Chapter 13: Shopping List

Carmen Dominguez – Monday, June 22nd, 2015

The parking structure elevator stopped on the ground floor. That wasn't uncommon; it was a big office building. Two men and three women in smart suits were waiting. I shuffled back and smiled at the man who met my eyes. I wanted to run. I knew this man. I had found this man. If Sara hadn't run from this man, I wouldn't have met Matthew.

He had used Dalton West. The charity still used Dalton West. It was an easy place to look for someone who might be able to replace Him. Lewis Cooke was a junior partner in the firm. He was a solidly built man of forty. His jet black hair left home every morning neat, ordered and returned every night a crazy rat's nest. The rest of him never gave him away. His fingernails were immaculate. His suit cost as much as the clothes of the other four elevator passengers. He smiled at me and I smiled back.

The other man in Cooke's party pressed the sixteenth floor despite the button already being lit up. He was a dark complected man with flecks of gray in his hair. He seemed a few years younger than Cooke and I recognized him from the firm but had wrote him off as a possible replacement months ago. A gold wedding band rested on his finger. A superior man didn't marry. When he took a wife, a husband was left empty handed. The lawyer in the elevator wore a blue suit that looked like he worked hard in it. He was the only one not holding a black attache. His was brown with gold finish. The letters HD were monogramed near the lock.

"Good morning, Ms Dominguez," beamed the eldest woman. Adrienne Camberley was a senior partner in the team. Having her coming to the offices was going to be a large bill for Gabrielle. She was wearing a nice black pantsuit over a rose blouse. Her newly touched up strawberry blonde hair was tied up in a severe bun. She looked serious and her genuine smile just made her seem more confident, "It's lovely to see you again."

"Seems like you brought the whole army with you today," I shook her hand hello.

"Oh, yes Ms Collins was in a panic so we decided get everything quickly in order," She laughed, "You know Rickie, of course?"

"Of course, good morning Mrs Faraday," She had suggested the other white woman. She was a contemporary to Adrienne, maybe half a decade younger. She was dressed for the warm weather but still professionally in a light blouse and slacks. Adrienne looked regal, Rickie looked matronly. I did know her. She was the face we were most likely to see at the charity or whenever I went over to Dalton West offices myself. We exchanged hellos.

"Well these two gentleman are Lewis Cooke and Herb Dalton," I shook hands with her junior partners, "And finally my paralegal, Maxine."

Maxine was an adorable woman. A recent college graduate, I expected. She was Chinese and quite attractive. She mimicked the easy confidence of the four lawyers around her, however she wasn't used to it yet and after a moment her facade faltered. I immediately evaluated her for Matthew. Her hair had been lightened and was cut in a cute pageboy cut around her face. She had a golden complexion that matched her fair brown eyes. She wore a bit too much eye makeup and was dressed in a nice floral peasant blouse and a black wrap skirt. She had on the cutest strappy sandals. The seafoam on her fingernails and toenails would look great on Sara. I smiled broadly as I shook my final hand. The elevator was just slowing to a stop then.

"You're here for Gabrielle? I'll lead you to her office." Herb stepped aside to let me off the elevator after Rickie and Adrienne. Lewis and Maxine followed with Dalton of Dalton West taking up the rear. The sixteenth floor was divided into four. Forefront Foundation took the northwest corner of the floor. We could have improved the view but it was a nice office.

"Hello hello," June greeted us. She was seated at reception. Her concealer didn't hide the bags under her eyes or the stress effects on her brown hair. I walked to her and made the introductions. June stood up and walked around to lead the legal team to Gabrielle's office at the end of the hall.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Carmen."

"And you too," My skin crawled as I smiled for Lewis. When the front was empty, I huffed and puffed and grabbed the edge of reception's desk. I closed my eyes. I couldn't defend the feeling of spiders crawling up and down my spine any better than I could shake them.

"Carmen! Earth to Carmen!" I popped out of my funk when Whitney laid her hand on my shoulder. She had been mine to give to Him. A beautiful curvy black woman in a silk blouse and gray pants. I licked my lips and took a deep breath. I couldn't imagine why but He had not shown any interest in her bright eyes, caramel skin, wide hips and big breasts. Matthew was more appreciative of a beautiful woman. Matthew, Matthew, Matthew. I stood up straight, "Are you feeling alright, girl?"

"I feel much better," I looked her up and down with a mock lecherousness, "Now that you're here."

"You goof," She snorted and laughed. She was an easy laugh. She had made coming to work therapeutic the last few months. I flashed all of my teeth as I realized what I was going to get to give her to my superior man yet, "Anyway, I have to tell you about the date I went on this weekend."

"Yes, yes you do." She grinned as we walked into the offices. Gabrielle's door was hung open but the third conference room had its door shut and it's curtains pulled. The smell of coffee and June's perfume greeted us in the fourth conference room. This was never used as such. The office was just reception, four conference rooms, two offices and the half closet sized washroom. The fourth conference room had been refitted as the filing room and our break room. Whitney grinned to see June, "Good you're here, now Carmen doesn't have to tell the story four times."

