“Actually, technically you won first prize, as you allowed your best friend to put her name to one of your other paintings which won.”
Shit! Who are these people?
The young woman chuckled.
I took a deep breath. “Who the Hell are you and what’s so damn funny?”
She shook her head. “That look of yours takes me back.”
“What look?”
“Desperation. A fish out of water. The gulping goldfish impression. Cute. But maybe not what our clients are looking for.”
It was my time to shake my head with a feeling I’d just been caught up in an avalanche and was only now realizing I still had my faculties.
“This is not a job interview for an escort agency, is it?”
The young woman and Charity gave each other a look. A decision seemed to have been arrived at.
The young woman stepped forward out of the sun. She was a pretty brunette and offered her hand to me.
“My name is Robyn Loxley. And I’m delighted to offer you a position with the Sorority Eyes Private Detective Agency.”
Charity snorted. “On a provisional basis, naturally.”
“So what do you say, Alice?” Robyn asked.
FIVE
Alice’s Journal
“What kind of detective agency pays its employees between five thousand and twenty thousand dollars for a single weekend’s work?” I asked as I ran my fingers through my thick, matted and generally poorly styled mess of hair.
Charity shook her head. “It doesn’t,” she said flatly.
“But you told me that’s what I could expect to earn. So you lied?”
“Not exactly.”
“Which job offer are you making? The escort agency position or the detective agency?”
“Both.”
“OK, confused of San José spinning my wheels here.”
Charity snorted.
Robyn explained. “The escort agency would be your cover for your real job at the detective agency.”
“So which one pays the serious money?”
“For as long as you work your cover job, it pays the big money.”
“But it’s only a cover job?”
“Correct.”
“So while I’m escorting these wealthy clients, what am I really doing?”
“Investigating.”
“Yes, so I gather, but what exactly?”
Robyn and Charity shared another look.
I held my breath.
Charity reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a thick paper contract.
“So I take it you are interested?” Charity asked in a way that was more of a statement than a question.
I sighed. “Do I have a choice?”
Robyn nodded. “You have a choice right up until the moment you sign this confidentiality agreement.”
“I need a moment to think about this.”
Robyn let out a bitter laugh. “Think about what? All your life you’ve practiced at being a victim in life. Now here’s a serious chance to turn that around and fight injustice for those who need our help.”
Charity stroked her furry ears. “Not forgetting the serious cash to set you up real nice.”
I bit my lip and read through the contract.
“Would I be expected to do anything illegal?”
“Such as?” Robyn asked.
I shrugged. “You tell me.”
“We always do the right thing for the right reasons.”
“That’s not exactly a no.”
“You’ll be hired to get results. How you do that is dependent on your own moral code. Which from what I understand of your personal history is quite solid. Good enough?”
I took a deep shuddering breath and nodded. I signed the contract.
“What now?” I asked.
Charity smiled and rolled across the floor on her skates and hugged me. My head was in such a state of flux I didn’t quite know whether to hug and kiss her or slap her.
“Welcome to Sorority Eyes, Alice. Now the fun begins.”
In the pit of my stomach I had an awful feeling their idea of fun and mine had very little in common.
SIX
Alice’s Journal
Charity led me through the Sorority house. A constant stream of glamorously dressed young women clutching small overnight bags, as they paraded on by.
“All these people work for Sorority Eyes?”
Robyn nodded. “On their way to overseas assignments.”
“You have international clients?”
“Some. But you’d be surprised by how many US client’s wake up in a different country every day.”
Robyn led me to an upstairs bathroom.
“Alice, I’ll leave you in the capable hands of the production team.”
“The what?”
Robyn seemed a little apprehensive. “I wouldn’t make you undergo anything I haven’t experienced myself. Go right in. Good luck.”
With that she left me standing outside the bathroom door. I shrugged, turned the door handle and entered.
Awaiting me was a pretty young Asian woman who introduced herself as Mai and a clone of Charity called Virtue.
They circled me like prowling beasts cornering their prey. All at once they pounced and proceeded to strip me naked. Virtue made me twirl.
“She’ll need a few hard gym sessions to tone here and here,” Virtue mused and prodded me in all my sensitive spots. “But you can go ahead and describe her as athletic. I recommend the full ten treatment.”
“I concur,” Mai said.
For the next three hours they scrubbed, waxed and scrubbed again every inch of my body. Following that with hair, make-up and then finally leading me into an adjoining room filled with designer dresses and shoes they proceeded to dress me in a yellow silk cocktail dress and exquisite heels.
Finally, Charity and Robyn returned to view the transformation. Quite how Charity had negotiated the staircase wearing roller skates was a mystery to me.
They made me twirl as they pinched and prodded. They nodded in agreement.
“Start the photo shoot.”
Mai led me up another flight of stairs to a spacious attic studio bathed in natural light from a large skylight. Green screens and photographic and video equipment was gathered in a circle in the center of the room.
After an hour of posing in every which way until Mai and Charity were convinced that at last they had achieved the impossible task of making me appear both naturally girl-next-door and yet sexy-as-Hell they then made me read from a script for the video.
