Miz Scarlet and the Acrimonious Attorney

by Sara M. Barton

  “Well?”

  “I’ve already admitted as much,” was her frustrated retort.

  “That’s why you thought the accident you had was real,” I surmised. “It didn’t occur to you that they set you up, because you were busy setting up Johnny.”

  Guilt is a funny thing. It can feel utterly wretched to do something unconscionable, especially if you get away with it. Alice had been so relieved that Margie and Ed Hawley had helped her to avoid the consequences of a deadly accident that she never questioned their motives behind setting up Johnny Zee.

  “Is it just me, or does it appear that these people are a little too good at blackmail?”

  “What are you saying, Scarlet?” Paul’s emotions were so raw that it was hard to bear witness to his pain. When the heart is that tender, an arrow through it can be fatal. There must be some way to get these two lovers back on the right path.

  “What if there are other victims out there? You said that Philip found money they had collected from five of the six people, Paul.”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “But look at how many people now seem to be a part of the scheme. We’ve got Margie, Ed Hawley, Misty, and Joe Monaco.”

  “So?” Kenny had no intention of sitting back down. “What’s your point?”

  “How often do blackmailers share their bounty? What if there are so many victims because there are so many blackmailers involved?”

  “Everybody gets a slice of the pie.”

  Just like in the fishing tournaments. And the percentages are worked out ahead of time. The boat owner, the captain, the crew, and the anglers all share the prize money.

  “I saw a show once, about this family of grifters. They worked together to rip off their targets. What if the Monacos are part of a gang?”

  Kenny’s eyes met mine and I saw that little flicker of awareness that signaled we were on the same page. This blackmail ring was organized and effective.

  “How long has Greg Monaco worked for Johnny Zee? Do either of you know?”

  “No,” said Alice, shaking her head.

  “I don’t,” Paul replied. “Why?”

  “Would you happen to know who he worked for prior to that?”

  “I don’t know. I could ask Johnny,” he offered.

  “Could you do it right now? Tell him you have a friend looking to hire a captain for a boat he wants to bring up from the Bahamas. Tell him you need references.”

  “Okay. Why don’t I hang up and call you back?”

  “No, stay on the video call,” Kenny instructed him, “even if you have to pretend we’re right there in the office with you up in Connecticut. Tell him you have a friend who wants the boat brought up to Old Saybrook in May. Just get him talking about Monaco and Monaco’s background, how they met...all that good stuff. Can you do that, Paul, without making him suspicious?”

  “Of course I can,” he sniffed, his feathers ruffled. “I’ll have you know I’ve argued cases in front of the Supreme Court. I am a consummate professional.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m counting on you to shake the information loose.”

  “Am I missing something here?” Paul frowned. “What do you expect to hear from Johnny Zee?”

  “I’m not sure, to be honest with you. I’m just curious about where Greg came from and whether he’s been in the Keys a long time. Margie’s his sister-in-law and she’s up in the Miami area; she could be a pivotal player in the scam. I’m really concerned about the way Alice and Johnny were set up. These blackmailers forced their victims to work together. That strengthens the power of the con and gives them back-up partners who don’t dare go to the cops when things escalate.”

  “Oh,” said Alice as the reality set in.

  “They use their victims as force multipliers.” I tossed those words at them, hoping they would understand just how dangerous this was. “It gives them a secret team that would enable them to do what they’re doing, all while using intimidation and fear.”

  “A secret team?” Paul seemed skeptical.

  “I wonder if Johnny Zee is less of a victim and more of a participant.”

  “No!” Alice cried out. “He was the victim!”

  She seemed very certain of that. But that didn’t seem to be Kenny’s view.

  “How did Johnny make his money?” he asked her. She put a hand to her mouth, trying to prevent a gasp from escaping from her lips, but it slipped out anyway. He redirected his attention to the man on the other end of the Skype call. “Paul?”

  “Johnny told me he got into real estate and investments.”

