Catching the Bad Guy (Book Two) (Janet Maple Series)

by Marie Astor

  David stared at Aileen with newfound respect. Up until now she had never used her father as clout. At times David wondered whether Aileen was daft enough to think that he was dating her out of pure affection, but now he knew better. Very well, he would have to swallow his pride and accompany Aileen to the Bostoff wedding. Soon he would be free from Finnegan’s yoke, but for now he still needed the old man, and Aileen would get whatever Aileen wanted.

  “Do you, Paul, take Lisa to be your lawful wedded wife, to love, honor and cherish her through sickness and in health, through times of happiness and travail, until death do you part?” asked the justice of the peace.

  “Yes.”

  Of course he does, David bristled inwardly. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be standing there, you oaf.

  “Place this ring upon her finger and repeat after me: ‘With this ring I thee wed and forever pledge my devotion.’”

  The groom mumbled on as he was told.

  “Do you, Lisa, take Paul to be your lawful wedded husband, to love, honor and cherish him through sickness and in health, through times of happiness and travail, until death do you part?”

  “Yes.”

  “By the act of joining hands you take to yourself the relation of husband and wife and solemnly promise to love, honor, comfort, and cherish each other so long as you both shall live. Therefore, in accordance with the law of New York and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the law of New York, I pronounce you husband and wife. You came to me as two single people and you will now leave as a married couple, united to each other by the binding contract you have just entered. Your cares, your worries, your pleasures and your joys, you must share with each other. The best of good fortune to both of you.”

  “Wasn’t that beautiful?” Aileen whispered, her pudgy fingers squeezing David’s hand so tightly he barely suppressed a yelp.

  “Very,” David managed. So far he rated his experience at the Bostoff wedding as akin to the pain of matches being stuck into one’s eyes—not that David had ever been subjected to such a horrid torture, but he had a vivid imagination and he feared what was to follow.

  Aileen dabbed her eyes. “Aren’t you glad we came? I have a feeling that the reception is going to be wonderful.”

  “I am sure it will be,” David confirmed, hoping the he would be spared the awkwardness of running into the groom’s brother, Jon Bostoff.

  Chapter 15

  “You may now kiss as husband and wife.”

  As the justice of the peace uttered the concluding words of the wedding ceremony, Paul Bostoff drew Lisa into his arms, and the two locked their lips in a long, passionate kiss.

  Applause and cheering erupted from the audience. While she clapped, Janet’s eyes surveyed the back row. She was relieved to see the blond of Muller’s hair. Not that Muller’s presence elicited any sort of positive emotion in Janet, but she owed it to Lisa and Paul to set things right, and Muller was the key. Whether it was the emotional rush from the ceremony, the pent-up anger from the blatantly unjust way in which the Bostoff Securities and Emperial case had been handled, or a combination of both, Janet felt empowered by a surge of boldness. Who did this Muller character think he was, anyway? Just because he wore swanky suits and dated supermodels did not mean that he was superhuman. And the latter bit was not even true anymore: Muller’s current date did not look anything like a supermodel, proving that Muller was just an ordinary human being after all. An exceptionally corrupt human being, but a human being nonetheless, one who had to obey the law just like the rest of the mortals, and Janet would make sure that he would not escape it. Which brought her to her next point: aside from the fact that Lisa had arranged for Muller to be seated at the same table as Janet and her date, Janet still did not have a plan for getting close to Muller. She needed to talk to Laskin so that they could come up with a strategy before the reception began.

  “Shall we?” Tyler Bostoff offered his arm to Janet.

  “Thank you, Tyler.” Janet leaned on Tyler’s arm and followed him, along with the flow of the guests who were now headed toward the reception hall. Once they reached the front row, Janet spotted Laskin and disengaged herself from Tyler.

  “Peter,” Janet called to her date in a hushed whisper.

  “Janet! At long last! I was beginning to think that 1 would never get to spend any time with my date.” Laskin cast an askance glance at Tyler.

