Bad Guys Don't Win (Janet Maple Series Book 4) (5 page)

When Mila woke up the next morning, the
events that had taken place over the past twenty four hours seemed so surreal
that for a moment she thought she had awakened from a nightmare. But of course
she knew it wasn’t so—everything that had happened yesterday had happened to
her, and now she had to find a way out. The fire that had consumed Amy and
Mila’s was no longer her top priority. What had felt like a disaster of
monstrous proportions, now seemed insignificant compared to the note she had
found in her apartment last night. Anton Kovar—the name sent her into violent
tremors. The note had to have come from him. But how could he have found a way
to reach her when he was supposed to be locked away in jail?

Suddenly Mila had a frightening
thought—what if Anton was the one who had set the bar on fire? What if he had
intended for her and Amy to be inside when it happened? No, she thought, that’s
impossible. Anton Kovar was locked up in jail, along with his criminal
mastermind uncle, Petr, and his brother, Roman. She was certain of this because
she’d personally provided the necessary testimony to put them away. The
authorities had told her that the Kovars would never be eligible for parole.
And yet, through some mysterious act, Anton had managed to send her a message.
Another horrifying possibility entered her mind—what if Anton had escaped from
prison?

Mila had never cared much for the news,
preferring to focus on her own life instead, but even though she shunned both
TV and news websites, she was certain an event of such magnitude couldn’t have
escaped her attention. Still, it didn’t hurt to check. With trembling fingers,
Mila reached for her cell phone and typed in a quick search for Petr Kovar.
Instantly, her heart began to beat uncontrollably as she saw a headline come up,
Petr Kovar and Nephews Die in a Car Accident during a Transfer to a Jail
Facility
.

By the time Mila finished the rest of
the article, her heart was about to burst out of her chest. The deep,
horrifying sensation in the pit of her stomach told her the Kovars were very
much alive—she had the note from Anton Kovar to prove it, along with the ashes
left from what used to be Amy and Mila’s. There was no doubt in her mind
now—the fire was Anton Kovar’s doing. In one fell swoop her life had been
turned upside down.

What was she going to do now? She
couldn’t risk going to the police about Anton, as it would lead to the police
questioning her and everyone close to her. The thought of Philip finding out
about her past so abruptly filled her with dread. She had always meant to tell
him about her past, but springing the news of her criminal ex-boyfriend on
Philip now would surely put an end to their relationship. She’d already lost so
much—she couldn’t bear the thought of losing Philip too.

There was only one person she could
call—Dennis Walker. Mila hadn’t been in contact with him since the Kovars went
on trial and she hoped she still had his number. She raked through the contact
list on her cell phone—of course he wasn’t there. She must’ve deleted his
number in her attempt to start over with a clean slate—so much for that. Mila
felt deflated—Dennis Walker was such a common name—how on earth was she ever
going to find the Dennis Walker she needed? She raked her memory—the Dennis
Walker she was after worked for a private investigation agency—Kirk &
Associates. She typed ‘Kirk & Associates’ into the search browser and
within seconds the contact information appeared on the screen. She quickly
punched in the number. Come hell or high water, Dennis Walker was going to fit
her into his schedule today.

***

“So how did the meeting with the wedding
planner go yesterday?” Dennis asked, as he placed a cup of coffee and a
doughnut on Janet’s desk.

Janet took a sip. “Mmm, hazelnut—my
favorite. Are you trying to atone for your sins, Dennis Walker? Bribery won’t
work on me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. It’s just a
little something to brighten up your morning.”

“Aha.” Janet took a bite of her
doughnut—it tasted heavenly.

“I’m sorry I blew the wedding planner
appointment,” Dennis apologized. “I know you’re under a lot of pressure with
work and planning the wedding.”

“And don’t forget the apartment search,”
Janet pointed out.

“That too. It’s a lot and I’m sorry I
haven’t been there for you. I guess I’m not very good at planning things, but I
promise to change. Going forward, I’m going to be fully invested in the
process.”

“Great.” Janet brightened up. “How about
tonight? I have a meeting for a wedding cake tasting at six p.m. It’s going to
be so much fun!”

Dennis scratched the back of his head.
“Errr, didn’t you do that already?”

“That was just a preliminary meeting
with our planner to tell her what kind of cake we’d like. I gave her a few
ideas and she’s gone ahead and pulled a miracle by getting us an appointment
with Francois Bissette.”

“Sounds very impressive.”

Reading right through Dennis’s charade,
Janet explained, “Francois Bissette is New York’s most coveted pastry chef. But
if you can’t make it tonight, I understand,” she added, fully aware that she
was pulling a passive aggressive card.

Dennis raised his hands. “I’ll be there.
I’d love to be there—I was just asking.”

“Great. So we’ll leave together from
work and go straight there.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Oh, and that’s not all!” Janet said
cheerfully. “I just got a call from Fiona saying that she has a new listing,
asking if we’d like to see it tonight.”

Dennis shifted on his feet. “Don’t you
think it might be a bit much for one night? Could we see it tomorrow?”

“You’re right. Let’s do that. I’ll tell
her to set it up.”

Just then the intercom buzzed. “Dennis,
there’s a call for you,” the receptionist announced.

“Who is it from?” Dennis began, but then
added hastily, “never mind. I’ll take it in my office.”

Janet rolled her eyes. “You’d think a
receptionist would know to ask who’s calling.”

Dennis shrugged. “I’ll leave that for
Ham to deal with. Now, I’ve got to go and take my mystery call.”

“Have fun. Don’t forget about tonight.”

“I won’t.”

