Bad Guys Don't Win (Janet Maple Series Book 4) (9 page)

Janet was busy working her way through
the stack of cases on her desk when Dennis walked into her office and shut the
door behind him. It was eleven a.m. now, and they had barely spoken since
they’d come in to work at eight in the morning. Janet was swamped catching up
on her workload, making up for the time they had spent away from the office
with Laskin yesterday. Business was booming for Kirk & Associates.

“Hey,” Janet greeted him, her fingers
busy hitting the keyboard—she was in the middle of the last sentence of her
memo and didn’t want to break the momentum. “Any news?”

“Have you heard from Mila?” Dennis
asked.

The tone of his voice made Janet lift
her head from her computer, but her fingers continued to type. “Nope. Didn’t
you say you’d be checking up on her?”

“I was and I haven’t heard from her
since last night.”

“There, all done.” Janet eyed the
finished memo with satisfaction. Now, all she had to do was proofread it and
hand it in to Ham. She’d finished a day ahead of schedule too, so there was no
way for their boss to suspect they were working on a case that Kirk &
Associates wasn’t billing for.

“What do you think we should do?”

Sensing Dennis’s intent stare, she tore
herself away from the computer screen. “Wait, say that again? Sorry, I wasn’t
paying attention,” she admitted sheepishly.

“I haven’t heard from Mila.”

“Since when?”

“Since last night. Didn’t you listen to
anything I said?” he snapped.

“Sorry. No need to get all worked up.
Last time I checked, we still need a paycheck. I just finished the Delaney
case, by the way,” she added pointedly. She and Dennis were supposed to be
working on it together, but she’d gone through the data on her own and finished
the analysis.

“Thank you for that. Ham will be
pleased.”

“I’m glad you remember we still have a
boss to please.”

“Of course we do. Do you think I like
sneaking around like this? I don’t like this any more than you do, but the
Kovars are on the loose and we have to stop them.”

Janet shook her head. She was beginning
to fear her fiancé was not only a workaholic, but also an adrenaline junky, out
to single-handedly save the world. “No, I don’t.”
But sometimes I wonder
,
she wanted to add,
what would’ve happened if you didn’t answer Mila’s phone
call?

“Mila came to us for help,” Dennis
continued. “And now she’s gone missing—”

“Missing? What makes you think she’s
missing?” Janet instantly felt guilty for her inner grumblings.

“Because I haven’t heard from her. How
many times do I have to repeat myself? I thought maybe by some crazy chance she
called you, but since you haven’t heard from her either—” Dennis broke off. “I
gotta go to my apartment and see what’s going on. There’s still hope she’s
asleep and didn’t hear me call, all of the five times I tried to reach her.
After all, it’s only eleven a.m. now,” he added hopefully. “Can you cover for
me with Ham?”

She shook her head and got up. “I’m
coming with you.”

“Fine. Let’s go then.”

“Hang on.” Janet hit the print button
and walked over to the printer to get a copy of her memo. She stacked the pages
and stapled them. “This should keep Ham occupied for a few hours.” She hadn’t
proofread the memo, but she usually typed neatly. She picked up the
accompanying file and gathered it all in a neat pile. “I’ll just drop this off
in his office and then we’re ready to go.”

“I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Janet narrowed her eyes. “If I come down
there and find you gone—”

“I’ll wait for you,” he cut her off.
“Just hurry up, will ya?”

“As soon as I drop this off in Ham’s
office. Somebody still has to work around here,” she muttered.

“I heard that,” Dennis called over his
shoulder as he left her office.

Ten minutes later Janet was walking
through the lobby. Through the glass doors, she saw Dennis standing outside,
waiting for her as he’d promised.

“We’re in luck,” she said smiling. “Ham
is meeting with a prospective client. He’ll be gone all afternoon.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t tell us.”

“He did. He told the receptionist and
she forgot to tell us.”

“Figures. That woman never gets anything
right,” Dennis grumbled. “Come on, let’s go.”

They were lucky to get a cab and fifteen
minutes later they were in the elevator of Dennis’s building.

After ringing the bell several times and
getting no answer, Dennis cautiously opened his apartment door and walked
inside. Janet followed him.

“Mila! It’s Dennis and Janet,” Dennis
called out. “Are you there?” There was no answer.

Dennis moved inside. Janet was right
behind him. It took all of two minutes for them to check Dennis’s studio in its
entirety and ascertain that Mila wasn’t there.

“This doesn’t look good.” Dennis
frowned.

“It could’ve been worse. At least there
are no signs of struggle, so it doesn’t look like she was kidnapped.”

“They could’ve drugged her with
chloroform and put everything back together the way it was,” Dennis countered.

Janet eyed the neatly made bed—it looked
like it hadn’t been slept in. “I doubt it. And the front door was locked—I
don’t think the kidnapper would’ve bothered to lock the door.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know.” Dennis
shook his head. “I should’ve checked on her last night. I knew something was
off when she called me—she sounded funny.”

Janet decided not to say anything. She
couldn’t deny that she would’ve been mad if Dennis had taken off in the middle
of the night to check on Mila. And now she felt guilty. “Do you remember the
exact time you spoke with her last?”

“Eleven p.m. She said she was going to
bed and that she’d call me in the morning.”

Janet frowned. “Mila doesn’t seem like
the type who goes to bed at 11 p.m.”

“She sounded stressed out, like she
needed a rest. Why would she lie? She’s the one who asked for help. I offered
to protect her, not to jail her. I explained it was in her interest to stay
put. I thought she understood that. We’re all adults here.”

Janet cocked her eyebrow. “I’d put my
dollar on her sneaking out to meet someone—her friend or her boyfriend. Maybe
even Anton Kovar.” Janet patted her chin, her frown deepening.

“Anton Kovar?”

