Page 51 of The Agent
“You’ve got some handsome horseflesh grazing in your fields,” Tully said, starting with pleasantries. “I keep a couple of horses of my own out near here.” Which he didn’t get to ride nearly enough.
“Thoroughbreds?” Van Houten asked.
“Half Thoroughbred, half quarter horse. I like the combination of speed and agility.” He’d grown up riding farm horses, so he appreciated sturdiness too—something Van Houten’s overbred racehorses didn’t offer.
“Ah.” Van Houten put a world of disdain into the one short syllable, exactly as Tully had expected. Now Dobs was feeling smug and superior ... which would make Tully’s takedown even harder for him to stomach. “I can arrange for you to visit my stable after if you’d like. So you can see the beauty of a purebred.”
Tully nearly refused, but a sudden longing to be with creatures who concealed no dark secrets overcame him. “I’d enjoy that. Maybe on my way out?”
“Of course. I’ll have my head groom show you around.” Thus Van Houten made it clear that he considered Tully equivalent to an employee—which didn’t bother Tully at all. Being underestimated always worked in his favor.
Tully leaned back in his chair and got to the crux of his visit. “You’ve got an impressive security system.” A lie. He’d done some scouting on foot before he’d driven through the electric gates and down the winding road to the stone mansion. “But KRG could make it better.”
“Really?” Van Houten raised an eyebrow with a tiny smirk. “Tell me how.”
“First, lose the hedge. It provides more protection for an intruder than for you. You don’t need it for privacy because you’re at least two miles from the nearest road or house.”
“That hedge has surrounded this house for over fifty years.” Van Houten’s voice held a patronizing note, as though Tully couldn’t be expected to appreciate such a heritage.
“Then it needs better lighting and a perimeter fence inside it.” Tully set his left ankle on his right knee so Van Houten had a good view of his slightly muddy cowboy boot. The man glanced at it with an expression of distaste. Then something else flickered across his face that Tully couldn’t quite read. He waited a second before he continued. “You’ve got at least two blind spots in the video surveillance on the front of the house. One’s by the garage and the other is at the front left corner. You might have more but I didn’t check the sides and rear.”
“I’ll ask my security team to rectify that.”
“You’re welcome,” Tully said with a shit-eating grin. “And that’s just from a quick glance around. A more thorough inspection would uncover additional holes.” He was poking at Van Houten’s pride.
The other man’s lips thinned to a tight line. “I rely on my personnel more than on technology. A loyal staff is invaluable.”
And it probably made him feel like the lord of the manor to command his army of serfs. “Couldn’t agree more,” Tully said, still trying to figure out if Van Houten had recognized him from his boots. “But I got through your perimeter on foot about a half an hour ago without anyone raising an alarm. If you check, you’ll find my business card on the stone bench in that fancy gazebo by the fish pond.”
Now Van Houten looked seriously pissed off. Tully had figured that the business card would get under his skin. It had been easy to get past the guards, partly because their patrol pattern was easy to predict and partly because for all their vaunted loyalty, they weren’t especially alert. They clearly didn’t take their assignment seriously.
“I will speak to the guards about that,” Van Houten said. Tully caught the flash of ugly fury in his eyes and in the white knuckles gripping the arms of his chair.
“I’m sure your night crew is better, since that’s the time of higher risk.” Tully matched the patronizing tone Van Houten had used earlier.
The anger blazed hot for a second before something darker took its place. Van Houten’s eyes went utterly opaque and his hands relaxed before he smiled in a way that made Tully’s psycho detector whoop a loud alarm. “I’ll see to it that my security staff members take their duties very seriously from now on.”
Tully nodded. “KRG would be happy to train your staff.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Van Houten said, the ugly smile evaporating into a cold blankness.
Now Tully knew. This was a man who could abuse his wife and take pleasure in it. He would also relish playing cruel psychological games, such as stalking Natalie. However, his capacity for cruelty wouldn’t prove he had done either of those things.
“If you’ll give me permission, I’ll look around a little more and draw up a proposal for you,” Tully said.
“Let me give it some thought and get back to you.” Van Houten stood abruptly.
Tully took his time uncrossing his leg and rising to his feet. He stepped in closer, using his greater height to look down at Van Houten as he extended his hand. “It’s been a pleasure. I hope we’ll be working together soon.”
“I’ll be in touch. Maria will be outside the door to show you out.” Van Houten did not shake Tully’s hand nor did he bother to walk with Tully to the office door. Instead, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. Tully heard the furious edge in Van Houten’s voice as he ordered the person he was talking with to come to his office.
Tully smiled. He’d stirred up the hornet’s nest.
After a refreshing half hour spent in the company of large, beautiful animals who didn’t have a psychopathic gleam in their eyes, Tully climbed back into his Maserati. He was savoring the feel of hugging the curves on the two-lane road leading away from Van Houten’s estate when a call came in from Natalie’s upstairs tenant, Deion.
“Someone’s watching the salon.” The young man sounded angry. “I set up a camera in my apartment window aimed at the street. The same black SUV has cruised by about every fifteen minutes for the last three hours. It’s a big Mercedes Benz. I have the plate number. I’ll text it to you.”
Tully’s hands tightened on the wheel as exhilaration flooded through him. Finally, a solid string they could pull on. “Excellent work. Could you see who was in the car?”
