Private Sydney (Private 12)

‘You think Gillies lied about the resignation?’

‘I don’t know. But it gets freakier. My flat was trashed. Police reckon it was druggies looking for cash because the flat screen and Xbox One weren’t touched. I thought it was my psycho ex, only he’s in New Zealand.’

It wasn’t a usual break and enter, even for drug addicts. ‘Did you have work files there?’

‘No. Only stuff on my laptop, and that stays with me. I think something happened to Eric.’

The fear in his voice was clear.

‘We’re going to find him. In the meantime, can you stay with a friend for a few days? Just until we get to the bottom of whatever’s going on?’

‘My parents live on the north coast. I can go there.’

I had one more question. ‘Have you ever seen or heard of a Jim Roden?’

‘Sure, the ambassador’s one of Lang Gillies’s golf buddies. The old man likes to drop his name and how he used to advise President Bush on homeland security.’

It may not have been Moss working for someone else. I began to suspect Lang Gillies of being more than he pretended.

Chapter 57

GIDEON ENTERED MY office and closed the door.

‘I swept the entire place, toilets and bathrooms included. The building’s clean.’

That was a relief.

‘There’s a qualifier on that. I also looked at the computers and phones of all the employees, including yours, as you know.’

Mine was the first I wanted checked. ‘And?’

‘Good news is the computers are free of viruses and malware, as are your backups. No one calle

d a reporter this morning from their phones or the office, no emails or texts either.’

It was reassuring but didn’t explain how Peyroni got the Wallaces’ address as soon as we had it. Or why the computer was infected. Or the door was smashed. If that wasn’t done to plant listening devices, what was the point? ‘What’s the bad news?’

‘There’s spyware on one of your employees’ phones.’

I sat back. This was the moment I dreaded. ‘Spyware? What sort?’

‘The sort that makes a phone a listening device, whether it’s on or off. And accesses computers when used as a hotspot.’

Before I heard the name I needed to know. ‘Can anyone install it or does it require specialised knowledge? Can it be downloaded remotely?’

He shook his head. ‘The person installing it has to physically have the phone.’ He pulled a document from his case and handed it across. It was a detailed explanation of this particular phone spyware.

‘Anything else?’

‘Yeah, two of your employees are dating. Don’t know if you have a policy on that, ’cause they’re trying to keep it quiet.’

‘Did you go through all their texts as you scanned?’

‘No,’ he smiled, ‘noticed them touching hands in the lab when they thought no one was looking. Otherwise, they’re clean.’

Johnny had been helping out more with evidence. It was because of Darlene.

‘That’s one headache we can sort out if the time comes.’ It left Mary and Collette. Mary had been livid about me taking on the background check but she always carried her phone and wallet on her. She never put them down. That left one person.