by Kaylea Cross
“Very well. I’ll ask her.”
Dennis kept walking in his initial direction until he heard the click of Laskin’s office door. Then he turned around abruptly and headed for Janet’s office. He was going to have it out with her once and for all.
When Dennis reached Janet’s office he saw that its door was closed. He was about to walk in when he heard that Janet was not alone. Dennis would have recognized the smug notes of Kingsley’s voice anywhere, but it was particularly disturbing to recognize them in Janet’s office. Suppressing his impulse to fling open the door and punch Kingsley right in his arrogant mug, Dennis flattened his back against the door frame, straining his ears for the conversation that was taking place on the other side of the door.
* * *
“Have you got any interesting news for me, Janet?” Alex asked as he leaned against Janet’s desk, eyeing her with a cool, penetrating glare.
“Not that I can think of,” Janet managed. Alex had burst into her office unannounced, and now she literally felt pinned to her chair under his stare, like one of those insects in a glass display.
Alex’s hands let go of Janet’s desk. He walked closer to her chair, taking her hand into his. “So I take it that the Bostoff wedding was uneventful?”
“Oh, that. It was fine; nothing special,” Janet replied. “You know, as weddings go.”
“Did Laskin prove to be an adequate escort?” Alex asked, still holding Janet’s hand.
“Yes. I’m very grateful to him for being my date. As you know, there’s nothing more humiliating for a girl than showing up at a wedding without a date.”
“Janet, I told you before that you needn’t ever be worried about not having a date.” Alex squeezed Janet’s hand. “All you need to do is pick up the phone and call me. Or just walk over to my office and ask me in person,” Alex added huskily.
“Thank you, Alex. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” Janet tried to free her hand from Alex’s fingers, but his grip was firm.
“And what about Jon Bostoff?” Alex switched the conversation abruptly. “Have you noticed anything funky about him?”
“No, nothing funky. As we discussed, he’s opened a white collar crime consulting firm and seems to be doing fairly well. I don’t think there’s anything suspicious there. I am glad to see that he is now on the right side of the law.”
“Is he?”
“That’s what it looks like.”
Alex tightened his grip on Janet’s hand. “Your leniency surprises me, Janet. A leopard never changes his spots. We’ll keep our eyes on him, and if he strays we’ll be there to put him back where he belongs.”
Janet nodded, wondering when Alex was going to let go of her hand. She was a grown woman, so why was she enduring this humiliation, with her tongue glued to her throat? She imagined using her free hand to grab the paperweight from her desk and smashing it into Alex’s balls; this action did not require any spoken words and would undoubtedly produce the desired results.
“How about meeting me for a drink after work?” Alex asked.
“I, um, I’d love to, but I can’t tonight. I’m meeting a friend after work.” Janet could have kicked herself. She was too much of a chicken to even tell Alex off, let alone kick him in the nuts.
“Very well. But you know that you won’t be able to put me off with excuses forever.” Alex pressed Janet’s hand to his lips. “I’ll see you later, Janet.”
* * *
At the sound of Alex’s footsteps, Dennis Walker had barely enough time to jump away from the door of Janet’s office and leap into the office supplies pantry, which was just around the corner. Luckily, the hallway was empty, and Dennis was saved from the embarrassment of having to explain his behavior. This was a true stroke of luck, for the usually cautious and levelheaded Dennis would not have been able to produce a plausible explanation of his antics to save his life.
Dennis leaned against the supply closet and waited for the sound of Alex’s footsteps to fade away. Then he smoothed his jacket and headed toward Janet’s office.
“Cup of coffee, you and me, right now,” Dennis said in a tone that was more an order than an invitation.
For several moments Janet stared blankly at him. The words that followed after she recovered her capacity for speech made Dennis wish she had remained silent. “I don’t hear from you for days and you think can just barge into my office and expect me to drop everything? Thank you for the invite, but I’m quite busy at the moment, so I’ll have to decline.”
