Business as Usual

But its business as usual, day after day
Business as usual, just grinding away
You try to be righteous, you try to do good
But business as usual turns your heart into wood.

 

“Anything?” Trixie asked, looking over Sean’s shoulder at his screen. She tried to exude an attitude of unconcern, but inside she was as shaky as a bowl of Jell-O.

“Nothing, boss,” he answered. “So far, Wheeler’s squeaky clean. How many times are you going to make me go through his data transmission files?”

“At least one more,” she answered.

Shaking her head at his answering groan, she explained, “Sorry, Barnes. But I had no idea he had all these legitimate engineering projects going on in Egypt and Qatar. We have to look at the project level.”

“We’ve run everything twice already,” he grumbled. “You’ve seen the project files. This is all legitimate business, some with the Fed’s involvement. Your guy is on the up and up.”

“Look, I never thought he was guilty,” Trixie retorted. “But since the Wheelers are my friends, I have to make doubly sure we leave no stone unturned. I can’t take the chance of losing this case on a technicality.” She moved from behind Sean’s chair and began pacing in the small office at Wheeler International. “It’s important for me to look Chief Walker straight in the eye and tell him beyond a shadow of a doubt that Matthew Wheeler is not involved in ORCHID.”

Sean nodded. “It must be tough when you’re engaged to his son.”

“What did you say?” Trixie whirled and shot him a glare.

“Didn’t you see The Squawker this morning?” he answered. “I’m pretty sure that’s why your Jim was calling again. You two are the ‘in-couple’ who insiders report will announce their engagement any day.”

“I knew I should’ve kept checking those stupid columns,” she muttered. “It figures the one day I skip it. So …” She gave Sean a no-nonsense look, her hands on her hips. “Why do you think it’s us, and why didn’t you say something this morning?”

“Do you know another ‘J and B’ that have been the subject of photos and gossip lately?”

“Damn, damn, damn!” she muttered. “Please tell me there wasn’t a picture.”

“Okay, okay …” He held up a hand. “There wasn’t a picture.” He paused and watched as relief flooded her face before continuing.

“There were two pictures.” He laughed at Trixie’s answering groan. “Just kidding. No pictures, I promise. Besides, how could there be when you’ve been avoiding the man for almost a week?”

Trixie crumpled in the chair across from him. “Could it be any worse?”

“Oh, yeah,” he answered. “You two are a blip. The real gossip is about Charlie and Mitsy. They’re being dissed and dissected like nobody’s business.” Sean paused and actually stopped punching keys for a moment, turning to look at her.

“Did you talk to either of them?” he asked. “All of this job changing and break-up stuff. It sure sounds like something is going on. Aren’t you the least bit suspicious?”

Trixie shook her head. “I was at first, but not now. They’ve both called over the weekend. I’ll talk to them again later in the week. Mitsy wants to have lunch. Charlie has left his firm and started his own business. He’s looking for an office and wanted to give me his phone numbers. Oh! He told me the Grahams were the last deal he promised to close for Connors, Ford, and Newman. So that explains that!”

“By chance did you ask him about his date that night?”

“No, I didn’t have to. He told me she was a last minute fill-in because Mitsy couldn’t make it. He said he tried to call me and couldn’t reach me.”

“Interesting. Did he actually call you?”

“How did you know I checked it out?” She leaned forward and gave him a hard look.

He shrugged. “You’re not going to leave anything to chance at this stage.”

Trixie studied Sean’s impassive face. This was the first time she had been the lead agent on a case with a more senior agent reporting to her. She fleetingly wondered if he were checking up to see if she was following standard agency procedures. “You’re right. He did try to call me. He said Buffy was all he could come up with at the last minute. He mentioned she owed him plenty.” She gave a heavy sigh. “He sounded miserable.”

Sean laughed. “I’m not feeling sorry for him. He’s got it made. The money to do whatever he wants,” he paused. “But, he sure didn’t look too happy with his date that night. One look at that girl and you can tell she’s a piece of work. Prescott better be careful, or Daddy Dearest will be pressuring him all the way to the altar.”

