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He didn’t respond.
“I’m restless,” she admitted. “Do you think I got it wrong? That she’s not meeting the buyer here?”
“You got it right,” Jack said. “Stop second-guessing yourself.”
She didn’t think she was wrong. If there was one thing she was good at, it was research. She had been an investigator in her mother’s law firm for nearly ten years, so she knew how to find information. But she was used to working in the courthouse, pulling cases, reading filings, tracking people on paper. She was good at interviews and talking to witnesses, getting people to tell her things they probably shouldn’t.
But patience? Not her superpower.
“You should have brought Lulu instead of me,” Tess said. Their youngest sister was more patient than even Jack.
“She has a paper due tonight.”
Luisa Angelhart—only family called her Lulu—was a college student. Late to the college scene because she spent six years in the Marines, but got a free education out of it. Maybe because of her personality, or maybe because of her military training, Lulu could sit on a stakeout for however long it took and never complain. Tess thought she actually enjoyed it.
The short-term rental that Jennifer White had reserved in the name of a shell corporation was located on a quiet street on the north side of the Phoenix Mountains, in pricey Paradise Valley. Tess didn’t know who owned the shell corp—yet. They would have to go on-site in Nevada to pull the papers. Right now they assumed it was under Jennifer’s control, but it could have been reserved by the buyer if Jennifer was guilty of selling company secrets.
She also didn’t know why Jennifer was meeting with someone here. Why not meet at a hotel? At a bar? The trailhead of the preserve where there were no security cameras? Why here?
She’d brought up those questions to Jack when she found the rental yesterday; he’d told her they would follow the facts. He didn’t question. He observed, investigated, learned, deduced. He had been a police detective, after all. He’d told her more than once that all answers came through gathering information, and information came from observation, interviews, physical evidence, and the experience to interpret all of the above.
The CFO had uncovered evidence that someone in-house had downloaded proprietary information. Over the last week, Angelhart Investigations had run basic background checks on every Desert West employee, plus analyzed computer logs and data. Jennifer White was the only employee who could have downloaded the data, though they didn’t have hard proof. Based on her odd behavior of late, Tess suspected they were on the right path, but the CFO wanted solid evidence.
Yes, Jack was right: they needed to follow the facts. But did following the evidence have to be so mind-numbingly boring?
Her brother said, “Here she comes.”
They were in Jack’s black truck up the street from the house, tinted windows providing some degree of concealment. At this angle, no one approaching the house would be able to see them.
Jennifer’s practical late model white Honda Civic pulled into the driveway and partly disappeared behind a collection of saguaros that decorated the front yard. She approached the garage door, where she typed on a keypad and the door rolled up. A moment later, she pulled into the empty garage. Shortly thereafter, the door came down.
“Now we wait to see if she’s meeting with anyone,” Jack said.
Great, more waiting. But Tess kept her mouth zipped. Of course, she was meeting with someone. Why spend a thousand bucks a night for a rental only twenty minutes from where you lived?
The house was locked up, blinds closed against the desert heat. There were no other vehicles on the property, but there was no way to know if someone was already inside—perhaps dropped off by Uber before she and Jack arrived. Because the house backed up to the mountain, there was a possibility that someone could access it on foot, and there was no easy way to keep an eye on both the house and the mountain. There were no cars parked on the street near the house. The houses in the neighborhood were on large lots set back from the road, with trees and walls for privacy.
Tess didn’t think that computer nerds were particularly sneaky in physical cloak-and-dagger games. Online, sure, but climbing halfway up a rocky mountain when it was ninety-four degrees and rattlesnakes were basking in the sun? Nope.
Jennifer had arrived alone. What was she doing? A staycation? It was a nice place—not large, but from the photos she’d seen online, there was a pool, jacuzzi, gourmet kitchen. White could afford the place, but why when she literally lived in one of the nicest condo complexes in Scottsdale, right across from Fashion Square? Maybe the setup here was to make the buyer of Desert West data more comfortable? Or maybe she simply wanted more distance from her personal life.
Jack said, “Stop.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“You’re still fidgeting. If she’s meeting someone, they’ll be here soon.”
“We have different definitions of soon,” she grumbled.
Tess ignored the smirk on her brother’s face. Jack had been a cop for fourteen years—the last six as a detective—before leaving the force. He was used to stakeouts. Waiting. Watching. Being bored out of his mind.
“I’ll never understand how you do it,” she mumbled. “How many times were you called into Father O’Connor’s office for being disruptive in class? Mom called you the energizer bunny because you couldn’t sit still.”
“School was boring.”
“This isn’t?”
“I grew up. Now I mentally entertain myself.”