“Busy with what? Romancing Alex?”
Janet reddened, and Dennis knew that he had hit bull’s eye. “How do you know about that?” she snapped.
“I’m an investigator, remember? I saw you together last week when you were walking Baxter together.”
“It’s not what you think, not that it’s any of your business …” Janet began, but stopped in mid-sentence. “You spied on me?”
Now it was Dennis’s turn to flush. “I didn’t spy on you. I came by to see you, but learned that you were otherwise occupied. The least you could do is be decent enough to let me know where I stand. But for God’s sake let’s get out of here. This is no place to talk: the walls are paper thin here.”
“Where you stand?” Janet rose from her chair with self-righteous vigor. “I’ll tell you where you stand: you are in no position to ask me such questions.” She grabbed her coat. “Where are we going?”
Dennis barely managed to suppress his smile. Despite the elaborate display of anger, Janet still agreed to talk to him, which meant that she had to care about him at least a little bit.
A few minutes later, Janet and Dennis were seated behind the stained table of the coffee shop Dennis frequented whenever he needed a secure place to talk. Located on one of the side streets that ran like a maze in Downtown Manhattan, the place was a dive, but the good part was that no one from the office knew about the coffee shop’s existence. “So what’s going on between you and Alex?” Dennis asked.
“I told you that nothing is going on between me and Alex.”
“Oh yeah? Then how come he is walking Baxter with you? And why is he asking you out for a drink?”
“How did you—” Janet broke off. “You know, Dennis, I thought that you were too mature to eavesdrop on people’s conversations. But if you must know, I’m no happier about Alex’s attention than you are. I told you that I hate the dirtbag, and nothing has changed since then. I still can’t stand him, and I sure hope that we’ll be able to come up with a way to expose him for what he is: a lying, cheating scoundrel. But if you continue acting the way you are acting, I doubt we’ll be able to succeed.”
“Acting the way I’ve been acting? Why didn’t you tell me about the Bostoff wedding? I should have been your date, not Laskin.”
Janet lowered her eyes, a barely perceptible smile lurking on her lips.
Dennis cursed his outburst. Making Janet aware of his attraction to her was not part of his intention, at least not at the moment.
“If you must know, I was going to ask you,” Janet replied. “But you seemed to be otherwise engaged, so I asked Laskin.”
“Otherwise engaged?”
“I believe her name is honey boo.”
Dennis could not help smiling. Apparently, he was not the only one with a penchant for eavesdropping. “Guilty. But it’s over now, and it was never anything serious. For what it’s worth, if you had asked me to be your date for the Bostoff wedding, I would have been glad to be there.”
“Thanks, Dennis, I appreciate that. Now, if you’ll let me finish, I’ll tell you what Laskin and I learned when we were there.”
After Janet had finished giving the account of the wedding, Dennis stared at her from across the table. “Muller actually had the nerve to show up at the wedding? And he is dating the state attorney’s daughter?”
“Yep. Now do you see why the case against him got dismissed?”
“Crystal clear.”
“Wait, it gets better. Finnegan
used to run the Manhattan DA’s office. He was Alex’s boss’s boss. The three of them used to be real chummy, with Finnegan calling Alex ‘my boy’ and inviting him for drinks after work, that sort of thing.”
“Did they ever invite you?”
Janet shook her head. “It was boys only.”
“And now Finnegan is state attorney general and Alex is our boss,” Dennis concluded.
“Call me paranoid, but I think there’s a connection between Finnegan, Ham being fired, and Alex being put in charge of our department.”
“It certainly does not seem farfetched to me. Alex must have served his master well, and now Finnegan has placed him at the Treasury as his trusted watchdog.” Dennis drummed his fingers on the table. “And Muller told you that he is a philanthropist now?”
