Corpse Suzette

through my clothes and
accessories. So... this was the result.”
    “And a charming outcome it
was,” John said. “That Jeremy chap seems to have captured more than just your
style. He seems to have snared your fancy just a bit... or is that my own
romantic imagination working overtime?”
    Her blush deepened. “I like
him, sure,” she said. “Who wouldn’t? He’s really sweet, not to mention
gorgeous. He actually told me that he might move to New York someday. He’s
already found a surgeon in Manhattan who may be interested in what he has to
offer. I told him that I’d do everything I can to help him make the move and get
settled, if he decides to try the East Coast for a change.”
    Savannah set the tray on
the coffee table and began to hand out the mugs. “Well, he certainly did a good
job for Suzette and Sergio. He’s a highly creative, resourceful young man. And
I can see why you would like him, Abby. It might be nice for you if he did move
to New York.”
    But even as she spoke the
words, Savannah thought back on her visit to Mystic Twilight the day before and
the person in the shadows who had watched her and then run from her.
    In the past twenty-four
hours she had replayed her conversation with Jeremy Lawrence outside the back
door of the place, and she still wondered... had he been the one watching her?
    Or if he hadn’t been the
one following her, spying on her, had he seen Devon Wright run out that door
and then covered for her?
    And if so, why?
    Nothing in his behavior
today at the funeral told her anything. He had been stoic. Moderately attentive
to Myrna. That was about all.
    And now he was actively
seeking employment or business opportunities elsewhere. That could be
suspicious. With Suzette still missing, it might seem a bit premature to assume
that she wasn’t coming back, that he needed another place to work. Unless, of
course, he knew something that others didn’t.
    Tammy took a mug of cocoa,
walked over to the desk and sat down. Turning on Sergio’s laptop, she motioned
to John. “You should come look at what I found,” she said, “thanks to that
awesome forensic software you loaned me.”
    Both John and Ryan hurried
over to the desk and leaned over her shoulders.
    “What did you find?”
Savannah asked. “I didn’t know you found something.”
    “Well, it isn’t a 7.6 on
the Richter scale, but I thought it was interesting.” Tammy typed away on the
keyboard for a minute or so, then said, “Voila ! There it is.”
    Savannah squeezed into a
spot beside Ryan. “What? What is it?”
    “Ah!” John said. “I see!”
    “Wow, look at that!” Ryan
added.
    “I thought you’d like it.”
Tammy beamed up at them, terribly proud of herself.
    “What in Sam Hill are you
guys talking about?” Savannah said, staring at the screen. All she could see
was a long list of words, abbreviations, and symbols that made no sense at all
to her.
    “Oh, I’m sorry, Savannah,”
John said. “We computer nerds forget that not everyone is as savvy about this
foolishness as we might be, because—”
    “What is it, plee-ease?”
Savannah held in a scream. “Speak to me in English! Now!”
    “Simply put, someone was
messing with Sergio’s computer behind his back,” Ryan told her. “They installed
a special program into his notebook here, probably without his knowledge, that
would record every single keystroke he made when he used it. At a later time,
the person who placed the program there in the first place could retrace his
keystrokes, see everything he’d typed, every online site he visited, etcetera.”
    John nodded. “It’s a
program that’s used by parents who want to see what their children are looking
at online; who they’re talking to.”
    “And,” Tammy added, “it can
be used by employers who want to know what their employees are doing on company
time: if they’re working, playing video games, or looking at naughty pictures.”
    Ryan said, “Many a cheating
spouse has been caught by these, emailing their honeys, setting up dates or
whatever. Or maybe a hubby has sworn off his pornography addiction and his wife
wants to know if he’s fallen off the wagon or not.”
    “Can you tell who put the
program in there?” Savannah asked.
    “Not who, but when,” Tammy
told her. “It was installed about a year ago.”
    “If it was a year ago, I’d
vote for the wife... or perhaps I should I say ‘girlfriend.’ That’s about the
time Suzette kicked Sergio out of the