The Rented Mule (15 page)

Closing her eyes, she sank beneath the bubbles.

C
ooper was walking out the door, heading home, when he noticed the clock read 5:55 p.m. He stopped. Every time he saw clock numbers matching, he thought of his wife and the deal they had made when they were dating. They agreed to think of each other whenever they saw a clock read synchronized single digits from one through five. He was surprised at how often he noticed it.

He decided to call Kelly to see if he needed to get anything on his way. He sat back down at his desk, picked up the phone, and dialed his home number.

“Hello? Dixon residence,” said Ben Dixon, answering the phone on the first ring.

“Hey, Ben. How’s my little buddy?”

“Fine.”

“How was school?”

“Fine. Dad? Can I have an allowance?”

“We’ll talk about it when I get home. I’d rather call it a commission. There are no allowances in life.”

“What’s a commission?”

“We’ll talk about it when I get home; I promise, okay? Let me speak to Mom.”

“MOM? MOM, IT’S DAD!” Ben screamed as loud as he could.

Cooper looked out the giant windows at the city’s skyline. From this vantage, he could see a number of historic old buildings. He focused on a metal adornment atop a law office, which once was a dry goods store. The ornamental piece appeared to be a casket. The local legend is that the owner was terrified of floods, so when he died, his will directed that his body be placed inside the metal vault, high above the city.

“When will you be here?” Kelly quickly asked, out of breath.

“Uh… well, I was about to leave, and I thought I’d see if you needed anything,” Cooper said, watching a giant military cargo plane bank for a landing at Maxwell Air Force Base. Sensing something was wrong, he exhaled and asked, “What’s the matter, now?”

“You forgot that I have a Charity Ball meeting tonight. Didn’t ya? I can’t find my red dress. I asked you to pick it up at the cleaners before you left!”

“Is Piper there?” Cooper asked, ignoring the issue.

“Dammit, Cooper, I planned on wearin’ that dress tonight. I bought it just for that meeting!” Kelly exclaimed, exasperated that Cooper never seemed to value what was important to her.

“I’m sorry. Just wear somethin’ else. What about Piper?”

“She’s at ridin’ lessons. I gotta go pick her up in a few minutes.” Kelly paused for a moment and then continued, “I was so excited about wearin’ that dress,” as she looked at the grandfather clock in the den.

“Well…” Cooper rubbed his face and counted to five as
he carefully measured his response and continued, “I can run by the cleaners to see if they have it ready.”

Cooper felt no real contrition. It was as though he was merely going through whatever motions these were with Kelly.

“Do it and hurry up. I can’t be late,” Kelly ordered and hung up on him.

Cooper stared at the phone for a few seconds, listening to the tone, and then he replaced the handset onto the cradle.

Driving home, Cooper wondered what was next in his relationship with Kelly. He was struggling to consider it as a marriage. Aloud, he said, “So much for ‘becoming one.’ That ship’s sailed.”

Then the thought of Brooke’s body overpowered him, and his mood became as dark and foreboding as the brewing late afternoon thunderstorm.

J
enny jumped into her Honda and was halfway to her hotel before Gates knew that she had left the restaurant. Acting trashy was a part of her job for which she didn’t care, although she was really quite good at it. The upside was that they now had vital information that could save their lives or at least help them stay out of jail. She called Clarence at the first traffic light.

“Yo, baby,” Clarence answered on the second ring.

“I think I got it figured out. Our Client’s trying to devalue a business so it can be bought on the cheap. At least that’s what I think.”

“Come again?” Clarence then hollered at Jesse Ray to turn down the television. They were watching
Soul Train
reruns.

“There’s a chance for us to make a lot more money on this deal. I’ll explain when I get there. Give me twenty minutes. I’ll come to y’all’s room.”

“Hurry up. I can’t wait to hear this.”

Jenny Johnson smelled an opportunity. It would take a collaborative effort to flesh out the details, but she was excited by the prospects. The soundtrack from
Moulin Rouge
began, and she sang “Lady Marmalade” at the top of her lungs.