The moment Dennis left, Janet got back
to work. She had a slew of investigations to get through and staying late in
the office tonight wasn’t an option. She had been so engrossed in her work that
she’d forgotten all about Dennis’s mysterious phone call and was surprised to
find him, looking slightly disheveled, standing on the threshold of her office
thirty minutes later.

“Janet, honey, I’m so sorry,” he began.

“Uh-oh, I don’t like the sound of that.”
Janet looked up from her computer screen. “Don’t tell me you can’t make the
pastry chef appointment.”

“I’m afraid something came up last
minute. A new case.”

“Was it that phone call?”

“No. It’s something Ham just dropped on
my desk. He wants me to get cracking on it right away, so I won’t be able to
make it tonight.”

“Can’t it wait? I’m sure Ham would cut
you some slack if you explained—”

“Normally he would, but this is super
urgent.”

Something in his voice made Janet think
he was lying. “I see.”

“Can we reschedule the pastry chef
meeting?”

“No, we can’t reschedule Francois
Bissette,” Janet said tartly. “It’s a miracle he’s willing to meet with us in
the first place.”

“In that case, you’ll just have to
represent us both.”

“Fine.”

“I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Janet pouted. “I’d like to believe you,
but it’s starting to get harder and harder with you constantly bailing out on
things. If you’re having cold feet you can just tell me.”

“What? No!” Dennis walked across the
office and behind her desk. He took her hand into his. “Janet Maple, I promise
you there’s nothing I want more than for you to be my wife. But all this
wedding stuff—it’s superficial. It’s not important.”

“Do you mean it?”

“Of course I mean it. It’s like the
entire wedding industry has been created to add extra stress and aggravation.”

“I meant about me being your wife.”

“Oh, sorry. You know I do, Janet. If it
were up to me, I’d marry you in city hall tomorrow, or we could always go to
Vegas,” Dennis added with a wink.

“But what about our friends and family?
They’re expecting a wedding.”

“I’m not marrying our friends and
family. I’m marrying you, and I’m telling you what matters to me,” Dennis said
firmly, looking into her eyes. “I understand that a wedding is important to you
and I want you to have what you want. I promise to try to be there as much as I
can.”

Just not tonight
, Janet thought,
but bit her tongue. “Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come off as such a drama
queen.”

“You’re not a drama queen. You’re just
upset. I’ve got to get back to work, okay?”

“Okay. Do you want to have dinner
tonight? Nothing fancy—just takeout.”

“I’d love to, but I’ll probably be
working late. Tomorrow?”

“I just thought you might want to sample
the wedding cake—I was going to bring some back for you.”

Dennis squeezed her arm. “I’m sorry,
honey. You know I’d really love to, but I just don’t think I’ll be able to
swing it tonight. Can you save it in the fridge for me?”

“Sure.” Janet forced fake cheer into her
voice. “All right then, tomorrow.”

Out of the corner of her eye she watched
Dennis walk out into the hallway. The urgency in his step told her he couldn’t
wait to get out of there. A new assignment that just happened to coincide with
their wedding cake tasting? And then there was that mysterious phone call.
Something didn’t add up. As difficult as it was, Janet forced herself to put
the matter out of her mind—she had work to do, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t
going to do some digging later.

***

At four thirty p.m., Janet pushed her
chair away from her desk with satisfaction. She had accomplished all her tasks
for the day, which was the perfect pretext for her to swing by Ham’s office.

While walking across the hallway, Janet
noticed that Dennis’s office was empty—he must have left recently since she had
heard him speaking with the receptionist only a few minutes ago. She knocked on
Ham’s office door and waited.

“Come in,” Ham’s voice carried through
the door.

Janet walked inside and shut the door
behind her. As usual, Ham looked busy. He’d loosened his argyle-patterned tie
and rolled up his shirt sleeves. There were countless folders on his desk and
his eyes looked tired behind the reading glasses.

Ham lifted up his glasses and rubbed the
bridge of his nose. “Hi Janet. How’s your day going?”

“I just wanted to give you an update on
my cases.” Janet placed a neatly typed status sheet on Ham’s desk.

Ham put his glasses back on and examined
the list. “Excellent work, Janet, excellent work. Our clients will be very
pleased.”

“Just doing my job.”

“You’re doing it very well and I can’t
tell you how much I appreciate it. You’re a damn good investigator—it takes
more than a good hunch, you know. It’s important to have your priorities
straight, and you certainly know how to do that.”

“Thank you, Ham. I’m just part of a
great team. If you need my help on anything else, just let me know.”

“Will do. I’m sure we’ll have something
new come in soon.”

“So nothing new came in today?” Janet
asked innocently, hoping she wasn’t going to set off any alarms.

“Today—no, but we’re sitting on a very
comfortable padding of account receivables,” Ham said, clearly pleased. “So if
you’re worried about our workload, there’s no need to worry. We’re doing very
nicely. In fact, I wouldn’t want to burn you and Dennis out.”

“Of course not. I’m very grateful for
your understanding.”

Ham smiled. “I like to think of myself
as the perfect boss.”

“You are, and Dennis and I both love
working for you,” Janet flattered the old man.

“You’re too kind.” Ham checked his
watch. “I don’t mean to kick you out of my office, Janet, but I have a
conference call with the FBI director—probably about a new case.

“Of course, I understand.” Janet turned
to leave.

“Thank you for a job well done, Janet.
Why don’t you call it a day?”

“Thanks Ham. I think I’ll do just that.
I’ve got some wedding planning to catch up on.”

“You two lovebirds.” Ham grinned. “I
sure hope Dennis is pulling his weight. Let me know if you need me to
straighten him out. I know how men can get when it comes to wedding plans.”

Janet smiled. “I’ll be sure to let you
know.”