by Marie Astor
“Relax, lady. My uncle is opening a new restaurant, and I’m going to run the place for him. We’re looking for waitresses, and you look the part, so if you’re tired of working in this dump, the offer is still on. Come to this address tomorrow at two p.m.” The man handed his business card to Mila.
Mila prided herself on having an excellent poker face, but now her control abandoned her as a profuse blush spread over her cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled. “It’s just that we get all kinds of people coming in here …”
“You won’t have all kinds of people coming into our place, so I hope to see you tomorrow. By the way, my name is Anton Kovar.”
“I’m Mila Brabec. See you tomorrow, Anton,” Mila whispered.
The next day Mila got a job at Petr Kovar’s restaurant. The restaurant was called Panther Restaurant and Lounge Club and was serving American cuisine prepared by some fancy chef she had seen on one of those TV culinary shows. Mila thought the name was tacky, but who was she to judge? She would be getting paid ten dollars an hour plus tips. If the Kovar tip were any indication, she was bound to make plenty of money. And who knew, with the kind of clientele that was expected to frequent the place, her job might bring in an added benefit of a loaded boyfriend; eventually, maybe even a husband. Sure, Mila liked being with David well enough, but her current lover was not in any rush to get to the altar, and Mila’s U.S. visa was not likely to be extended.
Chapter 18
Dennis Walker was having a rotten Monday. Granted, Mondays were designed to be rotten, but this one positively stank. The same could be said about Dennis’s weekend. He had had a fight with Shoshanna on Sunday. The two of them had barely patched things up when another quarrel erupted. Not that he was particularly upset about that bit, but he was upset about the cause of it: Janet Maple.
“Who is it?” Shoshanna had demanded after Dennis declined to join her on a Caribbean getaway she had planned as a celebration of their getting back together. “Who is this other woman standing between us?”
“I’m just really busy at work right now, and I can’t get away.”
“You mean you don’t want to leave her,” Shoshanna snapped.
“It’s not true, Shoshanna. There’s no one else. I just can’t take off from work right now, that’s all.”
“Oh, please. Do you really expect me to believe that you can’t take a few days off from work? That’s never been a problem for you before. There has to be something else, or someone else.”
In Dennis’s opinion, Shoshanna had her many vices: she was needy, flighty, and downright selfish, but her worst quality was that she was insanely jealous. Her only redeeming quality was her smoking hot looks, but then there were many women with smoking hot looks.
Dennis had been extremely careful not to give Shoshanna any grounds for suspicion. The most ridiculous part of it all was that he had been faithful to Shoshanna, at least physically, not because he was in love with her but because the woman he wanted did not want him.
“You told me that you hate your job at the Treasury,” Shoshanna added imploringly. “Why don’t you just quit? I’ve got enough money for the both of us.”
Dennis shook his head. Why was it that he always ended up with the wrong kind of woman? The mere fact that Shoshanna thought him capable of leeching off of her made it clear that she knew nothing about him; to her, he was just a boy toy she would grow tired of in a matter of months, just like she had grown tired of all her other boyfriends. The only difference with Dennis was that, by being emotionally unavailable, he had not allowed her to grow tired of him. A logical question to ask was why had Dennis been putting up with Shoshanna in the first place? Unfortunately, when it came to women, Dennis Walker was not the most logical man.
“My situation at work is complicated right now, but quitting is not an option. I have to see things through, which is precisely why I can’t take time off.”
“You mean you can’t take time off because you don’t want to be away from her.”
“Who?”
“Whoever you think of when you get that faraway look in your eyes. Because I know for sure that you aren’t thinking of me.”
“There is no one else. No one else but you,” Dennis protested vainly.
“Save it, Dennis. If there is one thing that I won’t stand for, it’s lying. I could forgive infidelity, but I will not be lied to.”