Clarence and Jesse Ray were waiting for her when she gave the secret knock. The big guy stooped down to look through the peephole. He smiled as he unlocked the door.

“Let’s hear it… this must be good.”

Jenny walked in and tossed her purse on the first bed.

“Damn you look hot!” Jesse Ray blurted, when he looked up from his computer screen. “That’s one fine skirt!”

Jenny ignored him and said, “There’s more money in this deal for us, somehow. I can smell it. We just gotta figure out how to get it.”

For the next hour Jenny recounted almost verbatim details about Gates, the agency, and the impending sale.

“So, there’s obviously a lot of money at stake. Millions, maybe. Apparently, it’s a very profitable advertising agency,” she concluded.

“Son of a…” Clarence exclaimed as he rubbed his chin.

Jesse Ray looked puzzled and commented, “This could be complicated. I’d rather steal IDs and credit card numbers.”

“Look, it means this job is worth a lot more to somebody than what we’re gettin’ paid. We just gotta figure out who that somebody is,” Clarence observed, and then took a sip of his drink.

“Right. Exactly,” Jenny said. “It’s gotta be related to this sale. If we’re talking several million dollars… well, we’ve all done a lot more for a whole lot less. We just gotta think of an angle to exploit, but at least we know what’s going on.”

“Any idea what that angle’s gonna be?” Jesse Ray asked.

“Nope, but I bet we can come up with one.”

“What’d we learn about our boy Cooper?” Clarence asked.

“Not much. He works all the time.”

Jenny was excited about increasing the score. She was getting close to having enough money saved to get out of the game, and this potentially improved gig might be her ticket.

She continued, “And Gates is, like I said, a piece of shit. He’s cocky, a womanizer, drinks like a fish; I’m pretty sure he does drugs too. And if I was a bettin’ woman, I’d take odds he’s up to his eyeballs in gamblin’ debt.”

“Damn, woman. You learned all this from one dinner?” Jesse Ray asked as he started to laugh. “You psychic?”

“Oh, and he’s got a ragin’ fantasy about strippers; I mean, if he didn’t… he does now.”

“I don’t even wanna know what that means,” Clarence commented as he slowly shook his head.

“My whole life I’ve been around really screwed-up folks, so I’ve learned to pay attention to what’s goin’ on around me and to what’s said… and, most importantly, what’s
not
said. And I listen to my gut. If somethin’ doesn’t feel right, then it ain’t right.”

Clarence said, “Well, your skills really paid off tonight.”

“Before we head too far down the path of workin’ this job for hidden money-makin’ opportunities, we gotta get the ball rollin’ tonight on our primary target. Okay?” Jesse Ray said and then paused, looking the others in the eyes.

Both Clarence and Jenny simply nodded since Jesse Ray didn’t talk much, but when he did, they knew that they needed to listen.

“Cool,” Jesse Ray continued, “I’m gonna wait till after two in the mornin’, so nobody’s on their system, and then
I’ll worm my way onto the Tower Agency’s Internet server. I’ll leave a string of postdated e-mails that will be very difficult for him to explain. I’m also gonna make his computer’s history show that he’s visited several websites on kidnappin’ and abduction. I even got a few sites on coverin’ up murder, so it’ll appear he’s been researchin’ and plannin’ this whole thing for a while. You know, like he’s been studyin’ what other criminals have done. Learnin’ from their mistakes. Maybe I can tie it all together as an insurance payoff. But, to sell it to the cops, we gotta plant some papers in his office.”

Jesse Ray paused and stared at Jenny.

“What are you sayin’?” Jenny asked.

“You gotta go back in tomorrow and hide a few file folders in his desk or somewhere,” Clarence directed, pointing at a folder on the dresser opposite the beds. “You didn’t burn a bridge tonight, did ya?”

“No,” she said with a devious smile. “But I’m pretty sure I set it on fire.”

Jenny’s confident air told the men she could handle it.

