Page 26 of The Alibi Club

“I do. But sadly, now I work with C-suite egomaniacs as a leadership coach. They share a lot of the same character traits.”

“That tracks,” Lorna agreed. “How has dating online been going?”

Jamie hesitated, not willing to spill all the horrid details, her failings, her bad judgment. Before she could answer, Lorna added, “I sense you’ve seen your fair share of dating disasters.”

“More than any woman needs in a lifetime,” Jamie said, as if someone finally understood her.

Lorna raised an eyebrow. “Want to meet a more discerning crowd?”

“Yes, please,” she answered just a little too quickly.

“Here’s my card.” Lorna produced a pale pink card—the luxurious kind, not the cheap crap—with red lettering, and a logo of a table surrounded by six silhouettes. “I look forward to exploring the possibilities.”

Jamie took her card. Lorna put on her shoes and made for the door with a wave. “Ta! See you soon.”

Derick motioned for the nail tech to come back and deal with Jamie. “Her unwieldy eyebrows are next.” The nail tech pursed her lips and nodded, seemingly up for the challenge.

Jamie gave herself over to the self-care givers and sighed. “What would I do without you, Derick?”

“Die as a lonely recluse discovered by the Amazon delivery guy, the poor bastard,” Derick joked and then softened. “You deserve to find your version of Martin, too.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Webs We Weave

CLIFF

Three days after his fortuitous meeting at Pasha’s Fine Jewelry with the striking Ms. Gray, Cliff stood in front of giant whiteboard in a small rented conference room.

He inspected the blueprints and architectural plans of a sizable Manhattan Beach mansion while fiddling with a toothpick. Clad in all black, from his sport coat to his Converse, he studied the drawings and moved closer to scrutinize the distance from the front door to the vault in the back of the master bedroom.

“Here.” His finger followed a line to the placement of the security cameras to the corner. “That’s our entry point.”

He glanced up at Lorna Gray, the glamorous woman he’d met at Pasha’s who had rich auburn hair and perfectly arched eyebrows. She leaned back in an office chair, her gold earrings dangling, wearing a white linen dress tailored to perfection. Her tanned legs were crossed with one leg lazily bobbing up and down as she concentrated on his presentation.

“It’s not the most impenetrable home I’ve ever seen, but it’s close,” Cliff said as he moved to the corner of the blueprint and pointed. “The extraneous variable is the random passersby. On a scale of one to ten on public exposure, it’s a nine. Plus, the neighbors are so close you can hear their cell phones ring. By my estimates, the local police force is less than two minutes away, which is not ideal. Add to that the MBPD has their own SWAT team. Which says something about the clientele.” Cliff pointed to a side door that led to the garage. “However, this is a blind spot the cameras don’t see. Unfortunately, the motion detectors cover that, but that only means we’ve got to get creative.”

Lorna Gray nodded thoughtfully and gestured for him to continue.

Cliff moved to the other side of the blueprints. “The only way to get inside without setting off the alarm is to either disable it, with what appears to be a diabolical ten-digit code, or dismantle it. An experienced crew could cut the power supply.”

“The house is equipped with a top-of-the-line backup generator,” Lorna said as she crossed her arms. “If the city’s power supply goes out, it automatically kicks in. So, the motion sensors, cameras, and alarms will remain intact.”

Cliff ran his tongue over his teeth, considering this new information. “Then we cripple the backup generator without setting off the alarms.” Cliff looked at the schematics. “Yes, that part would be easy. Another blind spot. See.”

“So, you think you can thwart this system that easily and get to what’s in the safe?”

Cliff leaned on the conference room table and thought about it for a moment. He looked straight at her, sighed, and answered, “In under two minutes.”

Lorna Gray pondered this for a moment, her eyes looking through him, as if she was doing math in her head. “Damn, and I thought it was impossible to crack it.” She emerged from her chair and inspected the blueprints, scanning his plan written in red pencil. “Well, I must say, I didn’t quite believe the reputation you espoused, but after the glowing review from Vasken, meeting you here and seeing your plans, I’m impressed.” She circled Cliff like a leopard circling prey. “I think you’re just the man for the job.”

“Vasken was generous with his praise.”

“He said you broke into his vault and lifted two mil worth of gems without a hitch. I think he had a nickname for you. I think he called you The Panther.”

Cliff chuckled at the newly minted nickname. “The Panther, I like it.”

“Me, too,” Lorna said. “Best way to build a security system no thief can break into is to hire a thief to build it.”