Catching the Bad Guy (Book Two) (Janet Maple Series) (19 page)

“You won’t have all kinds of people
coming into our place, so I hope to see you tomorrow. By the way, my name is
Anton Kovar.”

“I’m Mila Brabec. See you tomorrow,
Anton,” Mila whispered.

The next day Mila got a job at Petr
Kovar’s restaurant. The restaurant was called Panther Restaurant and Lounge
Club and was serving American cuisine prepared by some fancy chef she had seen
on one of those TV culinary shows. Mila thought the name was tacky, but who was
she to judge? She would be getting paid ten dollars an hour plus tips. If the
Kovar tip were any indication, she was bound to make plenty of money. And who
knew, with the kind of clientele that was expected to frequent the place, her
job might bring in an added benefit of a loaded boyfriend; eventually, maybe
even a husband. Sure, Mila liked being with David well enough, but her current
lover was not in any rush to get to the altar, and Mila’s U.S. visa was not
likely to be extended.

Dennis Walker was having a rotten
Monday. Granted, Mondays were designed to be rotten, but this one positively
stank. The same could be said about Dennis’s weekend. He had had a fight with
Shoshanna on Sunday. The two of them had barely patched things up when another
quarrel erupted. Not that he was particularly upset about that bit, but he was
upset about the cause of it: Janet Maple.

“Who is it?” Shoshanna had demanded
after Dennis declined to join her on a Caribbean getaway she had planned as a
celebration of their getting back together. “Who is this other woman standing
between us?”

“I’m just really busy at work right now,
and I can’t get away.”

“You mean you don’t want to leave her,”
Shoshanna snapped.

“It’s not true, Shoshanna. There’s no
one else. I just can’t take off from work right now, that’s all.”

“Oh, please. Do you really expect me to
believe that you can’t take a few days off from work? That’s never been a
problem for you before. There has to be something else, or someone else.”

In Dennis’s opinion, Shoshanna had her
many vices: she was needy, flighty, and downright selfish, but her worst
quality was that she was insanely jealous. Her only redeeming quality was her
smoking hot looks, but then there were many women with smoking hot looks.

Dennis had been extremely careful not to
give Shoshanna any grounds for suspicion. The most ridiculous part of it all
was that he had been faithful to Shoshanna, at least physically, not because he
was in love with her but because the woman he wanted did not want him.

“You told me that you hate your job at
the Treasury,” Shoshanna added imploringly. “Why don’t you just quit? I’ve got
enough money for the both of us.”

Dennis shook his head. Why was it that
he always ended up with the wrong kind of woman? The mere fact that Shoshanna
thought him capable of leeching off of her made it clear that she knew nothing
about him; to her, he was just a boy toy she would grow tired of in a matter of
months, just like she had grown tired of all her other boyfriends. The only
difference with Dennis was that, by being emotionally unavailable, he had not
allowed her to grow tired of him. A logical question to ask was why had Dennis
been putting up with Shoshanna in the first place? Unfortunately, when it came
to women, Dennis Walker was not the most logical man.

“My situation at work is complicated
right now, but quitting is not an option. I have to see things through, which
is precisely why I can’t take time off.”

“You mean you can’t take time off
because you don’t want to be away from her.”

“Who?”

“Whoever you think of when you get that
faraway look in your eyes. Because I know for sure that you aren’t thinking of
me.”

“There is no one else. No one else but
you,” Dennis protested vainly.

“Save it, Dennis. If there is one thing
that I won’t stand for, it’s lying. I could forgive infidelity, but I will not
be lied to.”

The clicking of Shoshanna’s heels echoed
in Dennis’s ears like bullets. For all her self-absorption and vanity,
Shoshanna had seen right through him. For indeed there was someone else between
then, or any other woman Dennis had tried to date since he had met Janet Maple.
It pained him to admit it but Shoshanna was right: he was a liar, and the
person he had deceived most was himself. Instead of going after Janet when he’d
had the chance, he elected to take the safer road of being friends. And now
Janet was taken by none other than Kingsley—the man who had ruined Dennis’s
career and his love life.

