Catching the Bad Guy (Book Two) (Janet Maple Series) (16 page)

“There’s nothing shameful about a man
shedding a tear or two. In fact, I think that it takes a true man not to be
afraid of expressing his emotions,” said Aileen with a pointed glace at Muller.

“Personally, I find weddings dull,” said
Muller. “I’m sure it must all be very exciting for the bride and the groom, but
why should the rest of us be forced to sit through it?” An expression of hurt
passed over Aileen’s face, and, as if catching himself, Muller added, “But
Aileen just loves this sort of thing. I’m glad you’re enjoying this, honey.”
Muller patted Aileen’s hand.

“You would too,” Aileen replied
reproachfully, “if you would only just give it a chance.”

Janet watched this exchange with
fascination. It was clear that Muller was anything but attracted to his date.
It seemed like he did not even want to be at the wedding, so why did he come?

“Darling.” Laskin pulled out Janet’s
chair and motioned for her to take a seat. Janet thanked him and slid into her
seat.

Janet and Laskin turned their attention
to the rest of the guests at the table. Everyone smiled politely as introductions
were made. There were two more couples who were friends of the groom. Being
seated next to Lisa’s friends from college or high school would have presented
serious problems for Laskin’s planned cover-up. Janet gave Lisa mental kudos
for excellent attention to detail, a skill that Lisa had never before been
famous for and Janet used to excel at but now seemed desperately to lack. At
least Lisa and Laskin were both on their game. Now all Janet needed to do was
figure out to get close to Muller or his date.

Janet cast a sideways glance at Muller
who was examining the menu as though it were the most fascinating thing in the
world. His date was leaning on his shoulder in a clear attempt to elicit a
token of affection from Muller, but he clearly preferred to focus his attention
on the menu.

“So, what are the choices?" asked
Laskin, looking over Muller’s shoulder.

Muller looked at Laskin. “I think I see
a waiter coming. I’ll ask him to get you a menu.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize that I’ve got one
right here!” exclaimed Laskin, reddening under Muller’s icy glare.

So much for Laskin’s bravado, Janet
thought. He might be good at laying out a plan of action, but he was not
particularly good at executing one. She had to come up with some icebreakers
pronto. Her anxiety was interrupted by the announcement of the bride and
groom’s first dance.

Accompanied by loud applause, Lisa and
Paul walked to the center of the dance floor. Paul offered his arm to Lisa, and
the two of them glided into a graceful waltz. Even from the distance, Janet
could see the sparks that were shining in Lisa’s and Paul’s eyes. Despite
everything that had happened to the Bostoffs, or perhaps because of it, Lisa
and Paul seemed to be more in love than ever.

The waltz ended. “We now ask the guests
to join the bride and groom on the dance floor,” announced the deejay.

The chords of “Strangers in the Night”
filled the room. Couples began rising from their seats, making their way to the
dance floor. Janet inwardly cursed the deejay’s selection. She loved this song,
but the romantic lyrics did not exactly create a conducive environment for her
task at hand. She was about to sneak off to the bathroom to work on some
icebreakers for Muller when she felt Laskin’s hand on her arm. “Shall we dance,
darling?”

Janet’s first impulse was to refuse. She
certainly did not find Laskin’s eyes inviting or his smile exciting, but then
she noticed Muller’s date eyeing them wistfully, and so rose from her chair.

Laskin took Janet’s hand into his and
slid into a confident foxtrot step. Janet followed him easily. “Where did you
learn to dance like this?” she asked.

“Fred Astaire dance studio,” Laskin
replied. “It was for an undercover assignment that never materialized, but
that’s not important right now. We have to change our strategy.”

“Agreed.” Janet thought it best to omit
the fact that they did not really have a strategy, at least not a sound one, as
she was mostly to blame for that.

“There’s no way in hell Muller will ever
open up to me. He clearly thinks that he is a far more superior specimen of the
human race than I am.”

