Secret Agent Man

Secret Agent Man
Secret Agent Man
They've given you a number
And taken away your name.

 

Trixie sat in a comfortable chair at the coffee shop, sipping her latte and doing her best to appear unconcerned, although she had already glanced at her watch four times in less than three minutes. She pulled out her PDA to check for messages when she heard a familiar voice.

“To what do I owe the honor of a date with the popular Beatrix Belden?” The blond-haired man slid into the chair across from her, a cup of coffee in hand. She frowned, wondering how he had managed to order and receive his coffee without her seeing him.

“There’s one on every block,” he answered the question she hadn’t asked.

Trixie nodded. “Thanks for meeting me.”

“My pleasure, you said it was important.”

She nodded and bit her lip. “Things have been a bit crazy lately. I’m not used to so many meetings.” After a pause, she continued. “It’s amazing the kind of things that happen in business meetings. You think it’s a simple briefing and the next thing you know you’ve been fired.”

Ben Riker frowned. “Did you get fired by a client?”

“Not in so many words, but yes. Control & Venture certainly isn’t going to pay any bill that I might send them for my services.” Trixie grimaced.

“Do you want me to call them and threaten to sue? That might be fun.” Ben leaned back, relaxing slightly. “It’s no problem for me to play the heavy for you if you need me to.”

“No, it’s not a problem. If they’re not happy, then I don’t want them to pay me. Sooner or later, they’ll learn the hard way.” She shrugged and took a sip of coffee. “My problem really had to do with Jim’s fundraiser.” Trixie put her cup down and leaned forward across the tiny café table, staring intently at Ben. “Did you know that you can spend weeks finding the right kind of flowers and then find out they aren’t the right kind of flowers at all?”

Ben shook his head. “Belden, you’re not making a bit of sense. Why do I care about flowers for Jim’s fundraiser?”

“A lot of people don’t know how long it takes to order fresh flowers. In the end you have to use more plants.”

“Plants are good. Look, Belden, if you don’t have a legal problem for me, exactly why are we here?” Ben glanced at this watch. “And don’t try and tell me that you and Jim broke up over some stupid flowers or something.”

Trixie reached across the table and grabbed his wrist, forcing him to look at her.

“Roses, carnations, lilies, petunias – florists use them all the time. For Jim’s fundraiser, we’re going to use mostly plants, including some orchids.” The emphasis on the last word was subtle, but there.

Ben stared. “Orchids,” he said softly after a moment. He straightened a bit and stared back. “There’s a country music song about orchids – I overlooked an orchid while searching for a rose.”

“The orchid that I overlooked was you.” Trixie replied quoting the song lyrics and the code she had been provided at the beginning of the case to confirm the undercover agent’s identity.

“I see you’re familiar with the song,” Ben gave a wry smile. “My love of country music must have rubbed off on you, Belden.” He held a hand to his chest. “Be still my heart. Maybe there’s hope for the two of us yet.” His eyes twinkled in jest.

Trixie snorted. “Don’t send me any flowers, Riker. You’d be wasting your money!” She picked up her cup and took the last sip of coffee. “Let’s walk.”

The two of them exited the Starbucks without speaking, heading away from the crowds by mutual consent. As they turned a corner, things quieted, and once they were walking outside of anyone’s hearing range, Ben broke the silence.

“How did you figure it out?”

“You had me guessing for a long time. Then Charlie let it slip that he didn’t ask for an introduction to me. That’s when I knew something was up.”

Ben nodded. “Good catch.” They walked another block before he spoke again. “What are you going to tell me? I have my own agenda in this.”

“I understand,” Trixie said. “But there’s an update you need to be aware of. Lots of people don’t realize that orchids, like many flowers, have both male and female parts.” She paused, wanting the words to sink in so he would follow her information.

“Yeah, okay. That makes sense; it’s almost like the animal species.”

“Exactly. The only orchids I’m interested in investigating in the future are orchids with female parts.”

“Wow!” Ben replied, stopping to stare. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.” Trixie nodded. “I heard the report myself. It’s solid.”

“Wow!” Ben repeated. “Do you think Mitsy Thornhill is a, uh, person of interest, or did you clear her before they fired you?”

“No, unfortunately,” Trixie grimaced again. “But my gut tells me she’s not in on it. Thornhill runs his company like a team of small mom and pop organizations. It’s the opposite of how Prescott runs things.”

The two of them walked along, Ben mulling over the information. He sighed and then spoke. “Do you know that Aunt Grace is involved in running the business with Uncle Matt?”

“Yes. Bummer, huh?” she said, forcing her voice to be light.

“So what’s your situation now?”

