by R A Wallace
Again, the staff at the Tiki Bar seemed to know the restaurant reviewer. Many greeted her by name and Krista didn’t have to wait long to be served. Callie took note of the different people that Krista spoke with. Based on what she saw, everyone seemed friendly but she couldn’t say that any one of the servers paid more attention to Krista than another.
Callie ordered a small sampler plate of seafood and a glass of sweet tea while she watched Krista. Her food arrived quickly. As Callie ate her meal, she continued watching Krista until the other woman left. It wasn’t until Callie was paying for her meal that she realized she had been expecting Greyson to appear the entire time she was there.
Chapter Six
Callie walked into her office the following morning with another newspaper in her hand. For once, Michael didn’t have his earbuds in and was aware of her presence.
“Callie, we were just talking about you,” Michael said.
“Were they good words?” Callie asked with a grin as she settled at her desk. Her eyes fell on the single rose in a bud vase sitting next to Michael’s computer. She wondered if Sierra had given it to him but didn’t want to ask.
“Actually, we were talking about the work we were doing for the company you just checked out for us,” Sierra clarified.
“What does this one have you doing?” Callie asked curiously as she turned on her computer. She doubted she would understand the answer. Although she knew her way around a computer, she would never be at the level of her office mates.
“We’re writing the code to interface with some data collection devices and other systems,” Michael said.
“That sounds interesting,” Callie said politely.
“Yeah, it’s actually pretty cool.” Michael frowned. “I don’t like the part where we’re limited, though.”
“Limited?” Callie looked at Sierra. Sierra usually did a better job of explaining technology things at a level Callie understood.
Sierra made a face. “Yeah. I don’t like it either, but I understand it.”
Michael made a noise indicating that he didn’t.
“We’ve been asked to write some code for smart cars,” Sierra said.
“Seriously?” Callie didn’t think that sounded as difficult as some of the jobs they’d taken in the past.
“We’re responsible for being able to write data to the computer system in the car and being able to read back from other data that’s written to it,” Michael said, his enthusiasm in the project obvious.
Callie thought about her own older model car. She doubted there was much technology running underneath it.
“Why?” she asked.
“Think about it,” Sierra said. “Computer systems in future cars will be a lot more advanced than the ones you drive.”
“They track everything now,” Michael said. “And it’s really just the beginning of what they will do. In the future, they’ll drive themselves. There’s a ton of data involved in doing that.”
“With smart cars, there’s the maintenance statistics, the software updates, the performance metrics, and the decisions made by the driverless cars.” Sierra lifted both hands expressively. “Everything is data and everyone wants access to it. The data needs to be both pulled from and written to all kinds of different databases for a variety of reasons.”
“And for a lot of different companies,” Michael added. “Most of which are running proprietary systems that don’t talk to each other.”
“That’s where we come in,” Sierra said. “Our job is to encapsulate the data and make it transparent to the different systems that use it.”
Michael made a face at Sierra. “It’s actually a lot more complicated than that.”
Sierra pointed at Callie. “She can’t understand that, Michael.”
“Still, it’s misleading a little,” Michael insisted. “Even if she doesn’t know what it means.”
“I’m right here,” Callie said as she waved her hand in the air.
Sierra and Michael stopped their side conversation and turned to Callie.
“So, what part of all of that is limiting?” Callie asked.
Michael made a face again. “We don’t handle the encryption.”
Callie was immediately sorry she’d asked. She raised her hands in defeat.
“You blew her mind,” Sierra said as she turned back to her computer.
Michael shrugged his apology to Callie.
“Anyway, someone else has already written the code to handle the encryption and decryption on the fly as the data transmits to and from the car. We’re just handling the parts that read and write data to the computer system in the car,” Michael said.
Sierra glanced over at Callie. “He actually did pretty good at watering that down for you.”
“That’s the scary part,” Callie agreed. She still didn’t understand it. “Why does it need to be encrypted and decrypted anyway?”
“Security. You wouldn’t want all of your information to be available for anyone to grab as you’re driving down the street, right?” Sierra muttered mostly to herself as she began coding again.
Callie decided not to ask any more questions.
Michael reached for his earbuds and started putting them in, then immediately took them back out.
“Oh, hey. This rose is for you.” Michael stood and passed the rose over to Callie. When he returned to his seat, he began putting his earbuds back in.
“Who is it from?” she asked without thinking.
“Your partner dropped it off,” Michael mumbled as he turned up his music.
Callie flipped over the card to read it. It was blank on both sides. She wanted to ask Michael more questions but decided against it. She wasn’t sure she really wanted the answers.
She turned to her computer and pulled up an online map program. She knew that both of the addresses she’d been given for the dating background check were located in a town about thirty or so minutes away. After checking out the specific addresses, she decided to try the address farthest away first. That way, she could stop at the closest one on her way back to Pomelo Cove.
