1 Executive Lunch

by Maria E. Schneider

  "Yes, he did. He resigned."

  I groaned. Something was very wrong here. What was Turbo up to? "I'm going to call Huntington. Have you told him about this yet?" I wasn't sure what was going on, but Huntington needed to fix it, whatever it was.

  Bruce didn't answer. In fact, now that I thought about it, he almost acted as if he were trying to crawl underneath the computer rack.

  "Well?" I prompted.

  "Huntington is, uh, missing."

  I didn't even know where the man lived, so missing was a pretty fuzzy term. "Missing? From where?"

  "We've tried paging him and called all his numbers. He doesn't answer. He isn't at home. He was working on a moving truck company angle this weekend, but we haven't heard back from him since Sunday morning."

  "Where is home?"

  Bruce shuffled his feet around and looked anywhere but at me. "Well, technically it's the condo where you're living. He's been in a hotel, but the hotel maid knew he wasn't in last night because the bed wasn't touched. She claims she can't remember whether she had to make it the night before that or not. I don't suppose…" He trailed off hopefully.

  "What?"

  "We didn't panic. We, uh. One of the agents said Huntington was, uh, at your place, that is the condo, early morning on Saturday. He thought that maybe…well, the party ended late and all."

  I started to feel dangerous. "You figured he spent the night."

  "It is his condo."

  I blushed, a mixture of worry, anger and embarrassment that everyone thought I was playing footsie with the executive. The fact was, Huntington was damned attractive. He had even hinted lately that he was open to being more friendly. There was a part of me that had been considering it, but no one else needed to be speculating about my love life. "Huntington did not spend the night at my condo. Or his condo. On any night."

  Bruce looked very disappointed. "That's bad news."

  For all of us. It meant that not only was something going on with Turbo, Huntington was gone. If the Feds couldn't find Huntington, who could? He had a way of crawling around where he didn't belong, investigating things his own way. What if Huntington had been downtown again without telling anyone? I wasn't certain what he had been doing down there and…"What did he say last time you talked to him?"

  "He was trying to track the missing equipment outside of Strandfrost. The security cameras that we installed in the building have yielded nothing. Since the trail here was cold, he was trying to pick it up after the stuff was stolen and figure out the distribution end."

  I waved my hand. "We figured that part out for sure on Friday. They take the equipment before it ever makes it in here. The stuff gets ordered but disappears via one of the moving company trucks. Same thing happens at the conferences."

  Bruce stared at me in consternation. "Huntington told you all that?"

  I didn't appreciate his proprietary attitude. "Turbo and I figured out the part about equipment not making it upstairs. Strandfrost moves equipment around a lot and apparently the trucking companies are running off with the equipment instead of returning it here. At least that is what happened on Friday."

  Bruce grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number. He snarled when he couldn't get a connection from the lab. He headed for the hallway to find a signal.

  "There still has to be someone on the inside," I said, but Bruce was gone. I paced. Some of the orders for equipment weren't even real. If it wasn't Allen that created the false orders, there had to be another person who filled out the fake expense reports and the equipment orders. The trucks didn't just show up and take whatever was handy. It was more organized than that.

  Whoever it was attended the conferences, had access to employee lists and expenses.

  Who had access to the equipment budget?

  There was only one person I could think of and since I did my darnedest to avoid the man, maybe I had missed something. Turbo didn't have such qualms. He didn't have to worry about getting his ass patted.

  "It's got to be Dan!" I shouted.

  Bruce must have heard me because he poked his head back into the lab. I hurried over to him. "Dan is in charge of the department budget information. He knows exactly what I and every other person orders. If Dan needed to steal something, he could peg it ahead of time." He was part of the scenery, privy to a lot of interesting conversations, and he went to every single conference. He was the only one that had access to all the people.

  "Dan? The finance guy?"

  "How hard would it be for him to add charges to the conference?" I tapped my foot. "Not very. He could pad his own expenses and turn in the expense reports for the non-existent demos. He doesn't order equipment because he doesn't have a team, but he could fill it out the paperwork. Allen or Gary would probably sign it all without paying any attention."