“I need to finagle introductions to Kingston Technology, Langham Industries, and figure out a way to finish up at Control & Venture,” Trixie replied. “Do you know anything about Fireking?”

“Yeah, actually we know a bit about them. I was responsible for discovery on a case last year where our client sued them. Hoffman runs a close ship. He has a right-hand guy, name of Dursley, or Durwood or something like that. His ex-wife is still involved somehow. She owns half the business. I’ve heard she doesn’t actually run things, just rakes in the money.” Ben’s voice was thoughtful as he tried to remember the specifics. “Do you have any leads?”

“Not a one,” Trixie confirmed ruefully. “To complicate things, my own business is taking off like gangbusters. Matthew was right about the power of word of mouth advertising. Once I finished up with Prescott, calls started coming in. I’m getting three or four calls a day from potential clients of the Belden Wheeler Detective Agency.”

“You probably need to go ahead and set up an office and hire yourself someone to at least answer the phone and do preliminary screenings,” Ben replied. He grasped her elbow and steered her across the street, making sure they were wandering away from crowds so they wouldn’t be overheard.

“Yeah, I know all that. My boss just told me the same thing. He’s assigning me two agents to help with the case. Reid Beckhart has a friend he referred to me for a consultation. Now that I don’t have to report back to C&V, it’s possible I could take care of that job while working to make connections to the rest of the suspects.”

Trixie paused and glanced up at Ben. “You’re going to call off the photographers, right? I certainly don’t need any more publicity right now.”

Ben laughed. “You figured that out too, huh?”

“Don’t laugh,” Trixie warned him. “Dan’s close to putting the pieces together and figuring it out. Can you imagine me trying to explain to him why he doesn’t need to come and have a talk with you about it?”

“Send him on!” Ben laughed again. “I have to confess, I probably pushed more on that than I should have. But it won’t be difficult to convince him it was one of my childish pranks that I haven’t quite outgrown.” He paused a moment. “Do you think he’ll tell Jim?”

Trixie shrugged. “Jim’s been concerned about some of the creepier aspects of the photos. You know if Dan figures it out, it’s going to be uh, difficult at best to convince him - and Jim - to leave it alone.”

“Don’t even try, Trix,” Ben advised his tone growing serious. “I mean it. Let them come and talk to me. It’s better for them to think I’m still a jerk than for you to jeopardize what you’re working on.”

“Maybe,” Trixie acknowledged. She reached out and touched Ben’s hand lightly. “I can take care of myself, you know. If it comes to it, I can handle Jim and Dan. If I ask them not to say anything to you and let me take care of it, they will.”

“Says you!” Ben rolled his eyes. “Look, Belden, if I were Jim I’d beat the hell out of me for putting you through that. You and I both know I did it to get your name out there. I’m still not convinced that it won’t be your calling card to the remaining businesses. Tammy Langham is the biggest social climber in Manhattan. Trust me; I’m paid to know these things.”

“We’ll see. But you agree, no more tips to the photographers, right?”

“I promise,” he assured her. Glancing around to observe the pedestrian traffic around them, he casually linked his arm with hers and guided her back across the street again, as the sidewalk became more crowded with a large group of tourists exiting one of the double-decker tour buses.

“What’s next?” he said. “For you, I mean. Right now, I need to worry about how legal this is for me to be talking to you. I’m a licensed attorney and have to respect attorney-client privilege. They won’t be able to use anything I know in that regard, but fortunately, it’s not much.”

“Do you have any connections to our remaining companies?” she asked.

“Yes, I can probably dig up an introduction or you can use my name with the Langhams or use Grace and Matthew’s name, they’re good friends. We’ve met socially several times. I can’t help you with Hoffman, just because I don’t have the contacts to help you. We were opposing counsel for him and our work was narrowly focused on an employment contract with one of his scientists, or rather, former scientists.”

“But there is one company….” His voice trailed off thoughtfully.

“Kingston?” she said hopefully.

“No.” Ben shook his head and looked around. He waited a moment for a group of three women to get further away from them before he spoke. “I have pretty good connections with Wheeler International. In fact, the CEO is my uncle.”

“Benjamin Riker!” Trixie punched his arm.

“Come on, Trix. I owed you one,” he answered with a grin. “Let me see if we can wangle something with the Langhams. If nothing else, I can make a call on behalf of your business.”

Trixie’s PDA signaled an incoming call forestalling future conversation. She glanced at the screen and frowned. “It’s Maggie King. We’ve been missing each other all day.”

“Answer the phone!” Ben hissed, grabbing her arm. “Now!”

“What? Why? What’s going on?” Trixie looked up at him in bewilderment.

“Do it, Trixie! Maggie King is Richard Hoffman’s ex-wife. She’s the king in Fireking.”