Page 21 of Sinful Beauty

“Please don’t tell me you’re shagging someone in the office.”

This statement from Nigel of all people has me suppressing a grin. “Sod off.”

“What can I say? Didn’t hear from you all weekend. Put ideas in my head.”

“Spent the weekend with my mum getting an overload on company details.” All I wanted to ask her was, do you know? But I held back, uncertain I wanted the answer, as neither answer works for me. Either my dad lied to me and is cheating on my mom, or my dad told the truth and the marriage I thought was rock solid is a farce.

“Why don’t you read her in? Seems like the best way to expedite the case.”

“First, like I told you, she’s no longer an employee here. She’s hasn’t been in the weeds in over a decade. Second, she’s too trusting.” Growing up, I doctored the truth a thousand times and she never once questioned me. “Third, if she learns what I really do, she’ll humble brag endlessly, and I’d go nowhere in Europe without someone in the upper echelons of society recognizing me as Tristan Wagner, an Interpol officer.”

“Meh.” The sound from Nigel’s mouth blends with the crinkling of a wrapper and a banging sound.

“What are you doing?”

“Grabbed a bar from my drawer. Day full of meetings. Keep me updated.”

The call ends as Lucia passes in the hall with a lidded cup of coffee. Her dark eyes flash as she speed walks to Peltz’s office. What a shite job. Her old school boss probably treats her like a house servant, expecting her to pick up his dry cleaning and cater to his whims.

My mum said Lucia has been here for almost eight years, and worked her way up as an intern to an executive assistant. Of course, she also bopped me on the head with her damn ring just for asking.

Lucia’s background report showed she doesn’t carry debt, but she doesn’t have much saved either. She has relatives in Portugal, Great Britain and Brazil. Her father and brother are both in prison, and the timing of her move to Portugal coincides with the charges of drug trafficking against her father. The conviction of her family might make her a target as an accomplice, if she believed money could get her family out of prison. Although, from what I know of the Brazilian penal system, it would require bribing the right official. The fact her father has remained alive for such a lengthy stay says it’s likely he’s climbed to the top of the prison order. Her brother’s served less than five years, but the same goes for him.

But, it occurs to me as I sit down at my desk and login to the Lumina network for the first time, there’s going to be a travel log of all personnel travel. Email is monitored by the company, which means it’s accessible. We can sort email logs by country destination. Phone logs can also be sorted by area code.

If anyone within the company researched Lucia’s family, contact with Brazil might stand out.

A week has passed since Hun Tap Peth’s alleged suicide. The BBC News stopped cycling the story, and the US media never picked the story up. He’d belonged to the opposition political party, so it’s conceivable his murder had nothing to do with his willingness to talk to us.

But if anyone within Lumina traveled to Cambodia or had correspondence with Cambodia, that’s another country that will stand out.

Nigel wasn’t wrong when he said this undercover role is akin to hunting for a needle in a haystack. Forty-six thousand employees aren’t involved. Finding the ones who are will be challenging, but not impossible.

Lumina does a significant amount of business with China and India. The two countries have more lenient human rights protections, making them ideal for pharmaceutical testing. Almost all of Lumina’s in vitro, meaning in life, or in human testing, occurs in those two countries initially. At least, that’s what’s recorded in the annual reports.

Out the door, Lucia sits at her desk, head bent diligently working. I halfway wonder if Pelz assigned me to an office overlooking her to see how easily I can be distracted.

Of course, he’s a politician of the corporate variety. Around my mother, he’s welcoming and amenable. In the meeting with underlings, he introduced me and didn’t acknowledge me again. I’ll learn a lot about the company simply by observing how he introduces me to the different executives. Around the ones he’s kissing up to, or the ones with tight allegiances to my family, I’ll receive one treatment, and around those that are in his pocket, or who work for him, I expect he’ll ignore my presence.

I can’t stand corporate politics. Wankers, the lot of them.

I far prefer investigations. Reading people. Discovery. Moving on to the next mystery.

A young man in a sweater and brown corduroy slacks approaches Lucia’s desk. She thumbs through a tray filled with files, removes one, and stands to hand it to him. I can’t hear what’s being said, but I can tell from his smile and the way he’s adjusting his spectacles he’s friendly with her. Based on his casual business dress, and the fact he’s chatting with an assistant, he might be someone else’s assistant.

Lucia’s thick black hair is pulled back into a low braided bun. She’s wearing a calf length pleated skirt, and a belted black turtleneck sweater. The narrow leather belt accentuates her trim waist. Her high heather gray heels are for office only. I didn’t see her arrive, but somewhere there’s a pair of boots tucked away in a drawer. Those heels she’s wearing don’t function on icy, snowy sidewalks. The forecast for today is cold with a significant chance of freezing rain.

The young man’s eyes widen when he looks beyond Lucia, and he catches sight of me.

Yes, I’m watching you.

He clutches the folder to his chest, says something that looks suspiciously like I’ll see you at lunch, and then he’s off. Lucia glances over her shoulder. Did he tell her I’m watching or does she sense it?

She turns and walks my direction. Her skirt sways with each step, but when she stops outside my door, it takes a significant amount of willpower to keep my gaze trained on her face and not the curves her body hugging sweater amplifies.

“Do you have everything you need?” Her demeanor is one hundred percent professional. There’s no sign of the friendly woman from the pub.

“Actually, I need some basic information. What’s the process for booking flights? Hotels? Or filing expense reports?”

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