Catching the Bad Guy (Book Two) (Janet Maple Series) (10 page)

“The Alex Kingsley?” Lisa asked.

Janet bit her lip. “There is only one,
as far as I know.”

“This reeks of foul play. You’ve got to
figure out who is behind all of this.”

“That’s what Dennis is saying, but I
just don’t know. Alex must have the backing of some really powerful men, and I
just don’t think that Dennis and I will be able to bring them down.”

“You’re not going to give up without a
fight, are you? You can’t let Alex repeat what he did to you at the DA’s
office. You’ve got to stand up to him.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Sure you can. You’ve always been the
one talking about justice and fairness. I used to make fun of you for that, but
now I know that you were right. You have to make things right—if not for
yourself, then for Jon and me.”

Janet lowered her eyes. She had spent
the majority of her career chasing after the bad guys. Granted, her chasing did
not involve any actual running or gunfights. Her job was mostly done behind the
desk, raking through rows of data. But the crooks she was after could do just
as much damage as those with guns, like the Ponzi scheme crooks who had
stripped her grandfather of every penny he had ever earned, sending him into
fatal cardiac arrest. “Muller will not get away with it, not if I can help it.”

“Good. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you,
can you believe that he had the nerve to RSVP for the wedding?” Lisa exclaimed.

“You mean you invited him in the first
place?”

“Long before the whole ordeal began, Jon
had asked to include Muller on the guest list. Somehow, his name was never
taken off and an invitation was sent to him. Still, I can’t believe that he
actually accepted.” Lisa narrowed her eyes. “But now that I think about it, it
might be a blessing in disguise.”

“How?” Janet stared at her.

“Have you picked your date for the
wedding?”

“I … um …,” Janet stammered. In a fit of
unchecked optimism, she had selected the “plus one” option when sending her
reply to Lisa’s wedding invitation. At the time, she had genuinely thought that
she would have a date, and that Dennis Walker would be that date.

Lisa was too excited to pay attention to
Janet’s love life. “You have to bring Dennis as your date.”

“What? Why?”

“Don’t you see? It will be an excellent
opportunity to get close to Muller. Dennis will weasel the information right
out of him.”

“What makes you think so?”

“Isn’t Dennis supposed to be this top
notch sleuth? He certainly managed to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes when
he was masquerading as an IT engineer at Bostoff Securities. David Muller
should be a piece of cake. You told me that neither you nor Dennis had actually
met Muller face to face, right?”

“That’s right,” Janet confirmed, none
too happy with where the conversation was heading. “The Enforcement staff
questioned him. We never met with him in person.”

“So it’s perfect! Ask Dennis to take you
to the wedding, I’ll arrange the seating chart so that you’ll be at Muller’s
table, and the rest should be a piece of cake.”

“There is just one problem. I don’t
think that Dennis will agree to be my wedding date. He is seeing somebody,”
Janet blurted out. Sure, she wanted to help Lisa, but the thought of asking
Dennis Walker out, even for a purely professional reason, literally made her
stomach cringe.

Lisa stared at Janet. “I don’t care
about Dennis Walker’s social life. We’ve got to play every card in the deck,
and I’m not taking no for an answer. After everything the two of you put the
Bostoffs through, you owe it to them and to me to make things right.”

***

Janet lingered in the hallway section
that led to Dennis Walker’s office. It shouldn’t be that hard to ask a man out
on a date, should it? she thought. And it’s not even a date; it’s an
opportunity to find out what David Muller is up to. No need to get worked up
about it; just two coworkers joining forces on an undercover assignment—an
undercover assignment with romantic possibilities …

Janet braced herself; she had promised
Lisa to get Dennis to come. The door to Dennis’s office was half ajar. Janet
was about to walk in when she heard the sound of Dennis’s voice. He was on the
phone. She hesitated; she was not one to eavesdrop, but when presented with an
opportunity it was hard to resist.

“Yes, baby,” Dennis’s voice, slick with
suaveness, carried past the doorway. “Of course I missed you. I told you that
I’ve been busy at work. Of course I want to see you. Yes, tonight would be
great. My place or yours?” Dennis purred suggestively. “Of course we’ll have
dinner first. Yes, Buddha Bar sounds great. I’ll make a reservation. See you
soon, honey boo.”

Honey boo. Janet’s face burned. What an
idiot she had been to even think about asking Dennis Walker out. In her
defense, she was going to ask him out for work-related purposes, but Dennis
would have surely considered her invitation a flirtation. And the truth of the
matter was that it would have been.

Ducking her head in embarrassment, Janet
rushed down the hall.

“Janet! How is it going?”

Startled, Janet looked up. Peter Laskin
was standing a few inches away from her. If he had not called her name she
would have stumbled right into him. “Peter!” Janet aimed for a smile but ended
up with a scowl. “Everything is great. How are you?”

Laskin shook his head. “Come on, Janet.
You can’t bullshit a bullshitter.”

Janet felt a shiver run down her spine.
Could it be that Laskin had seen her eavesdropping on Dennis?

“It hasn’t been great for anyone here
since Ham was let go. Oh, excuse me,” Laskin coughed,  “I meant to say ‘left
for early retirement.’”

Janet smiled with relief. “I couldn’t
agree more. I’m just trying to stay positive, you know?”

“I know.” Laskin scratched the spot on
his head that used to be bald before he got the implants. “I’m trying to hang
in there as well. What’s that you got there?”

“Oh, this …” Janet glanced at Lisa’s
wedding invitation that she still had in her hand. Suddenly, she had an idea.
There was no way in hell she was asking Dennis Walker out, but she had no
objections to asking Peter Laskin. So what if Laskin hardly ever worked the
field? Two pairs of eyes would be better than one; besides, she did need a date
for the wedding. “It’s funny you should ask,” Janet replied, lowering her eyes
demurely. “I was just going to see you about it, actually. Would you accompany
me to my friend’s wedding?”

