by B A Trimmer
“Laura,” she said. “Now that we’ve done our good deed for Jackie, we’re going out. Why don’t you come with us tonight?”
“Thanks, but I can’t. I’m actually here working on an assignment. Someone’s been sabotaging Kristy’s weddings. Tonight is only the latest example. I’m trying to figure out who’s doing it and stop them.”
“Sophie was filling us in on all of the crazy things that have been happening with Kristy’s events. Whoever’s doing it almost succeeded in ruining the wedding tonight. I’m glad we were available to help you and Jackie out.”
“So am I. Um, I heard you and Lenny didn’t work out.”
“No, and I do actually feel terrible about how I acted the other night. But he came out and told me he loved me and wanted to go on a vacation with me. I was a little hesitant about dating a guy long-term in the first place. When he said that, it sort of freaked me out a little.”
“Yeah, we heard about it. Lenny can be a little awkward around women at times.”
“Is he doing okay? I probably hurt his feelings, and I never meant for that to happen. But when he said those things, I had a little bit of a panic attack. I had to leave while I could still breathe without hyperventilating.”
“He’ll be alright. Dating is a relatively new thing for Lenny. I think it’s going to take him a while before he gets the hang of it.”
~~~~
I followed Kristy around for the rest of the reception and helped keep the bar stocked for Sophie. Even though some of the guests had already taken off, the ones who’d stayed seemed to be making full use of the open bar.
Sophie worked like a machine, but she had a broad smile and seemed to be having a great time. She’d unbuttoned the third button down on her blouse, and her tip jar was close to overflowing.
~~~~
I had a hard time waking up the following day, but Marlowe was insistent I get up and feed him. I managed to get dressed without incident and made it to the office by eight.
Gina wasn’t in, but Sophie’s and Lenny’s cars were in the back. I walked up to reception, where Sophie was smiling and scrolling through her tablet.
“Good morning,” she said brightly.
“You’re in a good mood. Thanks for coming out last night. I know I keep asking favors of you, but I was getting desperate.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I had a lot of fun. In fact, I was thinking, maybe I should talk with Jackie about moonlighting as a bartender on a regular basis.”
“Why would you want to do that?”
Sophie opened her desk drawer and handed me a thick stack of dollar bills, held together with a rubber band.
“What’s this for?” I asked.
“They put almost five hundred dollars in the tip jar last night. I’ll send two hundred to Jackie to hand out to the people working with us, but that still leaves almost a hundred for each of us.”
Damn, maybe I should moonlight as a bartender as well?
Sophie looked at me as if she were about to say something. “What?” I asked.
“It’s probably nothing,” she said as she shook her head. “But it was weird.”
“What was weird?”
“Lenny, this morning.” Her eyes flicked to his closed office door.
“What about him?”
“He was nice to me. I’m not sure why, but it kind of gave me the creeps.”
“Lenny’s never nice to us. I wonder if it has something to do with Countess Carla?”
“Maybe,” Sophie said. “But it was still totally weird.”
~~~~
I went back to my desk and opened the video files from the townhouse. I didn’t think Michael had been back since the previous Thursday, but you never know.
I went through file after file. I’d watch the video for a few seconds, fast forward for a while, then watch it again. Unfortunately, each file was the same. Scenes of an empty bedroom in an empty townhouse.
After reviewing all the files, I went up front and knocked on Lenny’s door.
“Hi, Laura,” he said as he looked up from the yellow legal pad he was scribbling on. “Come in, sit down. What can I do for you?”
“Well, now that the blackmailers know about the cameras, it doesn’t look like the blonde will be using the townhouse anymore. I went through the videos of the past few days, and the place hasn’t been used since last Thursday.”
“I was afraid of that,” Lenny said, looking a little sad. “It’s unfortunate, but it looks like you’re going to need to run surveillance in the parking lot of Scottsdale General. It seems a little hopeless. You could be waiting weeks for Michael Palmer to drive to a mistress who may no longer exist.”
“It’s possible,” I reluctantly agreed.
“I guess it can’t be helped,” Lenny said as he ran his fingers back through his hair. “But in the meantime, I suppose you’d better go back and pull the cameras out of the townhouse. If Michael Palmer figures out we have surveillance in his bedroom, it will be twice as hard to get videos the next time he’s with a woman.”
“Okay,” I said. “I was also thinking. Jessica Palmer told us she had a friend in the surgery scheduling office. Why don’t we have Jessica call the office back? Maybe we can learn what days Michael has scheduled off for the next few weeks.”
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Lenny said with a smile. “We have a lot of new cases coming in, and we’re going to be super busy around here. On the days he’s scheduled to work at the hospital, maybe I can give you one or two of the new ones. Hopefully, you’ll have time to work everything in.”
I left Lenny’s office and saw Sophie looking at me.
“Well?” she asked. “Is he still acting all nice and everything?”
“Yeah, and you’re right. It’s a little creepy.”
