The Temptress (2 page)

‘Very well, he’s almost as good as you were.’

‘Thanks.’ He let out a light laugh, which was
good to hear, instead of the tension in his voice that was more than apparent
over the phone. ‘I’d like to know how she gets on as soon as it’s done, I don’t
care what time of night it is.’

‘Understood, leave it with me. We’re having a
staff meeting any minute, so I’ll put her straight on it. Nice to speak to you,
Logan. I hope this gets resolved fast for you.’

‘God, me too,’ he replied, his heavy sigh
echoing down the phone line. ‘Thanks Lulu, I owe you.’

‘I think I owe you a few more. I’ll update you
later.’ I put the phone down and quickly gathered the ongoing client files, drinking
the remains of my cold coffee and headed down the corridor to the meeting room.
‘Morning everyone,’ I called, as I walked in to a cacophony of noise, the levels
of which only excited women could make.

‘Morning,’ came back the chorus, as everyone
took their seats and went quiet immediately.

‘Thanks for coming in, let’s get through this
as fast as we can, then you’re free to go. My door’s always open if any of you
want to come and talk in private,’ I reminded them, as I took a seat at the top
of the table. ‘Ok, let’s go alphabetically. Mr. Adams, Rachel how are you
getting on?’

‘Plenty of pictures of him coming and going at
all hours from his PA’s house, but nothing concrete to prove they’re having an
affair. He could claim it was work related. No kissing when she opens or closes
the door. He never arrives with flowers or champagne, though he could have
gifts in his briefcase. Nothing out of the ordinary has shown up on his credit
card receipts. No hotels are used either and his office has security and a
scanner for entry. It’s going to have to be video or the lure.’

‘Let’s go down the video route first, exhaust
all other options. Tempting them to stray should always be our last resort. Have
you considered an approach?’ I asked, scribbling notes in his file.

‘I think the house should be our first target.
Ian’s deduced, from looking at her bills, that she’s addicted to her smart TV
and Sky channels. He could interfere with the signal and divert her call to the
engineers to us, we can go in to “repair” it and put recording equipment in the
lounge and bedroom.’

‘Great, set that up as soon as possible, team
of two please, in case she needs distracting during the set up. See Hilda in
wardrobe for the Sky Engineer uniforms, Henry in op-tech will produce their
decals for Mike to put on the side of the van.’

I’d set up Sweet Temptation before I even
graduated from University, to start with it had just been me, using Facebook,
My Space and Twitter to advertise, with a basic website and lots of networking.
I’d been fascinated with espionage for as long as I could remember. My father had
worked for MI5 and would make up stories which he’d tell me at night, to help
me get to sleep. At least he said they were made up, but I always wondered if they
were his real cases. I mean, telling a six year old was hardly going to bring
the country crashing down. As I’d grown older I’d begged him to teach me some
of the tricks of the trade and I was a quick study. Even now he says he’s not
sure if he’s impressed at how well I can pick a pocket, or disappointed. But I
only ever used that skill for the job. Swiping a wallet while talking to a mark
at the bar, passing it on to a colleague who can go and access his room and
pass on his personal details to Ian, had proved invaluable at times. Slowly my
company had grown, to the point that I now had sixteen girls working for me in
the field and Violet of course. Behind the scenes was Hilda, a master
seamstress, who put together and altered the girls’ clothes if required, coming
up with uniforms if we had to infiltrate a company. She had a few rooms here full
of costumes, wigs and tinted contact lenses. As a trained beautician she
undertook all the training with the girls, how to enhance their features
without looking overdone. Class was key. Mike was in charge of vehicles,
whether borrowing or hiring a Ferrari for the night, creating a work van
complete with company logos, or driving the girls and acting as chauffeur when
required.

