“The client’s name is Margaret Anders. She hired Whitney a few weeks ago to determine whether her husband was cheating on her.”
Myles listened as Ashton recounted his conversation with the detective. The morning of the crash, Whitney and Margaret met at a diner just outside of Macon, Georgia. They hadn’t stayed long, only long enough for Whitney to share her findings and for Margaret to pay her.
Myles tried to pay attention, but he was barely holding it together. Those last minutes with her client were the final minutes of Whitney’s life.
Emotions warred inside of him, but shock and anger were winning. How dare someone take such a precious life. How dare someone take her from him and Collin. It was bad enough knowing that she was dead, but to learn that she’d been murdered ignited something lethal inside of him. He would make it his life’s mission to find the person who did this.
“Whitney not only confirmed the husband’s infidelity,” Ashton was saying. “She also learned he had a drug problem.”
“What was the client’s name again?”
“Margaret Anders. You know her?”
Myles shook his head. “No, just wondering.”
Whitney occasionally asked his opinion about a case, but rarely did she divulge her client’s names. Myles knew Ashton wouldn’t give the husband’s name, but he’d find it. He didn’t know if the guy had anything to do with Whitney’s death, but he would find out.
“Did authorities talk to the husband?”
“Not yet. The wife confronted him right after leaving her meeting with Whitney, and no one has seen him since. You probably think that he might be behind the crash, but right now, it could be anyone.”
“But he’d be a good person to start with,” Myles ground out, unable to hide his anger. His fists were balled at his sides. Normally, remaining calm wasn’t a problem for him, but knowing someone took the life of a person he loved made him see red. “What’s his name? What’s the husband’s name?”
Ashton shook his head. “I don’t know, and I’m probably wasting my breath when I say this, but Myles, let the authorities handle this case.”
Yeah, he was wasting his breath, Myles thought. There was no way he could just sit back and do nothing while the cops tried to piece everything together. Especially when he had the means to investigate her death himself.
“Margaret also said that just before they left the restaurant, some guy asked their server to deliver a note to Whitney.”
Myles straightened. “Note? What did it say?”
“She didn’t know. Whitney didn’t read it while she was in the restaurant. Margaret teased her a little, suggesting that maybe it was from an admirer. She said Whitney didn’t seem to think so. As a matter of fact, she looked a little uncomfortable, according to Margaret.”
“Uncomfortable how? Like she knew the guy? Like she was afraid?”
“She tensed up, glancing around the diner. The client didn’t think much of it until the cops showed up at her house, asking about her relationship with Whitney.”
“Did she or Whitney see the guy?”
Ashton shook his head. “The server couldn’t find him. Only said that he’d been sitting at the counter minutes before he slipped her the note. By the time she made it to their table, the guy was gone. She said that Whitney asked the server for a description, but all Margaret could remember was that he was a good-looking guy almost six feet tall, olive skin, and wearing a cap.”
Irritation clawed through Myles. That description wasn’t much to go on. Maybe the man really was someone admiring her, but his gut told him it was more than that—especially in light of the crash. And if the husband had been at the diner, Whitney and maybe even the wife would’ve seen him.
“Just as a heads-up, if you don’t hear from detectives tonight, they’ll be contacting you tomorrow. And if I was working this case,” Ashton said slowly, as if making sure Myles was paying attention, “tonight I’d be getting a warrant to search Whitney’s home.”
Myles nodded his understanding. If the cops searched the house, for any reason, Myles had no idea what they’d find. He and Whitney might’ve owned the place together, but as far as he was concerned, the house was hers. She and Collin lived in it, not him.
Now that he knew the cops would need to search the place, Myles needed to go there tonight to poke around before they got there. He didn’t have a clue to what he’d be looking for, but working so many years for the CIA, it didn’t matter. If there were something to be found, something that could give him a hint to whoever might’ve been after her, he’d find it.
Myles sensed there was more, something Ashton wasn’t telling him. “What else?” he said forcefully, unable to hide his anxiousness.
“There was a small piece of paper found between Whitney’s driver’s seat and the center console. The detectives think it might be the note from the mystery man.”
“Damn, Ashton! You should’ve started with that. What did it say?”
“The paper was crumbled, and they could only make out a small part of it. So—”
“Just tell me what it said!”
“It said…you will pay for destroying my family.”
*
Hours later, after dropping Geneva and Collin off at his loft, Myles stood in the doorway of Whitney's home office and glanced around. A sliver of moonlight shone through the two windows, casting shadows throughout the space.
The last thing he wanted to do was touch any of Whitney’s belongings. At least not yet. He and her sister, Yvette, agreed to give it a couple of weeks before they boxed up the house. But no matter when they did it, it would be one of the hardest things Myles would ever have to do.
They both still needed time to come to terms with the knowledge that Whitney was really gone. Yvette assumed he would move into the house for Collin’s sake, but Myles planned to put it on the market as soon as possible. There was no way he would move in. He loved his loft. Besides, the house reminded him too much of Whitney.
