In Plain Sight

by Fern Michaels

  In front of each occupant was a bright blue folder. The rule was that you did not open your folder until Charles gave the word. That gave him the time to present his PowerPoint display, which made it easier to follow what was in the folders and generated fewer questions.

  The overhead lights dimmed. The slide show began. “This first picture is of Amalie Laurent. Also known as Mrs. Lincoln Moss. This is one of the professional pictures that are used by her husband’s cosmetic company. As Pearl told us, she is the face of the company, which is the crown jewel of all his holdings. In other words, a multi-billion-dollar company. This next picture is of Amalie Laurent after her surgery, when she became known as Patricia Olsen. At first glance, it looks like the picture was simply tweaked. Look closely. Do any of you think if you had known the original Amalie that this new Patricia would fool you? Then ask yourself if you were her husband would this new picture fool you? We’ll discuss this later.

  “The next picture is of Rosalee Muno. I’m sorry for the grainy quality, but we have to work with what we have. She was, according to Pearl, Amalie’s personal maid. In the original, she was on the plump side, plump cheeks, double chin, and around thirty-five pounds overweight. As you can see in the picture after surgery she looks very different. The plump cheeks are gone, the nose is thinner, and the double chin is gone, as are all those extra pounds. She’s quite slim now. Her hair is also different, shorter, less curly, and a light brown. Ask yourself had you known her before the surgery, would you recognize her the way she looks today?

  “The third picture is of Lincoln Moss, who needs no introduction. As you can see, he is a very virile man who is almost fifty-five now. I believe the term to describe him in today’s lingo would be ripped. He sports a tan all year long. He is a sportsman, he sails, he snow skis, water-skis, hikes, runs, works out with a personal trainer. Doesn’t drink much or smoke. Knows how to make money. He’s almost a standard fixture at the White House. He comes and goes as he pleases. It’s rumored that he and POTUS have cell phones that no one else has. They can communicate with each other without the Secret Service eavesdropping. He and POTUS have been lifelong friends. It is whispered among many that Lincoln Moss is the real leader of the free world, not Gabriel Knight, our President. According to some, Moss made Gabriel Knight a very rich man by investing his money and making him a quasi-partner in La Natural. There seems to be a mixed opinion about who the real brainy investor is or was. Some reports say it was Knight, and others insist it was Moss. Neither man will confirm or deny, so that’s where that’s at. At least for now. In the end, I don’t see it as all that important.

  “Lincoln Moss likes to keep his life private. Not much is available for public consumption on his marriage. There was a big hullabaloo when he married his wife because she was so gorgeous and photogenic. Now here is the odd thing about that marriage. Anytime in the past, when there was a White House function, Mrs. Moss was usually in France, where she was born and raised. Moss would say she had prior commitments, was doing photo shoots or traveling because she is the face of La Natural. I could only find two actual pictures of her at the White House. But she was there four times that are documented.

  “It’s also documented that Lincoln Moss travels frequently to France, sometimes three times a month. To see his famous wife, of course, the story goes. So that tongues didn’t wag I have to assume. Mrs. Moss has never given an interview to anyone, not even to the French magazines or newspapers. I have to assume that’s all part of her mystique. I’m told that it would be quite a coup to anyone who could land an interview with her. And the prize and price for the lucky reporter who managed to get an interview with both Moss and his wife would be the ability to pretty much name his or her own price.

  “That’s about all I was able to come up with. Other than that the man is beyond wealthy. He’s also a big philanthropist. As in big. People, and that means reporters, too, tread lightly around Lincoln Moss. If anyone gets too pushy or too inquisitive, they get a visit from some very important people and are pretty much never heard from again. I want to stress that while they are seen, they are not heard from again. The White House carries a really big stick, and if you’re best buds with the big guy, you got it made in the shade. Plain and simple, Lincoln Moss is off-limits.”

  Nikki laughed out loud. “I think what you meant to say, Charles, is that Lincoln Moss is off-limits to the masses but not to the Vigilantes.” The others hooted with laughter.

