3 Bad Guys Get Caught Read Free

seems to defeat the purpose. If he knows that we’ll be looking
into his affairs, he’ll have time to conceal things— provided that there are
things to find, of course,” Dennis added hastily.
    Ham shook his head. “If this Libby
character has any common sense, he already hid everything that needed hiding.
Well, I’ll leave you to it.” Ham rose from his chair. “Sorry to have ruined
your weekend,” he added. With an apologetic wave of his hand, Ham left the
office.
    A few minutes later Dennis and Janet
were seated behind the large table in the conference room. Dennis spread the
contents of the folder on the table, looking over each piece of paper and
passing it over to Janet.
    “A townhouse in Tribeca? That’s a snazzy
neighborhood,” Dennis remarked after they had gone through the file contents.
    “Libby represents lower Manhattan, so I
guess residing in the area makes it more authentic.”
    “Libby and his wife live in a townhouse.
How do you afford it on a councilman’s salary?”
    “Well, Libby was an associate at a law
firm before he became a councilman. He must’ve saved up some money.”
    “I don’t see too many law firm
associates living it up in Tribeca townhouses. Factor in the fact that his wife
is a teacher and it makes you wonder where the money is coming from.”
    “Come on, Dennis. Do you really think
he’d be stupid enough to be that obvious? If he’s running for public office, he
knows that his entire life will be under a microscope.”
    “Well, let’s find out.” Dennis grabbed
his cell phone.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Calling to schedule an appointment with
Mr. Libby.”
    “Don’t you think we should go through
the file one more time? Make some notes?”
    “There’s nothing in that file except for
the most basic information. The clock is ticking and we need to find out the
rest.” Dennis punched in Libby’s phone number and waited for an answer. “Mr.
Libby? Yes, this is Dennis Walker. Yes, thank you very much. I was hoping my
associate, Janet Maple, and I might meet with you today. We will not take more
than an hour of your time. Yes, wonderful. Thank you for your understanding;
see you then.”
    “So, when are we meeting him?” Janet
asked impatiently.
    “Right now,” Dennis replied.
    “Great. This is going to be fun.” Janet
rose from her chair. “Ready?”
    “I was born ready.”
    “Of course you were.” Normally, Janet
would have laughed, but right now she was annoyed. She wasn’t going to say it
out loud, but it irked her that Dennis had referred to her as his “associate”
during his conversation with Libby. My associate, my foot, she thought. They
were partners. “What are we waiting for?” Janet asked, seeing Dennis linger in
the doorway.
    “I was just thinking that it might be
better if I met with Libby alone.”
    “Why is that?”
    Dennis shrugged. “I just have a hunch.”
    “Do you think that we should base the
entire investigation on your hunch?” Janet did her best to sound calm.
    “Not the entire investigation, but I do
think that it might be useful if Libby didn’t meet both of us face to face. Who
knows, one of us may need to go undercover.”
    “One of us? Aren’t you the ace when it
comes to undercover work? Why don’t I meet with Libby then?”
    “Normally it would be a good idea, but I
think I could get him to open up more.”
    “What makes you think so?”
    “Men tend to be more open with other
men.”
    You think you’re better than me, Janet
thought, but decided to hold her tongue.
    “I promise I’ll tell you everything over
dinner tonight. Seven o’clock, your place?”
    “Yes. I’ll make steak,” Janet blurted
out mechanically, instantly regretting her words. Sure, she liked cooking for
Dennis, but right now she was mad at him.
    Dennis raised an eyebrow. “That sounds
like a lot of work.”
    “Don’t you have any confidence in my
cooking skills?”
    “I have great confidence in your skills,
of which you