Just a few feet away, there was Brian, engaged in a four-way conversation with Tom, Louie, and Blake Bernard, their client. Brian stepped sideways from Tom, allowing her to approach their small circle. Louie, still the shy new guy when everyone else was around, waved briefly to say hi.
“Good evening, young lady,” Tom greeted her ceremoniously, waving his tongs in a mimic of a hello.
“Miss Hoffmann,” the client greeted her with a head nod.
“It’s Alex,” she said, extending her hand.
“Blake,” the client responded. “I guess we can drop the formalities; we’re off the record here, aren’t we?” Blake was wearing a long, black cashmere scarf that gave him an air of stylish elegance; the scarf matched his black eyes and raven hair. What was it with rich men and their scarves?
“Yes, we are,” Tom confirmed.
“What are you grilling?” Alex asked. The smell was awesome.
“Tonight’s special is flank steak, with mushrooms and some grilled veggies on the side. We can do burgers, if you prefer.”
“Oh, no, I would never trade down from your steaks, Tom.” Alex laughed. “They’re to die for.”
“Hear, hear,” Brian Woods seconded.
Claire approached with a bottle of champagne, followed by Richard holding a tray with tall champagne glasses, cat scarf still on. Tom grabbed the bottle and asked, “Who wants to do the honors?”
Steve started to move towards the bottle, but the client was closer.
“I’ll take care of this,” he said, grabbing the bottle and proceeding promptly to uncork it. It popped loudly and ceremoniously just seconds later, in a wave of applause and laughter.
“Cheers,” they all said, taking their glasses and clinking them together in a toast.
“Cheers, my friends,” Blake said, putting the empty bottle down and raising his glass. “Please let me take a few minutes and thank you all for saving me, for saving our bank. You are the most incredible group of people I have ever had the privilege of working with. You are the textbook illustration of what a team can be and how a team can work.” He stopped briefly and grinned. “You know, at first, when I heard about you guys and what you do, I was very doubtful. I thought to myself, ‘how are these people going to figure out what’s wrong from the outside when I’m in the office every day and still can’t figure it out?’ But you held up to your reputation and then some. I guess when you are too close to the trees you really can’t see the forest, after all.” He smiled bashfully and continued. “Now it’s over, and I have my peace of mind back. Thanks to you, to all of you,” he said, gesturing widely with his glass. “Thank you Tom, for taking my case when I had very little information or proof to get you started. Thank you Brian, for all your tech savvy and all your sleepless nights deploying the tools that we needed to figure things out. Thank you Steve, for your patience and diligence in managing my expectations and keeping me from going crazy at times. Thank you Louie, for hacking into our bank’s systems and figuring out where the money went.” He looked at Louie as his smile widened and turned into laughter. “Hell, I never thought I’d ever thank a hacker,” he said, raising his glass in a salute to Louie. “You found out where the money was going, tracked it across countries and continents, and you also proved that all our systems security wasn’t worth much, right?”
“Yep, we got work to do in that department. Thank you Richard, for agreeing to be my right hand until we clean up this mess and for smoothing things over with the authorities. Your diplomacy and negotiation skills are second to none.”
Richard nodded, thanking Blake for his appreciation.
“Do you guys realize,” Blake said, “what a big achievement it is to have a money laundering investigation conducted so discreetly that no one was the wiser?” He turned to Alex and continued. “Thank you for your courage and intelligence, for having the guts to join my organization in such a challenging role, and for figuring things out without disturbing operations or alerting anyone of your actions. Your success and your discretion kept the reputation of our bank intact.” Blake took another sip, continued speaking, and extracted an envelope from his pocket. “This is for you,” he said, handing Tom the envelope. “I wanted to give this little