Depths of Depravity (4 page)

“
No, I’m not going to do that… You said Jennifer was working on the piece?”

“
That’s right.”

“
Stay right here, Roy. I’ll be right back.”

“
Hey, I’m not going anywhere.”

Roy turned his attention back to all of the work in front of him. I walked between all of the cubicles where all of
the people worked. I looked for Jennifer and eventually found her in the corner, leisurely working on her latest article.

“
Jennifer.”

She slowly turned and looked at me for a moment. She stared at me, searching for something to say.

“Victoria,” I said. “Investigative reporter.”

“
Right. Uh, is something wrong?”

“
I just talked to Roy. He said you were working on some profile about this guy named Landon Schra—”

“
Don’t remind me,” she rolled her eyes.

“
What’s wrong? What happened?”

She sighed before she said an
ything. The leisure demeanor she had when I first arrived was replaced by a woman who had been spurned.

“
He was more trouble than he was worth,” she said. “I thought it would be interesting to learn more about a man who was a self-made billionaire. Not a millionaire but a billionaire.”

“
What’s so interesting about that?”

“
He made all of his money somewhere else. Then he bought an entire building and operates everything here. I figured maybe there was something behind all of the money he made. Maybe he could offer our readers some financial advice. Maybe he could talk about some job offers for people looking. Maybe he was just a really funny guy. Whatever the case, I thought it would make for an interesting read. But he didn’t want any part of it. I ended up canning it. It was too much effort.”

“
I see…”

I was more intrigued than I
’d ever been. Jennifer may have given up so easily but I was determined to find out what the case with this guy was. There had to be more to him than just being an asshole who didn’t want to talk to anybody.

“
Jennifer, I was wondering—”

“
You want to write about Landon? Be my guest.”

“
Thanks. Do you have any notes or information?”

“
Not really,” she shrugged. “Most of the stuff I had was general information I pulled off of the Internet.”

“
Does he have any contacts? Like an agent, a publicist… Maybe a secretary?”

“
Maybe,” she shook her head. “But getting in contact with them is more difficult than talking to Landon himself.”

“
So you don’t have any leads at all.”

She frowned at me and shook
her head again. Jennifer was making it seem like it was an impossible task. There had to be some way to get ahold of him. There was a story behind Landon Schrader, even if it was something possibly mundane like Jennifer suggested.

Like I was on a wild goo
se chase, I headed back to Lily in search for any hint of an answer. She was busy filing her nails while she talked on her wireless earpiece like some bored secretary.

“
Lily, can I talk to you for a second?”

“
Hold on, one of my coworkers wants to talk to me,” she said to the person on the phone. “Yeah, I’ll call you back later. What is it, Victoria?”

“
What do you know about Landon Schrader?”

“
Landon Schrader? He’s a billionaire or something, right?”

“
What else do you know?”

“
Um, not much,” she shrugged. “
Should
I know anything?”

“
He’s a billionaire, Lily! I thought gossip was your department.”

“
Yeah but only about people in the public eye.”

“
How many billionaires are there in this city?”

“
Too many for me to pay attention to them.”

“
Lily…”

“
Wait a second. I just remembered. I think I might actually have something on him.”

Lily spun around in her chair and set her nail file to the side. She typed away on her keyboard and I watched her search for any relevant information.

“What do you know?” she said. “Landon Schrader actually
does
show up in my database.”

“
What does it say?”

“
Let me see…
Self-made billionaire… Government contracts… Not married… Spends time by himself…
Sorry, Victoria. None of this is really interesting.”

“
Do you have any way I could get in contact with him?”

“
Hmm… There’s a phone number here. You could try that. But that’s all I got for you.”

“
Thanks, Lily.”

I wrote the number down on an index card and shoved it into my pocket. As I started to walk away, Lily yelled out to me.

“I want some credit if Patrick loves whatever it is you got planned.”

“
Don’t worry, Lily. You’ll get what you deserve.”

I smiled at her as she resumed her conversation. I headed back to Roy, who was still working meticulously on a set of photos on his desk.

