FACETS (JAKE SCARNE THRILLERS Book 6) by Lawrence de Maria Page B

Dallas walked over and stood beside Scarne.
    Without looking at her he said, “Where can I reach you, Ms. Dallas?”
    “Please call me Maura. I’ve taken a suite at the Peninsula. I will give the information to your secretary. And a retainer. If you need more, just contact Vincent. I will give her all our numbers. I plan on staying in New York, but I may have to fly to the Coast on occasion. Vincent will stay here. Use him any way you want, although he will be making his own inquiries.”
    Scarne turned to face her.
    “This may not turn out well. You must realize that.”
    She nodded. Her face betrayed no emotion.
    “Just do your best, Jake.”
    “It is probable that I will intrude on your life, and your business. Once I start something, I keep going. And I don’t take direction well. Can you live with that?” 
    “I will make it clear to my people that you can be trusted. As for others in my line of work, I can let it be known that you are working on my behalf. Things are quiet. We are not in conflict with anyone, at least in any serious way. I cannot imagine that any of my enemies or rivals are behind this. The risks are too great. But I would not expect them, innocent or not, to be very forthcoming. I won’t micromanage your investigation. All I ask is that you report only to Vincent or myself.”
    “What about your other lovers?” 
    “I’ll give a you a list of the men, and women, recently in my life. It’s not all that long. I’m getting older, maybe wiser. I don’t think any of them are involved, but I know you will cover all the bases. In fact, I’d prefer it if you vetted them. I told Vincent to leave them alone.” Again, the thin smile. “I’m fond of them and his methods leave something to be desired.”
    Scarne was not sure his own methods would be much different, especially when looking for a missing girl. But he let it go.
    Maura Dallas looked back out the window.
    “Aren’t you interested in the size of the retainer?”
    “No.”
    She looked back at him.
    “No. Of course not.”
    “Your daughter’s last name is the same as yours?”
    “Yes. Alana Dallas. My father wanted me to change my name before I became too associated with his business. A silly conceit, I thought, and one which became less sensible after I took over that business, but I never changed it back. Alana was born a Dallas, and so she remains.”
    “I will need her photo and whatever else you can think of. Names of friends, especially. Social Security number, credit cards, banking records, anything with her name on it. I know her smart phone is gone, but perhaps she has an old one with numbers still on it.”
    “I’ll have everything sent over to you.”
    “Did Alana have a computer?”
    “Yes, a laptop, for schoolwork. We found it in her apartment. I had people go through it. Nothing out of the ordinary. She also had an iPad, which was not in the apartment. She probably had it with her when she was taken.”
    “What about her emails?”
    “We had someone hack her accounts, Twitter, Facebook and the like. Nothing suspicious. Alana knew enough to be very circumspect on social media.”
    “If the cops were involved, they might find something you missed. A pattern, maybe.”
    Maura Dallas’s laugh was harsh.
    “I live in San Francisco, and have investments in Silicon Valley. I have access to some of the finest computer brains in the world. Despite what you see on those ridiculous crime shows on TV, the F.B.I. is still in the Stone Age compared to the people I had working on this. It’s a dead end.”
    “Maura, these people who work for you. Won’t they be suspicious?”
    “The computer geeks are in a world of their own. They are used to delving into people’s business without wondering why. And, needless to say, they would not be inclined to blab about anything to do with my family.”
    “I want copies of all the videos from the kidnapper. And new ones, as they come in, if there are any more. You can arrange