The clicking of Shoshanna’s heels echoed in Dennis’s ears like bullets. For all her self-absorption and vanity, Shoshanna had seen right through him. For indeed there was someone else between then, or any other woman Dennis had tried to date since he had met Janet Maple. It pained him to admit it but Shoshanna was right: he was a liar, and the person he had deceived most was himself. Instead of going after Janet when he’d had the chance, he elected to take the safer road of being friends. And now Janet was taken by none other than Kingsley—the man who had ruined Dennis’s career and his love life.
Dennis got up from his desk. He needed the distraction of human interaction. He headed to the junior analysts’ section where there were several pretty specimens of the female gender who were always glad to see him.
The downside to his plan, which he only realized when it was too late, was that his route included passing by Peter Laskin’s office. Walking by Laskin’s office, Dennis heard the sound of busy typing. Typical Laskin, Dennis thought, no matter what happens, the man keeps plowing along. Deep down Dennis knew that Laskin was good at his job, but right now Dennis was in no mood to admit it. Truth be told, lately Laskin was probably far more productive than Dennis, not that Dennis was eager to admit this point either. In his defense, Dennis had a reason to be in a slump. Ever since he had spotted Janet with Alex, he had been unable to think of anything or anyone else but her. For all his hatred of Alex, Dennis was doing very little to get back at the man. Oh, sure, Dennis had spent plenty of time fantasizing about how he was going to expose the sneaky maggot. But first, he had to come up with a definite plan of action, or any plan for that matter.
“How is it going, Dennis?” Laskin’s voice carried through the open doorway.
Dennis stepped inside Laskin’s office. Even talking to Laskin was better than being alone with his thoughts. “Rotten,” Dennis confessed.
“Too much partying over the weekend?” asked Laskin while his fingers continued to flutter over the keyboard.
“Something like that. What are you working on?” Dennis switched the conversation away from himself.
“Something that Janet and I uncovered when we were at the Bostoff wedding.”
“You were Janet’s date for the Bostoff wedding? I didn’t even know Jon Bostoff was getting married. I thought he was already married. Did he get divorced?”
“Wow, slow down, Dennis. It was Jon’s brother who got married—Paul. Paul Bostoff was engaged to Lisa Foley, or have you forgotten?”
Dennis rubbed his chin. He was losing it. “That’s right, I remember now. So what did you guys find?”
“I think that you’d better ask Janet. She’s the one taking the lead on this,” Laskin replied with his eyes glued to his computer screen.
“Very well. I’ll ask her.”
Dennis kept walking in his initial direction until he heard the click of Laskin’s office door. Then he turned around abruptly and headed for Janet’s office. He was going to have it out with her once and for all.
When Dennis reached Janet’s office he saw that its door was closed. He was about to walk in when he heard that Janet was not alone. Dennis would have recognized the smug notes of Kingsley’s voice anywhere, but it was particularly disturbing to recognize them in Janet’s office. Suppressing his impulse to fling open the door and punch Kingsley right in his arrogant mug, Dennis flattened his back against the door frame, straining his ears for the conversation that was taking place on the other side of the door.
***
“Have you got any interesting news for me, Janet?” Alex asked as he leaned against Janet’s desk
, eyeing her with a cool, penetrating glare.
“Not that I can think of,” Janet managed. Alex had burst into her office unannounced, and now she literally felt pinned to her chair under his stare, like one of those insects in a glass display.
Alex’s hands let go of Janet’s desk. He walked closer to her chair, taking her hand into his. “So I take it that the Bostoff wedding was uneventful?”
“Oh, that. It was fine; nothing special,” Janet replied. “You know, as weddings go.”
“Did Laskin prove to be an adequate escort?” Alex asked, still holding Janet’s hand.
“Yes. I’m very grateful to him for being my date. As you know, there’s nothing more humiliating for a girl than showing up at a wedding without a date.”
“Janet, I told you before that you needn’t ever be worried about not having a date.” Alex squeezed Janet’s hand. “All you need to do is pick up the phone and call me. Or just walk over to my office and ask me in person,” Alex added huskily.
“Thank you, Alex. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” Janet tried to free her hand from Alex’s fingers, but his grip was firm.
