Book 1 - Active Trust (2 page)

“All of this will be hashed out
in a court of law, Mrs. McBride, but first we must enlist the help
of a private investigator so that we can show the court proof of
your husband’s infidelity. Right now, it’s a matter of your word
against his and without proof, it’s not going to get you
anywhere.”

Michelle sat down on the couch
next to Mrs. McBride and offered her more tissues and a promise.
“If he’s out there cheating on you, we will find out and we will
nail his butt to the wall, don’t you worry. This is my
specialization. Once we get him on the adultery charges, things
will spin out of control for him and he will have no choice but to
give you full custody of the children.”

Michelle was fully poised to
take down The Governor for his misdeeds. She’d voted for him and
stood by everything he put in his campaign to become an elected
official, but no one knew what he was doing behind closed doors.
That needed to change and Michelle was going to make that happen so
that her client had peace of mind in knowing that herself and her
children would be taken care of.

Matthew had arrived back into
the building and breezed past Michelle’s office, making a quick
mental note of who Michelle Mayor was entertaining as a client.

Faxing the documents on his desk
over to the courts, he knocked on Victoria’s door and entered
quietly.

“Is that Mrs. McBride in
Michelle Mayor’s office?”

“You are quite the inquisitive
one, aren’t you?”

“Yes ma’am, but that’s her,
right? I wonder why she’s here and talking to Michelle Mayor.”

“Probably some sort of family
issue, now back to the matter at hand. Did you deliver the letter
to Mr. Janus himself or one of his lackeys?”

“Mr. Janus himself,” said
Matthew as he left a package from the head of Janus Incorporated on
Victoria’s desk. She opened the letter and he let himself out of
her office, closing the door behind him as he exited.

She watched his behind as he
left her office and thought about how cute he would be to screw his
brains out in her office. He was sexy and that was the main reason
she hired him. She hadn’t had sex in roughly six months, but his
chiseled body was certainly tempting.

She let her thoughts slip past
her mind as she opened the package from Mr. Janus. Included in the
documents in the sealed package were emails from a spy within
Fassett & Lews. According to the emails, Frank Lews used
Jackson Hurst as a scapegoat for fraud charges that were being
filed with the company. Jackson knew too much about Frank’s
involvement in the insider trading and it was beginning to look
like his death may have been an accident. There wasn’t any solid
evidence, but there was something definitely fishy going on with
the details and she had to get to the bottom of it.

‘Holy crap, this is serious
business,’ Victoria thought as she continued paging through the
emails, one by one. What on earth would be worth killing someone
over? She had to know and read each email personally so that the
inner circle of people who had this knowledge would be small.

Victoria sat and painstakingly
poured over the emails until the day turned to night. She was
abandoned by Matthew hours prior in favor of Chinese food and a
date with his girlfriend. Somehow the pieces of the puzzle had yet
to fit together.

‘There has to be a missing piece
of the puzzle,’ she thought as she neared the end of the printed
emails. ‘There is something that isn’t fitting here, but what could
it be?’

She stared off into the distance
and her gaze was interrupted by Michelle’s unexpected presence.

“I thought I was the only one
here,” said Michelle as she stuffed the emails back into the
package.

“I was beginning to think the
same thing, but then I noticed your light on, so I came to have a
look. Do you have something that needs a second set of eyes?”

“I’m good.”

Victoria changed the subject
quickly to avoid any further conversation about the emails as she
stuffed the package into her bottom drawer.

“So I saw that you had The
Governor’s wife in your office earlier. What was that about?”

“Well, personal matters, really.
Between you and me, she is considering a divorce from The
Governor.”

Victoria welcomed the direction
that their conversation was taking. “A divorce, huh? What was he
doing, cheating?”

“Exactly!”

“Wow.”

The day had worn on Victoria and
she was thinking about her warm, cozy bed. She’d been billing hours
for Janus at an alarming rate, but he said it was all worth it. Her
thoughts ran rampant, but she was eager to put all of that to rest
in order to get some decent sleep.

