Innocent Conspiracy_A Sam Prichard Mystery

by David Archer

  “Oh, sorry to interrupt, then. I was wondering if you would have some time to meet with one of my investigators this evening? We’ve got a few questions that we think will help us to wrap this case up.”

  “Sure, no problem. You want to just send him to the house?”

  “Actually, I’d like you to meet my investigator alone. Have you had dinner yet?”

  “No, not yet. Annie is spending some time with a friend of hers this evening, so dinner would be okay. When and where?”

  “How about Vesta? Say, seven thirty?”

  “Sure, it’s not too far away. I was just getting home, so I’ll take a quick shower and be on the way. Who am I meeting?”

  “Her name is Summer Raines,” Sam said. “She’ll know you, so she’ll be waiting just inside the front entrance.”

  “No problem,” Morton said. “I’ll see her there.”

  Sam called Summer back. “Okay, you’re meeting him for dinner at Vesta at seven thirty. Good luck, and let me know what you find out.”

  “I sure will,” she said.

  Sam hung up the phone, then decided to call it a day. He headed out the door, pulled up at home about forty-five minutes later, and Kenzie met him at the door once again. He scooped her up into a hug, got a kiss and a second hug, then went into the kitchen to find Indie.

  *

  Summer had just gotten home when she called Sam, and stripped while she was waiting for him to call back. As soon as he confirmed her meeting with Morton, she stepped into the shower, scrubbed thoroughly and washed her hair, then dried off with a large, fluffy towel. She stood naked in her bathroom while she blow-dried her hair and put on her makeup, then took a moment to examine the scars she had collected.

  On her right thigh was a round white spot where she had once taken a bullet while on a security detail, protecting an American politician who was touring American military facilities in Afghanistan. Her left breast bore a more recent wound, where a bullet had passed all the way through. Fortunately, it had been a small bullet, and had been fired through thick glass and slowed down considerably, so it hadn’t done nearly as much damage as it might have. There were simply two round, pinkish welts on each side.

  On her left side, just above her hipbone, there was a thin scar that was the result of a knife-wielding maniac she had once encountered. She hadn’t even been on the job at the time, but this man had decided he found her appealing and wanted to peel her. He managed one quick stab before she broke his arm, his nose, and his jaw.

  All in all, things could have been worse, she figured. While scars weren’t necessarily appealing, the rest of her body was still in as good a shape as it was when she was a cheerleader back in high school. She worked hard to keep it that way, and it paid off in many different kinds of dividends.

  Inventory complete, she stepped out of the bath and went to her closet. She slithered into thong and pantyhose, chose a fairly simple bra, and then a midnight blue dress that clung in all the right places. She lifted it up and let it drop down over herself, quickly adjusted where it needed adjusting, and then contorted her arms to do the buttons in the back. A pair of two-inch heels gave her legs the perfect shape, and one more quick touch up with the hairbrush meant she was ready to go.

  She collected her phone and purse, then headed out the door to her car, a 1982 Jaguar XJS convertible. The car had originally come with a V12 engine, but Summer liked a little power under the hood. She had thought the car was sexy when she saw it, but after owning it for a month, it just didn’t have the oomph she wanted. She had been dating a man at the time who was notorious for building high-powered hot rods, and she wheedled him until he agreed to make a few minor modifications.

  The V12 came out, and a Chevy 383 stroker crate motor went in. He backed it up with a six-speed automatic transmission, and the car could leave just about anything else at the starting line. It wasn’t that she felt she really needed all that much power, but if she decided to really put her foot into the carburetor, she wanted to have something there that would respond.

  Getting to Vesta didn’t take long, and she got there with fifteen minutes to spare. She went inside and took a seat in the area where people wait for a table, then took out her phone to play a trivia game while she waited for Morton to appear.

  John Morton arrived at almost exactly 7:30. Summer saw him come through the door and dropped her phone into her purse as she got to her feet.

  “John?” she asked, and he turned to her with a smile.

  “Ms. Raines? Yes, I’m John Morton.”

  “Summer, please,” she said, returning the smile. “Ms. Raines makes me feel like a schoolteacher.”

  John looked her up and down, his eyes appreciating every curve. “I don’t think there are any schoolteachers like you,” he said. “At least, there weren’t any when I was in school.”

  She giggled and touched his arm. “Well, thank you,” she said. “Shall we find a table?”

  The hostess led them to one that was off by itself, and asked each of them what they would like to drink. Summer asked for iced tea, while Morton opted for raspberry lemonade. The drinks arrived a moment later, and the waitress took their orders.

  “Sam said you had a few questions,” Morton said. “How can I help you?”

  “Well, I’m actually kind of curious about how your company seems to be doing so well after the shooting. To be honest, it reminded me of stories I heard about the Tylenol crisis back in the eighties. Do you think there’s anything particular that you did that helped your company to make it through this particular crisis?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Morton said. “Of course, the first thing we did was make sure that Max Petrelli’s medical bills were all covered, I think that helped us a bit in the PR department. We immediately used social media to spread the word that we accepted the responsibility for what happened, and publicized the fact that we were going to employ professional security in the future. Just mentioning Windlass Security probably did us a lot of good, considering all the good press your company has gotten lately. Other than that, I really can’t think of anything special we did.”

