Garrett realized that Reeves’ earlier call about having potentially caught the guy was wishful thinking. “Instead, he got insider information and followed you.”
He moved to the screen and studied the timeline. Six months of escalation. Photos. Messages. Gifts. All building to tonight. “Do you have a personal phone with you?” he asked.
Claire frowned. “In my room.”
“I did a surface scan earlier,” Lynx said. “Including both phones. They’re clean.”
Garrett motioned for her to follow him. “Let’s get them. Now. Your clothes, shoes, and luggage, too.” He met Lynx’s eyes. “This time, run a deep diagnostic.”
“Copy that,” Lynx said.
Claire didn’t argue. They went to the room, grabbed her belongings, and returned. They spread the items out on the empty end of the table, and Lynx used a handheld scanner on each piece.
“You think there’s something in my underwear?” she asked Garrett, her cheeks tingeing pink as Lynx ran his scanner over a bra.
“We can’t take chances,” Garrett said, trying to avoid looking at the sexy lace. His mind instantly brought of images of her in it.
A minute later, Lynx plugged both her business and personal phones into his laptop and started running diagnostics. Thirty seconds later, his face darkened. He tapped the personal phone. “Spyware. Military-grade.”
Claire went pale. “What?”
“He’s had access to everything on this phone for—” Lynx narrowed his eyes as he scanned his screen. “Three months at least. GPS. Texts. Emails. Photos. Everything.”
“Oh my god.” Claire sank into her chair. “My texts to my parents. I told them I was going away for work. I didn’t say where, but?—”
“But your Bureau emails did,” Garrett finished. “Did you access work email from this phone?”
“Yes. I—I wasn’t thinking. I was packing, I checked my email one last time before I left D.C.” She looked at him, horror in her eyes. “He saw it. He saw the protective detail authorization.”
“Which is how he found you.” Garrett turned to Lynx. “Destroy it. Now.”
Lynx nodded before exiting the room with the phone.
Claire looked like she might be sick. “This is my fault. I led him right here.”
“You’ve been under a lot of stress.” Vivi’s voice was gentle. “And he would have found another way. Predators like this don’t stop. They adapt.”
“Doc is right.” Garrett sat down across from Claire. Made her look at him. “You couldn’t have known. But now we do. Which means we lock everything down. No personal devices. No outgoing communications. Nothing he can trace.”
“Agreed.” Claire took a breath, steadied herself. “What else do you need from me?”
He leaned back. This was going to hurt. But it had to be asked. “I need to know who you suspect.”
“What?”
“Someone installed that spyware. Someone with access to your phone. Your apartment. Your life.” He kept his voice even. “Who has that kind of access? A boyfriend? Neighbor? A coworker?”
“I don’t—” She shook her head. “There is no boyfriend, and no one from work has ever been to my apartment. I don’t know my neighbors that well.”
“Which means he either has keys or knows how to bypass your security.” Garrett had Lynx pull up building schematics on the screen. “Your apartment building—who has master keys?” he asked.
“Building management. Maintenance staff.”
Lynx returned and gave him a nod to assure him the phone and spyware had been destroyed. Too little, too late, but they had no option but to move forward.
“I need their names,” Garrett said to Claire. “All of them.”
Claire rattled off several. Lynx started running background checks immediately.
