3 Bad Guys Get Caught

by Marie Astor

  Ham shook his head. “If this Libby character has any common sense, he already hid everything that needed hiding. Well, I’ll leave you to it.” Ham rose from his chair. “Sorry to have ruined your weekend,” he added. With an apologetic wave of his hand, Ham left the office.

  A few minutes later Dennis and Janet were seated behind the large table in the conference room. Dennis spread the contents of the folder on the table, looking over each piece of paper and passing it over to Janet.

  “A townhouse in Tribeca? That’s a snazzy neighborhood,” Dennis remarked after they had gone through the file contents.

  “Libby represents lower Manhattan, so I guess residing in the area makes it more authentic.”

  “Libby and his wife live in a townhouse. How do you afford it on a councilman’s salary?”

  “Well, Libby was an associate at a law firm before he became a councilman. He must’ve saved up some money.”

  “I don’t see too many law firm associates living it up in Tribeca townhouses. Factor in the fact that his wife is a teacher and it makes you wonder where the money is coming from.”

  “Come on, Dennis. Do you really think he’d be stupid enough to be that obvious? If he’s running for public office, he knows that his entire life will be under a microscope.”

  “Well, let’s find out.” Dennis grabbed his cell phone.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Calling to schedule an appointment with Mr. Libby.”

  “Don’t you think we should go through the file one more time? Make some notes?”

  “There’s nothing in that file except for the most basic information. The clock is ticking and we need to find out the rest.” Dennis punched in Libby’s phone number and waited for an answer. “Mr. Libby? Yes, this is Dennis Walker. Yes, thank you very much. I was hoping my associate, Janet Maple, and I might meet with you today. We will not take more than an hour of your time. Yes, wonderful. Thank you for your understanding; see you then.”

  “So, when are we meeting him?” Janet asked impatiently.

  “Right now,” Dennis replied.

  “Great. This is going to be fun.” Janet rose from her chair. “Ready?”

  “I was born ready.”

  “Of course you were.” Normally, Janet would have laughed, but right now she was annoyed. She wasn’t going to say it out loud, but it irked her that Dennis had referred to her as his “associate” during his conversation with Libby. My associate, my foot, she thought. They were partners. “What are we waiting for?” Janet asked, seeing Dennis linger in the doorway.

  “I was just thinking that it might be better if I met with Libby alone.”

  “Why is that?”

  Dennis shrugged. “I just have a hunch.”

  “Do you think that we should base the entire investigation on your hunch?” Janet did her best to sound calm.

  “Not the entire investigation, but I do think that it might be useful if Libby didn’t meet both of us face to face. Who knows, one of us may need to go undercover.”

  “One of us? Aren’t you the ace when it comes to undercover work? Why don’t I meet with Libby then?”

  “Normally it would be a good idea, but I think I could get him to open up more.”

  “What makes you think so?”

  “Men tend to be more open with other men.”

  You think you’re better than me, Janet thought, but decided to hold her tongue.

  “I promise I’ll tell you everything over dinner tonight. Seven o’clock, your place?”

  “Yes. I’ll make steak,” Janet blurted out mechanically, instantly regretting her words. Sure, she liked cooking for Dennis, but right now she was mad at him.

  Dennis raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like a lot of work.”

  “Don’t you have any confidence in my cooking skills?”

  “I have great confidence in your skills, of which you have many. I just don’t think they should be wasted on slaving away at the stove. Why don’t you run a background search on Libby while I sound him out?”

  “Sure, I’ll see what I can find,” Janet replied coolly. Background search, my ass, she thought. If Dennis expected her to do the grunt work for him while he frolicked with Libby, he had another thing coming. It was going to be takeout for dinner.

  Chapter 2

  Half an hour later Dennis was walking up the front stoop of Libby’s townhouse.

  “Ready or not, here I come,” Dennis muttered under his breath as he pressed the doorbell button.

  A few moments later the door opened, and Julius Libby himself stood in the doorway. Dennis instantly recognized Libby’s face from the photos that Ham had provided in the file. Dennis could certainly understand why, at least on the surface, Libby was an excellent choice for a senator role. With a charming boyish smile, dark brown eyes, and muscular physique, Julius Libby was a very handsome man.

  “Dennis? Please, come in,” Libby welcomed him into a spacious foyer. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you.” Libby shook Dennis’s hand in a firm handshake.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Dennis replied. “Thank you for meeting me on such a short notice.”

  “It’s no problem, really. I had an opening in my calendar, but my wife and I do have a commitment in a few hours,” Libby added pointedly. “So in the future, you might want to schedule with my assistant ahead of time.”

  “Will do, sir,” Dennis replied deferentially.

  Just then a blond slender woman joined them in the foyer. “Dennis, I’d like you to meet my wife Christina,” Libby made the introduction.

  “You have a lovely home, Mrs. Libby,” Dennis remarked.

  “Thank you.” Christina smiled. “We moved in here a year ago. I thought it was a little much, but Julius had insisted. Before we were on the Lower East Side; Julius’s folks are still there. That’s where he grew up.”

  “That’s a very nice area.”

