Heard it Through the Grapevine

Oh I heard it through the grapevine,
Oh and I'm just about to lose my mind.

 

“Beeeaaatrix!”

Trixie grinned. There was just something about David Steward’s uninhibited honesty that cheered her morning.

“Flowers, darling? Do you need flowers, or a plant? Please tell me you’re here to buy, or is it just that you couldn’t face another week without me so you decided to stop by and browse?”

Trixie shook her head. “To be honest, no. I was hoping to convince you to talk with me for a bit.”

“Talk?” David clapped his hands together gleefully. “Beatrix, darling, you want me to talk? That’s the last thing I would’ve expected to hear.”

Trixie laughed. “Yes, I know, but if you have a few minutes, I’ll buy you some coffee.”

“Splendid. I’ve been dying for a five-shot, pump of vanilla, one pump hazelnut and four pumps mocha with one raw sugar, topped with whip and caramel drizzle all morning.” David waved his hand towards Marta.

“Marta, darling. I’m going for coffee with Bea. Shall I bring you back a latte?” he called out.

“The usual, please,” she requested moving towards the front of the store. “When will you be back?”

He turned and quirked an eyebrow at Trixie.

“Not long.” She gave Marta an apologetic smile.

“Within the hour, Marta my sweet,” he answered. He hooked his arm through Trixie’s and they left the store together.

“Do tell, Beatrix. Are we going to dish on the way or wait until after we get there?”

“After,” she replied. “I have a photograph to show you.”

“Darling, I’m impressed. Gossip with pictures,” he drawled.

Fortunately, the store was relatively empty and they quickly received their drinks. Trixie was amazed that the barista didn’t blink an eye at David’s order.

“It took you longer to order that drink than it did for that guy to make it,” Trixie teased as they sat in the back corner of the store.

David fluttered his hands as he smiled. “This is the closest coffee shop to B&B. He’s used to me.” David took another sip of the hot beverage. “He does it well. Now what’s this about a photograph, Bea?”

Trixie pulled the small photo of the couple sitting with Charlie Prescott and his date. “Do you know who this couple is?”

David frowned. “Oh, my, my, my! Is our dear Charlie stepping out on Mitsy already? Tsk, tsk, tsk!”

“Oh, no!” Trixie protested. “I don’t think that’s it at all. If Charlie is out with Buffy, it’s for business. You may recall that I know who Buffy Patterson is,” Trixie reminded him. “I want to know who the couple is they’re with.”

David looked at her inquisitively and when she offered nothing, he sighed. “John Graham and his wife Christine. He’s the President and CEO of Canton Corporation. Canton is a hot company that has reinvented itself. He’s being credited with leading their success in recent years.”

“Do you agree?” Trixie asked.

He nodded. “Mummy and I both bought stock in Canton about a year ago. We’re very pleased and hope he continues to do well.”

“Do you have any idea why he would be at dinner with Charlie and Buffy?”

“Business,” David said, pausing before he answered to take a sip of his coffee. “I suspect Canton needs legal counsel and it would be more cost efficient for him to bring a firm on retainer than to hire a full-time corporate counsel. I imagine Charlie’s firm is courting him for the business. It would be right up their alley.”

Trixie sat back, unable to keep the disappointment off her face.

“What’s wrong sweetie? Has someone hired you to get the goods on Charlie or John?” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell me Mitsy hired you to follow him?”

Trixie shook her head. “Nothing like that. One of my investigators noticed the meeting and wondered what was going on. We all thought it was odd, and I figured you would at least know who he was meeting.”

David nodded. “Are you going to tell Mitsy?”

“Of course not,” Trixie answered. “Like you said, it was probably a business dinner. Buffy’s father is a client, and I’m sure she was there as a reference or something.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Listen, Beatrix. Sam Patterson wants nothing more than to get his daughter safely married. There isn’t anyone in the know in New York who would give credence to anything the Buffster had to say.”

Trixie frowned. “What are you saying?”

“Buffy Patterson is an airhead. Men love her because she is beautiful and promiscuous. She takes after her mother. Darling, she makes Paris Hilton look like a brainiac. Daddy managed to get her into an Ivy League school, but he couldn’t buy her a degree, if you know what I mean. She’s been looking for her MRS degree since high school. ”

“She’s engaged, though, right?” Trixie said. “Someone told me it was a French guy.”

“Jared Somer,” he answered immediately. “He’s not French; at least I’m fairly certain he’s not. Maybe Greek,” he paused as he tried to remember. “But the story is he’s in Paris at the moment. The beautiful but bitchy Buffster is planning her wedding for this Christmas.”

“Is their engagement for real? Has anyone in New York met him?”

