Jessica's Life Journey (18) - A Piece of Cake

Uncle Jeremy said that I was being paranoid when I told him that I had a feeling of being spied upon.

Perhaps it is because I have a suspicious nature. After my unexpected encounter with Hilary Moneypund, the woman near the top of the Intelligence pyramid, I began to wonder if it was purely a fortuitous meeting.

This thought kept nagging me.  I was like a dog with a bone; I couldn't let it go.

Who knew of my decision to go to Eastbourne on that particular day and informed the spymaster? I kept asking myself if I was under surveillance.

There is no reason why I should be; I run a perfectly respectable detective agency and although at times, in the course of an investigation – and to acquire valuable information – I have to meet and talk to less savoury characters, I believe that I am trustworthy.

If, and it was a big if, they were watching me, it had to do with Samantha, whom I suspected to be the cuckoo in our nest.

My suspicions went so far as to marvel at how efficient she seemed to be in secretarial work for a girl whose only experience was supposed to be that of a would-be fashion model.

Even the doodles she made on the messages notepad looked peculiarly like Pitman's shorthand.

My mind went back to my early days as a trainee Intelligence agent and all the stuff I learned during my apprenticeship about the murky and sleazy aspect of undercover work.

Often used to elicit information is a tactic known as sexspionage which is designed to sexually compromise an opponent. A honey trap operation is set in operation: the target will be seduced and either made to confide classified intelligence in bed, in what is commonly described as pillow talk, or through blackmail.

A seductress is known as a 'swallow'.

Could Samantha be not only a spy, as I originally thought, but also a sly 'swallow' intending to entrap  Will?

Given his association, past and present, with the Secret Service, he has inside knowledge of that outfit and a potential mine of information.

This fanciful theory would only hold water if the two were unrelated.

“Time to put your brain into motion, my girl”, I urged myself and, using Niccolò Machiavelli's principle that the end justifies the means, I hacked Will's laptop and looked at his email inbox.

None of his messages were encrypted and finding what I was looking for was a piece of cake.

Imagine my shock at discovering the duplicitous nature of my business partner. The DNA test that he had requested was confirmed by the laboratory to be negative, not inconclusive as he had told me.

My immediate reaction was that I should confront him right away and demand an explanation but, on reflection, I decided that it would be the wrong move on my part.

Having lied once, he would surely come up with some bromidic assurance intended to pacify me.

I needed to think carefully before taking my next step.

© Luigi Pagano 2022