Page 2 of Wretched Lies

“How many staff are here?”

“Four including Quinn. There’s Clara the housekeeper, and the young girl with purple hair is Tandy. She’s Clara’s assistant. Then there’s Jason, the gardener.” He snorts a laugh. “He’s usually covered in mud so they don’t let him in the house too often.”

“Thanks. You’ve been really helpful.”

“Do you want me to give Quinn a call?” he asks as an afterthought.

“No, don’t worry. I’m here to do a survey, so I’ll need to take a good look around anyway.” I don’t mention that I’m supposedly assessing their security, which is clearly lacking.

“I really did waste my time making your false ID, didn’t I?”Mace says as my footfalls echo through the cavernous foyer. He must hear me falter.“Head for the offices. With any luck Quinn won’t be there, and you can plant the bugs before she even knows you’ve arrived.”

There’s the shriek of a drill somewhere on the floors above. “Not all the workmen have disappeared for lunch,” I whisper to Mace.

“You haven’t broken in, Reid. Quinn’s hired you to do a job. Act like you belong there.”

He’s right, and I hate that he has to remind me. I’m the one who came up with the plan. I may not have finished law school, but I do know the law. This isn’t breaking and entering.

I’d memorized the floor plan so I find the corridor I need and reach Quinn’s office first. The door has been left ajar, but I knock before entering. The room is sparsely furnished with a simple desk, chairs and a filing cabinet.

“Quinn’s officeis empty,” I say for Mace’s benefit. “There’s no computer.”

“I’m not sure I would have trusted you to hack into it anyway.”

“Yeah, sure. You’re just pissed I killed you last night,” I suggest. Mace might be out of state right now, but my brother still managed to keep me up late playing Call of Duty.

“Only because you were in a tag team with Lily,”he says.“She was the one who killed me.”

And he let her. Mace would do anything for his wife, and it’s hard not to be envious of that kind of love.

“Should I check Quinn’s filing cabinet?” I ask, keeping my voice low. I test the first drawer, but it’s locked.

“No, plant the bug in Barrett’s office while you have the chance.”

I glance at the interconnecting door, but immediately dismiss it. If Quinn’s in Barrett’s office, I don’t want her to know I’ve been snooping around her office first. I go out the way I came, making sure to leave the door slightly ajar, exactly as I’d found it.

I knock on Barrett’s door, and again receive no answer. I find it as empty as the first, if not more so.

“There’s no furniture,” I whisper with a hint of panic. We knew Barrett’s interior designers hadn’t been on site yet, but I’d expected him to at least have a desk. “There are just the built-in bookshelves along one wall. Where am I going to plant the bug?”

“Check the shelves,”Mace says with just a touch of impatience.“You might find a knot in the wood we can use instead.”

I take the tiny listening device from my briefcase, thenstart to inspect each shelf. Minutes tick by. I can’t find anything.

“If you can’t do it…”Mace says.

“Fuck off,” I mutter under my breath.

I don’t need my brother’s judgmental voice in my ear right now. He never wanted me involved in the murkier side of our business, but there really wasn’t a choice. Ash, Hunter and Mace are busy fighting a series of cyberattacks aimed at Griffin Corps’ varied business interests.

It’s time I proved myself. I can do this.

As my fingers continue to explore the wood, I glance towards the door I’d closed behind me. It remains firmly sealed, but the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Did I hear something? Is Quinn about to walk in? This is not the time to get caught.

“Turn around slowly and keep your hands where I can see them.”

“Fuck,” I hiss and hear a similar expletive in my earpiece.

I raise my hands and briefcase as I turn slowly to face the woman who’s just come through the interconnecting door. My eyes flare at the same time hers do.