Chapter 4
Marie Carbonet, she had pronounced it the French way over the phone, opened the door as he walked onto the porch of the mansion. Don rarely met with his clients at their homes, because there was a danger that the person being investigated would show up, but Marie had insisted. Her demanding tone of voice and her sneering manner when she told him that she wanted her husband investigated almost caused him to tell her that the agency had all of the investigations that they could handle and that she should call someone else.
"You're late," she snapped.
Don looked at his watch; he was ten minutes late, "Traffic."
She turned and walked into the house, leaving him to close the door. She walked out onto the patio, expecting him to follow her, and motioned for him to sit at the table under the awning. This was another no-no. Don knew how easy it was to record conversations in the open.
As soon as they sat down she rang a small bell that was on the table. A maid scurried out onto the patio and Marie Carbonet told the woman to get two iced teas for them. It was definitely an order not a request. The maid hurried out of sight and returned a couple of minutes later with two large glasses of iced tea.
Don had met this type of client before. Marie Carbonet had that attitude that was typical of so many Nuevo Riche. Just because her husband had made a ton of money before she had married him she thought that her shit didn't stink.
She crossed her legs and Don got a glimpse of her stocking tops. After a few minutes she uncrossed her legs and sat with her legs slightly open, Don saw that she wasn't wearing any panties. Marie knew the effect she was having on him. Marie Carbonet was a very beautiful woman that obviously worked to keep herself in shape. He had done some investigation on her and had learned that she had once been a flight attendant. Her husband had been married once before and Marie had only been married to him for a little over three years. She was in her mid to late thirties and Don had picked up rumors that her battles with her fifteen year old step-daughter were frequent and violent.
"Mr. Clark, Pam Parsons told me about you and the great job that you did for her. I need you to find out who my husband is diddling. I need pictures, dates, times, anything that you can get me."
"What makes you think that your husband is cheating on you?" Don asked.
It was a standard question that any investigator would ask a prospective client but Don saw the fire flash in Marie Carbonet's eyes for a second. He knew that this investigation would be a bit more complicated than some of his investigations. There was something that was more than a philandering husband investigation here.
"I really don't know if he is cheating on me. I just want you to find out if he is."
Don stared at her for a minute before continuing, "I don't understand. Is there money missing, has he been coming home late at night, is he gone on unexplained absences?"
Marie had been shaking her head while he was talking, "No, it's that bitch daughter of his. She keeps sneaking around trying to get something on me. Sooner or later she's going to stumble on something."
"Is there anything that she could find?" he asked.
Marie got a sly smile on her face, "My husband is ten years older than me. He's gone 50% of the time. I have my outside interests that are nobody's business."
Don looked out into the yard. Normally he wouldn't touch a case like this but he wanted to hear what this case was really about. There was a lot that Marie wasn't telling him. His police training taught him to not leave an investigation until you had all of the information that you could get.
"What if my investigation does turn up something? Will you expect me to testify or do you just want pictures and an investigation report?"
"All that I want is for you to get the goods on my husband. There will be no lawyers involved."
Don hesitated, "I don't understand."
She leaned forward, "When I married my husband I was a bit naïve. He insisted on a pre-nup but I was too dumb to read it. I thought that I was just signing papers to get put on his bank accounts and such. If I have to leave this marriage, I get one hundred thousand for each year we're married. I just can't take a chance. If I can get some dope on my husband I'll be able to dictate the terms of a new pre-nup to him."
"You aren't investigating him to get the information that you'd need for a divorce then?"
She snorted, "Are you crazy? If you think that I'd give all of this up you are crazy. My husband is a senior vice-president of a Fortune one hundred company. They have a morals clause in his contract. If I sue him, for running around on me, that's the end of all of this. He'll lose his job, stock options, bonuses, everything. No way, I just need something to hold over him in case he starts to wonder about things."
"Mrs. Carbonet, I don't think that this is the type of case that our agency should be involved in. I can give you the number of several private detectives that would take your case."
She sat her glass down hard, "What are your normal fees, I'll triple them. I don't want any other detective agency. I've heard that you're the best and I want you. Like I said, I'll pay triple your normal fee."
"If I decide to take the case, what are your plans concerning your step-daughter?"
Marie grinned, "Oh, you've heard about the arguments? That little bitch isn't that much of a problem anymore. My husband sends her to her grand-parents whenever he has to travel. As I said he's away 50% of the time. When she's here she usually keeps to her room or she's out with friends."
