“Babe, keep the communication lines free,” I told Mitch. “I promised you could listen in, but you have to let us do our jobs.” Mitch didn’t reply but I could feel his ire coming through the lines loud and clear.
“Let’s go over this again,” I said into the mic. “We’re breaking into Mr. and Mr. Basterson’s house as soon as they leave for the opera. The nanny took the kids out for dinner so we have plenty of time for our team to override their alarm system and for Vic and me to look around, plant listening devices, and bug their home phones.”
“Isn’t all of that illegal?” Mitch asked.
“Yes, dear,” I replied, “but it doesn’t matter because we’re not looking for evidence that will hold up in court. We’re looking for evidence that connects Timothy to one of the Bastersons and then we’ll set a trap.”
“A trap.” His voice was full of scorn.
“Everyone focus on your jobs,” I spoke firmly into my mic.
The rest of the wait was spent in silence as we waited for the happy couple to leave. We gave them a five-minute head start just in case they forgot something and doubled back. After the five minutes passed, Vic and I were out the van door and sprinting across the darkened landscape of the Basterson’s sprawling home.
I picked the lock quickly and Vic went to work immediately on the alarm panel. He removed the face of the panel, disconnected some wires, replaced them with others, and then hit a few buttons on the controller plugged into the override system he brought with him.
“Green. Green. Green,” Hammer said into our ears, which meant that he saw a flawless transition from their alarm service to ours. “I see the entire house on our monitors,” Hammer added. “Get your asses moving.”
We started in the master bedroom looking for any kind of safe. Vic had learned an entire new set of skills after we left the service. I watched silently as he placed a stethoscope against the safe and began to turn the tumble left and right until he found the right combination.
“Oorah,” he said when the safe clicked open.
We made quick work taking inventory of the interior, but didn’t find anything at all incriminating – not even kinky porn of any variety. We split up to search the two home offices on the first floor. I had the pleasure of looking through Mr. Lockwood-Basterson’s desk and drawers, but once again struck out on the “Aha” moment.
I looked behind paintings and inside closets for hidden safes, but I found none. Coming up with a big goose egg, I decided to see if Vic could use my help. My gut told me that if there was anything incriminating in that house I would find it in the bedroom safe or in the offices. So far I was 0 for 2. Vic had Tobias Basterson’s safe open and was going through it when I walked into the room.
He whistled quietly as he looked through the contents of an envelope he found. He reached up and muted his mic so the others couldn’t hear and I did the same. “Check this out, Deacon.” I went to him quickly and looked at the photos he pulled from the envelope. “I think someone has it for your boy really bad.” Vic’s words were a huge understatement.
I looked at one picture after another of Mitch that must’ve spanned at least a decade or longer. Mitch and Tobias were in some of the photos, but a lot of them were taken of Mitch without his knowledge. There were photos of him swimming or lounging by a pool. Some photos included him dressed in a tux, talking and laughing with people all around him. Deeper in the pile were intimate photos of Mitch that I could’ve gone my entire life without seeing.
Someone had photographed his sessions with his escorts. I recognized the suite as the one he used for his hookups. I shoved the pictures in the envelope and tried to banish the images from my mind. It wasn’t like I thought he’d been a virgin before he met me, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see evidence of him with other men. It was bad enough listening to him fucking his escorts after our disagreement.
“I’m sorry about that, Deac,” Vic said, as he removed the envelope from my hand and put it back in the safe where he found it. “There’s diamonds, a fucking lot of cash, and some securities and bonds in here. It doesn’t look like Tobias turned his back on the lifestyle like Mitch thinks he did.”
“There could be explanations for all of it except the photos,” I told Vic. “I think we found Timothy’s money man, but how are we going to prove it?”
“Set a trap, Deac. It’s the only way.” He let out a frustrated breath and patted me on the arm before he said, “I think we’re going to need Mitch’s help.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that, Vic.” As much as I hated it, I suspected he might be right.
