Municipal Blondes
19
Lying low
I DIDN’T LIKE what I saw at brunch Sunday morning and hustled myself back to my room. It looks like the Committee is meeting. Stan Metzger of the PNW Publishing Group walked in beside René Fortier, the founder of one of the largest Internet services groups in the country. I was shocked to see the CEO of Allied Cellular with them.
Personal Assistant
I ran to my room and called Cinnamon. I’d had to buy an International SIM when I landed, so, of course, she had no idea who was calling. She still answered on first ring, sounding a little panicked.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“It’s me, Deb. Are you okay?”
“Oh, thank God! I’ve been so worried,” she said. “Where are you?”
“I’m fine. I’ve been really lucky. How are you?”
“Seattle is a mess. Downtown is fine and so is your apartment. Parts of town are still without power and the East Side is a virtual blackout. According to the news there are still 700,000 customers without power.”
“Good Lord! I need you to go down and check my office.”
“I did. Am. I’m there now. I’m sorry, Deb. It’s a real mess.”
“Still no power?”
“Oh, you’ve got power, all right,” she answered, “but the place has been ransacked. When I say a mess, I mean everything is torn up. Someone came in and vandalized it during the storm. A window was broken and there’s water damage. I got a glass company to come in and do an emergency repair on the window this morning.”
“You’re terrific, Cinnamon. Please be sure Maizie’s bed is cleaned up. I don’t want the poor girl to lie on any glass.”
“Deb? There’s no glass in the room. The window was broken from inside. I was only in here once, after Dag’s memorial, but I’m sure there’s a chair missing. It’s probably in the Sound.”
“I need you to give me a verbal survey of the room,” I said, panic just at bay. “Stand in the middle of the office and start facing the window. Describe the damage as you turn to you left.”
“Sure. The window has been repaired. The sofa is hacked to ribbons, cushions on the floor. Maizie’s bed is pretty much shredded. There’s an overturned pedestal table with a vase broken on the floor. Then, through the door to the outer office…”
“Wait,” I said. “What about the television mounted on the wall.”
“There’s no television. Oh, I see. There’s a wire cut off and hanging out of the wall. It looks like they took the screen. Sorry.”
“Okay,” I answered. “You’re at the door into the office. Continue.” I held my breath.
“The outer office is in the same condition. Desk drawers have been pulled out and emptied. The file cabinet is trashed. I can see through the bathroom door that the shelves have been torn out of the medicine cabinet. Back in this room, desk drawers are lying on the floor with contents dumped out. Books have all been stripped of the shelves. The desk is turned on edge. There’s another pedestal table near the wall and a painting has been slashed open and torn off the wall. The curtains were pulled down from the windows. A recliner chair, also cut to shreds. I’m sure there was another chair near the window that isn’t here. And the coffee table is upside down. I’m sorry, Deb. It’s really a mess. I got the window replaced but have just been taking pictures of everything else so you can file an insurance claim. Do you want me to call the police? I don’t have anything that would tell them I work for you and I couldn’t get hold of you when I tried earlier.”
I breathed. Cinnamon couldn’t have missed another room behind the desk with shelves for computer servers. The vault was still secure.
“It sounds like I’m going to have to pretty much start over.” A tear was leaking out of my eye. Everything that was Dag’s was destroyed. Even Maizie’s bed. “I’ll need you to call Jordan Grant. He’ll come over to investigate. Thank you for getting the window repaired.”
“Wait till you see the bill.”
“I’ll bet they gouged me on that one,” I said. “I’m going to want to go through everything that’s left both to reclaim our files and to see if I can identify anything missing. I guess you don’t need to come back to the office.”
“I’ll make sure everything is kept for you, Deb,” Cinnamon said softly. “But I’m not going to let you come back to this mess. Is there anything here you especially don’t want me to look at? I’ll try not to be nosy while I’m cleaning.”
“Really, Cinnamon. You don’t have to do that.”
“You hired me, remember?”
“Yeah. Are you sure you want to work for me? It can get kind of dangerous.”
“Pharmaceuticals were getting kind of boring,” she said. “I sent in my resignation Friday.”
“Cinnamon, did your boss know you were there Thursday night?”
“No. I wasn’t supposed to be there. I hid out until I thought it was safe to come and see you. The girls aren’t supposed to be at a party with a group they work with. You know what I mean? It’s something about a law called ‘quid pro quo.’ Responsibilities as a hostess in the Condo never cross with your responsibilities in your day job.”
“But your CEO was there Thursday night,” I said. “Can you tell me anything about him?”
“Mostly, he’s a really nice man. I never even met him the first year I was with Bio-Research. He sent me a congratulations letter when I got promoted to Senior Marketing Manager. That’s what bugs, me Deb. The members of the Committee all seem like really nice guys. I don’t know all of them, but the one’s I’ve met have been the least likely to, you know, want to have sex with you on the sofa. They all have their minds somewhere else.”
“Yeah. On money,” I said absently. That might mean I won’t have as much trouble with Mr. Rentz as I was afraid. “Tell me about Mr. Reinholdt’s family.”
“He has a nice wife who looks like she came out of a Pillsbury cookbook, if you know what I mean,” she giggled. “I think three grown children. That’s really all the personal information I know about him.”
