by B A Trimmer
I wasn’t sure how to bring up what I’d learned, so I just plunged in.
“Mr. Darby, I’ll be completely candid with you. It turns out the resort had a record of where the call canceling the wedding originated. It came from right here.”
“What?” he asked, sounding genuinely surprised. “You think I was involved?”
“The last time we talked, you said you thought your wife worked too hard. You also said you’d like to see her cut down on the number of weddings she was involved with. From your perspective, having her out of the house nights, weekends, and holidays could have been an issue.”
“I do think she works too hard. I also hate the fact that she’s never home anymore, but I’ve never done anything to sabotage her work.”
“Since you’re married, the password to her email account is something you easily could have gained access to.”
“Miss Black,” he said. “I don’t know how you can come in here and accuse me of doing anything to harm my wife….”
As I looked at him, he seemed to come to some sort of conclusion, and his face fell.
“Oh, no,” he said quietly. He looked at me. “Um, the call that came from here to cancel the wedding, was it from a man or a woman?”
“It was a woman. I’m assuming you had somebody do it for you.”
“Oh, you stupid twits,” a voice called out from the door to the office. We looked over to see Julie glaring at us. “How can you both be so dense?”
“Julie?” he asked. “Was it you?”
“Of course, it was me,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice. “You’ve been miserable ever since that stupid wedding business took over Kristine’s life. She’s never at home, and even when she occasionally flits into the house, she doesn’t make the smallest effort to be with you.” She was starting to look fanatical.
“Oh, Julie,” Andrew said, shaking his head. “Even if I wasn’t happy at home, why would you do this?”
“Andrew, I knew you couldn’t see what was happening, but it had gotten to the point where it started to affect your mood and personality. You were always the sweetest and the most wonderful person. I needed to do something to make it better for you,” Julie said imploringly.
“How did you do it?” I asked. “How did you break into her emails?”
Julie rolled her eyes at me. “Kristine came over here about six months ago, so Andrew could take her to lunch. When she arrived, Andrew was in a meeting, so she borrowed my computer to check an attachment in an email. When Kristine read it, she went into a panic and took off. There was some problem with one of her weddings, of course,” she sneered.
Julie shook her head and sighed, her voice switching to wistful. “I would give anything to have a quiet lunch with Andrew, and she just blew it off like it was no big deal. I mean, how could a proper wife even think about doing that to her husband?”
“Did you see her log in to her email account?” I asked.
“It was even better than that,” she said with a nasty laugh. “Kristine was in such a hurry to rush out, she didn’t log out. Plus, my computer remembered her password. I’ve been able to get into her emails ever since. Well, I could until she changed her password a few days ago.”
“And that’s when you decided to start calling directly?” I prodded.
“It was easy. People tell me all the time I sound just like Kristine. And from the emails, I knew the details of the events I was canceling. So, I thought, why not? If they heard Kristine’s own voice canceling everything, how could she deny it? She’d have to stop being a wedding planner and go back to being a proper wife.”
“You’re saying you sabotaged Kristine’s weddings to make things better for me?” Andrew asked.
“I thought if I could force Kristine into stopping her stupid wedding planning business, she would go back to taking care of you, as a proper wife should. I know if you were my husband, I’d treat you like a king.”
Watching Julie was kind of like looking at one of those two-faced dolls switching back and forth: sweet and heartfelt one minute, angry and condescending the next.
“Did you do anything to sabotage the wedding happening on New Year’s Eve?” I asked.
“Um, yeah,” she said, gazing adoringly at Andrew. “I’ve called and left messages with the Barrington, the florist, the DJ, and the photographer that the wedding was canceled. You may want to call them and tell them it’s back on.”
“Crap, I hope it’s not too late.” I stared hard at Julie. “Can I assume you’re going to stop doing anything else to Kristy’s weddings?”
She nodded her head. “Yes, I’ll stop.”
I looked at Andrew. “I need to work with Kristy to fix the next wedding. I’ll let you work on how you want to straighten everything out with your wife.”
“Yeah,” he said as he shook his head. “That’s going to be tricky.”
“I also don’t know where it goes from here. I suppose a lot of it will depend on Kristy. I get the feeling Julie broke about a dozen laws over the past couple of months.”
~~~~
I got into my car and called Kristy. “Hey,” I said. “I’ve got some news. I need to talk with you, right away. Where are you?”
“I’m at home.”
“Okay, I’ll be right over.”
When I pulled up to Kristy’s house, the front door opened. She must have been watching for me to arrive.
“Hey,” I said. “Let’s go back to your office.”
We went back to Kristy’s den and sat at the small conference table. I took a moment to look out at the beautiful tropical oasis Kristy had created in the backyard. It was peaceful.
Kristy was looking at me expectantly, so I plunged right in.
“We found out where the call to cancel last night’s wedding originated. It came from Darby Capital Management.”
“From Andrew?” she asked as her face fell. “I can’t believe he’d do anything like that.
“No, it wasn’t your husband. It turns out it was Julie, his admin.”
