No need to be bossy. You’ll remind me of Archie, and then I’ll have to give you shit.
I huff out half a laugh, every reaction of mine amped up higher than normal.
Understood. No bossing here.
Said like an older brother.
I laugh again. And because Iama big brother, I push a little more than I should.
Does this boyfriend have a name?
Not telling.
Secrets all around, then.
At least you know I can keep them.
She’s not wrong. But the secrecy has my intuition sparking. Although everything is making me paranoid at this point, so I’m not sure I should pay attention to it.
Then I hear Trips telling me to trust my gut, and I know I’m going to dig into whoever Mattie’s dating. Not to control her, not after everything that girl has probably been through growing up in that family, but just to verify if I should still trust the niggling feeling that tells me something’s off.
Keep me informed when you can. And keep this phone hidden. It’s the only direct line we have into what’s going on there.
You still haven’t told me the plan.
You don’t need to know it. Just be there for Clara and your brother and keep me informed. The rest should play out around you.
If that changes, reach out.
Understood.
After a second, I add one last message.
Thanks, Mattie.
The chat goes silent, and while I’m relieved they’re alive, knowing that it’s barely November and we’re at the point in the plan where Clara’s had to kill someone? That’s not good.
I check the progress of the man in the middle attack Clara and Trips’ phones have been running from within the estate’s network. The phones each have a secondary battery and aRaspberry Pi hidden inside the phones themselves, keeping them powered while I gain access to their system.
Since I last checked, I’ve gotten a full connection not only to evil pedo brother Trevor’s data, but most of his father’s as well. Which was the original goal, even if I now have a major side project to take on, too. At least now I can finally access Papa Westerhouse’s calendar and emails, plus the passwords for several important sites and folders. Jackpot.
Hours later, I’ve dug deep into everything I have access to, flagging anything that might hobble the wily old bastard. My list of evidence keeps getting longer, but with the power the man wields and the wealth he has at his fingertips, I’m worried there will never be enough dirt to put him behind bars.
Which is why we plan to add our own dirt to his pile, just to get the ball rolling.
Even then, it could be too little. The old man knows where all the bodies are buried and where all the blackmail is kept, but those bodies were buried by his orders, not by his hand. And every bloodied hand has an old-school, physical piece of evidence locked in storage someplace. Presumably, Clara now has a weapon locked down somewhere with her fingerprints on it. There’s no way I’m going to let that stand.
We need to figure out where he keeps the blackmail. Searching his files hasn’t revealed the leverage’s location, which isn’t what we’d hoped for when we made this plan.
Because we need to steal the collateral to wipe the slate clean. Then, nobody has any reason to stay loyal to the monster. And if everybody working for him turns at once, he’s not a threat to any of us.
Intimidation can’t buy true loyalty.
But so far, nothing on their network tells me what I need to know. And even if I find where the evidence is hidden, it’s likely we’ll need Jansen at full strength to get in and out without our plan going up in smoke.
I lean back in my chair, rubbing my bleary eyes.
Jay’s better than he was, but the pain he’s in has magnified over the past week. It isn’t unexpected, but it’s terrible to see. His head was already all over the place, but being literally stuck in bed has been like watching a bird slam into a window over and over again, stunned each time it can’t make it through.