  Charles playfully slapped at his forehead. “Whatever was I thinking? That’s exactly what I meant to say.”

  “It’s all right, dear, you were up all night working for us. We understand these little lapses,” Myra said.

  “We’ll be starting out on the plus side. We have the power of the Post behind us. No one can shut us down, not even the leader of the free world no matter if his name is Gabriel Knight or Lincoln Moss.”

  This time the group clapped and hooted their approval.

  “Let’s not forget Jack Sparrow, our friend at the FBI,” Kathryn said.

  “And our gold shields,” Maggie chirped. She rubbed her hands together in glee. “Where and when do we start?”

  “Oh, good Lord!” Pearl bellowed. “Look at this! Dear God, how did this happen?” She held up her phone to show the same picture of Amalie Laurent that Charles had just used in his PowerPoint presentation. “It was on the cover of this week’s edition of that tabloid, In the Know, which came out three days ago. They have a circulation of around 2 million and are front and center at every checkout counter in every grocery store in the nation. I read that somewhere,” Pearl said, panic ringing in her voice.

  Annie let loose with a shrill whistle. The room went silent. “Just because Amalie Laurent’s picture is in the paper doesn’t have to mean anything. When it’s a slow news day, they print my picture. Just to fill up space. I know how that works since I own the Post. Is there an article? What does it say?”

  “I don’t know; 390 just sent the picture.”

  Kathryn’s fist slammed down on the table. “I thought we agreed no more numbers! Who the hell is 390?”

  Pearl flinched as she looked around the table. They all wore the same expressions Kathryn wore. “Audrey Blake is 390. She was one of my first ‘saves.’ She’s my third in command after 389, my second save. Her name is Beverly Hopkins,” Pearl said as she saw Kathryn raise her arm to bring it down on the table again.

  “Don’t just sit there like some ninny, Pearl. Send her a text and ask her to send you the article or have her fax it here. You have the fax number.” Myra looked at Charles, and said, “Give her the number again, dear.” Charles obliged, as Pearl’s nervous fingers tapped out a text.

  Pearl read off the return text that said Audrey had to make a copy of the article, then she would scan it to Charles, who would then put it up on the big screen for them all to see.

  Ten minutes later, they were all looking at the beautiful woman named Amalie Laurent, aka Patricia Olsen. The text was a rehash of her modeling career, her marriage to Lincoln Moss, and her passion for privacy. Then came the clunker in the form of a question as Isabelle put it. Why would one of the most beautiful women in the world want to undergo plastic surgery to change her appearance? If true, who is going to be the next face of La Natural? Our intrepid reporters here at In the Know want to know.

  The article went on to say that the thousand-dollar monthly bonus and a five-year free subscription to the paper for hot news would go to someone named Jane Petrie, but only when she submitted proof that surgery had taken place. Translation—before and after pictures that had not materialized as the paper went to press.

  Readers were invited to call in, write in, or text if they had a sighting of the beautiful model. All sightings when confirmed would receive a year’s free subscription to the paper.

  “Who the hell is Jane Petrie?” Ted asked.

  “I’m checking Google and Facebook right now,” Dennis said, his thumbs flying over the small keyboard in front
of him.

  All eyes turned to Pearl. “Do you recognize the name, Pearl?” Myra asked.

  “No. But that doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it’s a made-up name, which would make sense if she’s selling confidential information.”

  “That makes sense,” Jack agreed.

  All eyes turned to Dennis, who was mumbling as fast as he was typing. “She’s a nurse. She’s single, and she works out of a registry that fills in for medical help on a temporary basis. She’s twenty-eight. According to Facebook, she says she never married, and that’s by her choice. Frees her up to take a trip to Europe twice a year. She lives in a town house in Crystal City and drives a Corvette. On-call nurses must make good money for her to afford her lifestyle. She graduated from Catholic University with a business degree but said that wasn’t for her, so she then went to nursing school, and said it was very rewarding. She claims to be a health-food nut and also an exercise nut. Those are her words. Her whole life is here on Facebook. And here is her picture!” he said triumphantly. “I’m uploading it to you, Charles. You can put it on the big screen.”

