with my dental hygienist.”
We described our recent meeting at the JLPN factory, and then I explained how I’d followed a disguised and nervous Harvey Jekyll to a secret nighttime gathering at the abandoned Chaney & Son warehouse. By now, Sheyenne had tracked down the information I needed.
“That warehouse is just a front,” I said. “According to records, it’s owned by a dummy corporation called Ramshackle Solutions, and all the names on the paperwork are fake. Despite the warehouse’s run-down appearance, a lot of interior remodeling has been done in the past year—new wiring, light fixtures, plumbing, a sound system.” I paused for effect. “Every one of the contractors turns out to be an employee of JLPN. The work orders were signed with an illegible signature—and Harvey Jekyll has an illegible signature. It’s proof he’s involved with whatever’s going on inside that place.”
Miranda wasn’t as impressed as I had hoped. “Oh, that’s just boys pretending to be important. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wore furry hats with buffalo horns. They even have a secret handshake, a little sign they make when they think no one is looking.” She licked her forefinger and scribed a line in the air, as if making some kind of invisible tally. “They think nobody can figure it out!”
Robin looked puzzled, turned to me, but I didn’t get it either. Miranda let out an exaggerated sigh. “A line, sweetheart. A straight line. Up and down?” She waited. “The Straight Edgers, of course. Harvey joined them a long time ago, probably to get back at me for becoming a werewolf.”
Now I remembered the vertical line on the red T-shirts the four losers had worn in Straight Edge headquarters. “I served a restraining order against the organization just this morning, but I can’t imagine your husband would be involved with amateurs like that. The secret gathering I saw at the warehouse looked much more sophisticated.”
“Oh, only the novices work in public view,” Miranda said. “It’s like a hazing. New recruits with big dreams, tiny brains, and even smaller cojones. The real Straight Edgers are a better organized bunch. Harvey funds a good portion of their activities with JLPN profits—which is very annoying, since currently half of that money belongs to me. He hopes to get promoted to Grand Poobah or whatever.” She shook her head. “But I need something more salacious than a secret clubhouse if we’re going to make him budge on the prenup.”
The little cogs and gears clicked together in my mind. “Not necessarily. If we could come up with concrete evidence that Harvey Jekyll is involved with an anti-unnatural fringe group, think of all the bad press—and right before the release of his new Fresh Loam promotion. The manufacturer of the most popular line of necroceuticals secretly hates his own customers? That might twist his arm.”
Robin looked scandalized that we would stoop to such tactics, but Miranda chuckled again. “I like the way you think, Mr. Chambeaux. If you need evidence, Harvey keeps all of his special little treasures in a locked desk drawer in his study at the house. I’m sure it’s evidence you could use.”
“Could you get access to those items?” I asked. “Slip inside his study, retrieve anything that connects him to the Straight Edgers?”
Miranda glanced at her gold watch. “Of course not, sweetheart. That’s what I pay you for. I haven’t been home to spend the night in more than a year. I’m staying at the Grand Plaza Hotel in the Full Moon Suite, and it’s costing Harvey a pretty penny . . . but he considers it worth the expense not to have me around.” When she smiled, Miranda’s teeth looked more pointed than when she’d entered the offices. “Now, I have to be off to my dental hygienist. Good work so far. I’ll add a little bonus when I pay this week’s invoice.”
Robin seemed flustered. “But how exactly are we going to gain access to the evidence? Shall I file a discovery request to see documents or items in his study? I don’t think we have grounds—”
“If you do that, he’ll make sure that anything interesting is long gone,” Miranda said.
I reassured her. “I’ll come up with something.”
Harvey Jekyll had made a point of how effective a ghost could be in corporate espionage. It might just be time for Sheyenne to do a little legwork.
CHAPTER 28
After Miranda departed, but before I could lay out my plans to dig up dirt on Jekyll, the phone rang. When Sheyenne answered, I