3 Bad Guys Get Caught Read Free Page B

Dennis’s
studio apartment. Bookcases stretching from floor to ceiling lined the walls.
In the middle of the room stood a leather couch with two leather armchairs and
a reading table. There was even a fireplace. Next to it stood a liquor cart
housing decanters filled with what looked to be whiskey and cognac.
    “Please, have a seat,” said Julius,
motioning at the leather couch.
    “Thank you.” Dennis briefly eyed the
books on the shelves. Some of the bindings looked like first editions.
    “Cigar?” Libby pointed at a cigar box on
the table.
    “No, thank you,” Dennis declined. “I
don’t smoke.”
    “Neither do I, but I keep them in the
house for guests. I’d offer you a drink, but it’s too early in the day.”
    “That’s all right. Please, don’t trouble
yourself.” Dennis smiled, running his hand against the supple couch leather.
Just like the rest of the things in Libby’s household, it was expensive.
    “So, Dennis, what is it that you’d like
to know about me?” Libby asked, crossing his legs.
    “I work for a private intelligence
agency—” Dennis began.
    “The party hired you to spy on me,”
Julius cut in.
    Dennis smiled, unabashed. “Our agency
has been retained to vet your candidacy.”
    “Very well. Then we should just get
right to it.”
    “Is there anything in your past or
present that could harm you in your campaign for the senator seat?” asked
Dennis.
    “Not a thing,” Libby assured him,
flashing his porcelain-white teeth. “You’re welcome to poke around as much as
you’d like. Feel free to come down to my office and take a look at the records,
if you’d like.”
    “Perhaps you could tell me about
yourself to save me some of the effort?”
    “I thought the old man would have
provided you with such basic information.”
    “He did, but I’d like to hear from you.”
    Libby nodded. “Of course. I was born on
the Lower East Side where my parents lived in a rent-controlled apartment in a
walk-up. My parents were both teachers. My mother taught math and my father
taught physics. They are both retired now. Their greatest hope for me was to
become a scientist, but unfortunately I did not inherit my parents’ scientific
minds. I did however excel at history and English. I was captain of the debate
team, and as I already told you, I always loved art.”
     
    ***
     
    That’s just great, Janet thought, as she
leafed through Julius Libby’s file for the umpteenth time. Dennis was out there
charming Libby with witty conversation, while she was stuck in the office, on a
Saturday to boot, trying to find dirt on Libby. Her already bad mood was made
worse by the fact that she had failed to find what she was looking for. At
least on the surface Libby looked to be an exemplary citizen. A graduate of
Harvard Law, he spent the first two years of his career clerking for a judge.
Then came a five-year stint at a prestigious law firm. At thirty-two years of
age Libby became councilman representing lower Manhattan and had held this
position for the past five years. If Libby were to snag the senator seat in the
upcoming election, his career would become an example of perfection.
    So far, everything about Libby’s
background had checked out, at least on the surface. Janet had even found a
legitimate explanation about Libby’s luxurious digs. Apparently, Libby had
invested into a startup company that went public, turning his original
investment of fifty thousand into five million. Investments like these didn’t
happen every day, but they did exist. After all, Microsoft was started out of a
car garage. Not that Libby had invested into Microsoft; in fact, after its
initial rise, the company in question had disappeared into obscurity. With his
newly found wealth, Libby had splurged on his house, but he had also made
sizeable donations to charity. Still, Janet wasn’t buying it; the man just
seemed too good to be true. Janet made a mental note to check into that later.
She wondered if Dennis