“Roy, are you busy?”

“
I’m always busy, Victoria. You know that.”

“
I mean, do you have any specific photo assignments you’re working on? Outside of the office, are you doing anything?”

“
Not in particular, no.”

“
Great. I need you to do me a favor.”

“
Sure. What is it?”

“
I want you to follow Landon Schrader.”

“
What?”

Roy spun away from his desk and stared at me. He shook his head in disbelief and I couldn
’t help but give him a devious smile.

“
You want me to follow Landon Schrader?” he said. “Follow him for what?”

“
I want you to take photos of him. I want to know what he does when he’s not in his office. I want to know where he’s at when he’s not working. Everything.”

“
Victoria, you must have me confused with someone else. We work for a magazine, not the CIA. Besides, his security wouldn’t have any part of it.”

“
So just stay out of their way. You don’t have to be right next to him. Don’t you have a zoom lens or something?”

“
Yeah but… Victoria, is there a point to all of this? I mean, you want me to take pictures of him and find out where he spends all of his time outside of work.”

“
I’ve got a hunch.”

“
A hunch? That’s it? Victoria—”

“
Roy, trust me. There’s more to this story than Jennifer realized. Maybe he’s just some weird guy who doesn’t want to deal with the media. Or maybe it’s something more serious. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m going to get him to talk and it’s going to be one of the best features I’ve ever written.”

I was doing my best to get him to do this for me. Roy looked at me skeptically
. I couldn’t blame him. Even
I
thought the idea sounded silly. My only lead was that he didn’t want to talk. I guess I was just hoping that Landon Schrader was hiding a secret from the public.

“
Please, Roy,” I begged him. “There’s something here. I know it. I’ve just… I’ve got a feeling. It’s in my gut. I know that doesn’t make any sense. Just follow him for a couple of nights. If he doesn’t do anything interesting, you can stop.”

“
Well…” he sighed. “I don’t have any other assignments lined-up. I suppose a few nights wouldn’t hurt. Can you at least lend me a few bucks so I could get something to eat?”

“
Sure, Roy.”

“
I should know better than to let you give me assignments. All of a sudden I’m on a stakeout…”

Roy didn
’t understand what I was thinking but that didn’t matter. I had gotten him to see things from my perspective. If there were something here, I would find it. With the number Lily had given me, I finally had a lead. Now all I had to do was cross my fingers and hope that there was something to find.

C
hapter 4

Jennifer was right. I searched for any other information I could find on Landon Schrader but there wasn
’t much. His company had a generic blank statement on its website. He dealt mostly with technology revolving around robotics and cybernetics. It wasn’t particularly interesting since there was always something being written about in the tech sector. I’m sure that aspect of his company had been covered multiple times.

After gathering all of the basic information I could, I decided to get in contact with the company. I called the phone number on the website. I was greeted with an automated message asking me if
I wanted a brochure to learn more about investing in their products. I was already at a dead end.

It was only the first day I started this assignment but I was getting frustrated. I leaned back in my chair and spun around in it. I looked up at the ceiling
of my loft while I tried to get an idea to pop into my head. The only thing I could think of was to wait for Roy to get in contact with me and hope that he found out something interesting.

I sighed as I leaned back over my desk. I searched the scarce amou
nt of notes over and over again to see if there was any way I could get in contact with him. I reached into my pockets and something poked my hand. I pulled it out and looked at it. On the card was the phone number Lily gave to me. I stared at the phone number and squinted my eyes at it.

“
Wait a minute…”

I looked through all of my notes in search of the business phone number I just called. I held the card next to it and compared the two.

“The numbers are different…”

Could it be? Maybe this is just an old nu
mber…

I wasn
’t sure whether or not I should trust Lily’s sources but she had this number down for a reason. I picked up my phone and called it, not completely sure I was going to get an answer. After two rings, somebody picked up.

“
Hello?”
a man said.

“
Um, yes… I’m trying to get in touch with Landon Schrader.”

“
Who is this?”

