Free Double Trouble (Dev Haskell - Private Investigator Book 10) by Mike Faricy Page B

man?”
    “Yes and no. I didn’t see anyone, and Tony and Ashley informed me that I was fired last night.”
    “What?”
    I went on to explain the previous night’s events. How the two of them were possibly incapable of following the simplest of plans. I mentioned Tony’s confrontational nature and Ashley’s rather unprofessional attitude, although I wasn’t quite sure, given her line of work, that unprofessional was the word.
    “I’m sorry to hear all this, Dev. And you didn’t see anyone fitting the bill. No guy following her, maybe lurking in the bushes or the lobby?”
    “No, sorry, nothing like that, Royal. But, to tell the truth, they both seemed oblivious to any sense of security. And Ashley’s entry from the time she stepped out of the car until the elevator doors closed and brought her up to I think it was the sixth floor, we’re only talking a minute, maybe a minute-and-half. With any luck, your guy wasn’t around. Who knows? Maybe your security sweeps have finally done the trick.”
    “We’ll see, for the time being, let me smooth things over with the two of them. Tony can be difficult, but he’s got Ashley’s best interests at heart. And Ashley is nothing if not headstrong, but the poor thing has been under a lot of stress lately with all of this.”
    “Well, keep me posted. In the meantime, if you could email me your list of disgruntled former employees I’ll be doing some research in that area.”
    “It sounds as though that may just be our best bet, at least at this point. I’ll have Marilynn email the list to you this morning. Let’s stay in touch,” Royal said and hung up. It wasn’t ten minutes later when the list arrived in my email.
     
     
    Chapter Twenty-One
     
    Royal’s list of disgruntled employees was less than I had hoped for, a lot less. There were just three names on the thing. One guy was located in India, another in the Philippines, and the third was in Denver. Maybe I was missing something, but at least on the surface they didn’t seem to be very likely suspects to be following an escort around St. Paul and taking photographs.
    The list had contact information, including phone numbers. I attempted to phone the guy in India first. It took me three tries, but I finally got through or at least it was ringing.
    “Hello?”
    “Hello, I’m calling from the United States, I’d like to speak with Chetan, please.”
    “What is this in regard, to?” he asked. His accent was heavy and I had to focus to understand what he was saying.
    “Is this Chetan?”
    “Indeed it is.”
    That seemed good enough for me, if the guy was at home in India he wasn’t taking pictures of someone in St. Paul. “Thank you,” I said and hung up. I had the same result with my call to the Philippines, although the guy I called, Nick Santos, sounded a lot crabbier. Then again, I’d called at a quarter to one in the morning, his time, so I had probably gotten him out of a sound sleep.
    The Denver call went to a guy named Mickey Cray. After the crabby response I’d gotten from the Philippines, I checked the time difference first, just an hour behind. I dialed and a recording came on the line, “This call may be recorded.” Then the phone rang and a woman answered on the third ring.
    “Hello,” she sounded nice, even with just the one word.
    “Hi, I’m calling for Mickey Cray.”
    “Speaking,” she replied.
    That caught me off guard. “Oh, Ms. Cray, I’m sorry to bother you. I received your name from a friend of mine, actually. Do you work with computers, website design that sort of thing?”
    “I’m a programmer, if that’s what you mean. I’m sorry, I don’t believe I caught your name.”
    “My name is Haskell, Dev Haskell. I received your name from a friend of mine and….”
    “A friend? You’re calling from a six-five-one area code, isn’t that Minnesota?” she asked as the sweetness vanished from her voice.
    “Why, yes, it is, I hope I haven’t called too early,