Page 26 of C is For Corruption (Horsemen #3)

“You two can start searching the place. I’ll handle the bugs, and then I’ll handle the laptop.

” I said, turning to take in the room while I figured out the best places to place them.

The city lights filtered through the blinds, casting slats of light across his desk and the wall of law books behind it.

The room had a quiet that settled into the bones of a place after being built over decades.

The room seemed to reflect the man I’d met, a touch of Southern charm wrapped in old-world elegance.

The furniture was worn but comfortable and sturdy, the kind of wood that darkened and softened with time and upholstered in rich, caramel-colored leather.

It invited more than just business; the room suggested long conversations, maybe even a whiskey or two poured in the late hours.

But what stood out most were the photographs.

They lined the walls, perched on bookshelves, tucked into the diplomas and legal awards frames.

All of them of Victoria. From her earliest years—toddler curls and a gap-toothed grin—to her polished, poised adulthood.

There was one of her as a teen in a bright yellow sundress, and her feet kicked up on Theodore’s desk like she owned the place.

Another of her at what looked like some college event, shaking hands with someone who looked important.

Her college graduation, Uncle Theo standing beside her, pride written across his face plain as day.

Hugo was also in the picture, standing slightly from his ‘daughter.’

It felt like looking at Victoria through a father’s eyes. I glanced at her; she was standing in the center of the room, taking it in as well. There was something on her face I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It was something like nostalgia but heavier with the weight of why we were here.

I set my bag down on his desk and set to work.

I pulled out a handful of RF transmitters, an optical transmitter, the wiretap device, wire strippers, and a voice-activated recorder.

It was easy enough to find the line from the desk phone and follow it down through the desk, pop open the plastic cover on the floor below the desk to find the nest of organized cables that powered everything.

It would have been better to tap somewhere on the line outside his office, but we didn’t have the time to figure out which of the lines was his wherever they came out, so this would have to do.

I unplugged the phone line and cut the modular plug to expose the wires inside.

Attaching the wires to the access point for the tap was simple enough; I disabled the tap’s microphone, wired in the voice-activated recorder, and plugged it all back in.

It wasn’t hard, but it was much more tedious than setting up a wireless tap, but those were harder to come by for a landline phone.

“Did you two find anything yet?” I asked as I picked up the handful of RF transmitters, turned them on, tested them, and began placing them through the room in hidden places.

Behind picture frames on the wall, in the far corner of his desk, another in an empty vase, and even on top of one of his bookshelves just in case.

“There’s nothing here but law books, case files, and client information.

And none of that looks out of the ordinary for the types of cases he handles.

The only records he has of mobsters are in case files, no personal or professional meetings, no out of place notes.

” Victoria said, rifling through one of his file cabinets.

“I found our Az-hole!” Leighton said with a laugh, holding up a file from another cabinet.

“His case was pretty open and shut with Ma Petit ’s testimony being the only real evidence and no conviction, so there isn’t much here either, we didn’t know already.

The man did some serious digging into Az to find his criminal behavior, that’s for sure. ”

“Interesting… Wonder how he went about that. Az’s record is clean after he graduated.” I said absently, looking up at the smoke detector. The stretch to get that down made my side ache just thinking about it.

“You’re right. Too bad I can’t help you with that.” Leighton said, returning the file to the cabinet.

“No, but you can help me with this. Come get this smoke detector down.” I said, motioning up at it.

Leighton snickered but didn’t say anything as he retrieved it.

I took it from him and popped it open to place the optical bug inside.

There was already a convenient opening, and the camera fit in snugly.

It was simple enough and paired with the audio transmitters; we could pull whatever we needed from his office and off the receivers.

I handed it back, and Leighton returned it to its base on the wall.

“We done here?” Leighton asked, apparently getting antsy from the anti-climactic trip into the lawyer’s office.

“Just gotta do his computer, and then we’re good,” I said, moving to the desk and starting up his PC. I scrunched my nose as it booted up, the horror of Windows Vista coming into view. “Oh, good lord. Why?”

“Uncle Theo doesn’t really do change . He’s old fashioned.” Victoria said, a small smile on her face as she took in my discomfort with what I was seeing.

“This isn’t old-fashioned. This is… You know what, never mind.

I’m just gonna take a deep breath and do my job.

I can work with this.” I said, actually needing to take a deep breath.

I didn’t know who would keep subjecting themselves to this, but it wasn’t my computer, so it didn’t matter.

“Would you have an idea of the password, cause I didn’t bring John the Ripper with me.

” I hadn’t brought my laptop to use my brute force program.

“It’s Jellybean. Capital J, and the ‘E’s are 3’s. Been the same password ever since I got a jellybean stuck in his keyboard as a kid because he was letting me play on Paint.” Victoria giggled. And sure enough, it worked.

“It’s more than a little concerning that one of the top prosecutors’ computer is so…

insecure.” I said, plugging in my flash drive, and after a few keystrokes, I had the tracer and monitor programs loading onto his computer.

I’d coded them to be discreet, run in the background to capture everything he did and monitor and analyze the flow of data packets within the system so I could watch his network behavior.

Once they were up and I made sure they were working, I shut everything back down and gathered my tools and bag. “I’m done if you two are.”

“Do you… have anymore of those bugs left?” Victoria asked hesitantly.

“A couple, yeah. Why?” I raised a brow at her question.

“My father’s office is just down the hall, and I thought…” She trailed off.

“That’s a great idea, Bunny. Yeah, we can set those up quick.” I grinned, patting her head and messing her hair as I approached the door. She shot me a dirty look, but she couldn’t stop the smile on her face. That was all I cared about.

We locked Theodore’s office behind us and moved down the hall toward Hugo’s.

Leighton picked the lock easily; this office really needed to look at its security in so many ways.

Opening the door, the contrast between Hugo and Theodore’s office was jarring, to say the least. Hugo’s office was ostentatious and a blatant show of power and wealth.

It had all the markings of a high-end interior designer, but there was no warmth or personal touches that said an actual person was ever there.

The most significant difference was the lack of photographs of his family.

A single photo of Hugo, Prudence, and a toddler Victoria was hanging on the wall.

One of those stuffy family photos that no one ever wants to take and no one ever looks happy in.

The only other photo was a small 5x6 of the same college graduation photo that hung in Theodore’s office.

“Oof…” Leighton said quietly. “Based on these rooms, there’s no way people aren’t mistaking Theo for the father.”

“The paternity test says otherwise… but I see your point,” I said, setting my bag down, pulling out the few remaining bugs, and placing them around the room.

We’d already cleared Hugo, but information was always valuable.

Turning back around, I saw Victoria looking around the office, taking in the same view we had.

It looked like she was considering the differences for the first time.

“I guess now it makes sense. I always thought he just wasn’t big on photos…” She said, her voice soft and sad in a way that made me want to wrap her up and take away all the things she’d had to learn. And I had a feeling it wouldn’t get any better from here.

“Well… at least this should help put any of your concerns about Hugo’s involvement to rest. And we’ll see what we can find out about what Theo’s doing, once way or another.

” I offered, putting my arm around her shoulder as we left his office and locked back up.

“It’s always better to know.” She looked up at me; her brow furrowed again in the way that said she was turning the information over in her mind.

Her voice was soft and questioning when she answered.

“Is it? Cause it feels like the more I learn, the more things fall apart.”