“Yep,” Janet nodded. “But I don’t believe it for a second. This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Alex’s interest in the matter makes it even more suspicious. Laskin and I are determined to get to the bottom of it. You’re welcome to join if you’re interested.”
“If I’m interested? Of course I’m interested, Janet. You know that there’s nothing I’d like more than to see Muller face justice.”
“Then, you trust me again?”
Dennis hung his head. “Yes. I’m sorry about what I said earlier. It was uncalled for.”
A flicker of a smile passed over Janet’s lips. “All is forgotten. No apologies needed among friends.”
“So what’s the plan?” Dennis could scarcely believe his own words. Usually, he was the one giving instructions, but in this case he had to give Janet her due—she had kept her cool while he had let his emotions get the better of him.
“Laskin is running the check on Muller’s charity as we speak. He has also alerted the Market Watch department to keep him posted of any unusual stock moves. Sooner or later Muller will make a mistake, and we’ll be there to catch him.”
* * *
Alex sat back at his desk, mulling over his conversation with Janet. He was good at reading people, and he was certain that Janet had told him the truth. There was a reason he had pulled a Romeo routine on Janet: he’d held her hand during the entire conversation and if she had been lying, her quickened pulse would have given her away.
Besides, Alex was not merely relying on Janet’s words. He had done some checking on Bostoff himself and had come up empty. He understood that Finnegan wanted Bostoff shut down, but as long as Bostoff was not doing anything illegal, Finnegan would just have to back off. So far, Bostoff had limited his business engagements to giving speeches on the evils of corruption and white collar crime. There was nothing any regulatory agency could do to sanction him for that. Now, if Bostoff cheated on his taxes or began poking his nose into matters that were outside of his purview, such as, for instance, gathering evidence against Muller, there would be ample grounds to shut Bostoff down. But until Alex became aware of such conduct, he was going to steer clear of Bostoff. Sure, Alex wanted to keep Finnegan happy, but Alex was not stupid enough to do it at the expense of his own skin.
Alex dialed Cornelius Finnegan’s private number. “Cornelius, it’s Alex.”
“Always glad to hear from you, my boy. I trust you have some good news for me?”
Alex ignored the insufferable “my boy.” He was sick of Finnegan’s patronizing ways. “Yes, sir,” he replied pleasantly. “I ran the check on Bostoff’s new business venture, and I am glad to report that everything is in order.”
“You mean you shut him down? That’s my boy! I knew you were perfect for this job.”
Alex shook his head with annoyance. For such a sharp man, Finnegan could be unbelievably obtuse. “No, sir. I meant to say that Bostoff is not doing anything wrong. He’s just trying to make an honest living by giving speeches on how to catch crooks like himself.”
“And you’re glad about that?”
“Forgive my poor choice of words, sir, but Bostoff is not doing anything illegal, and until he does I don’t see what I can do about it.”
There was a brief pause on the other end of the line. “It certainly sounds like you’ve done your homework. Continue keeping an eye on him and notify me as soon as you see anything foul.”
“I will, sir.”
“And how about that Walker reprobate? No more rogue investigations?”
“Not that I am aware of, sir. I’ve told him to focus on analytics to get him away from fieldwork.”
“I like that. Good thinking. I’m counting on you, Alex. Don’t disappoint me.”
Have I ever? Alex was tempted to retort, but bit his tongue. He did not have a career death wish to get snippy with Finnegan. “I won’t, sir.”
“Good.” Finnegan hung up.
Alex put down the receiver. He had been faithfully carrying out Finnegan’s orders, but everything had its limit. He had checked out Bostoff and put a muzzle on Walker, but Finnegan was starting to become unreasonable, and Alex was not going to be a blind tool in Finnegan’s hands. Even Finnegan was not invincible, and if he were replaced, Alex did not want to be left out in the cold. From now on Alex was going to temper the reports he gave to Finnegan.