  “If this blackmail scheme is as big and as lucrative as I think it is, they have to stash the profits somewhere. Why not real estate and investments? Maybe they’ve managed to move all of it out of the country over the years, knowing full well that if they are caught, the money is out of reach of the feds.”

  “That must have been what Philip ruined for them,” I remarked.

  “Do you really believe that Johnny is involved?” Alice looked at Kenny, who nodded. “But that would mean that he was setting me up.”

  “It would.”

  “And when he came to me, so upset, that was all a lie.”

  “I believe it was.”

  “It’s got to have something to do with Siren of the Seas,” Paul decided. “All the victims and blackmailers have that in common.”

  “Are you talking about the fishing tournaments?” Kenny asked him.

  “I am. I think they used them to rope us in.”

  That made sense to me. But there was one sticking point.

  “What I don’t understand is why Philip had to marry Margie. Why would they go to all that trouble, Kenny?”

  “I can answer that. I’ll be right back.” Paul rose from his seat and walked away. He was back in less than a minute, waving a large manila envelope at us. “This came today. I just happened to go into the office because we had this video conference planned. It’s from a Miami attorney, notifying Martin, Dubinsky, and Moore that Philip’s will named his wife, Margarita, as his executor. The attorney has filed the document in probate court down there, in anticipation of receiving a full accounting from us of Philip’s professional and personal assets.”

  “Please tell me it’s not legitimate,” I groaned. This whole mess just kept getting worse and worse.

  “Of course it’s not legitimate. Do you care to know why?” The senior partner of the law firm gave us a little shark smile. “It’s because three days after this will was notarized, Philip Grimshaw sat in the conference room just down the hall from my office. He dictated a new will, naming a new executor, and we have it all on video. The moment I read this drivel, I realized that he knew exactly what they planned to do after he was dead. Philip did something to stop them.”

  “Then why did he put himself in harm’s way?”

  “Maybe he thought he had it covered,” Kenny suggested. “Maybe he thought he knew all the players and that’s why he went ahead and set up the meeting with his friend in law enforcement.”

  “You mean....”

  “He trusted Johnny Zee with his secret, believing Johnny was a victim.”

  “Kenny, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure, honey. Ask away.”

  “Is it possible that Philip knew Johnny was involved as soon as he opened the safety deposit box in the Dominican Republic and there was nothing compromising in there?”

  Alice whimpered. She was devastated by the devious ploy.

  “He must have,” Paul broke in. “Philip told me that he had returned all of the material he found to the people who were being blackmailed. There was one person who didn’t get anything back. I wasn’t really sure what Philip meant by that. I just assumed that he hadn’t had a chance yet, but now....”

  With an admirable amount of pluck and dignity, the victim pulled herself together. She dried her tears and deposited the used tissues in the wicker wastebasket at her side. “I know something about how Johnny made h
is money. I don’t know if it’s relevant, but maybe it is.”

  Alice stood up and crossed the room while we waited. She pulled out a magazine from a drawer in her desk. Flipping through it, she found what she was looking for and brought it over to show us.

  “Johnny was interviewed by a reporter from Miami Today about three months ago. He talked about how he was broke and desperate several years ago, at a low point in his life. That’s when he stumbled upon a mentor, Bobby Diaz. This was back in 1990. Diaz owned several apartment buildings in Miami and needed a property manager. He gave Johnny the job and trained him. Over the years, Johnny worked his way up to vice president of Mi Casa, Su Casa Properties. When Bobby Diaz died in a boating accident, Johnny inherited his entire estate.”

  “Diaz had no relatives? No wife and kids?” Kenny looked perplexed.

  “Oh, he had relatives up the yin yang,” Alice announced. “But Diaz had specified that if his son was still an addict at the time of his death, Hector would not inherit. And Carmen Diaz had supposedly broken her daddy’s heart by running off with her boyfriend, who was known to be a gang banger. Bobby disowned her.”

  “No wife?”

