Just This Once

by Diana X Dunn

“This is proper authorization,” Julia told him, waving her badge.

  “I just need to make a quick call,” the man answered, turning back to his spot on the reception desk.

  Once his back was turned, Julia and Blake resumed their walk toward the elevators. Two huge security men, with stun guns drawn, emerged from the shadows and blocked their progress. Julia and Blake exchanged glances.

  “Can’t you arrest them for interfering with a police investigation or something?” Julia asked Blake.

  “Jurisdictional issues,” Blake replied. “Can’t you arrest them for something?”

  Julia shook her head. She had no authority to arrest anyone for anything. She could, however, use her agency to make things difficult for Masters and Mason. She would start by making the man on reception as miserable as possible, she thought to herself as they waited.

  A few moments later an elevator door opened and a tall man in a very expensive suit stepped out. He walked over to them, not wasting time but certainly not hurrying as much as Julia might have liked.

  “Police?” He shook his head. “I’m sorry to have held you up, but we run a very tight ship here, and I like to make sure I know exactly what is going on in my building.”

  He held out his hand. “I’m Henry Mason. Please call me Henry. Welcome to Masters and Mason.”

  Julia paused for a long second before she took the proffered hand. She was not impressed with the man or their reception at the building. She and Blake wasted little time with introductions.

  Blake showed his identification and Henry Mason studied it for a few seconds before returning it. Julia opted not to show her own, simply identifying herself as an associate of Blake’s. This caused Henry to raise his eyebrows, but he didn’t push her for more.

  “Please, come up to my office and let’s see if we can sort this out,” the man oozed smarm at them.

  “We aren’t really interested in coming up to your office,” Julia told him. “We need to see Matthew Richards, not you.”

  The man nodded slowly. “I understand that, but I prefer to have any conversations with members of my staff that take place on my premises to happen in my office where I can, um, help if needed, shall we say?”

  “Let’s not,” Julia spoke smoothly, but she could feel her anger rising. “We want to talk to Mr. Richards about a personal matter in his private life, not about this firm or you. You have no right to be present and nothing to contribute to the conversation. If this is going to be an issue for you, I’m quite happy to take Mr. Richards down to police headquarters to have the conversation.” Her voice remained steady, her tone reasonable, her anger held in tight check.

  Henry chuckled. “Sorry,” he told them both. “I tend to be very protective of my people. We are rebuilding New York, a city that is half dead and at least three-quarters dangerous. Their dedication to their work sometimes put my people in awkward or even dangerous situations. There are people out there, organizations, agencies if you like, that don’t want to see New York rebuilt. Some of those groups would not hesitate to frame a member of my key staff for some crime in order to get rid of him or her. Matthew Richards is very important to my success and I would hate to lose him. That fact is getting to be very well known.”

  Julia just looked at him. Clearly there was something unusual going on here. A quick search would give her some important information, but she was more interested in talking to Matthew Richards than figuring out what Masters and Mason was hiding.

  Henry cleared his throat. “Let’s move this conversation to one of our conference rooms,” he suggested. “I’ll have Mr. Richards sent in to you.”

  Julia shook her head. “Actually, have Mr. Richards sent down here. I think I’d prefer to talk to him elsewhere.”

  Henry Mason stared at her for a beat and then inclined his head. “As you wish.”

  He turned to the reception desk and spoke quietly to one of the men behind it. The man remained with his back to them, leaving Blake and Julia to exchange questioning looks. A few moments later the elevator doors behind the desk slid open and Matthew Richards strolled out.

  Julia was struck again by his good looks. His walk was casual and unhurried and he looked like a nice guy with nothing to hide. After their strange reception, however, Julia was instantly suspicious.

  “Ms. Randall, how nice to see you again.” His voice was like silk, catching Julia in a warm caress as he took her hand and held it for just a moment too long.

  “And Mr. Bowman? This is an unexpected surprise. What can I do for you two?”

  Julia studied him for a moment, leaving Blake to reply.

  “We just have a few questions.” Blake told him.

  “My office is just a short elevator ride away,” Matthew offered, turning to put one hand onto Julia’s back as if to guide her into the elevators. He was flirting very lightly with her and Julia was almost willing to play along. The man was good-looking and intelligent, at least when he wasn’t high on something. Blake shook his head at them both.

  “I think maybe we should talk over coffee at the shop across the street,” he said in a firm tone that allowed no argument. “I could really use a cup.”

  Matthew tilted his head to look from Blake to Julia and back again, a small smile playing on his lips. “You’re the boss,” he assured Blake, his tone sounding very much like he was simply indulging the police officer.

  Matthew’s actual boss had remained silent during the exchange, but now he interrupted. “Just remember that you have an important meeting in half an hour,” he told Matthew. “You need to be in conference room three on time, ready to go on your pitch.”

  Matthew nodded to him. “I’ll be there,” he assured his boss and then smiled at Julia. “If I can tear myself away.”

  His tone was teasing again and Julia frowned to herself. He was trying too hard. There was a lot going on under the surface and she wasn’t sure that she understood all of it.