Dennis got up from his desk. He needed
the distraction of human interaction. He headed to the junior analysts’ section
where there were several pretty specimens of the female gender who were always
glad to see him.

The downside to his plan, which he only
realized when it was too late, was that his route included passing by Peter
Laskin’s office. Walking by Laskin’s office, Dennis heard the sound of busy
typing. Typical Laskin, Dennis thought, no matter what happens, the man keeps
plowing along. Deep down Dennis knew that Laskin was good at his job, but right
now Dennis was in no mood to admit it. Truth be told, lately Laskin was
probably far more productive than Dennis, not that Dennis was eager to admit
this point either. In his defense, Dennis had a reason to be in a slump. Ever
since he had spotted Janet with Alex, he had been unable to think of anything
or anyone else but her. For all his hatred of Alex, Dennis was doing very
little to get back at the man. Oh, sure, Dennis had spent plenty of time
fantasizing about how he was going to expose the sneaky maggot. But first, he
had to come up with a definite plan of action, or any plan for that matter.

“How is it going, Dennis?” Laskin’s
voice carried through the open doorway.

Dennis stepped inside Laskin’s office.
Even talking to Laskin was better than being alone with his thoughts. “Rotten,”
Dennis confessed.

“Too much partying over the weekend?”
asked Laskin while his fingers continued to flutter over the keyboard.

“Something like that. What are you
working on?” Dennis switched the conversation away from himself.

“Something that Janet and I uncovered
when we were at the Bostoff wedding.”

“You were Janet’s date for the Bostoff
wedding? I didn’t even know Jon Bostoff was getting married. I thought he was
already married. Did he get divorced?”

“Wow, slow down, Dennis. It was Jon’s
brother who got married—Paul. Paul Bostoff was engaged to Lisa Foley, or have
you forgotten?”

Dennis rubbed his chin. He was losing
it. “That’s right, I remember now. So what did you guys find?”

“I think that you’d better ask Janet.
She’s the one taking the lead on this,” Laskin replied with his eyes glued to
his computer screen.

“Very well. I’ll ask her.”

Dennis kept walking in his initial
direction until he heard the click of Laskin’s office door. Then he turned around
abruptly and headed for Janet’s office. He was going to have it out with her
once and for all.

When Dennis reached Janet’s office he
saw that its door was closed. He was about to walk in when he heard that Janet
was not alone. Dennis would have recognized the smug notes of Kingsley’s voice
anywhere, but it was particularly disturbing to recognize them in Janet’s
office. Suppressing his impulse to fling open the door and punch Kingsley right
in his arrogant mug, Dennis flattened his back against the door frame,
straining his ears for the conversation that was taking place on the other side
of the door.

***

“Have you got any interesting news for
me, Janet?” Alex asked as he leaned against Janet’s desk, eyeing her with a
cool, penetrating glare.

“Not that I can think of,” Janet
managed. Alex had burst into her office unannounced, and now she literally felt
pinned to her chair under his stare, like one of those insects in a glass
display.

Alex’s hands let go of Janet’s desk.  He
walked closer to her chair, taking her hand into his. “So I take it that the
Bostoff wedding was uneventful?”

“Oh, that. It was fine; nothing
special,” Janet replied. “You know, as weddings go.”

“Did Laskin prove to be an adequate
escort?” Alex asked, still holding Janet’s hand.

“Yes. I’m very grateful to him for being
my date. As you know, there’s nothing more humiliating for a girl than showing
up at a wedding without a date.”

“Janet, I told you before that you
needn’t ever be worried about not having a date.” Alex squeezed Janet’s hand.
“All you need to do is pick up the phone and call me. Or just walk over to my
office and ask me in person,” Alex added huskily.

