Catching the Bad Guy (Book Two) (Janet Maple Series) (4 page)

Alex contemplated Walker’s track record.
Most people were motivated by either greed or ambition, some by both, and some,
especially pathetic examples of human character like Hamilton Kirk, were
motivated by a thirst for justice and truth. And then there were men like
Dennis Walker who were most peculiar. One would think that after what Dennis
Walker had been through, he would be the least likely person to be working as a
white collar crime investigator. What drove him? Some twisted version of
Stockholm syndrome? Perhaps it was desire for redemption? Whatever it was, Alex
would find out.

“If you know the enemy and know
yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles,” Alex recalled; it
was his favorite quote from The Art of War, a book he perused frequently. While
he fought his battles from behind his desk, they were just as vicious as those
fought on the battlefield. Enough of this, Alex thought. There would be plenty
of time to roll up his sleeves. Right now he was in a mood for some relaxation.

Alex pushed the intercom button.
“Georgiana, would you come in here, please?”

“Right away, Mr. Kingsley.”

A few moments later, Georgiana was
standing in the doorway of his office. “Here’s your morning coffee, Mr.
Kingsley.” Georgiana placed the coffee mug on his desk. Alex took a sip. The
coffee was awful, but then he had not hired Georgiana for her coffee making or
her secretarial skills.

Alex eyed Georgiana’s ample breasts
prominently displayed by the unbuttoned collar of her white blouse. “Close the
door, will ya?”

Georgiana smiled slyly, swaying her hips
left and right as she sashayed to the door and flipped the door lock switch.
“Would you like me to take dictation, Mr. Kingsley?” she asked, tracing her
finger along her full, parted lips.

“Come here, you.”

Georgiana perched on Alex’s knee. “I
know shorthand.”

Alex laughed at her cluelessness.
“Nobody takes shorthand at the office these days, Georgiana. You’ve read too
many detective novels.”

“I think you’ll like the kind of
shorthand I have in mind.” Georgiana placed her hand on Alex’s crotch.

Alex kissed Georgiana’s neck: this was
exactly why he had hired her.

He had known Georgiana for over two
years. At first she used to be his diversion from his relationship with Janet; 
after all, a man could not very well be expected to be confined to the
affections of just one woman. A high-class escort girl, Georgiana had provided
Alex with the excitement he yearned for. Georgiana told him that before she
became an escort she had trained in gymnastics. When she turned fourteen, her
breasts grew too large to fit into a leotard and were the reason why she had to
leave the sport, but as far as Alex was concerned, Georgiana’s breasts were
magnificent.

Alex’s promotion at the DA’s office had
given him additional income that he had been happily spending on Georgiana’s
affections. Soon, his rendezvous with her became an addiction. It pained him to
think of other men claiming Georgiana in his absence. He wanted to possess her
completely, but he knew that his demands were impossible to realize. For one,
Georgiana was a free agent, and for another, his salary made it impossible for
him to be Georgiana’s only client without filing for bankruptcy. If only he
were higher up the food chain! Alex saw Finnegan and other top executives at
the office charge their meals at expensive restaurants and bill exorbitant
trips as work-related expenses. Finally, luck smiled his way.

When the job at the Treasury was offered
to him, Alex saw his golden ticket. He carefully questioned Finnegan whether he
would be able to select his own assistant, reasoning that Kirk’s assistant
would be unreliable because of her loyalty to her old boss. But Finnegan was no
fool. He glanced at Alex shrewdly and laughed heartily, saying that yes, Alex
could pick an assistant of his choice and that he could be quite liberal with
the salary. There might even be room for a discretionary bonus. When Alex
popped the question to Georgiana, she accepted his offer with delight, and now
Alex had her all to himself.

His eyelids heavy with pleasure, Alex
glanced at his watch. His next meeting was in twenty minutes. Georgiana would
surely be done by then. After all, having sex in the office was one of the
perks of a high-ranking government job. Even the president had done it. Alex
slid lower in his chair and closed his eyes.