There was Sandra who looked after HR related
matters and finances. Finally there was Henry, in charge of operation
technology, op-tech for short. He had all the surveillance equipment you could
dream of, some that could fit on the head of a pin. I didn’t ask how my team
got some of the things they did, I didn’t need to know, as long as it did the
job, that’s what I paid them handsomely for. We outsourced client background
checks and hacking of accounts to a genius, Ian Smith, who worked for one of
the world’s top five software firms, Davenport Technologies. He had a large
team there, but was a workaholic with a hyperactive personality. As well as his
Davenport duties, he’d been Logan’s
go to
guy and now Trey’s, as well as
mine, when the guy slept was anyone’s guess. We’d met at University and had
become good friends. Yes, I was quite proud of the highly respected little empire
I’d built with my own hands. Sadly, that had left me with little time for a
personal life. I’d cut way back in the last five years, priorities at home
vying for attention, but I was definitely not the flirtatious social party girl
that everyone might imagine me to be.

We ran through the remaining cases, closing
some, with Violet taking the file ready to type up the reports and pull the
evidence together, ready to hand to Sandra to create our final invoice. Those
that were still ongoing, we made plans of action for. Clients liked to see
regular progress, after all they were paying us a lot of money for results. I
finished by asking if anyone had any concerns they’d like to address, either in
the open forum or privately, but everyone shook their head. I ran a tight ship,
but they were paid exceedingly well, including allowances for personal up keep of
their hair, beauty, clothing and lingerie. I’d never had a girl leave, the only
time they did was if they crossed the line, I had one golden rule that resulted
in instant dismissal if it was broken.

Never sleep with a client
.

If we couldn’t catch them in the act with
someone else, our job was to prove intent to cheat only. Not even kissing was
allowed. Only on the cheek, or to let a mark kiss their necks for purposes of
the camera, or to fake it with positioning.
Never sex
. I announced the
meeting closed, taking the opportunity to pop a deliciously sugary mini Yum Yum
into my mouth, as the girls all started chattering again. I quickly closed my
eyes as I blew out a frustrated breath, before standing up and walking down the
room, lightly placing my hand on Zoe’s shoulder.

‘Can I see you in my office in ten minutes
please?’ I asked quietly, then moved on to chat to Melinda, so as not to make
it obvious that I’d singled one of the girls out. I left them to it, heading
back to my office, Violet hot on my heels. ‘Vi, I’ll need you to hold my calls
until Zoe leaves, please.’

‘Is everything ok? You have your
I’m not
very happy face
on.’

‘I’m not,’ I replied with shake of my head.
‘This never gets easier. If you can pack up her locker while she’s in with me,
she’ll be leaving and not returning. We’ll need to revoke key card access immediately,
change the code and update everyone’s card.’

‘Zoe broke the rule?’ Violet gasped. ‘I’d never
have imagined, she’s one of the quiet ones. The
I’m an innocent virgin
please take it easy on me
type.’

‘They say the quiet ones are the worst.’

‘I’ll bring you a coffee, I know how much you
hate doing this, you’re going to need it.’

‘Do you have any brandy to go in that?’ I
smiled wryly. Violet disappeared and returned a minute later with another
coffee for me from the Tassimo machine in the staff room. ‘Thanks Vi.’ I
switched my mobile and iPad onto
do not disturb
mode and headed over to
the corner sofa unit as Zoe came in and closed the door behind her.

‘Miss McQueen, is something wrong?’ she asked,
as I indicated for her to sit down. She waited until I had, before she sat at a
right angle to me, nervously chewing her top lip.

‘I think you know what’s wrong, Zoe. Why don’t
you tell me?’

‘I’ve no idea what you mean, Miss McQueen.’

‘Being honest with me will work in your favour,
Zoe. Continue to lie to me and I may not be able to assist fully.’

‘Assist with what? I’ve really no idea why I’ve
been called in.’ She attempted her young doe eyed innocent stare with me, but I
was a pretty good reader of body language, and I knew that she was lying.

‘Then I’m very sorry, but I have no option but
to terminate your employment with immediate effect. I’ll also have to mark the
“would you re-employ this applicant” box on any reference requests with a no.
There are two things that I don’t tolerate Zoe, lying to me and breaking the
number one rule that’s written into your employment contract. Never sleep with
a client. I drum it home at every meeting, yet you seemed to think that the
rule didn’t apply to you when you slept with Mr. Dean.’

‘I did no such thing,’ she shot back, a touch
of defiance burning in her brown eyes, as she sat up straight, ready for a
battle. That wasn’t my style, I sat back on the sofa and crossed my legs,
putting my hands in my lap.

