Blood Orchid

11

Holly drove out to Ham’s little island, off the North Bridge, and pulled up to his house. There was a strange car parked out front. Before Holly could make it to the front porch, Ham came out, pulling on a polo shirt.

“Morning, Ham.”

“What the hell are you doing here at this hour of the morning?”

“Ham, it’s a little past eleven. What happened to your early rising habit?”

“Well, there are times when I just don’t want to get out of bed.”

Finally, Holly got it. “Oops, my fault; I just wasn’t thinking.”

“You could say that. And what the hell does Hurd Wallace want to bug my house for?”

“He doesn’t want to bug it; he wants it checked for bugs. So do I.”

“And why the hell would anybody bug my house?”

“Calm down, Ham. I don’t know, and I don’t know why they’d want to bug my house, either, but they did.”

That stopped Ham in his tracks. “They did?”

“They did. A fellow named Phil Sweat found the bug, and when I disconnected it and put an officer out back to see if anybody would try to reconnect it, he got hit over the head.”

Ham absorbed this. “Come on in, I’ll make you some coffee.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Oh, what the hell, it’s time you met her anyway.”

Holly followed him into the house. “Met who?”

“Met me,” a woman’s voice said.

Holly turned and found a very good-looking redhead standing in the bedroom doorway, buckling the belt on a pair of jeans that fit her slim body perfectly. Her tight, ribbed sweater was a little short, revealing a small expanse of freckled midriff.

“I’m Ginny,” she said, offering her hand.

“Virginia Heller,” Ham said, “and she is.”

Holly shook her hand. “Glad to meet you, Ginny.”

“Ham’s told me a lot about you.”

Holly laughed. “Then you have me at a disadvantage, because he hasn’t told me a thing about you.”

“Bad Ham,” Ginny said, shooting him a glance.

“I just haven’t gotten around to it,” Ham said, pouring coffee for them all.

“Phil Sweat is going to be here in a few minutes,” Holly said, “just as soon as he finishes at my house.”

“Tell me about this,” Ham said.

Holly led them out onto the back porch, which overlooked the Indian River, and told them about her break-in and the resulting phone tap.

“You sure lead an interesting life,” Ginny said.

“This is more annoying than interesting,” Holly replied.

“I think it’s real interesting,” Ham said, “that somebody thinks he needs to hear what you say on the phone. Who’s your best guess?”

“I don’t have a best guess; it doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“And who’s this Phil Sweat?” Ham asked.

“He runs a locksmith and security service; he seems to be very good at it, too.” She turned to Ginny. “You a local, Ginny?”

“For nearly a month,” she replied. “I’m a flight instructor out at the airport.”

“No kidding?” Holly asked. “I have an interest in getting my private pilot’s license.”

“That’s what I do. Come out real soon, and we’ll take an introductory flight.”

“How about this weekend?”

“Saturday morning, nineA.M.?”

“I’ll do it.”

“It’s called Orchid Flight Academy.”

“I’ve seen the building. What airplane do you teach in?”

“We’d start you in a Piper Warrior, which is pretty basic but nice, and when you feel like it, move you up to something more complex.”

“I’ll look forward to that.” She heard the crunch of gravel under tires. “That’ll be Phil,” she said. She walked to the front door and waved him inside. When the introductions had been made, he asked her to step outside.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“I checked the bug, as you asked, and it had not been reconnected.”

“I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

“Turns out, it’s bad, and it gets worse.”

“How?”

“I thought it was suspicious that they’d go to the trouble to slug a cop, then do nothing, so I had a more extensive look around the house. I ended up in the crawl space underneath, and I found another bug, just like the first one.”

“Swell.”

“Yeah. What do you want me to do?”

Holly thought about that. She hated the loss of privacy. “Leave it intact,” she said. “Let them think I think I’m not being overheard. They can’t see into the house, can they?”

Phil shook his head. “Nothing like that. These aren’t Peeping Toms; they’re looking for information.”

Holly nodded. “Go ahead and check out Ham’s place.”

“Shouldn’t take long. If they’ve bugged it, they’d use the same equipment they’re using at your place.”

Holly left him to his work and went back inside. “Ham, from now on, when you call me or when you come to the house, be careful what you say. I’m bugged again, and I’m going to leave it that way.”

“I wouldn’t know what not to say,” Ham replied.

“Me either,” Holly admitted. They finished their coffee and made small talk.

Half an hour later, Phil Sweat came out to the back porch. “Same deal here,” he said quietly. “You want me to leave it in place?”

“Is it just a phone tap?” Ham asked.

“It’s more than that; it turns every phone in your house into a microphone.”

Ginny Heller spoke up. “Let me get this straight. You mean that somebody could listen to every sound in this house?”

“That’s about the size of it,” Phil said.

“Oh, shit,” she said. “Ham, you’re going to have to start coming to my place.”

“Ham,” Holly said, “I’d like to leave the bug in place; that all right with you? And Ginny?”

Ham and Ginny exchanged a long look. “I guess I’d better start coming to your place,” he said to her.

“This isvery embarrassing,” Ginny muttered.

“Yeah, we’re probably all over some Internet porn site by now,” Ham said, deadpan.

“Ham!”Ginny cried, blushing.

Holly tried not to laugh. “Don’t worry, there are no cameras. Are there, Phil?”

“Nope,” Phil replied, trying to keep a straight face.

“Thank God for that,” Ginny said under her breath.

Ham, looking amused, started to say something, but Holly cut him off. “Well, I guess I’d better get back to work,” she said.

Phil spoke up. “I think we’d better go back in the house so I can give a negative report on finding bugs, for the benefit of whoever’s listening.”

“Good idea,” Ham said.

Ginny looked at her watch. “I’ve got to get going. I’ve got a student coming at one o’clock, and I’ve still got to…” She left that unsaid.

They went back into the house, Phil gave his report in an audible voice, and he, Holly, and Ginny went to their cars.

“I’ll see you Saturday morning at nine,” Holly said, waving to Ginny. “Do I need to bring anything?”

“Nope,” Ginny called back. “I’ll supply everything.”

“Good to meet you.”

“And you.” Ginny drove away.

Holly drove back to her office. When she arrived, there was a note on her desk to call Ed Shine.