10

Will

I spent two days staring at maps of Simon's neighborhood. I consulted with my brothers back at the office, especially Jager, who was our tech whiz.

We came up with a plan. I would pretend to be a city worker and plant bugs on Simon's porch and backyard. The weather was good, and I was hoping he would converse with people outside. Anything I recorded could not be used against him, but my goal wasn't to prosecute the man but to find out what he was up to with Christina's sister. Were they just dating or was there something more devious happening inside that house?

I didn't tell Christina any of this because it wasn't exactly legal. And the less she knew, the better. Once I had the information, I could tell her what I discovered, and we'd come up with the next steps together.

That was the plan.

The next day, I drove to Simon's neighborhood wearing the worker's vest I'd purchased online. I parked the white van I'd rented across the street and knocked on his neighbor's door. Should he speak to his neighbors, at least the story of a city worker coming to check the gas line would be consistent.

An older woman wearing a hairnet and rollers answered the door. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. I'm with the city. I'm here to check the gas line to ensure there aren't any leaks."

"Why would there be a leak?"

"Well, we're not expecting one, but it's part of our prevention program."

"Seems like a darn waste of taxpayers' money, if you ask me."

"I'll just be a few minutes, then I'll be out of your hair, I mean, way."

She narrowed her eyes at me, but I walked down her front steps and pretended to check the gas meter. She closed the door and I spent the next five minutes inspecting a perfectly good meter. I walked into her backyard, even though the meter was at the side of the house, but I had to keep it consistent with what I planned to do at Simon's house.

A few minutes later, I jogged up the steps to Simon's front door. I waited on the porch for a few minutes after I rang the doorbell.

I noted the security cameras just above my head and to the right.

A door slammed from the inside and then a tall, skinny man unlocked the front door. "What do you want?"

"I'm here from the city. I just need to check your gas meter."

He crossed his arms. "You're not coming inside my house."

From the photos and videos I found online, this looked just like Simon Graff. I disliked him immediately. "I don't need to come inside. I just need your permission to walk the perimeter of the property and inspect that the lines are working properly."

"They're fine."

"I can appreciate you saying that, but I do need to check them myself." I folded my arms across my chest, knowing the motion would bring attention to my arms, which were at least twice the size of his. I didn't think for a moment that he'd believe a city worker would assault him, but I was hoping that nature would take over and he would decide to let the bigger guy have his way. Cowards like Simon usually didn't pick fights with people who were larger than him.

"How long will it take?"

"Only a few minutes and then I'll leave you alone."

"Fine. But be quick about it."

I smirked and pressed my fingers over the door frame. "Sure thing."

He eyed me cautiously, then slammed the door in my face.

I smiled as I pushed away from the door and glanced at the first bug I planted next to the door frame.

As I rounded the corner, I carefully placed more listening devices just outside of the windows. If I was lucky, Simon or Donna would open the windows or speak close to the thin glass.

When I reached the backyard, I looked around, thinking of a way to get myself onto his porch. I pretended to nearly fall over a soccer ball that was in the yard, then kicked it away, only to have it land on the back porch. I went to retrieve the ball and stuck one device behind the frame of the back door, and another underneath a patio couch.

Circling to the other side of the house, I casually affixed two more devices next to the windows, then made my way back to the front.

Walking toward my van, I pulled out my phone and put in my earbuds. Opening the app, I checked to ensure all devices were up and running. The sound was clear on my end, but I didn't want to take any chances, so I called Jager.

"Hey, Will. All done?"

"Yup. Can you take a look at the program and make sure the bugs are all working properly?"

"Absolutely. Give me a minute."

While I waited for Jager to confirm, I removed my vest.

But only a few seconds later, he was back. "They're all online, and there appears to be no distortion in the sound. We shouldn't have any problem."

"Perfect. Thanks for checking."

"No problem."

"See you—ah, shit."

"What is it?"

"Gotta go, Jager. I think I see a potential problem coming my way."

"Call me if you need me, brother."

I hung up the phone and narrowed my eyes. "What the hell are you doing here?"

As she approached, I noted a fire raging behind her brown eyes. "You were supposed to keep me in the loop."

"You promised to stay away from this house."