Trixie smiled. “You forget, Daddy is no longer Charlie’s client; besides Buffy is taken.”

Sean rolled his eyes. “So they say. When’s the intake meeting with Langham?”

“Tomorrow morning. We have time to make some real progress here today. While these processes run again, I’d like to look at the IT procedures that we were told would be ready about now.”

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

“Are you ready for these?”

A dark-skinned man stood in her door, a stack of documents in his hand

Trixie smiled. “I was just coming see if they were ready.” She crossed to take the stack of documents from Wheeler International’s CIO. Saad Hasan was younger than Trixie had expected when Matthew had introduced her to his chief information officer. But he was extremely knowledgeable about his department, the security protocols they used, and all the industry best practices.

“Thanks. This should keep me busy for a while.”

“The current procedures are always available on our intranet as well,” he remarked. “We don’t like to use print.” He waved toward the stack of paper. “It’s inefficient, not very eco-friendly, and out of date as soon as they’re printed.”

“I understand,” Trixie explained. “But it’s quicker for us to review paper while some of our more lengthy processes run. We appreciate you taking the time to get us the hard copy documents.”

“Yes, well, you know where to find me if you need anything else.” Saad turned and left.

“Does that make you wonder what he was hoping to find out?” Sean remarked.

“Yes. That was felt like a fishing expedition.” Trixie frowned at the now-vacant doorway. “Saad seems worried.” She moved the stack of papers over to the corner of her desk and pulled the top group of stapled pages from the top. “Let’s see what he’s worried about. It would be nice to find something conclusive before we head off to Langham tomorrow.”

 

 

By mid-morning the next day, Trixie would have given anything to be back working at the posh offices of Wheeler International. Harold Langham had just left the dingy conference room they were using for their security evaluation.

“We’re not going to get any work done here if that man doesn’t leave you alone,” Sean remarked, after Harold Langham had left them for the fourth time since their arrival.

Trixie nodded. “I know, and there’s way too much to get done this week. It’s bad enough juggling between Wheeler and Langham. I wish we could split the assignments between us.”

“Why don’t you?” Sean asked. “I was wondering why you didn’t.”

Trixie sighed. “I can’t do Wheeler by myself, there’s too much of a chance that someone will perceive it as a conflict of interest. If I leave you to work Wheeler alone, then Matthew will wonder why I’m handing him off to someone else. And to top it off, even if I could finesse that part of it, if I come here and work alone, I won’t get anything done.”

Sean nodded slowly. “I should’ve figured that one out. But you’re right about one thing, you can’t work here alone. That guy is the biggest jerk in the world!”

“Jerk is being way to kind!” Trixie rolled her eyes. “That man is the biggest sleaze ball I’ve ever seen. To be honest, I didn’t think he could be any worse than he was the day I called on him. He can’t keep his hands to himself.”

“Do you want me to hurt him?” Sean asked, his eyes brightening at the prospect. “This desk work gets boring, and I didn’t make it to the gym this morning. I could use some exercise.”

Trixie choked back a laugh and gave Sean a stern look. “I can take care of myself. Besides, if anyone’s going to get the benefit of exercise out of this assignment, it’s going to be me. We only have two days here and a lot of work to pack into it.”

“Maybe you should get Freeman in here to replace you, while you man the office,” Sean suggested. “If he keeps coming in here to flirt with you, we’re not going to get anything done.”

“Do you really think he won’t come and flirt with Freeman?” she snorted. “Get real; she’s both younger and cuter.”

“Younger, maybe,” Sean replied, absently.

Trixie shot a glance his way and realized his answer had been automatic. Pushing a hand through her hair, she evaluated the work they had accomplished since arriving at Langham that morning. They hadn’t collected near enough data to complete a security analysis in the two days she had allotted for the project.

“I need a way to get him out of our hair. If I ask him to lunch, he’ll think I’m interested in him. Why doesn’t the man have any appointments?”

