Page 23 of The Perfect Illusion

Cal left his hand there for another second, then seemed to think better of it. He stepped back and adjusted his suit jacket.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to involve security, sir,” he said huffily.

“You go get ‘em, Cal,” Brady said. “We’ll be in here.”

He opened the door for Jessie. She stepped inside quickly, trying to hide the smile on her face.

“How’d I do?” he asked.

“Great,” she told him. “Hopefully we can find Moran before Cal comes back with security. I want us to be with him when they arrive, so as to really amp up the embarrassment factor for him.”

“Then we better move quick,” Brady said. “Cal’s got a real bee in his bonnet. He’ll be back soon.”

They walked up to the reception desk, where an attractive young blonde sat, wearing a confused expression. She must have seen the dustup at the doorway.

“We’re looking for Benjamin Moran,” Brady told her. “Where can we find him?”

“Um, I saw him pass by from the free weight section over to cardio a couple of minutes ago,” she said, pointing to an area directly behind her. “But I think I’m supposed to ask for your membership card.”

“Don’t have it on me today,” he said. “Maybe next time.”

He headed back to the cardio area. As Jessie followed him, she whispered to the receptionist, “thanks for your help.”

The cardio room was full of people on ellipticals, stationary bikes, and treadmills, but they found Moran without much trouble. He was on the treadmill closest to the doorway, pounding his legs as he ran at what Jessie considered near-sprinting pace. The 34-year-old was in great shape, well-toned, with bronzed skin and light brown hair that flopped slightly with each footfall. Sweat was flying off him and splattering the machine's display. Brady glanced at Jessie.

“Am I still keeping up the obnoxious jerk routine with the guy?”

“If anything, I’d say now’s the time to take it to the next level,” she suggested.

“You got it,” he said and walked over so that he was right in front of Moran’s treadmill.

“Hi, Benji,” he said. “You should take a break. We need to talk.”

Moran gave him a disdainful glare, unsure what to make of this random, slovenly dude now in his eyeline.

“I don’t know you,” he grunted breathlessly. “So don’t call me Benji. And also, screw off.”

He turned his attention back to the display screen, perhaps calculating how this brief interruption had messed with his pace.

“Benji, you can stop running or I can stop the machine for you,” Brady said loud enough to be heard over the spinning treadmill belt and Moran’s heavy strides. He seemed to really be getting into his role now. “It’s up to you.”

The people on the nearby machines were starting to take notice of the growing conflict, just as Jessie had hoped. Behind them, she heard a bit of commotion. Glancing back, she saw Cal, with two security guards, standing at the reception desk. The young blonde was pointing them back to the cardio room.

“Cal’s back,” she said under her breath. “I’ll deal with him while you pull the plug on the treadmill. Then it’s showtime.”

As Brady moved to literally pull the treadmill cord out of its wall outlet, Jessie turned and headed for the cardio room entrance. She met Cal just as he was trying to enter. He opened his mouth, clearly about to read her the riot act, when she held up her ID in front of her face.

"We're LAPD, Cal," she said sweetly. "We're here to have a conversation with Benjamin Moran, and we're so happy to have your support. I'm sure we can count on the assistance of your security officers if Mr. Moran gets testy."

Cal stopped in his tracks, his mouth frozen open, unable to come up with a response. Behind her, Jessie heard the belt of the treadmill slowly come to a stop. That was followed by angry words from Moran.

“What the hell is your problem, man?” he demanded through gasps for air.

Jessie turned around to see the sweaty lawyer extricating himself from the treadmill and moving toward Brady, who waited until the very last second before holding up his badge.

“Thanks for taking the time, Mr. Moran,” he said crisply, his tone now professional even if his appearance still wasn’t. “We need to have a word with you.”

Moran looked at the badge, then at Jessie standing behind him with Cal and the guards nearby. He turned around to see that nearly everyone in the cardio room had stopped their own machines and was watching intently. Wiping the sweat off his brow with a white towel, he sighed heavily.

---