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“You’re a basketball fan?” I asked. “I have season tickets. A box on the second level.”
“I’d love to see it,” she replied, downing the rest of her wine. “You show me your box, I’ll show you mine.” She punctuated it with a wink.
I smiled back, but my heart wasn’t in it. I usually loved it when a woman was this forward, but that wasn’t what I was interested in tonight. I wanted someone who was harder to land. A woman worth pursuing and convincing.
One of the bouncers came into the private room. He waited for me to nod at him, and then he leaned down close to speak directly into my ear.
“She’s here.”
I knew whichshehe was referring to. I had been expecting this ever since I hacked her Facebook account. I was surprised she had the patience to wait two days before trying.
The bouncer gave me a questioning look. I shook my head and said, “Let her stay. There’s nothing she can do. But keep an eye on her.”
He nodded and left.
“Who’s that?” Jocelyn asked. “An ex showing up to make a scene at your restaurant?”
“Someone else. A problematic customer. I don’t have any exes who cause problems.”
“Good,” she said, smile deepening. “I like a man without baggage.”
The second half of the basketball game began, and while Jocelyn’s attention was on it I pulled out my phone and accessed the security system app. There were twelve cameras in the restaurant, and I swiped through them until I found the one I wanted. The bar downstairs was shown in high resolution from a camera in the ceiling. There were four customers sitting at the bar, but it was the woman on the end that I immediately focused on. Amber looked like she had come straight from work, because her laptop bag was on the ground next to her stool. She was sipping on a dark drink while fiddling around on her phone.
I left the video up while Jocelyn and I watched the basketball game and continued to flirt. She mentioned that her house was at least half an hour away, and not-so-casually inquired as to how far away I lived.
On my phone, I watched Amber pay the tab for her drink. She slid off the stool, tossing her hair over one shoulder and then picking up her laptop bag. I felt a pang of disappointment as she started to leave.
But before she got to the front door, she turned left. Toward the bathrooms.
“Did you hear what I said?” Jocelyn asked. “I’ve been doing yoga five times a week. I’mveryflexible.”
“Yeah, flexible, that’s great.” I switched cameras until I found the right one. The hallway with the bathrooms. A guy came out of the men’s room and disappeared from view. Then Amber appeared in frame. But she didn’t go into the women’s room. She walked past it, pushed open a door markedEmployees Only, and disappeared.
I grinned to myself.Game on, Amber.
28
Amber
I sat at the bar, casually sipping my drink and biding my time. My plan was simple, but it hinged on Owen not being here. Before I did anything, I needed to make sure he was gone.
If hewashere, he wouldn’t be able to resist coming up and teasing me. I could picture all of the possible things he would say. He would make a comment about me not wearing my furry costume in public. He would tell the bartender that I couldn’t be trusted, and to make sure I paid for my drink in advance. Or worse: he would tell me that my drink was on the house. Using his wealth as a cattle-prod to get a reaction out of me.
But after ten minutes sitting at the bar, sipping my drink and pretending to scroll through Ars Technica on my phone, Owen never showed up. The bouncers didn’t kick me out, either. He definitely wasn’t here.
Good.
I paid my tab, shouldered my laptop bag, and headed toward the bathroom hallway. There was an employee door that I had been watching for the past ten minutes. In that entire time, only one member of the staff went through it. A hostess grabbing a box of cloth napkins.
I walked through the door with more confidence than I felt. That was the key to doing something like this, I knew: pretending like I belonged. You could get away with a lot in life if you acted with unrestricted confidence.
I was in another hallway. The smell of cooking food and alcohol was replaced with the scent of dust and bleach. The door at the end of the hall was markedEXITin faded red letters, with four other doors in between. The first was markedOFFICE,but it was locked. The next door I tried was open, but it was a storage room filled with dry supplies, like boxes of napkins and cutlery.
The next door said,UTILITY CLOSET, and I grinned to myself. I said a silent prayer to the hacking gods, put my hand on the doorknob, and twisted.
The door opened.
The room was too small for me to swing my laptop bag in a circle. All sorts of cables and insulated wires came out of the floor and stopped at plastic junction boxes, then continued up into the ceiling. The boxes were marked electrical, cable, and internet.