  “Maybe that was enough,” Summer said with a smile. “It seems that the people really like your company, and all of the commentary I’m seeing and hearing about it now is very positive. That first couple of days, there were a few bad comments out there, but they seem to have faded away quickly.”

  “I think that’s just human nature,” Morton said. “We sometimes feel that any kind of failure is an indication of failures to come, but when we see that failure in the light of an unavoidable circumstance, or in this case, deliberate malice, then the object of concern takes on the persona of a victim. To be honest, I think Windlass has helped to put that idea out there, that the company was a victim of some malicious intent.”

  “You know, we had somebody working undercover inside your company for a while,” Summer said. “That was because we had to be fairly sure that no one inside was involved. Don’t get me wrong, I know they found out that one of your video people was blackmailed into cooperating with the shooter, but I’m saying that we wanted to be certain there was no one inside the company who was willingly involved.”

  Morton cocked his head slightly. “Are you saying that was an actual suspicion?”

  “Well, not so much a suspicion as a precaution. Windlass has a reputation that we protect very carefully, and, given that human nature is as you described it, we naturally had to consider the possibility that someone might have anticipated a positive result from this type of situation. If that someone happened to be within your company and have some kind of control over it, we needed to be in a position to ascertain that.”

  “Well,” Morton said. “I have to say you’ve caught me off guard. Summer, I don’t think there’s anyone in our company who would consider doing something like this, no matter what might be gained from it.”

  “Oh, please don’t get me wrong,” she said. “I’m certainly not trying to imply
that you’re under suspicion now. I was just explaining why we went to the lengths we did, as far as putting someone in undercover. Now, let’s change the subject. I understand you’re going to New York?”

  “Yes, I’ve been asked to speak at the International Internet Video Conference that’s being held there all next week. I’ll be talking about the future of internet video, and how television is probably on its way out. With all the content being produced for the internet, now, broadcast and cable TV is probably about to go the way of the dinosaur. You’ve got all the streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Starbright, and more out there, so people can watch whatever they want, whenever they want. Keeping television profitable is going to be difficult in the face of that kind of competition, and I’m just one of several people who seem to be able to see that coming without panicking over it.”

  “That brings up another question,” Summer said. “You mentioned streaming services; I’m curious why you don’t have a streaming service of your own. I mean, after all, just about every indie video producer out there wants to win your awards; it would seem to me that having your own streaming service would be a natural extension of what you already do.”

  “We toyed with the idea for a while,” Morton said. “In fact, I’ve even had talks with Netflix and Starbright about some sort of joint venture. Netflix was only exploring the possibility, they weren’t really serious about it at all, but Starbright—well, we got down to the point of negotiating the benefits to each side, but they were a little greedier than I care to deal with. When they got stubborn and wouldn’t budge, I walked away from the table.”

  Summer smiled at him. “I like a man who can make a decision,” she said, “and isn’t afraid to act on it, regardless of the consequences. Are you considering any kind of similar joint venture in the future?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I suppose it could be possible, but only if I could work with someone who was more sensible than either of those were. I don’t think there’s any reason for me to have to give up a massive share of my company so that we can both make extra profits. The way Starbright wanted to do things, I’d have a bigger customer base, but a smaller percentage of profits. In the long run, I stood to make less money while doing more work, and that just doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Then, I’ll go back to my original question. Why don’t you want your own streaming service? With the standing your company has now, I think the vast majority of internet video fans would jump at the chance to sign up. I mean, you’ve got the reputation already, you know what’s good and what’s not. If you set up your own streaming service, you could have the cream of the crop as far as internet video goes.”

  “Again, we toyed with the idea, but it isn’t something we have in the works at the moment.” He gave her a conspiratorial smile. “If I let you in on something, can you keep it from getting public? I don’t care if you share with your company, just don’t let it leak out.”

  “John, we are a security company,” she said, giggling. “Keeping secrets is what we do.”

  He looked around the room for a moment to be sure no one was listening, then leaned toward her over the table. “We do have something we’re working on,” he said. “Our research people have been working on some code that we’re pretty excited about. We’ve found a way to break video up into tiny little packets of data, which can then be downloaded in batches. What it will do is increase the download speed for video streaming by a ridiculous factor, so that you can get true high definition video through a data connection. No buffering, no pausing, the video is all preloaded in the background of your computer or smart TV, and will be reassembled and streamed as smoothly as if you were watching it live.”

  Summer gave him an admiring smile. “That sounds like something that’s going to be pretty profitable,” she said.