I started to panic. I wasn
’t sure if it was a good idea to tell him who I really was or not. I decided that I would try the direct approach.

“
Who is this?”
he repeated.

“
Hi, my name is Victoria Hill. I—”

“
Why do you want to talk to Mr. Schrader?”

“
W-well, I’d like to sit down for an interview with Mr. Schrader and—”

“
Mr. Schrader doesn’t do interviews.”

“
But—”

“
Goodbye.”

Before I could say anything else the man hung up on me. I tried cal
ling again but nobody picked up.

Shit. My one chance and I blew it.

I stared at the phone number on the card, trying to put together something from the few seconds I spoke to the man. I closed my eyes and tried to figure out who he was.

Security guard? Pub
licist? Maybe an attorney?

There was no way I would figure it out without asking him directly. It was my one lead and I had lost it just as quickly as I had found it.

“There was music,” I said to myself. “There was music playing in the background. Maybe he was having a party. Or maybe he was driving with the radio on. Oh, Victoria. You’re an idiot…”

I sighed as I failed to put anything together. My last article was about a member of City Council doing drugs
. I guess the truth about that piece was still lingering in me. Maybe this was all too much. Maybe I was just expecting Landon Schrader to have a secret because every high-profile man in the city had one. But it didn’t matter if he weren’t going to slip. Nobody around him was talking. This wasn’t going to be easy. I was beginning to consider looking elsewhere for something to write about.

“
Maybe Jennifer’s right,” I said to myself. “Maybe he’s just some rich guy. You’re an investigative reporter, Victoria. There’s nothing to investigate here. He’s just a billionaire who likes his privacy.”

I had never been so disappointed with myself. I saw the photo of a good-looking man in a suit and let my imagination run away with itself. I guess part of me just wanted t
here to be a story because I found him attractive. Maybe the lingering effects of my boyfriend were still resonating with me.

As the night wore on, I sat at my computer and did nothing but wait. My desk was once again accompanied by familiar boxes of half-
eaten Chinese food and bottles of soda and water. I leaned back in my chair and called Roy.

“
Now should be a good time…”

I put the phone up to my ear and waited for his response.

“Hello?”

“
Roy. It’s Victoria.”

“
Oh, hey, Victoria.”

“
Well, what have you got for me?”

“
Sorry, Victoria.”

“
Sorry? What do you mean? Did you not follow him?”

“
I did. But I don’t have anything for you. I waited for him outside of his building. Followed him just like you said. He just headed home.”

“…
That’s it?”

“
That’s it. I mean, he’s got a nice house. It’s a big mansion that’s gated but—”

“
Thanks, Roy. Maybe you just caught him on a bad night.”

“
I’ll try again tomorrow but honestly, Victoria, I don’t think there’s anything here. I think that thing about billionaires being really eccentric is something you read about in books.”

“
Yeah, maybe you’re right. I should probably look somewhere else for something to write about. I’ll be in the office in a few days if I can’t come up with anything.”

“
Good luck, Victoria.”

“
Yeah, same to you.”

I hung my phone up in disappointment. I tossed it back onto my desk and rubbed the back of my neck. I thought it was going to be easy. Defeated, I headed over to my couch and plopped myself in front of the television. I flipped throu
gh the channels in search of something to take my mind off of everything. At the same time, I looked for something to spur my imagination.

“
There has to be something in this stupid city that needs investigating,” I muttered to myself. “I’m just not looking in the right places.”

I was trying to make something out of nothing. And just when I thought it was going to be easy…

* * *

Over the next few days, I failed to come up with any ideas. The number I called didn
’t answer my phone calls. I tried using a different phone but still failed to get any response. I didn’t have any other ideas for a piece.

I headed back to the office in search of another lead and to find out if Roy had managed to find out anything interest
ing about Mr. Schrader.

“
Victoria, what are you doing here?” Lily said as I walked by her cubicle.

“
I’m just checking in on a few things. I think Roy might have something for me.”

“
Twice in three days. Victoria, it’s not like you to be around here so often. If you need some help, I’ve got some things that might interest you.”

