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David picked up his own sheaf of papers and looked through them. When he found the one he wanted, he looked at her.
“Read those off to me, one at a time, would you?”
“Okay. Lerner Enterprises.”
“Lerner Enterprises, Louisia
Alex glanced at him, then looked back at her sheet. “Daisy Fabrics.”
“Mississippi. Believe it or not Teddy Rushford manages the plant.”
This time the glance became a hard gaze before Alex once again read from her sheet. “Winston Company, Inc.”
“Winston, Winston …” David ran his finger down the page. “Oh, Winston. Yeah. Boca Raton, Florida. Edward Samuels is the director of sales.” He looked up at his partner. “He also is a shareholder in Kittredge.”
Alex dropped the sheet. “Okay, so they do business only with people who own shares in the company.”
“And that brings us back to the fact that Kittredge makes no money. Why own stock in a company that doesn’t make a profit?”
Her exasperation was evident in Alex’s face and voice. “First thing Monday morning I’m putting in for a transfer back to the Research department.”
“Why? You’ll still find stuff like this.”
“Yeah, but there I just had to find it. I didn’t have to interpret it.”
*******************************************************
Alex hadn’t forgotten that she owed her former co-workers lunch that day, so she and David gathered up a few records, ordered several large pizzas from their favorite pizza parlor, and headed for the Research department.
“David, Alex. Okay, where’s lunch?”
Alex laughed and hugged her friend. “It’s on its way. I hope Pizza from Mario’s is okay.”
“Perfect. Most of the gang are in the conference room already. I was just finishing up a few things.”
David dropped into a chair near the researcher. “Jen, we were hoping you could help us for just a minute with something.”
“What is it?”
“We need you to try to find the corporate finances for a few companies.”
“What companies?”
“We have a list here.” David handed her the sheet of suppliers. “We specifically need to know what dealings they’ve had with a company named Kittredge.”
Je
Alex put a hand on her shoulder. “Je
“Maybe.” She gri
Alex and David exchanged shocked stares. “What?”
“Oh, come on, you two. I’m kidding. Of course I’ll get to it today.”
Alex noticed a distinctly relieved look on David’s face. “Thanks, Jen.”
“No problem. I should have a few minutes right after lunch.”
“Great. We really appreciate it.”
“Sure.” She gri
David stood. “Jen, one of these days someone’s go
“Probably in the smaller conference room getting screwed.” She threw an arm around David’s shoulder. “Care to join me?”
Alex had to smile at her friend’s antics. Everyone knew she was all bark and no bite.She loved to flirt and play, but she was always careful in who she teased.
“Come on, Jen, don’t tease the married man, okay?”
“Oh, all right.” She left David’s side and went to Alex’s instead. “You’re not married, Alex. Can I tease you?” She slid an arm around Alex’s waist.
“Sure. And if you do a really good job for me on the rest of this case, I’ll even give you that kiss.”
“Ooooh. Now, that’s an incentive.”
*******************************************************
Alex waited until the lunch party in the conference room was in full swing, and then took her friend aside.
“Je
“Sure thing, Alex. I’ll help you.”
“No, Jen. This is something I can’t share with anyone. It’s important.”
Jen looked at her friend’s serious face. “Okay. There’ll be no one in the area now. Why don’t I walk you over there? I can be there if you need help with something, but I’ll stay away from the computer so I can’t see what you’re doing.”
Alex hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“Alex, you’ll me to get you into the system anyway. Your password won’t work anymore.”
The agent had to admit that was true. “Alright. Let’s go.”
A few minutes later, Je
The computer told her that no such account currently existed.
“No kidding.”
She told it to search under closed accounts. The computer replied that it had found the requested account, but access to the information was restricted.
“Damn it.”
“Problem?” Je
“The account I need is in a restricted access area, and I need a code to get in.”
Je
Alex stared at the blinking light on the computer, knowing she wasn’t going to get anywhere on her own. She probably wouldn’t have had a problem when she worked in Research, but now, without having full access to codes, and code breaking programs, she could do little.
The decision made, she stood up and motioned for Je
After several minutes of typing, and several more of waiting, the computer acknowledged receipt of the access code, and let them into the information. Je
“Jen, is this symbol what I think it is?”
The researcher looked at the character Alex showed her. “It’s the symbol for a Swiss Bank Account. Is there an asterisk or an ampersand by it?”
“An asterisk beside this one, and there’s a US bank code with an ampersand. If I remember my codes correctly, that means the money in this account was transferred into it from Switzerland, and it went out to a bank here in the states. Correct?”
“That’s right.”
“Okay. It looks like I’m going to need your help a little more. I hate to do this, but I have to.” She looked at her friend. “I’m serious about the secrecy on this, Jen. No one can know about this.”
“Not a word, Alex. Show me what you need.”
“I need a peek at the Swiss Account.”
Jen stared at her. “You don’t want much, do you, Alex?”
“Just the answers, Jen. Just the answers.”
*******************************************************
David and Alex took their results to the control center, joining Mark and Ben, who had just finished their session with the younger Wilford. The four of them tried to piece the puzzle together.
“Okay, let’s ignore recent events for a few minutes and concentrate on what we know about this company.”
Alex wrote ‘Kittredge’ in the middle of the paper they had tacked up. “From there, we can co
“Now, thanks to David’s research, we can co
Ben pulled a chair out and swung a leg over the seat. “So, we know there’re business links. What else?”
“Well, for one thing, the budgets I’ve checked for Kittredge don’t add up. They make no profit.”
“You told us that, Alex. And while I certainly wouldn’t want to invest in a company like that, it’s not against the law.” Mark winced as he brushed a lock of hair away from his still bruised eye.