To Catch a Bad Guy (18 page)

Janet perched on a bar
stool at BLT and twirled the olive-studded toothpick in her martini glass.
There were few things she would describe as being torturous, but sitting alone
by the bar at a corporate function definitely rated in the category. Janet
caught a glimpse of her reflection in the bar mirror: her hair covered her
shoulders in loose, soft curls: she had snuck out at lunch to get it styled at
the nearby hair salon, and she had to admit that it was a welcome change from
her usual French twist. She wore a fitted black sheath with a matching jacket,
which she had taken off and hung over the back of her chair, leaving her arms
and neck exposed and flatteringly offset by the black material of her dress.
All in all, she looked good, even if she did say so herself. Of course, she had
hoped that Dean Snider would be there to take notice of this fact, but so far,
he was not in attendance.

She checked her watch:
it was only five-thirty, and people were just starting to arrive. She wished
Dean would hurry up already. But then she was the one to blame for her current
predicament: Dean had asked her to be his date for the corporate party several
times, and not wanting to make a big deal out of the whole thing, she had
evaded a reply. Truth be told, she had been tempted to accept Dean’s invitation
all week. Ever since their accidental outing on Monday night, Janet had become
intensely conscious of Dean’s presence at Bostoff Securities. Suddenly, he was
in the hallways, in the kitchen, in the cafeteria; wherever Janet went, Dean
seemed to materialize out of the thin air. These coincidental encounters were
more than welcome on Janet’s part, as the two of them joked, laughed, and flirted,
filling the grayness of the workdays with sparks of excitement from each
other’s company. Well, at least that was true in Janet’s case, and she hoped
that Dean felt the same way. She had been looking forward to tonight all week,
imagining herself cozying up to Dean by the bar, her face being tilted at a
seductive angle and her smile playing on her lips just so as she looked into
his eyes, listening to his deep voice recounting yet another anecdote about
some dim-witted trader being unable to turn on his computer. There was no
denying it: despite her determination not to get involved with coworkers, Janet
was ready to break her own rules for Dean Snider. The only question that
remained was whether Dean was interested in turning flirtatious banter into something
more: a question that was difficult to answer since Janet herself had
difficulty defining just what she meant by ‘more’.

Janet stole a glance at
her watch: a quarter to six and still no sign of Dean. Irked, she took another
sip of her drink. That was the law of things: the minute one started wanting
something, it was bound to become unattainable. All week long, Dean kept
popping up before her with his uninvited banter, and now, when she finally
decided to give the bugger a chance, he was nowhere to be found. But then
perhaps it was all for the best. It was not as though she could afford the
luxury of wasting her brain cells on flirting. If she was ever going to figure
out what exactly was going on at Bostoff Securities, she had to keep her head
cool.

“Is this seat taken?” A
male voice woke Janet up from her reverie.

Janet turned around and
saw Tom Wyman leaning against the chair next to hers. As always, he looked
impeccable. His tailored suit did not have a crease out of place, and his tie
immaculately matched his shirt: an intricate ensemble that he no doubt had
spent some time putting together. Perhaps Janet imagined it, but it seemed to
her that Wyman’s entire demeanor oozed with self-satisfaction. He looked like a
cat that had just swallowed a canary.

Wyman took the seat
next to her.

“So you’re a martini
girl,” Wyman observed Janet’s choice of drink. “That’s my kind of girl.”

“I’m glad to know
that.” Janet took a sip of her drink. She was not particularly happy to see
Wyman at this very moment, but Wyman was at the heart of Bostoff’s business. If
she was ever to get to the bottom of Bostoff’s operations, Wyman was the key.

The rail-thin brunette
who was tending the bar zoomed over to Wyman, batting her eyelashes at him.

How was it that
fashionable restaurants always had rail-thin women hosting, serving, and
tending the bar? Were these stunning, but undoubtedly famished representatives
of the female sex not tempted by the food that surrounded them at their places
of work? Janet pondered while Wyman ordered himself a dirty martini.

“What can I get you,
sir?” The bartendress’s misty gaze made it clear that she would be more than
happy to oblige Wyman’s needs beyond the cocktail menu.

After a much
deliberated measuring, stirring and pouring, the bartendress finally placed
Wyman’s drink before him, and after casting one last longing look at Wyman and
a fleeting look of menace at Janet, departed to address the needs of other
customers.