“I can’t believe that he would
cheat on her, they both just seem so nice when they’re together. He
looks like a great guy in those TV commercials during election
season. I guess everyone isn’t who they make themselves out to
be.”

Victoria trailed off and was
suddenly let off the hook by her colleague.

“You look beat and honestly, so
am I. I’m gonna go. Have a great weekend, Victoria. See you
Monday.”

She waved Michelle off as kindly
as she could and put her head down on her desk for only a moment.
She needed to get her thoughts together, but waking and beginning
her day at 5am was murdering the possibility of her thinking
clearly. Looking down at her expensive Cartier watch, the time read
10:05.

Her watch was an engraved gift
from her mother Chastity to her for passing the bar exam. It was
engraved with “victoria aut mors”, which her mother said translated
to “victory or death”. Victoria liked it more because it was
symbolic of her own name, which was something her mother was too
daft to notice.

She locked up her desk’s bottom
drawer to seal in its secrets and gathered her coat while making
her way to the elevator. Once a month, when she was sure no
executives were around, she would hit the button on the 21st floor
and breathe in the atmosphere of the floor of which she desired.
There was something prestigious about the air at the top floor that
called to her.

Struggling to stay awake, she
hit the button labeled “21” and awaited the elevator’s door to
open. It swung open and she said to herself, ‘One day….one
day.’

She held the “door open” button
for a few minutes. It was long enough to stare at the oak curved
desk with its etchings that was home to the Executive Secretary
Missy Erickson. She’d always sit there at the desk with her red
hair neatly pulled back in a bun until she fixated her squinty gaze
upon guests and associates alike. Victoria could picture her there
now, seated at the expensive wooden desk and wearing a smart, navy
blue pants suit with her signature pearl necklace.

She hit the button labeled “1”
and awaited its impending arrival to the firm’s bottom floor. The
Briggs & Trice office building was large and daunting, just the
way the partners liked it. She was close to the top of the
building, but she still had more to do in order to fully prove
herself.

She climbed behind the wheel of
her tidy silver Lexus and was home in a flash. She retired for the
evening in her soft bed, surrounded by blankets and her blinking
answering machine light.

Meanwhile, Michelle had a late
night meeting with a private investigator. She didn’t want the
details leaking out to the media with regard to her visit with Mrs.
McBride, so she had to do everything in person. It was likely that
a reporter had followed The Governor’s wife into the Briggs &
Trice building, but because of their vast array of areas practiced,
journalists couldn’t make any assumptions about why anyone somewhat
famous would retain their services.

Michelle previously agreed to
meet with Chase Freeman at a coffee shop around the corner from her
place. She pulled into the parking lot of Mugs and briskly walked
inside. She waited at the entrance for a moment, before a man’s
gaze met hers and she knew it was him.

“Michelle Mayor, we talked on
the phone,” she said extending her hand to meet his.

“You said this was a highly
sensitive situation that requires the utmost in discretion; that’s
why I’m here. Chase Freeman, nice to meet you.”

A waitress approached them and
asked, “Are you ready to order or do you need a few minutes?”

Michelle grabbed a drink menu
and asked for a chocolate chip iced coffee, while Chase ordered a
black coffee.

He was an inconspicuous
individual, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. He looked like your
average everyday Joe. He was the kind of man who could be seen
wearing a snazzy tuxedo or dressed down and fitting in at a rave
party. He was perfect for the job, Michelle asserted to
herself.

“Before I can talk to you about
this job, you are going to need to sign a non disclosure agreement.
This basically states that you will not divulge the details of our
conversations or the subject of which you would be
investigating.”

“Before I sign that, might we
discuss my fee? It’s $200 per day plus any necessary travel, hotel
or car arrangements. If the subject is a high profile target of
investigation, I need to be able to play the part. I am good at
what I do and I work on word of mouth only.”

“Ahh, that explains why I
couldn’t find you online. You don’t have a website or
anything.”

