No Money Down by Julie Moffett

Author:Julie Moffett
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

I swallowed hard. “Apparently a big pile of crappola.”

Elvis put his hand on mine and squeezed. “Keep it loose. We’ll piece it together.”

I decided hyperventilating would not help in this situation. Elvis was right. We had to piece this together to make sense of it. I took a couple more breaths to calm down. After a minute, I felt better.

Elvis cocked his head, watching my face. “You good?”

“I’m good. Let’s lay it out.”

“Okay.”

I leaned my elbows on the table. “So, we know Nickelward was the lead scientist at Hot Chips on the development and production of an RFID microchip to be used in U.S. currency.”

“Yes.”

“And now we know he disappeared five days ago from Baltimore and showed up here in Ocean City at some point.”

“Where he met you.”

“By sheer accident. So, three days after his disappearance, Hot Chips notices the true prototype is missing.”

“Stolen.”

“And replaced by a fake. They think Dr. Nickelward took the original to sell to counterfeiters.”

“Seems logical, given he is missing as well.”

I pushed the hair back from my shoulders. “It would also explain his nervous-bordering-on-psycho behavior as well as his rambled explanation of having to take unusual steps to fund the research of his heart.”

“But?”

I glanced at Elvis in surprise. “But what?”

“But…there’s something else. You’re thinking it. Just say it.”

I pressed my hand to my forehead. “Okay. Here it is. I’m not convinced he’s a bad guy. An idiot, perhaps, to think he could get away with this. But he seemed genuinely interested in helping the human race, not sending us all into economic ruin by aiding counterfeiters.”

“What was his research baby again?”

“An implantable RFID chip for detecting and possibly curing disease in humans.”

“Prime.”

“Yes.” I leaned back in the chair, stretching my legs out in front of me. “Unfortunately, his passion got in the way of rational thought.”

“So, you’re thinking he had a change of heart?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Are you psychic?”

“Just good at deduction.”

I sighed. “No kidding. Yes, I think he had a change of heart. At the last minute, he decides not to pass on the actual microchip to the counterfeiters.”

“Interesting. So then what? He passes off a counterfeit chip to the counterfeiters? It would be poetic justice of sorts.”

“That’s what I think. Then the counterfeiters find out. But what’s with the fake money in the pouch, if that’s what it was?”

Elvis stared off into space for a moment. “Maybe he printed it for them. Showed them how and where to insert the chip into the bill.”

“How could he print it? You think they have some kind of special printing assembly line here in Ocean City?”

Elvis laughed. “Lexi, the only factory counterfeiters need these days is a decent computer and a hi-resolution printer. The hard part would be getting the right kind of paper, the chip, and embedding the chip into the bill in the correct way. Nickelward would have helped with that, I suppose.”

My cheeks heated. “Right. Note to self…read up on current counterfeiting measures.”

His grin widened. “Be careful with that.

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