“Well, be careful, I don't want you to get hurt either, even if you are used to it.”
“It's ok. This situation makes me feel the way I did when I hunted down killers and criminals back when I worked as a detective in New York. It also keeps my mind off the fact I'm still a cat. Colin is usually pretty reliable and the fact that he hasn't come to me and said, hey I got an answer to your cat problem, tells me this has him pretty stumped. The only way I could probably go back to being a man, is probably in the spirit, back at the waiting station, where Colin first took me. However, he told me that place was a temporary situation. So, chances are, we're not going back there. It's anybody's guess what's going to happen to my transformation. Working on this case helps keep my mind off this other problem. Better to solve this murder than to be thinking about when Colin is going to come through.”
“I'm sorry you feel strange being a cat.” Lana said, concerned for Roger.
“Well, it's not your fault.” Roger laughed. “Truth is, I'm kind of a hybrid. My mind thinks like a man and I understand people, I understand when they speak and what they're saying. On the other hand, I also understand you and still have cat habits. I like cat food, and like going to the park and running and I like sleeping on the couch. This is probably a good thing because if I wasn't in this hybrid situation, I would have gone crazy. So, there's a part of me that is a cat, and continues to act like a cat. But my awareness is that of a man, and I remember who I was and what I did before this ever happened. But I'm also not obsessed with going back to being a man. That means a strong part of the cat is still a part of me.”
“Well, I'm glad I'm with you and you're my friend and I'm no longer with Agent Holbrook. I led a very lonely existence with her.” Lana said.
“Lana, I'm sure you won't be alone as long as I'm around. Plus Mandy will take us to the park and do our run and all the other things we do.”
“But what happens when you finally become a man? What happens to us?” Lana said concerned.
“Well, I guess I'll have to adopt you.” He said kidding and trying to make her feel better.
“What if Mandy doesn't want to give me up?”
“Then I'll kidnap you instead. Hey, they did it to me once. I'll do it to you. C'mon, let's go sit by Mandy so she doesn't start thinking I'm a weirdo suffering from Torrence disease.”
“Tourette's Syndrome.” Lana corrected.
“Same difference, she just thinks I'm crazy.”
“I know you're crazy, but not from Tourette's Syndrome.” They both laughed at this statement.
Chapter Fourteen
Jake had been wondering how to keep the company going. No doubt Michael had been a tremendous asset. Cathy and Tim were also great in their own right. But they were going to need someone to do Michael's job, so the company could continue to function back at full capacity. About a year ago he had met another analyst/advisor, who at the time was shopping to work for a new place. However, with Michael working at the firm, he didn't feel he needed a fourth person.
Recently he had bumped into the same guy before Michael's death. He was still looking for a new job, not happy at where he was. Maybe he could try him out at the firm. But he needed someone to fit in with Cathy and Tim. He could also ask them for people they knew would be good for the firm. He felt announcing a new person now would be good for morale, that the business was going to continue. He went out to the main floor.
“Hi folks, I'd like to make an announcement.” Jake said.
Cathy and Tim wondered what this was about and some of the techs came out of their room.
“We recently suffered a terrible loss with Michael's accidental demise. However, we can't continue without someone like Michael, because of the volume of work. So, I just wanted to announce we'll be hiring someone in the near future to continue doing the kind of work Michael was doing. I'm not saying a replacement, because nobody could replace Michael, he was one of a kind. But I'm certain we can get someone competent who will be able to take on the additional work. Just mentioning this for when you see the new face, you're not surprised.”
Most took the announcement as positive, although Cathy and Tim were a bit apprehensive.
“Cathy and Tim, even though there's someone I'm thinking of for the job, I want to hear about people you may want to recommend. Most important, whoever winds up doing the job has to fit in personality wise. The person I am thinking of may or may not fit it. I want someone who is going to fit in with our group. So, your input is going to be important.”
At these new Cathy and Tim felt better they weren't going to get someone pushed on them, that Jake understood they had to mesh with the others.
“I can recommend a couple of people we can interview.” Tim said, mentally checking his resources.
“There's a person I know who I think would be great for the job.” Cathy said, not to be left out.
“That's great. The more people the better. That way we're not stuck with one person who may not work out in the long run.” Jake said.
Everybody went back to their desks once they realized nothing terrible was going to happen. They knew they needed someone to take over Michael's duties, and they were glad they could bring in some people to be considered.
Meanwhile, Mandy was calling Jennifer to see if she wanted to get some lunch at Joanie's. Jennifer accepted, saying she needed a break from all the arrangements for Michael. Mandy started to get ready to leave and take both cats. Lana was fast asleep on the sofa. Roger was wide-awake and pacing the floor.
“C'mon Roger, we're going to Joanie's. Don't want to wake up Lana, she seems like she needs her rest.”
“I'm sure she's getting her beauty sleep.” Roger said, but it came out as a strange meow.
By now Mandy was getting used to Roger's utterances. She put the leash on him and they went out the door. Roger jumped in the car, familiar fashion, and looking forward to maybe getting some nice food at Joanie's. She never gave him cat food, she gave him human food that tasted great. So Roger liked going there.
