The Great Pretender

Oh, yes, I'm the great pretender,
Pretending I'm doing well.
My need is such, I pretend too much,
I'm lonely, but no one can tell.

 

“I’m not much for written reports.” Reid Beckhart tossed Trixie’s one-page summary to the side. “Just give it to me straight. How bad have we mucked up the security?”

Trixie cringed inwardly. It had taken her over an hour to reduce her findings to one page. “Your team fixed the worst of it. However, you must designate someone to be responsible for your security. It’s wide open. Almost any employee can change anything, intentionally or unintentionally. The only thing that seems to be secure around here is the payroll and employee data.”

Reid nodded. The mundane parts of his business irritated him. He didn’t want to be bothered with employees’ complaints about paychecks and the like. Outsourcing had made sense for those areas.

“What else?” He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Trixie blinked. His reaction threw her off-balance, not realizing he was using a technique to force himself to listen to things. There would always be parts of his business that he needed to know but didn’t want to know. He had learned that lesson well, five years earlier when an employee was droning on and on about something -- and he later found he had unwittingly agreed to an arrangement he never intended to implement.

She paused for a moment, and then continued. “Your building security is lax as well. Did you know that you have at least three dozen employees from the surrounding buildings coming in every day to help themselves to your free coffee, sodas, and snacks?”

Reid grinned. It sounded like something he would have done in his younger days as well. “I don’t care about security on the first floor. If our neighbors have the guts to come over to avail themselves of a free cup of coffee they’re welcome to it. As long as they know where to get a job application and how to apply for a job with us, then they’re welcome to coffee and sodas. What are the real problems?”

Trixie grinned back at him. His attitude was infectious. She outlined her summary with the largest problems she had uncovered and then asked him a question. “You mentioned to me earlier this week that you trust every employee you have here at B3 Software.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Why?”

“Because they know if they need anything, all they have to do is ask. If they need some paper for their kid’s homework assignment, they’re welcome to it. It keeps them working and saves them a trip to the stationery store. If they want staples, paperclips, or pens – they can have those too. If their marriage is on the rocks, they can get free counseling. They have health insurance, life insurance, stock bonus plans, 401k, and profit sharing. If they steal from me, they’re stealing from themselves. We have an excellent compensation program, fringe benefits, and working conditions. Every employee is subject to a background check. I want the best and brightest technical talent working for me. The only reason I ever want an employee to leave is to start their own business, hopefully not competing directly with me.”

Reid shrugged and held out his hands. “I started this business with Chris and Ted. Madji was one of our first programmers and he believes in us. He’s still doing the job we hired him to do twelve years ago. All three of them are millionaires several times over. They keep working here because they love it. They know I’m fair and they treat the employees working for them fairly. We invest a lot in the hiring process, and as a result I’m confident I’ve gotten a good employee.”

She admired his gumption. Reid was years younger than Chuck Prescott or Warren Mortimer. He loved his business for a different reason, and he knew it would only be successful if he managed to stay on the cutting edge of technology. “When I started on Monday, I had a hard time adjusting to your non-traditional organization structure.”

Reid nodded. “The federal government isn’t well known for operating outside of chain-of-command.”

“Exactly, but…” She paused to make sure of her next words. “This works.” She waved her hand as she spoke. “I can’t recommend you change your organization structure to accommodate security, but you’re going to have to lock down access to the security settings and keep that file under change control.” She held up a hand as he began to protest. “Let me finish. This isn’t a trust issue. As far as what happened with your code, I can already tell you what Ian is going to tell you.”

“Oh?” His dark eyebrows shot up in wonder and he leaned back in his chair to listen.

“One of your employees inadvertently opened up the security hole by giving themselves permission to access the systems from home. They had good intentions. They didn’t want to bother anyone else, and they just did it themselves, thinking they were helping.”

Reid frowned. “You think it’s that simple?”

“Yes. If you’re right and your employees are trustworthy, that doesn’t mean they know everything they think they know. After all, they don’t know what they don’t know.”

He laughed aloud. “Of course they don’t! But then none of us know what we don’t know, right?”

She smiled and kept quiet.