  What the group saw was a smiling, attractive, young woman with short, dark hair sporting a sweatband and doing a stretching exercise with her foot up on a bench along the Tidal Basin.

  “What’s the name of the medical registry?” Myra asked.

  “Around the Clock Medical Registry,” Dennis responded.

  “I know exactly what that is and where it is. Nellie used them for Elias when one of his caregivers would call in sick. No, they do not pay well. Nellie said she felt sorry for them and always tipped well. She did say she liked the people they sent to her,” Myra said.

  “Maybe Miss Petrie is independently wealthy,” Alexis said.

  “Nope. She said her father and mother are schoolteachers. She has no living grandparents and comes from a big family, four brothers and two sisters. I don’t see any extra money there. She must be getting it from somewhere else,” Dennis said.

  “Blackmail?” Espinosa said.

  “Those tabloids pay big bucks for inside information. They might say they just pay a few thousand, but in reality try fifty thousand. We did a series of articles on tabloids about four years ago, right, Ted?” Ted nodded. “Tabloid journalism is nothing like the kind of journalism we practice at the Post,” Maggie said virtuously.

  Annie sniffed to show what she thought of Maggie’s comment in regard to tabloid journalism. “I think I can personally guarantee this is the last picture and article you will see in that particular tabloid or any other tabloid for that matter. The minute Lincoln Moss finds out, if he hasn’t already, it’s history.”

  Charles weighed in. “I would not want to be Miss Jane Petrie right now. If she hasn’t already been grilled to within an inch of her life, she will be shortly. It’s a good thing, Pearl, that you cleaned out the clinic and sanitized it.” The others nodded. Pearl just looked miserable.

  “Which now brings up the question of did Lincoln Moss find his wife or did his wife leave on her own. The reason I say that is think about this. Amalie and Rosalee have to buy groceries. That’s where the bulk of tabloids are sold. Do any of us really think that Lincoln Moss goes to the grocery store? I don’t. I think, and this is just my own personal opinion, that the ladies saw the paper at the checkout stand and took it on the lam. All on their own. Possibly with the help of Rosalee’s boyfriend, who works at the Home Builders Depot, where she also works,” Nikki said.

  “Honey, I think you’re right. That makes more sense than anything else we heard. That means to us, at least for now, that the two women are safe and not in Moss’s clutches,” Jack said.

  Pearl sighed mightily. “I so hope you are right, Jack. But how long can they stay where they are without any real help? Think about the resources that Moss has at his disposal.”

  “Think young, people. Jason, that’s his name, right, doesn’t think like we do? He and his friends are social-media fiends. They live on the Internet. They know how to do things and stuff that just boggles our minds, and they have a whole army out there just waiting to help them with a simple request,” Jack said.

  “Jack couldn’t be more right,” Abner Tookus said. “Y’all want me to hack into Miz Petrie’s financials?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Annie drawled. “Do it!”

  “What’s our next move?” Nikki asked.

  Charles cleared his throat. “I just made our next move. I sent Avery Snowden a text telling him to pick up Jane Petrie. Do not be surprised if she’s gone and disappeared.”

  “Oh! A snatch and grab!” Dennis said, his eyes sparking with excitement.

  “It’s only a snatch and grab when you manage the grab part, kid,” Ted said.

  “Does that mean Petrie is in danger?” Dennis asked. No one answered him.

  “I hope it does!” Pearl Barnes said spitefully. “I hope if she’s guilty, she pays forever for what she’s done. And all for money, so she can drive a Corvette and go to Europe twice a year! I’d like to see her tarred and feathered. Think!” she screeched. “Who else has she scammed or blackmailed? How many poor souls out there were at her mercy? She’s a damn nurse!” This last was said as though that was the beginning and end of it all. Then Pearl shook her head and mumbled an apology everyone knew she didn’t mean.

  “Okayyyy, moving right along here, people. What’s our next move?” Kathryn asked.

  “I think we need to figure that one out. We are open to ideas, suggestions, and plans,” Charles said. “The floor is open, people!”

