Monday morning, I called Kirby and told him about wanting to plant the bug at Mystie's. He said he'd get everything together. He suggested I go into work first to make sure Mystie would be there all day. I should call him after checking on her and let him know if it was still a go. He would meet me at her townhouse.

I went by Mystie's office just as she was arriving at work. I told her what a good time Rogue and I had had with her and Sasha. I told her I had some errands to run, but I wanted to catch up with her later in the day and asked what her plans were for the rest of the day. She said she was tied up in meetings all day. I told her I would catch up with her later tomorrow or the next day.

I went back to my apartment, called Kirby, picked up Rogue, and we drove to Mystie's townhouse in Laurel Maryland. Kirby got there the same time we did. The neighborhood must be mostly working couples, because the streets and parking areas were practically deserted. We had no problem finding parking spaces near Mystie's place.

Mystie's townhouse was a two-story end unit. The best chances for breaking in were probably side windows or something around back. Kirby asked Rogue to keep an eye out in front while he and I checked out the back of the house. Kirby said there was a sliding door in back we might be able to derail to get in. Fortunately there was no sign of an alarm system.

Around back we did not have any luck. We tried the slider and a couple of the windows, but there was no getting them open without leaving evidence the house had been broken into. Kirby said we should check the front door. He might be able to pick the lock. We went back around front.

When we came back around front, Kirby noticed the front door was open. There was no sign of Rogue. It crossed my mind that I'd put her in harm's way and lost her again. As I was playing out a scenario where Sasha had caught Rogue sneaking around and was now holding her at gun point inside, Rogue stuck her head out the door and waved for us to come inside. 

"How did you pick the lock?" Kirby asked her once we were both in the door.

Rogue just held up a key. "I noticed a flowerpot on the front step. Mystie is not the type to go in for that sort of esthetics. I figured it had to have some purpose. I checked it out and found the extra key hidden in it."

"Any ideas as to where we should plant the bug?" Kirby asked Rogue, since clearly her brain was the only one functioning at the moment.

"Let's head up the stairs and have a look at the bedroom," she suggested and led the way.

In the master bedroom, Kirby took a quick look around and said, "The lamps on the nightstands are probably our best bet. Easy to hide something in and close enough to pick up pillow talk."

He picked one up and turned it over. He carefully pulled back the felt that was covering the hollow bottom of the lamp. "Well, well," he said. "Take a look at this." In the bottom of the lamp was a device identical to the one Kirby was preparing to install. "Someone beat us to it!"

"Is there any way to tell who it belongs to?" I asked whispering not sure if someone might be listening or recording even now.

"Not really, these are standard issue from any mail order spy shop. That's where I got mine." Kirby also began whispering. "Do we still want to plant ours? If so I suggest we try the other side of the bed." He got a tube of glue out of the bag he was using to carry his do-it-yourself bugging kit. He began gluing the felt back in place.

"Let's try the other side. Hopefully they didn't wire for stereo. They already have her side of the bed. Will our bug pickup across the bed?" I asked Kirby.

"As long as her partner doesn't snore too loud." He began working on the lamp on the other side of the bed. Meanwhile Rogue was snooping through Mystie's drawers.

"Nosy, are you?" I teased her.

"It's our job, remember? We're detectives."

"Find anything?"

"Just that she has exotic tastes in undergarments. But I suspect, you already knew that?" she asked holding up some provocative lingerie.

Kirby looked up from his work to see me answer. Even I had enough sense not to reply to that query.

Kirby finished up installing the bug. We left and locked up the house replacing the key where Rogue had found it. Kirby installed a repeater in her backyard hiding it in some thick bushes. The bug in the bedroom had limited transmitting range. Kirby connected the repeater to a cellphone device that would allow us to dial in and listen to the tap from anywhere. We were good for as long as the batteries held up.

#

The next several days consisted of Kirby trailing Sasha during the day and Rogue and I listening in on he and Mystie in the bed at night. Kirby could find nothing suspicious in Sasha's activity and neither did we. There were no work-related discussions between Mystie and Sasha in the bedroom. In fact, it was pretty boring. Mystie did talk in her sleep, but I already knew that.

I went into the fort each day where Jeff and I worked on confirming our suspicions about the bogus front running scam. Amy and Pixie had given us the information on all the transactions our client bank suspected of involving front running. Jeff and I verified that each transaction had involved a delay caused by the Ukrainians tampering with the signaling channel. More importantly however, each transaction involved someone or group that according to intelligence analysts within the NSA were very interested in transferring funds surreptitiously to the terrorists involved in the trade. The correlation was one hundred percent.