  “Yes, it is. To tell you the truth, I miss it. This place just seems so big, but Julius tells me that a man’s home needs to resemble his social position—” Dennis noticed Libby shoot a sharp glance at his wife, and Christina placed her hand over her mouth. “But look at me blabbering on and keeping you from important matters.”

  “Nonsense!” Libby exclaimed. “Darling, you’d better start getting ready for this evening’s engagement. We wouldn’t want to be late,” he added, squeezing his wife’s hand.

  “Yes, dear. I’ll leave you to it.” With one last smile Christina left the two men in one another’s company.

  “Dennis, should we go into the library? It’s right this way,” Libby instructed.

  Dennis followed his host, observing the surroundings. The house was decorated in minimalist décor with abstract paintings hanging on the walls. Dennis was not a fan of abstract art, but he knew enough about it to notice that the artworks on Libby’s walls had to be worth a substantial sum of money. “Is that a de Kooning?” Dennis asked casually.

  “Yes, it is,” Libby confirmed. “Of course it’s only a lithograph, but it’s a signed edition, and over there is a Mondrian. It’s an amazing story, actually. I found both of these lithographs at a garage sale. It cost me all of fifty dollars. The seller thought they were worthless and had no idea about either of the artists. I minored in art in college. It’s always been a passion of mine.”

  “These prints are wonderful,” Dennis agreed, hoping he sounded convincing. He thought the gibberish hanging on the walls looked like paint splattered by a five-year-old, but then he did not minor in art. Still, his opinion did not change the fact these “artworks” were worth a substantial amount of money.

  “Here we are,” said Julius, halting before a closed door and swinging it open. “After you.”

  The room was almost the size of Dennis’s studio apartment. Bookcases stretching from floor to ceiling lined the walls. In the middle of the room stood a leather couch with two leather armchairs and a reading table. There was even a fireplace. Next to it stood a l
iquor cart housing decanters filled with what looked to be whiskey and cognac.

  “Please, have a seat,” said Julius, motioning at the leather couch.

  “Thank you.” Dennis briefly eyed the books on the shelves. Some of the bindings looked like first editions.

  “Cigar?” Libby pointed at a cigar box on the table.

  “No, thank you,” Dennis declined. “I don’t smoke.”

  “Neither do I, but I keep them in the house for guests. I’d offer you a drink, but it’s too early in the day.”

  “That’s all right. Please, don’t trouble yourself.” Dennis smiled, running his hand against the supple couch leather. Just like the rest of the things in Libby’s household, it was expensive.

  “So, Dennis, what is it that you’d like to know about me?” Libby asked, crossing his legs.

  “I work for a private intelligence agency—” Dennis began.

  “The party hired you to spy on me,” Julius cut in.

  Dennis smiled, unabashed. “Our agency has been retained to vet your candidacy.”

  “Very well. Then we should just get right to it.”

  “Is there anything in your past or present that could harm you in your campaign for the senator seat?” asked Dennis.

  “Not a thing,” Libby assured him, flashing his porcelain-white teeth. “You’re welcome to poke around as much as you’d like. Feel free to come down to my office and take a look at the records, if you’d like.”

  “Perhaps you could tell me about yourself to save me some of the effort?”

  “I thought the old man would have provided you with such basic information.”

  “He did, but I’d like to hear from you.”

  Libby nodded. “Of course. I was born on the Lower East Side where my parents lived in a rent-controlled apartment in a walk-up. My parents were both teachers. My mother taught math and my father taught physics. They are both retired now. Their greatest hope for me was to become a scientist, but unfortunately I did not inherit my parents’ scientific minds. I did however excel at history and English. I was captain of the debate team, and as I already told you, I always loved art.”

  ***

  That’s just great, Janet thought, as she leafed through Julius Libby’s file for the umpteenth time. Dennis was out there charming Libby with witty conversation, while she was stuck in the office, on a Saturday to boot, trying to find dirt on Libby. Her already bad mood was made worse by the fact that she had failed to find what she was looking for. At least on the surface Libby looked to be an exemplary citizen. A graduate of Harvard Law, he spent the first two years of his career clerking for a judge. Then came a five-year stint at a prestigious law firm. At thirty-two years of age Libby became councilman representing lower Manhattan and had held this position for the past five years. If Libby were to snag the senator seat in the upcoming election, his career would become an example of perfection.

  So far, everything about Libby’s background had checked out, at least on the surface. Janet had even found a legitimate explanation about Libby’s luxurious digs. Apparently, Libby had invested into a startup company that went public, turning his original investment of fifty thousand into five million. Investments like these didn’t happen every day, but they did exist. After all, Microsoft was started out of a car garage. Not that Libby had invested into Microsoft; in fact, after its initial rise, the company in question had disappeared into obscurity. With his newly found wealth, Libby had splurged on his house, but he had also made sizeable donations to charity. Still, Janet wasn’t buying it; the man just seemed too good to be true. Janet made a mental note to check into that later. She wondered if Dennis was doing any better. Would his meeting with Libby give him any clues? If Dennis kept his word, she would learn the answers tonight. Meanwhile, she had an empty Saturday afternoon to fill.

  Just then her cell phone rang. Janet recognized her friend Katie’s number on the caller id.

