by Marie Astor
“And so were we,” Janet said.
“Let’s not exaggerate,” Dennis cut in. “Yes, it was unsettling and inconvenient, but no more than that. Mrs. Chapman got the worst of it—poor old thing was terrified.”
“Did you get a look at the burglar?” Laskin asked.
Dennis shook his head. “I couldn’t catch up with him. It’s all that rich food we ate in France. I need to get back to the gym.”
“I’m sure one of Tina’s moves would’ve come in handy last night,” Laskin said thoughtfully.
“Peter,” Dennis said sharply, “we have work to do.”
“Sorry, I’m just trying to be helpful,” Laskin apologized. “I’ll be in my office if you need me. Do you want me to take some of your cases? Tina is really catching on—she’s great help.”
“Thank you, but we got it,” Dennis said.
“Thanks, Peter. We really appreciate the offer though,” Janet added.
“And Peter, could you please keep this between us? I don’t want the whole office to know,” Dennis added in a lowered tone.
Laskin nodded. “Of course. Discretion is the name of the game,” he added as he turned to leave.
“Such a busybody—dear old Laskin never changes,” Dennis muttered after Laskin had left the office.
“He was just trying to be nice,” Janet said. “And I don’t understand why you wouldn’t accept his offer to take on some of our caseload. We’re swamped.”
“We’re not swamped. We’re just busy. And I’ll be damned if I compromise the quality of my work by dumping it on that rookie, Tina. Unlike Laskin, I have standards.”
“Then we’d better get to it,” Janet said. “Or we won’t have anything to report on to Ham. Oh, and we still have to find the time to stop by the gallery,” she added.
“What gallery?” Dennis asked distractedly, his eyes already glued to the computer screen.
“To find out more about the painting we brought from our honeymoon and to get the frame fixed.”
Dennis slapped his forehead. “That’s right. I remember. I’ll call and make an appointment right now.”
***
Tina Sloan toweled off her hair and headed for her locker to get dressed. The gym she belonged to had locations all over Manhattan, and luckily there was one only a few minutes away from her new job. She had just run five miles at an incline on a treadmill, jumped rope, and lifted weights—there was nothing better than a great workout to clear her head. She refused to admit it, but she’d been in a funk—her new job at Kirk & Associates wasn’t shaping up to be exactly what she’d expected it to be. The job itself was great, but the people weren’t exactly so great. One person, to be more specific—Dennis Walker—who had it in for her for no particular reason. Maybe it was because Tina had taken over his desk, but that wasn’t her doing—Ham Kirk had told her to share the office with Peter Laskin, and it was only temporary anyway. Peter Laskin on the other hand was a sweetheart—always there to offer a helping hand. Not that she needed to be hand-held—she’d caught on quickly—even Ham Kirk had been impressed. And Janet Maple seemed nice too—they had gone out for coffee several times. Janet had told her not to pay Dennis any mind—that he was just grumpy because of an old case—something to do with him getting kidnapped by a girl. Tina knew that Dennis had tried to sabotage her self-defense demonstration by coming at her from the wrong angle—of course the only one who’d gotten embarrassed was Dennis by landing on his butt. Tina smiled, the image flashing in her mind. She was a pro at what she did and it would take a lot more than the skills Dennis had, which were decent but nowhere near hers, to catch her off guard. They had made peace afterwards, but she wondered how long it would last. She really hadn’t meant to start off on the wrong foot with a colleague, and she didn’t savor the prospect of constantly having to watch her back. Maybe she was exaggerating—maybe she just needed to demonstrate her worth to the agency. Once she would no longer be the new kid on the block, Dennis would surely come around.
Tina shook her head—she’d been unable to stop thinking about work during her entire workout. Now Dennis Walker was messing up her workout routine. She went to the gym every night, in addition to a one-hour martial arts sequence she did every morning. It might seem like a lot to some, but she was actually cutting back, a lot. When getting ready for a tournament, she used to spend countless hours training. She had started competing in martial arts tournaments in high school, continued all through college, and kept it up for a while after graduation. She had loved every minute of it. Her father, on the other hand, not so much.
