This story is about breast cancer. I know for some it might be difficult if not impossible to read. I understand. I’m not one who likes to give or get spoilers but there are times when they are appropriate. Should you need to know any details before you make the decision to read this please contact me.

Chapter Twenty-two

Thursday, February 9, 2006

It was eight o’clock in the morning. Trixie and Honey were in their conference room going over their notes for the two interviews they would be conducting this morning.

Yesterday, in between working with clients, they had met with Mart to discuss the student applicants who were applying for the receptionist position. It had been a difficult decision but they had narrowed the applicants down to five and would interview each of the students next week.

Trixie was feeling better every day. She still tired easily, but was gradually getting back to her old self. Of course, she knew that in a little over a week she’d be back to feeling crummy again.

After they had been working for about half an hour, Trixie put down her pencil and said, “I hope we find a qualified candidate. I don’t want this to drag out.”

“Well, I’m not getting my hopes up. Shelby Anderson sounds good on paper, but it’s almost like it’s too good.”

Trixie’s mind was going in about ten different directions. In what seemed like out of the blue she said, “What are you, Brian and the kids doing this weekend?”

“Nothing in particular is planned. Matt mentioned how nice it was to do something as a family last weekend,” Honey replied. “Why?”

“I just got to thinking,” Trixie started. “In the last few weeks the entire staff at the Academy has really gone above and beyond the call. I know that several of them had planned a long weekend for last weekend and they volunteered to stay at the school so Jim wouldn’t have to worry.” Trixie got up and went to refill her coffee cup before continuing. “I thought it might be fun to have Pizza and Game Night tomorrow night.”

Pizza and Game Night was a popular event at Ten Acres Academy. They were held at least once a semester but usually more than that. All of the house parents were given the night off from 5:00 p.m. on Friday until 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. The Bob-Whites and their families along with whatever parents were available served as chaperones. It amounted to a giant slumber party at the school. Everyone brought their sleeping bags and slept on the gymnasium floor divided, girls on one side boys on the other. Pizza was ordered to be delivered. The night was spent playing different games. Usually there was an early game of basketball. A few diehards would play Monopoly or Life. Chess and backgammon tournaments were set up. If Peter Belden was available, he came armed with an arsenal of fun games. No one was sure who had more fun, the adults or the students.

“I’m up for it,” said Honey. “But do you think you can pull it off on such short notice?”

“Jim and I were discussing it last night. When the school calendar was set up, we had tentatively planned to have one about this time. I don’t think it will take much. Jim was going to work with Diana and Mart. If my parents and either your parents or Di’s parents are available it will be a go. I just hope Dan and Hallie can make it. The kids had so much fun last month when Dan joined them in a basketball game.”

The two of them discussed logistics a little longer and then Trixie called Jim to see what he had found out. Just then the door to the office opened and in swaggered a man whose beer belly hung over his belt. He acted like he was God’s gift to women.

Trixie walked out of the conference room to greet the visitor. “Hello, can I help you?” she asked.

“Well, hey there sweet thing,” he replied. “I’m here to see Beatrix Frayne and Madeleine Wheeler.” He ogled her up and down.

Trixie reluctantly extended her hand and said, “I’m Beatrix Frayne, and you are?”

“You’re Beatrix Frayne?” he said leeringly. “A cute little thing like you runs a big, bad detective agency?” He clumsily tried to caress Trixie’s hand as he shook her hand.

Trixie extricated her hand and resisted the urge to wipe her hand on her pants leg. “This cute little thing has been running the agency quite successfully with my partner for ten years.” Just then Honey came through the door, and the man practically drooled when he saw her.

“Hello,” Honey said. “I’m Madeleine Wheeler, and you are?”

Finally, he introduced himself, “Todd Roberts, Esquire.” He bowed with what he thought was a flourish, but in actuality just looked stupid.

Trixie and Honey tried not to giggle. Honey, who was better known for her tact than Trixie, spoke, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Let’s get down to business.” Honey directed Todd to the conference room. Trixie followed.

After everyone was seated, the interview began. Two things became immediately obvious. First, while Todd Roberts may have been a private investigator, he had no real experience in complicated investigations. He had specialized in investigating unfaithful spouses. His methods could be considered stalking.

The second was that he had absolutely no idea who Trixie and Honey were. He had done no research on the company and had no clue that they were related to the Beldens.

The final question of the interview was “What unique abilities would you bring to this position?”

Trixie and Honey were flabbergasted at his reply. He said, “Well, first of all, my masculine presence would bring in a higher clientele. Lots of people are afraid to hire women investigators.” He paused for a moment as if deciding which other trait he should highlight. “Then there’s my athletic ability. I used to play basketball.”

Trixie’s eyes began to sparkle. Innocently, she asked, “Oh, did you play professionally?”

“Well, no,” Todd replied. “But I was captain of the Croton-on-the-Hudson basketball team. We almost won the championship in 1989.”

Trixie moved in for the kill. “Well, you must have played against my brother and a good friend of ours. They played for Sleepyside and as I recall they won the championship that year.”

Todd had sense enough to look a little uncomfortable but walked right into Trixie’s trap. “Oh, who are they?”

“My brother is Mart Belden and our friend is Dan Mangan.”

Todd started to puff his chest out and make some manly remark. Then it dawned on him who Trixie was talking about. The look on his face was priceless when he realized who Trixie was. “Yeah, I remember them now,” he mumbled. Todd glanced at the door wishing that someone, anyone, would come through the door. Looking for a way to quickly escape the office, he looked at his watch and said. “Oh my, look at the time.” He stopped trying to come up with a plausible reason to leave. “I just remember I have to… umm… take my… umm mother. Yes, that’s it, my mother. To the grocery store.”