“I told you. I’m not sure if I can get used to this or not.”
“I wonder how long it’ll last?”
I went back to my cubicle and called Jessica. I told her what I needed with Michael’s schedule. She said she’d find out and get back to me.
~~~~
Ten minutes later, Jessica called back with the bad news.
“I called the scheduling office,” she said. “Michael doesn’t have any days scheduled off for the next month.”
Damn.
“Is that set in stone, or can they change it?”
“No, they change it all the time. But right now, there’s nothing.”
I disconnected, and less than a minute later, my phone rang with a new call. This one was from the Saguaro Sky.
“Laura?” the voice on the phone asked. “This is Camille. I got your number from Jackie. I still feel horrible about the wedding mix-up last night.”
“Hi, Camille. Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your fault, and it ended up being okay. The bride didn’t know the difference and everyone seemed to have a great time. Thank you for your help to make it happen.”
“I’m glad everything worked out. Listen, I was thinking about what happened. I told you I deleted the voice mail from Kristy the other day, but I realized I still have the number where the call came from. Would that be helpful?”
“Wow, yes. That would be great.”
“I’ll forward it to you. I’ve worked with Kristy for years. I feel terrible that someone is doing this to her. But at least it explains why her weddings have been having so many problems over the last few months.”
I disconnected and walked back to Sophie’s desk. By the time I arrived, my phone had buzzed with the text.
“Could you run a phone number for me?” I asked. “Camille found the number for the person who called her to cancel the wedding.”
“I guess. Just don’t ask me to look up any more international terrorists, drug kingpins, or known assassins.”
“Are you still worried about the government?”
“Well, yeah. That white van is still out on the street. After all the crazy searches I’ve been doing lately, I’m hoping to get
a chance to lay low for a while.”
~~~~
I had some free time and decided to go to the townhouse. Since the blonde seemed to have no further interest in the property, Lenny was right. I needed to go back and gather up the cameras.
Figuring it would be safe enough to sneak back in and pick them up, I parked on the street where I had before. This time I remembered to grab my clipboard. Walking to the back of the townhouse, I was able to quickly pop open the lock.
I hadn’t been in here since I’d been attacked by Benny and the jerks the previous Friday. It was a rather creepy feeling going back up the stairs.
When I walked into the master bedroom, I was a little surprised to see that the place had been cleaned up. All of the items belonging to the blonde were gone.
I hadn’t noticed anyone in the room on the video files, but I probably would have missed it if they were quick. It made me curious if the blonde was the one who had cleaned up the place or if it had been Michael Palmer.
Of my spy cameras, I was able to recover three of them. The little stuffed bear was missing. I guess whoever had cleaned up the room had decided to either take it or toss it.
I went into the bathroom, which had also been cleaned out. The only thing left was a hairbrush sitting next to the sink. When I looked down at it, I stopped. Instead of the long blonde hair I would have expected, the strands in the brush were a light brunette.
I pulled a few of them out from the brush, and they were all at least ten inches long. Far too long to be Michael Palmer’s.
Well, hot damn.
~~~~
I drove back to the office and made a beeline to my cubicle. I turned on the computer and pulled up one of the folders containing video files from the townhouse.
Since I’d already looked at the files from earlier in the week, it didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for.
Even though the sex and blackmail operation had stopped, Doctor Palmer had apparently decided not to let his townhouse go to waste. At nine in the morning, he had been back in the master bedroom, this time with a new woman.
I was somewhat surprised they weren’t still in the bedroom when I had gone over there. I must have just missed them.
His new paramour looked to be in her late twenties, had shoulder-length brunette hair, and wore glasses. She didn’t have the toned body of a professional escort. She instead looked more like the girl next door.
I fast-forwarded through the file, occasionally stopping to get a sense of what they were doing. One thing I noticed, again and again, what this woman seemed to lack in terms of skill, she more than made up for in enthusiasm.
~~~~
I strode up front to reception and marched to Sophie’s desk.
“What are you so happy about?” she asked.
“I’ve got a video of Michael Palmer with his new mistress. It’s in full color and high definition.”
“Really, what happened?”
“I guess with the blonde out of the picture, he decided to tap into a new source.”
“Well, thank God for that. This assignment has caused you no end of trouble.”
Without knocking, I opened the door and walked into Lenny’s office. He looked up from a document he was flipping through.
“Yes, Laura,” he said, a pleasant smile on his face. It was a little unsettling. “What can I do for you?”
“Good news,” I said. “I have a video of Doctor Palmer being unfaithful.
“Really?” Lenny asked, surprised. “That’s wonderful news. What happened? Did the blonde show up again?”
“No, it was a brunette this time. They were over there this morning.”
“Do you have any idea who she is?”
“I’ve never seen her before. But this one doesn’t look like an escort.”
Lenny thought about it for a minute and shook his head. “Alright, let’s put this down as a lesson learned. Next time you do this, make sure to put a camera outside as well. That way, we can get the license plate of whoever we film. It’ll keep the whole thing a lot cleaner.”
