Philips Peter parked his Range rover sports in the garage, pressed the button on his automatic garage door opener and waited for the door to slide shut before he gets out. As a federal prosecutor, being careful about everything was part of the job. Once he was testified that he was alone inside his own garage, he grabbed his briefcase and go out. He entered the house through the utility rooms,at once smelling the inviting scent of beef stroganoff that cook was waiting to serve. He started to call up for Janey to come down, then remembered that she was no longer here. Regret was not a familiar emotion for Philips, but his shoulders slumped as he realised that. unless he was entertaining, he would now be eating all his meals alone.
"Mr Philips?"
He looked up. Manda was standing in the doorway.
"Yes?"
"Will you be wanting dinner soon?"
"Whenever cook is ready, let me know."
"Is thirty minutes alright?"
"Perfect," Philips said. "It would give me enough time to enjoy a glass of wine beforehand."
Manda eyed him curiosly,then hurried away to deliver the message, once again leaving Philips to himself.
He tossed his briefcase on the sofa, took off his suit coat and draped it on the back of a chair, reminding himself that this was all for the best. He and Janey had been spoiling for this break for years, and while it would be damned inconvenient to be without a hostess the next time he entertained, he felt a separation would be in their best interests.
Still, the wine he poured seemed flat despite the fine vintage, and when he sat down to dinner, the beef stroganoff was not as satisfying as he'd expected. All in all, Janey's absence had left a bigger hole in his world than he would ever believed.
When cook served dessert, he waved it away, took his coffee to the office and opened his briefcase. Earlier this week, a woman had come to the federal prosecutor's office with allegations that had blown their minds.
The woman's name was Cheryl Jonas, and she was claiming that her boss, Dave Manor was involved in illegal activities. Philips had been in on the initial meeting and had been the first to suggest that she should have taken her suspicions to the SP police and not the federal prosecutor's office. At that point, she'd droped the rest of her bomb whe she'd fixed her gaze on Philips.
"Mr. Philips, isn't it?"
Philips nodded.
"I know you're telling me I've come to ye wrong place, and if I have, I apologize. But I was under the impression that anything that had to do with the United States military would come under the auspices of federal government. Was I wrong?"
Philips frowned. "No. Miss Jonas, you were not. But please explain yourself.
Her hand was shaking as she tucked a wayward lock of hair behind her ear. He could see she was wavering between continuing the conversation and getting up and even before anything else was said. At that point, something told him that she was on the up and up.
"It's alright," he said, softening his voice just enough to give her the courage to continue.
"You don't understand," she whispered. " I really like Dave. I kept trying to tell myself I had to be wrong about him, but I'm not, and I know it."
"Please continue." Philips said.
"She took a slow breath, as if boosting her courage with a momentary delay, then it all spilled out.
"I work for Dave Manor–"
"Of Manor Galleries?" Philips asked.
She nodded.
"Sorry, please continue." Philips said, hoping that he'd masked his surprise, but everyone who was anyone in New York knew of Dave Manor, and to think he was about to be implicated in any way in something illegal was shocking, even to him.
"At about three moths ago, I was getting ready to go out of town for the weekend when I realised that if left my plane ticket at the office. I tried to call Dave hoping he was still at the gallery, and that he could get the ticket and drop it by my apartment, but there was no answer. My flight was very early the next morning, so I felt I have no option but go back that night or take the chance of missing my plane. I let myself into the gallery and started up the stairs to the office. I was hurrying, not thinking about anything but what I still have to do when I get back home, when I realised I was hearing Dave's voice. At first, it surprised me, because I'd called and he hadn't answered, remember?"
Philips nodded.
"Anyway, I stopped" she flushed as she looked away. "Am not in the habit of eavesdropping, bu I didn't want to walkin on Dave on one of his women friends, you know?"
"Were they lots of different women?" Philips asked.
She shrugged. "I guess, but he wasn't married, and to my knowledge, neither were the women he dated."
So he waited, Philips echoed, urging her to summon the story.
"Yes, but I soon realized he was alone and talking on the phone." Tears clouds but she pinched the bridge of her nose to keep from crying as she continued.
"He was speaking Spanish… I knew because I'd had a friend in college ho was from Espanol. I didn't understand all the words but I knew enough to know something was wrong, you know?"
"Yes." Philips said. "Continue."
"He was angry. And there was a time in his voice that I'd never heard. He sounded cold, almost frightening. I didn't know what to do but I knew I didn't want to be found outside his door."
Philips frowned. " You have to hear more than some Spanish words to make you suspect something was going on. Am I right?"
Tears rolled from her eyes and down her cheeks.
"I recognised enough of what he was saying to know it wasn't good."
"You might have misunderstood. Remember, you said you didn't speak the language."
"Now, but I understand enough to get by."
"So what did you hear "
"I heard him tell someone that the money had to be wired to the account before they got the goods."
"Look, Miss Jonas, he sells art objects. This in it could be completely innocent."
"I know, I'm not a fool" Cheryl said, wiping angrily at the tears on her cheeks. " But how innocent is it to say that what he had to sell would change the art of war?"
Philips heart skipped a beat. "Okay, I'm listening" he said.
Cheryl sighed. "Then he said something to the effect that it was easy to steal from fools. That was when I took off my shoes and ran back down the stairs to make a reappearance, one that Dave would hear. I opened the door again letting it slam as I came in, and started singing 'do you know the way to huwai', because that is where I was going.
"He heard me coming up the stairs and came out of his office. His phone as still in his hands, but he was smiling."
"I should have gotten an Oscar for my performance. He told me my serenade was darling but unnecessary. I laughed and told him that I'd forgotten my ticket, slid past him as if I did not have a care in the world, retrieved it from my desk, waved it in his face on my way out the door and cried all the way home."
Philips nodded. "I'll need to make some calls, see if anyone in the military is aware of any wrongdoing. Would you mind willing to testify if it becomes necessary?"
She hesitated.
"We can make sure you are kept safe."
"But can you do it forever?"
Philips wanted to assure her this was so, but he could not, and she knew he couldn't.
"Look, Miss Jonas, for now, let's play this by ear. We would stay in touch. If we can corroborate your accusations, we would go from there.
"Can you keep my name out of this?"
"Right up untill the moment you testify," Philips said.
"Then that would have to do." She said.
Moments later, she was gone, leaving Philips and his staff with what amounted to a smoldering bomb.