Page 40 of One Night with the Grump Next Door

“No. No, I don’t want you to.”

“Alicia, please. You’re not thinking straight.”

“I am, actually. I’ve been set straight on quite a lot.”

“Alicia, please. I got a letter. Someone’s after you.”

“Don’t try to frighten me, Jake.”

I gave out a cry of frustration. “Look, I’ll be there as fast as I can. Just, don’t panic, okay?”

“I don’t want you here—”

She was still talking when I hung up the phone.

But she had to know the truth.

IgottoAlicia’shouse at 9 p.m., but I couldn’t explain to her what was happening—nor did I know why she was so pissed off with me. Had she managed to find out the information about a scandal that had almost destroyed my career three years previously? When Sam arrived, I had no choice but to leave.

I drove as fast as I could back to my apartment. I got there at 9:30 p.m. I needed to know what had been going on before I could put things right with Alicia. When I got back, I saw that Jim Jennings had tried to call my office. I rang him from my desk.

“What’s going on, Jim? Update me.”

“To tell you the truth, Jake, I don’t know. I’m not sure what’s happening at all.”

“Just get me the facts.”

“I got ‘em. Did you speak to Tom today? They said you didn’t show up for the meeting.”

“The meeting was a trap. I spoke to Tom. He’s trying to get the shareholders to buy me out.”

“They can do that?”

“I own a 48% stake in CAA. That means I’m the majority shareholder, by far. But if he can persuade the others to vote against me, Jim … I could lose everything. You understand?”

“Makes sense. There have been calls going in and out of Tom’s office today, round the clock. He’s been trying to round up as many of the shareholders as possible for an emergency meeting this week. Seems like they’re going ahead with whatever they’ve got planned, Jake.”

“Jim, listen to me. Is there anything else you can tell me that might possibly help us?”

“There is one thing, Jake.”

“Go ahead.”

“So, this afternoon, Tom sends that guy, Stephen Andrews, you know the one?”

“Yeah, I do.” Stephen was the one who’d gotten me to go to Grand Cayman in the first place. No doubt he was mixed up in all this too.

“Well, he and Karen Grappler were up here earlier, talkin’ to some … security consultant. I never seen the guy before, but he didn’t look like a security consultant to me. So, I checked on file.”

“What are you saying?”

“The guy didn’t show up. But I got his name from a girl on the desk, the one who signed him in for the visit. He’s not a security consultant, Jake. He’s some kind of … well, private investigator, I guess you could call it. But the guy’s got a shady record. Artie Masters. Got his license suspended recently for hacking phones. Cybercrime, that kind of thing. He’s under investigation at the moment. I’ll bet you he’s dirty.”

Now it all became clear to me. There was no doubt about it. This Artie Masters character was probably the one who’d turned my cell phone’s computer to mush last night. He might even have something to do with the cyberattack on the airport in Grand Cayman.

“Jim,” I said, “you’re a genius.”

“Aw, shucks, I’m just a guy.”

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