“Because his business is just about dead,” Sean answered. “Look at these financials, Belden. In six months, he’s going to be out of business.”

“That’s what it looked like to me the other day,” she admitted. “Why is there such a drain?”

“It’s been steadily decreasing over the last three years,” Sean told her as he charted the financials. “His industry has been suffering as the result of low petroleum prices, so in general all companies in the process and power industries have been hurt. But look at the last year.” He shook his head. “Petroleum’s had a slight increase, but his financials took an even bigger hit. Something strange is going on and we’re not going to find it unless we look at transactions.”

“We don’t have time to look at transactions,” Trixie reminded him. “We have to get this done it two days.”

“It’s possible he’s being blackmailed,” he pointed out. “Maybe he’s funding IRMA, did you think of that?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” she answered. She groaned as she saw Harold coming down the hall. “Here he comes again. Do you have some questions you can ask him as a diversion? I think I just remembered an appointment at the coffee shop around the corner.”

“Gee thanks, boss. Leave me with the jerk,” he grumbled, stopping as the door opened.

“Just thought I’d check on things, Beatrix,” Harold said in his oily, jovial tone. “Perhaps I could help by answering some questions.”

Trixie beamed at him. “Harold, your timing is impeccable. Mr. Barnes here has several questions lined up for you. I’ve got a quick appointment just around the corner so I’ll be back shortly.” She grabbed her purse and coat and nimbly stepped around him. “Ta Ta for now,” she said airily as she hurried along the corridor. Good grief, I hope Barnes doesn’t decide to pay me back for that one.

 

 

Trixie was waiting for her latte when she heard a familiar voice rattling off an order that seemed to drone on forever. Smiling she poked her head around the end of the counter. “I’d know that order anywhere!” she teased.

“Beeaaatrix!” David bounded over from the counter where he had been paying his bill with more enthusiasm than a high school cheerleader at a pep rally. “Darling!” He gave her a loud smack on both cheeks. “This must be my lucky day!”

Trixie smiled. “Maybe it’s my lucky day. Do you have time to stay and drink your coffee or do you have a lot of orders this morning?” she inquired.

“What’s wrong?” He took a step back and turned his head to one side, studying her thoughtfully.

Trixie shook her head. “Nothing is wrong; I was just working an assignment in this area and thought you might have time to visit for a few minutes. It’s not a big deal … it’s just….” Her voice trailed off. “Of course, you’re busy,” she said, turning to pick up her cup of coffee. “I didn’t mean to impose on your schedule and –”

“Oh, fiddle dee dee!” he waved a hand at her. “Don’t be silly. Of course, I have time for coffee. Besides we need to schedule a fitting for your dress. Remember?” He wagged a finger of admonishment at her. “Grab that table.” He pushed her towards a tiny table for two tucked into the corner of the coffee shop. “I’ll be there as soon as my coffee comes up.”

Trixie followed instructions exactly and within a couple of minutes, David had joined her at the tiny table. “You said you were working in the area?”

“Yes.” She hesitated and remembered that Harold Langham had told her that she didn’t need to keep her work for him confidential. “I’m doing a job for Harold Langham, Langham Industries. Are you familiar with them?”

“Oh, my!” David’s hand flew to his mouth in a dramatic fashion. “Is Tammy finally cheating on him?”

Trixie was unable to mask her surprise. “It’s not … I don’t do that kind of …” She paused and cleared her throat, giving David a stern look. “I don’t handle those types of investigations. You know that!” she chided. “But does everyone know about the two of them?”

“Of course,” he answered promptly. “Harold and his honeys are well known in this town. Why she puts up with him is anyone’s guess.”

“He’s quite the, um …” Trixie foundered trying to find a tactful way to describe Harold Langham.

“Jerk would work,” he told her. His eyes narrowed over his cup of coffee. “Let me guess, you’re here getting coffee to escape his very much unwanted advances.”

“Something like that,” she admitted. “How did you know? Am I his type or something?”