"I figured since you broke your promise, I would break mine."

"I didn't break my promise. I was going to call you as soon as I returned to the office." I noticed a curtain move in the neighbor's house. "Get in the van."

"What?"

"I don't want anyone who may recognize you to see us talking. Now get in."

Surprisingly, she didn't fight me further and opened the white passenger door.

"Are you going to fill me in now?"

I sighed. "Christina, if this is going to work, you'll have to trust me."

"I trust no one."

"Well, you need to trust me."

"What are you doing here? Did you speak with my sister?"

"No. I planted several listening devices outside of the home."

"How?"

"It's best if you know as few details as possible."

"None of this stuff will be admissible in court."

"I'm not a cop. You hired me to get your sister out of the house so you can speak to her. I'm doing my job."

"When can I talk to her?"

"I don't know. I'm hoping I will get some information in the next few days. In the meantime, I will keep an eye on the house and figure out if there are specific times Simon is away, so we can go in."

"You're going to break in?"

"Maybe. Don't ask any questions you don't want to hear the answer to."

"Fine. But you have to keep your end of the bargain, as well, and keep me updated. I need to know everything."

I knew she liked to be in control, but I hadn't realized that a lot of it stemmed from trust issues. "Agreed."

She sat in the seat and stared straight ahead. I wanted to ask her so many things. What had Simon done to her? Why did she not trust anyone? But I knew she wouldn't answer any of those. Not yet, at least. Instead, I asked something else that was on my mind.

"Have you had any luck with Faye's case?"

"A little." She turned to face me. "It's been challenging because there isn't much evidence in terms of abuse. So, I'm looking at positioning it as neglect. According to Faye, he hasn't once taken the kids anywhere, he doesn't know their routines, let alone help with them. I doubt he even knows the name of the preschool they attend."

"Is that enough for Faye to gain sole custody?"

She ran her fingers through her hair. "Probably not. But I'm still working on it."

Her mouth tightened, and she looked tired. She probably had enough on her plate from her regular job. "Why do you do it?" I asked again.

She shrugged and looked out the window, avoiding my eyes. She didn't say anything, but sighed. "I told you. Someone has to."

There were plenty of divorce lawyers in the city, but not many who would kick someone in the balls because of what they did to their wives.

I was expecting her to ask me the same question again, but she didn't. Usually, I'd be thankful for not having to explain my past or lie to avoid telling it. But for some reason, this time, I wanted to share a part of myself with her. Not all of it, of course, but maybe a little. Before I could say anything, Christina grabbed her purse and secured it over her shoulder. "I should get back to work." Then, turning back to me, she said, "Don't forget to keep me posted."

I smiled. "I won't."

Then she climbed out of the van and walked over to her car parked several houses away. She was smart not to park in front of Simon's house. Those kinds of instincts weren't natural. They developed from necessity. Christina had been through a lot, and not all of it was on the file we had stored on our computer. No. There was a lot more to her past to make her the woman she was. I wanted to know everything about her, but I also knew it wouldn't be easy for her to tell me.

But I would be patient and wait.

***

Over the next two days, I listened to the audio feed from Simon's house. I kept the earpiece in all day and night, only taking it off to shower. I was not going to miss anything in that house. At first, it took some time to sort out the names with their voices. Once I had a handle on those, listening became easier.

On the second day, Jager figured out a way to tap into Simon's security cameras at the front and back doors. The footage was being uploaded to a cloud, so it wasn't too difficult for Jager to hack it.

That also made it a lot easier to sort out which voice belonged to whom.

I hadn't seen Christina's sister, Donna, on camera yet. Which meant that she hadn't left the house in at least two days. Something told me it had been much longer than that.

I called Christina earlier today to ‘update' her. She simply responded with, ‘All right. Keep me posted.' It would have been the perfect response from a client if I didn't want her to be more than that. But I would take it for now and be thankful she hadn't shown up at the house again.

Something was going on in there. Different people came in and out each day, and today someone mentioned a new shipment. Was it drugs? Or guns?

I was pouring myself a cup of coffee later that afternoon when I heard a woman's voice through the earpiece.

"Simon?"

She sounded confident, if a little groggy.

"What are you doing out here?"

