Tom awoke from his morning nap to the sound of a knock on his door. He sat up quickly and rubbed his eyes before inviting the person on the other side in.
"Morning, sleepy head." Sara said
"Morning." Tom grumbled as he yawned
Sara walked around the desk and sat up on the edge of it.
"You have too much fun last night?" she laughed
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Uh oh. What happened?"
"Dean uh….came on to me last night when I got home, and I don't know if telling him now wasn't the right time was smart or really stupid." Tom answered
"Well, he is just getting over a serious relationship. Do you wanna be a rebound fuck?"
"No, but I also wouldn't have minded a little action either." Tom sighed before putting his head on his desk. "I don't know what to do."
Sara ran her fingers through his hair soothingly, and shook her head.
"I don't know what to tell you, buddy, other than if you really want him, then go for it, but tread lightly."
"Yeah yeah." Tom mumbled, closing his eyes.
"Well, listen, I gotta go work on this missing girl case. I need to do some investigating into her work life and I just can't put my finger on it but there seems to be a lot more to this than what her man was telling me. I won't be in the office for at least the rest of the day, but if you need me call me."
Sara gave Tommy's hair one last run through before patting his back and walking toward his office door.
"Sara?" Tom raised his head slightly.
"Yeah?" Sara turned back to him.
"Be careful, ok?"
"Always. Later, babe."
Tom laid his pounding head back down on his desk and closed his eyes again, hoping to be able to get another nap in.
…
Sara grabbed the case file off of her desk; putting it in her black fringe backpack before grabbing her M9 pistol out of the drawer and putting it in the holster under her leather jacket. She left the office and hopped on her bike and drove off toward downtown. She didn't have many leads on this Emma girl, but she figured she'd start at her last place of employment in hopes they would have some answers.
…
Tom slept for another twenty minutes before he was interrupted again. This time, it was everyone's favorite Swiss Superman. (Office nickname)
"Tom, are you awake?"
Tom rolled off the couch and pulled himself to his feet using his desk chair. "If I say no, will you go away?"
"You wanted to go over some numbers from Likansuk?" Cesaro was all business at the office. Tom could not even recall the last time he'd made a joke.
"Yeah." Tom pointed to the desktop, cluttered with paperwork. "I got three sets of financial statements and I don't know where to even look."
"Three? How did you get three?" Cesaro asked, awe apparent in his mildly-accented voice.
"One from my source, one from the IRS, and one from the company website. I bought some stock when I took the case just so I could check them out. They're not publicly traded, but the company is still worth a tidy sum."
Cesaro snickered. "I knew you were a connoisseur of porn, but I never thought you'd buy into it."
"Dude, I own one share." Tom beckoned for him to sit down.
"Sure, boss." Cesaro replied "None of my business, anyway. I still just work for you."
"That you do."
"Now, when you said your source gave you a set, what exactly did he give you?"
"Oh God… everything! Revenue streams, projections, quarterly profit/loss statements…"
"That's all good. But do you have internal financials? Bank statements? Ledger accounts?" Cesaro asked
"They're in this shitpile somewhere." Tom responded
"Let's start there. Let's match up every deposit, withdrawal, and bank transfer that we can. We'll start with the general ledger and then work our way to the sales, accounts payable, and accounts receivables files." Cesaro stated "Everything should match up. If something doesn't, we'll take details and go from there."
Tom nodded his head, feeling a little embarrassed for not thinking of that himself. But that was why he hired Cesaro away from a top-ten Swiss bank to work in the agency.
…
Sara pulled up to one of the hundreds of strip clubs that inhabited Sin City and got off her bike. She sighed before heading toward the door. She hated strip clubs, not that she was against them, but she just didn't see the point in them. Look but don't touch? Not her cup of tea.
She walked in and looked around, attempting to find a dancer that wasn't busy with a customer. She saw a short blonde girl with pink tips on her pigtails and walked up to her.
"Hi there!" the girl's overly cheerful disposition instantly annoyed Sara but she forced a smile "What can I do for you? Lap dance?"
