by K. T. Tomb
“Well, that’s alright,” Courtney replied. “Why don’t you come sit down, have a glass of wine?”
“That sounds… incredible,” Kim said.
“Great. Follow me,” Courtney replied, walking in.
The mood was extremely tense. Courtney hated that this is where their newly rekindled friendship had led them, but she needed to know what was going on with Kim.
Courtney walked into the kitchen and poured two glasses of wine. It was a Cabernet Sauvignon from 2012 and it was one of her favorites. She brought Kim her glass and then they sat for a few moments in silence. Courtney had so many questions racing through her mind, but she just couldn’t bring herself to speak. At that point, she figured she would wait and let Kim start the conversation when she was ready.
“So,” Kim said. “When I was asked—promoted, whatever you want to call it—to oversee the PTX marketing program, I was extremely excited. It was a huge opportunity for me and I’d been looking forward to being a project lead on something like that for a really long time. The PTX campaign has kind of become my… my creative baby. I wanted it to work out. So I leaned into it and personally got to know all the top chemical engineers in the company, got to know their process and understand what they were trying to achieve. I felt that to effectively market the brand, I’d need to know what the company’s goals were for it from the roots up.”
“Okay…” Courtney did not know what else to say at that point.
“So I followed this project through every step—from the initial synthesis to the beta prototypes to the final synthesis and the end product; everything went extremely well. We had almost no hiccups. Then we started getting calls about our beta protos. The people who’d been taking them in the clinical trials were having some serious side effects. But we didn’t panic because once they cycled off, the issues went away. It was a pretty easy fix. We did some blood work and tweaked our formula. Once we got that done, everything was back on track, and so then, we moved into the final testing phase of the product,” Kim finished.
“Okay, that makes sense,” Courtney said. “So far, so good.”
“We start interviewing potential test subjects. And some of these guys that were coming in were… just… you remember our binary scale?” Kim asked Courtney.
“Uh… yeah, I think so?” she replied.
“That stupid rating system we came up with in college for guys? On the worst night, at your drunkest; if you would still take the dude home, then he was a one. If not, they were a zero. Because if the club was cold and you were wasted enough, most guys would be a one! Right?” Kim prompted her.
“Oh, duh,” Courtney said. “Now I remember. Yes, the binary system. Okay, got it.”
“Right. During the interview process, I saw more zeros than I frankly care to remember. Those that were not completely a zero got into the placebo group, but the majority of them we said no to. I put my marketing team on it and we started getting some better volunteers… they were easily all twos.”
“Ummm, but there’s no twos in binary code,” Courtney pointed out.
“Exactly. But these guys that were coming in were attractive. Smart. Funny. We needed those guys. We needed the All-American poster boys, the guys next door, ya know?”
“Kim?” Courtney said tentatively.
“No, you said you wanted the whole story, Court, so you’re going to hear me out. I met this guy. He was tall, funny and attractive and I… I couldn’t wait to see what PTX was going to do to his body. I was completely swept off my feet. And even though I was married, for a long time my marriage had felt more like a business partnership than love shared between two people,” Kim said. Then her expression changed suddenly as she took in the look on my face.
“Did you forget that I… that this is why… I’m divorced?” Courtney asked.
“Oh, hon, I’m so sorry. I’m trying to… I’m going to get through this part as fast as I can, okay? Anyway, this guy made me feel like a princess. Like there wasn’t anyone else in the world for him and that no matter what, I would have him and he would have me. So when he had his option for how long he wanted to be on the PTX program, he picked the longest tenure he could. It was the best way for him to be close to me. And we had an unfettered amount of time together. Away from everything… away from Kyle. Our feelings for each other got stronger. We ended up in each other’s beds more and more. Five years, Courtney. The affair went on for five years. Time I stole from my husband and time I spent uncommitted to my marriage. So, I decided that once his trial for PTX ended, I would break it off. And, I did.”
“I feel your need to unburden yourself, Kim, even if I don’t appreciate it being to me. But what the hell does this have to do with Steve?”
“It’s his gym, Court. He owns Green’s Fitness. I was having an affair with Lawrence Green.”
“Motherfucker!”
“Yeah! That’s one way of putting it,” Kim replied sarcastically.
“But…” Courtney was blown away… rendered completely speechless.
“It’s a conflict of interest, Court and that’s the least of it,” she paused and gulped down the wine in her glass before continuing. “Once PTX cleared the FDA, it was time for me and my team to wow everyone at BoostTech, but the market was saturated and we knew it. I needed a plan. Something to kick start the product and get it into the right hands. I knew once it got on the market, the results athletes would get would speak for themselves and PTX would bulldoze everything else out there.”
“That’s where Lawrence came in?”
“Yes. He’d just take on Yago to cut out a niche in the bodybuilding arena for Green’s Fitness. He’d thrown a lot of money into Yago’s competition sponsorships but the gym’s share of the profits from the program was too small to keep things lucrative. I suggested that they include PTX as the preferred supplement and hike their package price; sell it as an all-inclusive program. Yago’s all-or-nothing, no-half-ass persona was a great match for the pitch. So, overnight I had a standing order of over 100 cases a month, Lawrence was making money hand over fist, Yago had a product that was making him look like a god and Green’s was making a name for being the best bodybuilding gym in the Midwest. Everyone was happy. Until Steve went batshit crazy.”