  I had stayed as far away from Dan as possible after the little toupee incident, but Turbo wasn't as likely to be wary. And while Dan would never approach a woman--not to ask her to be functionally useful, Turbo was a different story. Turbo had been getting almost as much air-time as I had, albeit for a different reason. "Bruce, when you talked to Turbo this morning, what did he say exactly?" If I knew Turbo, he would have plastered hints throughout the conversation so that anyone paying attention could see how smart he was. Unfortunately his idea of a clever sign was probably so obscure it would be discernible only by an electron microscope.

  Bruce walked over to the area where he had been sitting when I first came in. He picked up a single piece of paper and handed it to me. "He left this with his key taped on his door. I never saw him."

  I froze. "You didn't see him this morning?"

  Bruce shook his head. "Look, this work is stressful. Maybe he just had enough."

  I looked down at the resignation letter. It was two lines long. There were no clues, nothing clever, nothing special. "Turbo didn't write this! Shoot, even if he were really resigning, the letter would be three pages long with enough detail to make a court case out of it!" I yanked at my hair. "Dan got to him. It's the only thing that makes sense."

  "Dan again? Why Dan?"

  I waved my arms frantically. "Because Dan is the most likely suspect. And Turbo found a clue recently, but he wouldn't tell me about it because I told him to let Huntington handle it. I think Turbo may have approached Dan sometime after Friday to ask about the equipment. Dan may have realized that we were onto him. Maybe he thought it was only Turbo that had guessed and now…" I gulped. "And now he had done something with Turbo!"

  Bruce looked at me like I was talking in a foreign language.

  I tried to explain. "Turbo wouldn't quit, Bruce. Pressure doesn't bother him because he doesn't notice it. He's not normal."

  Bruce made a noise that was suspiciously snort-like. "If Turbo didn't quit, you think he is gone because instead of approaching you--Dan--or someone," he stressed the someone rather heavily, "tried to get Turbo to work a deal and something went wrong?"

  "Knowing Turbo, he wanted to prove his theory before saying anything. He would have run a test or two first. Maybe Turbo tried to approach Dan and get in on the deal. And Dan didn't like the idea. So, now Turbo is missing." I clenched my fists. What if Dan had hired thugs to take Turbo out? If Huntington had been missing for two days, how long had Turbo been gone?

  "He might not be missing," Bruce said. "He left this note just this morning."

  "But you didn't see him! Still, you're right--he can't have been gone long, because Irene would have sounded the alarm." I said the last with more hope that I actually felt. "Did you call Irene? To see if Turbo was at home?"

  Bruce shook his head. "Irene? Why would we call her? He resigned!"

  I ran for the door. "Dan doesn't know we suspect him. That means he'll probably come back to work. We have time to catch him!"

  "That's if he's guilty," Bruce yelled after me. "You're just guessing."

  I had to agree. But Dan had been at all the conferences. He was around the office all the time and had ready acce
ss to Allen's signature or even Gary's signature. Maybe Allen had figured out what Dan was up to a while back and got in on the deal with the charity stuff.

  First things first. If the resignation letter had been left this morning, then there was a chance Turbo had only been waylaid this morning. Running into my office, I frantically searched my online phone numbers. It took me three tries to dial Turbo's home number correctly.

  "Irene!" I tried to keep the desperation out of my voice. There was no sense in causing her to panic just yet. She'd faint dead away, and I'd have even more problems on my hands. "Uh, is Turbo there? Has he left yet?"

  "Oh, hello Sedona! How are you? Feeling a bit better these days, I hope," she said. "No, Adam isn't here, he left early this morning to take the car in."

  Irene was the only person that didn't call Turbo by his nickname. "The car?" Was he meeting Dan somewhere and that was his excuse to Irene?