  “I certainly hope so. We’ll be unveiling this new technology next week, and we’re certain that every video streaming application out there is going to want to make use of it. Now, what that will mean is that even the smallest video producer will be able to stream high definition video, and the big streaming services will be able to do several times as much streaming on the same bandwidth they’re using now. That is going to be one of the biggest innovations this year, and I could not have hoped for a better way to announce it than at this conference. We already make a lot of money every year, but the licensing fees on this technology will multiply our earnings by a factor of at least thirty.”

  Summer whistled. “So, you’re talking about making billions of dollars every year, right?”

  “Right now, we’re projecting revenue for the first three years at more than ninety-five billion dollars. It’ll be the biggest innovation in video since YouTube, and it’s going to cut costs for video producers and streamers, even after licensing the technology from us. This is going to be huge, and I’m extremely excited about it.”

  “I’ll bet. I bet your girlfriend is even more excited about it than you are, isn’t she?”

  “Annie? Annie is not as materialistic as you might think, she doesn’t care as much about the money as she does about the company. I let her make a lot of the decisions as far as employees and such, because she has such a good heart. We pay our people very well, and it makes them extremely loyal to us.”

  “She sounds wonderful,” Summer said. “See, this is the problem I always run into. All the good guys like you are taken, so a girl like me ends up lonely all the time.”

  Morton’s eyebrows went up. “You’re lonely? Forgive me, but you got to be kidding, right? Summer, you are probably one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine you being lonely.”

  Summer was smiling, but suddenly her chin was quivering. A single tear started to make its way down her cheek from her right eye. “Hey, you know what looks like these will get you? A lot of attention, but most of it from men who only want that famous one thing. All the really decent guys seem to be intimidated by my looks, so they either won’t pay any attention to me at all, or they try to pretend to be something they’re not because they think it’s the only way to get my attention. The truth is, all I really want is someone who will care about me for who I am, rather than what I look like.”

  Morton was quiet for a few seconds, then reached across and laid his hand on hers. “I’m sorry you feel that way,” he said. “You seem like an incredible woman.”

  Summer looked at his hand and then raised her eyes to meet his. “You have a gentle touch,” she said. “I hope you’ll forgive me for being so bold, but I would bet you are an incredible lover.”

  Morton yanked his hand back. “Oh, my goodness,” he said, “please forgive me if I gave you the wrong impression just now. I wasn’t trying to…”

  “Relax, John,” Summer said with a grin. “I wasn’t, either. To be perfectly honest, that was just my way of kinda checking you out. See, I can learn an awful lot about a man by leaving him an opening to flirt with me, and then watching how he makes his moves. I left you an opening, and you jumped away from it. That tells me you’re a pretty good guy, and Annie is lucky to have you.”

  Morton swallowed, his eyes wide. “Listen, I understand what you’re saying and I appreciate your honesty. I was really just trying to be comforting, because you looked upset. It didn’t even occur to me that it might be taken as flirting. I really do apologize…”

  “Seriously, chill out,” Summer said. “Like I said, John, it was a test and you passed. Sometimes I do this type of interview when we’re trying to clear someone, or prove that they have good character qualities. It’s all about perception, and you’d be surprised how many men fail miserably.”

  “Actually, I don’t think I would be,” Morton said. “My Annie is a beautiful woman herself, and she’s always dealing with men hitting on her. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that she’s devoted to me, so I’m certainly not going to be anything less than devoted to her.”

  The waitress arrived with their dinner, a
nd they put aside any serious conversation while they ate. They talked about simple things, such as what they each liked about their work, and went their separate ways when dinner was over.

  Summer called Sam from her car, catching him relaxing on the sofa with his children in his lap as they watched a movie on TV.

  “I think we can eliminate John Morton as any kind of suspect,” she said. “There aren’t a lot of guys in the world who are still genuine, but he’s definitely one of them.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” Sam said. “My own gut tells me he’s clean, but there are enough little discrepancies that we have to consider the possibility someone inside his company is still involved. Any other possibilities come to mind?”

  “Sam, I don’t know anybody else in the company. You find a suspect, I’ll be happy to vet him, but I don’t know of any at the moment.”

  “Okay. See you at the office tomorrow.”

  “I’ll be there.” She hung up the phone and dropped it into her purse, then took it back out. She found a name in her contacts and hit the dial button.

  “Hello?”

  “Harvey,” she said slowly and seductively. “Would you like some company?”

  *

  Though it was only a little after three, Sam decided to take off early. He told Jenna that he was going home and that he had forwarded his office phone in case something came up, then walked out the door and got into the Mustang. He was just backing out when his phone rang, and he picked it up to see Karen’s number on the display.

  “Karen? What’s up?”

  “Well, you’re not going to believe this,” she said. “Somebody just took a shot at Max Petrelli, right through his hospital room window.”

  “No way! Was he hurt?”

  “No, the bullet missed completely, and your security guard spotted where the shot came from and returned fire, striking and killing one person. Unfortunately, another person with him got away. We need you down there, Sam. I’m on the way myself. And by the way, we are not releasing the information about the shooter being killed.”