Catching the Bad Guy (Book Two) (Janet Maple Series) (13 page)

Minutes later they were exiting the
lobby of Janet’s building. Usually, Janet chose Carl Schurz Park as the
destination for Baxter’s walks, but tonight she wanted to have the buzz of the
city around her, so she simply headed down Second Avenue.

A few moments later she heard footsteps
trailing her. She was about to hasten her step when she felt a hand touching
her shoulder. The sensation was so unexpected that she shrieked, freezing in
place. “Janet, it’s me, Alex. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Surprised, she turned to see Alex
Kingsley standing in front of her. “What are you doing here, Alex? You scared
me to death!” Baxter growled and barked in reinforcement of her words.

“I’m sorry to have scared you. I
happened to be in the neighborhood and I just thought I’d say hi.”

“Were you visiting friends?” Having
recovered her presence of mind, Janet eyed Alex suspiciously. What was Alex
doing hanging around her building?

“Sort of,” Alex replied evasively. “Hey there,
Baxter. How are you doing, old friend?”

Alex was about to lean down to pet
Baxter, but instead jumped back as Baxter unleashed a wave of loud barks. For
their relatively small size, Jack Russell terriers have very impressive teeth,
and now Baxter was demonstrating this characteristic with abandon. Janet barely
managed to yank Baxter’s leash to keep him from pouncing on Alex.

“Easy there, fella,” Alex said,
attempting a laugh, but Janet could tell that Alex had been frightened. She
sent a mental thank you to Baxter. “Do you mind if I walk with you a bit?” Alex
asked.

A low, menacing growl erupted from
Baxter. “Calm down, Baxter.” Janet gently tugged on Baxter’s leash. “Sure, by
all means.” She was not exactly thrilled about the idea, but Alex was still her
boss, so at least for the time being she had to play nice.

When they reached the next block, Alex
halted. “Janet, I have to be honest with you: I didn’t just happen to be in the
neighborhood tonight. I came here because I wanted to see you.”

“You did?”

“Yes, I did,” Alex’s voice was grave.
“The past few weeks brought back many memories. Janet, I’ve made many mistakes,
the gravest of which was treating you the way I did. There hasn’t been a day
that I haven’t regretted it.”

Janet stared back at Alex in mute awe.
Did he really think that he could wipe away all the hurt he had caused with one
lame apology?

“I guess what I’m trying to say so
ineloquently is that I would like to ask you for a second chance.”

Janet was too stunned to speak. Did she
have the word pushover written on her forehead? Apparently, the answer was yes.
With Dennis expecting her to drop everything at the snap of his fingers, and
Alex thinking that he could just waltz back into her life, it simply had to be
the case.

“And I can’t think of a better way to
embark on this new path than to be your date for the Bostoff wedding,” Alex
continued.

Immediately, Janet’s ears pricked up
with suspicion. “The Bostoff wedding?”

“Yes. A wedding is a special occasion.
Janet, I hope that you’ll give me a chance to be by your side, so that we could
perhaps begin the journey of rekindling the feelings we once had for each
other. Feelings that are still very much alive for me.”

Janet barely resisted a snort. She’d be
damned if she would let Alex use her as an admission pass to the Bostoff
wedding. “Oh, Alex, I can’t believe you actually feel this way.” Janet pressed
her hand to her chest. “It means so much to me. But the Bostoff wedding … you
see, I’ve already asked Peter and it simply wouldn’t be right to cancel on him
at the last minute.”

“I’m sure that Laskin would understand.”

“He very well might, but that’s not the
kind of person I am. When I make a commitment, I keep it. But I sure hope that
you’ll think of other ways for us to reconnect,” Janet added, not wanting Alex
to get overly worked up.

“I would like that,” Alex replied. “And
do let me know what happens at the wedding.”

“Oh, I will Alex.”

“Good night, Janet.”

Just as Alex turned to leave, Baxter
yanked his leash out of Janet’s loosened grip and lunged at Alex’s leg, tearing
off a chunk of his left trouser. “That damned dog!” Alex jumped back, holding
his leg.

“Oh, Alex, I’m so sorry! Did he bite
you?”

“He almost did. This is a
thousand-dollar suit! You nasty rat of a dog!”