  The threesome headed back out into the sunshine. Directly across the street from the opulent Masters and Mason building was one of the ubiquitous STHC coffee shops.

  Matthew grinned as they walked through the door to the coffee house. “Right across the street from New York’s premier architectural firm and this is what it looks like.”

  Julia glanced around. She had been in several of the chain’s stores in the past and this one looked exactly like every single one she had ever been inside. The front wall was mostly windows, looking out onto the street. The windows provided most of the light for the interior, with just a few scattered spotlights shining in corners and over the coffee bar. The other three walls were painted a medium green color that made the whole place feel even darker.

  Julia supposed to might feel cozy to some people, but it made her feel tense. She always felt like there were things hiding in the corners of the room. Clusters of tables with chairs were scattered around the room. A huge stainless steel coffee bar ran down the center.

  The trio stepped up the bar and punched in their orders. Julia stuck to black coffee. Blake ordered the same. Matthew spent several minutes tinkering around with a custom order. Julia watched his mug fill with some combination of coffee, foam and syrups. She shuddered. It wasn’t something she would drink.

  They found an empty table near the back of the store, in one of those dark corners that Julia found so suspicious. For a few moments no one spoke as they drank their drinks and considered each other.

  “So, what can I do for you?” Matthew finally broke the silence with a handsome smile.

  “Where is Serena?” Julia decided to cut straight to the point.

  “Serena?” Matthew blinked as if confused. “She went to visit a friend in Pennsylvania. Why?”

  “We want to talk to her,” Blake answered for Julia, shooting her a look that told her he wanted to handle the questioning. That was fine with Julia, as long as he asked the right questions.

  “I believe you were both told not to leave the city until the murder investiga
tion was finished.” Blake suggested.

  “Wow, gosh, sorry,” Matthew managed to look both adorable and apologetic as he ignored Blake and appealed to Julia. “I guess Serena forgot. We sort of had a fight.”

  “Really? About what?” Blake was unmoved by the man’s good looks and Julia remained quiet.

  “Ah, just stuff, really,” Matthew looked at Blake and seemed to realize that the answer wasn’t good enough. “The murder had us both really keyed up, you know. We took some stuff to calm down over the weekend but then we both had jobs to get back to and reality to face. Serena isn’t so good at facing reality sometimes. We got into it a bit. In the end, she decided to go away for a few days. She said she wanted to clear her head, have a think, and figure some things out.” Matthew sent another appealing look toward Julia. “I think she is planning to dump me, but she didn’t want to tell me yet.”

  Julia nodded and turned her attention back toward Blake. Matthew was too damn cute and cuddly looking. The first time they’d met, Julia had been willing to believe that he was exactly what he seemed. Now her radar was buzzing and every word he spoke seemed suspicious.

  “She isn’t answering messages or calls,” Blake told the man.

  “She’s probably turned everything off so her boss can’t reach her, “ Matthew suggested. “She does this once every few months. Goes to stay with friends and shuts off all communication with work and me. I’m sure if you ask at her office they’ll confirm that.”

  Julia thought it was interesting that he was suggesting they might need confirmation of what he was telling them.

  “I need the friend’s name, address and contact details.” Blake wasn’t smiling as he added, “please.”

  “Oh gosh, I wish I could.” Matthew looked desperately apologetic. “I don’t have any of that information.”

  “Really?” Blake sounded skeptical.

  “Serena really likes her privacy. She insists on it, in fact. Sometimes I tell her I think she must be leading a double life.” He grinned at Julia. “When she goes away, she won’t give me any contact information. She is usually only gone a few days. I don’t like to push her. I love her, you know?”

  Julia frowned at him. She wanted him to know that she didn’t believe him. “So you have no idea where she is?”

  “Like I said, somewhere in Pennsylvania. She told me that much, but that’s all.”

  “I’m amazed that you trust her that much,” Blake told him.

  “It is part of the package that is Serena,” Matthew answered. “I love her, even with her idiosyncrasies.”

  “I wouldn’t call someone disappearing for days on end an idiosyncrasy,” Blake told him. “I would call it suspicious behavior.”

  “Ah, yes, but you are a policeman,” Matthew answered smoothly. “I’m just a man in love with a beautiful woman.”

  Julia and Blake exchanged glances. Julia could tell that Blake didn’t believe anything the man had said, either.

  “How would you get in touch with her in an emergency?” Blake asked.

  “I suppose I couldn’t,” Matthew frowned. “I guess I could leave a message on her M-ped, but I know she doesn’t listen to her messages when she is away.”

  Julia looked her watch. The time for Matthew’s meeting was growing closer. She had a lot more she wanted to ask him, but she felt they might get better results if he thought they were buying his story.

  “Sorry to have dragged you away from work,” Julia told him, winking at Blake to let him know what she was doing. “We’d better let you get back to it.”

  Matthew smiled ingratiatingly at her. “It’s always nice to have a short break with a beautiful woman,” he told her. “I just wish I could have helped.”

  “Never mind,” Julia forced herself to smile. “Maybe Serena will get in touch, and you can let her know that we want to see her,” she suggested.

