Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (31 page)

"Just wondered." Come to think of it, I hadn't seen any photos in Dean's house of Tallulah or anything
else
feminine around. Maybe she didn't sta
y over, or he was just super tid
y. Whatever their relationship was, he clearly trusted her to do more than just spank him.

"I can't imagine Martin getting romantic. I don't think he even stretches his expenses. You would not be
lieve what some of the secre...
uh, executive assistants in the building get asked to do."

"Like what?" Clearly
,
I'd caught Dominic in a gossipy mood.

Dominic leaned in. "Flowers, chocolates, jewelry. And not just to the
ir
wives." He winked and I tried to look appropriately scandalized. "You remember when David Bernard got fired?"

I shook my head.

"Oh, right. It was before you started. Bernard got a little frisky with his accounts. A meal here, drinks there with clients. Then a meal here, a
c
hampag
ne there with his girlfriend...
both of them. Dean clamped down on the expense account after that
,
and
even
he isn't exempt."

"So you'd say he's pretty honest with money then?"
I pretended to examine my nails and look disinterested.

"Yeah. Between you and me, he's got a big mortgage and some expensive habits
,
but he draws a good salary and his pension package is one nice kiss
-
off. Sally-Anne
,
in accounts
,
told me."

"How do you know about his expensive habits?"

"I opened his Amex a couple times."

"Anything naughty?"

"Oh
,
you!" Dominic laughed. "Martin
Dean
is a man's man. Imported cigars,
a
tailor, racing cars, fine wines and some seriously old whiskey for ten thousand bucks."

"Wow. I don't get the cigars or whiskey thing
,
but I'd like a tailor.
He must make a good dinner guest,
"
I mused.

"Honey, you don't need a tailor. You'd make a paper bag look good." Dominic waved a hand over me. "Loving the outfit today. Very retro. Very
foxy lady
."

"Oh, shush."
I preened anyway.

"I hate to ask
,
but do you have time today to do some typing for me? I have
to type up
Dean
's notes
from the executive meeting
,
and I
still have to
organiz
e
next month's brokers conference. It's a bore of a chore."

"Sure. Hand it over."

"You're a star." Dominic handed me a blessedly slim file and blew me a kiss as I retreated to my own desk.

Okay, so far as I could see, Dominic did not have one mean, murderous bone in his body and now I knew a little more about the big boss. Ten thousand dollar whiskeys needed a good salary to keep up
;
and after seeing his house
and the location
, I
already knew it was pricey. Now I knew the
mortgage
cost a pretty penny too. I could imagine Dean wanting to grease the wheels with a little extra. He did have a lifestyle to keep up.
An expensive one
. The only thing I hadn't gotten was any information on his personal life. Who did Dean hang out with? Who were his friends? And what was the deal with Tallulah? On first glance
,
she didn't seem like the type of woman Dean would take home to meet his mother
.
B
ut she was clearly the type of woman he possibly got it on with regular
ly
, given the waitress' comments and what Lily gleaned from her colleague.

I checked Maddox's desk
,
but he still hadn't com
e in yet
;
so I dropped Dominic’s typing
on my desk, swiped off the floor and took the elevator down to the call center.

A burst of noise hit me as I entered the room. Row after row of people, like
robots
penned behind desks, w
ore headsets
as they
carr
ied
on one-sided conversations, their fingers flying across keyboards to dumb terminals. I looked around, spott
ing
the nearest supervisor and walked over, waggling my fingers in greeting.
I knew Scott from Green Hand’s summer party and he always made a point of saying hi to me.

He looked up from his screen as I approached and smiled. "Hi, Lexi. What can I do for you?"

" I just have a couple questions about claims. Just something that cropped up while I was typing up a, uh, report on the claims process."

"Is this about the new process they're testing?" Scott sighed
, leaning
back in his padded chai
r. He was in his late twenties
and still dreamed of escaping the call center pen.
I took
Lily
to see
him play gu
itar with his band a month
earlier
and
had a strong suspicion he'd taken a fancy to
her, making him
the best person for me talk to right now.

"Oh, no, I don't think so. Did something change recently?"

"Yeah, a bunch of claims were
siphoned
off through another branch. They should have come to us because they're in our area
,
but there was some kind of test being run on a sample."

"What kind of test?"

Scott shrugged. "I don't know. I keep expecting to get the reports, but this test has been running for nearly a year. It's a real pain. It sounds a lot more streamlined
,
so I was hoping we could use it here too."

"How is it more streamlined?"

"It just cuts a lot of the red tape we have to wade through. It's supposed to be some kind of service that collates everything for the customer so they get their claim payout faster."

"I don't follow."

"Instead of us having to chase
down the
police reports or the fire department, this service sends out automated requests and
faxes
the reports in
,
getting
them
on the system. It could c
ut our case time
by
thirty percent and the customer
s
get
their check
s
faster.
"

"That sounds pretty good."

"I know, right? I've been trying to get a report of the progress
,
but when I called the Boston office, no one had
even
heard of it. Maybe they pulled the plug already, but I'd like to at least look over the report and see what happened. I asked Martin Dean about it
,
but he said it was
confidential
."

"You want me to ask Dominic about it?"

"Oh no. You know
,
I'm not sure I was supposed to have said anything. I guess I'll find out eventually. So, what was your question?"

"I just wanted to know what happens when you get a fraudulent claim."

"That's easy. We get people trying it all the time. First
,
we check them against the claims register internally
,
then externally. We don't insure people
with
prior fraud convictions, but sometimes they slip through the net
;
plus
,
we have to log every claim so that two policies don't pay out on the same
compensation request
. That's fraudulent too. If it's damage, we usually need a proof of purchase or some evidence
there
of
. S
ometimes we send out an investigator, especially in the high cost claims, to check that everything looks okay. Basically, if there's a problem, we have to get more information before we can pay
out."

"What kind of information?"

"Receipts. Home photos with the
claimed item
in. Statements from householders. Th
ose
sort
s
of thing
s
."

"
B
urglary and malicious damage
, too
?"

"Yes and f
ire damage
.
We need crime and fire reports along with receipts. We need to make sure the householder
wa
sn't at fault, or caused the damage themselves to try and get some quick cash
,
or an upgrade on their TV
,
or whatever. Our car insurance department, that's the Boston office too, had a problem with a hit
-
and
-
run gang writing off cars a while back. All over-insured junkers. It was in the news about two years ago."

"I think I remember that." It had been a pretty big deal. The gang had claimed more than a quarter million dollars before the insurers
got wise
. It wasn't just Green Hand Insurance that was targeted; it had been a statewide problem.

"Do you need anything else?" asked Scott.

"No, that's it," I said. "Thanks. You've really helped out."

"Anytime, Lexi. Let me know if you hear anything about that test process."

"Sure."

"And say hi to Lily from me."

"I will."

I chewed
on
Scott's comments as I waited for the elevator. When I stepped in,
lost in my thoughts,
I looked up
to find
Maddox
,
so I made a point of looking at my watch.