“Tell him about the film role,” Karri hedged and Skye launched into the fight she had with her team regarding Tony’s upcoming movie.
Agent Shaw had been appointed to clean up the L.A. office after he helped bust a major case some years ago when some agents had been killed or hurt. That’s what he’d told her when he said he was really a guy from a small town in Idaho who could understand her mindset as a small town woman. Skye had liked him and trusted him when he told her he’d be the only one looking into this to avoid any leaks. If he needed help, he’d ask her first. Skye appreciated feeling as if she had some control over her life once again.
“Do you think they’re connected?”
“I don’t know, but that’s how my people want to spin it. But then there’s these letters I’ve been getting. The last one was put on my gate.”
“Can I see them?” Agent Shaw asked.
Skye sighed, “Lenny has them. I’m sure Jim has some copies too.”
“I’m going to have to talk to them if you want me to fully investigate this.”
Skye looked to Karri who nodded. “Okay, but only talk to them. I don’t want to tip anyone off that I’m looking into this. They’re going to be mad. They wanted to handle this internally.”
Shaw stopped the recorder and put his notes away. “Miss Jessamine, with all due respect, you’re the victim here. I only care about your feelings and keeping you safe. Your agent and your manager don’t scare me. Frankly, I would worry if they don’t want my help. I’ll talk to them tomorrow and let you know how it goes. In the meantime, is there somewhere safe you can go?”
Skye thought about it. Karri was the only one she trusted. “I could go home to Iowa or I could to go Karri’s parents in New York.”
“Let me have your cell phone number and I’ll keep you up to date personally instead of going through your entire team to get to you.”
Skye unlocked her phone and handed it to him. “I’d appreciate that. Will you put your info in there?”
She waited as Agent Shaw entered the information and then paused. “Do you mind if I look at your phone?” Skye sat up and regarded him with concern. Privacy was everything to her and she already felt violated. “I don’t want to look at your photos. I want to look at your apps and your settings. I want to see if any are vulnerable to hacking.”
Skye exhaled as that sunk in and nodded. “I’d like that.” She waited as Agent Shaw went to work. She didn’t think there was anything on there that would be worrisome, but then she saw his mouth turn down into a frown as his brow creased. “What is it?”
“Who put this calendar app on here?”
Skye and Karri both leaned forward. “It was on the phone when I got it.”
“Did you take it out of the box yourself and set it up?” Agent Shaw asked and a pit of dread opened up in her stomach.
“Lenny got us both our phones to keep my name out of any records. He handed us both these phones in their boxes, but he’d charged them so they were ready to use. Why?”
“Because this calendar app doubles as a tracking app.”
“It’s a shared calendar among the three of us. Is that what you mean?” Karri asked exactly what Skye was thinking.
“No. It’s a GPS tracking app hidden in a regular app. Parents use them to track their kids without them knowing it.”
“Get it off!” Skye almost screamed as her heart started to race. Why was Lenny tracking her when he already knew where she was? The thought made her shiver as she thought about what she and Karri had talked about. She had nothing in her life that was just hers. Not even her phone.
“I’ll screenshot the calendar and then would you check my phone too?” Karri asked Agent Shaw.
“Of course.” It took him twenty minutes but then they were both handed back their phones with guarantees that they couldn’t be traced.
“I’m not saying that your manager even put it on them. It could have been where he got them from and he might not have known about the GPS tracking in it. The fact is, we don’t know anything yet. Or maybe he knew, but it was for your safety. I put an encryption app on both phones that will run in the background.” He held up his own phone and showed them the app. “This helps close any loopholes left by any apps. Your email will be safe, your call history, your cloud storage, and your social media. It’s disabled all GPS tracking so even the retailer won’t be able to track it. It will be very difficult for any hacker to get into that now. Tomorrow I’ll come back and look at the angles of the photo taken in your room to try to determine where it was taken. That will be our starting point.”
Agent Shaw stood, and when he did, Skye stood with him. She held out her hand and thanked him. They walked him to the front door and he paused. “Have you thought about hiring personal security?”
“I’m meeting with them tomorrow. I was supposed to do it today, but the last thing I wanted was a man around I didn’t know. Karri, do you have the list of candidates?” Skye asked as Karri bent her head and went to work on her phone.
“Here they are,” she said, showing Agent Shaw her phone. He looked over them with a quick glance.
“They’re the norm for bodyguards to celebrities, but not if you’re high risk. I’ll shoot you an email when I get home with the names of a couple of people I’ve worked with in high profile cases. Most of them are retired U.S. Marshals.”
Finally. Skye felt some relief. “I’ll hire whoever you recommend. Thank you so much, Agent Shaw, for coming out to my house in the middle of the night. I feel a lot better now.”
“Good. I’ll touch base with you tomorrow.”
Karri closed the door and they both visibly relaxed. “I’m going to sleep here again tonight.”
Skye reached for her friend and squeezed her hand. “Thank you. I’d appreciate it. Why don’t we sleep in the guest rooms tonight? I don’t feel safe in my room after those photos were taken, even though I have shades.”
Exhaustion was taking over Skye’s body. It felt heavy as she climbed the stairs with Karri right behind her. Instead of turning toward her master bedroom, Skye and Karri walked to the other end of the hall and turned toward the guest suites.
“You were brave tonight, calling the FBI,” Karri told her when they stopped at the guest rooms.
“I don’t feel brave, but I feel more in control. And I’m ready to fight for that control tomorrow. I’ll find a lawyer to look over my contract and Agent Shaw will, hopefully, get a lead on how and where the person took the photo of my bedroom.” Skye reached for her best friend and hugged her tightly. “Thank you. Thank you for uprooting your life to come out here with me. Thank you for being the sister of my heart.”
With a heavy heart and heavy eyelids, Skye crawled into bed fully dressed and passed out.
Skye was dreaming of Trent and never wanted to wake up. He was reaching for her with a smile on his face and Skye was running toward him. Then his hand grabbed her arm hard. Skye gasped, but no air came into her lungs as Trent’s face loomed over hers and morphed into sneering lips and evil in his eyes.
Skye’s eyes popped open as a hand pressed against her mouth and covered her nose. It didn’t matter that Skye opened her eyes as the blackout shades were drawn and the room was completely dark.