E is for Exposed

by Rebecca Cantrell

  “So, you want to tell me what this new case is?” he said, looking up.

  “Only if you promise not to make any smartass comments.”

  “I’m not sure I can promise I won’t make any, but I’ll try to keep them to a minimum.”

  Sofia considered his offer. “What’s a minimum?”

  “How do I know? What’s the case?”

  “It involves a middle-aged woman being blackmailed by a male stripper.”

  She could see that Aidan was fighting back a smirk. It gave his face a constipated look.

  “There’s also whipped cream. And the guy’s name is Python.”

  Aidan bit down hard on his lower lip. He was choking back laughter so hard that his face was turning bright red. “Python the stripper?”

  “That’s what I just said.”

  “And you wanted me to avoid making any smartass comments?”

  “Three. You can make three.”

  “Eight.”

  “Five,” countered Sofia.

  “Six.”

  “Five.”

  “Okay, five,” said Aidan, putting down the camera and scooting his chair towards her.

  Sofia started with the phone call from her mom. By the time she was halfway bringing Aidan up to speed on what Marcie had told her had happened at the performance, Aidan was already at five smartass comments, and Sofia was losing patience.

  If it wasn’t for the fact she really needed as much help as she could get, she would have told Aidan to forget it.

  She glared at him. He held up his hands. “I’m sorry, I’m doing my best here, but you gotta admit, Python the dancer, I mean, come on.”

  “She’s a nervous wreck. And she’s the victim of a crime. A serious crime. It might be a joke to you, but it’s not to her. This guy wants fifty grand or he’s going to ruin her marriage.”

  “Maybe she should have thought about that before she went licking cream off some skanky dude she didn’t know.”

  Sofia doubled down on her glare. “That’s beside the point. We’re not here to be the arbiters of a client’s morals. We’re here to help them.”

  “Correct!”

  They both swiveled on their seats. Brendan was standing in his office door. The red drained from Aidan’s face as his dad gave him the patented Maloney Senior death stare. Sofia was scared, and she wasn’t even the one in trouble.

  “Step in here for a second, would you, Aidan?” Brendan instructed his son.

  Aidan got up. “Thanks a bunch,” he whispered at Sofia.

  Sofia’s phone pinged. She checked the screen. A Google alert had come into her gmail account. She had set one up for the Beef Cake Boyz as soon as they had taken the case. It meant that she was alerted to any new mention of them that appeared on the internet.

  She tapped open the email and followed the link. Brendan’s office door was closed, but she could still hear him tearing a strip off Aidan.

  “Now,” he was saying, “you are going to help Sofia on this case, and I don’t want to hear any dumb remarks from you.”

  The link opened. Sofia quickly scrolled down the web page. At first she couldn’t see anything about the Beef Cake Boyz. She tapped in a search for “Boyz.” It immediately highlighted the word. She started reading. It was an online ad at a website called Backstage, which was the publication for actors on both coasts and all places in between.

  It was only three lines of text, but as she read them, a broad smile spread across her face.

  This little ad could be the key to getting what they needed to Marcie, and bringing down Python.

  It read:

  Male Dancer Wanted 19–30

  Successful male revue (no nudity). Athletic build required.

  Dance or revue experience preferred but not essential. Training provided.

  In Brendan’s office, Aidan was doing what he could to placate his dad. “I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to help Sofia close this one.”

  “You bet you will,” Sofia muttered under her breath, as she tapped a button to send the ad to the office printer.

  26

  With a printout of the ad in her hand, Sofia knocked on Brendan’s door. Aidan was still inside, but Brendan’s lecture seemed to be coming to an end.

  “Come in,” Brendan called.

  Sofia pushed the door open.

  “Hey, Sofia, take a seat.”

  Avoiding Aidan’s gaze, she walked in and sat. Brendan gave a curt nod in Aidan’s direction. “Go on.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Aidan. “I should have behaved more professionally.”