Laskin’s eyes flashed with surprise.
“Why, yes, I’d be delighted. On second thought, let me just check my schedule
to make sure.” Laskin fumbled with his Blackberry. “When is it?”

“It’s on a Saturday three weeks from
now.” Janet hoped that Laskin would not turn her down. Just how much
mortification could a girl endure?

Laskin traced his finger along his
Blackberry screen. “I’m wide open,” he confirmed. “It’ll be my pleasure,
Janet.”

“Good, that’s all settled then.”

“Actually, I was wondering if you’d like
to grab a drink after work this Thursday?”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Janet
stalled. “But I’ve got so much work to catch up on. I’ll let you know later in
the week, all right?” Her worst fear was becoming a reality: Laskin had
misunderstood her invitation as actual interest in him. To be fair, he could
not very well be blamed for his reaction. Normally, when a girl asked a guy to
be her date, to a wedding nonetheless, the guy would be safe to assume that the
girl was at least somewhat attracted to him. But Janet’s life was anything but
normal, so Laskin would just have to suck it up.

At five thirty p.m., Janet closed the
door of her office. She would have liked to go home but she was meeting her law
school friend Katie Addison for drinks. Katie was also in Lisa’s wedding party,
and Katie had insisted that they meet to discuss some last minute wedding
details.

“Janet.” At the sound of Dennis’s voice,
Janet’s finger froze halfway to the elevator button.

“Hey there, Dennis. How is it going?” Janet
tried to sound as relaxed as possible, lest he suspect how upset she was at him
having other love interests in his life—love interests that were not her.

“I’m fine, thanks.” Dennis scratched his
forehead. “Do you want to grab a drink after work? If you could just wait a
minute while I grab my jacket …”

Why don’t you ask your honey boo? Janet
wanted to snap. The man’s cockiness was unbelievable. Did he really expect her
never to have any plans?

“I’d love to, but I can’t. I have a
previous engagement.” Janet pressed the elevator button.

“How about tomorrow then?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to check my
schedule.”

“Oh, all right. Let me know tomorrow
morning then. I found this really funky bar that I think you’d like.”

He’s already assumed that I will say yes,
Janet bristled inwardly. But then she knew that she was the one to blame for
Dennis’s attitude. In all the times he had asked her for a drink after work,
even when the invitation was last minute, she had never refused. She had hoped
that these outings would lead to something more, but they never had. As far as
she was concerned, she was done with plugging the gaps in Dennis Walker’s
schedule.

If only she could come up with a snappy
remark, but her mind had gone blank from her hurt pride. Mercifully, the
elevator doors opened and she jumped right in.

“So I’ll call you tomorrow?” Dennis
poked his head in the elevator, the tone of his voice a pitch higher.

Janet merely smiled. Sometimes silence
worked better than words. She had had it with Dennis Walker and his charm.

When Janet got to the bar where she was
supposed to meet Katie, Katie was already seated by the bar stand with a drink
in front of her. “Sorry I’m late,” Janet apologized. She was still wired up
from her earlier encounter with Dennis.

“Oh, that’s okay. Swamped at work?”

“Yeah. It’s getting to be really bad.”
Janet grabbed the cocktail menu. “What are you drinking?”

“A cranberry margarita.”

“I’ll have the same,” Janet said to the
bartender, “with an extra shot of tequila, please.”

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Dennis Walker,” Janet blurted out
before she could stop herself. Talking about Dennis Walker was probably not a
good means of putting the man out of her mind, but then she really could not
help herself.

“Oh, that old story. What happened?” At
least Katie had the decency not to roll her eyes, but the tone of her voice
produced the same effect.

Janet sighed. “Nothing happened. That’s
exactly my problem. Why can’t I just forget about him?”

“The man is cute, so I can’t blame you
there. He is charming, and there is definitely chemistry between the two of
you. Palpable chemistry.”

“You are not helping.”

“Look, Janet, if you like the guy, just
tell him so. Who knows, maybe he’s thinking the same thing? Maybe underneath
his bravado, Dennis is just shy and he’s afraid to ask you if you’d like to
take your relationship to the next level.”

“Really? Somehow I just don’t think
that’s the problem. And we don’t have a relationship.”

“I beg to differ. In my book routinely
mooning over a man and jumping at his every beck and call, abandoning all prior
commitments, is a relationship. A slightly warped one, but a relationship.”

Janet sighed. There had been one
occasion when Dennis had asked her for a drink after work, and she had
cancelled her night out with Katie because of it. “I’ve already apologized to
you like a million times, and I bought you dinner to make up for it!”

“I’m not mad at you. I was just saying
it to make a point, and the point is that you never break your commitments for
anyone but you did it for him. You really like the guy, so just go for him.”

“Do you think that Dennis Walker really
needs any encouragement when it comes to asking a woman out?”

“Fine, maybe he doesn’t. I’ll admit that
he doesn’t seem like the shy type. But maybe he just doesn’t know that you’d
like him to ask you out. I mean really ask you out.”

“In that case he is either deaf, dumb,
or blind. Or perhaps all three, and he’s found a really good way to hide it.
But I highly doubt it.” Janet finished the rest of her drink. “At least you’ll
be glad to know that I’m not jumping at his beck and call anymore.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. He wanted to grab a drink after
work tonight, but I told him no. Then he asked me if I can meet him tomorrow,
and I didn’t commit to anything either.”

“That’s a good way to start—give the guy
the cold shoulder.”

“Oh, come on! Don’t I get a break? First
you say that I jump every time he snaps his fingers, and now you’re saying I’m
giving him the cold shoulder? What was I supposed to do, stand you up instead?”