Undue Competition

by R A Wallace

  She walked into the police station a short time later. It took a while until she was able to meet with Mack and Jo. Once she did, she could tell that they’d been expecting her.

  “Look what the dog dragged in.” Mack brushed the crumbs of a granola bar from his shirt.

  “Cat,” Callie and Jo said simultaneously.

  “I’m telling you, I like dogs better.” Mack nodded to a nearby chair. “We were on our way out.”

  Callie took a seat. “I don’t want to keep you from your work.”

  “Good, because you know we can’t tell you much anyway,” Jo warned. “This is an active case and your father is a suspect.”

  “You let him go after you questioned him.” Callie wondered if they would tell her why.

  Jo held her gaze with Callie. “We can’t discuss that.”

  “But it tells me something,” Callie said. “If you had definitive proof, he’d be in a cell right now. You’re still looking and that’s good. My father didn’t do this.”

  “We want to make sure that our case is ironed,” Mack said.

  “Ironclad,” Jo corrected. “We don’t want any mistakes.”

  “But you found something that made you bring him in this morning again for more questioning,” Callie pressed. “What was it?”

  Mack and Jo shared a long look. Finally, Jo gave a half shrug.

  “Listen. We found the victim’s watch,” Mack said.

  Callie filtered that piece of information through her mind, trying to connect it to her father. Her eyes widened in alarm when she did.

  Mack nodded. “It was at one of his job sites.”

  “Anyone could have accessed a job site and planted it there,” Callie said quickly. She saw the look of compassion in Jo and Mack’s eyes and held up her hand. “You know that, I know. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to make this harder. I just know that my father wouldn’t kill Guy Gallagher.”

  “Then make our job easier,” Jo said.

  Callie nodded as she stood. “I’ll find some proof.”

  “Don’t do anything dangerous,” Mack yelled over the noise of the main office as she walked away.

  ***

  Makayla crossed her arms. “A plane would get us there quicker.”

  Greyson began counting to ten. “Yes, I know that. But I checked and there’s nowhere on the island to land one.”

  Makayla looked as though she might argue again. Greyson lifted one of her suitcases and tossed it onto the boat. He heard her huff as her arms went straight down.

  “I’m not dressed for a boat ride.”

  He glanced at her as he lifted another suitcase. “You look fine to me, but if you want to change into something else before we push off there’s a public restroom at the bait store.”

  She glared at him as he tossed the rest of her luggage onto the boat. He turned to meet her gaze then lifted his hand.

  She looked away from him for a moment before huffing again. She ignored his hand as she stepped gracefully into the boat. He raised his eyes to the clouds before untying the lines and hopping in behind her.

  “Your father arranged for a very fast boat. We’ll be there in no time,” Greyson said just before pulling away from the dock. “You’d better take a seat and hold on.”

  He heard her say something about her hair just before he gunned it. He glanced back once or twice during the trip to make sure she was still on the boat. The look on her face was stony each time. He thought back to the few times he’d been on a boat with Callie. In contrast, she’d been smiling the entire time. When they reached the private island, he cut the speed to approach one of the docks. From nowhere, some people appeared to help secure the boat. Makayla’s luggage was whisked away in one cart. Greyson stood on the dock as Makayla left in another cart without a backward glance at him.

  He turned to a man in a tropical shirt and shorts. The man grinned at him and pointed to another cart.

  “Need a ride.”

  “Looks like I do.” Greyson grabbed his small bag and followed the other man to the cart.

  He introduced himself as they drove to the large mansion in the center of the island and asked a lot of questions about the security detail for the weekend event. By the time they reached the mansion, Greyson had an invitation to meet with the team. He tossed his bag into the small room he’d been assigned for staff the guests had brought with them. Makayla was not the only guest with a security guard. Greyson knew that others traveled with additional staff as well. After familiarizing himself with the layout of the island and the routine of the security detail, he went to find Makayla.

  He saw that the sulky look was still on her face when the door to her room opened. “You look refreshed.”

  “It took me this long just to get the knots from my hair,” she said as she walked past him.

  He made sure that that the door to her room was locked before following her down the hall. “Really? I thought that was why you braided it as soon as you got on the boat.”

  She paused at the top of the stairs to give him another stony look.

  He ignored it. “I’ll expect you to remain in my sight at all times this evening and throughout this weekend. Especially during the masked party tomorrow night.”

  “My father is paying you to protect me. How you do it is your business but it won’t change my plans for the evening. I’ll go anywhere I wish, whenever I wish.”

  “We aren’t playing it that way. Your father and I have a deal. I’m the one with the experience and we follow my rules. If you don’t plan to honor our agreement, let me know now. I’ll be gone in a matter of minutes.” He could see the surprise in her eyes.

  “You wouldn’t leave me.” She stared at him for a moment longer before turning and beginning down the stairs. “Fine. Have it your way. This time.”

  ***

  Sierra read the message from Callie. She stood from her desk and crossed over to Michael. “She got a hit on the catfish case on the page with the dating site.”

