Chapter 138 - Sniffing Around

Once it was time for the lunch break, the private investigator placed his camera in the pigeonhole compartment of his car and picked up a brown delivery envelope from the backseat of his car before stepping out of the car. He walked into the company and made his way towards the cafeteria where most of the staff were heading to. He looked around the place casually as though he was trying to find someone. 

"Hello, young lady!" He greeted politely, stopping a young lady who was walking in the same direction with him. 

"Hello, sir!" She responded, looking at him curiously.

The private investigator smiled at her, "My name is Ralph. I'm a cab driver. I dropped off a young man here sometime this morning and he seems to have forgotten this parcel in my vehicle. I would love to give it back to him, but I don't know anything about him apart from the fact that this was where I dropped him," the man said with a polite smile. 

"I don't suppose you know his name?" The lady asked, looking from the envelope to his face, and the private investigator shook his head with a slightly distressed frown on his face. 

"Unfortunately I don't know his name. But he is this tall," the private investigator said, raising his right hand slightly above his head to indicate how tall Tom was, "He had an earring on, and his hair was colored..."

"Copper brown?" The lady filled in for him as Tom was the first person that came to mind with that description.

"Uhm, I'm not sure," The private investigator said with a slight frown. Although that was exactly the color of the person's hair he was enquiring about, he wanted to be able to leave without having the lady inform Tom that someone had been asking questions about him, "Does this person you are talking about work here?"

"Although I don't know him on a personal level, he is one of the company's drivers," the lady explained.

"Oh! I see," the private investigator said with a nod. It made sense that he was one of the company's drivers seeing how he was irresponsibly dressed. But why was a mere company driver using the CEO's private elevator? "I'm not certain yet if we are talking about the same person. What is his name? Can you help me find out if he is around?"

"Give me a moment please," the lady excused herself as she went to one of the tables close by where some other ladies were having lunch. 

"Do any of you ladies know if that handsome driver is around? Someone is asking for him."

"You mean Miss Perry's driver?" Lucy's secretary who was at the next table asked, as she looked up to see who was asking for the driver. 

"Yes. His name is Tom, right?" The lady asked to be sure that her information was correct, as she moved over to the next table to meet Lucy's secretary who seemed to know more about the driver. 

"Yes. Although I'm not sure that he is anywhere around the company's premises. I didn't see Miss Perry's car in the parking lot when I came in this morning, and Miss Perry isn't in either," Lucy's secretary informed the lady who gave her a nod.

"Alright. Thank you," she said with a small smile before returning to meet the private investigator.

"His name is Tom, and he is not in the office at the moment. You could leave the package with me and I will make sure it gets to him," she offered with a polite smile, hoping she would use the opportunity to hit on Tom.

"I will just hang around for a while and wait for him to come so that I can hand it over to him," the Private investigator said with an apologetic smile, "Thank you for your help," he said with a bow before leaving. 

Although he still had some unanswered questions concerning this driver, Tom, who had used the CEO's private elevator, he knew he couldn't ask this lady too much about him or else that would blow his cover. 

He was just going to keep an eye on this Tom guy and the CEO. He had a hunch that there was an interesting relationship between them both. Although it was unrelated to his job, it wouldn't be a bad idea to sell his findings to a good tabloid. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You should stay back to make sure everything is in place over here, while I leave for lunch with Miss Perry," Tom told Harry, who nodded in agreement while Anita and the directors who stood close to them wondered what relationship the CEO had with his assistant for him to be having lunch with her. 

"I will drive," Lucy offered, reaching out to take the car key from the valet. She needed the other staff to believe that she had nothing special to do with the CEO, and their lunch was nothing other than official business. 

"You don't have to," Tom said, ignoring the others who he knew were listening to them as he took the car key from the valet. He walked over to the front passenger door and held the door open for Lucy to get in. Lucy looked down as she got into the car while trying not to meet anyone's gaze especially Anita's gaze.

The corners of Anita's eyes twitched jealously as she watched the scene before her, and her blood boiled with anger. She couldn't believe that her man was holding out the car door for another woman. 

Once Tom shut the door after she was seated, he turned to look at Harry and the others, "I will be off now," he said with a wave before walking around the car to get into the driver's seat.

