Ed and Harry had an impromptu meeting on Wednesday afternoon in preparation for Harry's meeting with Olivia Freemont the next morning. Ed just showed up at Harry's office that day with his administrative assistant, Lilli Clutch, in tow.
"Ed!" Gloria exclaimed in surprise, "Lilli! What are you doing here?"
"Lilli managed to dig up a few more things on the Freemont situation," Ed said proudly, "But, it's explosive stuff. I didn't want to risk any kind of electronic communications with this intel. That's why I didn't call or e-mail. This requires a face-to-face."
"He's in a meeting over in Marketing," said Gloria, "But, he'll gladly break from that to hear this. I'll go get him. Go ahead into the office. You know where everything is, Ed. Lilli, there's fresh coffee on the credenza."
"Thanks, Gloria," said Lilli.
"Does Harry still stash a bottle of Jack Daniels behind the coffee stuff," Ed asked.
"And two shot glasses," Gloria said as she left the room.
As they entered Harry's office Lilli said with a note of concern, "Isn't it a little early in the day to be drinking?"
"With what we've got," Ed replied, "one good shot won't hurt me. It might even help."
"All right," said Lilli dubiously.
Slate Investigations, LLC was one of the most successful detective agencies in town. Despite that Ed always seem to look like a down-on-his-luck P.I.
His ill-fitting, off the rack, grey suit couldn't hide his middle-aged spread anywhere near as well as his battered fedora hid his receding hairline. Though he shaved meticulously every morning, he always sported a five o'clock shadow by lunchtime. That and his generally combative attitude helped him to cut an imposing figure even though he was only five feet six inches tall.
Lilli Clutch, on the other hand, was a fifty year old, auburn haired stunner. On her round, almost baby face she had a little, button nose, very full lips and wide, green eyes that captivated any man, and many women, that she met. They were the kind of eyes that always seemed to carry a hint of mischief; very sexy mischief. Of course, it frequently took a while for people to notice eyes because of her head-turning 36DD-24-36 body. The only reason that one wouldn't call her a MILF is because she never had children.
"I already have one child," she would tell people, pointing to Ed, "that's plenty."
As Ed began hunting for the whiskey and a shot glass Lilli went to Harry's computer and popped a thumb drive into the first empty portal she found. She was just clicking on the first document she wanted when Harry walked in.
"Lilli" he said happily, "Ed, Good to see you both."
Lilli ran over to him to give him a big hug and a deep kiss.
Lilli finally let go of Harry and asked, "Where's Gloria?"
"She stopped to get her steno pad so that she could take some notes," said Harry. Then he turned to Ed, who had his head buried inside the credenza, and said, "The J.D. is on the other side of the shelf."
Lilli grabbed Harry's wrist and led him to the desk.
"I hope you don't mind," she said, "I put my thumb drive in your computer so that I could show you what we've found."
"What she found," Ed added as he held up the bottle of whiskey in triumph.
As Harry sat down behind his desk Lilli leaned over next to him to manipulate the mouse to open the pictures and documents. Harry felt the delightful pressure of her soft breasts against his upper arm.
Ed poured a shot of the Jack Daniels, downed it quickly then sat down in the chair in front of Harry's desk. As he sat Gloria came in, note pad and pen in hand. Noticing that Lilli was in Gloria's usual spot next to Harry she pulled up another chair and sat down next to Ed.
Lilli looked up from her work and said, "Sorry to invade your space, Gloria. But, I'm the only one who knows what and where all these document are."
"No problem," said Gloria. Then she thought with a hint of jealousy, "It also gives you a chance to rub your tits up against Harry."
As Lilli worked the mouse, opening different folder to locate the file she wanted, she said, "You were right about a couple of things, Gloria."
"Like what?" Gloria asked apprehensively.
"For a start," said Lilli as she pressed her breasts a bit more closely to Harry's arm, "The 'A.W.' in A.W. Accounting and Consulting does, indeed, stand for 'Agnes Walker', sort of."
"What do you mean 'sort of'?" asked Harry.
He was having a little trouble concentrating on the job at hand with two of Lilli's best features rubbing his arm. He could feel his trousers getting tighter.
"Well," said Lilli, "It doesn't stand for her name in the direct sense. There are no actual documents stating that the company might, formally, be called 'Agnes Walker Accounting and Consulting'. She's set up a pretty good smoke screen of dummy corporations to cover her trail. The 'A.W.' seems to be sort of a back-handed joke. But, if you look at the structure carefully, all of the dummy corporations lead a trail right back to her."
"Shit!" Harry exclaimed. The he contritely added, "Pardon my language, ladies."
"Don't worry about it," said Lilli, putting her free hand on Harry's shoulder, "An obscenity is probably the only reasoned response to news like that."