  "He probably just got held up there. It's some new place. It isn't even near here, but he went driving around checking out all kinds of places this weekend. Most of them were closed because of the holiday so he had to go this morning." She sighed loudly. "Our little SUV doesn't require anything special, but you know how guy are about cars. I swear he checked every single place that had ever worked on a car. I guess it's taking him a lot longer than he thought."

  My mouth dropped opened. Turbo, all on his own, was following up on the companies that had moved the stuff on Friday! "Uh, did he mention where he was going this morning?"I didn't have much hope, especially if he were going to more than one place.

  "Oh, I don't remember, but I can find out if you want me to. He takes notes on everything. I think he circled the one he wanted. Just a minute."

  My heart couldn't wait a minute. It was near bursting before she finally came back.

  "Larry's Body Shop," she said slowly. "There's so much listed on this paper. That man had better not be planning on painting the car. I know men must have their little car fetishes and ever since you got that Viper, he has done nothing but talk cars."

  She kept prattling, but I wasn't listening. In fact, I think my brain went completely dead before the neurons started firing. "Larry's Body Shop?" Why did I know that name? It didn't sound like a moving company. Was he really taking the car in? No, that couldn't be, because he had resigned!

  "Yes, that's the one he has circled," Irene assured me.

  "Did he circle any movers?"

  "No, I don't think so. Let me see…" I heard pages flipping. "No, that's the only one circled in red. There's some other ones underlined in different colors."

  I thought back to the movers, something about Three Men or Boxes. Ted had chased me off so quickly that…wait a minute. I had an ugly feeling in the pit of my stomach. Both times I had seen Ted it had been around the moving vans. "Larry's Body Shop?" I squeaked out. That was the name of the place Ted worked!

  "Yes, that's the place."

  "OhmyGod." What if it wasn't Dan that Turbo suspected at all? What if it was someone else I had been avoiding, and Turbo had gone after that someone to find out about equipment disappearing? I knew Ted, therefore, I assumed Ted was after me. Turbo didn't know Ted. He associated Ted with the moving vans!

  I groaned. Turbo could be right. Ted had always been around when there were moving vans. Either way, Ted was not someone to be messed with!

  I closed my eyes. How in the hell was I going to find Turbo?

  I should have made an excuse to Irene before hanging up, but she already thought I was nuts, so I didn't waste the time.

  I might not know exactly where to find Ted, but I did know someone that might know--if I could get her to help me.

  Chapter 37

  It took me half an hour to locate Derrick and get him to call me back. I had no time to mess around. "I need Marilyn's address." I was afraid to call her because I had one chance at getting the information. If she refused and hung up on me, I was toast.

  I could have taken the route she had used to find me, but I didn't know if she owned or rented. I suspected she rented, but that was only because her husband seemed like a deadbeat. Having a brother that represented a lot of victims, I knew stereotyping was a dangerous assumption. A lot of well-to-do men beat their wives. Income was not a big differentiator with bullies.

  "I am not giving you her address," Derrick said. "What are you up to?"

  "Well, how about you tell me where Larry's Body Shop is. I'll just pop in and ask her husband for the address."

  I held the phone away from my ear while Derrick exploded. I caught the part about, "I'll take you to her house, but there is no way you are going to Larry's Body Shop."

  Unknowingly, he confirmed that Larry's Body Shop, the same place that Turbo had circled, was where Ted worked. I had no intention of confronting Ted at the body shop. Had I wanted to, I would have looked up the address in the phone book. "Fine. Pick me up at my place in fifteen minutes."

  I had to drive like a maniac to get to my house to meet Derrick. I changed out of my work clothes and into jeans and a clean t-shirt. I needed to be able to move and suits just didn't cut it.

  From the messages on my home answering machine, I could tell that Derrick had called Sean and told him that something was up. I didn't bother to call dear brother back.

  I met Derrick in the driveway and hopped in before he had a chance to get out of the car. He wasn't in uniform, but his olive khakis were pleated and ironed as any perfectly as a uniform. His red hair was combed neatly into place.