“Cinnamon, you’ll have to get more curious about things if you work for me,” I laughed. “Seriously, you should go back to work for Bio-Research. I can’t pay you anything like what they can.”
“I don’t need that much money, Deb,” she answered. “I’ve been careful saving up from my salary, 401k, and tips. That’s one of the things we were taught when we went to the Condo. If any of us were found to be using drugs or spending too freely, we were cut off and not allowed back. We’re all pretty clean-cut. But I don’t want to be a pharmaceuticals marketing manager. It’s what they said I was best suited for. It’s boring. Your work isn’t boring, Deb. I told you Thursday night, I’ll be anything you want me to be for you.”
“Honey, don’t pin too many hopes on anything personal happening. Quid pro quo laws apply to our relationship as employer and employee, just like they do at Bio-Research. And as much as I like you, I’m not gay, or really even bi. I just don’t happen to be very lucky with men.”
“Tell me about it, sister,” she sighed. “Well, unless you are firing me, I think I’ll call Jordan Grant and start cleaning up this mess.”
“You’re a treasure, Cinnamon,” I said. “Be careful.”
Geez. Im sure Dag gave me that lecture at least a dozen times. And look how I behaved. What have I gotten myself into?
Surveillance
I have limited resources here. I can’t depend on gadgets other than my laptop and my cell phone. But I’ve got eyes and ears and I intend to find out what is going on at that meeting tomorrow.
I put on my khaki shorts and headed up the beach with a pair of cheap binoculars I bought at a kiosk on the beach. Brenda’s house sits on a couple of acres of beachfront about two miles north of San Pedro. You can get there via a sandy road that comes in at the little bridge and security gate, or by water and the beach. A security guard patrols the beach and makes sure that walkers keep moving an don’t pause on Brenda’s 200' of beachfront. I passed the guard and waved to him. I figure if he gets used to seeing me, he’ll pay less attention to me. As soon as I passed Brenda’s property, I cut up from the beach onto the property next door. Another tropical mansion is under construction with a 1.5 million-dollar price tag. I thought at first it was three million, but the Belize dollar is two to one against the American dollar. I decided to investigate the new construction. Being Sunday, no workers were around and I walked right in. On the second floor I found a window overlooking Brenda’s property.
I tried snapping a picture with my cellphone. Maybe with computer enhancement I could get enough detail to record the Committee arriving at the meeting from up here. I’d identified a dining room and a bedroom from my perch. I could add a picture to the evidence I’d sent Jordan. I wondered why he hadn’t moved to stop the Committee from coming down to Belize but maybe he was just being extra careful to have an airtight case. That was his problem.
“If you try the attic window you can see the pool area and the living room patio,” a voice said behind me. I nearly fell out the window. The guy had come up so quietly behind me, he caught me completely by surprise. I spun, ready to defend myself, and was face to uncomfortably close face with Prince Charming. I mean Ray Hawkins.
“I was just…” I stammered.
“Just trying to get an exclusive story,” he said. “I can well imagine. Good job figuring out where they were going to meet. Did Jon tell you?”
“No, I… well, yes, I guess so.” I wasn’t sure what to do with this but from his perspective he’d given me a perfect cover. I could be a reporter on a story. “Don’t tell me you’re going to try to scoop me on this,” I said.
“No, no. I’m here purely for corporate espionage. When wealthy men who wield a lot of power get together, those of us who are left out want to know what they are talking about.”
“If I hear anything, I’ll let you know,” I said, squeezing past him and heading for the stair.
“I’d appreciate that,” he said. “You know, you might get a lot closer if you stick with Jon… What name did he give you?”
“Rentz.”
“Right. Stick with Jon Rentz. I’ll bet he invites you along. He’s always been a sucker for a beautiful face. And body.”
“Thanks a lot,” I said curtly. “If you aren’t asking me out, I guess I have nothing better to do with my time.”
“I never tread on another man’s soil,” he said. “Not without an invitation.”
“Mine’s not coming and his doesn’t count,” I said. “Just so you know.”
I stormed down the stairs and out the front gates, walking back to San Pedro along the sandy road that fronted the property. Hawkins had a point. I knew all the men on the Committee liked to have pretty girls on their arms when they got together. Maybe I should play up to Mr. Rentz and see if he’ll invite me.
I was still musing about that when I got back to the Beach Club and the man in question stopped me in the lobby.
“Miss Finn,” he said. I turned toward him. “Riley, I hope you will indulge me with your presence at dinner again tonight. That is, if your boyfriend is still under the weather.”
“Mr. Rentz, how delightful,” I answered. “Shall I join you in the Celebrity Restaurant?”
“No, no. I had something more islandy in mind. Meet me down here at seven-thirty in beach wear and we’ll go to Elvi’s for a real Island meal.” Beach wear? You lech. Okay. Kindly, fatherly, embezzling lech.
“I’ll see you here,” I said gaily and hopped up to my room.
There was one little piece of investigation I needed to do online when I got back to my room. I looked up Helen of Troy. I’m not looking for a Homerian epic poem. I’m looking for the owner of the huge yacht anchored off the beach at Brenda’s little island home. And I found it. A certain major sports franchise owner who likes to party at sea. I’ll bet that baby is armed.
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