Sweat burst onto Gavin’s forehead. “I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s not personal; it’s really not. You’re a great cop, the way you found that girl and everything last night. I have the utmost respect for you in every way. But sometimes personalities clash and that can’t be helped-”
“What’s wrong with my personality?” Good grief, he was having so much fun.
“No, no. Nothing. There’s nothing wrong with you. I mean, not you. Your personality. And you. There’s nothing wrong at all.” The kid looked like he was about to hyperventilate.
“Calm down. Let me let you in on a little secret: don’t be a tattletale. You learned that in kindergarten, right? Guess what. It applies to the police force too. I’d risk my life trying to save you. Right here, right now. And you’re going to go in and complain that I’m not easy to work with? Doesn’t bode well, my friend.” Frank was pretty sure he’d already discussed this before, but maybe it didn’t stick.
“I wasn’t… I wasn’t tattling. I didn’t say anything bad about you. I just felt like I could possibly learn a little more from someone who wanted a rookie.”
“Nobody wants a rookie, Rookie. I’m glad you’re eager to learn. There’s nothing wrong with that. But as important as police work is, what’s more important is camaraderie. You gotta trust the guys you’re working with. Okay?”
Gavin grinned. “Now you’re teaching me something.”
“Oh, brother. Don’t go all sentimental on me. So tell me, how’d you get this idea about cell phone spying?”
“I saw it on the Internet once.”
“Just stumbled upon it while searching the World Wide Web?”
Gavin shifted. “I had an ex-girlfriend. Thought she was stalking me. Seemed to know where I’d be. Someone told me she could’ve loaded this thing on my, you know, phone.”
Frank pulled to a stop at the light, looked at Gavin, who didn’t seem to want to make eye contact.
“All right, fine.” Gavin sighed, a finger tracing the dashboard. “Yeah, okay, I looked into it. I was a freshman in college. I’d been serious with this chick since high school. She went to college and swore we’d stay together, but then she didn’t have time to see me. I got suspicious.”
“You do it?”
“No. I just looked into it. Had heard in the frat house that it could be done but nobody really knew how.”
Frank pulled into the parking lot of Cell Buy, with its tacky storefront promising deals of the century that were apparently not profitable enough to help them afford anything more than neon cardboard for the grand announcements. “This the store you went to?”
“No. The one on the other side of town.”
“Let’s go.” Frank got out and walked in, Gavin trailing.
One guy stood behind a half-circle counter, cradling a phone in his shoulder and talking fast. Without glancing up, he continued typing on the computer and carrying on the conversation. “Yeah, that’s right. Two years… Uh-huh. Then you can get the BlackBerry upgrade… Sure, come on in. We’ll get you signed up.” He dropped the phone into his hand, then snatched a cell phone off the counter. “Sorry, dude… No, I’m not busy.” He suddenly noticed both of them. “Let me call you back.” He snapped his phone shut. “Help you?” His name tag read Dave.
“We’re needing some information.”
“Looking for a new plan that can save you money?” He seemed to suddenly remember the smile that was supposed to go with that pitch.
“No.” Frank approached the counter, put his hands flat on top of it. “I’m looking for a way to spy on someone.”
“We’re a cell phone store.”
“With a cell phone.”
Dave blinked. “Let me get Pat. Pat knows everything.”
A few seconds later, Dave returned, followed by Pat. In every world, including the techno-geek crowd, there is the revered. Apparently Pat was that person. Dave offered him a front-row spot at the counter, pulled up a stool for him, decided he needed to do introductions. “This is Pat, our store manager. I’ve never seen him unable to answer a question.”
“Officer Merret. Officer Jenkins,” Frank said, studying Pat. He had a certain self-assurance you normally didn’t find among pale-skinned, superskinny, hairless males with a Bluetooth sticking out of unusually large ears.
He didn’t make eye contact as he said, “What can I do for you?” Instead, he typed on the computer, his full attention on the screen.
“First, you can give me some outstanding customer service,” Frank said.
Pat swiveled so he faced Frank. He didn’t say anything and his expression remained neutral.
“They want to know how to spy on someone using a cell phone.”
Pat, his expression unmoved, said, “We of course don’t sell anything like that here.”
Frank leaned in. “Of course. But let’s say we wanted to do this. Hypothetically, how would one go about doing it?”
Pat tilted his head to the side, a superiority-complex kind of smile nibbling at his lips. “It’s easy.”
“Tell me.”
“It’s a program you load onto the cell phone.”
“What does it allow you to do?”
“Pretty much whatever you want. You can listen in on phone calls. You can retrieve call logs. Any data or pictures.”
“You can even listen to conversations when the phone is off,” Dave added, then cleared his throat. “That’s what I’ve heard.”
“You’re telling me,” Frank said, “that this program allows someone to listen in on whatever is going on in a room, even if the phone is off?”
“That’s right,” Pat said. “The only way it doesn’t work is if the battery is taken out.”
“Is this kind of thing readily available?”
“Sure. It’s all over the Web.”
“How do you get it on the phone?”
“You have to have the phone in your possession to download the software.”
“So if it’s a girlfriend or someone you want to spy on, you have to snatch the phone, download it, and give it back.”
“That’s right.”
“Or you could have the software already on a phone you were selling.”
Pat started to nod, then stopped and glanced between Frank and Gavin. “What?”
“Hypothetically.”
“What are you saying?”
“Let’s say you wanted to listen to an entire town’s conversations. You load up these phones with some software, send them out, something like that?”
Pat’s otherwise colorless skin suddenly flushed pink. “In theory.”
“You guys doing that here? maybe thought it’d be a fun kind of prank? maybe got a little addictive, thought you’d take it a little further?”
“No. I can prove it. Pick any phone you like in the store. I’ll show you the programs on it. Or take my phone. You won’t find anything like that on there.” Pat slid his phone toward Frank, crossed his arms, and waited.
Frank slid it back. “No, thanks. That’s all the information I needed.”
Pat leaped to his feet. “Wait a minute. What are you saying? You think we’re behind this mess? we’re bugging people’s phones?”
“No, man. Just trying to figure some stuff out.” Frank held out a hand to shake.
Pat stared at it for an awkwardly long time before shaking it.
“Thanks for your time. Next visit I’ll look into that text-messaging package.” Frank winked, then turned and left the store, Gavin right behind him.
As soon as the door closed, Gavin rushed to Frank’s side. “See? See! It could work. I mean, here these guys are, selling phones that are going out to all the residents. How easy would it be for them to download that program onto these phones and-”
“No, it’s not them.”
Gavin stopped on the sidewalk, watching as Frank opened his car door. “What do you mean?”
“They’re not doing it.”
Gavin dragged his feet and got into the car, closing the door. “How do you know that? You’re a mind reader or something?”