“
Hold that thought. I might have to take you up on that offer.”

I was hoping that I wouldn
’t have to. Lily dealt exclusively in gossip that I considered sensational. The last thing I wanted to do was write about something that I wasn’t interested in.

I headed toward Roy
’s workstation and it was cluttered with photos and equipment like it usually was. His face was close to his monitor while he examined the image in front of him.

“
So, what have you got for me, Roy?” I said to him.

I leaned up against the wall of his cubicle while he spun around in his chair.

“Victoria, I have something for you but I don’t think it’s what you’re looking for.”

“
I’ll be the judge of that. What is it?”

“
Well, this is what I got of him.”

He pushed himself away from his desk and pointed at one of the monitors. There was a collection of photographs of Landon. They were much better quality than the sole image I saw earlier but they still looked like they had been t
aken from a distance. Each of the photos seemed to capture a candid moment of Landon though there wasn’t anything particularly interesting about them.

“
You took a lot of photos of him,” I said.

“
I did. But that’s not the point. You wanted me to follow him.”

“
Yeah…”

“
Well, I followed him out of his office building just like you said. Then he headed home. I don’t know why I did but I figured I would stick around for a little bit. Before I knew it, I saw a limo leaving his mansion. I followed him.”

“
W-where did it go?”

“
Right here,” he pointed at another one of his monitors. “Platinum.”

“
Platinum? What is that?”

“
It’s a… It’s a… I don’t know how to say it… Gentleman’s establishment?”

“
It’s a strip club.”

“
Well, yeah, I guess you could say that.”

I looked closer at the photo of Platinum. I had never heard of it before. But then again, I never paid any attention to the entertainment available in the city.

“Did you stick with him?” I asked.

“
Yeah. He spent a few hours there then headed back home. He was by himself. Like I said, Victoria. It’s something but I don’t think it’s anything you can work with. Sorry.”

I looked at the photo of the club. Then I scanned all of the photos Roy had taken of Landon. I was beginning to concede defeat. There wa
sn’t really much for me to go on.

“
Maybe… Wait a minute. I think you’ve got something, Roy.”

“
What? What is it?”

“
It’s this club. Landon went to this strip club for a reason.”

“
So he was looking for a good time. How much
investigating
do you need to figure that out?”

“
Yeah but it’s not that simple. Look at all of these photos.”

I started pointing out everything else to Roy. In all of the photos he had taken of Landon, there were other people surrounding him.

“Who are these people?” I said. “They’re not just security guards. These are other rich guys. These guys have just as much money as he does.”

“
I still don’t see what the story is here, Victoria. It’s clear why they’re going there.”

“
That’s where you’re wrong, Roy. It’s clear why they’re going here. But it’s not clear why they’re going
here
.”

“…
You lost me, Victoria”

“
Never mind. You don’t have to worry about it any longer. The story is inside of the club and I doubt they’re going to let you take any photos. Thank you so much for your help, Roy.”

I had got
ten my lead. Platinum was just as much of a story as Landon was. This was bigger than him. And since I didn’t have to focus entirely on one individual, I knew exactly whom to turn to.

I headed back to Lily
’s cubicle and she was there to greet me.

“
Back so soon,” she said to me. “Still need something to work on?”

“
I’ve already got it, Lily. But I do need your help.”

“
You know, if you keep using my data and sources, I’m going to have to start charging you.”

“
Oh, come on, Lily. That’s what friends are for. Besides, this is the last thing I’m going to ask you for on this piece I’m working on.”

“
Okay, what is it?”

“
You follow all of the celebrities and people who are in and out of this city.”

“
Right.”

“
Do any of them frequent Platinum?”

“
Uh, of course they do. It’s the most expensive strip club in the city.”

“
What else can you tell me about it?”

“
I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I’ve never been there. I just know that it’s reserved for the elite. I’m sure Roy’s got dozens of photos of famous men and women walking in and out of it.”

“
Right. And I’m sure you’ve ran a few columns talking about some of them doing some unsavory things in there.”