  “And?” Brendan prompted.

  “It won’t happen again,” added Aidan.

  “I’m sorry too,” said Sofia.

  “For what?” Brendan asked.

  “Yeah, for what?” said Aidan.

  “Before I left this morning, you asked me about the case and I wouldn’t tell you.”

  Brendan looked skeptical about her apology. He should be. She was setting something else up.

  “It’s true. Aidan did ask, and offer to help, but I wouldn’t tell him. That wasn’t very professional of me either. I know our cases should be a team effort, and I apologize.”

  Now Aidan looked skeptical, but relieved too.

  Brendan cleared his throat. “Well, I’m glad that’s sorted out. You know I value both of you. But we all have to understand that the client comes first.”

  “Absolutely,” said Sofia.

  “Most definitely,” said Aidan, not to be outdone.

  “Good. So how’s the case coming along, Sofia?” said Brendan.

  “That’s what I wanted to talk with you about.”

  Aidan started to get up.

  “With both of you. Seeing as how this is a team effort.” She kept her face professional but, man, was she ever smiling inside.

  Aidan sank back into his chair. He knew he was cornered. There was no way he was getting out of Brendan’s office without looking bad.

  “The thing is, I’ve hit a bit of a dead end. I sent the client in with a camera and a microphone. She met with the blackmailer, but he didn’t give us anything we can use against him. He’s either suspicious of her—he suspected she was wired—or he’s way too experienced to implicate himself directly.”

  Brendan put his elbows on his desk and cathedraled his fingers together. “Any ideas on a next move?”

  “Send her in again? Or maybe have her call him?” offered Aidan.

  “I don’t think that’ll work. If anything, it’ll only make him more suspicious,” said Sofia.

  “What about other vics? If he’s not taking the bait, this likely isn’t his first go round,” said Brendan.

  “I can go down that route,” said Sofia. “But it’ll take a lot of time and effort, and even with that I’m not sure we’ll turn anyone up. Plus, he’s going to start putting real pressure on her soon to get his money.”

  Brendan unfolded his fingers. He leaned back in his chair.

  Aidan rubbed at his temples.

  It was clear that neither of them had any other ideas. Not right now anyway.

  “We do have one other avenue, though,” said Sofia. “I found out about it during your meeting via an email lead.”

  “Great,” said Aidan, brightening. He loved leads that could be found on the internet,

  “Terrific, let’s hear it,” said Brendan.

  “It’s going to require some undercover work, and it’s not going to be easy,” she said.

  Undercover work had been Sofia’s forte pretty much since she’d joined the agency. That was partly because of the cases involved, but also because her acting abilities had made her a natural fit for covert operations.

  Aidan clapped his hands together. “It’s lucky Marcie came to us, then. After all, we have the best undercover operator on the entire west side.”

  It was clear he assumed that she would be the one doing it. She let him go on, paying out the rope she would use to hang him with.

  �
�You’ll be great, Sofia,” Aidan said.

  “Actually,” said Sofia, sliding the ad across the desk towards Brendan, “I’m not sure I’m qualified for this one. In fact, I’m definitely not. However, we do have someone on the team who would be absolutely perfect.”

  Aidan was starting to look nervous. He half stood so he could get a peek at the ad.

  Brendan angled the piece of paper away from him. He looked across it at Sofia. “I think you could be right, Sofia. I mean, I’d do it, but I doubt I’d be what they’re looking for. Maybe twenty years ago . . .”

  “You would have been great for this, even ten years ago,” said Sofia, unashamedly brown-nosing her boss. She didn’t mind doing a bit of butt-kissing when the payoff was going to be as good as this was. Even Brendan wasn’t immune to a bit of flattery.

  “You mind if I take a look at that?” Aidan was leaning forward so far she thought he’d fall over.