  "Can you hurry?" I pleaded. "I really need to find her."

  He drove, asking questions the entire time. I hedged, hemmed, hawed and when that didn't work, ignored the questions and babbled about the weather.

  When he finally stopped, I would have bolted from the car had caution not been required.

  "It's the house across the street, the white," Derrick said.

  Marilyn lived in one of the older parts of town, not far from downtown, but far enough that the house wasn't in the slums. With some fixing up, the house would even command a good price because of its proximity to businesses. "Can you tell if Ted is home?"

  "His truck isn't out front," Derrick replied. "But you're going to have to tell me what this about before you go in there."

  I couldn't tell if a car or truck might be in the detached garage. The old colonial porch in the front was huge, but swept clean. The grass was cut and there were iris blooms and roses along the raised wooden porch. The one chair that was outside looked a little rickety. I guessed Marilyn sat outside by herself without the benefit of her loving husband.

  "Stay here and wait for me," I said. I hopped out of the car before he could argue. Sprinting across the road and up the front porch, I knocked.

  It was a long time before the inner door cracked open. Too long. Derrick had plenty of time to join me.

  "Go away." She sounded frightened.

  "Marilyn, it's me. I need a favor." I continued to hold the screen door opened.

  "I don't owe you no favors. That was the agreement." Her eyes darted to Derrick, who loomed off to my left.

  "I thought you were going to stay in the car," I complained.

  Derrick just loomed. I rolled my eyes and jerked my thumb in his direction. "This has nothing to do with him. He wouldn't give me your address without taking me here himself. Your husband isn't home, is he?"

  She shook her head. Something told me that she wouldn't have opened the door had Ted been there. He probably would have just shot through one of the windows and been done with us.

  "Marilyn, I just need to ask you something. About my…friend. The one that, uh, you know, comes to the condo now and then."

  I refused to glance at Derrick. I was hoping that if I ignored him he would either go away or at least not remember this conversation. "Listen, I'm desperate here. My friend--Huntington--has disappeared. I thought maybe you might have seen him around here." I really wanted to ask her about Turbo, but she had never met him. All I could hope was
that Huntington and Turbo had been on the same trail and that by following whatever crumbs Huntington had left, I would find them both.

  Marilyn's eyes got big. I almost thought she might laugh. "Why would he be here?"

  "I think Huntington might know your husband," I said. Huntington had been hanging around in the same neighborhood as Ted the night I first met Marilyn. Ted was somehow involved with the moving trucks. He had to be. If he wasn't...that didn't bear thinking about. Turbo had definitely been on Ted's trail.

  "Ted knows your friend?"

  "I think so. Have you seen him around here? Ever?" Marilyn noticed things; like when she mentioned I didn't fit into the rich scene. Maybe she had glimpsed Huntington lurking around. Her next words snuffed that hope. "I don't think I've seen him."

  "Are you sure? He wouldn't look like when he was visiting the condo. He looks…" Murkier? Deadlier? More like a thug?

  "More like he belongs here?" she asked softly, kindly filling in where I wouldn't tread.

  "Maybe." I hesitated, but if she couldn't help me, I didn't know who could. "He changes the color of his eyes. I think he wears brown contacts. Last time I saw him, he had a tattoo. A sword, down one arm."

  The sword did it. She stared at me hard right before her face disappeared. The door slammed shut, and I could hear the chain come off. "Why should I help you?" She was looking at Derrick again, but she let us in. "You can't stay long. Probably the neighbors have already seen you though." She made it sound like a death knell.

  "Ted will beat you because you had visitors?"

  She just looked down.

  "Maybe Derrick can go talk to your neighbor," I suggested darkly. "Do they all tattle on you?"

  She looked startled. "No, only Waterbee. She's one of those religious converts that believes in obeying one's husband. Not that she's ever been married." She shrugged. "Eileen, next door, wouldn't tell a soul if I had pimps over here all day. She'd probably come over and join in the fun." Marilyn actually smiled.