I rushed to my laptop and looked at the security camera feeds. A woman stood at the back porch while Simon sat on a chair outside smoking a cigarette.

She looked quite thin and wore only an ill-fitting black tank top and shorts. Her hair was knotted, and though it was difficult to see from the camera lighting, I thought I spotted markings on her arms. Were they track lines from drugs or rope burns? It was impossible to tell from this image.

"I want to speak to my sister," she said.

"No."

"If you don't let me talk to her, she'll come back here. She'll keep coming back until I speak to her alone."

He laughed and shook his head. "Do you think I'm that fucking stupid?"

"No."

"Then get back inside and shut the door."

"I need to eat something."

"Then go make it."

"There's no food in the fridge, and the cupboards are empty. We're starving."

Simon didn't look like he was starving. He looked fine physically, and I'd seen him eating a foot-long sandwich on that porch not even an hour ago. Was she referring to someone else? Were there other people living inside the house?

I'd seen Simon's brother, Gerry, come and go, but he never stayed overnight. Several people came and went, but the only person who never left was Donna. But that was only because we knew she was inside. Until now, I'd never even heard her voice in the last two days. Was it possible there were others we didn't know about?

The situation was turning into something larger than I'd anticipated.

"I'll order a pizza or something. Now get inside and leave me alone."

I waited for Simon to make the call. When I heard him place the order, I ran out of my apartment, hopped into my car, and raced over to his place.

By some miracle or act of the traffic gods, I made it to his place in less than thirty minutes. And waited.

The delivery car pulled up a few minutes later. Stepping out of my car, I grabbed my sunglasses and put them on.

"Hey, kid," I shouted when he opened his door.

Startled, he looked at me and then over his shoulder, checking if I'd been calling out to someone else. With a thumb pointing to his chest, he asked, "Me?"

"Yeah. How would you like to make an easy two hundred cash on the spot?"

"Uh…" He looked around. "Is this like a drug sting or something?"

I crossed my arms when I reached him. "No. I will pay you two hundred bucks if you let me put something in that box."

"Uh…" He shifted and scratched his head. "I don't know about that."

"It's nothing illegal, and it's not going to hurt anyone. I'm just going to put a phone inside the box. It's a secret gift for someone and I want to make it special. Here you can check out the phone for yourself."

I handed him the phone, but he stepped back.

"Maybe you should just show me."

I smiled.

I loved New Yorkers and their skepticism.

"No problem."

I turned on the phone and showed him that it worked, and no bombs were inside. "Listen. Nothing is ticking."

"Two hundred, huh?"

"Yes."

"Make it three and you've got a deal."

Yup. Gotta love'em.

"Done." I pulled the cash out of my wallet and handed it to him. "I'll wait and watch you deliver it. So, you better not steal the phone."

He smiled and winked at me.

I went back inside my car and watched him deliver the pizza box to Simon's house. Simon didn't even tip the guy, but I didn't feel too bad for the driver. I just gave him his tip for the week.

Once the door closed, I put my earpiece back in and listened. I couldn't hear much inside of the house and I dropped my head back against the headrest in frustration. I could only pray that Donna had found the phone before Simon did.

A couple of minutes later, angry shouts echoed out of the windows and my muscles tensed up. Simon opened the front door and shouted, "Where is he?" Tossing his head from side to side looking for someone. "Where the fuck is that driver?" I slouched down in my seat, away from his prying eyes.

"How do you know this guy, Donna?" He shouted. "Why is he sending you a phone?"

"A phone?" Donna's voice was further away, but thankfully, I could still hear her. "What are you talking about?"

"If I find out you've been talking to delivery guys…" A loud crackling sound made the rest of Simon's sentence muffled. It didn't matter. I could imagine the type of threat he had issued.

Then, he stepped out of the house with the phone in his hand and threw it away in the trash bin outside.

I closed my eyes and blew out my breath. Fuck. I was counting on that phone. Now I had to think of another way to speak to Donna without Simon finding out or putting Donna in any unnecessary danger.

I was worried that the longer this took, the more danger she would be in.

And I also didn't know how much longer Christina would stay away before she tried to tear down his door.

Knowing Christina, I didn't have much time.