Social Stalkers Detective Agency

Even though she was alone, Addison West shut the door of the conference room and moved toward the room’s wall of windows, a true piece d’resistance in the space. A light grey morning haze poured through the windows, bathing the room. Addison peered out almost reflexively to ensure no one was watching. Her practiced scan of the adjacent buildings and street below was sharp, but completely in vain. While the 8am hour might, in most parts of the country, signal a brisk hum to life, here in Palo Alto, the startup culture bustle was still hours away.

Addison sat at an oversized conference room table that more closely resembled a custom craftsman art piece than anything corporate. She carefully removed two items from her messenger bag and set them down to study more meticulously. She picked up the check first. It was made out to the detective agency, her agency, for the sum of twenty thousand dollars. Having been privy to the practical play money that was ubiquitous with Silicon Valley, the sum didn’t phase her. She knew a haphazardly written check like this could have been commissioned by an office secretary. The check was from an overly generic LLC, no doubt a secondary business account of the check’s authorizer.

A little black notebook was of far more interest to Addison. She picked it up, running the smooth moleskine cover under the pad of her ring finger, and flipped it open, despite the fact she had already memorized it’s contents. She knew exactly who the names on the first page of the notebook belonged to. She had gossip-column worthy secrets on all of them already. She also knew that one person was conspicuously missing from the list, and that he was likely the very same person who had sent her the check and the notebook in the first place. What she didn’t yet know, was why.

Addison founded Social Stalker’s Detective Agency four years prior. The name was a tongue in cheek way of acknowledging that her agency often picked up where an individual's “social stalking” had left off. She had worked with countless people suspicious of their partner's social media activity, looking for tangible proof of something uncouth going on. Other times, small startups might seek intel on a prospective hire’s outside activities. There was also an abundance of frenemies and potential investors wanting to know if an influencer’s life behind the scenes in any way resembled their curated ones. The Bay Area’s mix of money, entrepreneurs, athletes, tech, and wine country made for an interesting backdrop to expose some of social media’s most prolific mirages and mishaps. Addison had fallen into the career path almost accidentally, after her own search to uncover a cheating ex had revealed a real talent for providing insight outside the internet.

Addison was sure the effects of this instant gratification based cultural shift wouldn’t be healthy long term. She found it satisfying to bring peace and closure to people, while systematically proving her personal theory that dating and healthy relationships had died with the “like” button.

All of this made it even more intriguing that of the list of names in the little black notebook, the one missing name happened to be Kenneth Tomlinson. The billionaire founder, and much sought after bachelor who co-founded one of the most popular dating apps on the market.

Addison knew immediately he must have been the one engaging in this odd game with her. He was one of a short list of single male startup founders, all with companies valued at over two billion, that had earned the moniker the “Bay’s Bachelor Boys.” There were five of them, and Addison had been hired on several occasions by their jealous lovers, serious long term girlfriends, and even one’s mother. The founder of a popular ride share app had been promising his mother that he was seriously dating someone and grandkids were on the horizon. The mother, being rightfully suspicious, had enlistedAddison to help her prove her son had been lying so she could apply an appropriate guilt trip one holiday season.

Addison was very aware they all probably knew who she was, even though she kept a remarkably low profile. Of all the “Bachelor Boys”, Kenneth Tomlinson was the one she had the least dirt on. Kenneth was a former D1 college quarterback and top round NFL draft pick who suffered a career ending knee injury his inaugural season. He wound up getting his MBA at Stanford, and became good friends with a group of developers. They created their dating app as an answer to one of the others on the market, and its unique features made it irresistible to the masses.

Addison thought very carefully about her next move. Kenneth obviously wanted something from her, but the fact he was veiling it in secrecy piqued her curiosity. She couldn’t tell if he assumed she would go straight to the source, contacting him directly, or if he wanted her to reach out to his boys club and garner information to present back to him. Whichever it was, Addison planned to be a step ahead of him before she contacted Kenneth.

An hour later, Addison was parked on Hamilton Ave in downtown Palo Alto, sipping a coffee from Philz. Her podcast du jour was playing in the background, and Addison was taking careful tabs on everyone coming to and from the office of Kenneth’s company. This was one of her favorite parts of the job. Most people balked at stake outs and surveillance, but Addison was in her element. She loved having a soft focus on the world around her, observing, cataloging, and generally keeping a thumb on the pulse of her surroundings. Addison was painfully aware the world was becoming more and more disconnected physically while increasing its reliance on cyber relativity and the internet’s ability to forge a pathway for global connections. While everyone around her was buried in their phones and scrolling through endless content, Addison was simply making sure she was still human.