Alex towered over Baxter. Baxter
growled, exposing his teeth, between which he was still holding a piece of
Alex’s trouser.

“Baxter, down boy, down,” Janet
commanded Baxter in a quivering voice. She had never seen Alex this angry.

Noticing her reaction, Alex backed away.
“I’m sorry for losing my temper, Janet. I think I’d better call it a night.”

“Good night, Alex. I’m sorry about
Baxter. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

As Janet turned toward her building, a
smile was playing on her lips. “Well done, Baxter,” she whispered. “Well done.”

***

Tucking his hands into his pockets,
Dennis Walker sped up Second Avenue. At least now he knew why Janet had been
blowing him off—her schedule was filled with much more important matters, like
a rendezvous with Kingsley. Dennis wanted to kick himself for being such an
idiot. To think that he had been about to break the major covenant of his life
code for Janet while she was out and about canoodling with their lowlife of a
boss. Seeing Janet walking Baxter with Kingsley felt like being punched in the
gut. It reminded Dennis of a similar evening when he had been the man walking
next to Janet. He had longed to kiss her then but instead, scared of what he
might feel, he had chickened out. Ever since then, his attraction to Janet only
seemed to grow stronger, becoming an indelible part of his existence.

Granted, Dennis had no right to make any
demands on Janet. It was not as if he had made his feelings for her clear to
her. He himself had indulged in the company of random girlfriends in his efforts
to put Janet out of his mind. All of them, including his latest liaison,
Shoshanna, had been a complete wreck. No woman wanted to play second fiddle to
another, and despite the fact that he hated admitting it, Janet Maple occupied
Dennis’s mind completely.

So much for keeping things simple,
Dennis thought. In his defense, he had not always been this way. There had been
a time when he was capable of having feelings for a woman, even committing to
one. But ever since his former fiancée, Vanessa, had walked out on him during
the most difficult time of his life, Dennis had vowed never to get close to
another woman: there just didn’t seem to be any point in such a complicated
arrangement. Dating was fine, but he was not prepared to commit to anything
further.

It seemed that his past was forever
catching up with him. The memories of his life as a trader sprang up in his
mind. During his first year at Vitaon hedge fund, Dennis had reaped the largest
bonus of his career. The day after he got his money, he proposed to Vanessa
with a ten-carat diamond ring from Harry Winston. Dennis still remembered the
shock he felt when he discovered Vitaon’s fraud. The hedge fund might have been
booming, but it was most indiscriminate as to the sources from which its
investors’ money came, including terrorists and drug cartels. Dennis was
shocked to discover that all of the fund’s managers knew about the fraud. As a
thank you for his remarkable performance, Dennis was promoted to partner and
let in on the secret. Joy was not the emotion Dennis felt after his promotion.
With his new title, he would be liable for the fraud that was taking place at
Vitaon.

Dennis knew that he had to get out, but
before he could circulate his résumé on the street, he was approached by the
Feds. They were onto the whole scheme, and they were willing to offer Dennis a
deal if he agreed to aid in the investigation. Dennis would have to give up all
the compensation he had made at Vitaon and he would be barred from the
industry, but he would not be prosecuted further. Should Dennis pass on the
chance, the offer would not be extended to him again.

Terrified, Dennis had said yes. For
several months he wore a wire to work and downloaded hundreds of emails and
documents to aid the Feds in their case. In return, he got to keep his freedom,
but lost his livelihood.

The biggest blow was when Vanessa left
him. At least she was decent enough to give him back the engagement ring. As
much as it had hurt him, Dennis knew that he would need every penny he could
scrape.

Since then, Dennis had rebuilt his life
from scratch and become a top-notch white collar crime investigator. His career
in fighting white collar crime began after the Feds had been so impressed by
the information Dennis had procured for them during the Vitaon hedge fund
investigation that they offered Dennis a contract. After several years of
working for the Feds, Dennis went to work for Ham Kirk at the Treasury
Investigations department. Ham had taught Dennis a great deal, for despite the
fact that Ham had spent the last two decades of his career behind the desk as a
department head, he was still as sharp as a whip. Although Ham could be tough
on his employees at times, he was impressed by Dennis’s work and had hinted on
several occasions that he saw Dennis as his successor. Not that Dennis had any
plans to rush Ham’s retirement, but it pleased him to know that one day he
would take Ham’s place. Not because he wanted to oust Ham from his job, but
because it was a great honor and it made Dennis feel that he had managed to
make something of his life after all. The fact that Dennis had earned
recognition from a man as upstanding as Ham Kirk meant that redemption was
still possible. And who knew, perhaps one day Dennis might even earn back his
right for a woman’s true affection—a woman like Janet Maple.

