Chapter 4 - THE LISTENING DEVICE BENEATH THE PEONIES
Damian came back faster the second time.
Nine minutes.
Harper noticed because she counted.
He entered through the rear delivery door while Roman and a technical-security specialist named Nina Shaw examined the device.
Nina wore jeans, a leather jacket, and the expression of someone annoyed that criminals were making her work on a Friday.
“It’s commercially available,” she said. “Modified power supply. Cellular uplink. Nothing exotic.”
Harper leaned against counter.
“So somebody heard us?”
“Maybe.”
“How long?”
Nina looked at battery.
“Could have been active twelve to eighteen hours.”
Harper felt sick.
That meant it might have been planted before the photograph arrived.
Before Damian returned.
Maybe during morning delivery.
Lucy whispered:
“I let three wholesalers in before nine.”
Harper shook head.
“Not your fault.”
Damian watched Harper.
“You’re not staying here tonight.”
She almost argued.
Then looked at device.
“Fine.”
Roman blinked.
“Did she just agree?”
“Don’t ruin it.”
Damian said:
“You can choose hotel.”
“I’m staying with Lucy.”
Lucy’s eyes widened.
“You’re absolutely not.”
Harper stared.
Lucy crossed arms.
“I have two kids.”
That shut Harper up.
Right.
Threat attached to her.
Not moving it to Lucy’s home.
Damian said:
“Hotel.”
Harper exhaled.
“My own room.”
“Yes.”
“I pay.”
“Yes.”
“No guards inside.”
“Yes.”
“No tracking my phone.”
Damian looked at Roman.
Roman said:
“That one is negotiable.”
“No.”
Damian nodded.
“No phone tracking.”
Roman sighed.
“You are terrible at being protected.”
Harper looked at him.
“I managed thirty-one years without you.”
Roman muttered:
“Different sample size.”
The hotel Harper chose was not Damian’s.
It belonged to a national chain near Rittenhouse Square.
Damian booked nothing.
Harper used her own credit card.
Roman arranged two security people in lobby with hotel consent.
Harper hated that she accepted.
She hated more that threat was real enough to justify it.
The next morning, Damian met her in hotel restaurant.
She had invited him.
That surprised both of them.
“I want answers.”
He sat.
“About?”
“The men.”
“Victor DeLuca.”
“Who is he?”
“Owns DeLuca Holdings.”
“Competitor?”
“Yes.”
“Enemy?”
“Sometimes.”
Harper took coffee.
“Why were his men threatening you?”
“Because I’m investigating missing money.”
“What money?”
Damian hesitated.
“This isn’t your problem.”
“It became my problem when someone taped a microphone under my peonies.”
Fair.
He explained carefully.
Vale Group and DeLuca Holdings jointly owned several waterfront entities.
Over eighteen months, approximately twenty-seven million dollars disappeared through inflated contractor invoices, fake consulting agreements, and property transfers.
Harper stared.
“Twenty-seven million.”
“Yes.”
“And you think DeLuca stole it?”
“I thought.”
“Past tense?”
“Last night’s device changed something.”
“How?”
“The DeLuca men had no reason to listen to our conversation.”
“Why not?”
“They already know who I am.”
Harper understood.
The bug wanted Damian’s answers to her.
Information about investigation.
About what he suspected.
That suggested someone closer.
“Inside your company.”
Damian’s eyes sharpened.
“You’re good.”
“I run a flower shop.”
“You said that like flowers prevent thinking.”
“My accountant would disagree.”
Damian almost smiled.
Then his phone buzzed.
Roman.
Damian answered.
“What?”
He listened.
His face became stone.
“When?”
More silence.
“Secure the building.”
He ended.
Harper’s stomach tightened.
“What happened?”
“Someone accessed my private office last night.”
“Stole something?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
“Paper?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you keep paper?”
“Because digital systems get copied.”
Harper laughed once.
“You sound like someone’s grandfather.”
“My grandfather taught me.”
“What was in it?”
Damian did not answer immediately.
“Names.”
“What names?”
“People my family paid over thirty years.”
Harper stared.
“Politicians?”
“Some.”
“Police?”
“Some.”
“Criminals?”
“Yes.”
“Your family kept a bribery ledger?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Debts.”
He looked toward window.
“Who helped us. Who betrayed us. Who owed us. Who we owed.”
“That sounds worse.”
“It can be.”
“Why steal it now?”
“Because one name in it might identify who is draining Vale Group.”
Harper leaned back.
“And the person who planted the bug wanted to know whether you suspected them.”
“Yes.”
Then another thought.
“Why threaten me?”
Damian’s expression darkened.
“To control what I say around you.”
“I barely know you.”
“They don’t know that.”
“Because I kissed you.”
“Yes.”
Harper covered her face.
“Worst decision of my life.”
Damian’s eyes softened.
“I doubt that.”
“You don’t know my life.”
“I know about Trevor.”
Harper froze.
“What?”
Damian immediately regretted it.
“My background people—”
“Your what?”
“Harper.”
“You investigated me.”
“Basic.”
“You know my ex-fiancé’s name.”
“Public records and open information.”
“That is not basic.”
Roman appeared near restaurant entrance.
Harper looked at him.
“You.”
Roman stopped.
“Me?”
“You did this?”
He glanced at Damian.
Coward.
Harper stood.
“You investigated my engagement?”
Roman said:
“We confirmed you had no current spouse, criminal exposure, hostile financial relationships—”
“Hostile financial relationships?”
“Debt collectors.”
“I own a small business!”
“Exactly.”
Harper grabbed purse.
Damian stood.
“I told him basic.”
“And his basic is apparently federal clearance.”
“You received a threat.”
“After you sent people to follow me.”
“Because of DeLuca.”
“You do not get to turn my life into an intelligence file because someone saw me kiss you.”
Damian’s face changed.
“You’re right.”
Again.
Harper hated how effective that was.
“I’m leaving.”
“Security stays.”
She stared.
“Until threat is identified.”
“No.”
“Harper.”
“Do not use that tone.”
“What tone?”
“The one that assumes you’ve already decided.”
Damian became silent.
Then:
“Will you allow the hotel’s own security to escort you?”
She thought.
“Yes.”
“And call police if anyone approaches?”
“Yes.”
“And call me?”
“No.”
He almost smiled.
“Worth trying.”
She left.
Roman watched.
“You enjoy this.”
Damian looked at him.
“No.”
“You smiled.”
“She told me no.”
“Most people avoid that.”
“I noticed.”
Roman sat.
Then slid phone across table.
“We identified who entered your office.”
Damian looked.
Security still.
A man in a suit.
Familiar.
Damian’s face lost every trace of amusement.
His uncle.
Sebastian Vale.
May you like
The man who had raised Damian after his father died.
And the only person in the Vale family Damian had never once investigated.