He studied her thoughtfully. “You may be right about the employee opening the security hole unintentionally. Would you care to make a wager on that, Beatrix?”

It was her turn to frown. “What kind of wager?”

“The kind where either way you come work for me,” he said, knowing she was going to turn him down.

Trixie shook her head. “Thanks, but no thank you. For what it’s worth, if I were going to work for someone instead of opening my own business, I’d want to work here. ”

He nodded slowly. “A consulting contract?”

She grinned. “Perhaps…. Are you willing to consider a different pay structure in a consulting contract?”

Reid shifted and she could tell he was intrigued. “Like what?”

“Full use of your software,” she suggested. “I’ll come in and perform a security review for B3 annually, if you’ll allow my agency to use your software in our business.”

He extended his hand. “It’s a deal. I’ll have Janiece get the appropriate license and media to you.”

She shook his hand and smiled. “Do you need anything else from me?” she asked, closing her portfolio.

“Yeah, you saved my bacon this week, Belden.”

Trixie remained silent, waiting to see where he was heading.

“It’s funny, but the reason I hired you for this job was a bit unusual. Two different people recommended you to me.”

“Oh?”

“Kitty Buchanan told me to meet with you and to listen. Later, when Charlie Prescott heard I was meeting with you, he told me that bringing you in would be the smartest thing I could do to help my business this year.”

“Charlie and Kitty are very generous,” Trixie murmured, surprised at Kitty’s recommendation.

“I suppose, but that’s not what’s so funny.”

“What’s funny?”

“You’re only the second person that Charlie and Kitty have agreed on in years.” He leaned forward. “I’d trust Charlie Prescott with my life. In fact, I’d trust him with the lives of my children. You could say in a way that I have. If he speaks for you, then I know I made a good decision.”

Trixie flushed to the roots of her hair. Each new thing she learned about the brash young lawyer made her think just a little differently of him.

“Charlie told me that I could offer you an extravagant salary and all kinds of bonuses but you won’t come on board to work for me.”

She smiled. “He’s right. I’ve waited a long time to get my business started. I’m going to consult with you in exchange for your software. Of course, later I’d like to get into the area of your potential employee background checks and other areas.”

He nodded. “Still, that’s not enough.” He pushed a hand through his dark hair and leaned forward. “Charlie mentioned you had a pet project -- a new school in Westchester County.”

Trixie’s eyes brightened. “Yes. My best friend, Jim Frayne, is starting a year-round school for boys. He lost his own parents at an early age and wants to do something to help other kids in a similar situation.”

“I’d like to meet him and hear more. That’s something else that Charlie and Kitty agree on, your friend’s new school. What’s the name of it?”

“Jim hasn’t announced the name of it. Probably at the fundraiser, he’ll unveil the name.” She hesitated. “If you and your wife could attend the fundraiser, I promise you’ll enjoy it. For one thing, it won’t be like anything else. Kitty’s been on the fundraiser committee with me. This one’s going to be more than glittery dresses and an orchestra.”

Reid looked doubtful and she recognized the expression. It was obvious fundraisers weren’t his thing and he likely avoided them like the plague. He responded with a rueful tone. “I don’t think so. It might be different if it were a classic rock concert or even an old-fashioned country hoe down… you know, something that’s actually fun.”

Trixie giggled. “It’s funny that you should mention that...”

 

 

“Why are we having this dinner party so close to the fundraiser?” Trixie grumbled. She was tired of pretending, and tonight would be a challenge. “I thought we finalized everything once we booked the music. I got my invitation in the mail on Wednesday.”

“It’s still almost a month until the fundraiser. Mother wanted to thank everyone for their work,” Jim explained. He glanced down at her high heels and circumspectly placed a supporting hand under her elbow as they approached the veranda at Manor House. “Some of her committee members haven’t made it out to Sleepyside. Mother thought it best to host the party here.” He cast a sidelong glance at her. “I didn’t think you’d mind coming to Sleepyside.”

“Of course not, silly.” Trixie chided. “It just seems like another reason to have to dress up.”

“You look great, Trix.” Jim paused a moment and looked fondly at his date. “You always look nice.”