“So, you and Lawrence are still…?”
“No, we broke it off when he left BoostTech, but what we were involved in is tantamount to conspiracy, Court. We could be in a lot of trouble.”
“I get that, Kim. I’m not brain dead. What about Steve?”
“Honestly, if my company gets their hands on him, they’re not going to help; they’re going to make him disappear. By any means necessary. The entire project would be ruined if anyone made a connection to BoostTech and they’re going to make sure that that never happens.”
“Do you still have feelings for him? For Lawrence, I mean?” Courtney asked. “If this all goes pear-shaped, he’s going down with the ship too, you know?”
“That is such a difficult question to answer. He was a major part of my life for five whole years. How can I just turn my back on him?” Kim said.
“Yeah… you really don’t have a lot of options there, do ya? Seems like Steve disappears and you all get away with it, or you give up BoostTech’s plan to murder him and expose yourself and the company you work for. Definitely no win-wins around here,” Courtney said.
“Ugh, Court, please don’t judge me,” Kim said.
“I won’t, Kim. I’m your friend. I want to help. So let’s figure this out. First thing we need to do is find Steve, right?” Courtney said.
“Yes, and then we need to get him somewhere safe so he can dry out and get healthy… and then we have to figure out how to get him off BoostTech’s radar,” Kim said.
“That might just be a matter of how much the police know about the murders. If they’ve got nothing, then BoostTech shouldn’t feel threatened by him. Should we go check out that house? I haven’t even touched my wine; I can drive,” Courtney asked.
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br /> “That’s not a terrible idea, actually. If he’s there, he’s there and if not, no loss. A pass-by can’t really hurt anything, can it?” Kim asked.
“No, it can’t—alright, finally some action! Let’s go find this guy if he’s there, we’ll do what we can to help him. If not, then we’ll have to come back and figure out our plan B, okay?” Courtney asked.
“Yeah, that sounds exactly right.”
Chapter Ten
“Where the hell do you think the two of them are going at this time of night?” Scully said as he elbowed Jacobs awake.
“Where, what? Huh?” Jacobs said.
“I can’t believe they’re leaving. We have to follow them,” said Scully.
“Sounds good; let’s go,” Jacobs exclaimed.
They followed the Kia Sorento that pulled out of the driveway for about eight miles, and when they finally stopped, it was outside a house that had clearly been abandoned. Or at least did not have regular tenants or owners. The lawn was overgrown and there were a couple of shingles curling. The fence looked like it was starting to fall apart.
“What the hell?” Scully said under his breath.
“What are they doing here?” Jacobs asked.
“I have no idea,” Scully said. “These broads are out of their minds.”
They sat and waited a while, parked on the side of the street, and watched the house. Inside, though, things were very different.
***
“Oh my God, it stinks in here,” Courtney said.
“You are not kidding; it’s really, really bad,” Kim said.
“I know this smell,” Courtney replied. “It’s unwashed primate smell. Remember when I took that summer internship at the San Diego Zoo?”
“Yeah,” Kim said. “Why did you do that anyway?”
“They paid,” Court retorted. “Anyway, this is what it smelled like in the primate exhibit. Everything that is unclean about an animal all rolled into four walls, bottled up tight and heated to the point where everything starts to just… rot and reek and stink,” Courtney said.
“Well, it certainly is all of that in here and more,” Kim said. “If there really is a human living here... he is definitely living like an animal.”
“C’mon, let’s check out the basement… start there and work our way upstairs. There’s definitely somebody living here, though,” Courtney replied.
They opened the basement door and the stench of human waste heat was even more repulsive and overpowering. A stream of light illuminated the staircase from the door behind them and as if in protest, a gigantic bellow came from the darkness below. Suddenly, a solid hulk of mass barreled up the stairs at them and knocked the two women back a number of steps.
The crash was audible through the walls—it was an older house after all. Furniture crashed and crumbled underneath Kim as she landed on top of some old spindle back chairs, crushing them into splinters.
Courtney got lucky and only caught an elbow to the midsection. As she recovered, gasping and heaving in the putrid air, she looked up to see something out of a nightmare staring back at her. She scrambled quickly to her feet and ran over to where Kim had taken refuge among two dozen spindle dining chairs piled in a corner of the room in various states of disrepair. The thing she was seeing was roughly the shape of a man, but the stench was that of a bear that had hibernated in a heap of salmon all winter long. The creature had the bulk of a bear as well, and a tangled, matted, greasy hanging head of hair and something that resembled a beard covering its face.
***
Courtney had never seen someone with a beard that was in as bad of shape as the one this man-creature had, and she hated the stench of it as well. The creature bellowed in rage again, and swung fist after fist at her, trying to pull her out from the tangle of wood so that he could finish her off before going after Kim. Courtney was decently athletic. And she was able to avoid his charge. The creature hit the wall, and drywall crumbled dust all over the room.