Once he got into the car he buckled his seatbelt before turning on the car's ignition and driving off. Neither of them said a word for some time until Tom glanced in Lucy's direction and he once again noticed how tense she was, and how she was looking straight ahead of her like she was holding her breath, while she wriggled her hands on her lap. 

"Why do you always seem so uncomfortable around me?" Tom asked, even though he knew he had asked her that before. 

"I'm not uncomfortable sir." Although she felt uneasy around him, there was something oddly familiar about him even though she couldn't seem to place a finger on what it was. She felt like she knew this person, yet she knew she didn't know him. 

Tom sighed. It was obvious that it was going to be very difficult to get her to relax around him, "How long have you been friends with Sonia?" Tom asked, wanting to ask her simple questions that might help her relax and loosen up no matter how little.

"We have been friends for as long as I can remember," Lucy said as she turned to spare him a glance. 

"I guess you both grew up in the same neighborhood?"

"Yeah. Our homes were just a couple of blocks apart," Lucy explained, not wanting to give him more information than was necessary.

"That means your family is well acquainted with hers?" Tom asked, and turned to look at her in time to see the shadow of a frown that touched her brows before she turned away from him.

"Kind of," Lucy said, not wanting to talk about her history with Sonia's family. Talking about it meant she had to think about it and remember it, and remembering it meant she had to face those nightmares again. She didn't want to. 

Seeing how tight-lipped she was, and knowing that she didn't want to talk about it, Tom decided to leave the subject for later, "So you are friends with Miss Miller?" He asked, reminding her of her brief conversation with Anita earlier.

Lucy considered the question briefly. Were they really friends? She wasn't sure that what she had with Anita was friendship as it was clear to her that Anita wanted to use her to get close to the CEO, while she had also approached Anita because she thought Anita was the one Tom had wanted. They had no mutual respect, and that was the foundation of every friendship.

"Not exactly. We are acquaintances," Lucy clarified, making Tom's lips twitch in amusement. It was good to know that Lucy was smart enough to not call someone like Anita her friend.

"I see. So what do you think about the meeting earlier? How did I do?" He asked curiously, wanting to know what she thought about this aspect of him. Although she knew him as Tom the friendly and down-to-earth person, he was also just as harsh and ruthless when it involved his business. 

Lucy winced, not wanting to answer such a question as she didn't want to lie to him or tell him the truth, "It was okay."

"You can be honest with me. I want to know so that I can do better," Tom said when he noticed her hesitation. 

"It was fine."

Tom sighed to himself once again. It seemed like no matter what he said or did, she was bent on remaining tight-lipped. Now he wondered if he would have gotten anywhere near where they were in their relationship had he told her from the start that he was the CEO. He decided not to pressure her for a response anymore. He would hear her opinion concerning the meeting later in the evening as Tom Handy.

Neither of them said a word to each other until Tom pulled the car into the parking lot of a five-star restaurant, "Give me a minute," he told Lucy as he got out of the car, and before she could figure out why, he went around the car and opened the door. 

What was he doing? Why was he doing this? She wondered, feeling very uncomfortable by his action as she stepped out of the car. 

Tom shut the door and they both walked into the restaurant side by side, even though Lucy kept trying to move a step behind him, Tom kept matching her pace. A waiter met them by the door and led them to their seat which had been reserved earlier.

Tom pulled out a seat for her, and once she was seated, he took the seat opposite her and picked up the menu, leaving her to do the same. 

"Are you okay?" He asked some minutes later when he noticed that Lucy was still looking at the menu, or better still, she seemed to be hiding behind the menu. 

"Yes sir," she said with a nod but didn't put down the menu. 

"You seem to be having a difficult time making up your mind on what you want. Would you like me to help you?" Tom asked politely, and Lucy gave him a nod as she dropped the menu on the table and met his gaze. 

Tom didn't bother to look at the menu before signaling to the waiter closest to them. Once he placed their orders, and the waiter left, he returned his gaze to Lucy, "So, I heard from Harry that your fiance was involved in an accident and you both called off the engagement," Tom said, making Lucy swear under her breath.. It seemed like that one little lie was never going to stop haunting her.