He pushed away from the door jamb and flipped the light switch. The lamp on the desk came on instead of the overhead light, giving the room a serene feel, a calmness that he hadn’t felt in hours.
Myles strolled across the dimly lit space, his footsteps silent on the plush carpet. After closing the blinds on the window that overlooked the side of the house, he then went to the one that gave a view of the street. His hand was on the wand to shut the blinds, but he stopped. A parked car, a few houses down, caught his attention. It was the same vehicle he had seen the other day when picking up some of Collin’s items.
The car probably wouldn’t have stood out, but someone was sitting in the driver’s seat, like the other day. A nearby street light illuminated just enough to see the figure’s outline, but not enough to identify if it was a man or woman. Whoever it was, appeared to be looking at Whitney’s house.
Myles shut the blinds and hurried back to the door, almost bumping into Kenton in the hallway. Kenton and Laz agreed to help him look around the house, and they were the perfect people for the job. Both could go through the place without making it look as if it had been searched.
“I’ll be right back,” Myles told him. “I want to check something out front. A car and driver I saw sitting out there the other day.”
He started down the stairs.
“Wait, I can check it out for you," Kenton said, following behind him.
“Nah, man. I got this. It’s probably nothing. I’ll holler if I need you.”
Instead of going out the front door, Myles left through the back. He hopped a fence that separated Whitney’s yard from the neighbors and did the same thing with the next house.
When he reached the street, he planned to sneak up on whoever was in the dark four-door sedan. He quickly made a note of the Georgia license plate: PXG9311. The car was running, and there was a sliver of light coming from the inside of the vehicle. Maybe something from an electronic device like a phone or a tablet. Whatever it was, he was thankful it was d
istracting the driver.
Myles crept closer. Maybe this was just someone waiting on a person from another house, but just in case…
Before he could get to the driver’s door, the guy glanced into his mirror. Startled dark eyes met Myles’s gaze. Seconds before Myles reached the window, the man gunned the accelerator. He roared away from the curb like his butt was on fire and almost ran over Myles’s foot in the process.
Dammit. He barely got a look at the person. White with dark eyes, a thin mustache, and scruff on his cheeks. The wool cap and the high-collared jacket didn’t give him much more. Hopefully, they would get a hit on the plates.
When he walked back into the house, Kenton met him near the door with a finger at his lips, signaling for him not to say anything. He pointed to his ear, and Myles cursed under his breath.
The house was bugged.
They both went out the back door, and Myles ran a hand down his face once they were standing just beyond the patio. He hadn’t considered that the place could be bugged, and the thought had his blood boiling.
“How the hell did someone get in?” he said more to himself.
Kenton’s cell phone rang, and he held a finger up to Myles to give him a minute while he took the call. While he did that, Myles went back to check the door that they’d just exited. There were no broken windows and no sign of forced entry at the front or the back door.
How did they get in?
Whitney was a stickler for security, to the point of being obsessive about locking doors and having the alarm on even when they were in the house.
Maybe the person used a bump key, Myles thought. That would’ve been a way to unlock the door and then lock it back. That still didn’t answer the question of how they got past the alarm system.
He strolled across the yard to where Kenton was just finishing his call.
“Where’d you find the listening device?” Myles asked. “Or is it more than one?”
“So far, Laz found one in the living room. There was a small stack of mail on an end table. When he went to turn on the lamp, that’s when he found the listening device. Whoever is listening doesn’t know we found it.”
“Where’s Laz now?”
“He has a spy bug detector at home, and he lives closer. He went to get it. He was going out the front door just as you came through the back.”
Myles nodded and pulled out his cell phone. “Okay, good. In the meantime, I’ll contact Wiz to see if he can trace the signal, as well as determine if the alarm system has been overridden at some point. Even though I can’t imagine Whitney not having it on at all times.”
“If she was half as paranoid as you usually are, I figured the person had to have somehow sabotaged the alarm.”
Myles didn’t take offense to the paranoid comment. He could admit to being extra careful in every aspect of his life. It was just the way he was made, and after spending so many years as a spy, being a little distrusting was ingrained in him.
He told Kenton about the car parked out front, and he agreed to forward the plate number to Ashton while Myles talked to Wiz. It was good having friends in law enforcement and the rest of the Atlanta’s Finest team, whose skills and abilities in situations like this were second to none.
Myles stayed outside and called Wiz. Cameron “Wiz” Miller, a part-owner of Supreme Security-Chicago, was their go-to person for any type of technology needs. The computer guru was a former Navy SEAL and a master hacker. If anyone could help Myles in this area, it was him.
“Hello.”
“Hey, man. It’s Myles. I need a favor.”
Myles explained everything, and after being assured Wiz would look into the situation, he re-entered the house. Now he and the guys had to pretend they didn’t know the house was bugged.
“I’m sorry about what happened to Whitney,” Kenton said when Myles returned to the office. He was searching the closet.
“Yeah, thanks. It’s still hard to believe she’s gone,” Myles said, playing along. His friends had already expressed their condolences.
