Bad Guys Don't Win (Janet Maple Series Book 4) (12 page)

“I was, but then I realized she must
have tons of guys hitting on her every night.”

Janet raised an eyebrow. “Is she that
attractive?”

“That’s not what I meant. That place is
crawling with creeps who’ll jump on anything that moves. So I thought this
would be a better cover and I was right. She told me she’s been trying to make
it into modeling.”

“Sounds like you’re getting close
already.”

“Hey, I don’t like this any more than
you do. But we have to get close to her somehow.”

“Sure.” Janet nodded. “As long as it’s
your way.”

“Don’t start with that again.”

“I just don’t see why I couldn’t get
close to her myself. I’ve done it with Mila when I got a job at Kovar’s
lounge.”

“Yeah, and I was worried sick about you
every time you went to that slimy place. I’m not letting you do this again,”
Dennis said firmly.

“Okay, I’ll admit. I’m a little
jealous,” she said sheepishly. “It’s just that ever since the Kovar case came
back from the dead, everything in our lives is being put on hold. And these
gorgeous girls are taking up all of your time.”

Dennis scoffed. “Gorgeous girls?”

“Mila, and now this Jess character, who
apparently is model material.”

Dennis took Janet’s hand in his. “I
assure you, there’s no other girl I’d rather be spending my time with but you.
As soon as the Kovars are back behind bars, we’re getting hitched.”

“But how are we going to do that when
we’ve put all the wedding plans on hold? I cancelled the caterer and
everything.”

“We don’t need a caterer to get married.
We’ll elope.”

“We will?” Janet asked.

“Yes. And we’ll have the perfect
honeymoon. And then we’ll find the most perfect apartment and live happily ever
after.”

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Janet grinned. “So how’re you planning
to fool Jess Hall into believing you’re a photographer?”

“I happen to be pretty good at taking
pictures.”

Janet shot him a dubious glance.
Whenever Dennis took a picture of something, the frame was always tilted or
cutting something off.

“All right, I’ll admit, I’m not that
great at it. But that fancy camera of yours can pretty much shoot by itself. I
was hoping to borrow your camera,” he added, alluding to Janet’s forgotten
hobby. She’d bought a professional camera with all the bells and whistles that
she never used—it was too bulky for detective work and there was never enough
time for her hobby.

“All right.” Janet got up from the couch
and walked over to the closet.

After several moments of intense
rummaging, she returned with the camera in her hand. It was still in a box.
“Here it is.” She handed Dennis the camera.

“I was hoping you could teach me how to
use it.”

“All right,” she said. “The instruction
manual is in the box. I’m a bit rusty, but it’ll come back to me. Hand me the
camera box.”

“I need a practical demonstration,” he
said, holding on to the box.

“Yes, exactly. We’ll take some
pictures.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“How’re you going to learn to use the
camera then?” she asked.

He put the camera box aside and tugged
at the belt of her robe. “I need a model to pose for me to be ready for
tomorrow.”

“A model, huh?”

“Yes, to make sure I know how to shoot
at a right angle. I need lots of practice at all kinds of different angles,” he
murmured, kissing her neck. “How’s this for starters?”

“Mmm, not bad for a newbie—” she cut
herself off. “Dennis, quit fooling around. This is serious. You can’t wing this
stuff.”

“Who said anything about winging it? I’m
going to be a most diligent student.” He pulled the robe off her shoulder and
kissed her there. “How’s this?”

“Mmm, nice.” She felt her resistance
melting.

“See? I’m a fast learner.” He pulled her
closer to him and kissed her lips. Then he kissed her again, his lips trailing
down her neck, past her shoulder, reaching the curve of her breasts. “And
this?”

“Perfect,” she purred, half-closing her
eyes.

“I think I’m starting to get the hang of
it. Told you I was a quick study.” He moved in closer. “I can’t remember the
last time we made love on the couch. Time to revisit an old favorite,” he added
with a wink.

“Dennis wait— You’ve got to practice
using the camera,” Janet protested.