Perhaps sticking your nose into his menu
had something to do with it, Janet thought, but bit her tongue: she herself was
not exactly bursting with ideas on the topic.

“You go after Muller and I’ll go after
his date. She looks bored, so I’ll play the sympathy card, and you can flatter
Muller with admiration.”

“Good idea. Let’s switch seats when we
go back to the table. That way I’ll be sitting closer to Muller.”

“I’ve got an even better idea. Here’s
our opening.”

Before Janet could blink, Laskin’s hand
tightened on her waist and she felt herself being literally swept off her feet
as Laskin galloped across the floor in a surprisingly nimble quickstep. Janet
held on to Laskin for dear life as they leapt across the floor, followed by
admiring glances. “Ready? Here we go.”

“Ready for what?” Janet asked.

Just then, Laskin’s nimbleness deserted
him, and the two of them nearly tumbled into Muller and Aileen who were slow
dancing in the far corner of the floor. “Oops, my apologies,” Laskin panted. “I
misjudged the distance.”

“Oh, that’s quite all right,” Aileen
smiled. “You are a wonderful dancer.”

“Wonderful dancers don’t smash into
people,” remarked Muller.

“My apologies,” said Laskin.

“Oh, don’t worry about it!” Aileen came
to Laskin’s defense. “They didn’t smash into us, honey. It was more of a tap,
really.”

The music ended, leaving the couples on
the dance floor frozen in indecision. “Shall we go back to our table?” offered
Muller.

“And now on with our next selection,”
announced the deejay. The bold notes of “New York, New York” rang in the air.

“May I?” Laskin offered his hand to
Aileen.

“I would be delighted,” Aileen beamed.

Janet hesitated. She knew that the thing
to do was to mimic Laskin and ask Muller to dance, but the man looked so glum
that her tongue stuck to the back of her throat.

“Shall we?” Muller surprised her.

“I’d be delighted,” Janet replied.

“You are a pleasure to dance with,”
Muller remarked after several moments.

“Thank you.” In spite of herself, Janet
was flattered. He might be a scoundrel without principles, but it was
impossible to deny that David Muller was a very handsome scoundrel. Janet could
certainly see how Muller was such a successful crook: he had an aura of
effortless charm about him that made his victims fall under his spell in a
matter of seconds.

“And of course this is a beautiful song
to dance to. I adore Frank Sinatra. “New York, New York” is my favorite.”

“His songs are wonderful,” Janet agreed.

“And so are you,” replied Muller,
tilting Janet back. The motion took her by surprise, and Janet nearly lost her
balance.

“Careful there.” Muller pressed his hand
against her back, pulling her close to him, a little too close for Janet’s
taste. “So what’s a girl like you doing with a guy like Carry?”

“What’s a man like you doing with a girl
like Aileen?” Janet countered.

“I asked you first.”

“John is a good guy, and good guys are
hard to find.”

Muller’s gaze travelled from Janet’s
lips to her neck, to her breasts, to her hips, and then, with noticeable
reluctance, back up to her eyes. “I don’t see how you would have difficulties
finding a man.”

“I don’t want just any man. I want a man
who is right for me. So what brings you to this wedding? Are you a friend of
the bride or the groom?” Janet changed the subject before her conversation with
Muller got too heated.

Muller’s face tensed for a moment. “Just
an acquaintance of the groom. We used to do business together, but I am no
longer involved in that.”

“Oh? What do you do, if you don’t mind
me asking?”

“I used to run a hedge fund but I closed
that down. My interest in the financial markets now is purely academic. I run a
charity dedicated to sponsoring scholarships for young men and women who are
interested in pursuing careers in finance. It’s called the Phoenix Fund.”

“That sounds very noble.”

Muller smiled. “Oh, I don’t know about
that, but I do enjoy it, and I hope to be able to help. I know that I would
have welcomed a helping hand when I was starting out in my career. The charity
is less than a year old. This year we plan to offer scholarships to ten
students to the colleges of their choice, and we hope to increase the number of
scholarships each year.”