He and Kenton exchanged small talk and moved quickly around the room, trying to determine if there were any more bugs or even cameras that had been planted. They wouldn’t know for sure until Laz returned, but they could at least look.
Kenton checked the heat vent, the area around the small flat-screen television, and the bookcase. Myles checked all around the desk, surprised he didn’t find anything.
“Do you think you want to keep this?” Kenton pointed to the back of the shelf, then pointed to his ear.
“I’m not sure,” Myles said through gritted teeth as irritation stirred inside of him. He wondered just how many were in the house.
Payback was a bitch. How many times had he and Whitney planted listening devices during an assignment? During his CIA years, that was as natural as putting on a pair of socks. It came with the job. But now that they were dealing with someone spying, he was mad enough to spit bullets.
At some point, some stranger had been inside the house, invading Whitney’s privacy. Questions bombarded his mind. When were the devices installed? What had Whitney discussed in these rooms? What had he and Whitney discussed during his visits? Just how much did this person know about her…about him…or Collin?
Myles would love to get his hands on the person who had the audacity to come after his family.
When his cell phone vibrated in his pocket, he pulled the device out and glanced at the screen. Laz.
Open the front door. Also, the outside is clear.
Myles jogged down the stairs and glanced out before pulling the door open.
“Hey, thanks. Sorry it took so long, but I couldn’t find the beer you usually get,” Laz lied and held up a familiar bag.
“No worries. I’m sure whatever you bought is fine.”
“We’re in the office. Come on up.”
The moment they stepped into the room, Laz pulled out the equipment. The device actually belonged to Supreme Security. On occasion, when they wanted to ensure a client’s home wasn’t bugged, they’d use the device to sweep the place. It was almost a hundred percent accurate in finding bugs.
Kenton pointed to the bookcase, showing him that they’d found at least one on the second floor, and Laz nodded. He silently started searching the closet.
Whitney made sure Myles knew where she kept personal items, including spare keys to the desk and lateral file cabinet. He pulled open the false electrical outlet near the office door and removed the spare keys. She had a number of concealed hiding places throughout the house, just in case.
Usually, she was always prepared for worse-case scenarios. It didn’t matter that they’d left the CIA years ago. In some cases, she still operated like she still worked for the Agency. There was even a go-bag for her and Collin if she ever needed to leave town at a moment’s notice. Myles had taken that duffel to his house the other night, knowing that it contained cash. It also had some of her passports, aliases from when she was an agent.
He dropped down heavily into Whitney’s desk chair, his chest tight with emotion. No amount of planning could have prepared him for all of this. Even with the type of work they used to do, dying wasn’t a topic of conversation, the exception being preparing their wills. Even then, though, it was just a precaution, mainly for Collin’s sake. They wanted to make sure everything was in place to ensure he’d be taken care of in case of their untimely death. With Whitney’s insurance policy, as well as investments, he and Collin would be set for years to come.
Myles needed to focus on the task at hand. He unlocked the file cabinet, as well as the desk drawers. Earlier, before leaving Mason’s house, Ashton had mentioned that when the cops searched the place, they’d mainly be looking through files. Anything that would give them some insight into Whitney’s clients and what type of jobs she took on.
Whitney was extremely organized and had the latest client’s files at the front of her desk’s bottom drawer. Instead of taking them with him, Myles took pictur
es of the content. He’d start reviewing everything in the morning. Hopefully, they’d give him some clues of who or what they were dealing with.
His cell phone buzzed with another incoming text message. This one was from Wiz.
Someone definitely overrode the system, then reset it. They’re good. Very good. I added a safety feature remotely to prevent it from happening again. Change the password before leaving. My team will do the monitoring until further notice.
Myles sat back in the chair. At least he knew that Whitney had still been vigilant in setting the alarm. Whoever they were dealing with was not only a murderer, but they had serious tech skills. Supreme Security had installed a top-of-the-line system. For someone to have been able to hack into it was disturbing, and for Wiz to admit that the person was good was saying a lot. As far as Myles was concerned, Wiz was the best.
Thanks, Myles typed back, then added, What about the listening devices? Are you able to trace the signal?
Myles looked up as Laz walked out and headed to the next room. And when his phone vibrated again, he read the text from Wiz.
I’m working on it. More time needed. Stay vigilant.
Myles sent him a thumbs-up and went back to taking pictures. In case the cops decided to remove any of the information from Whitney’s files, he wanted to have copies. They could search the house and investigate all they wanted, but he wasn’t leaving it up to them to find her killer.
“What do you want to do with the junk that’s in here?” Kenton asked casually, holding up Whitney’s handgun safe. They were careful with their words for the benefit of whoever was listening in.
“Let me see.”
Myles picked up the key ring from the desk and found the one that would unlock the box. He hoped her pistol was in there. Once he confirmed it was, he breathed a sigh of relief, not realizing he’d been holding his breath. If she wasn’t traveling with her weapon, chances were she didn’t feel threatened. That answered one of the questions he’d been thinking about. She didn’t know someone was tracking her.
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