coming in shortly, so we’ll see if we can find it before we get all that info.”
“Is it that good-looking new guy who swims afterward? I don’t know how you focus on training him. I’d be thinking about other things.” She gave Dawn a smirky smile.
If only she knew . . .
“He’s just another body to whip into shape.” In whatever way she chose to do it.
“Yeah, but what a body!”
Fortunately, Leland strode through the door at that moment, his body not appearing to need further assistance in the fitness department. Tiffany blushed and Dawn grinned.
“Dawn, thanks for meeting me here,” he said. “Any luck?”
“Not at the front desk, but let’s retrace your steps and see if we can locate it. Or maybe it’s in Ramón’s office. Sometimes people hand him things and he forgets to bring them up front.” How was that for casually providing a reasonable excuse to break into the bosses’ office?
Tiffany nodded, her gaze glued to Leland. The only issue with her fascination was that Tiffany was so engrossed in admiring him that she might not remember any of this carefully crafted conversation.
“Are Ramón or Vicky still here?” Dawn asked to snag the receptionist’s attention.
“What?” Tiffany turned to look at her with a slightly dazed expression. “No, they left a while ago. Something about date night.”
“Okay, no problem. We’ll try the locker room first,” Dawn said. “That’s the most likely place anyway.”
“I can’t believe I was so careless with my phone,” Leland said as they walked away from the desk. “I’m sorry for all the trouble I’m putting you through.”
“I get it,” Dawn said. “I can’t function without my cell.”
“Exactly,” he said, holding the door to the hallway for her.
“Okay, we can cut the crap now,” Dawn said when the door swung closed behind them. “But you have to go ransack the locker room and I’ll pretend to search the weight room. Meet you back here in ten minutes.”
She was getting a kick out of creating a false front for their real mission. It was fun to outsmart whoever their opponent was.
He gave her a polite smile as a late customer passed them. “See you then.”
When she got to the weight room, only one woman was using a machine. But Dawn gave a convincing performance of looking for Leland’s phone, even asking the lone customer if she’d seen a stray cell.
She was back in the hallway in eleven minutes. Leland stood outside the locker room already. “Did you find it?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Let’s check Ramón’s office. Luckily, I have a key.”
“He must trust you.” Leland fell into step beside her as they headed toward the front desk again.
“We trust each other.” Ramón had given her the key when he’d taken Vicky on vacation to Costa Rica, saying that someone might need something from the office while they were gone. No one had, and Dawn had tried to return it to him when he came back. He’d told her to keep it. “I’m only using it now because Ramón wouldn’t want the gym to be involved in anything illegal.”
No matter what Natalie said, Dawn was sure of that.
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am.” As they approached the door, Dawn took a quick glance around the hallway without being obvious. She bent her head as though looking at the keys in her hand. “There’s a security camera in the corner diagonally to my right.”
“I was afraid we wouldn’t find it in the locker room,” Leland said in acknowledgment.
Dawn slid the key into the lock and twisted. Opening the door, she flicked on the lights. Leland had warned her to keep to their cover story while in the office until he made sure none of the computers had cameras activated.
“I’ll check Ramón’s desk,” Dawn said. “He’s always stuffing things in drawers and forgetting that they’re there.” Which was true.
She began riffling through his junk drawer while she watched Leland wander around the office as though he were just occupying himself while she searched for the phone.
“We’re clear,” he said, placing his laptop bag on the credenza behind Vicky’s desk where the router was positioned. He had his laptop out and plugged into the router faster than Dawn could sort through the miscellaneous crap she’d pulled out of Ramón’s drawer.
Leland didn’t bother with a chair—he just bent down and started typing, his fingers flying over the keyboard with the fluidity of a pianist, except the music was a rapid-fire clicking. His gaze was fixed on the