“That’s exactly what I have in
mind—plenty of practice.”

“So you think you got it?” Janet asked,
as Dennis pointed the camera at her for the umpteenth time.

“I think you should be a model. It’s not
too late to start you know.” He grinned.

Dennis had been taking pictures of Janet
and Baxter all morning. Of course Dennis was no Annie Leibovitz, but as he had
predicted the high-tech camera pretty much photographed on its own. Besides, it
wasn’t like he would have to submit his photos to an actual editor at
Vogue
or
Harper’s Bazaar
. He just had to make them look good enough to impress
Jess.

“Let’s do another one with you holding
Baxter on your lap,” Dennis suggested. Baxter barked in approval, pawing at
Janet’s leg.

“Haven’t we done enough of those? Let’s
go through the exposure, aperture, and ISO speed settings again. I want to make
sure you got them right.”

“I got it. It’s all in here.” Dennis
pointed at his head. “I’m going to be a very convincing photographer,” he
added, snapping away. Baxter barked excitedly, clearly in agreement with him.

Janet picked up Baxter and scratched him
behind his ear. “So you like being a photo model, do you?” she teased him and
he barked back, clearly delighted by all the attention he was getting. “Make
sure you delete these photos before you leave. You don’t want Jess to see
them.”

“Of course. I’m going to erase them right
now.”

“So you remember how to use the flash?
And the different settings for indoors and outdoors?” Janet pressed.

Dennis nodded. “I’m all set. It’s going
to be a piece of cake.”

“I sure hope so.”

“It will be. Trust me. All I need to do
is get close enough to her to bug her phone and then we’re in business.”

“Yes.” Janet nodded. “Just take it slow,
okay?”

“Who do you take me for, an amateur? I
know how to work these things.”

“I know you do,” she said quietly. “I’m
just worried.”

Dennis put his hands on her shoulders.
“Worried about some silly girl? I told you there’s nothing to be worried
about.”

“It’s not that. I don’t know. I just
have a bad feeling about this.”

“It’ll be fine. Trust me. Shouldn’t take
more than a couple of hours. I’ll call you as soon as I’m done.”

“All right. Then I’m going to get
going.”

“What have you got planned for today?”
Dennis asked.

“I thought I’d check in with Laskin—see
if he’s got anything.”

Dennis nodded. “Good thinking. But I
don’t think he’ll have much for you. You know how he is about crossing his t’s
and dotting his i’s. He’ll probably need another week to cross-reference his
data.”

Janet raised an eyebrow. “That’s not a
bad thing. Anyway, at this point we can use any help we can get.”

“Not if today goes well.” He winked at
her, clearly enjoying being the center of action.

“All right, hot stuff. But what if Jess
isn’t the one we’re looking for? Then what?”

“Then we go back to the drawing board,”
Dennis conceded. “Hey, I just got an idea. How about I take Baxter with me?”

“Why?”

“Look how adorable he is!” In
confirmation, Baxter barked lightly, making eyes at Janet. “He’s going to be
the perfect distraction. With him around, bugging her phone will be a piece of
cake.”

Janet paused. What Dennis said made
sense, but she wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of using Baxter as a prop.
“I don’t know, Dennis. What if something goes wrong?”

“What could possibly go wrong? What is
this girl going to do, kidnap me? I think I can take on a girl, don’t you
think?” he quipped.

“Hey, I have an idea, why don’t I come
with you? I can be your assistant. Two sets of eyes are better than one.”

“Not a good idea,” Dennis shot back.
“Women are competitive by nature. You’ll make her uncomfortable. But Baxter, on
the other hand, will be the perfect distraction.” Hearing his name, Baxter
barked excitedly, always up for an adventure.

Janet stooped down to scratch Baxter
behind his ear. “You want to go, don’t you?”

“Woof, woof, Janet, please let me come
with Dennis!” Dennis impersonated Baxter, Baxter’s leash already in his hands.
Baxter didn’t miss a beat, pawing at Dennis’s lap and squealing.