Her mind made up, she next reviewed all of her mail. Once she was done responding, she opened the newspaper and checked out the review of the Tiki Hut. Like the short blurb the day before, this one focused on a quick, sharable plate and the fun to be had after work hours at the Tiki Hut. Callie had to hand it to Krista. She wrote appealing blurbs that should help to bring in customers. Too bad she hadn’t done the same for Ginny at The Regal Pomelo.
About forty minutes later, Callie was sitting in front of a ranch-style home in a quiet neighborhood. The lawns of the houses were well-maintained and attractively landscaped with native plants. In addition to the flowering plants, there were a lot of palms and live oaks. Callie exited her car and approached the house. When she reached the door, she rang the bell.
An older gentleman answered. He looked fit for his age. He was wearing shorts and a polo shirt. His reading glasses were perched on the end of his nose giving the impression that Callie had interrupted some afternoon reading.
“Robert Talbot?” Callie asked.
“Yes?” His eyes fell to the flower in the bud vase that Callie was holding in her hand. A smile formed emphasizing the prominent laugh lines spreading from the corners of his eyes and bracketing his mouth.
Callie stretched her arm out to pass him the bud vase.
“This is for you,” she said simply.
Robert took the flower and looked at it curiously. “Is it from my wife?”
“I think it’s from your son, actually.” Callie pulled her brows together.
“Logan?” He huffed out a laugh. “Why is he sending me a flower?”
Callie took a step back and raised her hands in question.
“I’m just the delivery person.” She turned and walked back to her car.
That was definitely not the correct Robert Talbot. It was no doubt the one that had been married twice. The age looked right. Callie entered t
he next address into her GPS. Fifteen minutes later, she was at the next place. She had thought that the house she’d just left was nice. The next house was definitely better. The neighborhood was more upscale as well. Many of the driveways had gates near the street. Fortunately, the house matching the address Callie was searching for did not.
She stopped at the address and parked her car. She looked around at the nearby houses as she approached the front door. No one answered the bell. Callie went to the next house and tried that one. An attractive blonde answered. Callie guessed she was in her forties.
“Yes?” The woman had the receptive smile of someone used to having friendly neighbors drop by.
“Hello. I have a delivery for the house next door but no one is answering the bell.” Callie checked the paperwork in her hand. “Do you know the occupant? A Robert Talbot?”
A whisper of a frown appeared between the blonde woman’s brows. “Robert, no. That’s Logan Talbot.”
Callie looked back down at her paperwork.
“Oh, wait. I remember. His first name is Robert. Everyone just calls him Logan.” The blonde looked happy that she’d come up with the solution to the puzzle.
Callie looked up at the woman with relief on her face that quickly turned to a frown. She looked back at her car.
“Do you want me to take his package?” the blonde asked a little eagerly. “I could give it to him when he gets home from work.”
“Are you sure?” Callie asked. “It’s a Doberman. It looks pretty vicious. I didn’t have a cage big enough for it so I have it on a leash in my back seat.” She glanced back at her car.
The blonde took a step back into her house. “Oh, no. I couldn’t take that.”
“What about his wife?” Callie asked. “Maybe she could take it.”
“He isn’t married,” the blonde said quickly as she took another step back.
“Do you think he’s at the hospital?” Callie asked.
“Yes, I would try him at the hospital. It’s only a few minutes from here.”
Callie nodded as the woman closed her front door. She returned to her car. After driving out of the neighborhood, she pulled her car over and checked her GPS for the nearest hospital. She followed the directions and parked in the large parking lot next to the hospital. Then she took out her phone and called the directory.
When the operator answered, she asked for Logan Talbot. The answer she got wasn’t the one she was expecting. She texted her mother and pulled out of the hospital parking lot to begin her drive back to Pomelo Cove. Less than thirty minutes later, she walked into her mother’s house. Elaine was waiting with Margaret to hear the news.
Callie sat down across from them. “Tell me again why you wondered about the man who is dating your daughter?”
Elaine gave a half shrug. “I don’t know. On the one hand, he seemed too good to be true.”
“And on the other hand?” Callie asked.
Elaine hesitated. “It’s nothing in particular. He just seems to work odd hours, you know? Aubrey has told me that he’s left her during dinner to rush back to work.”
“At least he’s a good worker,” Margaret pointed out.
“I know.” Elaine brought her hand up to her neck. “It just doesn’t seem right for an intake worker, though. Wouldn’t the hospital have someone else to handle the insurance forms for the other shifts?”
Elaine slumped back in her seat, dropping her hands on the table. “Maybe there isn’t anything to it. Maybe he’s exactly who he says he is.”
Margaret reached over and patted Elaine’s hand.
“Actually, I think your instincts were spot on,” Callie said.
“They were?” Margaret said quickly. “How so?”
“From what I can tell, he doesn’t actually go by the name of Robert. His dad does. Aubrey’s Robert goes by his middle name, Logan.”
“Logan?” Elaine asked as she straightened in her seat. “Does he even work at a hospital?”