‘Have you suddenly developed temporary amnesia,
or do I need to produce the recording to remind you?’

‘What recording?’ she asked, her indignant
voice suddenly having been replaced by one with a shake in it.

‘You set up the room as a team, Zoe. You
dismantled the bedroom camera, but forgot about the one that Frankie put in the
bathroom.’ I cocked my head as I watched her face go pale, her eyelids blinking
as rapidly as her chest was rising and falling. She broke my gaze, looking down
at her tangled fingers.

‘It’s not what it seems,’ she whispered.

‘I’m not quite sure one could mistake you on
your knees giving our client a blow job, as anything other than sexual
relations, Zoe. Or when he took you from behind in the shower. When it was
brought to my attention and I had to watch it, I turned down the volume given
you were rather vocal in your appreciation of his skills. You’ve left me with
no option but to terminate your employment with effect immediate. Your personal
effects will be waiting with Violet at reception as you leave. I have no
objections to you saying goodbye to everyone if you wish to do so, but the
minute you step foot out of the lobby door, you won’t be able to return.
Understood?’ I
hated
doing this, her body had started to tremble and it
made me feel like such a bitch, but it was the one rule I couldn’t compromise
on. I couldn’t be clearer about that at interview, in the contract, or the
numerous times I mentioned it in meetings.

‘Please don’t do this,’ she begged as she
looked back up at me, tears swimming in her eyes. ‘I’ve worked on his case for
weeks, he grew on me, I fell in love with him, he’s in love with me. He said
his wife didn’t understand him and that he was going to leave her for me.’

‘Zoe, his wife suspected him of cheating, which
was the very reason you were put on the case in the first place. A case that we’ve
proven, but will now cost me my fee, which I’ll have to refund in full. It will
also put a black mark against the reputation of my company, because she can’t
file for divorce when the person he’s accused of having an affair with, is a
girl that she paid to set him up with. Surely you can put yourself in my shoes
and see how unacceptable this is?’

‘It wasn’t meant to happen, I fell in love,’
she replied, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

‘I’m sorry but your relationship with him is
none of my concern, that’s of your own making.’

‘I
need
this job. Where else am I going
to find a job that pays as well as you do?’ she moaned.

‘You should have thought of that before you
committed an instant dismissal offence. What you do after a case is closed is
none of my business, you could have waited and if this relationship was
genuine, you could have dated then. I’m sorry there’s nothing more I can do.’

‘But I have Ethan, how am I supposed to look
after my little boy with no money coming in?’ she sobbed, plucking at my heart
strings, right where it hurt. I handed her a tissue, before I stood up and
walked to my floor to ceiling glass window, looking out at the city view as I
closed my eyes and sighed. Damn it! She had to pull out the single mother card and
make me feel even shittier. I turned around to find her wiping her red eyes.

‘I’ll give you six months’ salary upfront, it
will be in your account by close of business today. That should be enough to
give you time to find yourself another job, but I’m afraid the answer on the
reference will still stand, I can’t lie for you Zoe, not when my reputation is
on the line. Please feel free to use my bathroom if you need to freshen up in
private. Stay with the girls for a while, but you’ll need to be gone by the
time Violet’s ready to leave at six o’clock.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ she mumbled, as she blew her
nose. I doubted she was sorry really, only that she’d been caught. What would
possess a woman to fall for a man who was cheating on his wife? I just couldn’t
comprehend it. What was to stop him doing it to her further down the line, if
they even made it that far? This was the fourth time in my career that this had
happened, none of the other three had made it with the men they lost their jobs
for, it didn’t leave me with much hope that Zoe and Mr. Dean would either. I
showed her to my luxuriously appointed bedroom and en-suite, that I used to use
when I was working a case at night, to save me going home and coming back again
in the morning. I rarely used it now, except to freshen up or get changed if I
was going out after work. Not that I did that a lot either, except for the last
few weeks with Greg. Another crisis I’d have to face before the day was out. I
realised I hadn’t even had time to open the card that came with the roses. Zoe
reappeared, looking a little more composed.