“Tina, that’s no life for a girl,” her old man kept preaching. “Your mother and I, we hardly ever see you. How’re you ever going to meet a nice boy and have a family if you keep running around like this?” Somehow her father didn’t seem to have a problem with her older brother, Drake, doing the same thing. Tina couldn’t remember the last time Drake had a steady girlfriend and the word marriage simply wasn’t in his vocabulary.
“Then let me come and work for you,” Tina would plead, but her father wouldn’t hear of it. A former FBI special agent—that was the extent Tina knew about her father’s past employment—and even that took a while to get out of him, David Sloan ran his own bodyguard agency. But despite the fact that she was more than qualified for the job, he wouldn’t hear of his daughter getting involved in the business. Too dangerous, was all her father would ever say. When Tina told him of thinking about joining the FBI, her old man nearly had a fit. Over my dead body, had been his exact response.
“Well, what do you want me to do if you won’t hire me to work for you?” Tina had argued. “I’m good at what I do. I don’t want my skills to go to waste.”
“You’re letting your skills go to waste,” her dad countered, “you have a degree in economics. You should put it to good use.” That was true—at her father’s insistence Tina had majored in economics, but she also had a degree in criminal justice, which she’d gotten at night by going back to school after she graduated. “Why don’t you get a nice little accounting job and settle down? Meet a nice fella and make me a grandfather. Where would I be without your mother? She’s my compass—kept my head straight my whole life. I want you to have someone like that in your life too.”
Getting married and having kids was about as high on her list of priorities as learning about the possibility of life on Mars—an interesting concept in general, but not of any immediate use, at least not to her. But when her old man started talking about family and kids, Tina knew better than to argue—the only thing to do was to shake her head and walk away.
Working for the FBI, on the other hand, was exactly the kind of work she was interested in. She knew she could do well there—if not in the field, then definitely behind the desk. If she was going to push paper, she’d much rather do it there than in some corporate office, which she had tried and hated. For a brief while, she’d worked as an analyst for a bank—it was a good job, with great benefits and pay—it just wasn’t what she wanted to do with her life. So she applied for an analyst job with the FBI—no action, just a paper pusher job, as a concession to her dad. She thought it best to keep it a secret from him—if she got the job, he would have no choice but to accept it. She should’ve known better—the old man had spies, or so called old friends, everywhere. Despite having a 4.0 GPA, relevant work experience, and passing all her tests, her application got denied—a gentleman with gray hair and a fatherly demeanor took her into an office and told her that although her credentials were excellent, they weren’t right for the bureau. He also told her that he’d had the pleasure of working with her father. At which point Tina got up from her seat and left, only to find her father waiting for her outside the building.
“You’re going to be the death of me,” he’d grumbled. “What can I do to get this nonsense out of your head?”
“Get me a job where I can do something that matters,” she’d shot back.
She expected her father to ignore her as us
ual, but he’d finally caved in and talked to Ham Kirk, who was an old friend of his—that was how Tina got the job at Ham Kirk & Associates.
It was one thing to get a job, but it was another to keep it, and she wasn’t about to disappoint anyone, first and foremost, herself. She liked the investigative work they were doing at the agency, and she knew it was something she could be very good at. Dennis Walker could shove it, as far as she was concerned.
Tina finished getting dressed, quickly blow-dried her hair, and tied it into a ponytail. She grabbed her bag and was about to head home for a night of TV and Chinese food—an indulgence she allowed herself now that she was no longer competing. She had called and placed an order, but when the time came to pay, she reached into her purse for her wallet and came up empty. She had a moment of panic before she realized that she must’ve left her wallet at the office—she’d run out for a quick cup of coffee in the afternoon and stuck her wallet into her desk drawer, forgetting to take it out at the end of the day. Tina apologized and hung up. It was going to be yogurt for dinner tonight.