I reset my expression and looked into the camera, “Hey there, I’m Alice, I’m twenty one and I’ll be your sizzling hot date this weekend. Blow kiss and wink to camera.”
Charity screamed, “Cut!”
She marched up to me and got tight up into my face. “Are you an idiot?” she asked with a screaming sneer. “Or are you deliberately trying to sabotage my masterpiece?”
“Excuse me?”
Mai cleared her throat. “Alice, I think what Charity is trying to say is when you’re finished seducing the camera with your little speech, then you simply blow an actual kiss and wink to the camera.”
I’m such an idiot! “Oh. Sorry. Guess I’m a tad nervous.”
“You should be with what you’ve got to work with,” Charity muttered and turned on her heels.
She screamed, “The dross they expect me to work with these days will send me to an early grave. Take two.”
“Ignore her, she’s on her Hollywood director power trip,” Mai whispered to me.
I said her line and blew a kiss and winked at the camera.
“Cut!”
“What did I do wrong?”
Mai clapped and shook her head. “Perfect. Upload the footage and send the pictures to Client X.”
“Who is Client X?” I asked.
Mai smiled enigmatically. “If all goes to plan, you’ll meet him soon enough. But first we have a team briefing on the n
ew case. Are you ready, Alice?”
“For what exactly?”
“Your first case, of course.”
“Already? Don’t I get training?”
Mai shook her head. “Think of it as just a date. An extravagant, mind blowing and wonderful date, but nothing more.”
I felt my stomach back flip. “OK, now I really am nervous.”
“Good,” said Charity. “Keep those nerves and rely on your instincts. They may keep you alive long enough to complete your mission.”
“Charity, stop being dramatic,” Mai howled. “Really, Alice it’s just a date with a handsome billionaire with a view to keeping your eyes and ears open.”
“Open to what?”
Robyn appeared. “It’s time.”
SEVEN
Alice’s Journal
Jonathan Barret could have been a male model. His chiseled features, athletic, tall physique and ice blue eyes clearly had a mesmerizing effect on Robyn, Mai and Charity. They were all preening themselves like cats on heat.
I felt his intense glare burn my skin. I tried not to be distracted by his full, luscious and kissable lips and prayed I wasn’t drooling as I listened to his briefing to the Sorority Eyes detective agency.
I felt equally uncomfortable under the gaze of Barret’s personal assistant Jean Sinclair. She was pretty, athletic and gave off an air of superiority. She wore her glossy blond hair swept fiercely back into a bun tied severely at the back of her head. Like a limpet she stuck to his right shoulder throughout the meeting. She was a guard dog in pin stripes, and she gave the impression she’d like nothing better than to stab me in the eye with her three inch stiletto heels.
I wondered if Sinclair and Barret were sleeping together and the thought of beautiful people having sex over an office desk turned my throat painfully dry. I subtly pinched my wrist to regain her focus.
Instead of becoming a model, Barret took the more reliable path of a Business Administration degree at Kimberley and from there worked at acquiring profitable companies and quadrupling their profit before selling them on for ten times their original worth. Within ten years and at age thirty one, Barret used his billions to acquire Michael Maddox Global Enterprises and being an astute nurturer of business and leadership talent he kept the former MD, Michael Maddox in charge to run the company for him.
“That was before I discovered Maddox was stealing intellectual property from us,” he said in a rich, and commanding voice that made me jump. Sinclair caught my eye and smiled with dead eyes.
Robyn cleared her throat, “Stealing what exactly?”
“Biological research.”
“Can you elaborate? Our confidentiality clause forbids us from discussing it with anyone outside of this room.”
“A cure for the common cold. Worth in our estimation some ten trillion dollars in the first ten years of going to market.”
“You have proof?”
Sinclair handed over a work order.
“On the day Maddox personally made an unscheduled visit to our research labs, he signed this. It orders maintenance on the fire sprinkler system in our main research laboratory. The lab burned down that same night. Thankfully no one was hurt, but all the research was destroyed.”
I couldn’t stop myself, “You call that evidence?” I asked.
Sinclair sneered. “A day later our security division met with an informant who disclosed that his company had been contacted about a formula to cure the common cold. Coincidence?”
“You’re suggesting Maddox stole the formula and burned down the lab to cover his tracks?”
Sinclair smiled at me as if humoring the slow kitten fighting a ball of wool.
I shook my head and felt myself lock horns with Sinclair, “You have no real proof that can be used in a court of law,” I said.
Sinclair swallowed hard. “Put it like that, you are correct.”
The tension between the two of us seemed evident to the whole room.
Barret laughed. “So that’s where you and your organization come in, Ms Angelo.”
“You want us to find evidence to convict Maddox?”
Barret avoided my eyes. “Not exactly, Ms. Angelo,” he said.
“Then what?”
“I’ve known Michael a long time. I consider him a friend. I know his strengths as a leader and I know his weaknesses. Whatever misguided notion Michael is suffering from, at heart he’s a good man who has gone astray. I and the board of directors wish no humiliation to befall his family and certainly not the shame of any federal prosecution. We just want the original formula returned with any and all copies and Michael can go his own way.”
