Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
Easy as pie. That’s what it had been. First thing Monday morning, Reese had put in a phone call to Ashton Chatterton, dodging a few assistants along the way, before she had finally been put through to him directly.
Chatterton had recognized her name, he’d said, as the charming young woman he’d met at his son’s wedding.
After that, it had simply been a matter of explaining to him that she had lost her job, split from her fiancé, and was in dire straits. Did he have a job, anything, something horrible if need be, that she could do?
In discussing her fabricated qualifications, it had been mutually agreed upon that she should work as a personal assistant to the assistant to Chatterton’s assistant.
Her responsibilities would include making copies, fetching coffee, and best of all, acting as a runner in all of Chatterton’s meetings.
If someone had a phone call or a message or needed a copy of something, or if the orange juice and muffins needed replenishing, she would be there to take care of it. Listening to every single word Chatterton and the Delco board were saying.
Starting today.
Knight would be amazed at her ingenuity. And possibly pissed off. But he would get over it.
She hoped.
This was her chance to do something, instead of just waiting around hoping for Knight to toss her a bone every other week about the case.
With Phillip and Jeannie Chatterton off on their honeymoon, there wouldn’t be any reason for Ashton to discover that she wasn’t really Jeannie’s cousin. By the time the happy couple got back from the south of France, Ashton would be well on his way to being indicted.
At nine A.M., she was rubbing her hands on her thrice-worn suit, which was getting a little ripe, she had to admit. She was going to have to hit the mall and grab a few mix and match office items to wear.
She nodded. “Sure, I’ve got it. No problem.” Jennifer Magic, the assistant to Chatterton’s assistant, and her new boss, was looking at her sternly.
“Are you sure you can handle this? The gentlemen’s demands can come fast and furious in these meetings.”
What, like she couldn’t handle dumping coffee into their cups and fetching them markers to draw their dumb charts? She’d gone to college.
Piece of cake.
Two hours later she wanted to throttle every last idiot on the Delco board. If more one guy asked her for coffee prefaced by the term sweetie or honey, she was going to kick him.
This was why she’d never gone into food service. She hated people.
It didn’t escape her attention either that she was the only female in the room. There wasn’t a single female executive at Delco Pharmaceutical. At least none that were being included in this meeting.
“Reese, sweetie.” Ashton flagged her over to the head of the table. “Can you ask Jennifer to send lunch in?”
“Sure.” Reese squeezed her lips together and hoped it resembled a smile.
Her feet hurt from walking back and forth across the room twelve thousand times as various executives snapped and waved her over, and she had to go to the bathroom so bad she just knew she was causing future bladder damage.
Which was amazing, since she hadn’t had a sip of anything to drink since seven that morning and was probably on the verge of total dehydration.
Never again would she complain about interviewing reality show cast-offs. This fetch and carry job was much worse.
Which would be fine, if she was actually learning anything useful, but so far they had discussed nothing but quarterly profits. Even the subtle wink she’d given the CW to let him know she was on his side had been met with a blank stare.
Heading for the door, she called out to the room, “Does anyone else need anything while I’m gone? Tell me now before I go.”
There was a stunned silence, then someone laughed. “I’m fine.” Then he turned to Chatterton and said with a smirk, “Like the new assistant, Ashton.”
“Reese is a family friend who needed a job. We take care of our own here at Delco, don’t we?” Chatterton’s voice was full of innuendo and Reese wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by it.
The only thing she was sure of was that when the Feds came to haul Ashton Chatterton off, she wasn’t going to be the least bit sorry.
Derek had spent a nerve-racking day filling out 302 reports of that morning’s conversation with Markson, hoping the guy hadn’t choked in the meeting, or acted suspicious. Or worse, gotten caught.
When six rolled around, he was waiting anxiously for him at the Holiday Inn again, pacing and looking out the window for a sign of his CW every five minutes. By the time Markson knocked on the door, Derek felt five years older.
But Markson smiled, came inside, and said, “I’ve got it. Everything went without a hitch.”
“That’s great, Stan. That’s great. Good job.”
Markson was already removing his jacket to have the tape taken out by Maddock, and Derek heaved a huge sigh of relief. Step three accomplished.
