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ANGELS & IMPERFECTIONS, Book Two; Special Agent (Volume 2)

By Daniel Roland Banks

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SPECIAL AGENT


Wolves are by nature stealthy. Sometimes they are masters of deception.
The sheep are by nature gullible. They will believe almost anything.
The Shepherds are appointed to stand between the sheep and the wolves.
Chapter 1


My assistant Christine Valakova, wearing a charcoal grey pantsuit with an emerald green blouse which matched her eyes, was sitting at her desk in the outer office/reception area when the phone rang.
“Tucker Investigations, how may I direct your call?”
She listened for a moment, and then she replied, “Yes ma’am, please hold,”
She punched the intercom button.
“John, line two. It’s your lady friend, the attorney from next door.”
From the safety of my walnut paneled office, I could just imagine Christine’s face; fairly certain she was rolling her eyes. Christine has never liked Ms. Doyle. Referring to her as my “lady friend” had been meant to annoy me, which it did.
“Good morning, this is John.”
“John, this is Melody.”
Doyle, Doyle and Starnes, the law firm that occupied the suite next to ours, had recently become the only other tenant on this floor. I was loosely on retainer as their primary investigator. I say loosely, because they didn’t need a full time investigator, and I wouldn’t have worked for them on a full time basis.
Melody Doyle was an attorney, a partner, and the rather attractive daughter of Clarence Doyle III, the
founder and senior partner in the firm. I was aware Melody had a crush on me.
“Good morning, Melody. What can we do for you today?”
“Oh, baby, the things you could do for me!”
Melody had never been shy, but this was ridiculously unprofessional.
“What’s the reason for you calling me this morning, Ms. Doyle?”
“Come on, John, you’re no fun. Can’t you ever think about anything other than business? Everything is always business with you. Don’t you want to play with me?”
“Melody, can you get to the point?”
“Oh, that’s better, baby. The point is I want you.”
“I’m sorry I thought this was a business matter. Isn’t that the reason you called?”
“I suppose it’s one of the reasons, John.”
I could virtually feel her pouting through the phone at my ear.
“Ok, can we talk about that?”
“Oh well, fine then. We have a client who was injured on the job. He was nearly killed when a load of badly stacked bricks fell on him as he was working to construct a retaining wall. He suffered numerous broken bones, including a crippling spinal injury, and he has a traumatic brain injury that will leave him impaired for the rest of his life. We feel the injuries were caused by gross negligence and an unsafe working environment. We believe the employer knew of the danger and ignored it. Worse, we believe he instructed the employees to ignore the danger, and he threatened to fire anyone who would not work under those conditions.”
“How may we assist you in investigating the incident?”
“John, you are so frustrating. Do you have to be so formal? Loosen up, baby!”
“Ms. Doyle, Can we keep this professional? What do you want us to do?”
She sighed loudly into the phone.
“It seems we need you to find a witness. The employees are mostly illegal immigrants from south of the border. Our client will testify, as best he can, but we need additional witnesses. Most of the other employees have disappeared. The ones we have located and interviewed refuse to cooperate. They are afraid of deportation, and they’re afraid of their employer. Not just afraid for their jobs, but actually afraid for their personal safety.”
“Construction sites are usually required to abide by OSHA and other State and local safety requirements. How could the employer have failed to be in compliance?” I asked.
“Evidently this company does mostly smallish projects in rural areas using illegal immigrant labor. The jobs are finished quickly before any OSHA inspector even knows they’re going to happen. More often than not, there isn’t even a permit pulled.”
“You say most of the employees have disappeared. How is the company going to stay in business and meet its commitments?”
“These are illegals, John. There’s no shortage of available labor. The ones who’ve disappeared have already been replaced.”
“OK, Melody, give Christine all the information you have on the company, as well as the names of the employees who would have knowledge of this or other past incidents. We’ll take it from there. Please stay on the line and I’ll transfer you over to Christine.”
“I’d rather play with you.”
“Yeah, uhh, you mentioned that already. Let’s stick to business, OK?”
“I said I’d rather play with you. Why don’t you come over and play?”
“What in the world?” I thought.
I put her on hold and punched the intercom button.
“Christine, Ms. Doyle has some information for you related to a case we’ll be investigating. I’ll put her through on line two.”
After I punched the button to send her back to Christine, I considered the strangeness of our conversation.
Melody Doyle had come on a bit strong a time or two before this, but it had not been as deliberately unprofessional or interfered with business in the way this conversation had. It was as though she was overcome with primal lust.
I was glad she’d called me on the telephone and not actually shown up in person.
What was going on with her? 

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