Watermarks

The corporate spy—Elena preferred 'competitive intelligence analyst'—had spent three weeks at the exclusive padel club without learning anything useful about Marcus Webb. She'd learned plenty about his backhand, his tendency to shout at line judges, and how his sweat-marked white shirt became transparent by the second set. None of this belonged in the dossier her boss demanded.

The dog, a massive golden retriever with one ear that refused to stand, had become her only genuine companion during this surveillance operation. His owner, an older woman who spent every afternoon in the lounge chair by the pool, seemed content to let Elena scratch his ears while they both watched the padel courts through the fence.

"He likes you," the woman said one afternoon, not looking up from her book. "Barnaby usually hates corporate types."

Elena's hand froze on the dog's fur. "I'm not—"

"Please." The woman finally looked at her, eyes sharp despite the wrinkles. "I've been watching you watch Marcus longer than you've been watching him. What has he done that's so terrible your company needs to destroy him?"

"That's not—" Elena stopped herself. This wasn't how it worked. She was the spy, the observer, the one who extracted information without giving anything away. But something about the dog's warm weight against her leg, the smell of chlorine from the pool, the absolute exhaustion of pretending to care about padel—it all came tumbling out. Marcus wasn't the target. His wife was. Elena's company wanted dirt on the Webb Foundation, and she was supposed to seduce, blackmail, or manipulate her way into their confidence.

The woman laughed, a dry sound like dead leaves. "You're after Sarah's philanthropy records? Not Marcus's offshore accounts?"

Elena stared. The dog nudged her hand, demanding attention.

"I'm Sarah," the woman said. "And I've been waiting for someone like you to show up. My husband's been hiding things in those charity accounts for years. I hired three different investigators before you. None had Barnaby's approval." She closed her book. "Tell me about your company. And then I'll tell you about the real accounting error in the foundation's 2023 audit."