Now with a little luck, in the coming weeks there would actually be something useful. Enough to justify the Bureau following Delco to New Zealand for the big price-fixing meeting that was scheduled in two weeks’ time.
Given that the FBI would need the cooperation of the New Zealand government and the hotel the meetings were taking place in, they would need these Delco tapes to show intent to price-fix at that meeting.
Derek was convinced that’s what the meeting was all about. Knowing the strict nature of the U.S. antitrust laws, it would make sense to meet outside the country when it came time to discuss actual prices and market share.
Maddock already had the file set to listen to as Derek escorted Markson to the door. “You did great, Stan.”
Markson left, looking relieved and tired.
“Markson said there’s a full eight hours on this,” Maddock said. “Are we going to try to listen to the whole thing tonight?”
“I think we have to. If there’s nothing there, we’re going to have to lean on Markson to guide the conversation around to New Zealand. We don’t have much time.” Derek thought about Reese and their plans for that night and experienced a big wave of regret.
It wasn’t the first time his job had interfered with his personal life, but he’d never felt it so acutely. In his pants.
And if he was honest, he was disappointed he’d have to miss her company. Reese made him laugh, something he hadn’t been doing a whole lot lately.
Maddock reached for the phone. “Then I’m ordering a pizza.”
“Sounds good.” Maybe, with a whole boatload of luck, they would find something early on and he could still make it to pick Reese up at eight, according to plan.
No such luck. Even fast-forwarding as they munched on greasy pizza, Derek and Maddock weren’t even a third of the way through the meeting an hour later. The only thing they’d discovered was that Delco executives liked to talk. A lot. About nothing.
“Jesus, this is boring,” Maddock complained. “And where the hell is White, by the way? How did she get out of this?”
“She had a previous appointment. Something personal.” Derek listened to Ashton Chatterton rambling on and on about how he was satisfied with profits, but there was room for growth.
“What? Did she have like a date or something? You let her off the hook for a date?”
Derek rubbed his temples and looked across the table at Maddock. What the hell was this all about? “I don’t know if it was a date. She said she had an appointment.” He pinned Maddock with a hard stare. “So what exactly is going on between you and White?”
Maddock leaned back in his chair, tipping it off the floor. “Whoa! Nothing. Whoever said there was anything going on between me and White? I don’t date women who hate me.” He wiped his fingers on a paper napkin and looked really guilty.
Derek grinned. “Nobody said anything about you two dating, you ass. I just meant you’re always at each other’s throats and I was wondering what gave. But now I’ve got it. You have the hots for White.”
“Shit.” Maddock took a swill of Coke and looked annoyed. “I don’t have the hots for her. I can’t stand her. She’s one of those man-haters.”
Laughing, Derek threw his own balled up napkin in Maddock’s direction. “Yeah, right. You can’t stand that she thinks you’re an idiot.”
Maddock didn’t laugh with him. “Yeah, you wait. You’ll get your turn with some woman who annoys the hell out of you.”
“I already have. I’m divorced, remember?”
Then his laughter cut off as he heard a really familiar voice sail across the computer that was playing, clear as a bell and full of sass.
“…else need anything while I’m gone? Tell me now before I go.”
Jesus H Christ. “Play that again!” He swallowed the wad of pizza clumping in his mouth and prayed he was hearing things.
“What?” Maddock reached for the mouse and moved the cursor back. “What’s the matter?”
Only everything. Heart thumping, hands squeezing the end of the table, stomach in throat, Derek waited for the voice again.
“Does anyone else need anything while I’m gone? Tell me now before I go.”
That voice belonged to Reese Hampton. The woman he was going to throttle, slowly and with total enjoyment. Just what in the hell was she doing in the room with Delco executives?
“Like the new assistant, Ashton.”
“Reese is a family friend who needed a job. We take care of our own here at Delco, don’t we?”
“Oh, my God!” he exploded, jumping out of his chair and jamming his hands into his pockets.
“What’s the matter?” Maddock asked. “Who is that woman?”
“That,” Derek pressed a hand to his chest, wondering if he was having a heart attack. “That is my girlfriend.”
“Oh, shit,” was Maddock’s stunned reply.
Which about summed it up.