“Julie?” Kristy asked, clearly puzzled. “Why would she do that?
“It’s pretty apparent she’s had a crush on your husband for some time. Her jealousy, combined with resentment over you not paying enough attention to Andrew, drove her to try to ruin your business.”
“Julie’s been working with Andrew ever since I first met him. That was ten years ago. I wonder how close their relationship has been over the years?”
“Um, I’m not sure. I didn’t sense anything was going on between them. Still, he didn’t seem overly surprised when he found out it was her.”
“Even if she was somehow in love with him, I still can’t believe Julie’s been the one sabotaging everything the entire time. It just seems too unreal.”
“Well, your husband knows all about it now, and I think the problems will stop. But we still have to deal with the wedding on Saturday. According to Julie, she called the Barrington and canceled the venue. She also called the florist, the DJ, and the photographer.”
“Crap,” Kristy said. “I need to start calling right now and straighten everything out.”
“Do you think we can pull everything back together in time for Grandma’s wedding?”
“Since the wedding is on New Year’s Eve, people might have already made other plans. But I don’t care what it takes. I’ll make sure it happens smoothly.”
~~~~
I grabbed a quick lunch at the In-N-Out drive-through, then headed back to the office. Lenny’s car wasn’t in the back, but Gina’s was.
I went to my cubicle and collapsed in my chair.
“You look like you’ve had an interesting day,” Gina said.
“Yesterday afternoon, I got a video of Michael Palmer being unfaithful, and today I found out it was Andrew Darby’s admin who’s been sabotaging the weddings. I just came back from telling Kristy.”
“Well, you’ve been productive,” she said with a laugh.
The back security door
opened and Lenny came shuffling in. The side of his face was bright red and he seemed to be walking a little stiffly.
“Wow,” Gina said. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” Lenny said with a wide grin. “Um, golf was great.”
“Are you sure everything’s good?” I asked. “You seem a little wiped out.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” he said, still grinning. “I’m going up front to my office. Don’t bother me for a while unless it’s something important. I’m going to have a Beam, a few cigarettes, and think about, um, golfing for a while.”
Lenny walked up to the front. Less than a minute later, Sophie came back to the breakroom.
“Hey,” she said. “Did you see Lenny?”
“It looks like Countess Carla really worked him over,” Gina said.
“Yeah, but he seemed happy,” Sophie said. “Maybe it’ll help?”
“How did Kristy react to the news that her husband’s admin was the one causing all the trouble?” Gina asked.
“She handled it better than I probably would have,” I said. “But I don’t think she’s dwelling on her husband yet. She seems more focused on cleaning up the mess Julie, the admin, caused.”
“And this admin’s been secretly in love with Kristy’s husband this whole time?” Gina asked. “How long have they worked together?”
“According to Kristy, Julie’s been with Andrew for over ten years.”
“It sounds like she wanted more than to simply ruin Kristy’s business. It sounds like she was looking for ways to sabotage the marriage as well. Once things calm down, I can see Kristy and her husband having a long talk.”
“I agree,” I said. “I don’t think things at the Darby house will be settled for a while.”
~~~~
Jessica Palmer was due to show up soon, so I walked back up front with Sophie.
“Hey,” she said when we got to her desk, “on that Snow Ghost thing. While you were gone, I got a ton of stuff back from the secret software. It runs to like eighteen pages.”
“Really? That’s great. I don’t suppose it says where he’s currently living?”
“You don’t seriously think I read all eighteen pages. Do you?”
“Fine. Let me have them and I’ll go through it. Buzz me when the client gets here?”
~~~~
I went back to my cubicle and called Max. “Hey,” I said when he answered. “I have some news about Viktor.”
“Really? You’re very efficient. Should we do this over the phone or do you want to meet?”
“It probably would be better in person.”
Max thought about it for a moment. “I hadn’t planned on going home until after the nine o’clock wrap-up meeting, but I can do it from the house. Would you like to meet over there for dinner?”
“That would be perfect.”
“I’ll let Beatrice know. She always likes to cook for someone other than me.”
After I disconnected with Max, I flipped through the report on Viktor. Gabriella had been right. The guy was seriously bad news. He ran a crime and terror organization that spanned the border regions between the countries of Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
I read through page after page of the attacks and atrocities his group had carried out. I could see why both sides had wanted to take him down.
~~~~
Ten minutes later, Sophie called to let me know Jessica Palmer had arrived. I joined her with Lenny in the main conference room.
“I want to see who he was with,” she said. “Show me.”
The conference room had a computer and I used it to bring up a video file on the TV mounted to the wall. I knew from viewing it before that this camera gave the clearest view of the activities on the bed.
Our client watched in silence for several minutes before she spoke. She was a lot calmer than I would have been in her place.
“I know that woman from somewhere,” she said. “I just can’t place her.”
We let the video play for another four or five minutes. By this point, things on the bed were starting to get hot and heavy.
I noticed Lenny was watching as intently as our client. I even saw Sophie watching the video through the glass walls of the conference room.