  “He had an ex-wife, Griselda. Johnny told the reporter that the couple had just reunited and planned to remarry. But she perished in the accident, and since she wasn’t a named beneficiary of Bobby’s estate, her heirs got nothing. It all went to Johnny.”

  “How convenient is that?” I shook my head in disbelief.

  Paul was clearly upset by the possibility. “Has anyone heard from the son and daughter since their parents’ deaths?”

  Alice shook her head. “I have no idea.”

  “Ken, do you think Johnny and his friends killed the whole family?”

  “It’s worth looking into it.” He paused for a moment, chewing on his lip. I could tell he was reassessing the situation, trying to decide if he’d chosen the right course of action.

  “This case just seems to get bigger and bigger every time we turn around,” I said to him. “Maybe that’s why Philip got in over his head. He saw the tip of the iceberg and thought he knew what lay beneath the surface of the ocean.”

  “He would have no way of knowing it was a con on top of a con that was on top of another con,” Kenny remarked thoughtfully. “Paul, forget about making that call to Johnny for now. Do you think you can spare a couple of paralegals to do some research for us? I want to know who owns title to what. You could probably obscure the purpose behind their efforts by telling them it’s a matter of settling Philip’s estate. I’ll get my team busy looking into the demise of the Diaz family. I think what we’re looking for are the people who were with Johnny in 1990, as he made his climb up the mountain of gold.”

  “Of course I can. I’ll put my best people on it.”

  “Would it also help if we went back over all of the fishing tournaments and identified the anglers that were on the boat with Johnny and his crew?” I inquired, thinking it likely that the blackmailers not only stuck together, but they also kept their victims on a very short leash.

  “It would, but after hearing about what happened to the Diaz family, I think we also need to know who is alive and who is dead. Maybe our blackmailers have a bad habit of taking out anyone who poses a risk to their gang. We’ll have to be very careful, though. We don’t want to wind up swimming with the fishes.”

  By the time we were ready to leave Alice’s condo, all of our ducks were in a row. She and Paul would hole up at the Four Acorns Inn until this storm blew over, under Max’s watchful eye, and this time, she would not notify the concierge of her departure.

  “Is there a way out of this building that doesn’t require us to pass through the lobby, Alice? I’d like us to leave without attracting any notice,” Kenny told her.

  “Of course, Ken. We can go down the stairs on the west side of the building and slip out the side door. Follow me.”

  She led the way through the maze of corridors to the fourth floor stair well. Five flights down, we emerged in the bowels of the dark, dank parking garage.

  “It’s over there.” She pointed to a bright red sign affixed to the wall thirty yards away. As we started to traverse the distance, the screech of squealing tires as they gripped the smooth concrete pavement alerted us to an approaching car. We quickly ducked out of sight behind a Ford Explorer parked by the wall.

  An elderly man in a silver Mercury sedan with a crumpled right fender drove past us, on his way to the security gate. We waited another minute, just to be sure the coast was clear, and then we made a beeline for the exit.

  “This will take us to the street,” said Alice, as she gave the metal handlebar a hard shove and swung the door open. Squinting against the bright Florida sun, I followed her out. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust, but when they did, I was mesmerized by my second glimpse of the dazzling white-sanded beach I had seen from Alice’s balcony. The long shoreline was dotted with beachgoers, but no one seemed to notice us. I had to admit that turquoise water looked even more inviting from this vantage point. Now I understood Alice’s bitterness. Margie and the gang really had spoiled this little corner of paradise for her. How would she ever feel safe here again?

  “Take the keys and fetch the car, Scarlet. I’ll stay here with Alice.

  “Sure.”

  “Be careful,” Kenny warned me. “If you see anything suspicious, don’t second-guess yourself. Run, scream for help, or make a big ruckus. Do whatever you have to do to stay safe. Just don’t let anyone grab you.”

  “I promise I won’t let anyone grab me.” I’d rather fight to the death than be snatched off the street again. I don’t think my fanny can endure another bruising.