“Precisely. I am everywhere, I
have a lot of resources at my disposal and if you require
personalized services, I also have an assistant to accompany me on
missions that require a delicate touch, if you know what I
mean.”

He had piqued her curiosity, but
before Michelle could dive in further, the waitress dawdled back to
the table with their beverages and plunked them down in front of
each of them.

The waitress smiled with her
bright red lipstick and asked, “Will that be all or would you like
to see a menu?”

“That’ll be all,” Michelle said
trying to usher her away. She gave a cool smile to her before the
waitress began chatting up a nearby table.

“Okay, I have to know more. What
sorts of investigations require a delicate touch?”

“Well, to be specific, I’d have
to have you sign an NDA. But in general, cases of cheating husbands
and that ilk.”

“Interesting.”

“Indeed,” he said before
grasping the pen to sign along the dotted line, “Are we in
agreement on my fees then?”

“Yes, of course.”

He signed his name on the
non-disclosure agreement and then she said, “As soon as we are done
with our coffee, we will go back to my car. Once there, we will
discuss the details of who the subject is and what we think is
going on.”

Chase then whipped out his black
leather wallet from his back pocket and withdrew a twenty dollar
bill and placed it on the table. He stood and said, “Let’s get down
to business.”

Michelle stood, throwing her
jacket back on to her busty frame and zipping it up tightly. She
took a final sip of her coffee and followed Chase out of the door.
She took the lead and he followed closely behind her as she
approached her black Nissan Altima. The car was her gift to herself
after working so hard on a case that merited the firm a ton of
billing hours. The car was a symbol of her success and she was very
proud of it.

She unlocked the doors with a
click of a button and seated herself behind the wheel. Chase
entered the car and gave her the piece of paper with his signature
on it.

“Firstly, your perfume smells
delightful. I just wanted to get that out there before we get
started with business. Otherwise, I would be distracted by it.”

“It’s White Diamonds and thank
you.”

“Okay, now who are we spying
on?”

Michelle could tell that Chase
was more than excited to get this business started. With his
non-disclosure agreement in her briefcase, she tucked it safely in
the back seat and began spilling the dirty details.

“Mrs. McBride, The Governor’s
wife, came into my office earlier today with a very sensitive
issue.”

“Go on.”

“She thinks that The Governor is
cheating on her with a twenty-something woman and she needs proof.
If The Governor is spending his time with other women, she is going
to consider a divorce. There is also the possibility of a pregnancy
involved.”

“Do we want to bait the good
governor? Or just photograph him in the process of things he’s
already doing?”

“Your assistant is the man
bait?”

“How did you guess?”

“Do you have a picture of your
assistant?”

“Yes, of course.”

Chase pulled out his cell phone
from his pocket and scrolled through some images to show Michelle
his gorgeous, young assistant Alyssa. She was thin, tan and had
honey blonde hair.

“How old is she?”

“She is 24-years-old and as
sharp as a tack. If you wish her services, it will be a little
extra on top of my fees. This service will go into effect after I
get acclimated to The Governor’s schedule and know more about what
he likes and his taste in women.”

“So she will change her looks
based on what he likes? Like, if he likes brunettes, she’ll dye her
hair?”

“Of course.”

“Yes, let’s do that. After
finding out more about his schedule, let’s have her mold herself to
his likes and plant her where we know he’s going to be. Before you
go, call me on my cell if we need to meet again. We can’t let
anyone see us together out of discretion for The Governor and his
wife.”

“Okay. And before you go, all
information will be provided on a USB drive that will be provided
to you. This is a one-way flow of information and you keep each
one. We are very thorough and will provide many updates.”

They shook hands quickly and he
exited the car. She drove off to her apartment and tallied her
hours into an Excel spreadsheet on her laptop. She closed the lid
and snapped up her sleepwear from her dresser drawer. She changed,
gave a big yawn and headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth.
Climbing into bed, she didn’t feel like her work would be done for
the weekend.