  Janet ignored Laskin’s pointed remark: now was not the time for ego stroking. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. Let’s go in here.” Janet grabbed a hold of Laskin’s arm and drew him into the guestroom that had been reserved to store the wedding gifts.

  “Wow, Janet, if you were that eager to see me, we could have arranged something sooner.”

  Janet shut the door behind them. "Look, Peter, I have to come clean. I invited you as my date because I need your help.”

  “You mean to tell me that you are not attracted to my sexy looks or my charm and wit?”

  Janet stared back at him, wondering how she was going to work her way out of this one. Then she noticed a smile on Laskin’s lips.

  “Relax, Janet. I may be a little slow on the uptake at times, but I’m not dumb. One doesn’t need a PhD in human behavior to know that you and Dennis have the hots for one another, so when you asked me to be your date I knew that romance was not your motivation. I’ve tried to get you to tell me exactly why you needed me to be here with you, but you blew off all my attempts to do so. And then when you finally had time to meet, something had come up and I couldn’t make it.”

  Janet blushed at her own vanity. So far, it seemed like Laskin’s investigative instincts were much keener than her own. “I’m sorry, Peter.”

  Laskin waved his hand. “Forget it, Janet. Now, do you want to tell me why you asked me to come with you? I suspect it has something to do with the Bostoff case.”

  How did you know? Janet merely blinked, restraining herself from uttering the question that was on her lips. The groom’s name was Paul Bostoff, and one did not have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out the rest.

  “I am familiar with the case,” replied Laskin, as though having read her thoughts. “After all, I did do all the analytics for Walker while he romanced you in the offices of Bostoff Securities under the pretext of an undercover assignment.”

  “There was no romancing—”

  “Save it, Janet. I’ve worked with Walker long enough. Now, are you going to tell me why you asked me to be your date for the wedding?”

  Janet opened her mouth and then closed it. There was no use trying to fool Laskin. Her embarrassment made her speak in formal, contrived language as though she were making a statement during a deposition. “There is concrete evidence indicating that David Muller, owner of Emperial hedge fund, had orchestrated a market manipulation trading scheme.”

  “I know about that too, Janet. While Bostoff was guilty in accepting the trades, Muller was the mastermind behind the operation. But then, low and behold, Muller walks away and Jon Bostoff takes all the blame. Not to mention that our boss gets fired, and both yours and Dennis’s careers now seem to be headed for the crapper, so you can skip the background and cut right to the chase.”

  “You never leave anything out, do you?” Janet held her breath, wondering if Laskin also knew about her long-standing and painful history with Alex, but to her relief Laskin remained quiet. At least he did not know about that.

  Laskin reddened. “I didn’t mean to sound so harsh. With our new boss, all of our careers are headed for the crapper. Now, what’s your plan? Because if you have one, I sure want to hear it. I don’t like Kingsley any more than you do.”

  “I want to get Muller,” Janet said simply. “I thought that together we’d be able to get close to him and see what he’s up to. You probably know this already, but the bride is a very good friend of mine and—”

  “Obviously,” Laskin interrupted. “You are the maid of honor.”

  Janet shot Laskin an irritated look.
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  “Sorry, I couldn’t help that one. Spending too much time behind the desk makes me snippy.”

  “I can see that. So, a few weeks ago, Lisa told me that David Muller had accepted his invitation to the wedding.”

  By the surprised expression on Laskin’s face, Janet was glad to see that the man did not know everything after all.

  “The Bostoffs invited Muller to the wedding? I would think that they would hate his guts.”

  “And they do. Lisa was just as surprised as you are. Muller’s name was on the original list of the invitees, but somehow it was never taken off and an invite was sent to him. Now, I have no idea why, but not only did he accept, but he has actually showed up.”

  “Muller is here?”

  “Yes. He was a few minutes late to the ceremony, so he sat in the last row.” Janet opened her purse. “Here, this will help. This is a picture of him from a magazine article published before the investigation. I think he’s keeping a lower profile now.”