"No, actually. I just have a few questions.." Sara was cut short by the smaller girl in front of her, who instantly copped an attitude
"Are you a cop?"
"No.." Sara was cut off again
"Then you can pay for a service or leave, you're wasting my time and money"
"What's your name, Spitfire?" Sara sighed
"Alexa. Alexa Bliss" The girl replied
"Well, Alexa...I'll make you a deal. I'll pay you for a dance, if you answer my questions."
Alexa twirled one of her pigtails for a minute, thinking about the offer, and nodded to a chair.
"Why not"
Sara sat in the chair, and watched as Alexa bent over in front of her, spreading her legs as "Partition" by Beyonce began to play.
"Ok, first question. Do you know a girl who used to work here by the name of Emma Dashwood?"
Alexa did a twirl and writhed her hips in front of Sara, her arms going up above her head slowly.
"Yeah I know Emmalina."
"Good. Do you" Sara stopped as she uncomfortably watched Alexa straddle her "Do you uh, know why she left?"
"Yeah." Alexa began to grind against Sara as she took her strappy blue top off "She went to work for some porn company. Not as a porn star though, she wasn't that kind of girl. I can't remember the name but it made me laugh when she told me"
Sara looked at Alexa's collarbone as she wiggled around on the detective's lap. It wasn't like Sara didn't like girls, she was one to play with just about anyone, but again, she wasn't a fan of strip clubs and Alexa wasn't her type at all. She thought for a moment about all of the porn companies in the city, and only one with a "ridiculous" name came up.
"Was it Likansuk?" Sara asked
"Yeah that was it!" Alexa giggled before turning around and sticking her rear right in Sara's face.
"Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be. Thank you for your help."
Sara sighed with relief when the song came to an end and Alexa climbed off of her. She fished a hundred out of her back pocket and told the girl to keep the change. Alexa nodded before skipping off to find her next customer. Sara turned and quickly left the club. This case just got a great deal more interesting, and she had another stop to make.
…
"$23,642 salary draw. J Lawson." Cesaro dictated
"Yup." Tom ticked the same amount on the page he was looking at.
"$19,135 paid to Con-Edison."
"Got that one." Tom ticked the number on the line immediately below the salary draw.
"Here's another $9,999 miscellaneous expense."
"Which I don't have here." Tom responded "How many is that?"
"I dunno… you're keeping notes." Cesaro answered
"That is thirteen." Tom mentally counted the entries. "And every time the same amount."
"The amount doesn't surprise me." Cesaro replied "There are stricter reporting standards once you start transferring over ten thousand dollars. This amount is five seconds of work… one dollar more and the money has to be documented from its source, and the sender also needs to be identified."
"Which would make my job a fuck sight easier." Tom bushed up his hair. "Is there any coffee left?"
Cesaro looked left. "Not in here. There might be some left in reception."
Tom glanced at his watch. "Never mind. It's five minutes to five. For the first time in days, I am not pulling any overtime."
"Hot night planned?" Cesaro joked.
"Hot bath, yes, but that is about it." Tom retorted
"Wow… you stud."
Tom and Cesaro shared a laugh.
"You want me to come in early and help ya go over the rest of this stuff?"
"I would normally say yes, but now I think I know what I am looking for." Tom leaned back in his chair.
"That's step one. Finding out the how much. Finding out the who, and the why, and the how is gonna take a lot more time."
"Time is something I got a lot of right now." Tom replied "This case is gonna either make or break me."
"Good luck. My office is across the hall if you need help." Cesaro answered
"Thanks; I'll see you in the morning."
...
Sara stopped at the door to a building that was behind The Mirage. She took a deep breath and walked in, going straight past the receptionist's desk and to the elevator, ignoring the dark haired woman's calls that she can't go back there without checking in.
She stepped into the elevator and pressed the floor she needed and waited. Soon the doors opened to the office floor, and she stepped out. She walked down the long hallway until she came to a closed door. Without knocking, she went straight inside.
