“You have no idea,” Reese agreed, tracing one finger down David’s happy trail.
“Anyway,” Hodges went on emphatically, “the long and the short of it is that Hunter is the one responsible for cloning the phone.”
“He is?” Reese asked. “When did he have a chance? I don’t think we’ve been in the office with him before yesterday.”
“You haven’t, I don’t think. Or, at least, you didn’t have to be. He says Chaz asked him to set it up and made him write down detailed instructions for how to actually make it happen once they had the phone in question—which we now know was Mati’s. They even practiced.”
Mati shook her head. “I don’t get it. Why not Reese’s phone?”
“It was probably about access to the original phone. It’s not like it is in the movies, where they stand near a phone for a few seconds to clone it. To get the Bluetooth locks and encryption to match, they needed, among other things, to download some data and access a specific unique identifier for your physical phone.”
“How do you get that?” Mati asked.
“Well, it’s often printed under the battery, but they may have been able to access it through the phone’s settings. Either way, the download included hooking the phone up to an external device.”
David pulled her closer. Reese stepped into them both.
“So,” Mati said, swallowing when her voice shook, “Chaz had his hands on my phone and wasinmy phone, for a while? I can’t think of a single time that could have happened.”
“Someone who knew what they were doing with your model of phone might be able to do it all in a minute or less. But we don’t think it was someone that adept, in this case.”
“What do you mean? You don’t think it was Chaz?” David asked.
“Chaz told Hunter the whole process had to be quiet.”
Reese cocked his head. “So?”
“Because it was going to be done in church.”
Mati felt like she’d been punched in the chest. “MotherfuckingFrankie,” she swore. “I’m going to kill him.”
“We don’t know that’s what happened,” David said, but he didn’t sound like he believed it.
“Yeah, but we can be pretty damn sure. I’ll bet you anything it was at my nephew’s christening. I was up at the altar with the family for ages, and we left our cameras, ourphones, in the front pew so friends and family could take pictures with them. Shit, how did I not notice him take my phone?”
David ran a soothing hand down her back. “He’s proven far more adept at subterfuge than anyone would have guessed. How long ago was this?”
“Almost three months.” She watched David’s face darken. “What?”
“That’s a long time to be planning a crime. Planning, patience, technology, opportunity…”
“And no goddamn motive,” Reese finished.
“And short of stalking Mati, no goddamn motive,” David agreed. “It also doesn’t explain the break-in. Or Chaz’s presence in Boston.”
“Could Chaz be the brains and Frankie the muscle?” Hodges asked.
Reese frowned. “We have no reason to believe Frankie knew I existed five years ago. Let alone my father before that. But maybe?”
“And what’s the connection between Chaz and Frankie?” Mati wondered. “How did they end up in this together?”
“Could Chaz be Frankie’s attorney?” Hodges asked.
Mati shook her head. “I’d be shocked if he even has one. He doesn’t have any assets, let alone the kind of estate or trust that calls for an attorney like Chaz. He lives paycheck to paycheck.” A thought struck Mati. “Oh shit—paychecks. I need to call my brothers. I need to tell them to be careful.”
She whipped out her phone.
David stilled her with one hand. “Tell them not to fire him at all. They should act as though everything is perfectly normal.”
