The door opened to KK Private Detective Agency and a gorgeous, slender man turned to look at the person walking in. Kaden Kirby walked over, holding his hand to the new client.
"Are you Mr. Stienman?"
The slightly older man nods his head and Kaden Kirby (KK) motions for him to sit down. KK moves around to his chair behind the bulky wooden desk and sits. He rummages through a pile of files and pulls one out marked SHOTEN, M.
"I believe when we spoke last, Mr. Stienman, you wanted to find out if this woman was meeting with someone other than your CEO. Is that still the case?"
"Yes. I believe she is meeting someone to sell information related to some of the new technology we are creating. It is all supposed to be secret knowledge but her father is on the BOD and he recently tried to depose our CEO."
KK nods and opens the file, flipping through some pages. Inside are a few photos which seem to be scanned images, Kaden pulls some of them out and hands them to Mr. Stienman.
"This is the person she has been meeting with recently. I haven't followed up to see who he was because I needed conformation, from you, that you want me to dig deeper. So to answer your your question about meeting someone, yes. She has, in the past week, had 4 meetings with this person at the same coffee shop across town. I wasn't sure if this was a domestic issue so I avoided making assumptions. Now that I know it is related to corporate espionage, I can investigate more thoroughly but the price will be higher and the police will have to be involved at some point."
Mr. Stienman nods and pulls a check from his suit jacket pocket. He slips it across the table and looks down at the photos in his hands again.
" We need to know everything. Our CEO has everything riding on this and since he has dodged a bullet once, doesn't mean he will be able to again."
"I completely understand. You may keep those photos to show to your CEO. I have copies."
KK closes the file and stands, holding his hand to Mr. Stienman. They shake hands and KK escorts the gentleman to the door.
"I will be in touch soon. Have a nice day."
Mr. Steinman leaves and the door closes behind him. KK turns and walks back to the desk. He leans his hands on the table and sighs. He pulls a pack of photo paper from a stack and slides out one 5 x 7 piece. He closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath. As his eyes open, he stares at the photo paper. An image begins to alter the appearance of the paper. KK closes his eyes again and when he opens them to look at the photo,( think a Polaroid photo) a detailed image of Mr. Stienman standing before him shaking his hand, is burned onto the paper.
*Thoughtography: The ability to "burn" images onto a surface such as photographic paper or film by psychic means.*
KK has had this ability since he was about 4. He would witness something traumatic as a child and an image would appear on a piece of notebook paper or wall. His parents didn't understand what was happening and took him to all sorts of doctors. As he got older, the process got easier to control and he started using it to gain favors and money by doing odd jobs for people or creating controversy. After the ability got to be too much and he was getting in trouble with the law, he decided to only use it for a certain purpose and thus he became a private investigator. The photos are fantastically detailed and exactly as he has seen them. The down fall is that he can only recreate the scene for about an hour, after that the image is distorted, just as it would be in someone's actual memory. For this reason, he carries photo paper everywhere.
Mr. Stienman walks out of the PI building and to a black Mercedes. He climbs into the driver's seat and turns to look at the man sitting in the back. Leo stares back at him.
"What happened, Carter?"
Carter hands Leo the photos and turns to start the car. He pulls into traffic, on his way to the Company.
"Mr. Kirby said she is meeting with someone at regular intervals. He has not delved into the reason behind the meetings because we did not ask but he now knows what we are looking for and has been paid to follow up and get the details. He is very through."
Leo nods and looks at the images of the model-esqe Mage Shoten sitting with a very well dressed man at the coffee shop. If he didn't know her better, he would think they were on a date, but because he knew her well, he knew she was up to no good. It was almost time for a confrontation.
Carter pulled the car up to the Company and Leo climbed out. He leaned down and handed Carter the photos back.
"Put these someplace safe. I will see you at 5 pm. Mage and I have a reservation at Fukowsky's."
He closes the door and walks inside the company building. The workers acknowledge him as he walks past, on his way to the elevator.