To Catch a Bad Guy (Book One of the Janet Maple Series)

by Marie Astor

Dennis Walker was giving himself a mental browbeating for nearly blowing his cover. What on earth had possessed him to get all mushy with that stand-offish girl whose computer he had been fixing or, to be more specific, bugging? Well, actually, Dennis knew perfectly well what had possessed him. The girl was damn good-looking, and if he had to admit to having any weaknesses, it was to not being able to pass by a pretty skirt without looking and, preferably, much more than just looking. Still, this was work – not play, and if he wanted to get that promotion he had set his eyes on since he had started his career in the Department of Treasury Investigations Unit, he’d better get his mind out of the gutter and get focused on the game.

  Still, even with today’s minor lapse, Dennis could afford to pat himself on the back: he had already tapped into the most critical employees’ computers, and the data that he needed to substantiate the case was flowing in. The most difficult part of his assignment would be to remain undiscovered, which, as the morning had shown, was going to be much trickier than Dennis had anticipated. Playing the role of Dean Snider was proving to be more challenging than he had expected. Dennis was a naturally social creature who was keenly aware of his masculine charms, which he enjoyed exercising on members of the female sex with great success. Dean Snider, on the other hand, was a mousy and shabbily pathetic excuse of a man who was afraid of his own shadow – a role that Dennis detested playing, but was determined to excel at, lest his boss prove to be correct in his initial intention to give the assignment to Laskin. Dennis scratched his neck, which was beginning to chafe from the rigid collar of his cheap shirt, and focused his attention on his computer monitor.

  As a senior member of the IT department at Bostoff Securities, Dennis had the administrative rights to computers of the firm’s employees, which allowed him to install data gathering software. The software was transferring the data from Bostoff’s computers over a web-based connection to the Treasury analysts. Dennis had the option of viewing real-time data, but the fact that his desk was smack in the middle of the trading floor made matters difficult. With a title like Chief IT Analyst, Dennis had expected to be allotted an office or at least a cubicle, but apparently Bostoff Securities was short on real estate. Thankfully, initial data sorting was conducted by junior analysts at the Treasury. In the evenings, after having spent the day behind his desk at Bostoff, Dennis would catch up on the reports in the privacy of his home office. A work schedule that intense would pretty much eliminate any presence of social life for the duration of the assignment, but Dennis was used to making sacrifices when they were warranted.

  The mere opportunity of infiltrating Bostoff was a huge stroke of luck. Who would have thought that Bostoff would post an opening for an IT specialist just as the Treasury Investigations department was looking for a way to gather additional evidence to build their case? The chances were zero to none, and yet, an opening had come up. Some would call it happenstance, some divine providence, and some pure dumb luck. But if anyone had asked Dennis for an explanation of this fortuitous timing, he would have replied simply: the bad guys always got caught because, sooner or later, they always got sloppy.

  Dennis Walker had a multitude of talents to his name, but superior knowledge of IT was not one of them. He had picked up plenty of tricks during his employment with the Treasury – enough to make him seem like a computer pro to a person possessing average prowess in computers. But Head of IT at Bostoff would not be someone with average prowess, or so Dennis had thought when he had begun his prep work for the interview, which had involved spending five hours a day with the top analysts of Treasury IT department. Even so, Dennis was nervous when the interview day came. Once he met his boss-to-be, Warren Merchant, Dennis knew he was safe. After a fifteen minute conversation, it became apparent that Warren Merchant knew about as much about IT infrastructure as Dennis knew about classical ballet, which was not much. Apparently, Bostoff Securities was not all that discerning when it came to hiring staff for the support functions – a factor that played to Dennis’s advantage. Not only did Warren Merchant give him the job, he would be unable to detect the spyware Dennis had installed on the company computers if his life depended on it.

  All in all, Dennis had every right to be pleased with his progress so far, and yet, he could not help the uneasiness in his chest. Everything that he had learned about Bostoff Securities so far indicated that the firm was knee-deep in financial violations. Dennis had no compunction about putting away the top brass who were the organizers and the leaders of the corrupt scheme, but, invariably, the rest of the employees would get caught in the mix. People who worked simple jobs without having an inkling about the corruptness of their employer would end up unemployed, with blemished resumés to boot. Such thoughts had rarely troubled Dennis during his previous investigations, but then this was going to be his biggest case to date.

  Still, Dennis had not been bothered with such scrupulous considerations when he had set out to bug Bostoff Securities’ newly hired lawyer’s computer. But after meeting Janet Maple face to face, he wished he had left her off the radar. After all, she was only a junior lawyer, and Dennis already knew that all the important legal work was being farmed out to Ridley Simpson law firm, specifically to the slickster, Tom Wyman. Now, Wyman’s computer would be worth bugging, but during his visits to Bostoff, Tom Wyman always used his personal laptop, which made it virtually impossible for Dennis to gain access to it. It would take time to gather evidence for the case, and Dennis hoped that for her sake, Janet Maple would find other employment in the meantime. An employment record with a corrupt firm would not be a plus on any lawyer’s resumé, and Dennis certainly did not want to be the one responsible for a pretty woman’s loss of her ability to earn a living.