  Brendan handed the advert back across the desk to Aidan. His eyes scanned across the words. Then the color drained slowly from his face. “You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”

  “You are the PI here, and I’m just the trainee,” Sofia said, quoting Aidan back at himself. “Plus, even I’m not a good enough actress to land a gig as a male stripper. I don’t think Hilary Swank would be able to swing this audition either.”

  “There’s no way I could do something like this,” said Aidan.

  “I think you’re being too modest,” said Sofia. “Ever seen these guys up close? Believe me, there’s some serious Photoshopping going on with their pictures. They have muscles, but they’re not exactly fitness models. Your dad bod would fit right in.”

  Aidan scowled. “I do not have a dad bod.”

  Brendan smiled. “So you’re saying you’re in better shape than Sofia thinks you’d need to be.”

  “No, I’m just saying that . . .” Aidan trailed off. He was caught and he knew it. No amount of wriggling was going to get him out of this. At least, not if Sofia had any say in it. “Come on, I’d have to be naked.”

  Sofia picked up the paper. “No, it says right there, ‘no nudity.’”

  “Almost naked, then. It would be humiliating.”

  “You mean like having to pretend to be a drug addict or a hooker?” asked Sofia.

  Brendan tried to conceal his smile. “She’s right, Aidan. Sofia’s had to deal with more than her fair share of humiliation since she started working here. And it’s been way worse for her than it would be for you.”

  “How so?”

  “She’s a public figure. No one even knows who you are.”

  “Thanks,” said Aidan, sarcastically.

  “You know what I mean,” said Brendan. “Don’t be so precious.”

  “But even if I do go in for this audition, I’ll be up against all kinds of professional dancers and stuff. There’s no way I’ll land the gig.”

  “I already thought about that,” said Sofia.

  “Of course you did,” muttered Aidan.

  “I have a couple of friends in the business who’d be able to get you up to speed. Of course you’re going to have to cut some weight, hit the gym to get pumped. Oh, and we’ll need to get you a spray tan. That sort of thing.”

  “You can have me ready by Thursday?” Aidan said, snatching back the flyer. “That only gives us a few days.”

  “We’ll never know if we don’t give it a shot.”

  “Sofia’s right. Having someone on the inside wouldn’t only help our client, it could bust this whole thing wide open. We’d be able to discover how many of these guys are involved, and stop it happening to anyone else.”

  Aidan tilted back on his chair.

  “What do you say?” said Brendan.

  “I have a choice?”

  “No, but it’s always better to have a volunteer than a conscript.”

  27

  While Aidan continued to argue his case in Brendan’s office, Sofia slipped out. The more Aidan tried to back out, the more Brendan would dig his heels in. Aidan was going to audition to be a Beef Cake Boy, whether he liked it or not.

  It was now Sofia’s job to make sure he had a chance of landing the gig. She had been through enough auditions herself to know that preparation was key. As her old agent Jeffery Weiner used to tell her, “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”

  They had just a few days to get Aidan ready. But you could do a lot in that time—if you had the right team behind you.

  Sofia called Gray.

  He answered. “You know you left your hot cowboy all by his lonesome again, don’t you?”

  “No swooping.”

  “As if I’d do that to you. Although there is something about that whole Southern charm thing that really does it for me. So what’s up?”

  “When do you start shooting your next movie?”

  “Not for another two weeks.”

  Perfect. “Would you be interested in helping me prep someone for an audition?”

  “That depends.”

  “On . . . ?”

  “Who it is and what the audition’s for.”

  She told him. Before she had finished, Gray said, “I’m totally in.”

  Sofia had suspected he’d be all over it like a rash. “Great. I’ll bring him by my trailer later today.”

  “What about Jaxon?” Gray asked. “How’s he going to feel if you’ve got a nearly naked guy dancing in the living room?”

  “He has to leave town this afternoon for a show.”

  “Convenient.”

  “Stop right there, Gray. There’s nothing going on between me and Aidan, and there never will be.”

  “Methinks the lady protests too much.”

