Page 111 of Maddy's Justice

“Good morning, sir,” the man said as he approached Labelle’s desk.

“What can I do for you, Tom?” Labelle asked. Despite his position and wealth, James Labelle was always courteous to everyone. It never hurt to be friendly and it did not cost anything. It also built trust and maybe a little loyalty.

As he went up the two steps to Labelle’s desk, the man removed an 8 x 10 color photo from the manilla folder he carried. He placed it on Labelle’s desk and asked, “Do you recognize this woman?”

The photo was of a woman whose head was inside his office with the door open just wide enough for it. His office security cameras had captured it. It was a full color picture of a woman Labelle recognized immediately from a photo and report he recently saw. When he did, a feeling shivered his entire body like a small electric shock.

Labelle picked up the photo and studied it carefully for a moment. He lightly shook his head and said, “No, I don’t think so. She doesn’t look familiar. Pretty girl. Who is she?”

“We don’t know, sir. Our cameras caught her poking around about a week ago. We didn’t see this shot until last night. That’s when we received the camera security disk from inside your office,” Tom added to be sure Labelle knew it was not the fault of building security that this took so long.

“What did she do? I don’t believe there is anything out of place or missing,”

LaBelle said.

“Nothing, sir. She poked her head in, looked around for three point four seconds, then left.”

“Have you seen her since?”

“No, sir.”

“Can I keep this?” Labelle asked referring to the photo. “I’ll show it around. See if anyone recognizes her.”

“Certainly, sir. We’ll keep an eye out for her. If we see her again, we’ll contact you right away.”

Labelle knew a problem when he saw one and he knew he was staring at a photo of one right now. Several minutes passed in silence while he thought this through. Finally, he had made a mental list of what needed to be done.

The first thing he did was unlock his credenza and remove a special phone. Locking his exterior door behind him, he hurried down the hallway to the Men’s room. After making sure he was alone, he slipped into a stall and made his first call.

“Evan, it’s LaBelle. Is the man still up north?” Labelle asked Evan Carlin, the man he called.

“Yes, sir, he is,” Evan cryptically answered.

“I need to see him. It’s urgent. I can come up now.”

“That should be fine, sir. I’ll let him know. Call me when you get close to the landing.”

The next call Labelle made was to his driver/bodyguard, Alan Dale. Dale was as close to an executive assistant as Labelle had. The fewer he had to trust, the better he liked it. Labelle told the man to make travel arrangements for both of them. He then made one last call.

When he finished with the calls, Labelle went back to his office. He gathered up what he wanted, then went to the trading room first. He told the sales manager he would be gone for a couple of days. Hardly unusual. Before he left the building, he went back to the same restroom and found a man waiting for him.

“I’m leaving to see the man for a couple of days,” he told the only other man besides Alan Dale he trusted. That was because this man was Roger Labelle, James Labelle’s brother.

“What’s going on?” Roger asked.

“I’m going up North to see the man. Something came up. I’ll fill you in when I get back. Get all three rooms swept for bugs. Very discreetly. If you find anything, do nothing until I return.”

“Okay. Do I keep things going?”

“Yes, absolutely. It may be nothing, but I don’t think so.”

“Okay, Jim. Call me if you need anything. Alan going with you?”

“Yes. In fact, I’ll call later tonight, Rog.”

“Good.”

THIRTY-SIX

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