"Mrs. Carbonet, I can assure you that my agency hasn't been asked by your husband to investigate you but is there any chance that he has contacted another agency to investigate you?"
She hesitated, "No."
"Ok, I really feel that I shouldn't take this case but something tells me to take it anyway. I'll have a contract written up showing that you've agreed to pay triple our usual rates. You are aware that you will have to pay all expenses incurred in the investigation and that the investigation could become quite expensive. Does your husband travel overseas much?"
"About half of his trips are to Europe and Asia," she said.
"Does he ever take his daughter with him?"
She sneered her answer, "No, he ships her out to Oregon with her grand-parents."
"Does he ever ask you to accompany him on his business trips?"
Again she answered in the negative and Don continued, "I'll need recent pictures of you, your husband and his daughter. I'll need all of his phone numbers including any relatives he might call or visit, his schedule including any up-coming travel plans, any hotels that he considers his favorites, the car rentals he uses most often, the names of the staff in his office, anyone that he might have to take with him on business trips. I won't be able to start on your case for about a week so you'll have time to get that information. You can either fax the information to me or email it to me."
Don stood up, "I'll have one of my assistants bring the contract over in a couple of days and then we can get started on the investigation."
As Marie showed him out she picked up pictures of the three of them from tables in the living room and gave them to him. As he shook her hand to leave she held his hand for longer than necessary. As he walked to the car he decided that he had to investigate Marie Carbonet first to try and find out what she was trying to hide. He still had time to back out of this case.
The next morning he got in the back of the company Chrysler mini-van and parked far enough away from the Carbonet house that he could see if anyone left the house. Don sat in the back of the mini-van hidden by the deep-tinted windows. His sixteen year old son drove the car. It was summertime and Don had hired his son to do work around the agency. The fourteen year old had begged and pleaded until Don agreed to let him ride "shotgun."
About nine o'clock in the morning a van pulled into the driveway. The lettering on the van identified it as belonging to a pool maintenance company. A young man in his early twenties, built like the young men in the fashion ads, jumped out of the van and began to inspect the pool. Marie Carbonet came out of the house in a bikini that was appropriate for a teen-ager. She talked to the pool man for a few minutes; all the while touching his arm and caressing him. Suddenly the pool man pulled her to him and began to kiss her passionately. Marie returned his kiss and the young man's hand pushed her bikini top up and he began to caress her breasts. Don saw her push her breasts harder into the man's hand. Marie finally broke away and smiled at the young man and pulled her top down, covering her breasts. She looked around to make sure that they hadn't been seen by anyone. When she had satisfied herself that they hadn't been seen, Marie smiled at the young man and took his hand and led him into the house. It was two hours before the young man came back out to the pool and began to perform the needed maintenance. He had a satisfied look on his face.
Don's two son's eyes had bugged out of their head when they saw Marie's bare breasts and Don made a mental note that he couldn't take the boys with him on this investigation anymore. They would have to content themselves with the theft investigations and the more mundane investigations.
The next day Don sat in the back of a plumber's van across from the house. He had picked up the van at an auction and had outfitted the inside with the latest surveillance gear. He had left his two boys home.
There was no activity around the house until the early afternoon. Just as Don was about to stop the surveillance a large car pulled into the driveway. A large man got out of the car and quickly looked around as if afraid that he would be seen at the house. Don took the man's picture. He recognized the man. Don had had run ins with the man when he was on the police force. The man was a minor member of organized crime and was reputed to be an enforcer for the local don. The man had never been convicted of any crimes because witnesses either developed severe memory loss or they disappeared.
Don saw Marie come to the door. She put her arms around the man's neck and kissed him hard. The man put his hands on her ass and pulled her to him and began to grind his hips into her. The man pushed her away from him roughly and walked into the house. Marie closed the door. Minutes later Don saw her nude figure walk past the bedroom window on the second floor. Through the open window Don saw the mobster grab her and kiss her roughly. Marie seemed to enjoy the rough treatment. It was almost six o'clock before the hood left the house.
Over the next several days Marie Carbonet either met her lovers at the house or she went trolling for them in town. Marie seemed to prefer the younger men around twenty and if it was possible she preferred multiple partners. Don could understand why she wanted to get information on her husband before he got information on her.
Don decided to see what secrets the husband was hiding. He surely
had to suspect that something was going on. It was amazing the daughter
hadn't stumbled onto the wife's affairs.