Grim

66

No one is who the Boss would trust. The Boss would want their own eyes and ears to make sure everything was going according to plan. If I were the Boss and I had an ally in real estate, I would find out all the property my enemies own, and if I found out that my target had a couple safe houses, I'd plant bugs in the least expected places because no one would expect their safe house to be unsafe, especially if they used different fake IDs to keep the purchases discreet.

That's how the Boss was keeping tabs on us. That answer felt much more possible than the people I had been living with being a rat. I was actually really sure about this. It was a gut feeling I couldn't shake. I just needed to find at least one of the bugs to prove my hunch true.

I entered the living room and checked beneath the cushions in the sofas, but found nothing. I then checked inside the vases, behind the paintings, and just about anywhere else I could think of. I just couldn't find anything!

I didn't want to ransack the place to find the bug because I didn't want the listeners to feel as if I was into them. I was trying to do this as discreetly as possible.

I knew that there had to be at least one in the living room because that would be the expected place for meet ups and conversations, and Richard came in here right when we were piecing everything together in the living room.

I just needed to find it.

I carefully began feeling beneath the couch, not on the floor, but on the couch's box. As I slowly slid my finger along the surface, I began to worry that I wouldn't find any bug if I didn't start trashing the place to look for it.

However, right when I was about to give up home, my finger came across a little metal ball that shouldn't have been there.

I didn't want to remove it and show it to everyone because I wanted to paint the facade that I had no idea that bugs existed in this house. Instead, I decided I'd get Marco and Ace to have drive us as algae away as possible from the house so that I could explain what I discovered while still letting the Boss think that he was still steps ahead.

I knocked on Ace's door, and he opened it with his phone in his hand and his eyes glued to the screen. He was texting, so I could have only assumed that it was Slurpee Girl.

"Having fun?" I asked as I snatched his phone out his hand.

Ace chuckled, "Yes, now give it back. She just sent her first flirty response, and I gotta respond before she thinks I'm not interested anymore!"

"Does she have a name?" I asked as I handed him his phone.

"Kat, and before you ask, yes, I'm having her background checked. I won't make another Emily mistake," he promised.

I teased, "Atta boy!"

"What do you want, old man?" he mocked me.

"I want us all to go on a drive to clear our heads," I announced.

Ace frowned, "Everyone?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Today's been tense, and we still have to figure out if we're gonna help Richard or not. I think a little bit of fresh air will get everyone thinking better. Then we can come back and have a family meeting to talk strategies."

Ace looked at me with a bit of concern before nodding. He knew that whenever I'd take drives to clear my head, it was usually always alone. Still, he fell in line and agreed like I hoped he would.

To make things less suspicious, I said, "We'll all eat out today, as a matter of fact. Take everyone's mind off the situation for a while so their minds will be fresh later."