Secret Agent Santa. Carol Ericson

back up and wedged his hip against the hood. “Are you sure it’s Correll? Do you have any other enemies?”

      “None that I’m aware of.” She plucked some tissues from her bag and waved them at him. “Wipe your hands on these.”

      “No ex-boyfriends stalking you?”

      “Are you kidding? I haven’t had any boyfriends since...” She shoved the tissues into his hand.

      “Then we’ll assume it’s your stepfather, and all he knows is that you come out to a bank and library in Brooktown a few times a month.”

      “If you leave that thing on there, he’s going to know we went to your hotel in DC.”

      “So what? I already told him I’d taken a room at the Capitol Plaza and left most of my stuff there.” He’d shredded the tissues wiping his hands and then crumpled them into a ball. “Let me get rid of this and we’ll satisfy Correll’s curiosity by going to my hotel.”

      She held up her key as he walked back from the trash can near the steps of the library. “Do you still want to drive?”

      “Sure.” He snatched the dangling keys from her fingers and caught her wrist. “Don’t worry. That tracker told him nothing.”

      She let out the breath trapped in her lungs and nodded. His touch made her feel secure, but she had to be careful. She’d made him uncomfortable with her previous display of emotion. For all his outer friendliness and charm, he had an aloof quality—except when he’d been kissing her last night. He hadn’t seemed to mind her touch then.

      Of course, the drive for sex came from a completely different place than the trigger for empathy. She’d rather have him desire her than pity her, anyway.

      His lashes fell over his dark eyes and he pressed a kiss against the inside of her wrist. Then he dropped her hand. “Let’s get going.”

      She had no idea what emotions had played across her face for him to do that, but she’d have to try to duplicate them sometime soon.

      She slipped into the passenger seat of the car, glancing at the scratches on the driver’s-side window as Mike opened the door.

      When he settled behind the wheel, she turned to him. “If Spencer’s lackey had managed to get into my car, then what? What exactly had he been looking for?”

      “Your laptop? That video?”

      “Spencer couldn’t possibly know about the video. I left it in his trash can after I discovered it.”

      He cranked on the ignition and pulled away from the curb. “He’s grasping at straws, just like you. How did you manage to get into Correll’s laptop?”

      “I bribed his admin assistant, Fiona.”

      “How do you know she didn’t tell him?”

      “She wouldn’t. She let me have access to his laptop and gave me his password. If she had told him that, he would’ve gotten get rid of her for sure and changed his password.”

      “How do you know that wasn’t his plan all along? Why’d she do it? Money?”

      “I’m not going to lie. Money did exchange hands, but I played on the emotions of a woman scorned.”

      “Fiona? Scorned?”

      She plucked an imaginary piece of fuzz from the arm of her sweater. “Spencer had been having an affair with Fiona. I overheard him making plans with another woman for an afternoon tryst. I figured it was a good time to hightail it to his office and do some snooping, and while I was there I let Spencer’s plans for a little afternoon delight drop into Fiona’s lap. She was more than happy to cough up his password and let me into his office.”

      He whistled. “You’re pretty good at this cloak-and-dagger stuff. Does Correll have a weakness for the ladies?”

      “Oh yeah. I can almost guarantee you that he cheated on my mom.”

      “That’s good.”

      She jerked her head to the side and he held up one hand. “Not that he cheated on your mother, but that he has a wandering eye. It’s a weakness that can be exploited, as you discovered.”

      “I like how you think, Becker.” She shoved her hair behind one ear. “I know you have to continue to analyze the videos before committing yourself or the Prospero resources to investigating any further. I’m not getting ahead of the game here, just so you know.”

      “I got it.”

      She lifted her phone from a pocket in her purse. “Excuse me a minute while I check on Ethan. The party should be wrapping up soon, and after finding that device on my car, I honestly can’t wait to get my son out of this town.”

      She got Lori on the phone, but Ethan was too busy with the pony rides to talk. Lori filled her in on all the details, which soothed the twinges of guilt she felt for missing out on spending time with her son.

      When he’d received this party invitation earlier in the month, Claire had arranged for Lori to take him, since Lola had told her an agent would be heading her way before Christmas. As much as she loved seeing all the kids having a blast and chatting with the other moms, this day with Mike had proven to be fruitful.

      She ended the call and sighed as she cupped the phone in her hand while Lori sent her a picture of Ethan on the back of a dapple-gray.

      “Missing the fun? Sounds like a pretty extravagant party if it includes pony rides.”

      “Yeah.”

      She held the phone in front of his face as he idled at a signal.

      “Wow. I never went to birthday parties like that.”

      She traced her finger around Ethan’s smiling face. “Every party he’s been to at this school, it seems like the parents are trying to one-up each other. I’m not sure that’s a very healthy environment for kids. What were your birthday parties like?”