"Good point," Said Ed with a chuckle, "But, that's not the scary part."
"What's the scary part?" Harry asked anxiously.
Before he answered Ed looked knowingly at Lilli. He knew exactly what she was doing to Harry. He didn't mind. He and Lilli had always had an open relationship. Neither begrudged the other outside sexual conquests. Sometimes they even shared. Ed was actually getting a chuckle out of watching Harry squirm. He idly wondered if he might get a crack at Gloria this time around. He hadn't gotten into her panties, or her delightfully over-stuffed blouse, for a long time. He put his hand on the brown-haired beauty's shoulder.
The touch surprised Gloria for a moment. She knew just as well as Ed what Lilli was up to. Although she had recently admitted to herself that she wanted it to be more, she and Harry had no permanent ties on each other. She was emotionally caught between a tinge of jealousy at Lilli and sharing Ed's amusement at Harry's discomfort.
"The poor dear really is trying to focus on the business at hand," she thought.
As Ed brushed her hair back and tickled the space behind her ear Gloria shivered at his touch and decide to just roll with it. Besides, she knew Ed to be a skillful and considerate lover. He also had a nine inch cock that was as thick as a beer can. Her pussy moistened at the thought.
"Do you want to tell him," Ed asked "or should I?"
"Go ahead," said Lilli, "I've got to find the next picture."
"The scary part," Ed announced, "is that Gloria was also right about there being a connection between the con and the audit."
Harry and Gloria gasped.
As Lilli opened the picture on Harry's computer screen she said, "It turns out that Mrs. Walker has been having an affair."
"Well, that's not news," said Harry, laughing out loud.
"Would you like us to make you a list?" Gloria asked sarcastically.
The picture finally appeared on the screen. Lilli gave Harry a moment to get a good look at it then she turned the screen around so that Gloria could see it.
"Ah," said Lilli, "but, this one is significant."
The picture on the screen was of man who might have somewhere between thirty-five and forty years old. He had a gaunt face with a long, almost hook of a nose, thin lips, and beady eyes partially hidden behind a pair of round, wire-framed glasses.
"This," Lilli announced, "is Wilbur Dweeple. He's an official with the local IRS office."
"And he's responsible for the audit?" Gloria inquired.
"Exactly," said Lilli, "He's rarely worked on the up and up through his whole career. Mr. Dweeple has been investigated several times for just this sort of stunt. Over the years several key government officials, from both parties, have used him to harass their political enemies."
"I'll be damned," said Harry, "The government really does use the IRS for political purposes."
"Harry," said Ed as though addressing a particularly dim-witted child, "Harry, don't go off the deep end with conspiracy theories, buddy.
In every agency of government, or business for that matter, you'll always find a few jackasses who will bend or break the rules to advance their careers and put a couple of extra bucks in their pockets. It doesn't mean that the whole agency or business is corrupt.
This guy Dweeple has been at this for a long time purely for his own gain. The only difference is that this time is that, instead of doing it for power or money, he's doing it because he's getting his pole royally greased by Aggie Walker."
"Point taken," said Harry with a rueful smile.
"The only conspiracy at work here," Ed continued, "is by three people against you and Bill, and, to be brutally honest, more against Bill than you. To Aggie you're just collateral damage."
"No doubt you're right about that," said Harry, "It still doesn't explain why, though. I mean, wasn't the con itself enough?"
"It's what they call a 'blind'," Lilli explained., "the audit is there to keep you off balance and distracted enough to not notice that you're being swindled by the fake accountancy firm."
"It's a brilliant plan," Gloria admitted grudgingly.
"It is," Ed replied, "The big flaw, of course, is that Aggie and Ms. Freemont, or whatever her name is, don't have the knowledge or experience to cover all the bases. They left big holes in the game plan. That's why Lilli was able to dig up so much on them."
"I don't see any big holes in it," said Harry.
As Harry spoke Lilli removed her hand from his shoulder and reached down to stroke the hardening bulge in his trousers. Harry shuddered at the contact.
"There were three in this one," Ed elucidated, "one that they should have seen coming and two that were just stupid."
Ed had, by that time taken his hand off of Gloria's shoulder and was delicately tracing circles on her back between her shoulder blades. Gloria shivered as her vaginal juices flowed and her nipples hardened.
"The one that they should have seen coming," Lilli said to Harry, "is that you and Gloria have really good bullshit detectors. You both smelled a rat almost immediately. You've got a lot more on the ball than the people they've been pulling their sexual harassment scams on."
She squeezed Harry's cloth covered cock just below the head. Harry suppressed a groan. Harry decided to throw caution to the winds. He reached over, stuck his hand under Lilli's tight skirt, and fondled one of the round cheeks of her spectacular ass. It was Lilli's turn to suppress a groan.