She’d worn a simple but trendy multi-hued dress. She knew that Di would be wearing something similar in a plum color, but she still resented the time she spent deciding on clothes and shoes. She glanced down at the simple but expensive designer pumps and hoped there would be no teetering around and falling off her shoes tonight.

“Thanks, Jim,” she answered, taking a deep breath. This would be a tough performance, almost a warm-up for Jim’s fundraiser. Tonight she would have to be both Beatrix and Trixie and somehow keep all her old friends and her new ones convinced she was exactly who she said she was. She had wanted nothing more than to tell Jim she was busy when he asked her about the dinner party.

“Trixie!” Celia greeted her warmly as she took her coat. “You look lovely tonight. It’s so good to see you again. Things are much too quiet around here with all of you scattered across the country.”

Celia was wearing the full uniform tonight. Trixie decided Grace Wheeler was making every effort to impress with this dinner party if she had Celia greeting the guests. “Thanks, Celia. It’s good to see you as well. I don’t guess we’ll be raiding the refrigerator after tonight’s dinner.”

Celia laughed. “Heavens, I hope not, but don’t you worry a bit. I’ve had a preview of tonight’s menu and you’re in for a real treat. Cook has outdone herself. Mr. Wheeler even has Tom working the bar.” She gave them both a wink. “Double overtime. It’ll pay for our next vacation!”

Trixie and Jim both smiled. The Delanoys had remained a good fit for the Wheeler household.

 

 

It was much later, when dinner was over and the guests were relaxing in the spacious and comfortable library at Manor House, that Trixie realized how much she had enjoyed the evening, in spite of her concerns. The younger crowd, Charlie, Mitsy, Mart, Diana, Jim, and herself, had drifted to one side of the room. Their respective parents arranged themselves comfortably on the other side of the room. Dinner had been lively, with the musical selection being a hot topic of conversation.

“You made quite an impression on Reid Beckhart,” Charlie said casually to Trixie.

She looked up at him in surprise. “Really?”

He nodded. “It’s funny, the night Ben pointed you out to me, he gave me the impression you were a bit of a… flake, you know a ditzy blonde.” He shook his head remembering the night he met Trixie. “Was I ever wrong!”

Trixie scooted just a bit closer to Jim, enjoying the feeling of his leg touching her knee. She smiled quickly at Jim when he enfolded her hand in his, but turned to answer Charlie. “It’s nice to know you think you were wrong about that. I just hope you never feel like you were wrong to give Reid such a glowing reference about me. He seems to think highly of you.”

Charlie chuckled. “Reid and I have a healthy respect for each other, but what else could I say after what you did for Dad? Besides, from the way Reid talked, you pulled him back from the brink of disaster.”

“Wait a minute,” Mart interrupted his brow creasing as he considered what Charlie had said. “Are you talking about the Reid Beckhart? The owner and founder of B3 software?”

“Yeah, do you know him?” Charlie asked. “He’s my client.”

Mart narrowed his eyes in disbelief. “Is there anyone who doesn’t know him? Sheesh, Charlie. The guy’s probably more well-known than the president.”

Charlie laughed. “Maybe the vice-president, anyway. Yeah, he’s a good guy.”

Mart looked at Trixie in disbelief. “You did some work for Reid Beckhart?”

She nodded as a faint tinge of pink flushing across her face.

“Holy cow! That man is the very definition of what an entrepreneur should be. He built the biggest software empire in the world from nothing.” Mart leaned back. “He’s probably the richest man in the world.”

“Nope,” Charlie grinned. “Not even close. He shares the wealth. His employees reap a good bit of the benefits through profit sharing. He’s one of the most generous people I’ve ever known.”

“What did you think of him, Trix? Was he eccentric? Did you find him to be personable? Could you even talk to him, or was he too high tech for you?”

“Gleeps, Mart,” Trixie muttered. “You act like I don’t know a thing about technology. Give me a break. My minor was computer science and technology. Besides, if you think that much of him, I’ll be sure and introduce you to him. He’s agreed to come to Jim’s fundraiser.”

