Page 65 of Stolen Kisses
As we moved up the set of stairs leading to it I got the distinct impression of eyes watching me. When I turned though to see who it was, there was no one.
No one had come into the reception area. There didn’t seem to be anyone around who hadn’t already seen us and was looking on as we followed Jerry.
Odd though, I wasn’t usually wrong when I got that impression.
We were seated in front of a large mahogany desk when Jerry closed the door. He then took his place before us in a leather office chair.
“So, what can I do for you both today?”
This was the part where I had to be clever and inconspicuous. Stealthy in words and in my actions.
“My family has an affinity for this charity. We’ve been thinking of doing something and we wanted ideas for fundraisers.” I glanced at Gio as I spoke.
That was my angle, I was going to pretend we wanted to do some kind of fundraising campaign. I’d cough up the money anyway, because it would be mean spirited to let him think money was coming for a good cause and all we really wanted was information.
The way his face brightened made me glad I was verging on that path.
“That’s extremely kind of you.” Jerry nodded. “I appreciate that. I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I know your sister worked for us and she did a lot during that time.”
I did mind, but I wasn’t going to show it. “Well, I’d like to do my part too. My friend and I both. I wondered if we could have a list of all the different sorts of fundraisers you’ve had over the last ten to fifteen years. I want to do something different, but in keeping with what’s been done before.”
I put it that way so that it covered everyone, didn’t specifically show that I was really just interested in the political figures, and would allow me to narrow down our list if it came to it.
“Oh, sure. That shouldn’t be a problem. I can actually print that all off for you now.”
Good, this was what we needed. No waiting or anything.
He tapped away at his keyboard and minutes later the printer started going in the corner with pages printing from it.
Jerry got up to collect them and handed them to me. There were ten pages in total with a table of names of different people with the types of campaigns they’d run.
“Thank you,” I said to him.
“Do you need anything else? We have a pack that lists some potential ideas and we have some event organizers if you ever need to brainstorm.”
“That sounds great. I don’t have much ideas in mind. What sorts of things in your experience work best?” I was still going for vague.
“Oh well goodness. There’s big events and small events. People always go crazy for celebrities and the government officials. They spend foolish money though in my opinion on stuff that they could save on. I guess you can when you have money to burn.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“The government types in particular are the worst. They know it makes them look good to go above board and they all compete with each other.” Jerry chuckled.
“I can see that happening. I want to do something big. I guess too to honor my sister. Did Christina ever get to work on any government events? It sounds exciting, as extravagant as it is.”
“Oh absolutely. She worked with all of them.” Jerry looked proud. “She was very professional and knew how to present herself in a way we liked.”
Well hell.Vague as I tried to be, I think I just got a clue that might help.
From what he’d said I thought it was reasonable to assume that Christina met the guy we were looking for here.
Here at work while organizing an event, and not at Crowthorne’s.
It was more plausible to assume that. Such a shame though that I couldn’t narrow it down further because she worked withallof them.
“Thank you Mr. Chase. We’ll definitely be in touch.” Better not to ask anything else.
Hopefully I’d get somewhere with the list Jerry had printed off. When I got home I’d go over it and separate out the political figures from everyone else. Then see if the names matched up with initials on the documents Vinny sent. It would almost seem too easy if it actually worked, but it was worth a shot.
