Read Online Got the Look by James Grippando - Free Book Online Page B

and her. That he's known all along.
    How's that?
    She told that same joke to me.
    When?
    Just a few hours before I met her husband. That same night, in fact.
    She told you at the snobfest?
    No. We were here in the house.
    The bedroom?
    No. Right here in the kitchen.
    It was as if an Arctic blast had suddenly cut through the room, displacing the heat. Theo made a slashing gesture across his throat, signaling cut. He stepped away from the counter and moved to the center of the kitchen. His gaze swept the room like some kind of electronic eavesdropping detector, over cabinets and counters, around the appliances. Not that he had X-ray vision, but the wheels were clearly turning in his head as he tried to figure out where he would put a listening device if he were bugging this room. Finally, he zeroed in on the ceiling fan suspended over the island. Jack watched, impressed, as his friend stood on a chair and pointed toward the brass plate that connected the fan to the ceiling. It would have been virtually invisible to anyone not looking for it, but a small black nub was protruding from a screw hole in the brass.
    Theo smiled, as if to say Bingo. He yanked out the bug and tossed it on the floor, then hopped off the chair and smashed it to bits.
    Adios, SeA+-or Salad Bar.
    Jack was about to say Salazar, but Theo stopped him. There could be more, he whispered. Let's go outside.
    Jack followed him to the back patio and closed the California doors behind them. They walked toward the seawall, stopping just short of the fishing boat that Theo docked at Jack's place. Theo said, See what you get for being too cheap to install AC, leaving your windows open all day long like that? Looks like Ernesto had one of his boys pay you a visit and wire you for sound.
    So, you don't suspect even for a minute that it could be someone else? said Jack.
    That equipment was standard PI shit sold at any spy shop, easy enough for any schmo to install. Perfect for keeping tabs on a wandering spouse. No way the FBI uses that crap.
    I wasn't thinking FBI. I was wondering more about Mia's kidnapper.
    Has to be Salazar. Can't be a coincidence that his proof-of-life question matches a joke that Mia told you before the two of you hopped into bed.
    Jack drew a deep breath and let it out. The thought of him hearing every sound Mia and I made
    Sounds that his wife was no longer making in their own bedroom, mind you.
    So she tells me, said Jack.
    That's enough to make a married man extremely angry.
    Angry enough to sabotage the rescue of his wife from a kidnapper? I guess that's the question.
    Puh-lease, said Theo. How about angry enough to feed her to the fishes and make it all look like a kidnapping?
    In that case, maybe I was right after all.
    Yup. Maybe the person who bugged your kitchen is the kidnapper.
    Jack looked toward the bay, considering it. I think I need to have a talk with Agent Henning.

    Chapter 11
    The sweep of Jack's house turned up no new bugs. FBI tech agents searched for transmitting devices with a spectrum analyzer. They looked behind walls and ceiling tiles with a thermal imaging camera. Phone and cable lines were tested with a time-domain reflectometer. They even checked the electrical wiring with a Fluke multimeter. Their assortment of gadgets sounded like a Dr. Seuss catalog, and Jack was beginning to wonder when it would be time for the Whoville rammer-jammer rectal thermometer.
    Who's gonna sweep to see if the FBI planted any bugs of their own? said Theo, standing in the driveway.
    Don't be so paranoid.
    Don't be so naive, said Theo.
    Jack leaned against Theo's car, thinking. Once a criminal defense lawyer, always a criminal defense lawyer. Know anybody with the right toys?
    Yup, said Theo.
    Bring him through tonight.
    Will do, boss.
    Agent Henning was staying at the Salazar estate in Palm Beach, her center of operation until the kidnapping was solved or until Mr. Salazar kicked her out, whichever came first. By eight thirty she was supposed