Spies and Prejudice (22 page)

Traitor. She died for the truth. She died rather than risk the lives of countless people by allowing Juiced into the marketplace. How can Dad expect me to cower in the shadows and let this go? “Her death will mean nothing if we don’t expose her murder. If she was willing to die for the truth, we owe it to her to get it out there.”

“I can’t lose both of you.” Dad’s voice is choked.

“You won’t.” I’m breaking the number nine rule of Fields Investigations.
No promises
.

“I never should’ve let you get so involved in my business.”

“I don’t think I gave you the choice.”

Dad smiles for the first time since I walked in the door. “Your mother would be proud.”

Of all the things my Dad says, this is the one that makes me cry.

B
y Friday, Mare has gotten through the firewall to Dave’s computer, but as she suspected, everything on the hard drive has an extra layer of security. We won’t be able to access anything without going straight to the source.

My dad gives me some space, though it’s not clear if he’s letting me make my own decisions or just busy with work and Shauna. Either way, the effect is the same. We both need some time after our talk Monday.

Mare wants us to try to get into Moss Enterprises again on Saturday night. I agree, but only because I plan to be in and out of there long before. I don’t have the mad skills needed to break through the cyber security, but I’m pretty sure I can get in and out with the computer itself. And if I can’t, I’ll be the only one on the line.

Jason slides into the seat next to me in chem. “Guess who might have a date tonight?”

“Tell me it’s you and that you and Mary Chris have not been playing matchmaker again.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, Strawberry, but you might want to lay low for a little while. Your track record with guys hasn’t been so solid.”

“And yours is so great?” Collin won’t even look at Jason. The side benefit is that Collin won’t look at me either.

“It’s looking up.”

“So spill.”

“Can’t.”

“I’m sworn to secrecy, remember?”

“Me too.” Jason waggles his eyebrows.

“He talked to you?”

Jason grins so wide, I can count his teeth. He holds a finger to his lips.

I roll my eyes. “Just be careful.” I’m not sure how I feel about Jason dating Collin. It’s not just that I think Jason can do a whole lot better. It’s the whole top secret thing. No matter how much people try to hide them, secrets have a way of getting out.

It’s what I count on.

By the time, the last bell rings, I have a plan worked out for getting inside Moss Enterprises. It’s risky, but it could work.

I spend the afternoon with Lulu at the dog park. She doesn’t chase balls, but she enjoys chasing the dogs that do. I barely have time to shower and pack my messenger bag when the phone rings. I jump a little before I pick it up, but it’s just Mary Chris.

“Hey,” I say into the phone.

Mare’s voice is a whisper. “Can you come over?”

I stare at my messenger bag, packed and ready to go. “Sorry. I’ve
got a lot of homework to catch up on. I think I’m going to stay in tonight. Free myself up for tomorrow, right?” It’s a terrible excuse. I’ve never had a problem doing homework at Mare’s house.

“I don’t think this can wait.”

“You don’t think what can wait?”

“The police are here. They just arrested my dad.”

“For what?”

“Conspiracy to murder your mom.”

“This is insane. I’ll be right there.”

I throw my bag over my shoulder and drive as fast as the four cylinders in my Camry will allow. Mary Chris stands on the front steps hugging herself.

“He didn’t do it,” she says.

“I know he didn’t. Dave did.”

“They arrested Dave too. I can’t believe it. I mean, what if …”

“He didn’t do it, okay? Do you have any idea why they arrested him now?”

“That beautician lady you talked to before. Heather?”

“Heather went to the police? Either I’m a lot more persuasive than I think I am or someone just wrote Heather Marrone a big check. Come on, let’s go.”

By the time we get to Heather Marrone’s house it’s after five. Mare is still too upset to get out of the car, so I go to the front door on my own.

Heather answers the door but doesn’t open it all the way. “You? I have nothing to say to you. I did what you wanted. You’ll get no more favors from me.”

“What did you tell the police?”

“Why don’t you ask them?”

“I’m asking you.”

“Well then, you must be planning on buying some moisturizer. I have a case I need to unload.”