"What story?" June perked up as she dumped her third sugar into a St. Thomas resort mug.

"I went on a hot date this weekend!" I said as Whitney handed me my ladybug mug and she picked up her bland glass mug.

"Oh! How hot!"

"I might need a new mattress," I boasted pouring the two cups of coffee. Whitney took cream, I, in a silent pun to myself, had mine black.

"It's about time! I know you had a weird thing with—Well, I'm glad to see you've moved on." June grinned, "So tell me about this girl!"

"Matthew's not a girl," I grinned.

"Oh, I had this idea you were..."

"Experienced? Open? Gorgeous? Insatiable?"

"Most of those, yeah," Whitney chuckled. We all sat down around the small hardwood table. The girls opened their ears and sipped their morning pick me ups.

"So I met Matthew through Sara," I looked at the closed conference room across the hall. "He's a bit of a dork but wow! Just wow!"

"I need more adjectives and euphemisms than that," Tutted Whitney.

"And you shall have them," I told my story, truncating Matthew's business and status from the story. Sara didn't appear. I talked Matthew up, he was who he had decided to be, a caterer, not who he was at the moment, a dishwasher. I curled a couple toes and I got June to squirm in her dampening panties. Whitney laughed and prodded and dug out things about Matthew I hadn't totally picked up on yet. I had practice hiding Him from prying questioners and I needed all of it to keep my story right versus Whitney's curiosity. Finally, I was getting to kissing him goodbye that morning when the hideous phone rang.

"Oh crap!" June eyed the clock and bolted to reception. She had it on the fourth ring. Whitney and I watched the closed conference room in case Gabrielle was coming out to tear a hole in us. Technically, Nadine was our boss but Gabrielle was our superior and with Ms. Donaldson MIA. I hoped alive.

"Sounds like you had a great time. Are you seeing him again?"

"As often and as soon as I can," I smiled and drank my coffee that had cooled just a little too much. I put the cup on the table and pushed it away. Whitney swallowed the bottom of her cup.

"How about you? Are you seeing anyone?"

"I reconnected with a high school friend last year. We've been on again off again ever since."

"On again?"

"Off again," Whitney laughed, "But I've got the need to call Argent after listening to you."

"Well if you want to try something new, maybe I can hook you up?"

"Does Matthew have friends?"

"A few," I let out a long smile. I didn't think for a second I'd ever give a girl to Joseph, Craps, or I forgot the other names. Maybe there was a Malcolm. I did recall that one brunette girl. Harriet, she was perfect for Matthew. Her friend Zelda too.

"Well I could use more than a few," Whitney laughed but then she met my eyes and started waving hr hands before her, "Kidding, kidding, don't you dare try and set that up!"

"You don't know what you're missing."

"I'm OK with that," She decided.

"Oh, I mentioned the charity to him as he has a college age sister," I hinted.

"Oh, sure. I've got openings all week if you want me to interview her," Whitney and I did our interviews. There wasn't too much required to get Forefront grant money and scholarships. You had to be a woman and you had to show some sort of initiative. Extracurriculars, grades, just a good interview. We got a lot of young women money they needed. Of course, sometimes an interviewed girl would be swept up by Him. There was a lot of good work done here in spite of the trap.

"Perfect! I'll pass it along," I leaned in and raised an eyebrow, "Should I pass along your name to any of his friends?"

"Tell you what, get some pictures next time you cross paths with them and I'll decide," She laughed, "I don't like a completely blind date."

"Fair enough," I looked at the clock, "We should probably get to work."

"Yeah," Whitney shrugged, "What do you have today?"

"I have a few investors to call and maybe I'll put together another fundraiser."

"Summer's not the best time," She rebutted as she stood. She smoothed down her slacks and turned to look at Gabrielle's closed meeting again.

"I hope I can catch up on my paperwork before my 10 30 gets here," She set off to the door and I took a step around the table. I knelt down and picked a silver chain bracelet out from my pants pocket. I watched Whitney reach the door before I asked.

"Hey, I think you dropped this," I was standing up holding the bracelet as I turned around.

"No, that doesn't look like mine," Whitney showed off her big dangly earrings and broad chain web necklace. She wore a lot of turquoise, black stones and gold.

"You sure? Who else could it belong to?" I dangled it over my left pinky.

"Maybe it's June's?" Whitney raised an eyebrow but she had already realized why that couldn't be as I explained it.

"Please, Gabrielle had a fit when she wore a bauble that Gabrielle hadn't preapproved."

"Yeah, that girl is nutters," Whitney nodded, "June probably deserves a raise."

"Hey! Me first," I laughed and so did Whitney.

"Olive's? Nadine's?" She suggested.

"Yeah, where is Nadine? I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks."

"That's true. We should call her again," We agreed.

"Yeah, and Olive won't be in before lunch," If it had been here all weekend the cleaners would have left it on reception or pocketed it, "Anyway, I think we ruled out pretty much everybody except Gabrielle herself."

"Good point," Whitney raised an eyebrow challenging me, "I guess it is mine."