  It took me less than three minutes to jog down the block and around the corner. I unlocked the door, got behind the wheel, and cranked up the air conditioning. With the fan on high, I drove the short distance back to Collins Avenue.

  They were waiting for me by the curb. Kenny opened the front passenger door for Alice and she slipped into the seat beside me.

  “Honey, could you pop the trunk, please?” he asked.

  “Certainly.” I punched the button, watching in the rear view mirror as he stowed Alice’s suitcases and then climbed into the back seat.

  “Are we headed to the airport?” I asked him.

  “Yes. There is no need for speed.”

  An hour and a half later, Alice bid us farewell at the security gate. “Thank you for everything.”

  “Have a safe flight. Enjoy your stay at the Four Acorns Inn.”

  We watched her walk away, a lone figure carrying her two suitcases. I wondered what would come of her stay at the inn. Maybe the change of scene would change the dynamics of that relationship, especially once Johnny Zee, Margie, and the others were caught.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  “Hungry?” Kenny asked me. “There’s a great little restaurant around the corner.”

  “That sounds like fun.”

  We grabbed a quick lunch at Cafe Versailles, ordering Cuban sandwiches and cafes con leche. Kenny picked a table that gave us the perfect spot for people-watching. We ate while we studied the pedestrians that passed by, determined to spot any potential threats, either to Alice or to us.

  “That was tasty,” he declared. He rolled up his paper wrapper, tucked it into the bag, and then wiped those luscious lips of his with his napkin. “Nothing says Florida like a Cuban sandwich.”

  “It was a good choice.” I threw my wrapper in with his. “I like trying new foods.”

  “New Orleans is on my bucket list. I’m a fan of good Creole cooking and jazz. What about you?”

  “Hmm....” I thought about it for a moment and came up empty. “I don’t know.”

  “You should start making your list, babe. We need to have fun together and we can’t if you don’t have any dreams for us.”

  “Actually, now that you mention it, I have plenty of things I’d like to do with you. It’s just that our schedules
just never seem to be in sync.”

  “That’s because we’re not working at it, Scarlet. We have to be more committed to our relationship.”

  “I agree.” I looped my arm through his as we made our return journey to the short-term parking lot. “Now what do we do?”

  “We go back to the condo and we act like a couple of lovers.”

  “That’s it?” I looked at him, thinking he was pulling my leg. “That’s really what we’re doing?”

  “It is. We’re going to take the night off. I have people coming down here to keep an eye on us tomorrow, but until they get here, I think we need to lay low and not telegraph our interest in Johnny Zee, the Monacos, and Ed Hawley. Think you can handle that, Miz Scarlet?”

  “Of course I can.”

  “I thought maybe we could stop at the grocery store on our way back to Islamorada.”

  “Dining in tonight?” I asked him.

  “Yes. You’ll have plenty of time to rest up for tomorrow. And it gives me time to coordinate with my people.”

  “Oh?”

  “I’ve got a guy going into Alice’s place. He’ll set up all the security equipment before Margie and her friends know their pigeon has flown the coop. He’s also going to salt the mine, leaving the impression that Alice has decided to confess to the murder of the missing woman.”

  “Wow. I can’t wait to see Margie’s reaction.”

  “Actually, Miz Scarlet, we won’t see it. We’ll be too busy being tourists and enjoying ourselves at the boating party.”

  “Rats!”

  “I beg your pardon. Are you telling me that you would rather hang out with the Black Widow than to spend your time with me?”

  “Of course not, but we surely don’t want to miss all the fun, Kenny!”

  “Again you insult me?” He was obviously offended, but why? “You think it’s more interesting to track down a killer than it is to be with me in paradise?”

  “That isn’t what I meant,” I insisted, trying to back-pedal. One look at his face and I softened my tone. “You know I absolutely adore you. But I can’t just turn off my brain and forget about what these creeps did. What if Grimshaw wasn’t the only victim? What if they really did kill the Diaz family? Don’t you want to know the truth about what happened?”