“And what about Jon Bostoff?” Alex switched the conversation abruptly. “Have you noticed anything funky about him?”
“No, nothing funky. As we discussed, he’s opened a white collar crime consulting firm and seems to be doing fairly well. I don’t think there’s anything suspicious there. I am glad to see that he is now on the right side of the law.”
“Is he?”
“That’s what it looks like.”
Alex tightened his grip on Janet’s hand. “Your leniency surprises me, Janet. A leopard never changes his spots. We’ll keep our eyes on him, and if he strays we’ll be there to put him back where he belongs.”
Janet nodded, wondering when Alex was going to let go of her hand. She was a grown woman, so why was she enduring this humiliation, with her tongue glued to her throat? She imagined using her free hand to grab the paperweight from her desk and smashing it into Alex’s balls; this action did not require any spoken words and would undoubtedly produce the desired results.
“How about meeting me for a drink after work?” Alex asked.
“I, um, I’d love to, but I can’t tonight. I’m meeting a friend after work.” Janet could have kicked herself. She was too much of a chicken to even tell Alex off, let alone kick him in the nuts.
“Very well. But you know that you won’t be able to put me off with excuses forever.” Alex pressed Janet’s hand to his lips. “I’ll see you later, Janet.”
***
At the sound of Alex’s footsteps, Dennis Walker had barely enough time to jump away from the door of Janet’s office and leap into the office supplies pantry, which was just around the corner. Luckily, the hallway was empty, and Dennis was saved from the embarrassment of having to explain his behavior. This was a true stroke of luck, for the usually cautious and levelheaded Dennis would not have been able to produce a plausible explanation of his antics to save his life.
Dennis leaned against the supply closet and waited for the sound of Alex’s footsteps to fade away. Then he smoothed his jacket and headed toward Janet’s office.
“Cup of coffee, you and me, right now,” Dennis said in a tone that was more an order than an invitation.
For several moments Janet stared blankly at him. The words that followed after she recovered her capacity for speech made Dennis wish she had remained silent. “I don’t hear from you for days and you think can just barge into my office and expect me to drop everything? Thank you for the invite, but I’m quite busy at the moment, so I’ll have to decline.”
“Busy with what? Romancing Alex?”
Janet reddened, and Dennis knew that he had hit bull’s eye. “How do you know about that?” she snapped.
“I’m an investigator, remember? I saw you together last week when you were walking Baxter together.”
“It’s not what you think, not that it’s any of your business …” Janet began, but stopped in mid-sentence. “You spied on me?”
Now it was Dennis’s turn to flush. “I didn’t spy on you. I came by to see you, but learned that you were otherwise occupied. The least you could do is be decent enough to let me know where I stand. But for God’s sake let’s get out of here. This is no place to talk: the walls are paper thin here.”
“Where you stand?” Janet rose from her chair with self-righteous vigor. “I’ll tell you where you stand: you are in no position to ask me such questions.” She grabbed her coat. “Where are we going?”
Dennis barely managed to suppress his smile. Despite the elaborate display of anger, Janet still agreed to talk to him, which meant that she had to care about him at least a little bit.
A few minutes later, Janet and Dennis were seated behind the stained table of the coffee shop Dennis frequented whenever he needed a secure place to talk. Located on one of the side streets that ran like a maze in Downtown Manhattan, the place was a dive, but the good part was that no one from the office knew about the coffee shop’s existence. “So what’s going on between you and Alex?” Dennis asked.
“I told you that nothing is going on between me and Alex.”
“Oh yeah? Then how come he is walking Baxter with you? And why is he asking you out for a drink?”
“How did you—” Janet broke off. “You know, Dennis, I thought that you were too mature to eavesdrop on people’s conversations. But if you must know, I’m no happier about Alex’s attention than you are. I told you that I hate the dirtbag, and nothing has changed since then. I still can’t stand him, and I sure hope that we’ll be able to come up with a way to expose him for what he is: a lying, cheating scoundrel. But if you continue acting the way you are acting, I doubt we’ll be able to succeed.”