I nod. At least my Christmas shopping for Jason will be done early.

Heather opens the door all the way and ushers me inside. “Five minutes.”

“What happened?”

“I told them the truth. About the man who hired me. Like you wanted.” She walks back to the kitchen, coming back with a cardboard box. “Eighty bucks for the lot. I suggest you get on your way.”

I don’t bite. “What else did you tell them?”

Heather’s eyes dart to the floor and back. How did anyone believe a word this woman said? “What makes you think I told them anything else?”

Because they didn’t just arrest the man who paid you off the first time. “I know you were paid again. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Just tell me what else you told the police.”

“Nothing.”

I stay silent watching her, waiting. It doesn’t take long before she jumps in to fill the silence. “I just gave them a copy of some letter.”

“Some letter?” There’s only one letter that I know for certain Drew has. The letter from my mother to Mr. Moss. The same one that that woman handed Mr. Moss outside of Sconehenge. The letter that provides a motive for murder. “This wouldn’t happen to be a letter from Caroline Fields to Michael Moss, would it? A letter that talks about some tests for a new drink?”

“Did your boyfriend talk? He swore no one would find out.”

Bingo.

She’s just admitted that Drew is the one who gave her the letter and paid her off. The question is, why? “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you did it. Thanks.”

“Oh.” She sets the box on the counter. “I guess you don’t need to buy this stuff if you don’t want it.”

I pull the last three twenties from my wallet. “Will you take sixty?”

She nods and hands me the cardboard box. At least now I know why the police might think Mr. Moss is involved. It’s not like he’s been ruled out. I’m not sure how to tell Mare that he’s a legitimate suspect at this point.

When I get back to the car, I try to explain how the letter combined with Heather’s statement is enough to raise questions about how much her dad knew. Even Dave Preston was working for Mare’s dad when he paid Heather to lie about my mom’s accident.

Mare shakes her head. “We can prove Dave acted alone, right? There has to be something in the files.”

My phone buzzes in the cup holder between us. I start to turn it off when I see the number from last weekend. “It’s Drew.”

Mare nods for me to pick it up.

“Hello.”

“You’re welcome,” Drew says into the phone line.

Okay, I guess he expects me to thank him for getting Heather to come forward with the evidence of my mom’s murder, but somehow a thank-you doesn’t seem appropriate here. A get-out-of-my-life seems appropriate, but I swallow it. “What do you want?”

“You know what I want.” Drew sighs into the phone. “But since I’m pretty sure I blew my shot with you, I’ll settle for the Juiced files. How’s tonight? I have a feeling that the security team is going to be otherwise engaged.”

“I’m not stealing anything for you.”

“Not just for me. We’ll turn what we find over to the FDA. You’ll be finishing what your mother started.”

I can’t trust a word Drew Mattingly says. Still. If we’re both going after these files tonight, it will be better to work with him than against him. “I’m in. It will have to be later. Midnight. Where do we meet?”

He gives me the address of a hotel. It’s the same country club where we had our Homecoming Dance. Figures Drew couldn’t just stay at one of the cheap hotels near the freeway.

Mary Chris stares at me in disbelief. “You can’t be serious. If you think I’m letting that guy near those files—”

“Don’t worry. I’m hoping we’ll have backup.” No way am I facing off with Drew alone.

“Jason? I know he was your bodyguard last weekend, but honestly, I don’t think he’s up for this.”

“Not Jason. How would you feel about a little side trip to Orange County?”

“Orange County?” Her jaw drops when she realizes what I’m thinking. “No!”

“You don’t think Ryan and Tanner will want the chance to take down Drew and save your dad’s company?” Who doesn’t want redemption? Tanner will help us. What concerns me more is how much I want him to.

“Is that what we’re doing? Because I was just planning to hack into a hard drive and retrieve a few files that will prove that Dave Preston killed your mother.”

I shrug. “Two birds.”

“Technically, it’s three.”

“That’s why you’re the computer genius, and I’m the girl who lurks in shadows and takes pictures.”

Mare laughs, and for the first time since her father got arrested, I think maybe we’re going to be okay.

“Mare?”