“Cheers.” Wyman raised
his glass.

“What are we
celebrating?”

“Lisa’s and Paul’s
engagement, of course.” Wyman smiled with an open look of a man who had nothing
to hide.

“Yes, of course.” Janet
returned his smile. She knew that Wyman would be a tough nut to crack, but it
never hurt to try.

“Do you have any other
reasons in mind?” Wyman made a barely perceptible shift in his seat, sliding
closer to Janet.

“It looks like business
is picking up,” she observed nonchalantly just as Wyman’s hand brushed against
her bare arm.

Wyman stiffened. “Yes,
indeed. From what I hear, the revenues are up. Of course, I’m not involved in
the day to day operations, so you would probably know more than me. What have
you seen on your end?”

“Oh, I just overheard
the traders talking in the hallway. They sounded really excited about the
business picking up,” Janet replied. She was not about to admit to the fact
that she had been combing through the firm’s records.

“Another drink?” Wyman
offered.

“I don’t see why not.”
Janet pushed away her empty glass.

“Janet, Tom!” Lisa’s
voice rang in the air. Janet had been so intent on observing Wyman that she had
failed to notice Lisa Foley and Paul Bostoff walking toward them.

“Hello.” Janet slid off
her chair to reciprocate Lisa’s embrace-outstretched arms. The gesture was
surprising given the fact that aside from exchanging a few terse phrases, Janet
had barely seen her boss all week. Lisa was still sore at Janet’s refusal of
her matchmaking.

“I see you found Tom.
Isn’t he great?” Lisa whispered, planting an air kiss on Janet’s cheek.

“You look wonderful,
Lisa. Congratulations to both of you.” Wyman smiled officiously.

“Why, thank you, Tom!”
Lisa leaned on Paul’s arm. “Don’t you think it’s time you tied the knot?”
Lisa’s glance alternated between Janet and Wyman.

“Not all of us are as
lucky as Paul here,” Wyman countered. “I’m still waiting for the right girl to
come along.”

“Well, Tom,” Lisa
smiled meaningfully, “perhaps you should open your eyes – or you just might
miss her.”

Lisa’s remark made
Janet wish she could fall through the ground. Unfortunately, she was standing
on a floor of solid wood.

“Congratulations!” Jon
Bostoff joined the group. He shook his brother’s hand and kissed Lisa on both
cheeks. “Janet, it’s a pleasure to see you again. How are you finding it at
Bostoff?”

“Wonderful, thank you,”
Janet replied, taken aback by Jon Bostoff’s unwarranted attention. As far as
she was concerned, she was but a mere speck on Jon Bostoff’s landscape.

“Janet is a tremendous
asset, Jon,” Lisa cut in. “She’s done so much already.”

Jon Bostoff’s eyes
lingered on Janet. “Great. I’m glad to hear it. Tom, make sure you show Janet
the ropes.”

Wyman’s glance darted
back understandingly. “I sure will, Jon. Not to worry.”

“Well, I’ll leave you
to it.” Jon smiled. “Paul, Lisa – the guests of honor must do the rounds.”

Lisa lingered behind.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you and Tom,” she whispered to Janet.

Janet merely nodded.
Annoyed as she was by Lisa’s remark, she was in no position to address it with
Tom Wyman standing in front of her.

“So how about that
drink?” Wyman motioned at the bar.

“Don’t mind if I do,”
Janet conceded. She did not intend to have another drop of alcohol, but she
needed the pretense to get Wyman to talk.

“So, Janet, tell me
about yourself.” Wyman raised his glass in another celebratory gesture.

“Oh, I think you pretty
much know everything already. I spent the last four years at the DA’s office,
went to Columbia Law…”

“That’s not what I
meant, Janet.” Wyman reached for Janet’s hand, covering it with his wide palm.
“I’d like to get to know you as a person.” He fixed his gaze on Janet’s eyes,
waiting for her reaction. “Don’t you think it a pity that we so often know next
to nothing about the people we work with? People we spend so much of our time
with….”

Janet paused demurely.
This was her opening, her chance to get him to talk.

“Yes, Tom. For
instance, I hardly know anything about you, and I’d like to learn a great
deal,” she purred.

“What is it that you’d
like to know?” Wyman’s voice swelled with his ego.

