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EIGHTEEN
Unfortunately, Jewel was not meant to be freed from her tension.
The guys bailed on dinner and decided to catch a UFC fight at a bar. Jewel wasn’t sure that was a grand plan, considering it would hitch their testosterone. She hoped the only brawling occurred on the big screens.
She met up with Bayli and Scarlet at a five-star Italian restaurant overlooking Central Park. The girls caught her up on their past couple of days.
Bayli bounced a little in her seat and said, “I’ve been saving this tidbit until we all got together. A modeling agency picked me up!”
“That’s awesome!” Scarlet squealed. “Congratulations!”
“So we’re celebrating tonight,” Jewel enthusiastically said, grateful to have something to focus on other than her relationship drama.
“Well,” Bayli contended, “it’s not really that big a deal—until I land a gig. But yeah. I’m pretty stoked.”
“It’s fantastic news, Bay,” Jewel assured her. “You’re going to take this city by storm!”
The server came around and Jewel ordered champagne. Then she asked Scarlet, “How’s your case coming along?”
“Frigid as the Alaskan frontier.”
“Oh. Darn. Sorry.” Jewel reached for her water glass and sipped.
Bayli asked, “Anything we can do to help?”
“Not unless you possess extensive knowledge on LoJacking a person.”
Jewel nearly spewed water. “Excuse me?”
“Seriously,” Scarlet said, not the least bit contrite. “I need to plant a tracking device on Michael Vandenberg. He’s the most elusive man on the planet. He’s supposed to be in Atlanta, Georgia, but arrives in Athens, Greece. Supposed to be in Charlotte, turns up in Chicago. I had him pegged for Manhattan today, but nope. Nowhere to be found. I’m sure I’ll read tomorrow morning that he was in Madaripur, Bangladesh.”
“I don’t even know where the hell that is,” Jewel admitted. “But why is his name so familiar?”
“You’ve likely tried to seal a deal with him at some point for land,” Scarlet explained. “Huge real estate mogul. They call him the Wolf of Wall Street, because he’s a genius with investments and flips commercial property quicker than a quarter.”
“Huh.” Jewel couldn’t place him for sure but likely had come across information on him when exploring new acquisitions. “So who’s your source for where he’s purportedly going to be at any given time?”
“Previously, his assistant,” Scarlet lamented. “But she’s clearly been instructed to send insurance-fraud investigators on wild-goose chases.”
“So I’ll call his office,” Bayli said, still lit up over her big news yet obviously excited by the prospect of an additional challenge.
“What are you going to say?” Jewel curiously asked. “That you’re a one-night stand gone awry and the little pink plus sign showed up on the pee stick?”
“That’s got potential.” Bayli laughed. “But I was thinking something more along the lines of finding a pattern related to his flips and seeing if I can entice him with a potential ‘deal’ I’d like to make.”
“Granted,” Scarlet said, “there are shades of brilliance there. But this is a possible criminal we’re talking about. Which makes it a bit too dangerous to toy with him like that.”
“Then I’ll tell him the little pink plus sign showed up on the pee stick.” Bayli winked.
Jewel offered, “Let me see what Cameron can do to track him down. Maybe an assistant-to-assistant kindred-spirit kind of connection will work. And she actually is a legitimate source—Vandenberg’s person can verify Cameron works for Catalano Enterprises, for the Senior Vice President of Acquisitions. That keeps everything on the up-and-up. And Bay stays out of the man’s crosshairs.”
“Sure, but now you’ve got me worried about Scarlet being in his crosshairs,” Bayli said.
“She does have a point,” Jewel concurred.
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Scarlet told them. She paused as the server returned with the champagne, uncorked the bottle, allowed the ceremonious sample, then poured. When he left the table, Scarlet continued, “I’m well prepared. It’s the nature of the beast in this particular industry.”
The women toasted. Then Jewel said, “Yes, we understand that. It’s risky business when I meet with my barterers and my buyers. Yet this is quite different, Scarlet. I don’t go into my meetings with the accusation of wrongdoing lingering between us. You have targets and they get agitated when they learn you’re there to grill them for suspected criminal activity.”
