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Tessa motions toward the filing cabinets. “We should start here.”

We each take a drawer and do a quick scan at the file tabs. Nothing looks odd, so we do a quick peak inside each one. Tessa and I are still elbow deep in the drawers when we spy Jalynn looking behind picture frames.

“Are you seriously looking for a safe in the wall?” Tessa laughs.

“What is this? A James Bond movie?” I ask, trying to make light of the situation.

“You obviously haven’t seen Austin’s office or his rooftop getaway. Believe me, whatever a Sexton wants, a Sexton gets, and I wouldn’t put it past Missy one bit to install some kind of hidden safe in this office if she was trying to hide something,” Jalynn says as she walks from one side of the room to the other, looking behind more frames.

Taking a cue from Jalynn, I start looking in the oddest places. Under furniture, in couch cushions. I even open her pageant picture to see if anything is hidden in the frame.

This is ridiculous.

“Bathroom?” Tessa asks.

“Can’t hurt.” I shrug as Tessa goes inside. “Don’t forget to look behind the bowl.” I catch Jalynn’s suspicious eye. “Mind of a criminal, remember?”

She holds up her hands. “No judgment. I’m looking for secret passageways, Shawshank-style.”

We’ve been in here a long time. I’m one step away from ripping up the carpet and looking for holes in the floorboard.

Tessa comes out of the bathroom with a napkin, clearly having just washed her hands. “That was disgusting. And unproductive.”

Jalynn bends down at Missy’s desk and checks underneath it. “Nothing down here.” She rifles through the drawers of her desk and finds nothing but makeup and hosiery. “Maybe we should go to their house.”

“Is it easy to get in?” I ask.

Tessa shakes her head. “Bryce said it’s like Fort Knox.”

I laugh under my breath. “I can’t believe it’s easier to break into an office building than a house.”

Jalynn rolls her eyes as she walks toward the door. “It’s an ‘estate.’” She makes air quotes. “We could try, but I don’t have a skeleton key for the Sexton family manor.”

Tessa saunters around the desk and looks down at it like she’s working a puzzle in her head. Her long, dark hair is hanging down one side of her body as she tilts her head. “What are the odds of us getting her password?”

Jalynn heads back to the desk, and I follow. The glass desk is clean and holds only a computer, a framed photo, a vase of freshly cut dahlias, and a notepad with her name on top.

I look at Jalynn with raised brows. She doesn’t seem too sure.

“Slim. You only get three tries, and then it locks you out. She’d definitely know we were here.”

“So then, let’s try twice and see if we’re right.”

The girls nod at my suggestion.

Jalynn takes a seat behind the desk and powers up Missy’s computer. She gnaws at her lip while she waits in the sleek white office chair with the San Francisco night sky lit up behind her.

The screen opens to the security page, asking for a name and password. MSexton is already in the username section. We just need the password.

“Here, let me see how many letters it is.” Jalynn presses a letter key, counting until the box lights up, saying it’s okay to submit. “Eight letters,” she states.

“How did you know you could do that?” I ask.

“I noticed one day I couldn’t sign in to my Sexton Media account because this little blue box”—she scrolls the cursor over the sign-in button—“wasn’t lit up. I deleted my password and retyped it, and then it turned the darker blue, allowing me to log in. Turns out, the system won’t let you click Submit unless you have the right amount of letters in your password.”

Tessa’s eyes light up in surprise. “And they say this is top-of-the-line security.”

“Okay, what does Missy love more than anything?” I ask.