you now,” she said.
Finally! I smiled back the fakest smile I could muster up.
“Thanks,” I said, as I allowed her to lead me into the office.
And, wow, what an office. I felt like I was perched on top
of the world. So I thought the view from the Presidential Suite was nice. This
took the cake.
“Hi,” he said, as I walked through the door. “Can you close
the door behind you?”
The office was enormous. It took up an entire corner of the
building. “This is bigger than my apartment,” I said. And it was. You could see
for miles out.
“Glad you like it,” he smiled. “Care for a drink?”
“No,” I said, “Your second secretary offered me one.” I said
it with a bit of disdain. I mean, who in the world needs two secretaries?
He smiled.
“No, seriously, why do you need two secretaries?” I asked.
“I have five, actually.”
“You have five secretaries? I mean, really?” I was half
pulling his tail, and half being serious.
“Yes, five. It takes a lot to run my life.” He crossed his
legs as he took a long sip from what looked like scotch in his glass.
I laughed an insincere laugh.
“So,” he said.
“So,” I said. Well this was awkward.
“I guess I wanted to talk to you.”
“Yes, “ I replied, “you did ask me here. What’s on your
mind?” I knew what was on his mind, of course. I was just being coy cause
that’s the kind of mood I was in. Maybe I was feeling a bit annoyed that I was
“that girl,” again. I’m not sure why I involved myself in these weird twisted
love triangles.
“Well, it’s Amy. I’m thinking of leaving her.”
“What!” I said. “You’re thinking of doing what?” That was
not what I was expecting.
“Look, we haven’t been getting along at all lately, and now
this happened,” referring to us of course, “so I’m not quite sure what to do
now.”
This certainly threw a monkey wrench into where I thought
this was going to head today. He wants to leave her? Is he serious? I won’t let
myself be dragged into some messy divorce that’s going to be splattered all
over the papers and financial magazines. “Why now?” I asked.
“Why not? We’ve been unhappy for so long, and she’s probably
seeing other people behind my back. I’m tired of going along with this charade.
It’s really starting to wear on me.”
“Well, I won’t be a part of this. I hope you know that.”
“I’m not asking you to be part of the divorce. I’m not going
to even tell her that anything is going on between the two of us.”
Phew! That’s a relief. “Okay,” I said in response. That was
a good sign at least.
“I just wanted to talk to you and see if you could help me
get some dirt on her. My attorneys say that I’ll need something in the way of
evidence to support claims that she’s been unfaithful to me.”
“Wait. Don’t you guys have a pre-nup or something?”
“Yes, of course we do. But, the five year clause has been
fulfilled, and if I can find some dirt on her, then she’ll get a lot less than
she would if I can’t.”
Well this is brazen of him. Not only does he sleep with his
wife’s best friend – as in me – but he also wants that same friend
to get dirt on who his wife is sleeping with. “Wow, I’m not sure I can do that
for you.”
“Look, I really need your help with this. I promise you that
I can make it worth your while.”
“No amount of money is going to make me want to do that. I
live a very comfortable life. Sure, I may not be a billionaire like yourself,
but I certainly am not scrounging for dollars.”
“I know that already. That wasn’t what I was implying.”
“Good,” I said, “Can’t you hire a private investigator for
things like this? Why do you need my help?”
“I already tried a P.I., and that didn’t help. She’s either
too smart, or she’s squeaky clean, and I really doubt that she’s squeaky clean.
I can sense that something’s been going on. Hasn’t she confided in you?”
“No, she