Mart gaped at his sister. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I’m not kidding. He said any charity that Charlie and…. ahhh, never mind.” She decided to shut up before she embarrassed her friend.

Mitsy giggled. “I’ll bet I know what he said. He said something like if Charlie Prescott and Kitty Buchanan agree on anything, then you know it’s something worth pursuing.”

Trixie pinked up again and nodded. ‘Yeah, something like that. He also said that’s why he agreed to let me review his cyber security. He said I was the first person both of them had actually agreed on in years.” She thought for a millisecond before adding. “His wife is good friends with Kitty. Allison seems to be very elegant and polished.”

“Allison Beckhart was a Rockefeller,” Diana interjected. “She was born elegant and polished. Mummy told me that it was a case of old money marrying new money.”

Mitsy shook her head. “Not exactly, Di. It was more a case of old money marrying no money when they married. Allie’s family didn’t approve of Reid because he didn’t have a dime to his name. Her parents cut her off without a cent. She finished college, working her way through, even after she had their daughter. Of course, everyone knows that Reid dropped out of college his junior year to start B3 software. Not many people realize he went back at night a few years later and graduated.”

“Barely graduated,” Charlie added. “I think that’s why the school keeps it so quiet. He barely passed a few of those classes.”

Jim shrugged. “Sometimes colleges and schools fail to understand how to really measure what a person has learned.”

Trixie turned and glared at him. “You might have remembered that when you were tutoring me in math.”

Mart and Di both failed in their attempts to stifle their laughter. Mitsy scooted forward on the edge of her chair. “You tutored Beatrix in Math? Exactly how long have you two known each other?” she asked with interest.

“Almost fifteen years,” Trixie replied at the same time Jim answered. “It’ll be fifteen years on July 14^th.”

He continued, somehow ridiculously pleased that Trixie had blushed. “You might say Trixie is responsible for me starting the school.” He gave her hand a tender squeeze.

“Fifteen years is nothing,” Mart boasted proudly. “I have known the fair Diana since she was five. So that makes it almost twenty-three years.”

Charlie grinned and cast his eyes over at Mitsy. “I’ve known Mitsy since she was born. I remember my parents dragging me over to see her when she was in her crib. She’d just peed all over her dad.” He seemed to go back in time for a moment, remembering that ten year-old boy looking at the baby girl in the dainty bassinet. He looked over at Mart. “That’s twenty-four years. Do I win?”

Mitsy flushed as Mart replied. “I’ve known I was going to marry Diana since she was six. It seems that you, my friend, are still single. Shall we call it a tie?”

Charlie gave a gallant nod and felt the eyes boring into him. A glance over his shoulder confirmed that Mitsy’s father had heard the exchange between him and Mart. He sighed, hoping that somehow he could convince William Thornhill to accept him as Mitsy’s suitor.

Diana sensed Charlie’s tension and smiled at Trixie. “So if you’ve managed to wow someone like Reid Beckhart, what’s next for you?”

Trixie sighed. “I’ll be helping B3 part-time for a while. In fact, I have deals with all my clients to continue working as needed. My real problem is to keep finding new clients. I had hoped to have a new client lined up next week, but nothing’s on the horizon.”

“That’s not fair,” Charlie protested. “I told you to let me know when and I’d set something up with George Rose.”

“Charlie, your firm can barely spell the Internet, much less use it,” Mitsy chided in a sweet voice. “It’s time for her to come and work with me and Daddy for a bit. He’s not been at all comfortable lately with the amount of data he’s exchanging overseas.”

Trixie barely managed to suppress a surprised interest. “You mean it, Mitsy? You’d let me come in and work with you at Control & Venture?”

“Hey! What are we? Chopped liver?” Charlie protested. “I said something long before Mitsy did. Do you have some kind of bias against lawyers?”

Trixie grinned. “You’re forgetting my business partner is a lawyer! Charlie, to be honest, I was waiting until Hon—Madeleine had some time to spend with me before I started on your business. I could use her insight, since law firms are a little outside my usual territory.” She could only hope her dishonesty would be both undiscovered by her friends and forgiven by a higher authority.

Charlie’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. He wasn’t buying Trixie’s excuse, but let it slide all the same.

