Rich (Benson Security #5) - Janet Elizabeth Henderson Page 0,61

hair bobbed as she let out an exasperated sigh. “Nothing. No prints, no DNA that’s of any use. I’m running them through a digital analysis program. The computer might find something in the images that we can’t see. But I have to be honest; I’m not holding out a helluva lot of hope. Which pisses me off no end. These guys shouldn’t be able to get away with this.”

“They won’t.” He had to believe that as long as the blackmailer was communicating with them, they’d leave some clue as to who they were dealing with. Everybody slipped up at some point. It was just a matter of patience.

For years, his friends had joked about his endless patience. Between Rachel and these investigations, they were about to find out just how much he had to go around.

“Harry called me at the crack of dawn, so I stopped off at the shop on my way to work and got you this.” Elle handed him a bag with a sportswear logo. “It’s a protective cup—I had to guess your size.” She grinned. “If you wear it all the time, it should offer some defense against Rachel when she finds out you involved Harry. Of course, it won’t save you from her putting your balls in a vise while you sleep.”

“Thanks for the nightmares.”

“Just calling it how I see it.”

Harvard handed back the bag. “As much as I appreciate you thinking of me, I don’t want to go walking through the building with it.”

She patted the bag before stuffing it in her desk drawer. “It’s here when you need it. Which should be very soon. Because Harry’s on his way.”

“When’s he due to arrive?”

“Around lunchtime. I’ve set up his cover as working with the company that installed the server. He’s coming in under the pretense of doing some routine maintenance.” She frowned. “I haven’t clued in the head of security about his arrival. Terrance thinks this is a legitimate job.”

Harvard focused in on her, reading the non-verbal clues, just as he’d been trained. Weighing them with her words to get the whole story. “Is there a reason you’re keeping him in the dark?”

A gentle pink stain covered her cheeks. “I don’t like him.”

And from the looks of things, it was way more than simple dislike. Elle was suspicious of the man; she just didn’t know why, and that meant she couldn’t put it into words. It was instinct. One she obviously wasn’t used to listening to. But Harvard had learned never to underestimate his own instincts or those of the people around him.

“He doesn’t need to know,” he assured her. “The investigation into Rachel’s past has nothing to do with the job he’s been briefed on. It’s a good idea to keep it that way.”

Her shoulders slumped a fraction, signaling relief. “Do you want me to come down to security with you to look over the footage from outside West Building?”

“Not right now. Ryan and I can narrow it down. We’ll call you in when we find something.” He grinned at her. “Then you can do your magic and clean up the images enough to, hopefully, get us something to go on. Sooner we close this investigation, sooner we can focus on more important stuff.”

“Like wooing Rachel?” She waggled her eyebrows at Harvard.

“Yeah, and eliminating the threat to her.”

Elle nodded solemnly. “That too.”

Glancing back at Rachel’s door, he lowered his voice. “Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her out of your sight. I don’t like that someone was able to get close enough to slip a photo into her handbag. If she goes to the restroom, you follow. If she bitches—and she will—tell her it’s the team leader’s orders.”

“If I tell her that, you can definitely kiss goodbye to a repeat of whatever you did to get that hickey. Just saying.”

“Don’t worry about me. I can handle Rachel.”

Elle snorted. “Famous last words, huh?” she said to his back as he let himself out of her office.

After taking the elevator down to the basement, he walked along a plain gray corridor and let himself into the security hub, using his pass. One that Ryan had helpfully coded for full access to all areas of TayFor.

The security hub sat opposite the IT department, and both were overseen by the head of security, Terrance King, a man who’d been with TayFor since leaving the police force over a decade earlier. Security and IT were definitely King’s domain, and he never let anyone forget it. Which was