Chapter 5: Research
Phase one of his work was almost complete. The research phase. Erik needed to first learn every thing he possibly could learn about his given target, Randall Chagny. Chagny's situation was typical to what Erik had already been paid to deal with in the past-- nice boy begins as an intern at a powerful finance firm. Boy moves up on the ladder and gets promoted to Junior Financial Analyst, begins handling and organizing more and more important documents. Boy notices something wrong...funds missing, documents missing, documents changed. He begins to get suspicious. Does some digging, and learns that company presidents have been embezzling funds into personal accounts.
Yes, Randall Chagny's story was typical for Erik. At least Chagny hadn't gone to the police as some others had, and would, in his situation. Some of the money that had gone astray had been Chagny's own doing before he realized, too late, what was going on under his own nose. The presidents of Smith & Associates had been holding this card over Chagny's head. Chagny had proven to be easily manipulated, for the time being anyway. But the bosses had decided he needed to be taken care of all together, and thus hired Erik. Once the "problem" was gone, they would soon hire a new up-and-coming intern who would find themselves in the same position as Chagny. And if Erik weren't "retiring" after the Chagny job was done, he was sure they would call him again for another job.
Erik stared at the computer screen, again going over the information that was in front of him. The company always sent out preliminary research--family names, phone records from the office or company cell phones, and other personals. He had spent an entire week researching and studying extra information not only on the Chagny boy, but also on his family and friends. In a job such as this, it was not enough to study the main target. Often, good hearted, but nervous and scared people would involve their loved ones or close friends. So, Erik had to be certain that he studied all aspects of the boy's life, leaving no loose ends behind.
It was amazing how much Erik could discover through a simple Google search or through the use of some other online search engine or program. Randall Chagny only had a few other concerns surrounding his life, other people Erik needed to investigate-- their lives and their knowledge of the information Chagny himself possessed. First, Erik looked to the parents. Mr. Chagny had been instrumental in getting his son the job in the first place. Hell, maybe he already did know what type of business Smith & Associates ran, Erik mused.
The parents were currently living on the West Coast... and if anything, it looked like contact between them and their son had diminished over the past few months. Hardly any phone calls, and all eMails to his family from his office were devoid of any type of frantic or damning information. A promising sign, but Chagny was hopefully smarter than to send an eMail such as that over the company network. But Erik had encountered some pretty unintelligent employees over the years who did just that, thereby screwing the lives of their nearest and dearest.
Erik next looked to Randall Chagny's older brother, Philip. He didn't seem to be much of a threat either. He was currently living abroad in Europe with his girlfriend Layla Sorelli. It appeared as if the two brother's had barely had any contact at all, no phone calls, no eMail. Perhaps they had had a falling out? He would have to look into that more, but for now it also did not seem to present a problem.
Finally, Erik looked towards Chagny's girlfriend. It seemed the girlfriend would be the most trouble, as they always were. Men rarely complained to or informed their parents and family of work related problems, especially problems that could lead to jail or worse. They almost always told a spouse, or significant other, most likely when it was a long term relationship. Which is what Chagny seemed to have with Christine DuBois. And within the past month, phone calls had increased to her home, almost at an alarming rate. That was a definite warning sign for Erik. If Chagny was calling this girl so much, Erik figured he better get a phone tap on both lines to see exactly what these calls were about.
Erik did a quick search online for "Christine DuBois Boston" and came up with a surprising number of hits, all involved with the performing arts of some type. She apparently was very active with Boston Ballet and the Conservatory of Arts. A dancer...was she also a singer? Erik wondered to himself. Time would tell. The search also showed some contact information for her on the website-- the Boston Public Library, so she must work there as well. He changed his search to an image search and found a picture that looked like it was a head shot out of a program. It was only in black and white, but he could tell how beautiful the girl was. He had to admit to himself he was slightly intrigued by this girl, a younger dancer involved with a finance man like Randall Chagny...it seemed out of place. But stranger things were known to happen.
Erik saved all of the information he had found. His main focus was going to be on Randall and Christine. He needed to know more about her involvement with Randall's problems, and he would not be able to find that out online just yet. His first priority was to put a bug on their phone lines and hack into their personal eMails. It would not be difficult. Then he would trace them, and figure out the next step in his plan. Most jobs were typical though, and he was sure it would all be over soon if things went smoothly. And they always went smoothly for Erik.
He looked at the image of Christine DuBois one last time. Generally Erik was very passive and detached from his work. A few times in the past, when he had first started this line of work, he had almost slipped, had almost begun to feel sorry for his victims. But it had faded with time and experience. However... there was something about this girl's image. Something familiar, something warm that he couldn't quite shake. He couldn't place what it was. But it was there.
He shook his head as he shut down the computer.
No, not this time, he thought. Nothing would interfere with getting this job done and earning the peace he so desperately craved.
A/N: This chapter was so hard to write. I'm not sure why...writer's block I guess? And I'm terrible with Erik chapters. All two of them now, right? But I wrote this, then went trick-or-treating in Beacon Hill (full-sized candy bar from John Kerry's wife!--and yeah I'm 21, so who cares :-P ) then came back and reread and edited it. I think it came out okay.
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