"When's the next time you'll see him?"
Paige ignored the excited Monica and asked Sheldon over the phone.
"I checked, and he only takes physics,"
Sheldon said miserably. "The next physics class is day after tomorrow at 2:00 PM."
After realizing he couldn't do anything about Chuck, he had Beverly look into it and discovered the only class he and Chuck shared was Alicia Harper's physics course.
Sheldon, who had originally considered avoiding Chuck entirely, refused to admit defeat and found it impossible to accept the idea of dropping a class.
He, Sheldon Lee Cooper, never backed down!
Paige hung up the phone and looked at Monica, who was lost in her daydreams. "We're going to Princeton University day after tomorrow at 2:00 PM!"
"No, you have classes that day."
As a responsible guardian, Monica had memorized Paige's schedule and shook her head, rejecting Paige's impulsive plan.
"Don't you want to see your Chuck?"
Paige reminded her.
"...I don't need to meet him like this."
Monica hesitated for a moment, but shook her head. "I have his business card."
This was her job, and her perfectionist nature required her to do it properly.
"Then why haven't you called?"
Paige said with a knowing smile. "Besides, how can asking him out directly compare to a casual campus encounter? You're a woman—don't you understand the concept of playing hard to get?"
"You don't get it,"
Monica said stubbornly. "With someone like Chuck, a girl has to make the first move. He has severe social anxiety."
"It's Asperger's syndrome!"
Paige corrected matter-of-factly.
"Right, it's Asperger's,"
Monica nodded quickly, catching herself.
She had almost forgotten that even though they were all geniuses, the girl in front of her also had a form of the condition.
"You only have one class this afternoon. After you finish, I'll drive us there immediately. We should be able to make it. What do you say?"
Monica's resolve weakened when she saw Paige's expression turn sullen and silent. Moreover, she was also looking forward to this chance encounter with Chuck on campus, so she offered tentatively.
"It's settled, Mon,"
Paige finally smiled.
"It's Monica!"
Monica protested.
"Sure, Mon,"
Paige chuckled.
Monica had no choice but to let Paige call her that, watching her study while she continued tidying the room.
Originally, housekeeping came regularly to clean, so she, as a guardian, didn't need to do it. But as someone with OCD about cleanliness, she had concerns about the cleaning service's standards, so she couldn't help but clean everything herself, over and over, until she was satisfied.
This was one of Paige's quirks that made her tolerable as a roommate.
After all, if Paige didn't approve, even if the university wanted to hire Monica, it would be pointless.
Ultimately, Columbia needed Paige more than Paige needed Columbia.
There were many prestigious universities like Columbia, but a genius like Paige, with her exceptional IQ, who could attend college at age 11, was incredibly rare—a treasure that was sought after everywhere.
Two days passed quickly.
Another physics class began.
Chuck arrived punctually.
"Hi, Chuck."
Cheryl and her best friend Justine pushed through the door and spotted Chuck. Cheryl pulled Justine toward the back seats and greeted Chuck with a wave.
Chuck nodded at them.
"You studied accounting before."
While the professor hadn't arrived yet, Cheryl started a conversation.
"Yes,"
Chuck replied.
"Accounting's a solid field,"
Cheryl said with a smile. "If I weren't so terrible at math, I'd be interested in that too."
Seeing Chuck's lack of response, Cheryl couldn't help but glance at her best friend Justine.
Justine was at a loss.
Why was she looking at her?
She'd never encountered a guy who couldn't or wouldn't make small talk.
She wasn't drop-dead gorgeous, but she was young and vibrant. She'd been dating her high school sweetheart Leonard since sophomore year, and they were very close. She was academically gifted, he came from money, and they'd worked hard together to both get into Princeton, so their relationship was solid.
She had no experience with guys like Chuck.
"You're an accountant, so why are you also a private investigator?"
Seeing her best friend's pleading expression, Justine had no choice but to jump in and continue the conversation to avoid an awkward silence.
Fortunately, after meeting Chuck two days ago, they'd returned to their dorm and used the business card Chuck had given them to search online for public information about him.
They weren't surprised by the young PhD,
but they were deeply curious and puzzled by the private investigator credentials on Chuck's business card.
"Numbers don't lie,"
Chuck glanced at her. "An accountant has advantages as a detective. Your financial records and tax returns reveal who you really are."
Justine was taken aback.
It made sense,
but her sharp mind immediately raised another critical question: "Aren't financial records and tax returns confidential? How can you access them?"
"Yeah."
Seeing her best friend had taken over, Cheryl relaxed and chimed in, "Tax returns are especially hard to get."
Compared to her best friend Justine, who came from a middle-class family, Cheryl's background had given her a deeper understanding of American law enforcement.
She knew the scope of various agencies' authority, and that the IRS was actually far more powerful than the FBI—the ones we always see kicking down doors and shouting warnings in movies and TV shows.
For instance, while movies and TV shows frequently criticize the FBI, police, military, and every other government institution, they rarely dare to criticize the IRS.
As the saying goes: In America, only two things are certain—death and taxes.
Who would dare mess with the IRS, a tax collection agency as inevitable as death itself?
Precisely because of their vast authority, even legally requesting a federal judge to review someone's tax returns during an investigation is far more difficult than other types of evidence.
That's because
the IRS needs to protect their biggest revenue source: criminals!
Because who would bother paying taxes if their returns could be easily accessed?
That's serious money!
Justice and all that is other departments' problem, not the IRS's. Unless you're cutting their budget, stop trying to exploit IRS records and find other ways to solve your cases.
The official process is already nearly impossible, let alone for a private investigator like Chuck.
Chuck's claim that tax returns reveal someone's true nature, while theoretically sound, is practically unattainable.
Chuck said nothing, simply looking at them.
Cheryl and Justine, one street-smart, the other book-smart, paused to think it through.
Oh, they got it.
He's got connections upstairs.
As long as the connections are solid enough, and the relevant information is obtained discreetly, used only as investigative leads, and then the trail is cleaned up afterward to avoid public knowledge that might affect criminals' willingness to pay taxes, this wasn't impossible.
Most private investigators are former cops who leverage their old connections to work private cases.
It's definitely bending the rules and probably illegal, but nobody's going to bust their own people.
(End of chapter)
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