“Thank you, Alex. I’ll be sure to keep
that in mind.” Janet tried to free her hand from Alex’s fingers, but his grip
was firm.

“And what about Jon Bostoff?” Alex
switched the conversation abruptly. “Have you noticed anything funky about
him?”

“No, nothing funky. As we discussed,
he’s opened a white collar crime consulting firm and seems to be doing fairly
well. I don’t think there’s anything suspicious there. I am glad to see that he
is now on the right side of the law.”

“Is he?”

“That’s what it looks like.”

Alex tightened his grip on Janet’s hand.
“Your leniency surprises me, Janet. A leopard never changes his spots. We’ll keep
our eyes on him, and if he strays we’ll be there to put him back where he
belongs.”

Janet nodded, wondering when Alex was
going to let go of her hand. She was a grown woman, so why was she enduring
this humiliation, with her tongue glued to her throat? She imagined using her
free hand to grab the paperweight from her desk and smashing it into Alex’s
balls; this action did not require any spoken words and would undoubtedly
produce the desired results.

“How about meeting me for a drink after
work?” Alex asked.

“I, um, I’d love to, but I can’t
tonight. I’m meeting a friend after work.” Janet could have kicked herself. She
was too much of a chicken to even tell Alex off, let alone kick him in the
nuts.

“Very well. But you know that you won’t
be able to put me off with excuses forever.” Alex pressed Janet’s hand to his
lips. “I’ll see you later, Janet.”

***

At the sound of Alex’s footsteps, Dennis
Walker had barely enough time to jump away from the door of Janet’s office and
leap into the office supplies pantry, which was just around the corner.
Luckily, the hallway was empty, and Dennis was saved from the embarrassment of
having to explain his behavior. This was a true stroke of luck, for the usually
cautious and levelheaded Dennis would not have been able to produce a plausible
explanation of his antics to save his life.

Dennis leaned against the supply closet
and waited for the sound of Alex’s footsteps to fade away. Then he smoothed his
jacket and headed toward Janet’s office.

“Cup of coffee, you and me, right now,”
Dennis said in a tone that was more an order than an invitation.

For several moments Janet stared blankly
at him. The words that followed after she recovered her capacity for speech
made Dennis wish she had remained silent. “I don’t hear from you for days and
you think can just barge into my office and expect me to drop everything? Thank
you for the invite, but I’m quite busy at the moment, so I’ll have to decline.”

“Busy with what? Romancing Alex?”

Janet reddened, and Dennis knew that he
had hit bull’s eye. “How do you know about that?” she snapped.

“I’m an investigator, remember? I saw
you together last week when you were walking Baxter together.”

“It’s not what you think, not that it’s
any of your business …” Janet began, but stopped in mid-sentence. “You spied on
me?”

Now it was Dennis’s turn to flush. “I
didn’t spy on you. I came by to see you, but learned that you were otherwise
occupied. The least you could do is be decent enough to let me know where I
stand. But for God’s sake let’s get out of here. This is no place to talk: the
walls are paper thin here.”

“Where you stand?” Janet rose from her
chair with self-righteous vigor. “I’ll tell you where you stand: you are in no
position to ask me such questions.” She grabbed her coat. “Where are we going?”

Dennis barely managed to suppress his
smile. Despite the elaborate display of anger, Janet still agreed to talk to
him, which meant that she had to care about him at least a little bit.

A few minutes later, Janet and Dennis
were seated behind the stained table of the coffee shop Dennis frequented
whenever he needed a secure place to talk. Located on one of the side streets
that ran like a maze in Downtown Manhattan, the place was a dive, but the good
part was that no one from the office knew about the coffee shop’s existence.
“So what’s going on between you and Alex?” Dennis asked.

“I told you that nothing is going on
between me and Alex.”

“Oh yeah? Then how come he is walking
Baxter with you? And why is he asking you out for a drink?”