The Mogul and the Muscle - Claire Kingsley Page 0,76
Cameron’s house I did a sweep looking for camera lenses, bugs, and any evidence of tampering—particularly in her office and bedroom. Checked for errant radio and wifi signals. I’d need to get my guy in here for a more thorough search, but so far, her house seemed clean.
Derek arrived, dressed in a tailored suit, no tie. Cameron was busy in her office, so I let him in the front.
“Some excitement today, I take it?” he asked, strolling casually into the foyer.
“You could say that.”
He paused and narrowed his eyes. “You sound… concerned.”
“I shook a tail this morning. Two of them, actually. They were good. And Cameron’s office was trashed. I think it was mostly for show, and to hide the fact that they planted a bug.” I took the bug out of my pocket and dropped it into his outstretched palm.
He held it up, pinched between his thumb and forefinger. “Emily told me. This wasn’t made by some kid watching a YouTube video, was it?”
“Nope.” I took it back and slipped it into my pocket.
“Anyone you know?”
“Might be. This isn’t CIA issue. Or it wasn’t five years ago. But it could still be an ex-spook gone private. And there are a few groups who could have access to this kind of tech. The Cubans. The Russians. Italians. There’s no shortage of organized crime down here.”
“But what would the mob want with Cameron?”
“I don’t think they want her at all. Not directly. I think someone hired a team, though, and one of the ways to find that kind of talent is to go to one of the families.”
“They’d need a big set of brass balls for that. Not to mention a hefty bank account.”
“Which doesn’t really narrow it down,” I said. “Anyone with a reason to go after Cameron has the funds to pull this off.”
“True.” He checked his watch. “I need to get to my meeting with the lovely Ms. Whitbury. Maybe a little reputation-fixing will take her mind off everything else.”
I shook my head. This was such a clusterfuck. “Please tell me there’s not more bad news on your end.”
“Nothing new yet, but we’re planning for the worst when it gets out that someone broke in to Spencer headquarters and ransacked the CEO’s office.”
“Thanks for helping her with this,” I said.
“Of course,” Derek said. “Just doing my job.”
“Aren’t we all.”
Derek disappeared inside for his meeting with Cameron, so I went out front to make a few phone calls.
I knew a guy over in Little Havana who always had his ear to the ground. If someone had been asking around for a team who could break into a highly secured building and plant a bug, he might know about it.
Unfortunately, he didn’t.
I made a few more calls. Some friendlier than others. But they either didn’t know, or weren’t going to tell me without additional motivation. There was only so much I could do over the phone.
What I needed was access to both Aldrich and Noelle’s phone records. From there I could trace if either of them had been in contact with anyone connected to one of the crime syndicates. But I couldn’t do that legally. I had a guy who might be able to swing it for me, but it would probably take him a couple of days.
I swiped through my contacts to find his number, but Emily pulled up in her golf cart.
“I just got back from the lab,” she said, jumping down. She was dressed in a lavender blouse and slacks. “Is Cam okay?”
“She’s handling everything like a badass.” I slipped my phone in my pocket. “Derek’s meeting with her now.”
“Good. I swear to god, I hope you find the asshole who’s doing this to her so we can crush them.”
“We will.” My voice was flat, but she had no idea how much rage simmered inside. Crushing them was only the beginning of what I wanted to do to whoever was behind this.
“Was there really a bug planted in her office?”
“Yeah, a sophisticated one.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Corporate espionage?”
“Could be. Her IT people are looking for breaches, anything that might indicate stolen information. But I don’t know. My gut tells me this is personal.”
“Cam said her COO is a suspect. It makes sense. Or Aldrich?”
I nodded.
“Before the sex tape thing, I never would have thought Aldrich would do something like this. I didn’t think he was good for Cam, and I was glad when she left him, but I didn’t think he was the type