  “Just talk to Tex for me, would you?”

  “Sure,” said Gray. She could almost hear him smiling at the other end of the line. “With a few of my old signature moves, I’ll make sure Aidan kills at that audition.”

  Aidan slouched over to Sofia’s Tesla, and got in. He looked like a kid with a dentist’s appointment, who’d been hiding how much candy he really ate. “So where we going?” he asked Sofia.

  “I figure we don’t have enough time to get you really in shape, but at least we can have you looking the part.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Don’t worry, it’s nothing drastic,” said Sofia, reversing out of the parking spot. “Just a few aesthetic tweaks here and there.”

  “Tweaks?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You think I need tweaking?”

  Whoa, boy, the male ego. “Everyone could use a tweak or two.” Or ten.

  “So what kind of things are we talking about?”

  “You know, some exfoliation, tidy up your nails. Tweaks.”

  Aidan’s eyes narrowed. “You’re taking me to a beauty salon?”

  “I wouldn’t call it a beauty salon as such.”

  “It’s a beauty salon, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, okay, maybe it is, but don’t worry, they see a lot of guys. I mean, come on, this is LA, home of manscaping. And it’s super-discreet. Gray told me it’s pretty much the go-to place for men who want to get stuff done but keep it on the down-low.”

  Aidan looked worried. “Is that so?”

  Sofia pulled the Tesla out onto Pacific Coast Highway.

  “And the stuff we’re talking about is what? Precisely. Because what you just told me sounded kind of vague.”

  There was a reason she’d wanted to sound vague. Sofia didn’t want Aidan getting spooked before they even got there. Most men recoiled at the very mention of chest waxing, never mind waxing anywhere else. Sofia blamed that scene in The 40 Year Old Virgin. “Just some stuff to make you look your best. You know, manicure, pedicure, that kind of stuff.”

  “I don’t think they’re going to hire someone based on how nice their cuticles are.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s about creating the overall impression you look after yourself.”

  “And I do. I go to the gym. I run. I eat o
kay.”

  “Oh, and we need to get you the spray tan.”

  “That’s it? Nails and a spray tan?”

  “Pretty much,” said Sofia. “So, what do you think about Python? First-time blackmailer or veteran?”

  “Why are you trying to change the subject?”

  “I’m not.”

  “Yeah, you are.”

  Sofia sighed. “Okay, so what do you want to talk about?”

  Aidan fished out his sunglasses, and put them on. “I’ll give you my take on Python. I just wanted you to know that I’d sussed you were changing the subject.”

  “Okay, fine. So what about Python?”

  “He’s run this before, no question, but not for all that long. Maybe he’s been at it a year. Maybe two. No longer than that. He’s an opportunist. Chances are he had some kind of situation fall into his lap. Maybe a woman like Marcie embarrassed herself. She freaked out about it, and he saw the opportunity to make some bank. When he’d done it once, and gotten away with it, he figured it was a nice way of supplementing his income. Only, like a gambler on a winning streak, he’s gotten more superstitious the longer it’s gone on, hence his being cagey. It’s not just that he wants to avoid being caught, he probably isn’t even thinking about it like that.”

  “So how is he thinking about it?” Sofia asked.

  “It’s subconscious. He’s riding his luck, and he knows it.”

  “Is this all intuition? Or do you have something to back it up?”

  “Both. Most people with a criminal record get started early on. Either because they’re plain bad, or they haven’t had any moral guidance. There’s plenty of data to tell us that. Folks who don’t have a record when they’re younger who then commit a crime and keep doing it . . . That usually happens because something falls into their lap that they can convince themselves isn’t really a crime. Or isn’t really that bad. That’s how they justify it to themselves.”

  It sounded credible, she thought. “So how does that help us?”

  Aidan shot her a look. “About as much as you and my dad making me go do this dumb audition.”

  “We need someone on the inside.”

  “That means I’d have to land the job.”