“Acting the way I’ve been acting? Why didn’t you tell me about the Bostoff wedding? I should have been your date, not Laskin.”
Janet lowered her eyes, a barely perceptible smile lurking on her lips.
Dennis cursed his outburst. Making Janet aware of his attraction to her was not part of his intention, at least not at the moment.
“If you must know, I was going to ask you,” Janet replied. “But you seemed to be otherwise engaged, so I asked Laskin.”
“Otherwise engaged?”
“I believe her name is honey boo.”
Dennis could not help smiling. Apparently, he was not the only one with a penchant for eavesdropping. “Guilty. But it’s over now, and it was never anything serious. For what it’s worth, if you had asked me to be your date for the Bostoff wedding, I would have been glad to be there.”
“Thanks, Dennis, I appreciate that. Now, if you’ll let me finish, I’ll tell you what Laskin and I learned when we were there.”
After Janet had finished giving the account of the wedding, Dennis stared at her from across the table. “Muller actually had the nerve to show up at the wedding? And he is dating the state attorney’s daughter?”
“Yep. Now do you see why the case against him got dismissed?”
“Crystal clear.”
“Wait, it gets better. Finnegan used to run the Manhattan DA’s office. He was Alex’s boss’s boss. The three of them used to be real chummy, with Finnegan calling Alex ‘my boy’ and inviting him for drinks after work, that sort of thing.”
“Did they ever invite you?”
Janet shook her head. “It was boys only.”
“And now Finnegan is state attorney general and Alex is our boss,” Dennis concluded.
“Call me paranoid, but I think there’s a connection between Finnegan, Ham being fired, and Alex being put in charge of our department.”
“It certainly does not seem farfetched to me. Alex must have served his master well, and now Finnegan has placed him at the Treasury as his trusted watchdog.” Dennis drummed his fingers on the table. “And Muller told you that he is a philanthropist now?”
“Yep,” Janet nodded. “But I don’t believe it for a second. This
whole thing stinks to high heaven. Alex’s interest in the matter makes it even more suspicious. Laskin and I are determined to get to the bottom of it. You’re welcome to join if you’re interested.”
“If I’m interested? Of course I’m interested, Janet. You know that there’s nothing I’d like more than to see Muller face justice.”
“Then, you trust me again?”
Dennis hung his head. “Yes. I’m sorry about what I said earlier. It was uncalled for.”
A flicker of a smile passed over Janet’s lips. “All is forgotten. No apologies needed among friends.”
“So what’s the plan?” Dennis could scarcely believe his own words. Usually, he was the one giving instructions, but in this case he had to give Janet her due—she had kept her cool while he had let his emotions get the better of him.
“Laskin is running the check on Muller’s charity as we speak. He has also alerted the Market Watch department to keep him posted of any unusual stock moves. Sooner or later Muller will make a mistake, and we’ll be there to catch him.”
***
Alex sat back at his desk, mulling over his conversation with Janet. He was good at reading people, and he was certain that Janet had told him the truth. There was a reason he had pulled a Romeo routine on Janet: he’d held her hand during the entire conversation and if she had been lying, her quickened pulse would have given her away.
Besides, Alex was not merely relying on Janet’s words. He had done some checking on Bostoff himself and had come up empty. He understood that Finnegan wanted Bostoff shut down, but as long as Bostoff was not doing anything illegal, Finnegan would just have to back off. So far, Bostoff had limited his business engagements to giving speeches on the evils of corruption and white collar crime. There was nothing any regulatory agency could do to sanction him for that. Now, if Bostoff cheated on his taxes or began poking his nose into matters that were outside of his purview, such as, for instance, gathering evidence against Muller, there would be ample grounds to shut Bostoff down. But until Alex became aware of such conduct, he was going to steer clear of Bostoff. Sure, Alex wanted to keep Finnegan happy, but Alex was not stupid enough to do it at the expense of his own skin.