“Yeah?”

“No matter what we find, promise me one thing.”

“No promises. Rule number eight. Or is it nine?”

“This is important. No matter what happened with my mom, we’re still friends, right?”

Mare sits up straight. “You think my dad had something to do with it?”

I’ve botched it. “I don’t. But right now we don’t know anything for sure. And I just want you to know that it doesn’t matter. I love you no matter what.”

Mare looks out the window. “It’s easy to say now.”

Obviously not. I don’t miss the fact that Mare is not saying anything.

“I mean it.”

“Stop worrying about things that will never happen and start worrying about what you’re going to say to convince Tanner Halston to come back to Valle Vista and help us stop Drew.”

Not so easy to say at all.

I
t’s dark when we get to Pemberley. The parking lot is a sea of beige and gray sedans, each trying to blend into the darkness and be less noticeable than the next.

This time I walk right to the front door, but it’s locked up tight. Maybe they really do close at night, but judging from the cars in the lot, I’m guessing there are still a few people here. Security work is not a nine-to-five job.

We head back to the car, grabbing my messenger bag from the trunk.

“What now?” Mare asks.

“Plan B.”

“There’s a plan B?”

“There will be.” We head back around the building, keeping behind a row of bushes that rim the grass. I could always throw a rock at the glass or something, but I want to avoid setting off every alarm in the place if I can help it.

I’ve almost circled the building when I see a window tilted open
on the third floor of the south side. It’s the first window next to the stucco wall in back.

“We’re in.”

Mare follows my gaze to the window. “Are you insane? We can’t get up there.”

“Not both of us. I’ll go in, find Tanner, and then meet you at the metal fire door we passed a few minutes ago.”

Mare looks skeptical. “Is there a plan C?”

I rifle through my messenger bag until I find a pair of strap-on foot spikes, and buckle them around my shoes. The matching set of hand picks clinks in the bottom of the large black bag. I ordered them with my birthday money in sixth grade. I haven’t used them since Dad had to pay our homeowners association for the damage to the stucco walls on our house, but I got pretty good at scaling the wall before I got caught. Of course that was forty pounds, eight inches, and two B-cups ago. At least the straps are adjustable.

I make my way back around to the stucco wall. I pause, giving myself one last chance to change my mind.

Maybe Mare’s right. Maybe there is a better way to get Tanner’s attention than breaking into a mercenary security headquarters. But if they’re going to leave a window open right next to the one wall on the building that’s not glass and steel, how can I help but at least take a peek inside?

I punch the left hand claw into the wall above my head, hoping I miss a stud. The claw sinks into the stucco just fine, and when I give a test pull, it holds. I kick in a foot spike with the opposite foot and step up into it. So far so good. The key is to keep moving. If I hang for
too long in any one spot, the stucco will give way under my weight. I move hand over foot, trying to remember to use my legs instead of my arms to keep me moving forward. It’s harder than I thought it would be, but I force myself forward, if only because there’s really no easy way down once you start climbing. Finally, I can grasp the top of the base of the open window and lean on it to support my weight. It’s a struggle to pull myself the rest of the way up, but eventually I throw my waist across and balance in the ledge.

I’m expecting an office, but the window opens into a room that looks more like a hotel room. A huge bed draped in navy blue bedding takes up most of the room. A small antique desk sits near the window, cluttered with papers and sketchbooks. A notebook is open to a charcoal drawing of a dog, possibly a German shepherd.

Posters of huge waves dot the wall.

I wasn’t expecting to break into someone’s bedroom. It seems wrong. Not that breaking into a corporate agency is the best idea I’ve ever had, but sneaking into a stranger’s bedroom was not part of the bargain. It could be Tanner’s room. The thought sends a rush of heat along my spine.

Okay, I am not going to sneak into Tanner’s bedroom. There’s something pathetic and desperate about climbing in through his window when I haven’t been invited. I might be desperate, but there has to be another way to get Tanner’s attention.

I’m about to reach for the pick and make my way back down when Ryan walks into the room.

His mouth curves into an easy smile. “Dude! How did you get up here?”

“I kind of climbed.”