“Sounds wonderful.”

The last notes of “New York, New York”
faded away, and was followed by “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”

Janet spotted Laskin and Aileen gliding
toward them. “I think it’s time that I returned you to your date.”

“If you insist.”

“David!” Aileen exclaimed, putting her
hand on Muller’s shoulder. She turned towards Laskin, adding, “John, thank you
for a wonderful dance.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Aileen.”
Laskin bowed. He returned his attention to Janet. “Shall we?”

Before she could respond, Laskin whisked
her away. “So, what did you find out?” he asked.

“Muller is not in trading anymore. He
runs a charity now.”

Laskin’s eyebrows nearly met his hairline.
“What?”

“I know. I don’t believe it either.
Something is not right. Either Muller lied to me, or he really did decide to
become a law-abiding citizen, but I just don’t believe the latter. What did you
find out from Aileen?”

“Aileen is quite a remarkable woman,”
Laskin replied. “She owns her own public relations company, and she happens to
be a very good dancer.”

Janet eyed him dubiously. “Anything
else?”

“Of course,” Laskin replied. “I can mix
business with pleasure, you know.”

“At least that makes one of us.”

“And very effective at that, I might
add. Do you know Aileen’s last name?”

“No, why?”

“Finnegan. Sound familiar?”

“Do you mean that Finnegan, the New York
State attorney general?”

“Yep.” Laskin beamed. “She and Muller
have been dating about six months, and she is head over heels for the worm,
although for the life of me I can’t understand what she sees in him.”

Janet decided not to comment. Despite
his lack of moral character, Muller possessed a number of attributes that women
would find attractive. “Did she know anything about Muller’s charity?”

Laskin shook his head. “No, it sounds
like Muller keeps his business affairs to himself. I’m surprised he told you so
much. Could it be because he wanted you to know?”

“I don’t think so. I think he just
wanted to show off, but it does sound strange that he keeps it a secret from
his girlfriend.”

“When I get back to the office on
Monday, I’m going to do a background check on Muller’s charity. What’s the name
of it?”

“Phoenix Fund.”

“He sure has a flare for names. First
Emperial, and now Phoenix.”

“He certainly does.” Janet frowned.
“Something is not adding up. I find it hard to believe that Muller has a
charitable bone in his body.”

“Whatever his new scheme is, we’ll get
to the bottom of it.”

***

Jon Bostoff took a sip of scotch and
checked his watch. The toasts would start soon, and he had to put his happy
face on. His little brother was getting married. After the deluge of
misfortunes that had assailed the Bostoff family over the past year, they were
due for a little happiness in their lives.

Jon had worked hard to make up for all
the wrongs he had done, but some things could never be corrected: the pain he
had caused his father, the disappointment of his younger brother, and the shame
Jon had brought on the Bostoff name. He had wanted to turn his father’s company
into a financial empire; instead, Jon’s reckless actions had resulted in the
collapse of Bostoff Securities. The past year had been a veritable hell as Jon
was dragged through countless depositions, forced to disclose the details of a
market manipulation scheme he had worked so hard to construct. He admitted his
guilt, but in all fairness he had not been the mastermind behind the scheme. True,
he had constructed the highway that subverted speed limits that the rest of the
industry was expected to follow, but he was not the one driving the cars that
raced on its smooth runway—the steering was done by his clients. David Muller,
the owner of Emperial hedge fund, had been one of Jon’s biggest clients. Jon’s
lawyer had assured him that Jon would get credit with the investigators for his
cooperation in providing evidence, and that Muller was the main target of the
case.

Jon’s shock was impossible to put into
words when he learned the investigation’s verdict. Bostoff Securities was fined
in the amount of one million dollars, and Jon was barred from the financial
industry for three years. With the legal fees piling up and the fine hanging
over his head, there was no other option but to liquidate Bostoff Securities.
Jon’s shock had been even greater when he learned that the case against
Emperial and David Muller had been dismissed due to lack of evidence.