A sleek Tesla pulling into the parking garage adjacent to the office caught Addison’s attention. It was incredibly convenient for Addison that all the employees and visitors had to walk out of the garage and into the lobby next door. She checked her clock, took a sip of coffee and watched until her suspicions were confirmed.

Finally laying eyes on Kenneth himself, her breath caught in her throat and her whole body seemed to switch to a state of hyper awareness. Addison was instantly annoyed at herself that her first reaction to seeing the most physically gorgeous man she had ever laid eyes on was strictly not a professional one. She told herself it was a thrill of potential related to the job, but she knew better. It wasn’t a surprise to Addison that Kenneth was attractive. He had been compared to Tyson Beckford, a signature semi-crooked smile the only thing not categorically symmetrical on his face. His physique gave him away as a former athlete.

Kenneth opened the door of the office building while taking a call, and Addison continued to study him intensely, for the job she repeated to herself in an unconvincing mantra. After Kenneth was out of sight, Addison noticed a familiar face exiting the parking garage. This face happened to belong to one of the most notorious publicists in tech, synonymous with signaling a company was getting ready to IPO. Addison bit back her own personal opinions of Lexie Lareux. On more than one occasion Lexie had not so subtly threatened Addison when she was getting too close to exposing something unsatisfactory about a client. The train of thought sparked an idea for Addison and she quickly jumped out of her car, grabbing a hat and a pair of fake glasses she kept in her car for this very reason.

Addison moved quickly across the street and entered the lobby just as Lexie was walking up to the receptionist desk to check in for her meeting upstairs. Addison pretended to be absorbed on her phone and let out a faux gasp audible enough that both the receptionist and Lexie turned in her direction.

Addison added a slight Boston accent to her voice, then made up a “revelation” about one of Lexie’s premiere clients. She said it looked like Mashable and The Chronicle were looking into the developing story. The fake claim Addison had revealed wasn’t actually totally false. She personally knew there was some substance there, and she also believed that Lexie would know that too. As hoped, Lexie tensed up almost imperceptibly, and stepped outside to make a call. Just as she was out of ear shot, Addison stepped up to the receptionist and gave Lexie’s name.

The receptionist gave Addison Lexie’s visitor badge and signaled her to take the elevator to the 4th floor. When the doors opened up, Addison had dropped the disguise.

Addison informed the administrative assistant at the front that she was Lexie’s business partner, and would be filling in today. She asked the young man to confirm who would be attending the meeting and was pleased when Kenneth’s was the only name given back to her. The assistant led her to a conference room down the hallway, and Addison grabbed a seat allowing her a full view to see Kenneth’s reaction when he entered. She pulled out the little black notebook, and the check, setting them on the table while she waited.

A few moments later Kenneth Tomlinson walked in and stopped dead in his tracks. A quick flash of surprise dissolved into a satisfied realization, as his signature smirk played out across his face. He closed the door of the conference room and turned the full force of his smile on Addison.

“Ms. West. Well done. I wasn’t expecting you for at least a day.” The deep timbre of his voice reverberated through her.

Addison tilted her head and settled back into her chair. Whatever physical reaction her body was having internally was undetectable, her exterior was calm and unreadable. “As much as I’d love to hear more about when you were expecting me, I’m more interested to hear why.”

Kenneth leaned back against the wall of the conference room, crossing his arms under his chest. He took his time studying Addison before responding. His enjoyment was palpable. “I want to take you to dinner.”

“Excuse me?” Addison had been leaning back in her chair and almost lost her balance, fully confident she had misheard something.

“A date. With you. And me” His smile deepened, pleased he had now caught her off guard.

A commotion at the office assistant’s desk pulled their attention to the room’s large windows. Lexie Lareux was animated in explaining her presence. Kenneth turned to look at Addison who simply shrugged, revealing nothing.

Kenneth budged first. “Your online presence is nonexistent. Your ability to remain off the grid is astounding. It was either this, or ask one of my developers to invent an app you’d eventually have to use. This seemed quicker. ”

Addison nodded slowly. Lexie and the office assistant were now marching quickly towards the conference room. Kenneth put up a hand to stop the assistant and waved her off.

“So you thought you’d spend twenty thousand dollars to ask me on a date?” Addison inquired, buying herself time to process what was actually happening.

A much more serious expression replaced Kenneth’s warm smile, and he looked around the office before dropping his voice to confide something to Addison. “Actually. The twenty thousand is strictly business.” He had morphed into a much more serious version of the man she had just been talking to. “I’m afraid we may need your agency on retainer for something that could be coming up.”

A chill of excitement ran through Addison’s spine. She had long ago learned to trust her instincts, and right now they were telling her that something very interesting was about to happen.