  Matthew looked thoughtful. “You never know, she might,” he agreed eagerly. “In fact, let me see if I can’t help after all,” Matthew told her. “I’ll message her and see if I can’t get her to agree to meet you somewhere. Even if she doesn’t want to see me, she might be willing to see you.”

  “I can’t imagine any woman not wanting to see you,” Julia hated flirting so obviously, but Matthew seemed to be eating it up.

  “I’ll message you as soon as I hear anything,” he promised Julia.

  “Wonderful,” Julia purred. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you.” She gave him her number and took his.

  Matthew stepped away from the table and then looked back to give Julia one last flirtatious wink. Blake was apparently completely forgotten.

  Julia and Blake watched him leave. Once he was safely inside the building across the street, Julia let herself laugh and shake her head.

  “How long before he calls?” Blake asked her.

  “A couple of hours, I should think. He either has to get in touch with Serena and set it up, or take the time he thinks it should take to do so and then message me.”

  “So you don’t think he’s what he seems?” Blake raised an eyebrow. “I thought you liked him well enough the first time we talked to him.”

  “Serena was a pretty big distraction that day. I’m wondering now if that was all part of the plan.”

  Eighteen

  They parted on the sidewalk outside the coffee shop. Blake headed off to chase down a few leads he thought might help with the search for Alex. Julia decided to do some of her own investigating while she waited to hear back from Matthew. There was no doubt in her mind that he would be in touch, it was just a question of when. Back in her temporary office at the agency headquarters she started researching Masters and Mason.

  The company appeared to be a very successful architectural firm. They’d only been operating for a few years, but the men behind the company had long histories of success around the country. A company mission statement explained why the two had decided to move to New York and focus their attention on rebuilding the once great city. Julia thought the statement was too over-sincere and almost sickly, but judging by their success, people obviously bought into it.

  An initial scanning of the readily available information about the company didn’t reveal anything interesting, so Julia dug more deeply. After half an hour she was frustrated. The company, the founding partners, the staff, nothing unusual was turning up anywhere. She knew something had to be there. With a sigh, she turned her attention to Matthew Richards.

  Here again, Julia was quickly frustrated. Either Matthew Richards was exactly who he claimed to be or a real expert had created his profile. There were no hints anywhere in his life of anything out of the ordinary. She worked slowly backwards, checking each detail of his life to try to find a mistake. By linking to college records she was able to find pictures of a much younger Matthew. The same floppy brown hair and warm brown eyes stared back at her from the old photos.

  She dug back further and found photos from his childhood and his birth records complete with fingerprints and DNA. She didn’t have a current sample to compare with this one, but she was sure that it would match. Either the man was completely innocent or he was too good to get caught out this way.

  She frowned. This was where Serena’s records had revealed some discrepancies. Missing photos and an incomplete birth record had suggested that Serena wasn’t who she claimed to be. Such things could always be explained away, of course, and many totally innocent people, if investigated, would show similar inconsistencies in their computer records. The chaos of the last hundred years made many records questionable and incomplete at best. But Julia was very good at spotting the genuine incompleteness that came from circumstance and the artificial incompleteness that manufactured pasts often contained.

  Serena’s past had felt manufactured. Matthew’s felt real. And there were only a handful of people out there who could create such complete and convincing records. Julia frowned as she checked and rechecked tiny details, hoping to find a crack in the armor. She jumped
when her wrist-con buzzed.

  I’ve managed to get Serena to get in touch. Matthew Richards told her. She doesn’t want to see me, but will meet you at the house on Lilac Court at 5:00 tonight. No police, just you.

  Julia grinned at the screen and sent back a quick reply. Thanks for setting that up. Will do.

  She smiled to herself as she buzzed Blake and filled him in. Sometimes people behaved exactly as you expected them to behave. This was one of those times.

  The hours seemed to drag while Julia waited for five o’clock. She was busy, setting up plans and then checking and double-checking them, but she didn’t feel properly busy. Inwardly she was anxious and wanted to get things moving forward. Outwardly she was calm, carefully planning for each for contingency. Michael was brought on board and offered his own suggestions as well as making the necessary plans for backup.

  Blake was busy as well, and his outward demeanor was anything but calm. Everyone knew that Julia was walking into a trap. Julia had been training since she was born for just such situations. Blake had come to his training much later in life. They both felt the stress, but Julia was handling it better. At four, they met at Julia’s apartment for a final check.

  “Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Blake demanded.

  “It’s my job.” Julia kept her tone measured and calm.

  “No, it’s my job. Your friend Alex dragged you into this particular mess, otherwise you wouldn’t know anything about this case.”

  Julia had to concede the truth to Blake’s argument. “Ultimately it doesn’t matter,” she told him. “I got involved. Besides, for all we know, I’m just going to have a chat with Serena Stone.”

  “You don’t really believe that,” Blake challenged.

  “If I believed that,” Julia answered, “we wouldn’t have just spent half the day setting up contingency plans.”

  Blake opened his mouth to argue, but Julia held up a hand. “Look, just stop, okay? I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I’m doing this, so you can stop arguing with me. Let’s just get on with it.”