Page 108 of The Guy Next Door

And so fucking right.

It was that bastard!

I’ve got you now, motherfucker.

29

LEIF

My mouth hangsopen as I stare at the image on Zane’s phone.

When he headed upstairs, I hoped he might find something on his computer. Not a mic in the goddamn walls.

After our discussion at breakfast, he wasn’t even gone ten minutes before rushing downstairs. He wouldn’t explain what had him so worked up, but I knew it must’ve been something as he rushed me over to my parents’ place, hurrying with me to my bedroom. Despite my attempts to get him to reveal what he was excited about, he put his finger to his lips and searched my room, plugging a battery charger into every outlet before catching his breath.

Now that I’m looking at what he found in his room, his reaction makes perfect sense.

“He’s been recording us? Since the night he broke in?” He already explained that bit, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.

“Yes.”

I take a seat on the edge of my bed, studying the picture of the device. “How do you even know that’s what this is?”

“I ran a Google search on some of the key pieces in the design and searched for spycam. There’s a guy on TikTok showing people how to make these things. It can be synced up to Bluetooth, so all Isaac would have to do is come by the house, close enough to download whatever’s stored on the hard drive. When I was looking, I suspected it would have to be voice activated to save storage space, and I was right.”

He paces, his gaze scanning my room. Looks like he’s already trying to figure out what we’re supposed to do now that he’s found this. Fair enough, since I’m barely able to process it.

After we saw the photos of Jason Kilbourne from Wes, I was confident Zane had really seen Isaac, but I hadn’t expected this.

“Are you gonna call Detective Roth?” I ask.

“You kidding me? There’s not gonna be any way for her to prove this shit.”

“You said it has Bluetooth connectivity, and he could upload it to his phone. If they check that—”

“He’s not a moron. He won’t use his regular phone. I’m sure he has a burner. No, if I tell Roth now, what if there’s no way to trace it back to him? I could have just as easily put that thing in my room. She’ll think this is like what happened before.”

He’s not wrong.

I run my hand around to the back of my neck, giving myself a gentle massage as I try to think this through.

“Where is this now?” I ask.

“Right where I found it.”

“You left it in the outlet?”

“Yeah. Right now, this is our upper hand. Isaac doesn’t know I found it. So we can plant whatever the hell we want in his head. Use it against him.”

“That was smart. If I’d found it, I would have just ripped it out of the wall. But what do you mean, use it against him?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to think of. Like if he believed we were close to proving it was him. Had a conversation in my room about it, maybe he would realize he has to intervene, and then he’d come for us.”

“Like a trap?”

His gaze finally meets mine, and he smiles. “Exactly.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

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