  “Where are you?” Katie’s voice rang in the receiver.

  “At the office. Why?” Janet replied distractedly.

  “Because you were supposed to meet me for cake tasting, that’s why.”

  “Oh, no! I completely forgot!” Janet slapped her forehead. “I thought it was next Saturday.”

  “All that sex with Dennis has turned you into a space cadet.”

  Janet remained silent; the truth of the matter was that Katie was absolutely right.

  “As a result I’m staring at five different wedding cake varieties. I’m in real danger of sugar overdose,” Katie continued.

  “I can be there in fifteen minutes,” Janet lied. It would take at least twenty five, but New York traffic was always an excellent excuse.

  “You’d better hurry or there might not be any cake left for you to try.”

  “Hold that fork. I’ll be right there.” Janet slammed shut Libby’s file, shoving it into a desk drawer. Libby would just have to wait. Right now, she had to help her best friend pick a wedding cake.

  Moments later Janet was seated in a cab, heading for Balthazar Bakery in the Village. Once the cab pulled over on Spring Street, she jumped out on the curb and rushed to the entrance. Janet checked her watch; as she had predicted the trip from her office took more than fifteen minutes. As soon as she opened the door, she saw Katie seated behind a table laden with cakes. Despite Katie’s threat to polish off all the cakes on her own, each slice only had a tiny bit cut away. “I’m so sorry,” Janet panted. “The traffic was horrible.”

  “Yeah, right. Cry me a river. Sit down and get to work. These babies have been waiting for you long enough.” Katie pointed her fork at the delectable-looking confections.

  “Yes, sir.” Janet took a seat and plunged her fork into the cake slice closest to her. “Umm, this is delicious,” she mumbled with her mouthful.

  “They are all delicious,” Katie observed. “The question is which one of them is the best choice.”

  “Which one is the one I just tried?” Janet asked, still savoring the decadent sweetness.

  “That was red velvet. Now try white chocolate.” Katie pointed to a slice of white cake with buttery frosting.

  “Oh-oh, this one’s even better,” Janet managed between the bites.

  “Well, don’t eat all of it! You’ve got to leave some room for the rest of them to make the decision.” Katie snatched the rest of the cake from Janet’s reach.

  After three more trials Janet pushed her chair back. “I don’t think I could eat another bite.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “What? I have a sweet tooth. Besides, it’d be a crime for all this deliciousness to go to waste.”

  “You’ve got a point. Plus I’m sure that all that wild sex with Dennis will burn off the calories in no time.”

  “Katie!”

  “What? There’s nothing wrong in having sex with the man you love. I do it with Adam all the time.” Adam Lewis was Katie’s fiancé who also happened to be a partner in her law firm.

  “Yes.” Janet nodded. Right now was not the time to think about it, but the thought buzzed in her mind like a nagging fly. “Do you and Adam ever get competitive about work?” she blurted out despite her better judgment.

  “Where is that coming from?” Katie eyed her suspiciously. “Is there trouble in paradise?”

  “No, nothing like that. I was just wondering.”

  “I can always tell when you’re trying to hide something. Out with it. What did Dennis do this time? No matter how hard he tries, the guy just can’t seem to get a break.”

  “Come on! You don’t even know what happened and you’re making it sound like it’s all my fault.”

  “So something did happen!” Katie pounced. “Out with it!”

  “Dennis and I are working on a new case—” Janet broke off, careful not to spill the details of the assignment. “It’s confidential, so I can’t really talk about it, but I can say that Dennis took the lead with the case and just went off without me. He’s out in the field and I’m st
uck doing the grunt work.”

  “So it pisses you off?”

  “Yes, that about sums it up.” Janet reached for another forkful of cake.

  Katie leaned back in her chair, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers. “Does solving a case give you as much pleasure as having sex with Dennis?”

  “Katie!” Janet nearly spit out the cake she had shoved in her mouth.

  “Well, does it? And stop gobbling up all that cake. You still have to fit into your maid of honor dress and it is going to be very form-fitting.”

  “Well, excuse me, Mr. Drill Sergeant!” Janet pushed the plate away. “By the way, before we get completely off the topic, I think that white chocolate is the winner.”

  “Agreed. Now, back to the more important subject,” Katie added pointedly. “Does solving a case—”

  “All right already! Of course it doesn’t; it doesn’t even come close.”

  “Good. Does solving a case make you feel as warm and fuzzy inside as when Dennis tells you how beautiful you are or how smart you are?”

  “Nope.”

  “Have you considered that the very reason Dennis is taking the lead is because he wants to show off for you?”

  Janet shook her head. “It never really crossed my mind. Do you really think so?”

  “I know so. Adam used to do it all the time. He still does it now and then. That’s how men are; they want us to swoon over how powerful and smart they are.”

  “So how do you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “How do you not get pissed off at Adam?”

  “Oh, that’s easy. We just don’t get assigned to the same cases.”

  “I don’t think I have the same option. Our agency is too small.”

  “Have you tried talking to Dennis?”

  “Nope. It’s only just happened this morning.”

  “Well then, talk to the man and see what he says. Communication is key to a healthy relationship.”