Trixie and Honey stood up and started to extend their hands as Honey began, “Well, thank you…” Before she could get any further, Todd had stood up and bolted out the front door.

Honey walked over to the door and peaked out, making sure there was no sign of Mr. Roberts. She turned around and the two friends burst out laughing.

“Can you believe that guy?” said Trixie. “‘My masculine presence would bring in a higher clientele.’ What planet does he come from?”

It took a few minutes before Honey could answer. “You were perfect, Trix. When you asked him if he played professionally, I thought I was going to lose it.”

“Well, if anything, it will give us something to laugh about for quite some time. Wait until we tell Dan and Mart about it. I never knew what they said to Todd. Maybe we’ll find out.”

Honey looked at her watch and tried to pull herself together. “Well, we’d better get our act together. Shelby is going to be here soon. Hopefully, she will be better than Todd.”

The interview with Shelby started out well. Trixie and Honey both began to feel that maybe they had a potential candidate, but as it progressed, things just didn’t seem to add up. While she seemed to have the right answers to the questions, they seemed to be too perfect. It also seemed like she had accomplished quite a bit for being so young. There wasn’t anything in particular that they could put their fingers on. There was just something that bothered the two of them.

After Shelby left the interview, Trixie and Honey decided to order in lunch and continue to work. Trixie knew she was good for only about two hours and wanted to call Shelby’s references. While they waited for their food, they discussed their concerns.

“Something just doesn’t add up,” Trixie said. “I can’t put my finger on it, but something’s not right.”

Honey agreed, “She had spot on right answers and seemed sincere, but I just don’t know.”

“She didn’t show any warts,” said Trixie. “Not a hair out of place, great experience, organizational skills and still there’s something that isn’t right.”

“Well, we might as well call her references. Maybe something will come up there,” Honey suggested.

Trixie thought for a minute. “Would you mind calling Pete Kimball? I just don’t feel like explaining everything that’s been going on. I don’t mind him knowing, but today I’d just like to not talk about it.”

“No problem,” Honey said. “I haven’t spoken with Pete since before Thanksgiving. If he asks how you’re doing I’ll let him know but I won’t volunteer anything. How’s that sound?”

Trixie decided to make her calls from the conference room so that she wouldn’t be distracted by Honey. By the time the food had arrived, they had contacted all of Shelby’s references. When Trixie walked out of the conference room, Honey had a puzzled look on her face.

“What’s the matter, Honey?”

“First of all, Pete sends his love and says he’ll be praying for you. When he asked how you were doing, I don’t think he expected the answer I gave him. He hopes to make it into the city later this month and may come out to visit.” Honey was stalling because she still couldn’t believe what Peter had told her.

“Come on, Honey. What’s the scoop?”

“Well, Pete couldn’t originally even remember a Shelby Jacobson. When I described her, he seemed to cringe. Apparently Pete’s dad had hired the company she worked for to do some background checks. She pushed her way into helping and tried to dig up some dirt when there wasn’t any.” Honey started. “When she was called on it she made up all of these excuses and blamed everyone but herself.”

“If Pete couldn’t give a good reference, why would she use him?”

“My guess is that she banked on not having her references called,” Honey explained. “You wouldn’t believe the number of people who don’t call references. She probably did her homework and realized that I was related to Matthew Wheeler. It wouldn’t take much to find out that Pete’s dad and mine are business partners.”

“I get it. She hoped that we would see that Pete was a reference and just because it was Pete we wouldn’t call him. That’s kind of risky don’t you think?”

“Well, you and I wouldn’t risk it, but then we’ve been married to the most honorable men in the whole wide world for over ten years,” teased Honey. “So, what did you find?”

“Well, I called her former employer. All they could say was wonderful things about her. They just gushed. I then called her third reference and it sounded like he was reading his answers off of note cards.”

The two of them sat down and ate their lunch. They discussed Shelby Jacobson’s pros and cons. While on paper she still looked like a strong candidate, they were both still bothered by their impressions and Pete Kimball’s comments.

Finally, Trixie put her pen down and looked at the clock. She was surprised to see it was after two o’clock. “I don’t know what I’m more surprised about,” she said. “I can’t believe how late it is or that Jim hasn’t called once since I spoke with him this morning.”

Trixie no sooner had the words out of her mouth when the door to their office opened and in walked her supple husband. “Well, speak of the devil. Were your ears burning?” She walked over to Jim and placed a smoldering kiss on his lips.

Honey made a great gesture of covering her eyes while Jim returned the kiss. “Hey, you’re not the only ones here,” she said.

“Did you say something, Trix?” Jim teased.

“Nope,” Trixie replied with a wink. “What brings you into town? I was just getting ready to see if I could find someone to drive me home.” While she probably could have begun driving earlier in the week she liked having someone pick her up. She was afraid that she might fall asleep on the way home.

“Well, I stopped by the Pizza Joint to order the food for tomorrow night and make sure everything was set. Then I figured I’d just stop and see if you were ready to go home,” Jim explained. “How’d the interviews go?”

“Don’t ask,” Honey said. “It’s not looking very promising.”

Trixie started to add her comments, but was interrupted by a huge yawn.

“Come on, Shamus. You can tell me on the way home. You can barely keep your eyes open and if we hurry we can pick Lizzie and Matt up from school.” Jim held out Trixie’s coat for her. After she had it on, he wrapped his arms around her giving her a big hug.

As she left the office Trixie told Honey she would plan to come in for a few hours in the morning so they could decide what they were going to do. She wanted to be home by noon so she could get some rest before the Pizza and Game Night.

Trixie fell asleep on the way home and by the time the children had their homework done and were in bed she didn’t have the strength to tell Jim about her day.

 

 

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