  Laskin took the paper from Janet’s hand. “You’re not supposed to carry the mark’s picture with you.”

  “We’re not spies, Peter. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t breach any security codes by carrying an article about Muller in my purse.” Janet snatched the paper back from Laskin and put it in her purse. “Did you memorize his face?”

  “I sure did. Now, what’s your plan?”

  “Lisa has arranged it so that we are sitting at the same table with Muller and his date. We’ll have a few drinks, strike up a conversation, and then we’ll try to find out what Muller is up to these days.”

  “That’s your plan?”

  “You’ve got a better one?”

  “Not at the moment, but I could have come up with one if I had had fair warning.”

  Janet cast a dubious look at Laskin, convinced that he was just showing off.

  Laskin scratched his ear. “Before we go in there, we’ve got to have a story to tell. Okay, I got it. We can’t say that we’re married since we don’t have wedding rings. That would have been a nice prop, had we had more time to plan this ...”

  Inwardly Janet admitted that Laskin had a point, but she was not about to admit it out loud. “Lots of married people don’t wear wedding rings.”

  “You mean lots of men don’t wear wedding rings. But when it comes to formal occasions such as weddings, wives watch their husbands like hawks, making sure that they have the gold band on their fingers.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I know so. Weddings are prime dating ground, for both men and women, and you know how territorial women can be.”

  Janet did not necessarily agree, but at the moment she was not particularly interested in hearing Laskin’s argument on the matter, so she decided not to contradict.

  “So, we are going to say that we are boyfriend and girlfriend, and that we’ve been dating for a year—long enough for the woman in the relationship to expect an engagement, but not too long for it to be hopeless. This way you can whine to Muller’s date about how you can’t wait for me to propose.”

  “Good one,” Janet agreed.

  “And I can gripe to Muller about not wanting to pop the question.” Laskin patted his chin. “Do you know if Muller smokes?”

  “I don’t think so, but I’m not sure. Why?”

  “Because if we knew that he was a smoker, I would have brought cigarettes. There’s hardly a more conducive environment for men to share confidences than a cigarette break, especially during a wedding. At the same time, there is nothing more annoying than someone you’ve just met bumming a cigarette off of you, so regardless of Muller’s preferences we are going to have to pass on this option.”

  “I’m sorry. You are so much better at this than I am.” Janet felt like an amateur. Clearly, she had been too busy obsessing over her hatred for Alex and her unfortunate attraction to Dennis instead of focusing on nailing Muller.

  “It’s all right, Janet. The last few weeks haven’t exactly been a walk in the park for any of us. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I was just letting off steam, but now is not the time to do that. We’ve got to get our game on. So, we’ve been dating for a year. I’m in information technology and you’re a teacher. How does that sound?”

  “Sounds good, Peter.” Janet paused. Laskin did have a good head on his shoulders. “I’m glad that you’re going to be my partner on this.”

  “I’m no Dennis Walker, but I’ll do my best.” Laskin lowered his eyes. “Sorry, that slipped.”

  “That’s all right, partner. Now let’s go get that son of a bitch Muller.”

  Chapter 16

  Janet followed Laskin to their table. Her breath quickened when she saw that David Muller and his date were already seated. “Excuse us.” Laskin grabbed Janet’s hand as he maneuvered to their seats, which were on Muller’s right hand side.

  “Hi there,” Laskin beamed, quickly picking up the placement cards and sliding them into his pocket. “John Carry. Pleased to make your acquaintance. And this is my girlfriend, Elizabeth Simmons.”

  Janet attempted to mask her surprise with a cough: they had not discussed aliases. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Muller looked at them with open indifference. “David Muller. The pleasure is all mine, I’m sure.” Then, with a quick glance at his date, he added, “And this is my girlfriend, Aileen Finnegan.”

  “Pleasure to meet you, Aileen,” Laskin said.

  “Wasn’t it just a wonderful ceremony?” Aileen gushed.