I so hate that there’ll be a next time.
“Yeah,” I said. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Very good,” he said. “We’ll need to have Jessica Palmer come in so we can give her the news and move forward with the divorce. Would you mind seeing if Sophie can set up something for tomorrow afternoon?”
“Okay, no problem.”
“But first, you’d better send me a link to the video. I don’t know every important woman in Scottsdale, but I know most of them. Let’s make sure this new paramour’s not on the city council before showing the video to anyone else. I wouldn’t want to embarrass any of our friends.”
~~~~
“Hey,” I said as I walked up to Sophie’s desk. “We need to set up a meeting with Jessica Palmer, sometime tomorrow afternoon.”
“I can do that. You’re going to break the news about her husband being a creep and everything?”
“Yup, another assignment in the books.”
“Actually, I’m glad you’re here. I got the results of the phone number you gave me. I didn’t even have to use the secret software. All I did was Google it.”
“Great. What did you find out?”
“Well… I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
“Okay. I won’t like it. What did you find out?”
“The phone call was made from Darby Capital Management.”
“From Kristy’s husband?”
“It looks like it. He must have broken into her email and has been sabotaging her all this time.”
“Oh, Jeeze,” I said. “I hate being pulled into the middle of a family squabble.”
“I know what you mean. I like Kristy. I don’t want to see her headed to a divorce over this.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Camille said there was a woman’s voice on the message.”
“When Kristy changed her passwords, Andrew must have gotten someone else to make the call.”
“But why would Kristy’s husband do something like that?” I mused.
“Maybe he was jealous because she was doing so well?” Sophie asked. “Or maybe, he was upset over Kristy always being gone nights and weekends. Who knows with men?”
“I suppose I’d better go and see him. I’m really not looking forward to this.”
As we were talking, Sophie got up and walked to the window. She looked up and down the street, then seemed to stiffen.
“Is your white van still there?” I asked.
“Now it’s parked in front of the big fountain with the horse sculptures.”
“Have you been able to see who’s driving it?”
“The windows are tinted too dark for me to get a good look.”
“But you still think it’s the Men in Black?”
“Who else would it be?”
~~~~
I went back to my cubicle and called Darby Capital Management. I needed to sit down with Andrew and find out why he was doing this to his wife. I also needed to make sure the sabotage would stop. After the usual delay with the front desk, I was transferred to Julie.
“Hi, Julie,” I said when she answered. “It’s Laura Black. Is Andrew available today? I’d like to come over and meet with him.”
“Oh, hi, Laura. Unfortunately, he’s at an investor’s meeting all day. But he’ll be back first thing in the morning. Just come over whenever it’s convenient for you. Unless he’s on the phone, you can go right in.”
I hated putting off the meeting but was sort of relieved at the same time. I really hated being in the middle of someone’s marriage problems.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be over in the morning.”
Chapter Thirteen
The following day, I made it to work a few minutes after eight. It was Thursday, and I was hoping to get there before Lenny took off for his first session with Countess Carla, the Cruel.
Unfortunately, his car wasn’t in his space in the back
. I knew I’d probably missed him.
“Did Lenny leave already?” I asked Sophie when I walked up to reception. “I wanted to take a look at him before he went over to Carla’s dungeon.”
“Yeah. Lenny was in here early to set up a bunch of work for me to do. He bounced outta here about fifteen minutes ago.”
“How was he? Did he seem okay with going through with it?”
“Are you kidding?” Sophie asked. “He was like a kid on Christmas morning.”
“Well, I hope it helps. I didn’t know how much longer I could have dealt with him moping around the office.”
“Did you go over and talk with Kristy’s husband yet?”
“Not yet. I’m heading over there when they open the office.”
“Let me know what happens? I’m curious as to what sort of sorry-ass excuse he’ll come up with.”
~~~~
I drove up Scottsdale Road to Lincoln and turned into the El Dorado Square business park. I got lucky and found a space in front of the Darby Capital Management building.
From the reception lobby, the woman there buzzed Julie. She appeared a minute later and walked me back to Andrew’s office.
As I walked in, he stood, and we shook hands. He offered me a seat in front of his desk.
“Miss Black, it’s good to see you again. What can I do for you today?”
“You might have heard, there was another problem at the wedding last night.”
He frowned as he thought about it. “Yes, Kristine told me about it. She said someone attempted to cancel the entire wedding.”
“Yes, and this time they almost succeeded.”
He sighed and slowly shook his head. “How can I help?”
“Up until last night, the changes and cancelations to your wife’s weddings have been made by someone who’d hacked into her email account.”
“Kristine told me about that as well,” he said. “I’m surprised somebody could do that. I thought they were making those harder to break into. What happened last night?”
“Once we discovered your wife’s email account was the source of the problems, Kristy changed her passwords. But instead of the problems stopping, the instigator simply changed tactics. To cause chaos at last night’s wedding, they called the resort directly.”
