A Fine Mess

Chapter 23

Jarlayne Brighton ran the cursor over the icons on her screen and continued her search through the myriad lists of sound engineers and technicians, watching for that one name or place that would trip her trigger mind and allow her to zero in on a lead. She toyed with a few strands of her TV commercial soft hair, separating and twisting them with long slender fingers, as the screens flashed past.

She had already narrowed her field from the police database of those involved in film and recording fraud and was hunting through names within the city. Her theory was that if the wife had arranged for all this, chances were she didn't have direct connections and had gone through an intermediary, also, the timing suggested a local source, ergo backtrack the likeliest suspects for any possible link.

Jarlayne was raised along with three older brothers by a single mother, who spent long days in a tiny newspaper kiosk for the little money it took to pay for their government subsidized apartment. Jarlayne Brighton kept the fact of her disadvantaged existence at bay by haunting the local library and reading everything she could on self-improvement and goal achieving, lessons eventually applied to her chosen career. When the three brothers all left in different directions she took over organization of the apartment, and the budgeting of her mother's meager income. School, while an absolute must in all the studies she read on self-help, was too restrictive.

Even with huge success in sports that might have won her scholarships, she quit in the middle of high school to work as dispatcher for a bicycle courier company. The extra money allowed for a few luxury purchases to augment the face and figure she was discovering opened as many doors as her missing diploma might have. Her career choice came from exposure to the field through the courier company and it struck Jarlayne that it was exactly type of enterprise she could exploit successfully. Decked out in a mind-blowing outfit, Jarlayne Brighton began hitting the offices of all the investigation companies listed in the local yellow pages.

Her confidence proved correct and soon she was answering the phone for a small firm, well on her way to making it bigger. Three years and a hard earned license later she was on her own in her present office with her mother installed in a small but comfortable condo, and a list of impressive clients to pay for her improving lifestyle. The only thing missing from her idyllic life was a serious relationship. Jarlayne found men too eager, too simple and all with one-track minds, which she concentrated on exploiting instead of cultivating. Serious wasn't in the stars for Jarlayne.

When the names of four companies popped up on the screen, she let out a little squeak and froze the information. Marvision was one she knew. It was a name that flirted with shady connections in the film promotion world. Nothing concrete had ever been proven but with a wink and a nod those in the business knew where to go for 'special services'.

She ran a search on the company and produced a client list showing WesCat as one that used their services on a number of legitimate projects. The contact name was, Peter Delacourte. Next, she crosschecked the four firms that came from the police database with Marvision and narrowed the field to two who had done more than a few jobs for Marvision.

"Darling, would you please bring my car around." She purred into the speakerphone, smiling at the response from the attendant in the garage. Jarlayne logged off, gathered her things and with a quick pause for self-admiration in the full-length mirror on the wall next to the office door and strode on long, dark legs out to the elevator lobby. This was the part of the job she enjoyed the most-and frankly, so did most of the people she dealt with.

The attendant braked to a soft halt next to the exit and leaped out to hand her into her cream coloured Mercedes, accepting the slight squeeze of her fingers as sufficient tip, considering the eyeful of milk chocolate thigh she flashed getting seated.