Unknown - Ripe for revenge

"And how much money do you suspect him of taking?"

My potential new client shook her head sadly, obviously embarrassed by what she was about to say.

"We're talking about an amount easily in the thousands."

"Yes…" I said with my eyes narrowing.

Allowing the word hang for as long as possible. Just one of those little things you can do which will draw a person into talking about something they don't feel comfortable with.

One of the tricks of the trade they teach you in detective school.

"I suppose that is the major part of the problem. We don't know for sure how much he's taken. Not that the money is all the most important issue. The embezzling doesn't bother me nearly as much as the possibility that he may have been selling off company secrets."

It was hard for me to stifle letting out a little gasp. There weren't very many times in my career as a private investigator that I heard someone say money wasn't important.

Money, and how to keep hold of it was usually about all that most of my clients could think about.

Particularly when it came time to pay my bill.

That's when they really got to be tight fisted.

I hoped I'd recovered quickly enough to not have given too much of my surprise away to my new client. Even if I didn't, Carol Addams didn't show a sign of having noticed anything.

She just sat there.

Looking too cool, calm and refined to be real.

The woman gave you the impression there wasn't much that could crack her cold shell.

Cold, but a damn lovely shell.

Sitting there in her expensive light blue business outfit, she looked every bit the high level executive. One that could afford to be more worried about the worth of company secrets versus any amount of cash.

She also gave you the impression that underneath her finely tailored skirt hid a body that would make any man look her more than once.

"So what exactly is it you want me to do?"

"Find out who our Mr. Donner is dealing with. I can't combat this situation until I know who I'm going against. Once that's pinpointed I'll know how much Damage Control we're facing."

This cool blonde was almost too much. Damage Control? Did people really talk like that? Or was it something requiring a six hundred dollar suit to say?

"All right, but why me?" I asked. "I'm sure you must have someone in your own company who could run this down for you."

Carol shook her head. Not a single hair strayed out of place. Obviously not daring to mare her perfect image.

"Simply not acceptable. First, there is too much of a chance for Donner to find out we're on to him. Too many possibilities for leaks. Also this has been going on for so long, I'm not sure how far it has spread within the company."

"To the point that you couldn't trust your own security?"

"Let's just say that this simplifies things a great deal," she said hitting me with a smile I was sure she saved for heavy contract negotiations.

A smile that would instantly win you over to her side. No matter what.

"And then there is the most important reason."

"Which would be?"

"Well not only do you come highly recommended, but you are a very attractive woman."

Coming from her, the complement almost made me blush. I'm certainly not ashamed of the way I look, but I had never thought of myself as being beautiful.

Before my modesty allowed me to argue, Carol continued.

"Donner's biggest weakness is no doubt his fondness of women. He seems to see himself as being quite the lady's man."

The shrug she gave showed Carol didn't necessarily share the feeling.

"And you think my sex will make it that much easier for me to get close to him?"

"Depends on how you wish to pursue this," the blonde said with another shrug. "I'm merely pointing out a fact. It's completely up to you in how you want to proceed. I'm certainly not implying you should try to get too close to him."

But the look in her eye said it was exactly why she was hiring a woman.

Silently telling me that if I had to hop into bed with Donner to find out what he was doing, then do it.

"You'll report directly to me. No one else." Her hand was already reaching into her handbag, pulling out an envelope which she passed across to me.

"I believe that you'll find this to be a suitable enough retainer. You'll also find copies of Donner's records from our personnel file, along with other papers that may help you."

It only took one brief glance inside the envelope to tell me the retainer was indeed more than healthy.

If only there weren't alarms going off in the back of my head!

This Addams woman was a real bitch.

A manipulator of people.

Of course there was no rule saying you had to like the people you worked for. And in this case the money would certainly make it easier to overlook certain shortcomings.

So I silenced those internal alarms.

An equally fake smile from me and a handshake were all it took to complete things.

Addams was on her feet and heading towards the door.

"I am of course very interested in this. I do hope that I'll be getting a report from you very soon," she said looking over her shoulder.

"I'll start today," I assured her.

"Good. I look forward to hearing from you," she said with a smile. This time it wasn't a phony one.

No, this was the type of smile a shark gives right before swallowing one of your legs.

One that I was still thinking about for several minutes after the door shut behind her.

It took time, but I managed to get the blonde executive out of my head and start concentrating on the case.

About all I learned from Donner's personnel file was that he was one sharp guy. The type that big companies would fight each other for to get hold of.

But none of this told me a thing about what he might be doing. And other than hinting at "company secrets", Carol hadn't said a word about what kind of information Donner was trying to deal away.

It only meant that I'd have do this the hard way.

Within two hours I was parked across the street from Donner's home. The little I knew about him told me he would have to be living in a nice area. It was just the same the size of the place threw me.

The apartment I live in could fit inside his garage. Twice! It made my head spin to think about a single person living in a place with this many rooms.

Soon it was dark enough for me to make my move.

I had changed into some black pants and sweater, just the thing when sneaking around a stranger's house.

There was only a short wall to keep people off the property. Along with having a pretty good figure, I do my best to keep myself in good shape.

It took surpassingly little effort for me to get over the stone barrier.

Staying to the shadows, I worked my way closer to the house. Using a small flashlight I found what I was looking for. The small panel where the phone lines came into the house.

Using some clip leads, I hooked a small electrical box inside the panel, then closed everything up again.

A good friend had taught me how to work phone lines.

Or even to tap them. Like I had just done!

The little box I had installed would work like a two-way radio, allowing me to listen in without being noticed.

Just to make sure the hook-up was going to work, I decided to wait around until a call came through to the house. Once I was sure of my connection, I could listen in to Donner's phone calls from across the street, or down the block.

The evening chill was starting to get to me as I hid there in the ivy outside Donner's window. I was just about ready to say "fuck it" when I heard something come across my headset.

Donner was calling out.