Once they got to Joanie's Jennifer was already there waiting.
“Wow, you got here fast.” Mandy said.
“Well, I just needed to get out of the house. All these arrangements for Michael are taking me for a loop.” Jennifer said.
“I'm sure it must be difficult for you.”
“Well, it's not so much that it's difficult. Granted, it's never a good thing to be making the arrangements for the cremation of someone, particularly when you're married to them. It's just I'm overwhelmed by the volume of things. I've had to deal with landlords, banks, investment firms, lawyers, funeral arrangers. One thing is if someone seems like they're dying from a wasting disease you have time to plan for these things, but for someone dying suddenly, a lot of things jump out of the woodwork.”
“I understand, I had a similar situation when my husband suddenly passed away. That was ten years ago, but I still remember. Never an easy situation.”
“And there are surprises as well. I got a call from Michael's lawyer. Apparently, there was a will, and he left me a large amount of money. I had a signed a pre-nuptial agreement with Michael, in case we ever separated or divorced, but this is completely out of left field. I really didn't expect to get much of anything.” Jennifer said.
“Well, I guess it's one of those windfalls from a disaster.” Mandy replied.
“Believe me, this is not how I like to get enriched. It would be much better for Michael to still be alive, and for us to eventually divorce so I can marry Jake.”
“Yes, death always makes things complicated.” Mandy said.
“I just recently learned from Jake he had hired a counselor to talk to Michael about divorcing me amicably. I don't think the counselor ever spoke to Michael.”
“Well, what could the counselor do?”
“Mostly, pave the way for all of us to meet at a later day and discuss things. But he figured he needed an icebreaker, and that's why he hired the counselor.”
“I had no idea they had people like that. But in today's world, I guess there's somebody out there for every job.”
“Apparently. I've also been contacting Michael's family for the service. They are also a weird bunch. But at least his mother said she would get in contact with those that would actually attend the service, as opposed to sending out a lot of wasted invitations, to use her words.”
“I guess not everybody in the family got along?” Mandy asked.
“Well, it's more that after Michael's parents divorced, there wasn't a whole lot of communication between father and mother and the father's side of the family acts like she doesn't exist. Michael's father left her for another woman, and divorce followed. He sent money, but he never appeared again in Michael's life. The mother was never the same afterwards. This may account for some of Michael's bizarre behavior. Perhaps it was a coping mechanism.”
“How about your parents, how do they feel about all this?”
“Oh, they feel terrible someone so young should die under unusual circumstances. They think it was as suicide.” Jennifer said.
“Well, maybe we should look at the menu and get something to eat.” Mandy suggested.
“Absolutely. I'm starving, and I came here to get away from all this and here I am still talking about it. I see you brought your cat. He's a real beauty.”
“Yes, I'm really fortunate to have Roger. I recently got another cat, a white English short hair with blue eyes. But she was sleeping I didn't want to wake her.”
“Oh, she sounds beautiful. I'd love to see her sometime.”
“By all means, whenever you want to come over.”
Joanie came by and took their respective orders. She patted Roger and said she would make something special for him. Roger said “Great” which sounded like one of his strange meows. But it was ok, they just laughed.
“Joanie, seems like Roger knows when you're going to bring him something.”
“Oh yes, he's got my number all right.”
After Joanie brought their orders, and a dish of chicken for Roger, Mandy and Jennifer were mostly silent as they ate. Later, when Joanie brought some dessert, conversation flowed again.
“Boy this is really good apple pie.” Jennifer said.
“This is one of the things Joanie is famous for. People come from all over to eat her apple sour cream pie.”
“Well, I can certainly see why, this is delicious.”
“Listen Jennifer, I hope you don't mind me asking you, but I'm still exploring investing my money with the firm.”
“Oh, I still think it's a great idea. Jake will definitely take care of you.”
“Well, right now, I met with Cathy and Tim explained cryptocurrencies to me, which was like explaining how to drive the space shuttle. But what are your feelings on their skills as financial advisors?”
“These are great people. Cathy will do the right thing for you. She's still trying to prove herself in the firm, so she will take your investment very seriously. Tim is very knowledgeable about online trading. It's funny I should be recommending him, since he doesn't like me very much.”
“Why would that be?”
“Well, I think he suspects Jake and I are having a relationship, but he doesn't know about the agreement Michael and I have. I've tried to be very discreet, but Jake sometimes is not as discreet and Tim is a very smart guy. I know he's friends with Michael, so he may feel I'm cheating on Michael behind his back.”
“Thanks very much for those insights. I had no idea Tim didn't like you.”
“Yeah, it's just one of those things in life. I learned long ago not to go through life as a popularity contest. Some people are going to love you and some are going to hate you, you try to develop relationships with the people that care about you, and the other people who couldn't care less about you, just leave by the wayside. No matter how much you try, some people are just not going to go for you. So yeah, if you want to get the best out of Tim, don't mention me.” Jennifer said, laughing at her last statement.