“You’re a woman, Beatrix. You’re his type,” David replied dryly. “Seriously, my darling Beatrix. I can’t believe you took an assignment working for him. He’s going to think you want him. He thinks all women want him.” He rolled his eyes.

“It was a favor for his wife,” Trixie admitted. “She seems very nice and I’m told she takes impeachable care of his mother.”

David waved a dismissive hand. “Just call her Saint Tammy like everyone else. Mummy and I don’t see it. She’d be better off to show him the door instead of putting up with those shenanigans. I guess it’s because of the money. It’s his family’s company after all. Although her family had money and she worked with him in the business for years, she just stepped back from it a year or so ago.”

“That’s about the time the business –” Trixie stopped, realizing she was about to cross a line.

David shot her a speculative look but said nothing.

“Heard any good gossip lately, David?” She changed the subject without bothering to be unobtrusive about it.

He shook his head. “You and your redheaded hunk are mentioned briefly, but you haven’t been monopolizing the gossip pages lately. There’s no trouble in paradise for the two of you, is there?”

Trixie sighed. She was unsure if she had been happy about Jim’s delay in Washington or not. “Just incredibly busy schedules. Now that the weather is nice, the construction on Jim’s school is going gangbusters. The fundraiser is just around the corner and --” She stopped and shrugged. “Two busy people with full schedules. We do have an event this weekend. Jim asked me to go with him somewhere.” She paused as she racked her brain to remember the society event they were attending. “The figure skating gala!” she announced triumphantly. “I’m not sure why, it sounded quite different. It’s at Wollman rink in Central Park.”

“It’s very different,” he told her. “I might see you there. Mummy loves the Skating with the Stars Gala.” He took a sip of coffee. “Believe it or not, that is one of the truly worthy events going on this month. Depending on your tickets, you might find yourself skating with some Olympic champions.”

“What do you mean, skating?” she asked. “Jim didn’t say anything about skating.”

“Beatrix, darling,” he admonished. “Everyone knows if you go to the Skating with the Stars benefit gala, you skate. Now, if you’re attending the gala Saturday night, what’s a good time for me to schedule you for a fitting?”

Trixie grimaced and pulled her BLISS unit out of her purse. “Morning would be best.”

 

 

“Trixie!” Tammy welcomed her back to the office. “I was hoping to catch you. Harold told me you’d be starting here today. How’s it going?”

Trixie was surprised to find Tammy Langham in the office with Sean when she returned. “It’s going a bit slower than we wanted,” Trixie admitted. “Harold likes to get frequent updates, and we’re more used to updating our clients at the end of the day, unless we have questions. Usually, the head of the IT Department works with us on most of our questions, but Harold wanted to be our interface.”

“That silly man!” Tammy dismissed him with a wave. “Why he can hardly spell IT, much less answer questions about it. You’re going to want to talk to Henry.”

Trixie frowned. She didn’t remember meeting anyone named Henry. “Who is Henry?” she asked.

“Harold didn’t introduce you to his right hand man, Henry Scheuer?” Tammy asked in surprise. “That’s odd. Henry is the operations guy here. He runs the show for us. Let me get him in here.”

Trixie and Sean exchanged looks of surprise and patiently waited while Tammy spoke on the phone. It was clear that Tammy and Henry were both confused about what was going on. Tammy hung up the phone and turned to Trixie. “Do you have plenty of work to keep you busy for a while?” she asked.

“Yes, of course,” Trixie answered. “Like I told you, we’re actually a bit behind schedule.”

“Henry and I are going to speak with Harold, and then I’ll be back to introduce you to him,” she promised, standing and heading out the door.

Sean and Trixie watched as she strode purposefully down the hall. “Did you see her face?” Sean whistled. “I wouldn’t want to be Harold right now.”

“Agreed.” Trixie answered. “Now, with all the management busy for the next little while, let’s get some work done. Did Harold answer any of your questions?”

Sean snorted. “I think that you and I have caught Harold with his hand in the cookie jar.”