Rene Gutteridge - Listen

“She drinks?”

“Honey, she doesn’t just drink. She guzzles. Not for pleasure or party either. She can’t get through a day without knocking the hard stuff back.” Shannon stopped twirling her hair. Popping her feet off the desk, she leaned forward, locking eyes with Kay. “I’m sensing something here. You knew Jill before we knew you. I’m not crossing the line, am I? You’re not still tight with her, are you?”

“Jill? No.”

Twirling. Again. “All right. Anyway, just wanted to update you. Warn you. In case she starts calling you. I seriously wouldn’t even answer the phone. You’ll get stuck for like an hour.” She crossed her long legs, picked at the fuzz on her pants. “So, how’s Jenna? Heard she had to put one of the girls in her place. But hey, sometimes that’s what it takes.”

“Jenna? Oh, she’s fine. Great.”

“Yeah? Liking cheer again?”

“Loves it. She’s totally happy.”

“Good. It’s all about keeping the girls happy.” Shannon rose and went to the door. “We’ll probably get together next weekend, plan the sleepover. I’ll call you.”

Kay stood and leaned casually against her desk. “Sounds good.”

“See ya.”

Kay smiled and waved, then slowly sat back down in her chair, pulling her suit jacket closed. Mike was the one having the affair? That was hard to believe. She’d known both of them since Jenna and Natalie were in the fifth grade. He didn’t seem the type.

She wondered what kind of influence Natalie would begin to be on Jenna, especially if she was acting out. Kay always suspected it was Natalie who influenced Jenna’s style. For the worse. She’d have to keep an eye out for more problems.

She’d have to keep an eye out, period.

“What, um, are we doing?” Gavin stared at Frank like he might radio in.

“I’m just looking into something. Don’t have a cow.” Frank got out of the cruiser, and within seconds, Gavin was right by his side. They both looked up at the large black sign hanging over the strip mall store. Spies Are Us. “Ever been in here?”

“Why are we going in here?” Gavin scurried after Frank, who opened the front door and walked inside. “What are you doing?” He took a moment to glance from wall to wall.

“Cool stuff in here,” Frank said.

Gavin’s face twitched. “Um, I’m not trying to be… It’s just that-well, the whole thing with your ex-wife. The captain said I’m supposed to… you’re not supposed to do that thing anymore.”

“What thing?” Frank asked, his hand gliding along a glass shelf piled high with spyware. He really loved messing with this kid.

“Be around her and stuff.”

Frank stopped and turned to him. “I don’t see Angela here. Do you?”

Gavin actually glanced around as if she might suddenly appear.

“Well? Do you?”

“Um, no,” Gavin said. “But we are at the spy store.”

“So?” Frank picked up a pair of night-vision goggles.

“Look, Officer Merret, you can’t do this, okay? You’re not supposed to be around her.”

“I’m not around her.”

“But,” he said, dropping his voice to a whisper, “you’re going to spy on her?”

Frank only smiled at him-a long, prideful smile that caused Gavin’s eyes to widen. Then he continued to the next wall, where they sold the small listening devices one could plant underneath a coffee table.

“You need to just leave it alone or you’re going to get in trouble.”

“Trouble? By who? You? You going to rat me out, Jenkins?”

Gavin tried to maintain a stoic expression. “The captain asked me to report anything to him.”

“You know what happens to rats in the department, don’t you?”

Gavin’s expression wouldn’t hold. Fear flitted across his face. “He gave me the orders.”

“Uh-huh. And what you do with those says a lot. You’re going to rat to a guy that sits behind a desk all day, or are you going to cover for the guy that could keep you from getting killed. The guy that would risk his life to save you if he had to.”

Gavin scratched his cheek, seemingly thinking this over. He followed Frank as he moved to another part of the store. “Okay, fine. I won’t say anything. But don’t you think you’re taking this a little far? Spying on your ex-wife? What makes you think she’s not going to wig out again?”

“Well, the very idea of spying is that you don’t get caught.”

A man, skinny and pale, came around the checkout counter. “Hi. I’m Corbin. What can I help you with, Officers?”

Frank said, “I’m looking for a sweeper. I need something that’s at a professional level, something with a high RF sensitivity.”

“All right. We keep that kind of thing in the back. Give me a second and I’ll bring a few models out.”

Gavin turned to Frank. “What do you need that for?”

“Look, I’m done messing with you. This isn’t about Angela. It’s about that Web site.”

“Listen to Yourself.”

“That’s the one.”

“So what are you doing?”

“I read the Web site last night. Lots of posts but it’s hard to know exactly who is speaking. Except we know for sure that the Shaws’ conversation was recorded because Mr. Shaw admitted that he’d said everything that was put onto the Web site. I’m going to ask if the Shaws will let me do a sweep, see if we can find some hidden transmitter or something.”

Gavin seemed interested. “So you think that someone is going around planting these things and then listening in on the conversations?”

“I don’t know. But we’ve got to start somewhere.”

Corbin returned to the front counter and beckoned them over. He set an armload of boxes down and arranged them in a line. “Here’s what we got. I’ll start with the top gun of the bunch.” He opened a box and pulled out a machine about as big as a toaster. “This, my friends, is the CF-900. It has total RF spectrum coverage and can locate audio transmitters as low as 1 MHz. It’s got a built-in audio filter, search and/or monitor mode, LCD bar graph, and full carrier current detection.”

Frank lifted the machine, looking it over. “All I want to know is, will it pick up bugs in a sweep.”

“You betcha. If it’s in there, it’ll find it.”

“How much?”

“Twenty-five hundred, normally. But it’s on sale for a hundred dollars off today.”

Frank set it down.

Corbin continued. “This is what the professionals ask for. Same brand as what the FBI uses.”

“Over my budget. You got anything cheaper?”

Corbin pointed to the box at the end of his line. “Got that thing. A miniature battery-powered scanner for five hundred.”

“That sounds better,” Frank said. “A little.”

“You’ll be lucky if this thing picks up a fax machine,” Corbin said, handing the box to Frank.

Frank decided on a different approach. “Have you seen a recent interest for listening devices here at the store?”

Corbin smirked. “Is there love and jealousy in the world?”

“Dad? What are you doing here?”

“Surprise!” Damien smiled and opened his arms.

Hunter just stood there, blinking.

Damien lowered his arms. Surprising Hunter in elementary school got a way better reaction. “Hey, I just thought I’d take you out for lunch today.”

“Oh.”

“What? Don’t want to go to lunch with the old man?” Damien tried not to look as insecure as he suddenly felt.

“Um…”

“You got plans or something? A cute girl?”

Hunter grabbed his arm and swung him around, pushing him out of the office. “Yeah, fine. We can go to lunch. No big deal.”

“Great!” Damien wrapped an arm around his son’s shoulder as they walked out the front door of the school. “So how’s your day going?”