2
^ND
FRIDAY

A
fter tailing Cooper from outside of his subdivision to his children’s school on the opposite end of town from his office, Jenny parked on the same street and rode the same elevator to the eighth floor of the Tower building as she had done the day before. She had on another new, expensive business suit; this time it was dark green. She carried a black leather briefcase containing several pieces of evidence she was to plant in Cooper’s office. Today, however, she was nervous. The prospect of running into Gates wasn’t pleasant.

Jesse Ray had been very specific about what she needed to accomplish. He had successfully penetrated the advertising agency’s computer system via a hole in its server’s firewall. He had planted ten e-mails on Cooper’s computer that would certainly point to his guilt. He had also bookmarked over thirty different websites dedicated to specific criminal activity. Any law enforcement agency’s computer technician wouldn’t have a problem finding the damning data. Cooper could not survive the scrutiny. To cover the bases, Jesse Ray
wanted to leave physical evidence of these search results to quickly and convincingly connect the dots.

Stepping through the Tower Agency’s outer office door, Jenny once again greeted Mrs. Riley. She held her briefcase with both hands and bowed slightly forward.

“Hello, Mrs. Riley. It’s me again, Meagan, with the building’s insurance carrier,” Jenny said with a sweet smile.

“Yes, of course. How are you today?” Mrs. Riley asked.

“I’m doing just fine, thanks, but… I forgot to take some photos yesterday. I’m sorry. It’ll only take a minute. Do ya mind?”

“Sure, dear. Make yourself at home.”

Jenny walked away just as the telephone rang. She took a deep breath as she headed straight to Cooper’s office. The door was open, and the lights were off. She eased inside and set down her briefcase. After Jesse Ray studied the photos that Jenny had actually taken the day before, he pointed out an old antique minnow bucket on a shelf. He had instructed her to hide an envelope of notes inside the old pail. Jenny quickly and carefully raised the lid and inserted a cache of incriminating evidence.

She walked over to a filing cabinet and quickly checked all of the drawers, looking for one that was mostly full. When she settled on the one, about halfway back, she stuffed in a manila folder containing twenty sheets of paper. As she was closing the drawer, she stopped, reached in, and pulled up the file folder so that it was only slightly visible above the rest.

Jenny eased to the office door to listen. The only sound she could hear was the receptionist talking to someone about a
Golden Girls
episode that she had watched last night. Jenny quickly went to Cooper’s desk and opened the top drawer on the right side. Quietly rummaging through his belongings,
she found a leather-covered checkbook and opened it. Printed on the checks was Cooper’s driver’s license number. She tore out the last check and slipped it into her jacket pocket.
You gotta be kiddin’ me. That was too easy
.

Jenny smoothed her business suit, pushed her hair behind her ears, grabbed her briefcase, and confidently walked out of Cooper’s office toward the elevators. Total elapsed time: three minutes—much faster than she expected. She politely thanked the receptionist.

“Bye, dear,” Mrs. Riley sang out.

Walking through the Tower Agency’s glass doors, Jenny exhaled deeply. Her adrenalin was pumping. She pushed the down button. A moment later, she pushed it again. She unconsciously tapped her right foot as she watched the elevator’s digital readout. When the bell sounded, there was a two-second pause before the door opened. There stood Gates Ballenger III with a stupid look on his face that instantly changed to one of welcome surprise.

“It’s you!” he said, stepping forward, holding out his arms as if inviting her to hug.

Jenny took a reflexive step backward and then tried to regain her composure.

“Yes! Hey, I came back to find you because I felt
so
bad about havin’ to leave like I did.” She tried to sound sincere.

“What happened?” Gates asked, willing to believe anything.

“When I was in the restroom, I got a call from my mom; she’s not doing so well, and it upset me… and I left so I could talk to her. It’s a long story. I’m so sorry that I just left you. Please forgive me!” she said, batting her eyes. She even managed a tear.

Gates stared with deep concern. “I do. I do. I understand. I knew it had to be something serious.” Gates smiled. After a
moment’s pause, he leaned toward her and with a conspiratorial tone said, “I’ve got your panties in my pocket.”