Mitsy clapped her hands in glee. “So you’ll start on Monday, Bea?”

 

 

Jim leaned back and relaxed. His arm automatically moved to pull Trixie just a little closer to him as the two of them sat on the comfortable sofa, a crackling fire in front of them. He couldn’t explain the relief he had felt with Trixie declined her dad’s offer of a ride home. Jim closed his eyes as he reflected on the moment.

“Need a ride home, Princess?” Peter Belden looked at his only daughter as he helped Helen with her coat.

“No,” Trixie shook her head. “Jim will bring me home later.”

Peter’s eyes narrowed as she suppressed a yawn, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned and gave Jim a look that spoke volumes. The clearly conveyed to Jim exactly where Peter Belden expected his daughter to spend the night.

And it’s not with me, Jim thought ruefully. He turned his attention to Trixie when she squirmed as if to get more comfortable.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, shifting a bit in order to help her find the position.

“My feet hurt,” she admitted.

“Take your shoes off.” He moved around to help her slip the designer pumps off her feet. “No fear of hidden cameras or photographers here.”

“There is that,” she answered, allowing him to remove her shoes. Jim motioned for her to put her feet in his lap and he proceeded to rub them. A few moments later, he sensed she was relaxing – and then she yawned.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect to be this tired,” Trixie apologized. “It’s not the company.”

Jim nodded and continued rubbing her feet. He attempted to engage her in conversation about their evening, but after a few minutes of Trixie’s one-syllable answers, the conversation halted and the two were quiet.

“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Jim asked, noticing she was staring into the fireplace, a look of confusion on her face.

“Why do you think something’s wrong?” Trixie answered, continuing to stare, as if the flickering flames mesmerized her.

“You’re too quiet. And all night you’ve had this kind of strained look in your eyes, like you were worried about something.” He paused for a moment. “You know you’ll never have to worry about paparazzi while you’re here, right?”

Trixie slowly nodded her head. “Yes, I know. Your dad has wonderful security for Manor House. It’s subtle and discreet. I’ll bet he runs Wheeler International the same way.”

“Probably,” Jim admitted. “He’d still get a kick out of you asking him to check out his systems.”

She answered carefully. “It seems like I’d be asking him for a favor.”

Jim shook his head. “He’s already wondering why you haven’t asked him, especially after he had lunch with Warren Mortimer last week. Mr. Mortimer told Dad he offered you a job.”

“He did,” Trixie acknowledged, shifting so she was once again leaning against him. “So did Reid Beckhart, but I’m going to be consulting for both of them. I did find Mr. Mortimer a candidate for his CIO position.”

“Neal Bryant,” Jim answered.

“Yeah, how did you know?” Trixie asked.

“Dad told me. Mr. Mortimer told him.”

Trixie was silent. Jim sensed she was thinking and waited patiently for her to speak. She looked over at him. “The thing is… my business is going gangbusters. Tonight, you heard both Mitsy and Charlie offered me work with their firms.”

“Is that a problem?” Jim asked.

“No, it’s just every time I finish a job, I don’t really finish. They want me to continue working with their systems, running checks and things for them.”

“Sounds like you won’t have any problem sustaining your business then.”

Trixie bit her lip. “I don’t like working with the systems. The systems are too… boring. I want to investigate people, not computers.”

“So go investigate people,” Jim said simply. “No one’s making you do what you’re doing, right? It may represent strong revenues for your agency, but you can hire someone to do that side of the business? If not, just don’t do it.”

Trixie shook her head. “It pays almost ten times what background investigations pay. I need the money to get the business started.”

“Come on, Trixie,” he chided. “You of all people know the money isn’t important. Doing what you love, that’s the most important thing. Why, you’ve been planning to be a detective almost since the first day I met you. So go be the kind of detective you want to be. Quit messing around with all the computers and software.”

She blinked. “It sounds so easy.”

“Trixie, you have the benefit of knowing what you like and what you want to do. We, the Bob-Whites, we’ve almost had that part of life too easy. My roommate from college, Mike, he still doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up.”