  He pulled the buds from his ears. “Someone posted a reply? Let’s take a look.”

  They both read the comments as Michael scrolled down. “Lucky for Callie this guy found her. Apparently, they’re destined to be together.”

  “What about his profile page. What does he have on it?”

  Michael clicked to follow the link. “We have his profile narrative.” They skimmed through the text as he scrolled down the page.

  Sierra grinned. “Ha! Pictures. Even better. There’s one of a fancy car.”

  “Looks like he just added that one.” He kept scrolling. “And here are some more of the fancy car. We also have some newly added photos of sunsets and flowers to show that he has a romantic side.” Michael downloaded the images. “Let’s see if we get lucky.”

  She leaned over. “Bingo. There it is. The GPS on their phone tagged the pictures when they were taken. Let’s see where Callie’s dream man is.”

  Michael entered the coordinates into an online map software. “Got it.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “She really did all of that?” Callie looked at Greyson in disbelief.

  He looked tired. “In some cases, more than once and definitely with gusto. Talk about the life of the party. It was a really long weekend.”

  “I’ll bet. I can’t imagine how many body guards she’s gone through over the years with antics like that.”

  “You’re telling me,” Greyson said.

  “What happened next?”

  “I think it was sometime around four in the morning after the masked party that I finally convinced her that the water in the fountain in front of the mansion wasn’t good for her hair.”

  “She was swimming in the fountain?”

  Greyson let out an audible sigh as he sank into the chair across from Callie. “In her defense, the thing was big enough. The center of the fountain had all of these dolphin statues that blew water in these really high arcs. At night, it was lit up with multi-colored lights. Needless to say,
several others ended up jumping in with her.”

  Callie tried to picture it and couldn’t.

  “How about you?” Greyson asked. “What did you learn?”

  Callie caught him up with the Guy Gallagher case.

  “Where does that leave you?” he asked.

  She grimaced. “Not very far.”

  “Okay. What about the people at Gallagher’s company? Maybe we can ask them about the watch? See if there’s any special significance with it?”

  She nodded. “It’s a long shot but one that I had considered also.”

  Greyson rubbed his hand across his chin. “Tell me again what your brother told you.”

  “One of the employees seemed to be taunting him for whatever reason.” She thought back to her conversation with Blake.

  “Then denied it when you spoke with him?”

  “Yes.” She shrugged. “It may have just been one of those things. We all say things we wish we hadn’t. I’m sure once Guy Gallagher’s death was known, no one wanted negative comments they’d made to be remembered.”

  Greyson watched her frown. “What?”

  She shifted in her chair. “Blake said something else. Something that Jesse said about family.”

  “What was it?”

  “That’s just it. Blake wasn’t sure what it was or why Jesse would be talking about family.”

  Greyson glanced at her computer. “What have you found on him? This Jesse?”

  “I haven’t checked yet.” Callie turned toward her computer quickly and began searching his name while muttering to herself. “Jesse Dixon. Age thirty-five.”

  “Your age,” he said as he sank further in his seat.

  “You think that’s significant?” She glanced at him with narrowed eyes before focusing on her computer again. “His mother’s name was Marquita Dixon.”

  “How old is she?” he asked.

  “Was she. Looks like she passed away.” Callie checked another source. “Looks like she was around my parents’ age.”

  Greyson pushed himself forward to look at her screen. “You said that your parents knew Guy Gallagher. Is it possible that they knew Marquita Dixon also?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Callie muttered.

  ***

  Simon made sure the parking brake on the golf cart was set before getting out. He quickly moved over to pick up the bag of mulch before turning to Sally McSorley. “Where do you want this?”

  “Oh, Simon. Perfect timing. I don’t remember the bags being this heavy. I managed to get the first one emptied.” Sally pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at her face. “George was helping but I told him to go inside and rest after he grabbed his back. If that goes out he’ll be laid up for sure.”

  “I can understand that,” Simon said with a smile. “Looks like you left off here.”

  “I did, yes. I’m hoping this second bag is enough to finish the job.” Sally kept dabbing at her face.

  “I think it will be.” Simon began spreading the mulch in the second bag around the small flower bed. “This color looks nice.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Sally eyed the flower bed as Simon emptied the bag.

  He picked up a small rake and finished spreading the mulch around. “There you go.”

  “That looks perfect,” Sally said. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

  Simon was balling the empty bag up when a golf cart stopped in front of Sally’s house.

  “Looks like you have help,” Margaret said.

  Sally pointed to Simon. “Lucky for me. He’s my savior. There’s no way I could have lifted that bag on my own.”

  “He does come in handy.” Margaret smiled as another golf cart coming from the opposite direction stopped. “Hello, Howard.”

  “How are you all doing?” Howard pointed at Simon. “Are you taking on odd jobs now?”

  “Just helping out a bit.” Simon put the empty bag of mulch into Sally’s trash can.

  “I figured you were going to say that Kevin has your old job so you’ve moved on to something else.” Howard didn’t wait for a response. He turned to Margaret. “Is the mail in yet?”