Chapter Nineteen
Aileen Finnegan checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She had just closed a very important contract with a new client, and she felt like a winner. She had dressed carefully for the occasion, choosing a tailored sheath and a matching jacket in periwinkle. The color of the cloth highlighted her blue eyes, and the smart cut of the clothes showed off her newly slim figure. She had been working hard at being pretty for David, and all the hard work was finally paying off. Over the course of the past six months she had lost almost twenty-five pounds, which resulted in her getting a whole new wardrobe, but this was the kind of expense she was glad to have. Sure, she was still no model, but she liked the way she looked, and more importantly she felt good. Things were definitely looking up. It seemed that good things, just like bad things, came in phases, and finally, for the first time in her life, Aileen could say that things were going well for her.
Her recent transformation had also improved her professional life. No matter what anyone said, one’s appearance mattered, especially in a business like public relations. Aileen’s clients paid her for representation, and they wanted someone who looked the part for the job. Aileen had always been good with people. In fact, up until recently the only feature she liked about herself was her voice, which was why she had chosen public relations as her occupation in the first place. A large part of her job was done over the phone, and she was really good on the phone. She had good people skills as well and was pretty good at in-person meetings—God knows, she had to compensate for what she lacked in looks with a cheerful personality—but now she was even better. Over the past month, Aileen had secured three new accounts. She had already accumulated a good nest egg by living with her parents, and now she was doing even better. It was time to make one last change: it was time to move out of her parents’ house. Yesterday, she had signed the lease on a one bedroom apartment in West Village. She would be moving in on the first of next month. The reality of the change was still sinking in, and she was yet to break the news to her parents who were bound to object, especially her mother.
Aileen’s mother was the president of the local women’s club and was on the board of several local charities. It was her dream for Aileen to one day succeed her mother as president of the women’s club. While Aileen’s high school friends were out dating, her evenings and weekends had been occupied with helping her mother with charity auctions, dinners, and other social functions her mother organized. At first, Aileen had not minded—her calendar was far from being booked up with dates—but as the years went by, these occasions became more of a burden than a joy. Sure, she wanted to contribute to all the good causes her mother supported, but it bothered her that most of the women in the club, including her mother, cared more about the social status that their involvement with the charities gave them than the causes they so ardently ra
llied to raise awareness of. And now that she had David in her life, Aileen refused to surrender her evenings and weekends to her mother. Her mother had already chided Aileen for not being available for several events, but Aileen stood her ground. She was as charitable as the next person, but that did not mean that she had to sacrifice her social life at her mother’s whim.
At the thought of David, a smile appeared on Aileen’s face. She could not wait to tell him the news about her apartment. Deep down she hoped that the two of them would not have to reside in separate apartments for too long, but at the same time she did not want to go straight from living with her parents to living with David. She wanted to live on her own for a while. Not for too long—a year would most likely suffice—and then she would marry David. The prospect of becoming Mrs. David Muller made Aileen’s heart flutter; she would do anything to make it a reality. At first she had not even dared to allow such thoughts into her mind, but as the months went by and David remained by her side, the previously unreachable possibility began to seem feasible.
If only things would not change, Aileen thought, suppressing a frown. For as much as she hated to admit it, things had changed. Lately, the previously attentive David seemed to grow more distant. On several occasions David had canceled their dates, and his behavior at the Bostoff wedding had been downright atrocious. David had apologized to Aileen afterwards, presenting her with a lovely pair of gold aquamarine earrings. “They will go nicely with your eyes, lovey,” David had said. “I am sorry for losing my temper, Aileen, and I’m sorry for not being around as much. It’s just that I’ve been so busy lately. The charity fund is a lot of work, but once I have it set up, it should pretty much run itself.”
The earrings’ blue stones had sparkled with icy shine, and Aileen nodded, deciding not to remark on the fact that David always found the time to meet with her father. Indeed, the two of them met on a regular basis, and at times Aileen wondered whom it was that David really wanted to date. “Don’t you like them?” David had asked.
