Page 88 of Meant for Two

"Yes. The purpose was for the community to watch the house for any strange behavior, though if a theft happened at night, no one would be there to notice,” Drew said. "I said I'd check into it."

“Not only that,” Jeff said, “I doubt people would report seeing a wolf sniffing around the house. It wouldn't occur to them that a wolf could be the thief.”

He had a point.

“I thought Mr. Hensley’s idea had merit, but it also had its drawbacks if someone on the inside was unscrupulous,” Drew said.

She grinned. “Exactly. But we can still use it to our advantage.”

“How exactly?” Jeff asked. This time he was serious.

“We get one homeowner to post that he’ll be out of town for the weekend—though he really won’t be going out of town.”

“How does that help?” Drew asked.

“This mastermind will learn of the owner's absence and believe he can rob the vacant home. Like before, he calls Daryl. We tap the phone and find out who it is,” Blair said, rather proud of her idea.

“If our mastermind is a human, he’ll be tried in a human court of law. The problem is that wiretapping without permission is illegal,” Zane said.

“Not if we get permission from Daryl. Or at least, I hope that’s true,” Blair said.

Drew grinned. “I think it’s brilliant!”

“We need to get Daryl’s permission, which might be a problem. It also is predicated on the fact that this mastermind is unaware that Daryl is in jail,” she said.

“I’m sure my brother can cut a sweet enough deal to make Daryl talk. Adam might require him to admit he trashed the Ranchero model though.”

Blair nodded. “I think that when Daryl found out I wasn’t dead or really injured, he wanted to be able to tell his brother that he harmed me in another way. Hurt the Development, hurt me.”

“You are sweet, Blair,” Drew said. “Though you might be right.”

“Do you have someone you trust implicitly to make the fake posting?” Jeff asked.

“I do.”

* * *

It had been three days since the plan was hatched. Three long days with no contact from the mastermind. During the downtime, Blair had created a list of all of the items she needed to buy—that Jeff would pay for—that would be perfect for the loft.

Not that she and the men were at the point where she could assume she’d be living there, but she had the sense she would be at some point. Jeff kept telling her to buy whatever appealed to her. That sounded wonderful, but this wasn’t just about her. All three of them would hopefully move in permanently, and she wanted everyone to be happy.

When Blair designed each area, she took into consideration their personalities. It wasn’t something she’d done before, which made it all the more exciting.

Blair was showing some of her choices to the men when two sets of footsteps came up the stairs. Jeff jumped up and opened the door.

“Dad, Uncle Adam. I hope you bring news.”

“We do.”

“Come on in."

“Can I get you a beer?” Blair asked.

They both nodded. She grabbed two beers from the fridge and then looked over at Zane. “I trust you and Jeff will join them?”

Zane grinned. “You know us well.”

Once the drinks were served, Adam smiled. “Whoever came up with the plan to fool the mastermind deserves the credit. It worked like a charm.”