"Sara!" The man behind the desk stood quickly
"Hello, James."
Sara said, coming face to face with the CEO of one of the largest porn companies in the country, her uncle. Sara ignored his outstretched arms and sat in a chair, propping her feet up on his desk.
"Still bitter, I see." James shook his head at his niece and sat back down in his chair.
"I'm here on business."
"I see. Well, what is this business?"
"A recent employee of yours has gone missing. Emma Dashwood, she just started working here a few weeks ago, and her boyfriend said she didn't come home Thursday night."
"Oh, I see." James scratched his head "We have so many employees, I don't keep track of all of them."
"Well, I suggest you start thinking." Sara passed her phone across the desk; a picture of the pretty blonde girl displayed
"She does look familiar. Let me make some phone calls and I'll get back with you."
"I'll wait" Sara stretched out, putting her hands behind her head as she leaned back in the chair.
James nodded before excusing himself. He left and Sara looked around the office. Her uncle kept it impeccably clean and pretty bare. She noticed a couple of picture frames on his desk and sat up to look at them. She picked the first one up and saw it was a picture of James' sister, Annabelle, who had passed away. Sara smiled at the sweet, smiling face in the photograph. She put the frame back down and picked up the second one. Her eyes narrowed at the photo, it was of James' youngest son, Connor, Sara's half brother Cooper, and herself. She snorted before rolling her eyes and putting it back down. Sara nearly jumped out of her skin as James walked back into the office, catching her off guard.
"I talked to a couple of my directors. They remember her better than I do. She was here on Thursday; she was doing her first shoot that was about six hours total, prep and filming time. She left shortly after, and no one has seen or heard from her since."
Sara raised an eyebrow at her uncle. "I've been told Emma wasn't that type of girl."
"She wasn't, at first. She was here as an assistant, but she liked the money and thought she'd give it a try. Maybe that's why she quit? It was too much for her?" James offered
"Yeah, maybe." Sara thought for a moment before shrugging. "Well, I better get going. Tommy doesn't pay me to stand around and chit chat."
"Sara..." James called after her but she kept walking "See you around, James" Sara left the office and made her way back to the first floor and out the door She leaned against her bike and sighed. She didn't have any leads yet, but she knew that man better than anyone and one thing she knew for fact was that James Lawson was hiding something. She kicked a rock and swore before getting back on her bike and tearing out of the parking lot, heading out of town. She needed to go think about her next step.
…
Tom had just gotten behind the wheel of his Porsche when his belt vibrated.
"Never a dull moment." Tom checked his phone. It was a text message from Dean.
"Hey Tommy… listen, I'm sorry about last night. I was way out of line coming on to you like that. You were right. I am going to see Seth tonight and maybe we can work things out. Thanks for being a friend and I'll talk to you later. Tell Sara thanks as well."
"The fuck you are." Tom put on his Bluetooth. "Ambrose."
Dean picked up immediately. "Ambrose Asylum."
"Deano? What the hell, man? From what I do remember about when I got home, I thought the advice was pretty spot-on about going back to Rollins." Tom eased out of the parking lot and into Vegas traffic.
"I know, but I have to try." Dean sighed "I still love him."
"Love is great. I'm all for it. What I'm not for is my best friend doing something totally stupid in the name of it." Tom sped up.
Dean swallowed loudly, but said nothing. Tom hoped that meant he was seriously thinking about what he'd said.
"Ambrose, we've known each other since fucking forever. Have I ever steered you wrong… and don't mention spring break!" Tom swerved into an almost empty lane so he sped up even further. The quicker he got home, the better chance of catching Dean
before he left.
"Well…"
"The answer is no, Dean. You've always trusted me before and you have to trust me now. Call that Chinese place we like, order us in some grub, and I will be home in ten minutes. Let's just talk, okay?"
"Okay." Dean answered
"Deano… trust me." Tom repeated "I'll see you soon."
Tom threw his headset on the passenger seat as soon as the call was done. "I need my fucking head examined."
He sped home.