The ecstasy of Alex’s climax was rudely
interrupted by a knock on the door of his office. “Who is it?” Alex strained to
keep his voice controlled.

“Dennis Walker. We have a ten o’clock.”

“Just a minute.” Alex motioned for
Georgiana to get up as he hurriedly zipped his fly. That damn Dennis Walker was
turning out to be an even greater nuisance than Alex had anticipated.

After he had made sure that he looked
presentable, Alex whispered to Georgiana to open the door.

“Thank you, Georgiana. That will be
all,” said Alex as Georgiana ushered Dennis into the office.

Dennis’s eyes shifted from Alex to
Georgiana in an impertinent manner that Alex did not like at all. “Am I
interrupting? I could come back.”

“That’s quite all right, Dennis. I was
on a confidential conference call with the DA’s office, but it’s finished now.
You can come in. We have a meeting at ten o’clock, don’t we?”

“Yes, that’s correct,” Dennis confirmed
with his eyes still fixed on Georgiana.

Alex found Dennis Walker’s demeanor
vexing. Of course Georgiana was not helping matters either, standing there like
a transfixed idiot. Could it be that she fancied Walker? The mere thought made
Alex’s blood boil. “Thank you, Georgiana, that’s all for now,” Alex repeated.

“Yes, Mr. Kingsley.” Georgiana finally
got the hint and left the office.

“Now, let’s get right to it, shall we?”
Alex cracked his knuckles and motioned for Dennis to take a seat.

“Which case would you like me to start
with?” Dennis asked. He had several thick binders under his arm, which he
placed onto an empty chair next to him.

“Let’s see here.” On his desk Alex had a
list of cases that had been assigned to Walker. The only case he really cared
about was the Bostoff Securities / Emperial case. “Why don’t we start with the
Bostoff Securities / Emperial case?”

Dennis selected one of the heftier
binders. “As the name of the case suggests, the investigation involved two
entities, Bostoff Securities and Emperial hedge fund. Emperial hedge fund was
one of Bostoff Securities’ top clients. The Treasury Investigations department
had been investigating Emperial hedge fund for several months when an
opportunity for an undercover operation presented itself at Bostoff Securities,
and I was selected to assume employment at Bostoff Securities as an undercover
investigator.”

“Had the court order for the undercover
operation been obtained?” Alex asked sharply.

“Yes, all the supporting documentation
is in the file.” Dennis placed the binder on Alex’s desk.

Alex pushed the file back in Dennis’s
direction. “Then perhaps you will be able to explain to me who at the Treasury
sanctioned your drugging of Tom Wyman, Bostoff Securities’ retained legal
counsel, as well as abducting Wyman’s laptop and stealing privileged and
confidential documents from said laptop?”

“I am not certain which incident you are
referring to,” Dennis replied. “It is true that I was able to obtain documents
from Mr. Wyman’s laptop, but I was able to obtain said documents through the
technology tools that I had as part of IT at Bostoff Securities. Gaining access
to Wyman’s files was part of the assignment.”

Alex clenched his fists so hard that his
knuckles turned white. That maggot Walker had some nerve! Not only had Walker
been impertinent enough to interrupt Alex’s pleasure that was being so expertly
delivered to him by Georgiana, the bugger had the audacity to sit there and lie
straight to Alex’s face.

Alex placed his fists on the table and
leaned forward. “Now, I think you know exactly what I’m referring to, Mr.
Walker. I am going to cut right to chase here. I do not know what kind of
operation the former department head was running here, but I will tell you
this: there will be zero tolerance of protocol violations under my watch.”

“With all due respect, sir—” Dennis
began, but Alex cut him off.