“Well, you see, I’m
still learning the ropes at my job, and it all seems so complicated to me. I
would so much appreciate it if you could walk me through Bostoff’s business
model and all the complicated things that you do for the firm.” Janet fiddled
with her cocktail glass. “You’ve showed me a great deal already, but I must
admit that it all seemed so complicated that I’m afraid I need another lesson.”

Wyman stroked his chin.
“Sure, Janet, I’d be glad to. But first, what do you say we get out of this
place and go somewhere quiet for dinner?”

“Why, yes, Tom. That
sounds like a splendid idea.”

“After you, my lady.”

Janet started walking
toward the exit. Her heart was beating wildly. Playing detective was fun, and
it would be even more fun if she did not risk being implicated in the very
scheme she was trying to unravel.

Tom followed Janet, but
had to rush back to the bar to retrieve his laptop case that he had stowed
under his chair.

“Almost forgot the darn
thing,” he muttered. “It’s been a hell of day.”

Janet eyed Wyman’s
laptop case from under her lashes. She would love to get her hands on the files
that he kept there.

***

Dennis Walker was
hurriedly making his way through the crowd. He could see Janet by the bar. He
had not missed his chance after all. In a few moments, he would reach her and
apologize, citing an important work assignment as the cause of his delay. In
reality, it was his boss’s micromanagement that had made him late. With so much
riding on the Bostoff investigation, Hamilton Kirk had turned into a nervous
Nellie and demanded daily updates from Dennis. Ham had stipulated that these
updates be face-to-face, and for the past week Dennis had found himself rushing
to see his boss at all kinds of hours. Usually their meetings were either early
in the day or late in the evening, but today Ham had insisted that they meet at
five-thirty, claiming that he could not stay late due to a family function. Oh,
well, when it came to his boss’s whims, there was little that Dennis could do.

At least Ham had
managed to get a one-week extension out of the Feds, which left Dennis with a
total of three weeks to work the case, as one week, Dean was chagrined to
admit, had already gone by. Dennis could sense that something big was brewing
at Bostoff. With Janet’s help, he could solve the case much faster. All week
long, he had gone out of his way to run into Janet in the hallways and the
cafeteria. They chatted and laughed. She liked him, he could tell. All he
needed now was a little bit more time to make her trust him, and tonight would
provide the perfect opportunity for that.

As he got closer to the
bar, Dennis halted in his footsteps, realizing that Janet was not alone.
Bostoff’s attorney, Tom Wyman, was hovering over her like a bee over honey, and
Janet seemed to be welcoming his advances, leaning toward him at angles of
alarming proximity. At the sight of this display, Dennis froze in place. Dennis
was certain that Wyman was the link that connected Bostoff to Emperial and the
rest of the hedge fund piranhas that filled Bostoff’s client list. If Janet got
close to Wyman, she could find out all sorts of useful information from him.
But if Janet genuinely liked Wyman - if she were to become his accomplice - she
would be of no use to Dennis. Even more unsettling was the possibility of her
becoming something more than Wyman’s ally. The thought made Dennis’s fists curl
involuntarily. His reaction scared him; this was a job, not a game of
hanky-panky. Dennis needed to secure Janet’s affection, but he needed it to
procure evidence from her, not to indulge his own emotions.

Deliberating his next
move, Dennis shot another glance at Janet. She looked positively glowing
tonight. Her chestnut hair draped her shoulders, adding a new kind of
attractiveness to her face. Her entire demeanor seemed more relaxed, exuding a
new kind of appeal. Was it merely the change in her hair style or was it
Wyman’s presence that was responsible for this change in her? Dennis wondered.
The thought of Tom Wyman as a rival for Janet’s attention undid the last
remnants of Dennis’s resolve. He wanted to rake his fingers through the rich
mane of Janet’s hair, to cover her inviting mouth with his lips, to trace the
outline of her body with his hands. While Dennis struggled with his fueling
desire, Wyman leaned in closer to Janet and whispered something into her ear.
She nodded and smiled, shrugging her shoulders coquettishly. Before Dennis
could make up his mind whether to approach the cooing couple, the decision was
made for him. Seething inside, Dennis watched Wyman get up from his chair and
usher Janet toward the exit. As they passed through the crowd, Dennis ducked
against the wall, but the precaution had been unnecessary. Janet’s eyes were
glued to Tom Wyman.