David frowned. “There’s never been a whisper that it’s not completely on the up-and-up. He’s certainly real. He was in Manhattan before Christmas, making the rounds with her. That’s when they announced their engagement. She went to Paris with him for the holidays and stayed about a month. Then she came back to start planning her wedding. It’s going to be quite lavish, according to the gossip.” He frowned as if he tried to remember. “I’m almost certain that he came back with her, just for a few days. As I recall, he was with her as she was flaunting her rather sizeable ring in everyone’s face at the January Junior League Fundraiser.” He shot Trixie a wide grin. “I will say this about Mr. Somer: he’s definitely a hottie.”

“Is there anything you don’t know about New York society?” Trixie marveled. “How do you know all this?”

“Oh! It’s because I’m not doing the flowers,” he laughed. “Marta and I went after that wedding business with a vengeance. But when she came to see my ideas, we didn’t mesh. Probably because I didn’t fall for her fake come-on.”

“She came on to you?” Trixie asked in surprise. “But she’s engaged, to the hottie, remember?”

“Since when has that ever stopped anyone?” David asked. “Buffy has quite the reputation now. She’s had several broken engagements over the years, that’s why Daddy is so anxious to get her safely married.”

“Have you heard any other rumors about the Pattersons?” Trixie probed.

“Darling, if you mean all the talk about the merger between Triad and Torch, everyone has heard that. It is so last year in terms of gossip.”

Trixie laughed. “Okay, okay … so I admit it. I’m not as up to speed on the local gossip as I should be. It just seems I’m behind the times.”

David shook his head. “Always remember dear, you have to dish occasionally. I take it you want me to make sure that I don’t dish about Charlie being out with Buffy.”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” Trixie admitted. “There’s a chance the gossip rags will pick it up anyway, but I don’t want it coming from me. Especially since my interest was in the Grahams.”

“Okay,” he agreed. “Let’s get Marta’s coffee and head back.”

Trixie picked up her cup. “Is it going to take you five minutes to order Marta’s usual?” she teased.

“Heavens no, dear. Marta’s usual is a large black coffee. No cream. No sugar.”

 

 

“Wonder why Belden’s not helping with the move?” Amy grumbled as she taped up a box in their temporary quarters.

“Because she’s the boss, Freeman” Sean explained, with a touch of impatience toward the younger agent. “She’s off doing her job. And when she returns, she’s going to have details for us to plug into the database, not to mention other tasks. How many calls have we gotten this morning?”

“At least a dozen,” Amy answered with a sigh. “I finally put a recording on the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency number that our offices were closed today and tomorrow for moving. I gave them the new address and said we’d be open again on Wednesday.”

“Smart move,” Sean nodded approvingly. “That gives us a couple of days to catch up. Hopefully Mrs. Randolph doesn’t have any friends with lost dogs.”

Amy giggled. “Hopefully, but that was fun. If I lived here I’d go back to that shelter and see about adopting that miniature schnauzer.”

“Agents don’t have time to own dogs,” he reminded her. “What would you do with him when you had to travel? Or what about all those 24-hour shifts we have to pull?”

She shrugged in response. “I’d figure something out. I’m sure there are agents that have dogs. By the way what are you wearing to Frayne’s fundraiser?”

He gave her a strange look. “Uh, a tux. What, did you think I was going to buy some designer dress to wear?”

She shook her head. “I meant are you going in clean or dirty.”

“If you’re asking me if I intend to take my badge and gun, the answer is yes. I figure you and Belden will have enough problems with dresses and such. I’ll be packing an extra.”

“You think you can do that and it not be noticed? What about security?”

“We’ll find a way around security. And I haven’t been a CIB agent for the last fifteen years without learning how to wear a firearm and it not be detected. I’d suggest you work on that as well.”

Amy shot him a dirty look as she taped the bottom of another box. “You don’t have to be like that. Why do you think I was asking?”

“Because you sound like someone who’s read too many bad novels or watched too many action movies. Sheesh. Clean or dirty.” Sean rolled his eyes as he spoke. “Why didn’t you just ask me how many weapons I was planning on taking in and how?” He didn’t slow down long enough to give Amy an opportunity to answer before plowing ahead. “Besides, you are new. How long have you been with the agency? You need to learn how to act like a professional.”

Amy bristled. “I’ve been there long enough. Over a year.” She tossed her hair. “I am nothing if not professional.”

“Well, watch and learn, buddy,” he muttered, pushing the box he was packing aside and turning to give her a hard look. “Rule number one – if you’re going to question the boss, you better have a damn good reason.”

Amy said nothing and continued to work.

Sean taped his final box and looked at his watch. “Shouldn’t those movers have been here by now?”

Amy looked at the clock and nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know what the delay is.”

“Did you follow-up and confirm?”

“No, why should I? I just arranged it all yesterday.”

