tracks. He couldn’t get a good look inside, but what he saw was impressive. A glint of two very high-end sports cars from the reflection of the morning sun. Avery suspected there could be more. He definitely needed to get into that garage.
Steinwood pulled out the Jaguar and roared out of the driveway, just as he had done the day before. Avery quickly got out his small camera with the telephoto lens and snapped a photo of the cars before the garage door closed. He then sent the photo off to Charles who he hoped would be able to identify the cars. Avery waited several minutes before he brought the bucket down, then jumped out and walked up the driveway as if he belonged there. Cable service, if anyone asked. Getting past the cameras could be a problem. The layout of the garage did not seem out of the ordinary. It was the size of the garage that was striking. There were three doors on one side and three on the opposite side. The driveway wrapped around the building. He suspected there would be cameras on the other side, as well. He decided to move the truck to get a different vantage point. Maybe he would be able to see the other side of the garage.
Avery hopped back into the truck and moved it several yards and placed the orange cone and the sign behind it. This time he raised the bucket above the tree line and could make out a camera on the nearest corner. It was going to be a bit tricky, but he had been through worse. He simply needed to find out where the equipment that recorded the camera shots was kept.
Once he got back to his motel, he would check the electrical schematics again. It was possible he could jam the frequency. At least for a short time.
* * *
Eileen signaled to Avery that she was able to return to the London Live-Life-Long office. She was astonished that the lock on the rear door was incredibly easy to pick. But as Avery had discovered in Aspen, there was little information in the files. But there was a large vault in the closet of the corner office that begged to be opened. That exercise would have to wait until she got the all clear. Often, the sisters preferred to do the reveal themselves. It could get dicey. She did as Avery told her and planted a microcamera in the room that housed the vault. As she was planting a bug and camera in the rear office, she couldn’t help but notice what appeared to be white residue on the leather-topped desk. She snapped a photo and made her way out of the building.
Next would be Dr. Marcus’s flat. That should be easy enough. The Plimsoll Building had a rooftop conservatory where an event was held several times a week. She would dress appropriately for what would most likely be a fund-raiser. Her challenge would be finding an outfit that would work double duty. Chic enough for cocktails yet flexible enough for snooping. This was London. Almost anything would be fine. Probably the funkier the better. She thought of Emma Peel, the superspy from The Avengers. Maybe not quite a catsuit, but something definitely leather.
* * *
Avery returned the utility truck to the same parking lot he had left it in before, walked to the rental, and headed back to his motel. He had a lot of work ahead of him. First was to listen to the recordings from the office. Who came and who went and what was said. Second, he had to figure out how to disarm the cameras that faced the mysterious garage.
He flipped open one of his laptops and opened the audio files from the office. He had been able to plant a camera the size of a pinhead on the inside door of the closet that housed the vault. The hope was to be able to see what was inside the vault when it was opened.
Avery listened. “Good morning, Mrs. Kaplan.” The receptionist’s voice came across the recording loud and clear. “How are we feeling today?” Why do medical people always use the word we? Shouldn’t they know how they’re feeling? Avery had little patience with people these days.
“I’m feeling a bit sluggish, to be honest,” Mrs. Kaplan confessed.
“Well, Dr. Steinwood will have you fixed up in a jiffy. He’ll be right with you. Please take a seat,” the woman instructed. Avery