“Now that you got him all worked up I
can’t really say no, can I? Give me a minute.” Janet ran over to her chest of
drawers and returned with a new leather leash for Baxter. “I almost forgot. I
got this for him. Seems like a good occasion to wear it now.” She bent down and
fastened the leash on Baxter’s neck.

“It’ll look snazzy in the photos.”
Dennis winked. He grabbed his camera and his jacket. “How does my mustache
look?” He patted his fake mustache and goatee.

“Looks great.”

“I’ll see you later, honey. Good luck
with Laskin.” He gave Janet a quick peck on the lips and was out the door.

“I’m not the one who needs luck,” Janet
muttered. She smoothed her hair into a ponytail, dabbed some lipstick, grabbed
her purse and was on her way to see Laskin.

***

An hour later, Janet opened the door of
a small coffee shop a few blocks away from the Treasury Building downtown. She
didn’t need to look twice to spot Laskin seated in his favorite booth.

“Thanks so much for meeting me on such a
short notice,” she said, sliding into the seat across from him.

He smiled. “Any time, Janet. You know
I’m always glad to see you. I wish I had news for you, but so far I haven’t
found anything helpful,” he added, sensing her searching gaze.

She nodded. “That’s not why I wanted to
see you.”

He looked surprised. “It’s not?”

“Well, partially, but it’s not the main
reason,” she stalled. “I needed someone to talk to, someone who knows about the
case.”

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” He
asked, his cup already in front of him.

“Sure,” she agreed, signaling for the
waitress. “A coffee and a Boston Cream doughnut please.”

She lowered her eyes, wondering if this
was a mistake. Dennis would probably be furious if he knew. “I’m worried,” she
said, not sure how to frame her words.

Laskin’s eyes focused on her. “Worried
about what?”

Just then the waitress returned with her
order and Janet took a bite of her doughnut and several sips of her coffee, thankful
for the interruption.

“Worried about what?” Laskin prodded
quietly.

“Dennis.” Not wanting to drag it out any
further, Janet told Laskin about Dennis’s plan to get close to Jess.

“I’ll admit it’s a bit risky, but
overall, it sounds like a good plan. If it works and if she’s indeed the
suspect, she’ll lead you to the Kovars.”

“There are a lot of ifs in this
statement.” Janet sighed. “What if it doesn’t work? Dennis didn’t even pay
attention when I was telling him how to set the camera. He’s being too
cavalier.”

“That wouldn’t be the first time, would
it? And it’s never stopped him before. Is that the only thing that’s bothering
you?”

Sensing Laskin’s keen gaze, Janet knew
there was no point in lying. “No.” She sighed. “Ever since the Kovars case came
back to life, Dennis has been a man possessed.”

“It is an important case.”

“More important than our wedding?” She
shook her head. “I’m not an idiot, I know it’s more important than planning the
wedding . . . It’s just that I can’t help feeling Dennis is almost happy it
happened this way . . . We were going to move in together and now everything’s
on hold, indefinitely.”

Laskin reached for her hand. “I think
you can stop worrying about it. If there’s ever been a man in love with a
woman, it’s Dennis. He’s crazy about you. Do you know he came to see me before
he proposed to you?”

“He did? He never told me that.”

Laskin smiled. “Figures. Yes, he did.
The poor guy was shaking like a leaf. If ever I saw a man in love, it was
Dennis. And he’s still that man today.”

“I sure hope so. I got something else to
tell you, Peter—something I didn’t even tell Dennis. I’m going to follow him—”

Laskin nearly spat out his coffee.
“Janet, surely, there’s no need to let jealousy jeopardize the operation.”

“It’s not that,” she shot back. “I don’t
have a good feeling about this plan of his and he wouldn’t let me come along.
So I’m going to be his backup behind the scenes, in case he needs me.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re
doing?”

“How hard can it be? He’s going to be
photographing her around Central Park and Columbus Circle—there are tons of
people there. They’ll never see me.”

“Okay. If you say so. Do you want me to
come along?”