  She waved toward the general direction of their mail boxes. “Must have just come. There were so many people down there I couldn’t even get close enough to get mine. I’ll have to go back later when it calms down.”

  “I’d better get mine before someone else takes it.” Howard chuckled at his own comment then waved before taking off.

  “Don’t forget to drink fluids, you two.” Margaret waved before leaving in the other direction.

  “I should get back to the office,” Simon said as he dusted off his hands.

  “Thanks again for your help.” Sally began walking toward her front door. “A cold drink sounds good right now.”

  “It does,” Simon agreed as he took off in his golf cart for the office. He was planning to get one as soon as he got there. When he opened the main door, he stepped around Kevin on his way to the fridge then stopped when he realized Kevin was on the phone.

  “Yes, I agree.” Kevin looked out the front window of the main office. He shifted the phone to his other ear. “I think you’re right. If you’d like, I can go ahead and order that.”

  It sounded like Kevin was handling whatever the problem was. Simon grabbed his bottle of water and returned to where Kevin was.

  “What was that all about?” Simon uncapped his water.

  “That was corporate. They have some changes they wanted us to consider. I told them I’d handle it.” Kevin sat down behind the desk.

  Simon stared at Kevin forgetting the bottle of water in his hand. “Changes? You agreed to changes without asking me?”

  Kevin didn’t look up from the computer. “It’s corporate. When they say they want us to consider something, they don’t really mean it, right? We have to do it anyway.”

  Simon knew he was right. “Maybe. Either way, I should have been consulted. I should have been the one to speak with them.”

  Kevin looked up. “You weren’t here. I didn’t want to upset them. I didn’t want to tell them that I didn’t know where you were. I’m sorry if I said something that I shouldn’t have.”

  “No, you’re right. I’m sorry.” Simon took the chair across from the desk. He realized he was still holding the water and took a drink. “I was out helping one of the residents.”

  “I figured it was something like that,” Kevin said. “I’m glad I was here to answer the phone when you were busy. I like being able to help.”

  Simon watched Kevin focus on the computer again. He knew that Kevin was handling most of the paperwork for the retirement community now. He wondered exactly when that had happened.

  ***

  Callie took a step forward and shook hands with two members of the in-house security team at the facility where the IT contest was being held.

  “I’m Bailey Spencer, this is my partner, Shane Brett.”

  Callie watched Bailey closely as Greyson took his turn shaking hands. “Have we met before?”

  Bailey made a face. “Not that I recall.”

  Callie took in her posture. “Military?”

  Bailey smiled. “Me? No. That was Shane. He’s ex-military. I’m ex-police academy.”

  Callie smiled. “Ah. That’s why you seemed familiar.”

  “Hang around with cops a lot?” Bailey motioned with her hand.

  Callie fell into step beside her. “Occupational hazard.”

  Bailey laughed. “We were asked to show you around the facility and explain our standard operating procedures.”

  “You have quite a facility here,” Greyson said.

  Shane’s eyes shifted to him as they walked side-by-side. “We have tens of thousands of guests each year. Our security staff is top notch. We can handle everything in-house that comes our way.”

  Greyson nodded his agreement. “I’m not surprised given the facility and we’ve seen the qualifications of the staff. Impressive.”

  Sha
ne’s eyes shifted to Greyson again but this time he remained silent.

  “This is our main communications room. Our eyes and ears come back to this hub.” She used her credentials to open the door. They passed into a large room with a lot of electronics.

  “Do you have ears in every room?” Callie asked as she scanned the views currently on the monitors.

  “Eyes, yes. Ears, no. Not all of them. For one thing, some are too large,” Shane said.

  “What about the rooms where the students will be competing? Can you point those out to us specifically?” Greyson shifted to get a better view of some of the monitors.

  Bailey pointed as she listed and described each room. “As you can see, it just isn’t feasible to have ears at every seat in every room.”

  “What about a network map?” Greyson asked.

  Bailey turned to look at him. “What you do mean?”

  “Our people need a map showing each component inside your network. They’ll also need the identifying network numbers for each.” Greyson pointed at a room currently displayed on one of the monitors. “Let’s say our bad actor is sitting in that room when they intercept some data packets from the students as they are competing. Our people will probably be able to tell it’s happening because of increased traffic across the network.”

  Shane shifted to look from the monitor to Greyson. “So?”

  “So, if they can isolate which segment of the network the activity is on, we’ll know what room our hacker is physically in.” Greyson shrugged. “The hacker’s data packets will have addresses associated with them also. If we know which devices within your network the packets are going through, we can narrow down the list of potential suspects a lot more quickly.”

  Bailey shared a look with Shane. “Impressive.”

  Greyson motioned around them. “So is all of this.”

  “We’ll get that network map to you ASAP,” Bailey said.

  “Thanks for giving us the tour,” Callie said as they filed out of the room. “We’re looking forward to working with you.”

  “We’re going to stay on-site for a while longer getting more acclimated to the facility.” Greyson pulled out his business card. “Here’s my contact info. Let us know when you have the network map ready and we’ll meet up with you immediately to pick it up.”