That information combined with Pixie's thorough analysis of the client's software and no evidence that any links other than the signaling channels had been accessed should be sufficient to convince our client that the front running was bogus and just a cover for moving funds to terrorists. Pixie just needed to present her final report to the client and her job was done.

My job of identifying the leak at the NSA still required more evidence. I was certain the leak was coming from Mystie's sleep talking, but all the evidence indicating Sasha's involvement was still circumstantial. I needed more.

We needed evidence proving he was using the information Mystie was revealing in her sleep. Unfortunately, Sasha was usually snoring during Mystie's somniloquism; so, we couldn't even prove he was aware of her sleep talking. Nor was Kirby finding anything incriminating in Sasha's daily activities. If only we could link him to Holiday's and Gregory's murders, that should be sufficient to indicate his involvement in the money laundering operation and subsequently, his role as the NSA leak.

I repeatedly went over all of the evidence linking Sasha to Holiday's murder. It was really weak. Maybe there was more evidence at Gregory's murder.

Rogue was getting anxious to get home. I was too. I was hoping that meant my apartment for both of us. With Amy staying at Sara's, and for all I knew, Percy possibly moving in with Sara now, her place could be getting crowded. Hopefully, that would be enough to convince Rogue to move back in with me when we got back to California.

I decided Kirby could handle all the monitoring of Mystie and Sasha from here on out. Rogue and I could go back to California and see if we could find anything in Gregory's murder to link to Sasha.

Thursday, I told Mystie we had a lead back in California I needed to follow up on. I would be flying back with Rogue. My return would depend on how well this lead panned out. I said good bye to Molly and Jeff. I talked to Kirby about continuing to monitor Mystie and Sasha. That evening, Rogue and I caught a flight back to California.

#

On the plane, I realized we would be getting in late and Rogue had not said where she was planning to spend the night.

"You know Amy is staying in Sara's extra bedroom where you were staying," I broached the delicate topic of asking her to move back in with me like a praying mantis approaching his mate. Like the mantis, I was prepared to have my head bitten off.

"Yeah, I think I'm ready to find some other place to stay." She knew what I was implying, but she wasn't going to give me any indications of her intentions.

"You know you can stay with me."

"Chuck, I think I need my own place. You know I'm not ready to be with anyone right now."

"It will take you a while to find some place. Are you going to double up with Amy until you do, or do you want to stay at my place? You really shouldn't be alone just yet, especially not in a hotel or someplace like that."

She just gave me her please stop pushing look which I ignored. "I'll stay on the couch. You can have the bedroom all to yourself."

She took my hand on the armrest between us and gently squeezed. "Okay. But only until I find a place."

"Max will be glad to have you back."

"I hope he forgives me for moving out before, "she said.

"I hope he forgives me for leaving him with Mrs. Crowley for so long." I paused and then added, "I hope Mrs. Crowley forgives me for leaving him so long. He probably thinks he's her dog now."

"Are you kidding, she loves that dog. She may not give him back."

The flight attendant made a pass down the aisle and Rogue turned her head to stare out the window. I realized, she was turning away because she was still self-conscious of the bruises on her face. When she turned back she asked me," What are your plans for the investigation now?"

"I think we should meet with Agent Lee first and go over the evidence he got from Detective Visconti on Gregory's murder. Then I thought we might try to retrace Gregory's steps leading up to his murder."

"Don't you imagine the police will have already done that?"

"Probably, but they don't know what we know about the motive for his killing. We can look for things related to that motive. I also want to retrace Sasha's steps on that trip. I'll need to call Mystie to find out where all he went."

The flight attendant came by again and Rogue turned back toward the window and pretended to sleep for the rest of the flight.

#

It was late when we got to the apartment. I didn't want to disturb Mrs. Crowley so I let Max stay with her another night. I took the bags to the bedroom and unpacked my toilette items. Rogue took a shower and put on pajamas. I prepared to sleep on the couch when Rogue said, "Don't do that to your back. We can share a bed, but that is all."

"I remember when we shared the bean bag chair together," I reminisced. We went to the bedroom and got in bed. I set the alarm because I wanted to catch Agent Lee early in the morning. I also set the clock radio to play music for ten minutes and turned out the lights. As I lay there listening to the radio, I realized I had never really listened to the song's words before. They were oddly appropriate. It was playing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah:

"Well, there was a time when you let me know

What's really going on below

But now you never show that to me, do you?

But remember when I moved in you

And the holy dove was moving too

And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Well, maybe there's a god above

But all I've ever learned from love

Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you

It's not a cry that you hear at night

It's not somebody who's seen the light

It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah"

#End Chapter Seventeen