Today Glenn was alone with his technical devices, shelves and shelves of them against dark gray walls. He sold cameras and video surveillance equipment hidden in everything from AC adapters to teddy bears. I was particularly fond of the models with night vision, and was still trying to come up with a good reason to buy the bird feeder. Maybe if I found Wendy and all turned out well, I’d tell her to buy it for me at Christmas.

Other shelves sported GPS trackers of every shape and kind, monitors for cell phones and landlines, and another personal favorite, bug and camera detectors to help root out all the previously listed gadgets.

My favorite spymaster greeted me with the sexiest male voice in the Americas. “Good to see you,” he rumbled. Thirty-something Glenn was short and squat with a Winston Churchill nose, but in the dark, would any woman care?

He gave me a careful hug. I was never quite sure if he was hugging me or patting me down, but I understood. Glenn made paranoia pay.

“I hear you’re staying on the other coast,” he said when he stepped away.

I suspected he knew everything about me. “I’m taking care of my sister’s children. And I have a bit of a problem.”

The other sexy thing about Glenn is that he listens without interrupting. Of course who knows what he does with the information? I gave him the most abbreviated version of what had happened with Wendy, but didn’t add my growing suspicions.

“She doesn’t want me to get involved. But I want to help. Is there any way, any...device I can use to trace her calls?”

He didn’t have to think. “Nothing. It’s a burner phone. She’s blocking the number. You don’t even know what state she’s in. Even if the cops were involved, they’d have problems finding her.”

I had expected this, and he saw my disappointment. “Ask leading questions when you talk to her. Ask if she needs you to send her warmer clothes? Promise you’ll send them through the remailing service—which is a good one, by the way. Ask if she’s getting enough to eat, staying where she can sleep enough? And listen for background noises when she calls.” He shrugged. “I’m sorry, but with what you’ve told me, that’s all I’ve got.”

We both knew it wasn’t enough. Before I left I asked him to show me his latest finds, and we chatted as we toured the shelves.

The afternoon meetings went well, and after we had finished with every crew member I’d been able to snag, Sophie and I were in agreement. If Sebastian approved, we had our case. She went off to waste her snooping talents at a cash register, and I went home to the duplex, locked all the doors and fell deeply asleep on the sofa, only waking up once to heat a can of soup for dinner and strip off my jeans before I crawled into bed.

I woke early the next morning. Florida dawns can be spectacular, and Sunday morning’s promised to be no exception. Since my morning was free, I bought a takeout breakfast and drove to Gulfstream Park.