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Mike nodded. “That I’ll do. Because I don’t want him to get away, either. If it’s him.”
Drex backed down a bit and rolled his shoulders, forcing them to relax. “Does the mystery man hold a job?”
“Nothing I could find,” Mike said, “but he lives well.”
“I’ll bet,” Drex said under his breath. “How long has he been in Mount Pleasant?”
“I don’t have that yet. He’s lived at his current residence for ten months.”
“What kind of residence?”
“House.”
“Leased?”
“Purchased.”
“Mortgaged?”
“If so, I couldn’t find it.”
“Cash purchase, then.”
Mike raised his beefy shoulders in an unspoken I guess.
Gif speculated that maybe the property had been inherited, but none of them really thought that, so no one pursued it.
Drex asked, “What’s the place like?”
“Based on the real estate listing, it was pre-owned, not new,” Mike said. “But an established neighborhood. Upscale.”
“Price?”
“Million and a half and change. Looks spacious and well kept on Google Earth. It’s all on here.” Mike groped beneath his overlap for his pants pocket and produced a thumb drive.
Drex took it from him.
“Won’t do you any good without the password, and you’re not getting it till we’ve talked this out.”
Drex scoffed. “I can get the password cracked. When applied to you, the word geek sounds ludicrous, but you’re not the only computer geek around, you know.”
Mike raised his hands. “Be my guest. Get a geek to go digging. But if you’re found out, how are you going to explain your interest in this seemingly law-abiding citizen?”
“A bribed hacker won’t care what my interest is.”
“A bribed hacker won’t blink over taking your money, then—”
“Stabbing you in the back with it,” Gif chimed in.
“Your hacker would get the man in South Carolina on the phone and tell him there’s a guy in far-off Lexington, Kentucky, who’s spying on him.”
Gif picked up. “For more coin than you’re paying him, the hacker would sell you out.”
“Then it would be you, Special Agent Easton,” Mike continued, jabbing a stubby index finger at him, “who would be spied on, caught committing God knows how many violations and crimes, civil and criminal, and that would squash this and any future chance you might have to finally nail this son of a bitch, which has been your main mission in life.” He wheezed a deep breath. “Tell us we’re wrong.”
Drex sat down on the end of the bed, propped his forearms on his thighs, and dropped his head forward. After a moment, he looked up. “Okay. No hacker. I’ll moderate my approach. Satisfied?”
The other two exchanged a look. Gif said, “Exercise a little caution, some discretion.”