Callie nodded slowly. “He does, yes. Except, he isn’t an intake worker. He’s a medical doctor.”
Elaine and Margaret shared a look.
“A doctor?” Elaine sounded impressed. Then she frowned. “Why would he lie? Is he married?”
“No, he doesn’t appear to be. Not according to his neighbor, anyway,” Callie said. She was pretty sure the blonde would know.
“You’ve seen his house?” Margaret asked.
“It’s pretty impressive,” Callie said as she stood. “Are you going to pass this along to Aubrey?”
Elaine turned uncertain eyes toward Margaret.
“What would you do?” Elaine asked her friend.
“This is when I leave the rest to you,” Callie said to them both on her way to the door.
Chapter Seven
The airport campus was much larger than he had anticipated but he couldn’t complain about the accommodations. Greyson slid into the large all-terrain vehicle that had just been given to him for the duration of the assignment. It easily seated six on the two rows of padded bench seats. More could go in the rear cargo area if necessary. He navigated his way around the buildings until he came to the one that had been assigned to his team. That team was gathered in the outer office when he entered the building.
“Good morning,” Greyson greeted them.
There were five total, six counting Greyson. They were a separate group from the rest of the security staff and had been selected for the unique skills that each had to offer. Although they would be working closely with the other security staff, this team would be focused on specific, more troubling aspects of ensuring safety.
Greyson introduced himself and asked the others to do the same. He watched and listened to each of them closely as they did so. Counting him, there were four men and two women on the team ranging in age from the mid-twenties to the mid-forties. They were dressed in street clothes and were designed to blend into the masses that would be visiting the car show over the course of the week.
“As you know, we have been tasked with special duties during the course of our assignment here,” Greyson summarized. “Unfortunately, we don’t yet have all of the intel we will require to orchestrate that. We’ll have to be vigilant and flexible, as the need arises.”
He watched as he got several nods of agreement from the group. He could almost tell their individual backgrounds by their appearance. Lenora was the IT specialist with a focus on big data. Julio had the most extensive military background. His posture was upright and rigid, as though constantly standing at attention. Zach, the youngest member of the team at twenty-five, was also in IT and looked every bit the nerd he was. At forty-five, Nigel was the old man on the team. He had experience working with the most elite security teams all over the world. Kate was a loaner from a federal agency. In addition to being on their team for the week, she would act as liaison back to her superiors as needed.
“Our assignment begins today as the applicants for the various support staff positions will be chosen. We’ll need to assist with filtering these candidates. That includes deep dives on their backgrounds to ensure that they aren’t part of the overall reason we are here. It makes sense for our enemies to position people on the inside. We need to know who they are.”
He could tell the group was excited about getting started.
“You know what to do.” He made eye contact with each of them. “Let’s get to it.”
***
Ariana Indigo took a deep breath after stepping from the office where she had just completed her interview. She couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t expected to get hired on the spot. Since it was her first real job, though, she hadn’t known what to expect.
She didn’t count the brief time she was with the modeling agency as a job. Though she’d technically acted as their receptionist for a very short period of time, she knew now that she’d only been hired to con her friends into giving their money to the modeling agency too.
She wove her way through the hundreds of
people in the massive airport hangar where some of the interviews were being conducted. She knew that there were more applicants in other hangars around the airport campus going through the same process that she was. They were all hoping to get jobs too. Ariana smiled again. As of now, there was one less ticket agent job available.
“Ariana!”
She turned when she heard her name called. The man walking toward her looked familiar, but it took her several moments as he dodged people on his way to reach her to figure out why.
“You’re that man that worked with my sister to catch the bank robbers.” Ariana immediately began appraising him. He was okay looking for an old guy. She assumed he was somewhere around Callie’s age which meant he was in his mid-thirties.
“That’s right. I understand your mother works at the bank that was robbed. I’m Greyson Divine. It’s nice to meet you.”
Ariana narrowed her eyes at him. “How did you know who I was?”
Greyson smiled and nodded. “Smart of you to wonder. You remind me of Callie.”
Ariana liked the sound of that but didn’t want him to know it. She scowled.
“You’re good at avoiding questions,” she said.
Greyson laughed. “You’re also very observant.”
Ariana stepped to the side to avoid being knocked over as someone passed by them.
“What are you doing here?” she asked curiously. “Are you and Callie involved with the car show?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Greyson agreed. “I understand you’ll be working here also?”
She wondered how he knew that when she’d just learned it herself a few minutes ago. Before she had a chance to respond, he raised one hand to his ear then spoke into the other hand which held some sort of communication device.
“Be right there.” Greyson looked at Ariana. “Good luck with the job. I’m sure I’ll see you again.”
Arianna watched him walk quickly away. As she left the hangar, she wondered what Callie would be doing at the Pomelo Cove Classic. It was probably more interesting than taking money and handing out tickets at one of the entrance gates. Being a private investigator had to be exciting all the time.
