Page 101 of Capture My Heart

Trey hung his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. Squaring his gaze on Lindstrom, who still sat smugly watching the interaction as if he was courtside at Wimbledon, Trey rethought his interview style.

“Gunter, don’t you get sick of letting this jabber mouth talk for you? He only cares about his golf game.” Trey leaned on his arms. “You and I both know you hired a cop to squeal for you. Admitting to it isn’t going to result in any additional charges. So why don’t you drop the innocent act and let’s get this over with so you can get back to your crochet classes or whatever activities you’re doing in here.”

Klein huffed. “I’ve had enough of this—”

Gunter cut him off with a raise of his hand. He tipped his head and studied Trey.

The urge to squirm rushed through him. He bit the inside of his cheek and held the man’s gaze.

“Alright, let’s say hypothetically I did have the ability and need to hire an officer of the law to do my bidding. What does that have to do with you?”

“Well, I’d like to start by knowing who it is?”

He laughed. “You and all the other police officers who questioned me.”

“Okay, so you won’t say who. I really didn’t think you would but I had to ask.”

He nodded. “Next question.”

Lindstrom was playing the tolerant dictator to the lowly minion, but at least he was talking. Trey could work with that.

He looked down at his notes. “You make computer games, Mr. Lindstrom?”

“My business does.”

“But you personally designed and built them at the start, correct?”

Gunter’s eyes narrowed as if he was playing a game of chess and was trying to figure out his opponent’s next move. “Yes.”

“So, you weren’t just the money man?”

“I didn’t have two nickels starting out. I built my company by working twenty-hour days, seven days a week. I did anything I could to get my games in front of developers. And when one after the other slammed the door in my face, I rallied and started my own company.” Pride beamed from his every pore. This was a self-made man, and Trey needed to remember that as he questioned him.

“So, what you're telling me is you have the brains to set up an online site to connect criminals and dirty cops.”

“I might have the knowledge but why would I bother with something so trivial?”

Trey leaned back. “I see.” He closed his notebook and stood. “Thanks for your time, but we’re done here.”

Gunter jerked back. “What? No.”

“You aren’t who I’m looking for. You claim to be this super smart, techie businessman but you don’t see the potential for making money off setting up an introduction. That tells me one of two things: Either you lied and don’t have someone on the take, or you aren’t as smart as I thought. Which is it?”

Lindstrom’s color changed from his usual pale Norwegian complexion to a shade of red that Trey only saw on lobsters and Hellboy.

Gunter slammed his fist on the table. The guard stepped closer. Trey stopped him with a shake of his head.

“How dare you question my intellect.”

Trey sat back down. “Fine, if you’re so smart, how would you set up a site to connect the dirty cops and the buyers?”

“It’s child’s play really. I’d set up the server to recognize a special search keyword or phrase and then link them to a hidden form and payment site. The introduction wouldn’t be necessary––it would all be anonymous. They pay for a service. They don’t need to know the person performing said service. Except for special clients, of course.”

The customer didn’t know the name of the cop doing his dirty work. That makes sense. Less chance of being caught. “How would someone learn of this site? You can’t just run an ad on Facebook.”

Gunter smiled. “You’d be surprised, but I would venture to guess that referral is how this type of business grows.”

“You wouldn’t by chance have the name of the site or the phrase?”