  “Indeed,” Laskin confirmed. “It’s a good thing that Elizabeth is the maid of honor. Had she been sitting next to me instead of standing by the altar, she would have seen me shed a manly tear or two. Oh, well, I guess I gave myself away now.”

  “There’s nothing shameful about a man shedding a tear or two. In fact, I think that it takes a true man not to be afraid of expressing his emotions,” said Aileen with a pointed glace at Muller.

  “Personally, I find weddings dull,” said Muller. “I’m sure it must all be very exciting for the bride and the groom, but why should the rest of us be forced to sit through it?” An expression of hurt passed over Aileen’s face, and, as if catching himself, Muller added, “But Aileen just loves this sort of thing. I’m glad you’re enjoying this, honey.” Muller patted Aileen’s hand.

  “You would too,” Aileen replied reproachfully, “if you would only just give it a chance.”

  Janet watched this exchange with fascination. It was clear that Muller was anything but attracted to his date. It seemed like he did not even want to be at the wedding, so why did he come?

  “Darling.” Laskin pulled out Janet’s chair and motioned for her to take a seat. Janet thanked him and slid into her seat.

  Janet and Laskin turned their attention to the rest of the guests at the table. Everyone smiled politely as introductions were made. There were two more couples who were friends of the groom. Being seated next to Lisa’s friends from college or high school would have presented serious problems for Laskin’s planned cover-up. Janet gave Lisa mental kudos for excellent attention to detail, a skill that Lisa had never before been famous for and Janet used to excel at but now seemed desperately to lack. At least Lisa and Laskin were both on their game. Now all Janet needed to do was figure out to get close to Muller or his date.

  Janet cast a sideways glance at Muller who was examining the menu as though it were the most fascinating thing in the world. His date was leaning on his shoulder in a clear attempt to elicit a token of affection from Muller, but he clearly preferred to focus his attention on the menu.

  “So, what are the choices?" asked Laskin, looking over Muller’s shoulder.

  Muller looked at Laskin. “I think I see a waiter coming. I’ll ask him to get you a menu.”

  “Oh, I didn’t realize that I’ve got one right here!” exclaimed Laskin, reddening under Muller’s icy glare.

  So much for Laskin’s bravado, Janet thought. He might be good at laying out a plan of action, but h
e was not particularly good at executing one. She had to come up with some icebreakers pronto. Her anxiety was interrupted by the announcement of the bride and groom’s first dance.

  Accompanied by loud applause, Lisa and Paul walked to the center of the dance floor. Paul offered his arm to Lisa, and the two of them glided into a graceful waltz. Even from the distance, Janet could see the sparks that were shining in Lisa’s and Paul’s eyes. Despite everything that had happened to the Bostoffs, or perhaps because of it, Lisa and Paul seemed to be more in love than ever.

  The waltz ended. “We now ask the guests to join the bride and groom on the dance floor,” announced the deejay.

  The chords of “Strangers in the Night” filled the room. Couples began rising from their seats, making their way to the dance floor. Janet inwardly cursed the deejay’s selection. She loved this song, but the romantic lyrics did not exactly create a conducive environment for her task at hand. She was about to sneak off to the bathroom to work on some icebreakers for Muller when she felt Laskin’s hand on her arm. “Shall we dance, darling?”

  Janet’s first impulse was to refuse. She certainly did not find Laskin’s eyes inviting or his smile exciting, but then she noticed Muller’s date eyeing them wistfully, and so rose from her chair.

  Laskin took Janet’s hand into his and slid into a confident foxtrot step. Janet followed him easily. “Where did you learn to dance like this?” she asked.

  “Fred Astaire dance studio,” Laskin replied. “It was for an undercover assignment that never materialized, but that’s not important right now. We have to change our strategy.”

  “Agreed.” Janet thought it best to omit the fact that they did not really have a strategy, at least not a sound one, as she was mostly to blame for that.

  “There’s no way in hell Muller will ever open up to me. He clearly thinks that he is a far more superior specimen of the human race than I am.”