In Too Deep(12)

Cam looked at me directly in my eyes. "I understand. Listen, I know this is horrible timing, but I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend my time with here than you. Please don’t let this ruin the rest of your vacation.”

I nodded and turned away. "Good night, Cam."





Chapter 8





Cam




Watching Melina walk up the stairs, her hair hanging plastered around her skull and her shoulders slumped filled me with an anger that I hadn't felt in a long time. Feelings that I'd worked hard over the past few years to suppress broke free and thoughts that I hoped would never come back trickled into my brain.

I turned away and went back to Bennet’s office. "Mr. Swagger. What can I do for you?”

I shook my head. "Mr. Bennet, can I speak with you in private?"

He looked at the other man in his office, who pulled a fade and disappeared into the hallway. Bennet went over to the door and locked it. “Of course. What’s on your mind?”

"Tiffany's last name or room number," I said slowly. “Please.”

Bennet shook his head. “Now you know I can’t do that. I'm not having my resort falling into the craziness of people plotting revenge on each other. What sort of person do you think I am?"

I sat down and dangled my hands between my knees. I looked at him, and a bit of the old Cameron Swagger came through, I could tell. "Your name is Harrison Bennet. You're fifty-two years old, birthday December eleventh. You have a wife, Katherine who works at the resort part-time as a maid, which surprised me at first until I saw that she gave up her job as an accountant to come with you on this assignment. You have two kids in college, one at the University of Miami on the Forrester Hotel scholarship program, the other at Cambridge. You have a timeshare in Canada, and a retirement portfolio that is doing quite well for a man your age."

Bennet blanched as I continued. "Who are you?"

“You already know who I am, I’m Cameron Swagger. I’m not going to create trouble for you," I said. “I know you could lose your job for this, but if Melina and I make a stink over this you could be in hot water too. Mr. Bennet, I won’t hurt anyone on your property. But just kicking a few people out of your resort or maybe even banning them isn't going to do anything. This girl, she comes from money, and if she can't book a spot at The Cay, she'll go to Majorca next year, or maybe Tahiti, it doesn't really matter. So I'm going to give her a spanking that she will feel, and not a physical one. So please, what room is she in?”

"I can find out," Bennet said. “But on one condition."

"Which is?"

“No physical violence on this property. And you don’t come back to any Forrester Resort ever again."

I nodded. "I can agree to that."

Bennet sighed and nodded. He was a smart man, and could tell I meant business. "Come with me to the front desk."

We went up front, Bennet dismissing the one staff member on night duty. Taking over the computer, he looked up at me. "On the other side of the counter, please."

I waited patiently while he tapped away at the keyboard. He tapped his mouse twice more, handing me the sheet that spit out of the printer. "Thank you, Mr. Bennet."

"Be at my office ten in the morning tomorrow,” he said. "I'll have paperwork for you to sign. The less I can involve Mr. Forrester with this, the better."

I left him and went back up to my room, where I opened my computer. I wasn't planning on having to use it, but I brought it with me just in case. After all, with the secrets contained on this thing, I wasn’t about to leave it at home unattended during my stay. I opened it and typed my password.

Opening a web portal, I looked at the paper Bennet handed me. On it was a copy of the guest information on one Tiffany Gladstone, originally of Williamsburg, Virginia. Bennet had been cautious, giving me her entire printout minus the photocopy of her passport the resort kept for security reasons. That would’ve been expecting too much.

I typed the information I had on her into my portal, letting my computer go to work. The connection I had wasn't over typical Internet lines, but was, in fact, satellite based, so I didn't need to worry about security. As I waited for the search to finish, I did a quick search on Melina. While I trusted her, a man in my position needed to be safe instead of sorry. I’d never been burned, and I wasn’t about to start now.

The search for Melina was faster, I didn't need as much information on her. Most of it I already knew, she'd told me over the past two days. As I expected, everything checked out.

It took two more minutes, but I soon had access to Tiffany Gladstone’s social media, her e-mail, and even her cell phone. Going through the files there, I quickly found what I wanted.

The video clip I found wasn't the nastiest sex tape I'd ever seen, the Internet could beat her by a mile, but it was enough to do what I needed to do. Opening my anonymous e-mail program, I sent the five-minute clip of her to every e-mail at her college as well as every e-mail in her contact list. When they opened it, it would look like she'd sent it herself.

The information in front of me also indicated that Tiffany had four credit cards, each of them tied in with her father, whose name I recognized. That was too much heat to bring down on someone for just a bit of bullying, so I closed the search and shut down my computer.