The room was quiet for a few moments before Trixie finally sighed and leaned back. “I know. When Honey finally gets here, we’ll figure all that out. But for now, it’s so much easier to do the computer side of things when you’re doing it by yourself.”

Jim nodded. “Okay, but you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”

“I need a job, Jim,” she reminded him. “I didn’t make that much money from the Government that I can afford to not work.”

“I meant, you could go to work for me while you waited for Honey to move back to New York,” Jim explained.

Trixie laughed. “Jim, I don’t know anything about building a school!”

“You know about security and computer systems and background checks. All of my employees will need background checks and I’ll have to figure out how to best set up security for the school. You could work with Mike on the system side of stuff.”

Trixie frowned. “You said Mike didn’t know what he wanted to do.”

Jim shook his head. “It’s more complicated than that. He’s still under contract with that job in Washington, but when he’s done, he’s going to move back to New York. I think he wants to get into research instead of computer design.”

“Is he going to work for you?” she asked.

“No, he’s been helping me on the software and computers for the school. He’s going to design the computer systems and set it all up at no charge. It’s his contribution to the school. But Mike’s been struggling to help me translate the work we did on our master’s project into a viable product for educational institutions.”

Trixie nodded. “I remember when you worked on your master’s degree project. You gave all the Bob-Whites logins to your test system.” Trixie’s fingers flew into the air as she said ‘test system’. Then she giggled.

“What’s so funny?” Jim asked.

“Mart was my English professor at the Acme Academy for Orphans and Widows.”

“What? You didn’t like the name of our school?” His eyes twinkled as he pretended her comment hurt him.

“Oh, we loved the name of your school.” Her eyes filled with mirth. “But I mostly loved giving my so-called professor a student evaluation!” She grinned at him. “Did you ever read any of the things we tested in your system?”

He grinned back at her. “You mean like the evaluation that said it would be nice to have an English teacher that spoke English.”

Trixie giggled. “You did read them, then.”

“Oh, yeah, and you should have read what Mart wrote in your pretend student file. He wrote something about your refusal to follow simple directions; then he had a pity comment about your interest in solving the mystery regarding the body in the school library.” Jim grinned. “We read them. It was funny, since none of the students were supposed to be able to see what the teachers wrote and vice versa. Who actually hacked in and broke the code on the security?”

“I’d have to take the fifth on that,” Trixie batted her eyes innocently at him. “But in my defense, I had help.”

Jim laughed. “Let me guess – Mart?”

“Yeah,” she admitted. “It was fun. That’s why our comments were so outrageous. We could each read what the other was writing.”

“Mike and I had a lot of fun on that project. Our professor liked it, but we had to footnote that we would outsource the encryption technology since we couldn’t figure out a way to keep our fellow college students from breaking into it.”

“Did you say you’d outsource it?” Trixie exclaimed, sitting up suddenly.

“Yes, outsource, when you determine it can be done better outside the company than inside the company. Why? The professor agreed, and we got an ‘A’ on the project.”

“You just made me think of something,” she said thoughtfully.

“Outsourcing your computer investigations?” Jim wondered what she found so interesting about the concept.

“It’s a thought,” she answered, giving him a funny look. “Say, why are we talking about business anyway? We finally have some time alone together and all you can talk about is work?” She twisted around, in order to give him a kiss.

“True,” he said as his arms moved around her waist, returning with a heady kiss of his own. “What do you think we should talk about? Or maybe we shouldn’t be talking at all?” Jim’s mouth moved down to her neck as he nipped at her ear, kissing a spot he already knew was sensitive.

Trixie shivered and whispered seductively. “We could talk about…” She paused and looked deeply in the eyes.

His heart pounded as he felt her fingers move to the back of his neck and start twisting his hair there. She leaned forward and kissed him, stopping only to move her mouth to his ear and whisper. “We should discuss that situation with the florist and your fundraiser, that’s something we can talk about.”

Jim groaned and in a complicated move, pinned Trixie to the couch. “You, woman, are hopeless.”

“Yeah, just don’t get any ideas about outsourcing for a new girlfriend, okay?”

“Never!” he vowed, leaning down to drop a kiss on her lips. “There are some things that can only be done by you.”