Disclaimer: Highlander belongs to Davis/Panzer. They are being borrowed and returned hopefully in about the same shape they were taken in. Jeff, Emmy, and just about everyone else, belong to me. You can use them if you like, just return them please.
Chapter 15
Jeff walked in the next afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to see Emmy already there, in Rick's office, listening to something and writing things down.
"Hello gorgeous creature, what brings you here today?" he asked, and sat down across from her.
She did not reply, only made a hushing motion with her hand and continued listening and writing. He got up and wandered into the garage to talk to Rick. He found him, as always, near one of the many bikes seemingly deeply absorbed in looking it over. Jeff nudged him. "So what's up with Emmy?"
Rick grinned at him. "She's listening to the dinner conversation between Chase and Arnold. She says that the reason we've picked up nothing from their conversations is because they're speaking in code."
"What? What kind of code sounds like that? It's all technical garbage." Jeff leaned against the wall, looking indignant.
"Exactly. It sounds official and boring, but is actually just a cover for what's really going on. Emmy's been working on it all day. She worked on it for a couple of hours last night, too. She can be pretty persistent when she wants to be. It's actually kind of scary," Rick gave him a wide-eyed look of mock terror.
Rick's coveralls were smattered in lots of different black stuff, and it looked fresh. The bike he was staring at clearly was no easy job. Jeff assumed some of the black stuff was oil, but since he did not know anything about motorcycles, he was not sure if there were other chemicals too. A rather acrid scent hung in the air around Rick. Jeff sighed and gave his friend a philosophical shrug. "Well, since you're both busy, I'll just go to the paper early and head home. I've got another long night of GRE study to deal with."
"I still can't believe that you're going to get a master's degree. That's higher education than I've got," Rick said, shaking his head.
"Well, in this day and age it's almost impossible to get a job without it." Jeff smiled, "You gonna be okay without me, today?"
Rick nodded. "I think so. Nothing exciting's going on right now."
"Guys, come here, I think I have it figured out," Emmy shouted from the doorway.
"Or not," Jeff said, chuckling. "I'll meet you in there."
"Yeah, I need to get clean," Rick replied, pulling a rag out of his pocket and starting to clean his fingers.
Jeff headed into the office. This was the kind of stuff he liked; high paying, low-risk jobs. Not that Jeff was afraid of anything; he just liked to get highly paid for minimum work. He considered it the regular attitude of the working class in America. Everyone liked a cheap buck where they could get it. He wondered what his life would be like if he decided to leave the investigation business altogether. He did not like that idea. He had worked too long with Rick to give that up now; even for a really good job.
"Hey beautiful, what you got?" he asked as he reentered the office.
"I'll wait for Rick to come, too. I don't want to explain this twice."
"I'm here," Rick said as he came through the door and slumped into a chair.
"Good. Okay, so here's the boring gist of what's been going on in Mr. Chase's world the last few months," Emmy began. "About three months ago I would guess, from the way they are talking, his daughter contacted Mr. Arnold about arranging a meeting with her father. Mr. Chase agreed. The two met and had a good conversation. The daughter doesn't seem to want anything from her father, except that he becomes part of her family's life now. Which doesn't seem possible to Mr. Chase because of his wife's controlling nature. The two have never had children, and she's not a fan of them.
"He does, however, want to be part of his daughter's life. He feels he owes her that much, but doesn't know how to talk to his wife about it. So at the very least he's changing his will. He's leaving almost everything to his daughter. His wife has made a good deal of money herself over the years, and wouldn't outlive him by more than ten or twelve years anyway. He's planning to introduce them at dinner in a couple of weeks, and then go from there. Before they meet, he wants to talk to his wife about it. The will has been finalized. I think that's what they were talking about last night, and now the rest of the operation is about to begin."
Rick shook his head. "Great... and we're going to ruin it."
Jeff shook his head back at Rick. "Not necessarily, we could talk to Mr. Chase and let him know about his wife's investigation, and ask him what he wants us to do. Then, if he wants us to stay out of it, you tell her that you couldn't figure out what he was doing. You can play the tapes for her. She won't have a clue what they're talking about, and we get out while we're ahead."
"Sometimes, man, you are a genius. How do we talk to Mr. Chase though, without Mrs. Chase catching on?" Rick asked.
Emmy grinned and said, "Simple, I go and talk to him. She doesn't know that I have any connection to your agency, yet. She thinks I'm just a customer. I could get an appointment with Mr. Chase, and even if she knows I'm there, it would all seem like a coincidence."
Rick nodded. "Okay, so you go take what we know and ask Mr. Chase what he wants us to do. Go as if you represent a third party, as if you yourself aren't truly involved."
Emmy nodded. "I'll make the appointment now."
Emmy walked into Mr. Chase's office with the air of a debutant born and raised. She knew how to act in almost any situation, and she knew how to control a scene; at least when things did not involve her personally.
"Mr. Chase, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said, extending her hand to the wary gentleman.
"I would say the same, but I must admit that the phone call you made left me nervous about our meeting," he replied as he shook her hand. "And may I ask your name."
"I'm Emerald Wallace. I'm here representing a third party."
"Oh?" he inquired cautiously, and motioned her to sit.
"Yes. You see, a couple months ago your wife noticed that you were acting rather strangely. That on every Thursday you seemed to be late getting home; always with the excuse of extra work. She hired a private investigator to find out what you were doing. She initially thought that you were having an affair. My... client was willing to find this information out. When my client found out you were instead meeting with an attorney, your wife became worried that perhaps you had a desire to divorce her. My client disproved this as well by doing research on your lawyer. I'm afraid to admit that even after these reassurances, your wife wasn't satisfied. She wanted to know the full extent of what was passing between you and this attorney. My client has found out the truth and it's left him with a minor ethical dilemma." Emmy stopped there, giving him time to respond.
"What is the dilemma?" Mr. Chase inquired, leaning on his hands on the desk.
"He has learned that what you are dealing with is your daughter. He feels that disclosing this information in an inconsiderate way may ruin your chances of creating a happy meshing of your families. My client doesn't want to do that. He feels you are in the right, and would like to know if you would rather the matter was buried." Emmy leaned back in the chair and waited for this to sink in.
"Your client is an honorable person to think about my feelings in this situation," Mr. Chase replied, also leaning back. "Naturally I'd prefer to take care of this matter within my own family. My only question is what was it that your client was going to share that would reveal this to my wife?"
"For the past several weeks, my client has been recording your dinner conversations with your attorney. It took him a long while to decipher the code that you and your attorney were speaking. Naturally—without knowledge of what is really being said between the two of you—the conversations will seem as mundane and boring to your wife as they initially did to my client." Emmy smiled at him, "You will be clear to take care of the problem yourself, and my client can simply walk away. Especially now that we know you are an honorable man, in every respect."
Mr. Chase smiled back at Emmy, looking as though a weight had lifted from him. "My thanks go out to both you and your client. It is very kind of you to know when to interfere and when to leave things alone. Out of curiosity, why is your client so honorable? He does make a living doing investigative work, after all."
Emmy shrugged, getting to her feet, and he rose with her. "My client is more interested in moral standards than money. If a man is cheating, his wife should know. If he's involved in something illegal, the same. If he is simply a nice man dealing with a difficult situation, my client has a tendency to want to try and let things play out the way they should. We wish you luck Mr. Chase."
They shook hands again, said formal farewells, and she left.