"Yeah, I've already got these," I showed off the pair of flat gold bracelets I wore on each wrist. She smiled and held out her left wrist to me. We both knew she would ask Gabrielle and Olive about it later. It wouldn't matter by then. I looked in Whitney's eyes as I closed the clasp under her wrist. I couldn't wait to get Matthew out here and surprise him.

Lewis Cooke – Monday, June 22nd, 2015

"We protect your inheritance! We look after it not you. We have our own investigators. The work you're doing is direct meddling which gives the opposition even more firing power especially if they bring a jury in on this. You've been told all of this before. How could you be so stupid?"

Camberley was chewing out the client. It was a thing of beauty that. It was like no one had ever truly put the girl in her place. Dalton handed me the surveillance photos. I looked over as Faraday poured over the paperwork we needed signed and Maxine smiled back at me. I didn't have to be here. I could have been prepping for the big waterfront deal. I'd be knee deep in that later today. I sighed and flipped through the pictures. They were long shot without a proper photographer but they were clear. The little cunt and that Latin elevator piece, Carmen according to little cunt's phone. There were two others in the photo: the prick from the tower and some fucking teenager. Clearly, the prick was the deciding factor. Thankfully, no one but me had a bead on him. They'd be grilling Carmen as soon as Collins pulled back from the case. I looked up at Dalton and he shrugged. Idiot.

I thought about home and the three bitches I had collected. Bryn and Lucy were coming nicely but I still had to secure Nadine in the en suite everyday. She was also supposed to be here at the charity. Lucy was perfect. She cooked, cleaned, fucked and listened. Bryn was more guarded, which was also nice, none of them were very talky. I had dragged a few secrets out of each of them. Lucy responded to the carrot, Nadine to the stick and Bryn just tried to surprise me. I was looking forward to today being a bust. I had a nice belt that really matched Nadine's eyes. I looked back down at the surveillance photos.

The teenager bothered me. The little cunt's phone had been canceled but only after I had tracked down the other women. Henrietta and Annette had chosen pills and a noose. Fawn preferred a knife and a warm bathtub but she had been saved. They had her under scrutiny at a care facility in Dartmouth. I had tracked Wanda back to her parents' home. She grew up in some shithole town near the Prince Edward Island ferry. I had too many commitments to up and leave without some form of guarantee. I had no reason to expect she was any more informed than Nadine.

The last bitch, Olive, was Collins's mother. That's why I had attached myself to this team. Dalton was eager to have me on. I had made his career after all. He owed me and knew it. Faraday scoffed at my presence but she was competent. I almost regretted stepping on her toes. Camberley wanted me racking up more billables on the Highfield deals but that was a dead end. I wanted a win. And to the victor goes the spoils. I wanted in that mansion.

The teenager bothered me. I had put together a pretty comprehensive list of the Ishmael Rawlins one night stands from the last six or seven years. The girl in the photos matched none of my leads. She confirmed something though. Whatever Rawlins had, whatever gave him his edge, it had been inherited down through Carmen or the little cunt. That's why the client was in her twist. That's why I didn't hand the photos back to Maxine until she asked the third time.

"Cooke?" I looked up to an impatient Faraday and handed the photos off.

"So what's next?"

"We get to work. We send over our auditors to the mansion and figure out what they might have taken." Dalton declared the obvious. He was transparent, better at the customer service side of the job. Imagine if he knew the law as well!

The thing is, checking the mansion, it shouldn't matter. Whatever I wanted, it was gone before those four arrived. I was certain of it. Gabrielle Collins's guilt ridden face suggested she was worried about what she had taken from the mansion. Camberley was about to ream her for that too. I could see it. She wanted something else as well. I guess I would need the list. It was something other than what was taken.

"I'm going to talk to the PI," I announced. Faraday raised an eyebrow, a similar thought maybe.

"No, Gabrielle overreacted," Camberley shut me down. I steeled my impatience with her, "Thank you for backing us up but there's too much talent here for the work we need done. I want you back with Highfield and Mirimatsu."

"Of course," I'd dig at Maxine tomorrow and get what I wanted. Unlike Gabrielle, I understood the value of patience, "It was a pleasure to meet you Ms Collins."

"Yeah, you as well," She nodded stiffly. She had her back up because of Camberley and it was just going to make the girl stupid. I approved. I collected my briefcase from the back of the room, "You need me. You come get me."

"I always do, Cooke," Camberley smiled. At least one of the senior partners appreciated me. Though it didn't matter. Phillip West decided who made senior partner and when. I swear to fuck when they pick Dalton next, nepotism or no, I'll have some words.

I squeezed Faraday's shoulder as I walked past. If I was picked second to her, I'd be disappointed but I'd hear an argument for it. Still, she seemed locked in the same quagmire as me. Maxine grinned and Dalton gave a flippant nod. I closed the conference room door behind me.

I had a moment and I walked across the offices until I found her. Carmen Dominguez was sitting in the non corner office. There were two desks pushed up against each other but the second, with a brass name plate that read "Whitney St John" was empty. I rapped on the door and she turned and flashed me a one minute gesture.