“I guess our lucky streak has ended here.”
“No, not necessarily, not if we nip this in the bud. You asked, and I’ll answer. I’ve dealt with blackmailers and extortionists before,” Bancroft says. “I was never the target, mind you, but I had clients in hot water. I didn’t lose any of them to any of the demands, no matter how ludicrous or how grave the repercussions.”
“Alright, then what do you think we should do next?”
He taps his chin, gazing at me with a curious gleam in his eyes. “The lady you were photographed with; does she know?”
“No.”
“Do you think she might’ve had something to do with this?”
“Not in a million years, no, sir.”
“Are you sure?”
I nod vehemently. “She’s a good woman. The purest I’ve ever met. Kind, devoted, spirited. She’d never do something like this—never.”
“Then it’s someone in your close circle, or mine, and you run the risk of being collateral damage.”
“Or you’re the collateral damage, if we’re the target.”
Bancroft chuckles dryly. “I think this is precisely what they wanted: confusion, multiple possibilities, ways to keep ourminds busy, unable to focus on one or the other. They’re smart, but they’re not geniuses. They made a mistake somewhere. What about prints?”
“Our Portland PD buddy is looking into it.” I pause when I see the alarm bells blaring in his wide, blue eyes. “He’s loyal and discreet, sir. Our secret is safe with him, I assure you.”
“You might get lucky. What about the courier service?”
I frown. “We didn’t look into that.”
“You should— just in case.”
My fingers are already texting a new set of instructions for the head of our security team with precisely this detail. We need to figure out what courier company was used and do a reverse search, if possible.
“It might lead you nowhere, but it’s still worth a shot,” Bancroft says. “Now tell me about your inner circle. The people here: staff, hosts, hostesses.”
I need a moment to think about it, but nothing out of the ordinary comes to mind. “Like I said, we run a tight ship. As you know, there’s no cell phone reception here, only our secure Wi-Fi network. To keep Haus of Sin completely private, we installed a cell jammer to cover the entire property’s radius.”
“Hence, the reason we don’t get a signal here, only online stuff once we’re connected to your network,” Bancroft says. “I actually found that odd at first, but since I was able to conduct my business over Zoom and all those other online platforms, I didn’t give it a second thought.”
“FaceTime, Whatsapp, Zoom, they all work seamlessly. It’sWi-Fi-enabled. The network is highly secure, and we checked; no breaches whatsoever.”
“So you can monitor your staff’s communications, if you have to?”
“It would be an egregious breach of their privacy, but yes. I like to believe that once they’re told about the secure Wi-Fi, any thought of profiting from Haus of Sin outside of their contractual obligations would wither away,” I tell him, “a preemptive strike of sorts.”
“And what if one of them is responsible for this?”
I exhale sharply, unable to truly fathom the possibility. “We vetted each of our employees thoroughly. None of our hosts has issues. The service staff is also clean.”
“Nevertheless, you should do a thorough check of their smartphones. You never know.” He frowns slightly. “I’ll do the same with all of my firm’s employees.”
I sound surprised. “You think one of yours might’ve done this?”
Bancroft shrugs and shakes his head again. “I don’t know, Max. I wouldn’t put it past them. I run a law firm, remember? Many of them are young sharks, easily emboldened if they taste blood in the water.”
“Like Jeremy?”
His name had crossed my mind before. Bancroft might be able to shed some light where that prick is concerned, and judging by his visible disdain, he doesn’t like Jeremy much either.