“Precisely my point: I am your new boss
and you will respect me. There will be none of that vigilante nonsense that you
used to pull under the previous management. We are here to enforce the law,
which means that we too are bound by law.” Alex paused, studying the expression
on Dennis’s face. He had hoped to spot a glint of fear but came up empty. The
man seemed to have nerves of steel. “Considering your past record, I can understand
how you could think it justifiable to use unsanctioned means during an
investigation. I will even give you the benefit of believing that you were
acting out of your best intentions, but that does not absolve your wrongdoings.
Because of the illicit manner in which the evidence was obtained, all
allegations against Emperial have been dismissed.”

Finally, Alex got a reaction out of
Dennis. “But, sir, this is ridiculous. There is concrete evidence against
Emperial. If you let Muller off the hook for what he did at Emperial, he will
simply reopen another company to continue his fraud.”

“Concrete evidence?” Alex raised his
eyebrows. “I have already familiarized myself with the case, and the
legitimately obtained evidence indicates that all of the infractions were the
fault of Bostoff Securities.” Here Alex had to struggle to keep a neutral face:
compared to Emperial, Bostoff Securities was an exemplary firm, but unlike
David Muller the owner of Bostoff Securities did not have the protection of
Cornelius Finnegan.

“But sir, there are numerous records—”

“Listen to me, Dennis. Bostoff
Securities was fined for its corrupt operations. The case is now closed. There
is no legitimate evidence to support the allegations against Emperial or
Muller, and I do not want you wasting the resources of this department on this
matter any further. Is that clear?”

Dennis nodded. “Crystal.”

Alex thought he detected freshness in
Walker’s voice, but decided to let it go for now. “Good. For our next meeting,
I would like you to think about how you could better reallocate your time to be
more involved in data analytics. More attention should be paid to the leads
that we receive through our surveillances. I am very impressed with Peter
Laskin’s work. I’d like you to work more closely with him. There are many
things you could learn from Laskin, like how to gather evidence the legal way.
That will be all for now. Thank you.”

Watching Dennis Walker leave his office,
Alex could barely resist bursting into laughter. He had met with Laskin yesterday.
Their meeting had been brief, but it had been long enough for Alex to
understand that Laskin spent countless hours behind the computer screen,
sifting through data, while Walker reaped all the accolades. Divide and conquer
had been Alex’s motto since he had been old enough to walk, and from
kindergarten to college to law school to the DA’s office, this strategy had
never steered him wrong.

Janet stared at her computer screen,
doing her best to appear busy. Her mind was consumed with thoughts of Alex.
Even though she had not seen Alex all day, she felt as though she could sense
his noxious presence seeping through the walls of her office. The man she had
hoped never to see again, was now in the same building, watching her, waiting
for his chance to ruin everything she had worked for, just like he had done
before.

Janet’s thoughts were interrupted by
Dennis Walker bursting through the door of her office. “We need to talk.”

Dennis shut the door behind him and
plunked himself into a chair opposite Janet’s desk. “I need you to tell me
everything that happened during your meeting with Kingsley.”

“Hello to you too.” Janet crossed her
arms on her chest. She had not seen Dennis all day.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so abrupt,”
Dennis replied with mock politeness. “It’s only that our new boss ripped me a
new one this morning, and I would like to know why. Since you have a history
with the man, I’d sure appreciate some insight.”

Janet blushed. Her history with Alex had
been extensive to say the least, but she certainly did not care to share it
with Dennis.

“I tell you what,” Dennis said, slapping
his knee, “how about a drink after work? My treat. I think we could both use a
night on the town.”

Janet hesitated. A night out with Dennis
Walker could lead to all sorts of risky outcomes.

“Come on, I know you want to say yes.”

That was the trouble: she did want to
say yes, just like she did every time Dennis asked her for a drink.

“All right,” Janet replied brusquely.
“It’ll be nice to get out. Five thirty at the Bull and Bear?” She named the
neighborhood bar where they usually went for a drink after work.

“Save the time, but change the venue,”
Dennis replied, eyeing her meaningfully. “How about The Vine instead? It’s on
Houston and Mercer in the Village.”