Sean glared. “Are you sure you’ve been here a year? Every agent knows to check and double check.” He walked over to her side of the table. “I’ll finish this. Go do your follow-up. We can’t afford to be without our equipment very long.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me. I just don’t want to listen to Belden when she chews us out for the office not being moved on schedule.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “I guess next thing is you’re going to tell me that’s another one of those stupid rules.”

“Rule number three – always double check,” he mouthed.

 

 

“I can’t believe you haven’t been able to narrow it down any more than this,” Trixie protested, looking at the list Agent Tibbs handed her.

The two of them were sitting on a bench in Central Park, discussing the investigation of B3 software.

He shook his head. “I could probably narrow it down to one or two if your boss would quit tying my hands with who I can and can’t interrogate.”

“Did he tell you why?”

“They don’t want the hacker. The want the terrorist,” Tibbs replied, pulling a crumpled pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.

“It doesn’t matter which way you cut it, the hacker is a terrorist as well. But what’s your famous gut tell you on this one?”

“Somebody inside B3 software may have made these changes and opened the security hole, but it was for somebody else outside B3. ” He paused and tapped a cigarette out of the pack. “Mind if I smoke?”

Trixie wrinkled her nose, but nodded her agreement.

“You and my ex-wife have that smoking is repulsive expression down perfectly,” he muttered. He held up a hand as she started to speak. “I know, I know it’s a disgusting habit. But the park is one of the few places you can still smoke in the town. Forget about lighting up in any government building.” The match made the familiar sound as he expertly lit it, and a few moments later, he was inhaling deeply.

“We know someone opened the security hole in the B3 system at least twice. Someone also reset logins for about two dozen employees of B3. If you make the assumption that one person performed all of those actions, then that’s the short list. If it’s two people then the list is quite a bit longer. If it’s three people and the security hole was opened the first and second time by different people, the list is huge.” He shook his head. “It’s not much, Belden. The team feels like we let you down.”

“How do you feel about Reid Beckhart?” she asked. “Do you think he’s up to his eyeballs in exploitation and intrigue?”

“Nope, but I can tell you this: the man is hiding something. Did you ever interview his top money man at B3?”

Trixie shook her head. “No, there was never any need. The company’s financials were shockingly healthy. Did you see how much cash they have on hand?”

“Yep.” He took another long drag on his cigarette before extinguishing it. “That’s what made me suspicious.” He looked at her sideways. “Is your background accounting?”

“No. I can keep up with the basic principles.”

“I asked Beckhart why he carried so much cash and he mumbled about being prepared for acquisitions. But the basic accounting theory doesn’t support holding on to that much cash.”

“What should he do with it?” she asked.

“Declare a dividend for his shareholders or buy back stock,” he answered.

“But he’s the major stockholder,” Trixie protested. “He’d just be paying himself. His stock is issued on a limited basis anyway, since he’s privately held. “

“When you get into cash that’s in the eleven figure category, you’re going to attract attention.”

“Are you saying that Beckhart’s being targeted for his cash?” Trixie asked, surprised at the conclusion.

“It could be a reason. Those three that started it with him, Ted Kent, Chris Williams and Madji Farsi, if they wanted they could tell us who did this to B3. I’ve never seen such skill in software computing in my life.”

“Are you sure?” Trixie asked. “I mean it seems to me if Reid could find out the ‘who’, he would.”

Tibbs shook his head. “Like I said, he’s hiding something, Belden. We’ll be there at least another week. Give me a few more days before you start asking him questions.”

“Okay.” She sat there for a few moments. “And you think that holding over forty billion in cash is crazy?”

“I wondered if he was holding the cash in the company to avoid paying taxes,” Tibbs replied. “But I’ve got a feeling he wouldn’t care. In fact, for a guy with so much money, you’d think he’d dress a little nicer. But most days we were there, he never so much as put on a tie, much less wore a suit. He wore khakis, blue jeans, and polo shirts like the rest of his crew. Even his watch was strictly geek. Not cheap mind you, but not a Rolex either.”

Agent Tibbs glanced at his own watch and stood up. “Speaking of which, I’ve got a meeting downtown. Listen: right now, the plan is once we finish our investigation we’ll be keeping a man at B3 for the duration of your investigation. Chief Walker knows it and approves, since we haven’t come up with any hard answers. If anyone tries to relax security in the system, we’ll know almost immediately.”

Trixie stood up. “Thanks, Agent Tibbs. I appreciate the report.”

“Yeah, no problem. Just wish we could have told you -- with more accuracy -- who did it.”

The two of them started walking towards the outskirts of the park. “Any advice going forward?” Trixie asked.

Tibbs shook his head. “This is a mess, Belden. It’s too much of a mess.”

“Meaning?” she asked.

“Meaning, a simple case has become strangely complicated. You need to ask yourself why?”