Investigating 101. Debra Webb

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СКАЧАТЬ me Todd.” He looked from Braddock to Victoria, determined not to be dismissed without an opportunity to prove his worth in the field. “Is this the part where you see if I can play nice with the other kiddies?”

      Apparently his humor wasn’t appreciated.

      “This,” Braddock said with an edge no doubt prompted by his total lack of a sense of humor, “is the part where we see if you can hold your own with the big boys.”

      Todd grinned. “Touché.”

      Victoria took a seat at the conference table. Braddock joined her. Todd did the same.

      She opened a manila folder and viewed the contents for a moment before she began. “Serena Blake is a lab assistant at Milestone Laboratories.”

      Todd wasn’t familiar with Milestone Laboratories so he sat quietly and listened.

      A. J. Braddock took the ball. “Serena’s immediate supervisor is a research scientist named Charles Landon. He is also the heaviest investor at Milestone as well as the most renowned scientist on staff.”

      Now there was a name Todd recognized. “His pregnant wife went missing a few weeks ago.” Every local channel, and some national, had carried the story for weeks. In the past two or three, the hype had appeared to dwindle, but as far as Todd knew, the woman hadn’t been found.

      Victoria nodded. “She was seven months pregnant and simply disappeared. The police have excluded Dr. Landon as a suspect. They believe he is innocent of any wrongdoing and that, in fact, there may not be any foul play involved at all. According to my sources at Chicago P.D., the unanimous conclusion, considering certain details, is that Mrs. Landon left of her own volition. Since the police have no evidence to the contrary and there has been no ransom demand, the case is being treated more like a missing-person case rather than a kidnapping.”

      “What kind of details?” Todd wanted to know.

      With approval in her eyes, Victoria answered, “A large withdrawal made by Mrs. Landon the day before and a missing photo album from her childhood.”

      Todd chalked one up in his favor. His new boss liked that he asked questions. He quickly reviewed what he’d watched about the case on the news and read about in the papers. He’d never heard the name Serena Blake. “So what does Miss Blake have to do with this?”

      “She,” Victoria explained, “believes that foul play is definitely involved.”

      “She has no evidence,” Braddock put in quickly.

      “This is more her gut feelings. Apparently she and Mrs. Landon were friends.”

      Todd thought about that for a second. “Does Mrs. Landon have any other friends who support this scenario?”

      Victoria sighed. “This is part of the problem. Mrs. Landon had no real friends. She had acquaintances of her social standing with whom she attended parties and sat on various charity committees, but she didn’t have a single true friend that we know of. Even her relationship with Miss Blake had been kept secret from her husband. Miss Blake insists he can’t know about it now.”

      “We haven’t confirmed this part as of yet,” Braddock added. “We only have her word.”

      “There is always the possibility that Miss Blake is hoping to damage her boss’s career,” Victoria suggested. Before Todd could ask questions along those lines, she went on. “From what we’ve discovered since she came to us four days ago, there is some tension between her and Dr. Landon. Apparently he has passed her over for promotion once and he requires long hours without additional pay more often than not. I get the impression that he takes advantage of her any way he can. The consensus is that as far as his work goes, he’s quite ruthless.”

      Todd shrugged. “Then why take the case?” Seemed like a no-brainer to him. The police didn’t think the guy had anything to hide. Why believe his assistant who, apparently, had reason to want to hurt him?

      “First,” Victoria said with a bluntness that told Todd she didn’t like being second-guessed, “Miss Blake was willing to drain her savings to put up the required retainer fee.”

      So she was willing to give her life’s savings to get this done. Todd didn’t see where that let her off the hook. Anyone with a little ambition would have done the same and would have considered it an investment in the future.

      “Second,” Victoria continued, “if there is even a remote chance that this man had something to do with his pregnant wife’s disappearance, we have an obligation to take the case. As a private agency there are steps we can take that the police cannot.”

      Todd knew the statistics; when wives went missing or were found dead, more often than not the husband was responsible. Landon certainly had the kind of money required to get rid of a wife he no longer wanted without sullying his hands. But did that make him guilty?

      “Of course, we must tread carefully,” Braddock suggested. “We have to approach this in a way that gives us access without allowing damage to the doctor or his reputation, since he could very well be innocent.”

      In other words, they had to pretend to be someone they weren’t. Now he got the picture. This was his specialty.

      “Who do we need to be?” he asked with the same bluntness Victoria had used.

      “I have a dear friend in nonfiction publishing,” she explained, “who is very interested in genetics, which is one of the main fields of research at Milestone. This friend will allow one of my investigators to open a line of dialogue with Dr. Landon in pursuit of a book about him and his research. Since my friend is genuinely interested, our investigation will set things in motion along that avenue while allowing us to get close enough to make our own conclusions about the good doctor.”

      “And if all goes well,” Todd concluded, “Dr. Landon will get a book deal and we’ll have our answers. Miss Blake will simply have to come to terms with her friend’s disappearance.”

      “This case is too high-profile to approach it any other way,” Braddock put in, apparently annoyed by Todd’s elementary assessment.

      “A.J. is new at the agency as well as in Chicago, making him the logical choice,” Victoria interjected. “There’s little possibility that anyone, including Landon, would recognize him.”

      “How do I fit into this scenario?” Todd liked doing things his own way, but he had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen this go-around.

      “You’ll be introduced as A.J.’s research assistant,” Victoria told him. “This will be your trial run, Mr. Thompson,” she added, her tone direct and to the point. “If we like what we see on this assignment, you’ll stay on. If not…”

      She didn’t have to clarify. “When do we start?” Todd didn’t see the need to waste any additional time. He intended to prove himself beyond a shadow of a doubt. Now was as good a time as any.

      Victoria stood. She stopped him when Todd would have done the same. “I’ll leave you and A.J. to work out the finer points. An initial appointment with Landon has been arranged for nine tomorrow morning. I’ll expect you to let me know if you decide to withdraw, Mr. Thompson.”

      With that ominous statement, СКАЧАТЬ