“Okay,” Scully said outside. “That’s quite the ruckus going on in there. We’re not gonna sit out here any longer. Come on, I’m going in.”
“I’m right behind you. Those girls… they ran into something in there. We gotta help them,” and Scully and Jacobs burst out of their car and ran toward the house. The front door flew open, and Scully dropped to a knee aiming his pistol while over his shoulder, his partner called out a warning to the room.
“Waunakee police, FREEZE!” Jacobs shouted.
The thing in the corner screamed a challenge of rage at the officers and leaped toward Jacobs.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
He watched the body spin in the air, and it flopped onto the floor at his feet. He looked down into a face that was unmistakably human and yet something that he had never seen.
“Nice shooting, Jacobs,” Scully said as he got to his feet. That was really something. I thought we were doomed there.” Then he turned to Courtney and said, “Now. Want to tell us what the hell is going on here?”
“I… you really… you have to talk to her about that one,” Courtney said. “I was just along for the ride.”
Epilogue
Six months later
“Miss Crews, this book has been a complete departure from your usual work. Could you say what your inspiration was to write something so… thrilling?”
Courtney smiled at the reporter who’d asked the question. He was leaning forward with a small recording device in his hand, looking eager and expectant. They were standing outside the local bookstore in downtown Waunakee and the weather was kicking their asses.
It was the first reading of a 35-city tour for her latest novel and she had promised herself that she’d do things her way that time. She would give a press-only Q&A before each reading and book signing event in an effort to keep activities for the fans and the press separate… and intimate.
“I know it’s a lot different from what I usually write but it’s what was real for me at the time. For months, I couldn’t get anywhere writing another romance. I mean, come on, look at me! A thirty-something-year-old divorcee who hasn’t dated since before there were color display Kindles… seriously. What the hell do I know about romance? But what I did have a lot of in my life was excitement and adventure and friends and mystery. Even if I didn’t want to write about what was really going on, I could get into my car, hit the Interstate and go make something else happen that was worth writing about.”
The crowd murmured in response to her reply but it was generally a positive response. Another reporter stood up to ask a question; a woman this time. She was cute and rocking a retro rockabilly look.
“Courtney, In a Time of Turmoil is a raging success! But, now that you’ve cracked open this genie’s bottle, where do you see yourself going next?”
Courtney paused to let the woman’s question settle over the crowd, and then she took a deep breath.
“Honestly, I think that as an investigative researcher, I won’t be coming up short of ideas for thrillers anytime soon.”
The End
Return to the Table of Contents
SMOOTH OPERATOR
A thriller by
K.T. TOMB
Smooth Operator
Published by Quests Unlimited
Copyright © 2018 by K.T. Tomb
All rights reserved.
(Previously published)
Smooth Operator
Chapter One
The restaurant was packed for a Tuesday evening. Waiters and waitresses whipped by us carrying precariously balanced trays heaped with ice frosted beer mugs. A fountain gurgled nearby, water spouting from the mouth of a large breasted sea nymph.
“Why this restaurant?” asked the lady in front of me, an older black woman in her late fifties. Extremely fit for her age, her skin smooth. A professor at UCI, economics, and smart as hell.
“I like the fountain,” I said.
She looked over at it.
“Because of the tits?”
�
�That,” I said, “and because we won’t be overheard.”
She smiled. Wrinkles instantly appeared around her eyes and mouth.
“They say more business transactions are done around water fountains than anywhere else.”
“They’re soundproof,” I explained.
“So is this a business transaction?” she asked.
She looked at me from over her martini glass. Her red painted nail taps once on the stem of the glass. I can’t hear the tap due to the gurgling fountain. She waited in that position, using the drink as a buffer. There was a hint of embarrassment in her voice, some challenge, and even a little flirtation. I smiled at her warmly, reassuringly.
“In some ways, yes. This is how I make a living, so therefore some business does need to be discussed.”
“But in other ways?”
“In other ways, this is pleasure, as well.”
“But I do not pay for the pleasure.”
“Correct,” I said. “It is illegal to pay for the pleasure.”
“So I am paying for this,” she said, and set her glass down and swept her hand toward the table and myself.
“Yes,” I replied. “You are paying for my company and my time.”
“But not sex.”
“No.”
“But what if I just want sex?”
“Then I would have to terminate this evening.”
“Do you have to say that?”
“I have to deny your request for sex.”
“Because I might be a cop.”
“Exactly.”
“But you know I am not a cop. I was referred to you by one of your existing clients.”
“One can never be too safe,” I say.
“Because sometimes even existing clients can be turned by the police.”
“Yes,” I nodded. “Exactly.”
Our waitress came by, a young gal with a ponytail and a thin waist. There was a silver heart and a chain pierced at her navel. She smiled at me, having recognized me. But I do not flirt with waitresses while on business. I simply nodded. She asked what we would be having and I ordered for the two of us. King crab and lobster bisque soup.
