To be honest Lani had no earthly idea if Minuete had anything to do with Professor Brooke’s decision to leave the University, but there had been a number of odd stories in the Beacon lately. Like Professor Lauren’s seeming abduction, where he simply vanished from thin air terrifying his wife and family. The business professor was found four days later, looking like he’d just been released from a prison camp. He claimed he had simply needed a trip out of town, and had gone on a spontaneous vacation for a few days. “That one just didn’t pass the smell test,” thought Lani. And in any case, Minuete researching ways to disable electronics could simply not be a good thing.
Lani had mixed feelings about going after Minuete. On one hand, some of her best investigative reports had come from investigating Minuete, like the time she proved Minuete had a Lektor device and was using it to print fake handicapped parking stickers. And she was certainly riding on a high after stomping on Minuete’s purse in front of the Washington Post staff. “I haven’t heard anything from Minuete since then,” realized Lani with a chill. Minuete would definitely want revenge over that one. The fact that Minuete was off planning revenge gave Lani a cold shudder.
Hence the mixed feelings. Minuete had admitted to Lani personally that she was, in fact, a supervillian seeking world domination just days earlier. Minuete definitely knew how to give as good as she got when it came to getting revenge. And in any situation involving Brea, Allison, and herself, Lani would most definitely be the one that got burnt the most.
Still, neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow. “Sure,” thought Lani “that was the alleged motto of the Postal Service, but it applied to investigative journalism as well.”
Where to start? First Lani tried typing in her web browser “
www.paradox90.com.” And this pulled up a dull drab web site that really told Lani nothing. The information and goals were so general the information was useless, like the company’s mission statement, “to invest in and provide research and investment in technologies that will revolutionize tomorrow’s marketplace.”
“Show me a technology firm where that wasn’t their goal,” thought Lani. Then she realized, the website was just window dressing. Minuete was putting up a public front for Paradox 90. Someone might have seen the story and wanted to read about her company. What was going on behind the scenes probably had nothing to do with the part of Paradox 90 that served Minuete’s financial interests.
Lani opened her web browser, and used the alias email address she used when she wanted to be anonymous. The name she used, Hildegard 'Hildy' Johnson, was from the uber-classic 40’s dialogue comedy “His Girl Friday,” a film about a divorced couple with a love-hate relationship. They worked at a fictional paper called The Front Page, in a time where journalism was a much purer form of art.
The 1940 remake had Rosalind Russell playing the character of Hildy, and despite the fact that her co-star was Cary Grant she positively stole every scene. Grant gave a one liner, and she’d top it.
Walter Burns: I still wish you hadn't done that, Hildy.
Hildy Johnson: Done what?
Walter Burns: Divorced me. It makes a man feel he's not wanted.
Hildy Johnson: Oh, now look junior . . . that's what divorces are FOR!
That was who Lani saw herself as, a classic old-school reporter that was both skilled and witty. “Brea doesn’t give me enough credit for being funny,” mused Lani.
“I can be very funny when I want.”
Lani sent the following email to
questions@paradox90.com.
From the Office of Regulation Authority,
My name is Hildegard Johnson and as a newly spun of company, rules require my office to physically verify that your office and operations physically exist. This is to aid in preventing fraud and investment companies being set up that are merely on paper. The inspection is quite cursory and should not take up much of your time. The reason I’m asking so informally is that frankly, following the official procedures is a quagmire of lawyers and legal bills, and I always attempt to see if I can visit the company informally first. The goal is the same, getting me on site to verify your office actually exists. If I haven’t received a reply back in 42 hours, I will go ahead and assume you wish to go through the process formally. I appreciate your time.
Sincerely, Hildegard Johnson
Of course there was no Office of Regulation Authority or any such rules, as was blatantly obvious to Lani. Frankly she had been surprised anyone had ever fallen for this trick, but they always did. And according to Lani’s lawyer back at the Beacon it was probably legal, you never knew if the matter ever fell before a judge.
Then Lani spent the next three hours surfing through Lexis-Nexis reading everything she could find on Minuete Kiley. A lot of it was all the articles Minuete had written for the Washington Post. They were absolutely infuriating to read because Minuete was so obviously spinning things for her own thinly veiled agenda. Not much was useful information to be found their, but a Lexis-Nexus search of “EMI+Expert +Leaving” with a date range of within the last two weeks found thirty-one hits, nine of which were stories just like the one at Bishop University, an expert in electro-magnetism up and leaving somewhere, usually a university for an unspecified job on short notice.
After reading that, Lani decided on a separate tactic. Creating a false resume for Hildegard Johnson, pulling wild qualifications out of thin air that made her out to be an expert in Electro-magnetism. She then FedExed this to the Paradox 90 headquarters attached with a note.
Attention Human Resources,
My name is Hildegard Johnson, and I am an expert in semi-conductor devices and advances studying electromagnetic pulses. I am currently looking for employment, and read the story about your company in the Wall Street Journal today. Included is a current copy of my resume. I appreciate your time.
Sincerely, Hildegard Johnson
Lani also posted the resume to all the Internet job sites, including Monster and HotJobs. By that time she glanced at the clock, she realized she had lost all track of time. She had started at nine in the morning and taken a lunch break around three. It was getting close to seven, she needed to get downstairs to the Alyssa Rifte set. Lani wouldn’t formally be on staff until tomorrow, but she figured she had put in a good day on the investigative side, and she could start getting able to know the faces.
As Lani logged off the Lexis-Nexis connection, she saw she had gotten an email. It was a response from someone in Paradox 90 concerning Hildegard Johnson’s desire to informally inspect the office. They had taken the bait. The person that had read the email gave Lani a number to call and set up an appointment. It was after five o’clock, so Lani would have to set up the meeting tomorrow. She put the number in the Palm Pilot and shut down her laptop.
