Dirt (Stone Barrington 2)

Stone sat up. “How interested?”

“The whole house; top to bottom. Phone lines, too, but not the offices.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“I don’t think He needs to use a wire.”

“Bedroom?”

“Yep.”

“Shit.”

“You want me to yank everything?”

Stone thought for a moment. “Can you disable it in a way that will make them think it’s just broken?”

Cantor nodded. “I can create enough static to make them think it’s their fault.”

“Good, do that.”

“Okay.”

“How long?”

“Half an hour.”

Shortly, Cantor was back. “It’s done. You may hear some static on the phone lines, but it’ll be manageable. I left the fax machine alone; static there would give you garbled transmissions.”

“Fine.” Stone handed him a sheet of paper and two envelopes. “These are the other two addresses, and I’ve written a letter to each woman, telling them what you’re going to do.”

“If I find something, you want me to do the same thing to it? I mean, whoever’s bugging you might think something’s up if all three systems go down.”

“Good point. Do the same work on Ms. Dart’s offices and apartment, but leave the Potts place up and running. Then call me.”

“One thing,” Cantor said.

“What’s that?”

“You got a very nice burglar alarm system in the house; you ever use it?”

“When I go away.”

“Start using it all the time. I mean, now that the wire on your place isn’t working right, they might come back to fix it.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Stone said.

Chapter 29

Amanda got to Stone first. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded. “This man of yours says there are bugs all over my offices.”

“What’s going on, Amanda, is that there are bugs all over your offices. That’s where your leak is, or at least part of it.”

“Well, I told him to yank them all out.”

Stone groaned. “I told him to create static, but leave them in place. Now whoever planted the bugs is going to know you know.”

“That’s just fine with me,” she said. “I want the bastard to know.”