“Oh, my God,” Jessica said. “I remember who that is. That’s Megan Hastings. She was a surgical intern at the hospital last year. I saw her two weeks ago, at the hospital’s holiday party.” Jessica slowly shook her head. “Bitch.”
“Very well,” Lenny said in his professional lawyer voice. “Now that we have proof of infidelity, we can move forward. Of course, even though his actions are clearly reprehensible, there’s nothing illegal in what they’re doing. She appears to be over the age of consent. But we can certainly imply we have additional videos of him at the townhouse. We’ll stipulate as part of our negotiation that all copies of the videos will be destroyed. That is, if they play ball with us.”
Our client nodded her head and I got up to leave. From here on, it would be Lenny sending a dozen letters back and forth to the opposing counsel, along with the tons of paperwork needed to start a contested divorce with kids. My part of this assignment was done.
“Thank you,” Jessica said to me. “I don’t know what you had to do to get a video like that. Actually, I really don’t want to know the details. But now, I’ll be able to go forward with this. My husband isn’t just moody. He’s a jerk, and I know I’m doing the right thing. It means a lot to me.”
“Sure,” I said. “I’m glad I could help.”
~~~~
“What are you going to do about the hospital thing?” Sophie asked as I sat in the chair next to her desk. Lenny was in his office, and Gina was out. “With that big build-up with the sex, and the blackmail, and a warehouse full of drugs, I can’t believe it’s all over.”
“I don’t know what else I can do,” I said. “I’m not the police, and I’m not sure how deeply I want to get involved in something like that.”
“It just seems kind of disappointing,” Sophie said. “The blackmail ring is still going on somewhere. Lillian Abbot and that Benny guy are still tossing doctors off bridges and burying people in the desert. Even the curse of Scottsdale General will still be going strong.”
“I know. I hate leaving a job half done, but I don’t know what else I can do.”
“Well, I suppose we shouldn’t get too emotional over it. I’m sure Lenny is already thinking about how to load you up with another two or three assignments.”
Great.
~~~~
I swung by my place to make sure Marlowe had food in his bowl and to pick up a few things. I made it to Max’s a little after six.
As he opened the door, I threw my arms around him in a long hug. It felt incredible as he hugged me back.
“You don’t know how much I needed that,” I said. “It’s been a crazy day.”
“Bad?”
“No, just crazy.”
As we walked into the living room, I smelled something delightful coming from the kitchen.
“Laura,” Beatrice said as she walked over to me. She was a plus-sized woman, in her late fifties, and had an accent I never could place. I always thought it sounded a little like Gabriella’s. “I’m so glad you could come to the house. It’s more fun than cooking only for Max.”
“It smells wonderful,” I said.
“I make you sarmale and mici tonight. You may have had them before, but never like I make them. You’ll see.”
“Um, it sounds great,” I said, having no idea what she was talking about.
It turned out that sarmale were cabbage rolls filled with pork, and mici were grilled minced meat rolls. These were a bit outside of what I usually ate, but everything was delicious.
Max opened a bottle of red wine I’d never heard of before called Ramnista. Beatrice hovered and fussed until we told her several times how perfect everything was.
Once we had worked our way through dinner and had opened a second bottle of wine, Beatr
ice told us good night. She also warned Max not to clean anything up. She said she’d get to it first thing in the morning.
“You wanted to talk about Viktor?” Max asked when we were alone.
“What’s your take on him? I know he’s going to be coming after Gabriella.”
“There isn’t a lot to tell,” he said. “Viktor Pyotrovich Glazkov is, or at least was, the head of a wealthy crime and terror syndicate that covered three countries at the intersection of Europe and Asia.”
“I was reading about some of the things they did. They seemed to be responsible for a lot of misery in that part of the world.”
“Gabriella led the team tasked by the Major and her government to eliminate them, one by one. She was about halfway through the operation when Major Malakov went nuts and went on his killing spree. At the time, Viktor swore vengeance on her.”
“Fleeing from an enemy doesn’t seem like Gabriella.”
“It wasn’t that she was running from him. We gave her an opportunity to come to the west and she took it.”
“What do you think about what the Major said? Was he serious about calling Viktor and telling him about Gabriella?”
“I’m sure he was. I’ve never known him to bluff. And if Viktor now knows where Gabriella is, it could be a serious problem.”
“I know she’s thinking about going after him. She said she was looking for information that could help her.”
“I take it that’s the intel you came up with?”
“Yes,” I said as I pulled the report out of my bag and placed it on the table. Max picked it up and started flipping through it.
“According to the report,” I said, “he’s currently living in a place called Sevastopol. I looked it up and it’s on the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea.”
“I’ve actually been there. It’s a beautiful city and I can see its attraction to Viktor.”
“But why there?”
“Sevastopol is in the Republic of Crimea. But the country is claimed by both Russia and Ukraine. As you can imagine, the local government’s a mess and it’s pretty easy to fly under the radar. Does the report list an address?”