  Chapter 4

  The gang broke for lunch at one o’clock. Charles left the group to their haggling and plotting to go, as he referred to it, topside to prepare a luncheon they could eat outdoors on the terrace. Fergus went along to help.

  Left to their own devices, the group listened in awe as Abner rattled on about Jane Petrie’s financial status.

  “That was pretty quick, Abner,” Ted said.

  Abner beamed. “What can I tell you. When you’re good, you’re good, and I am good. The only thing I haven’t done yet is to get her IRS file. The young lady is pretty much an open book. Doesn’t appear to be hiding anything. So, sit back and listen up. Right now, as of today, Miss Petrie has thirty-eight hundred dollars in her personal checking account. Out of this account she pays a hefty mortgage of seventeen hundred dollars a month. She pays her utilities, cell phone, water, insurance, and a car payment that is $982 a month. Plus her credit cards. She has two, a Visa and an American Express that she pays off in full every month. Some months she takes it right down to the wire with an ending balance of five dollars. She deposits checks every three or four days. I assume paychecks from private clients plus checks from the Around the Clock Medical Registry. They usually run around seven to eight thousand a month. All of that in and of itself is not something out of the ordinary. What is out of the ordinary is her brokerage account, which is quite robust. She opened it three years ago with a deposit of thirty-three thousand dollars. All told, since she opened the account, she has made twenty-seven deposits, and the lowest deposit was for five thousand dollars. The highest was sixty-two thousand dollars, which was made ten days ago. Unusual amounts, to be sure, and all even amounts. Twice a year she takes out between five and seven thousand dollars, which coincide with her trips to Europe. She transfers the money to her regular account, then does the trip on her credit cards so she can rack up frequent flyer miles. On her return, she pays it all off. Right now, as of today, the lady has $387,444.12 in her brokerage account. Not bad for a single, twenty-eight-year-old nurse.

  “By the way, just as an aside to all this, Miss Petrie passed the security check the Medical Registry did on her when she signed on with them. She has a clean record as far as their records go. Not even one complaint. I checked her driving record, no tickets, no points against her license.”

  Pearl took a page from Kathryn’s playbook and banged her fist down on the table. “That little sneak!” she bellowed. “Now
what?” she demanded.

  “You tell me,” Abner shot back. “I’m just a hacker. What you do with the information is up to you. I laid it all on your doorstep.”

  “This might sound like a stupid question, but what does she buy on her credit cards?” Alexis asked.

  Abner laughed. “The same thing all women buy. Clothes, shoes, handbags, cosmetics, and she buys a lot of La Natural products. At six hundred dollars a pop for some kind of magic eye cream that will reduce fine lines and wrinkles.” Isabelle pelted him with a spitball. He laughed out loud.

  “Send that all to Charles, and when he comes back, he can print us all a copy for our files,” Annie said.

  “Next!” Myra said.

  “I think we should pay a visit to In the Know and see what we can pick up there,” Maggie said. “How about if Nikki and Kathryn show up and say they have a sighting and are there to claim the prize. Its headquarters are in Alexandria. They can be there and back in a few hours, depending on how talkative the editor in chief is. If they don’t get anywhere, then Ted, Espinosa, Dennis, and I can take a crack at them. Hey, you could do it right after lunch.”

  Nikki looked at Kathryn, who grinned. “Let’s do it!” Kathryn laughed out loud as she bobbed her head up and down.

  “Someone call Mr. Snowden. We should have heard something by now. Unless he called Charles personally,” Myra said.

  “I’ll call him. He hates me,” Jack said. “I won’t let him slough me off either.” The others sat back and listened to the one-sided dialogue that made some of them titter. The end result was Miss Petrie, according to Avery Snowden, left for Europe last night. And the reason he knows this is because he ran into Miss Petrie’s neighbor, a studly young man who works out religiously at Gold’s Gym who said he was house sitting until she got back. He said it was an arrangement they’ve had for a few years. He also said she moved her trip up early this summer because she normally didn’t go till September. Said she needed a break from the horrible humidity and foul weather. Whatever the reason, she’s gone. At least for now.”