Free Hard Landing by Marliss Melton Page B

come, Rebecca reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded envelope.
    "Max has been using my old post office box without me knowing. I saw him swing by there on Sunday, so yesterday I got a copy of the key and checked the box for myself. I think he was looking for this."
    Curiosity flashed in Brant's eyes as he took her offering, pulled out the article and perused it. She studied his expression with a held breath. A crease appeared between his eyebrows, and her stomach started to churn. She saw him arrive at the end and return to the beginning to read it a second time. He then examined the envelope, noting the lack of return address, her name in the center, and the origination stamp next to the postage. When he finally looked up at her, his eyes appeared darker.
    "Well," she prompted. "Do you think Max could be working for the Scarpas?"
    He gave a short laugh. "No way." He put the article back inside the envelope and shook his head. "That's absurd. He would never do that."
    Now that she'd had a night to think about it, she wasn't so sure. "Not even to get out of debt? We owed forty-five thousand dollars on top of our regular mortgage, and suddenly that's all paid off. How did that happen?"
    "Have you asked him that?"
    She nodded. "Right after the Labor Day party. He told me some great uncle he'd never heard of died and left him fifty thousand dollars, and he immediately used that sum to pay off the equity line."
    "How convenient," Bronco drawled.
    "Isn't it, though? I then asked Max if he had any paperwork showing that the sum was an inheritance so we didn't get taxed on it, and he said he already gave it to our accountant."
    "It's not even close to tax time," Bronco observed.
    "Exactly."
    His troubled gaze fell to the clipping. "You mind if I make a copy of this?" he asked.
    She wondered what for, if he didn't think Max was the shooter. "Go ahead," she agreed. "I've already myself a copy."
    "If you want, I'll put the original in a new envelope and stick it in the mail tonight. That way, Max will get it by tomorrow. Hopefully he won't notice that it was sorted in Virginia Beach and not the Bronx."
    "Okay, thank you," she agreed, more than happy to hand off the task. "Should I show my copy to my lawyer on Monday?"
    He started to shake his head. "This is heavy stuff, Becca. Let me pass it by Bullfrog first—you know, Jeremiah?—and maybe Master Chief Kuzinsky to get their opinions. Do you mind if I do that?"
    Nervousness fizzed in her as she considered the series of events she would be setting into motion if she agreed. She hadn't wanted anyone but Bronco knowing about Max's secrets, but they were looking bigger than either one of them had suspected. And what choice did she have it she wanted Max to get ultimately convicted?
    She nodded slowly. "Okay, then."
    They stood for several seconds contemplating each other. Her senses felt curiously heightened, so much so that she could hear a cricket rubbing its legs together in the grass nearby and smell the faint, sweet fragrance of the leaves sloughing overhead.
    "What if we get Max into trouble and he has nothing to do with what's in the article?" she asked, articulating her biggest fear.
    "It would be nice to know one way or the other wouldn't it, though?" he countered.
    "I guess so."
    His eyes suddenly narrowed. "Hey, didn't you say his laptop got a virus and it's in the shop?"
    "Yes."
    "Is it still there?"
    She wondered where he was going with this. "As far as I know."
    "Think you could get a hold of it?"
    Her stomach lurched at the request. "Why?"
    "Maybe there's something incriminating on it that would give us an answer. I bet, even with a virus, Hack could search the hard drive and find out what kinds of websites Max was visiting."
    She pictured the repair shop situated near her neighborhood. It wouldn't be all that hard to march in and ask to have Max's laptop back. But how long before he did the same thing and found out that she'd taken it? Plus, Hack would have to be