But now all of Dennis’s hopes had been
shattered by one man, and that man’s name was Alex Kingsley. Not only had Alex
forced Ham into early retirement, took over Dennis’s dream job, and undermined
all the work Dennis had done on the Emperial case, but somehow Kingsley had
also managed to reclaim Janet Maple’s affections.

Revenge is a dish best served cold,
Dennis thought. There was nothing like a well-worn cliché to get one’s spirits
into a fighting mode. Dennis rolled his hands into fists, feeling the skin
tighten over his knuckles. He would make Kingsley pay and then some for
everything the man had done.

Janet took a deep breath and massaged
her temples. It was the day of Lisa Foley’s wedding.

Janet eyed her reflection in the mirror.
She was wearing a green emerald silk sheath, with a matching chiffon scarf
around her neck. Black pumps and a small emerald silk clutch completed the
ensemble. Emerald was the theme of Lisa’s wedding for two reasons: green was
Lisa’s favorite color, and green also symbolized a new beginning.

A little over a year ago, Paul Bostoff
was chief operating officer of Bostoff Securities, a boutique brokerage firm
that had been started by his father, Hank Bostoff. Paul’s brother, Jon Bostoff,
was the company president. The firm was struggling financially but Jon was
determined to turn it around. He brought on new clients, the largest of which
was Emperial hedge fund, owned by David Muller. What Jon kept hidden from
everyone was that his plans to revive Bostoff Securities’ balance sheet
involved catering to hedge funds that made their returns through illegal
trading schemes. At first, things seemed to be going well. The company revenue
grew, but unbeknown to the Bostoffs their world was about to change. Treasury
had launched an undercover investigation of Bostoff Securities, planting Dennis
Walker as Dean Snider, IT engineer, his alias at the time.

At the thought of Dennis, Janet bit her
lip. She had been unable to resist her attraction to him from the first time
she laid her eyes on him when he was fixing—which she later found out was
really bugging—her computer. From that time on, Dennis Walker, or Dean Snider
as she knew him then, kept running into her everywhere. Whenever he saw her,
his blue eyes radiated warmth that sent Janet’s heart fluttering. How could she
have known that the charmer she was foolish enough to confide in would turn out
to be an undercover investigator from the Treasury? Even Baxter had been fooled
by Dennis’s charm.

“The case against Bostoff Securities has
been in the making for a long time,” Dennis had said. “You can help the
investigation or go down with the sinking ship. Bostoff is small fish anyway.
It is Emperial we want. Naturally, you will get immunity in exchange for your
cooperation.” At Janet’s request, the Treasury agreed to grant Lisa protection.
Janet had asked for Paul’s immunity as well, but was told that any of the
Bostoffs were out of the question. The only thing that had kept Janet from
going crazy with guilt while she helped Dennis obtain the evidence he needed
was Dennis’s assurance that Emperial was the true target of the case. Little
did she know that Jon Bostoff would be made into a scapegoat, and David Muller
would walk away without so much as a slap on his wrist.

Here was her chance to set things right.
Muller was going to be at the wedding, and Janet was determined to find a way
to get close to him. Granted, if Dennis were with her, this task would seem a
lot less daunting. Perhaps she had been wrong to let her personal feelings for
Dennis affect her judgment. Hell, she knew she had been wrong, but it was too
late to do anything about it now. She would have to face the brilliant—granted
twisted and corrupt, but still brilliant—David Muller on her own. Initially,
she had thought that Laskin would be there to help her, but now she was not
sure. It was all her fault too. Her dodging Laskin’s invites to lunches and
after-work drinks must have offended him because when she tried to meet him to
tell him the actual reason for their going to the Bostoff wedding, Laskin blew
her off. She had hoped to speak to him earlier in the day, but Laskin was late,
and now she was no longer sure if he was going to show up at all.