“That’s very admirable of you, Mr. Barret,” I said.
Barret turned his full gaze on me and I felt my stomach back flip.
“Call me Jonathan,” he purred in a voice so rich it felt like warm melted chocolate dripping over my stiffening nipples. I prayed they weren’t showing through the thin silk as I found it increasingly harder to breathe in his presence.
“Jean informs me,” he said maintaining his gaze and adjusting his perfect smile, “you have a unique honey trap set-up, able to exploit Michael’s main weakness. Women. And as Michael is a client of Sorority Secrets, it seems the perfect opportunity.”
Robyn nodded. “Through our establishment of Sorority Secrets Escort service we are able to set our best agents to work on twenty four hours’ notice.”
“Good, because I know at heart that Michael is a lonely man who likes to indulge at weekends. So I’d like your best agent to begin at once, Robyn,” Barret said.
“And here she is,” Robyn said, indicating me.
Barret’s eyes widened. He looked me up and down with passionate eyes that seemed to undress me.
I shivered under his gaze.
“You’re exactly Michael’s type,” Barret said. “It’s uncanny.”
He turned to Robyn, “How did you manage it?”
“We know our job,” Robyn said.
“And Michael took the bait?”
“Of course.”
Barret smiled at me. “Alice, have you worked on cases like this before?” he asked.
I quickly met Robyn’s eyes, “You’ll forgive me, but I’m not at liberty to say. Client confidentially, you see.”
Robyn stifled a smile.
Barret nodded. “I’ll leave the matter in your capable hands, Ms Angelo.”
He stood to leave. He held out a hand and I shook it. The firmness of his hot grip sent off a spark between our fingers.
He leaned in and whispered, “After the successful conclusion of this case, Alice, I hope we shall have an opportunity to become more personally acquainted.”
I felt him slip something into my hand. I glanced down at a business card.
“My private number is on the back,” he whispered.
I thanked him. As Barret thanked Robyn, Mai and Charity, Sinclair shot me a parting evil glance as they both left.
Robyn turned to me, “Well, you certainly made a strong impression on the client.”
Not as strong as the one he made on me! “So when do I start?”
“You need to be in New York by tonight. You like the ballet?”
I nodded.
“Good. You fly from Kimberley airport. Maddox confirmed a private jet to pick you up. Are you ready for this?”
In the pit of my stomach I felt the flutter of butterflies. No way am I ready.
I swallowed hard, nodded and smiled.
“How much do we know about Michael Maddox?” I asked.
Charity snorted. “What’s to know? A charming, handsome, billionaire playboy with a weakness for easy women. You should be paying us for this case,” she growled.
Robyn reached over her desk to a locked drawer. “Maddox is quite the enigma.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Robyn pulled a leather file out of her desk drawer. “Your homework. If something doesn’t seem right, I want you to follow through on it. Un
derstand?”
“You’re saying we didn’t get the whole truth from Barret?”
Robyn shrugged. “He’s a client,” she said as if that was supposed to be an explanation.”
I took the file and sighed. “I may need an advance for my rent.”
Robyn shook her head. “While you’re an employee of Sorority Eyes, as a security precaution you’ll be staying with Mai.”
“No, really, that’s fine,” I said almost convinced they saw me as a charity case.
Charity laughed, “I’ve seen your one room hovel and I can’t believe your landlord doesn’t pay you to live there,” she said.
Robyn rolled her eyes. “Alice, it’s not a request. Read your contract. Besides, you haven’t seen Mai’s place yet.”
Mai took my arm. “Since Robyn moved out to live with Harry,” she said, “it’s too much for one person.”
I shrugged. “Lead the way.”
Robyn called after us. “You’ve got two hours. The client is sending a limousine to pick you up here.”
I left with Mai.
At the bottom of the staircase I realized I’d left behind my hand bag. I told Mai I’d be right back and removing my heels I dashed back up the stairs to the office. As I approached the door I heard voices. Charity and Robyn sounded very serious.
I don’t know why I didn’t just walk in and simply apologize for interrupting, but I held back. Something made me freeze on the spot and listen from the other side of the door.
“You think she’s suspects?” Charity said.
“Who?” asked Robyn.
“The girl we pushed down the rabbit hole. Alice!”
Robyn sighed. “She’s a fast learner, thinks on her feet, and she’s tough. You have any trouble with Dean Wesley?”
“She wanted double the usual fee.”
“Alice is worth it. Pay Wesley for her assistance.”
“I’m more worried about when our rabbit finds out the truth about the fox?”
Robyn felt her stomach clench. “She’s got us as back up.”
Charity sighed. “Maybe we should tell Alice the truth.”
“In this game, too much truth gets you killed.”
“I hope you’re right, Robyn, for all our sakes.”
I should have barged in then and demanded the truth. Maybe I was getting the wrong idea. But I held my breath and counted to ten.
Sorority Secrets (Campus Love and Murder Sorority Eyes Romance Book 2) Page 2