been one of her backers when she opened Madeline’s, and she’d become a good friend.
“I want you to go see my sister Anneliese. She lives in Montana, and recently started a security company. She and her partner do investigations, protection, special projects and computer stuff. I have you covered for the computers. But you need help, and Anneliese is really, really good at what she does. She used to work for the CIA until she quit and started Blackhawk Security.”
As Julia opened her mouth to tell Zoe she’d be fine, her friend shook her head firmly. “Don’t tell me you’ll be fine. You could have been killed today. And the next time someone breaks into your house, you might not be so lucky. Maybe he’ll be waiting for you when you come home from the restaurant at midnight.”
A cold finger traced an icy line up Julia’s back. “Are you trying to freak me out?”
“Yes. I am. You need to take this seriously. I’m going to call Annie tomorrow. Explain to her what’s going on. Can you get a couple of days off?”
Julia hadn’t taken more than a handful of days off since she opened the restaurant, and never two in a row. The thought of being gone for two days made her swallow hard. But she knew she had to do it. “I’ll make it work,” she said, even though her stomach clenched at the thought of being gone. “It would help if you could work it around a Monday, when we’re closed. Delia is more than competent enough to run the place for two nights.”