“Is it really that bad?” Mandy said, pretending she never heard Tim speak about her.
“Well, I don't know how bad it is, but the way I see it, I don't work there, I don't have to deal with him, but I know he never says a word to me, whereas Cathy will at least say hi. I also know Tim and Cathy were dating once, but it fizzled out after a while. I think Cathy was lonely and Tim seemed like someone she could talk to at the firm, he sort of mentored her at the beginning. I guess from that basis, a romance bloomed. But they're still friends and work together well, so whatever relationship they had still seems to be on the positive side.”
“It always amazes me how people could engage in intimate personal relationships with those they work with.” Mandy said.
“Well, I think what happens with some of these people is one of two things. Either they don't have a life, and the only people they know is the people they work with. Here they have someone they can commiserate with and they see every day, so it's an easy leap from having someone at the office to taking that same someone home.
“In other situations, the relationship with their spouse at home may be souring, and they find a spark with someone they work with. Hey, in a way, I'm living proof of that. My marriage was not what I thought it was going to be, I meet Jake, he owns the place where Michael worked, and I found romance there. But I will say, Jake pursued me for a while, until it finally sunk in I was in an 'open relationship' and I could see someone else. For me and Jake, it worked out very well. I don't know how other people fare under those circumstances.” Jennifer explained.
“How does all this work, now with Michael's death?”
“Well, I explained, and Jake agreed, the best thing is to be discreet. No public displays of affection, and if we finally decide to marry, make sure enough time has passed to make it seem like a natural step. At the end of the day, Michael's mother and my parents don't know of the special arrangement between Michael and myself, so I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. And Michael's mother is a good person, I certainly don't want her to feel her son was slighted in any way. She's had enough of that her entire life.”
“That's very considerate of you.”
“Life goes on and you want to be on as good terms as possible with those living. Listen, I don't want to cut things short, but I have an appointment with the funeral home.”
“Oh, by all means, I understand. I just wanted to say, it was a great lunch and thank you for sharing all this about your life and about the firm, I appreciate it.”
“Oh Mandy, at this point I just need someone to talk to who I can trust and I trust you. By the way, it's my treat, you introduced me to Joanie's, it's the least I can do.”
“Thank you, that's very nice.”
“The pleasure is all mine.”
Mandy and Jennifer parted ways, and it was a thoughtful Mandy that wended her way through traffic back home. She learned a lot about Jennifer during this lunch and either Jennifer was the biggest actress and liar in the world, or she was a good person, and Tim just didn't like her and out of spite was out to ruin her character.
She thought to herself, so many people, so many different lifestyles. On the other hand, there are large sums of money here at stake and her story of her receiving a large amount of money from the will was interesting. Did she know about this in advance? She would have to discuss this with Fred.
Roger had also been listening to everything Jennifer said. Something definitely did not add up here. Maybe she was telling the truth or maybe she was putting on a big act for Mandy. His investigation of the firm tonight might tell the real story.
Once she got home, the first thing she did was call Fred. It didn't ring long before Fred picked up.
“Oh, hi Mandy.”
“Hi Fred, just calling to let you know what I found so far. Mandy said excitedly.
“Sounds like you discovered something.”
“Well, it was just very strange.” Mandy proceeded
to tell Fred the meetings with Tim and Jennifer.
“Yes, I see what you mean. On the one hand, you have a person who is saying Jennifer is a gold digger. You meet up with her and she comes off as the concerned wife. So, something doesn't add up somewhere.”
“I think if we look in the middle we're probably going to find the clue.” Mandy said.
“Well, one question that keeps coming back to me is, did Jennifer know about the will and the payout. That's going to go a long way towards finding a motive.” Fred said.
“That's what I was thinking too. The fact that she threw it out as a surprise makes me wonder. She also said she had a pre-nuptial agreement.”
“Jennifer seemed to have all her bases covered when it came to the money.”
“I'm wondering if she'll trip up along the way.
“Time will tell.” Fred said.
Chapter Fifteen
After speaking with Fred, Mandy decided to call Jill and fill her in on what she's been up to of late. Also, to get some feedback regarding Lucy.
“Hi Jill.”
“Hi Mandy, how's the investigation going?”
“Well, it's been very interesting so far. Jennifer seems to full of surprises. I'm still confused as to where she really stands, but so far she appears to be the considerate and understanding wife.”
“What do you mean?”
Mandy filled her in on what her experiences with Jennifer have been.
“Hmmm. For someone who seemed to be involved in a whirlwind romance, she seems to have taken good care that no matter if this marriage worked out or not, she would get money. And now she's supposed to get more money from a will. You want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but so far it seems pretty calculating.”
“I know what you mean. However, the rest of her actions don't match the money aspect, so you're kind of at a loss as to what to believe.” Mandy said.
“I hope she doesn't turn out to be another Stacy Parks.”
“That makes two of us. By the way, did you make any headway with people for Lucy's cause?
Mystery at the Hedge Fund Page 11