Page 90 of A Breath of Life
I considered the filing cabinet. We’d been chatting in whispers, but I understood why I’d caught him on the verge of tearing the device apart. “Will you let me examine it?”
He gave me a skeptical look. “You? Since when do you know anything about electronics and deconstructing phones?”
I scoffed. “Since my business partner and lover taught me that you can find anything your heart desires on YouTube… except pornography. Stupid Terms of Service. If YouTube fails me, I’ll text my cousin for advice. Deal? You can focus on Clarence.”
Diem glanced at the laptop. A divot appeared between his brows. It was the task he needed to focus on, but he had set his sights elsewhere. On uncovering his kidnappers’ identities and their base of operations. On revenge.
With a gentle touch on his chin, I redirected his focus to me. “We’ll get them, but Clarence is our priority.” I gave him a pointed look, conveying that Clarence was not the end of our mission but the beginning. Wewouldfind the culprits responsible, whoever they were, and we would expose them. Their underground syndicate, or whatever it was, would not survive.
Diem was hard-pressed to let me go. He clung, brushing his nose gently against my neck and kissing my shoulder, not in a fashion meant to arouse but in a fashion meant to claim. He located the hickey and kissed it delicately.
“Mine,” he rasped.
“Yours, D. Always.”
I scratched carefully, soothingly, over his scalp, avoiding the tender lump left behind by the assholes who had taken him. Scalp massages helped Diem relax. It was a pleasure I’d discovered he enjoyed early on in our relationship. It calmed his nerves when they were especially high. Some nights, when stress consumed him, he rested his head on my chest simply to feel my fingers tangled in his hair and caressing his head. To ground himself. To calm the chaos that ripped him apart from the inside out daily.
Eventually, reluctantly, Diem released me, and we got back to work. He pushed aside his notes about where he’d been held and hacked into Clarence’s bank accounts and email to see if we could follow a spending trail and discover where the man might be hiding. Now that I realized the extent of the threat, I understood it would be no easy task. Considering the resources at these people’s disposal, I wasn’t sure what more we could do when it came to locating Clarence.
After recovering our phones and the card from the filing cabinet, I pulled up YouTube on the laptop. I watched a few videos with the captions on and the volume off until I understood enough to make an attempt. Using the tools Diem had shoved inside a drawer earlier, I got his phone apart easily enough, but once inside, I didn’t know what to look for and was afraid of fucking up the innards and breaking it.
A search on Google proved too vast, so I texted my cousin.If I was looking for a potentially planted listening device inside a phone, what might that look like?
Seeing as it was midday on a weekday, I wasn’t shocked when I got an immediate response.What the fuck are you doing?
Duh. Super-secret PI stuff. Obviously.
My cousin worked for the police department in the capacity of IT specialist. Diem had impressive computer skills, but Costa Ruizput him to shame. Costa’s intelligence was frightening. It was a good thing he’d decided to use his talents for good and not evil because he could have been dangerous otherwise. As it stood, I borrowed his stunning brain from time to time when it suited my needs. I didn’t think he minded. Not since we’d repaired our relationship. In fact, I was convinced he enjoyed being a deviant from time to time, and my tendency to get into trouble fed his hunger.
A good PI wouldn’t have to ask, he replied. A second text came through before I could tell him where to stick that comment.Physical device or a program?
“Shit.” I hadn’t thought of that.Both? Physical first. I have the phone in pieces.
It would be fairly obvious, he replied.Snap me a picture, and I’ll tell you if I see anything.
I did as he asked and sent the image.
Two minutes passed before another text came through.You’re good. Is there a reason you suspect someone planted a listening device inside your phone?
Diem’s phone.Yes, but it’s a long story, and I can’t tell you atm. Too risky.If my cousin knew all the details, he would flip his shit.How about programs?I asked to steer clear of a potential lecture.
Do you know how to check for spyware? Phones can be set up to relay your positioning to a third party. They can share your texts, emails, passwords, and everything. Some programs clone your device or listen to you.
“Fuckity fuck.”
Diem glanced up with a look of concern, but I waved him off, texting Costa back.No clue how to do that.Can you walk me through checking and help me disable anything we find?
It took my cousin almost twenty minutes to guide me through a thorough strip of Diem’s device. By the time we finished, he assured me the phone was safe. Again, he queried if I was in danger, but I brushed it off.Just another day in the PI business.I added a winky face to ensure a lighter tone. I wasn’t sure he bought it.
Don’t get yourself killed.
I rolled my eyes.And deprive you of seeing my lovely face all the time? As if.
Costa didn’t reply.
I slid Diem’s phone across the desk. “Clean as a whistle.”
“Yeah?”
