Vendetta in Death (In Death #49) - J. D. Robb Page 0,45
holds for jewelry, wrist units, a little spare cash.
She made her way down to the home office, where Roarke sat at a muscular workstation.
No female touches here, she thought. Another bar—a small one—a too-small-for-a-nap sofa in port-wine leather. A muscular data and communication center to go with the muscular desk.
Wall screen, a couple of chairs, framed degrees and awards rather than art on the walls.
“I’ve something for you,” Roarke began.
“Secrets?”
“One I’m going to assume is so. He has semi-regular transactions with a company called Discretion. That’s a licensed companion broker. Every month or two, he places an order, makes the payment. It may be the woman he lives with is aware, of course, but given the circumstances it’s doubtful. More,” he continued before Eve could speak, “he ordered an LC for last evening, made the payment. It shows a refund, less cancellation fee. He made the payment two days ago, canceled it yesterday afternoon.”
“Canceled it?”
“You’ll want EDD to have a good look, a more thorough one, but I’d say, on a quick dive through? His account was hacked.”
“Now that makes sense. Makes sense,” she mumbled again as she wandered the room, as she put it into her head. “She knows, if she’s hacked his system, Horowitz is leaving town, and he has a paid side piece coming in. She waits, cancels it, and she comes instead. Why wouldn’t he open the door when he’s expecting a woman? When he’s got the wine, the bed, the evening mapped out?”
She spun around. “Can you pin the hacker’s location?”
“Possibly. That would be the location where the hack was done, and would take a bit of work. Someone this good? Well, if it were me, I’d use an unregistered portable and hack it from a remote location. Still worth the look.”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll look.”
“There’s a bit more, not a secret, but a bit of a surprise.” He waited until he had her full attention. “The fifteen million and change from a couple years ago? He got that from me.”
She stopped dead, stared at him. “What? Why didn’t you say you knew him?”
“Because I don’t—didn’t.” With a shrug, he rose. “I acquired, as I do, a small company a couple years ago. More absorbed it, and it was done through lawyers and brokers. It didn’t ring with me until I dug into his files. Data Point, it was. A private concern that manufactures droids and other complex electronics.”
Irritation flickered over his face—the sort she recognized came from him not being a hundred percent on every detail.
“I’ll need to check on it all,” he continued, “but as best I recall, the lawyer repping Data Point contacted one of my lawyers as Data Point looked to sell out. We had a look, the company seemed solid enough, the price was right—even what you could call a bargain. Pushing through my memory, I’m thinking the reason for it was divorce by the principals, but I may be projecting on that. I’ll check on it. But, bottom line, Roarke Industries acquired it, absorbed the company and its assets.”
Complication, she thought, and advantage. She’d take the advantage and deal with the complication later.
“Did you meet them—the DB or the ex?”
“I wouldn’t have on an acquisition such as this. A small one, as I said.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Fifteen million is small?”
“Twenty-two, actually. It appears the ex-wife got the seven, but the matter was done through lawyers and reps because yes, in the overall, it was a small addition. A solid one, but not a competitor or a major deal.”
“I want whatever you can get me on it. The poem mentioned greed. He got double what the ex got, and that could be part of the motive. Sex, greed, power. We’ve got sex with his use of LCs—and potentially Horowitz replacing the ex. We get greed with the money. That leaves power.”
She looked at her wrist unit. “I’m going to talk to the ex. Wake her up most likely. People don’t have their shields fully engaged if you get to wake them up. I need to grab Peabody and get to it. Do you need a lift?”
“I’ll find my way well enough. I may go straight to the office, get those details, as I’m curious about it now.”
“Get me what you’ve got when you get it.”
He walked to her, gave her a tug in for a kiss. “I’ll do that. Get yourself and our Peabody something to eat from the AC in your car.”
Distracted, she glanced back at the workstation. “I’m