“What? No. I got it.” Janet paused.
“Thank you for the offer, though. And thank you for listening. It helped a
lot.”

“You know I’m here for you, Janet. Any
time you need me, just call.”

***

At ten after one, Dennis walked towards
the intersection of Columbus Circle and Central Park South, Baxter trotting
excitedly beside him. Still a few paces away, he spotted Jess waiting for him
at the agreed spot. He was a few minutes late on purpose and was pleased to see
Jess was on time. She was twirling her purse in her hands.
She’s nervous
,
Dennis remarked with satisfaction,
good
. She had bought his bluff.

“All right, buddy, time to turn on the
charm,” Dennis whispered as he scratched Baxter’s ear. “See that girl over
there? We gotta make her like us.”

Dennis loosened the length of Baxter’s
leash so that when they approached Jess, Baxter had enough room to get close to
her and wiggle his tail at her. Dennis’s plan was for Baxter to playfully paw
at her legs, but his plan backfired as for some inexplicable reason Baxter
barked sharply, growling and baring his teeth.

Jess jumped back, clearly startled. “Is
that how you greet all your models?”

“Pardon me!” Dennis apologized, cursing
under his breath. Already things weren’t going as planned. “Baxter, where are
your manners, boy? I’m so sorry about this.”

“It’s all right.” Jess smiled, bending
down. “Hello Baxter, I’m Jess. So nice to meet you,” she cooed. She reached out
her hand to pat Baxter on the back, but he snarled, nearly biting off her
finger.

“Baxter!” Dennis yanked the leash back.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him,” he said. “He doesn’t usually act this
way. If I had known, I would’ve left him home. I thought we could take a few
nice shots with him. I’m so sorry.”

“That’s all right.” Jess smiled easily.
“I’m babysitting for a friend’s cat this week. He probably picked up the smell
on me.”

“That must be it,” Dennis agreed with
relief, still baffled about what on earth had gotten into Baxter. “Shall we?”
He pointed at his camera.

“You’re the boss.” Jess smiled.

“I thought we’d start with a few shots
in Central Park and then we can move onto Columbus Circle and Lincoln Center.
This way you get a mix of things—urban and nature—” Dennis’s speech was
unexpectedly interrupted by Baxter who started tugging at Dennis’s trouser and
growling. “I’m so sorry,” Dennis apologized again. This wasn’t at all the
effect he’d been counting on when he brought Baxter along.

“What’s the matter, Baxter? Are you
bored?” Jess tried to pet him again, but was met with another snarl. “He’s
grumpy,” she said sourly, crossing her arms on her chest. “Do you think we
should maybe do this another day?”

“And waste a wonderful day like today?
The light is just perfect. Baxter will be fine.” Dennis stooped down and
scratched Baxter’s back. “Now, buddy, you be a good boy and let me do my job.”
He slipped Baxter a dog biscuit, having taken a packet of treats just in case.
Baxter gobbled up the biscuit and looked up expectantly. “If you’ll be a good
boy, I’ll give you more,” Dennis told him. Baxter growled in protest. “No
growling,” Dennis cautioned him, “or there won’t be any more treats.” Clearly
unhappy, Baxter sat down on the ground and waited.

“All right then. Let’s begin.” Dennis
took the camera out of the case and pretended to fumble with the settings. He
could tell Jess was watching him, so he made sure he looked convincing,
plastering a look of artistic concentration on his face. The whole thing was
set on automatic and that’s how he intended to keep it the entire time. Despite
Janet’s efforts to teach him the intricacies of exposure, aperture and ISO
speed, the whole thing was mishmash in his head. Besides, it wasn’t like he was
there to take photos. He was there to charm Jess into giving him the
information he needed, and he didn’t need a camera for that.

He pointed at the cluster of high-rise
buildings in the background. “This is a good place to start,” he proclaimed.
“Now, Baxter, you be a good boy and sit quietly while I take Jess’s pictures.”
Baxter shifted on his feet, clearly unhappy, but quiet.