Oh well, Tina thought as she headed back to the office. A small detour wasn’t going to make much of a difference. It wasn’t as though anyone was waiting for her in her studio apartment—a knowledge that she relished for the sense of freedom it gave her, but that also made her feel lonely at times.
About fifteen minutes later, Tina entered the office building of Kirk & Associates. She flashed her ID to a sleepy security guard and headed for the elevators. A quick elevator ride later, she exited onto the office floor. She was about to swipe her ID to walk inside when she realized that the light was on. Ham Kirk always insisted that the last person leaving for the night turn the lights off—he was frugal like that, and in her short time with the agency Tina had learned that his employees knew better than to cross him.
Tina held back, her senses on edge. Something felt off. She took a deep breath and quietly slid through the entrance. She crept down the hallway, listening and wondering if maybe she’d imagined it all—maybe someone had simply been working late and forgot to turn the lights off. She was about to officially declare herself paranoid when she heard a faint sound—as though large stacks of folders were being shuffled around. She steeled herself and headed down the hall. When she reached the office that Dennis Walker and Janet Maple shared, she saw a shadow move—someone was inside and that someone must’ve been rummaging through files—a sound she’d heard earlier. Enough dillydallying—she had to act now.
“What are you doing here?” Tina asked, seeing a small-framed man with longish hair fumbling with the safe lock. Each office had a safe in it for sensitive case documents and papers.
The young man had his back to her and at the sound of her voice, he jumped and turned around. “You startled me. I’m with the cleaning company,” he tried to sound convincing, but Tina could see right through it.
“Cleaning company? What are you doing trying to open the safe?”
“I wasn’t opening it—I was dusting it.”
“Can I see your ID?” Tina asked, not one bit convinced.
“In a minute. I have it in my case—I left it over there.” The man pointed somewhere behind Tina’s back. He must’ve expected her to turn around, but she kept her eyes on him the entire time. He bolted for the exit, trying to knock her over. She stepped aside and he threw a chair at her. She ducked, the chair landed next to her, and she overtook him. It only took a few basic moves to subdue him and land him on the floor.
“Who are you?” Tina demanded, her foot planted firmly on his chest. “And why were you trying to break into the safe?”
“Please. It’s not what you think. Please, let me go.” He tried to wriggle from under her foot, but she pressed it down harder.
“Not until you tell me why you broke in here.” She kept her foot on the man’s chest as she yanked the telephone cord from the outlet. It wasn’t ideal, but it was all she could think of to restrain him.
Once Tina had securely restrained the surprise visitor, she grabbed her phone and called Ham Kirk.
***
“That was a long day.” Dennis yawned as he slumped onto the couch and stretched his feet out on the reading table. Baxter trotted over and curled down by his feet.
“I second that.” Janet took a seat next to him. “Takeout?”
“You read my mind.” Dennis reached down to scratch Baxter’s ear. “Just a nice relaxing evening at home, right buddy?”
“Chinese, Thai, or Italian?” Janet gave him the choices of nearby takeout joints.
“Chinese sounds good. I could go for some wonton soup and sesame chicken right now.”
Janet reached for the phone. “Coming right up.” She dialed the neighborhood Chinese restaurant they always called for takeout.
“What’s going on?” Dennis asked after she’d been on hold for several minutes.
“They’re busy. Apparently we’re not the only ones who want to have dinner this evening,” Janet explained. They’re back on,” she added, as the restaurant receptionist got back on the line.
Janet barely finished giving her takeout order when Dennis’s cellphone rang.
“Who could this be?” Dennis grumbled. “I’m in no mood to talk to anyone.”
Janet noticed the caller ID number on the screen. “It’s Ham. It’s probably important.”
“Our workday never ends.” Dennis picked up his phone. “Hi Ham— What? Yes, we’ll be right there.” He hung up, looking perplexed. “It just keeps coming.”
“What? What happened?” Janet asked.
