The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag 00 - Swept Under the Rug

file opened up. It had Valentino’s corporate logo on the header, so I knew it wasn’t his. From what I could tell it was quarterly stock reports for Safari and a list of shareholders. So I started, you know, scrolling through the files. And I found this status report for something called falcon, as well as a bunch of bank statements. I knew it couldn’t be a coincidence.”
    I closed my eyes. “Damn it all to hell and back.”
    “There’s more. I searched through his room and found this.”
    Where he pulled the manila file folder from, I had no idea, but my curiosity subsided as I leafed through its contents. Pictures, all of Valentino and Candie, some cut from magazine or newspaper articles, others paparazzi-style candid shots of one or both subjects walking, talking to someone. Dozens of clippings pertaining to Falcon, Safari Power Solutions, and Candie’s disappearance.
    “This is bad, Leo.”
    Leo lost the battle and his face crumpled. “I’m so sorry Maggie, I confronted him about it. He claimed he had a source who fed him the information online, that he was just monitoring the project, the company. I knew he was B.S.-ing me though. I mean, where does he get the money for the rent, if he’s not working? His mother’s a retired kindergarten teacher for God’s sake. He has to be some sort of corporate spy.” A tear slid down his cheek.
    My brain was on a tilt-a-whirl. “Leo, listen to me. This is not your fault, you hear me? You had no way of knowing what Dick Head was up to. I didn’t know and I was right there with him. But now that you are aware of what he’s been doing, you need to tell the police. He might be involved in the kidnapping.” If so, he was probably half way to Zimbabwe by now. I looked back to the file, my heart like a hunk of granite in my chest. I really didn’t want to have another run in with the law today.
    Leo nodded. “I’ll go right now. I should have gone there first, but I wasn’t thinking.” I offered him the file; sorry my fingerprints were on it, but in his distress he fumbled and papers fluttered to the carpet.
    “Sorry Maggie, I’m so sorry….” Leo droned on but I tuned him out while I restacked the clippings.
“No freaking way,” I said as one headline caught my eye.
    “What is it?” Leo stoppered his verbal diarrhea of apology and leaned over my shoulder.
    “Maybe nothing. Go now, ask for Detective Capri. I’ll have Marty drive you.”
    Too upset to even make a joke, Leo jumped up. He opened the door to Neil, fist aloft, poised for knocking.
    “Neil, go get Marty. He’s going to go to the police station with Leo.”
    Neil cocked his head, studied me. “You don’t want me to ride with him?”
    “Not this time, slick. We need to have a chat.”

Eighteen

    “ S on of a bitch.” Neil said as he accessed Safari’s corporate website. “Here it is in black and white. Why didn’t I pick up on this sooner?”
    I leaned over his shoulder, kissed his cheek. “You’ve been busy. Why would you notice?” I couldn’t suppress my grin. It wasn’t often I figured something out before Neil.
    Candie Valentino, not Markus, was the owner of Safari Power Solutions. True, Markus was the business tycoon, the man behind cutting-edge advances, but fifty-one percent of the company’s stock was held by his wife. She came from money, a true Dallas socialite and sole heir to her father’s oil fortune.
    “Okay, let’s assume the feds know all this. Chances are, Candie’s WASP parents, not Markus Valentino, called in the FBI. Valentino’s under the gun because he’s late bringing his new project, falcon, to fruition. He’s made big promises and backed them up with smoke. Meanwhile, his existing customers are all sorts of pissed off, because he’s not paying as much attention to them. The market is shaky right now and he can’t afford his stocks to tank when he’s invested so much in falcon. What better way to gain a little sympathy than a stalking threat, followed by his wife’s disappearance? The question is, was it a voluntary disappearance?”
    Neil looked stunned, then a slow grin broke across his face. “You think she’s just hiding, faking the kidnapping for her husband’s sake?”
    “I’m not sure. I’d like to believe Candie is incapable of this sort of duplicity, but there is a possibility she’s part of it. But like I said, the feds probably know all this. And Valentino’s under a microscope. What better way to divert attention