“Yes, Anton Kovar.” The thought had just
come into her mind and the possibilities were frightening.

“She’s running away from the guy,
terrified of him.”

“That’s what she told you, but it
doesn’t make it automatically true. She was with Anton for a long time. They
could’ve gotten back together. For all we know, she could be baiting
you—baiting us into Anton’s net.”

Dennis shook his head. “No way. She
never liked the guy—she was only with him because she was trapped. She’s turned
her life around since then. I’m telling you, she was terrified when she came to
see me, terrified.”

“I believe you,” Janet said calmly. “I
just don’t believe her.”

“She has a boyfriend for crying out
loud. Philip Barrett—I looked him up—he’s some big shot entrepreneur.
Apparently, he’s crazy about her.”

“Why didn’t you say so before?”

“Because she swore me to secrecy. She’s
crazy about this guy and she was scared that if he found out about her and the
Kovars he’d leave her.”

“You could’ve told me,” Janet pointed
out. “This rules out my Kovars theory.” She’d seen Philip Barrett’s picture on
the cover of
Forbes
—with a boyfriend like that, it was unlikely Mila
would reunite with Anton Kovar.

“Told you it wasn’t plausible.”

“Yeah, well, if we’re going to get
anywhere with this case, you’ve got to stop keeping secrets from me.”

“I wasn’t keeping secrets.”

Janet met him with a silent stare.

“Okay. I won’t do it again. I promise.”

“We’d better give Philip Barrett a
call,” Janet said.

“There’s also her best friend, Amy.”

“Let’s start with Barrett,” Janet
suggested. “If Anton had kidnapped Mila, he might go to Barrett for ransom and
we need to get to him first.”

***

Half an hour later, Janet and Dennis
were walking through the lobby of the building that housed the headquarters of
Barrett Enterprises. A quick elevator ride later, they were on their way to
Philip Barrett’s office. The secretary, a polished blonde in a tailored suit,
guided them down a long, carpeted hallway to the corner office at the end. “Mr.
Barrett is expecting you,” she informed them, opening the door for them.

Philip Barrett rose from behind his desk
to greet them. He looked just as dashing and charming as his magazine picture.
“Please cancel all my meetings for today, Thelma,” he instructed the secretary.
“Mr. Walker, Ms. Maple, please make yourselves comfortable,” he added, pointing
at the two leather armchairs facing his desk.

“Thank you for seeing us on such short
notice, Mr. Barrett. Please, call me Dennis.” Dennis extended his hand for a
shake. “It is a pleasure to meet you, although I wish we were meeting under a
different set of circumstances.”

“Please, call me Philip.” Philip Barrett
shook Dennis’s hand heartily and then extended his hand to Janet. “Very nice to
meet you, Ms. Maple. I must say that I am very impressed by your work. Kirk
& Associates may be a small agency, but it has certainly left its mark on
those elements of society who choose not to play by the rules, shall we say.”

“We try our best,” Janet said modestly.
“And please, call me Janet. I am afraid we don’t have much time for
formalities.”

Philip Barrett’s expression remained
unchanged except for a barely perceptible shift of his eyebrows. “I understand
that you may have some information about Mila?”

Dennis nodded. “But we need to ask you
some questions first.”

“Would you mind clarifying that, Dennis?
I hope you’ll forgive my tone, but I find your remark particularly
disconcerting since I haven’t spoken to Mila for almost two days.”

“You just answered my question.” Dennis
frowned. “So it is as I feared. When was the last time you spoke with her?”

“The day before yesterday,” Philip
clarified. “Now, would you mind telling me what’s going on?”

“Have you ever heard of the mobster Petr
Kovar and his nephew, Anton Kovar?” Dennis asked.

“Didn’t he run organized crime for all
of Eastern Europe? He was arrested for running a prostitution ring here in the
U.S. I remember reading in the papers that he died in a car crash while being
transported to another jail facility. The story stuck in my mind because of how
ghoulish the whole thing was,” Philip replied. “How’s any of this related to
Mila?”

“I’ll explain as quickly as I can,”
Dennis replied. “I understand that you are already familiar with the nature of
the work that Janet and I do.”

Philip nodded impatiently. “Yes. How do
you know Mila?”

“Mila contacted me two days ago and
asked for protection—”

“Why would Mila contact you for help?”
Philip cut in. “She knows perfectly well that she could come to me for help
with anything. Anything.”

“Because she didn’t want you to know
about her connection with the Kovars,” Dennis explained. “I promised to keep her
secret, but current turn of events is forcing me to break my promise. I only
hope Mila will forgive me for it and you won’t judge her too harshly for what I
am about to tell you.”

After Dennis had finished telling him
the facts, Philip looked almost relieved. “I can’t believe she thought that
this might change the way I feel about her. If anything, knowing what she’s
been through makes me love her even more. She’s a very strong woman.”

“That she is,” Dennis agreed. “And now
she needs our help.”

“My resources are at your disposal,”
Philip offered. “Anything you need—just say the word.”

“Mr. Barrett, Philip,” Janet corrected
herself, “it would be really helpful if you would retain our services
officially. You see, when Mila came to Dennis for help, it was off the books
and our boss has no idea we’re doing this investigation. And, at this
unfortunate turn of events, I’m afraid we’ll have to dedicate a lot more time
to this case, which will make it impossible to keep it a secret.”

“Yes, of course,” Philip was quick to
answer. “I will call Hamilton Kirk right away. But don’t you think we should
also go to the authorities?”

“Not until we know more about how the
Kovars escaped,” Dennis said. “We don’t want to accidently tip off whomever it
is they’ve got working for them.”

“But how are we going to find Mila on
our own?” Philip exclaimed. “Every minute she might be spending captured by
that Kovar brute makes me crazy with rage. We have to get her out!”