“Someone broke into our office. Tina apprehended the intruder. Ham wants everyone to come in right now.”
“So much for our dinner.” Janet could feel her stomach grumbling—it had been so busy at the office that she’d worked straight through lunch.
“We can cancel it on our way there,” Dennis said. He went into the kitchen and returned with two power bars. “In the meantime we’ll just have to feast on this.”
“Our job is just too much fun.” Janet headed into the hallway and started putting on her shoes. “Good thing I didn’t have time to change from my work clothes.”
“Same here.” Dennis was shoving his feet into sneakers. “No way I’m wearing dress shoes after hours.”
“Bye, Baxter.” Janet stooped down to pet Baxter who’d trotted over to the foyer, his ears pricked up, clearly disappointed at the sight of them leaving. “I’ll ask Mrs. Chapman to check on you in a bit.”
Twenty minutes later, Janet and Dennis walked through the lobby of their office building. There was only one security guard on duty after hours and he waved them in, instantly recognizing them.
“This kind of lax security lets intruders through the door.” Dennis muttered as they headed for the elevator bank. “I’m going to tell Ham about it. He has to speak to the property manager. We can’t have an exposure like this,” Dennis added as they got inside the elevator.
Janet pressed the button for their floor. “I wonder what did they want to steal in our office? Unless they were low on office supplies, I don’t see what’s so damn attractive. We don’t keep any cash in there and even if they got their hands on the company checkbook, Ham could easily cancel the check. Wait a minute—” Janet put her hand to her mouth. “Did you leave our painting in the office overnight?”
“Hmm? What?” Dennis asked, still visibly preoccupied with his earlier rant about lax building security.
“Our painting—you were going to take it to the gallery to get the frame fixed?”
Dennis cursed under his breath. “Dammit, I forgot. I left it in the office. But not to worry—I locked it in the safe.”
Janet’s eyes widened. “Don’t you see?”
“See what?”
“Last night someone broke into our apartment, and today someone broke into the office. Both places have one thing in common—the painting I’m starting to wish we never bought.”
“There’s no need to get so dramatic
. Janet, honey, I know you’re convinced there’s something special about that painting.” He paused. “And there is—we bought it on our honeymoon and it will always be special to us. But other than that, and please don’t be angry at me, I really don’t think it’d be special for anyone else but us. And I seriously doubt there’s a burglar hunting for it.”
“But don’t you think it’s strange—”
Dennis raised his hand. “Let’s not get carried away here. It’s a coincidence—nothing more. Stranger things have happened. Doesn’t mean one caused the other. At any rate, let’s not mention it to Ham. I’m sure he’s already worked up as it is and we wouldn’t want to muddy the waters.”
“I hope we won’t have to mention it,” Janet muttered. The bizarre string of break-ins just didn’t add up, but when Dennis got his mind set on something, it was useless to argue with him. He’d just have to come to the same conclusion on his own.
The elevator doors opened and Janet followed Dennis out into the lobby. They were about to make the turn for the offices of Kirk & Associates when they bumped into Laskin. He must’ve taken a different elevator.
“Oh, it’s you two,” Laskin gasped, his eyes wide open. “What a relief—”
“Who else would it be at this hour?” Dennis asked.
Laskin’s cheeks flushed. “I thought it might be the intruder,” he whispered.
“From what I understand, Tina already took care of him,” Dennis said tartly. “That girl is the jack-of-all-trades.”
“Dennis!” Janet tugged at Dennis’s sleeve. “Now’s not the time.”
“We’d better hurry,” Laskin cut in. “Ham is waiting for us.”
The three of them headed for the doors of Kirk & Associates. When they walked inside, all the lights were on, but there wasn’t anyone in sight.
“Hello?” Dennis called out. “Ham, Tina?”
A few moments later, one of the office doors opened and Ham’s head popped out. “In here. He’s in here. Come, quick.”
Janet shot Dennis a look. Of all the offices, the burglar had to pick theirs—coincidences were starting to pile up.
