Crystal Ball

by Laney Kay

  Mark grabbed the remote from the table next to him. “Yep. That thing at the top is a camera, so the TV is basically a huge monitor.” While Mark set up the TV, Luke texted Prince to tell him we were about to Skype him. Ignoring the raucous comments about how he and Sara probably used the camera to make 70” sex tapes, Mark took the number from Luke, and dialed Agent Prince’s number. After a few confusing minutes, a tired-looking man in an FBI t-shirt and sweatpants answered the phone.

  Luke introduced us all, and Prince acknowledged us with a weary smile. “Hey y’all. Sorry, I’m a little out of it. We just wrapped up a huge case last night and I came in today to finish all the paperwork.”

  “We won’t take up much of your time.” Luke outlined how the benefit was set up and asked Prince if he had any preference of when they should be arrested.

  Prince thought about it for a moment and agreed with my dad that since they were white collar criminals and there had never been any evidence that they were dangerous, anything would work. He looked directly at Luke. “Luke, I know what they put you through and I’ve lived in New Orleans a long time, and it just pisses me off what they did. I would prefer to embarrass the shit out of them.” He turned to look at my dad. “Clayton, you okay with that?”

  My dad grinned. “Hell yeah. It’s nice to have a job that we can have a little fun with.” We all laughed and Bella told Agent Prince she’d get the event details and schematics of the building to him and my dad so they could make sure everything looked okay.

  Prince looked at all of us. “Are all of you coming?”

  We all looked at each other and then nodded at him. “That’s not a problem, but if there was a chance that Glenda and Nick could recognize any of you from your college days, you need to stay out of sight until after the arrest.”

  Bella offered a solution. “There’s a separate, smaller conference room we’re using as a backstage office, so you can all stay in there until it’s all over.”

  “That sounds great. Bella, just send over the details and the setup info and we’ll finalize the arrest details when we get there. Otherwise, guys, see y’all at the beach.” Prince waved and disconnected.

  With that, my dad immediately stood and said he had to get home, so I hugged him and handed him a bag with the rest of the scones. My dad asked Luke to walk him out, and the rest of us stood around deciding what to do. It turns out everyone was either busy or tired, so we all agreed we’d talk later in the week. Bella left first, and we all hugged her goodbye and thanked her for all her help. Sara and Mark walked her to her car, Mo and Harrison went back to the living room to get their shoes and her purse, and Lola and I started toward the kitchen to put the leftover food away.

  Luke was coming in the back door as I put the last of the cupcakes on a plate for Harrison. He smiled and hugged me from behind and kissed the back of my neck. “Hey baby girl. Those cupcakes for me?”

  Lola plastered herself against Luke’s back and hugged us both. “Or me?”

  I laughed at their antics and told them that the cupcakes were for Harrison. Both of their faces fell. They are so pathetic. Like five year olds, they immediately brightened up when I told Luke I had extra at home and told Lola that her meals for the week were in the cooler in the garage and there were plenty of cupcakes for her, too. They both hugged me tight and thanked me excitedly, and I told them to let me go so I could finish up.

  Lola let go and kissed us both on the cheek as she started toward the garage. “I gotta go. I’ve got a hot date with a big, dumb, pretty boy I met at the gym. If everything goes according to plan, I’m gonna take him to a nice hotel, wear him out, and then throw him out.”

  I rolled my eyes, while Luke shook his finger at her. “You just wait, Lola. One day you’re going to find a man who will wear you out instead.”

  She stopped, turned toward him, collapsed back against the counter, and dramatically threw her forearm across her eyes. “Sadly, Luke that will never happen. Since you are already taken, I’m destined to roam the world alone and desolate.” She straightened up, laughed and left, waving goodbye over her shoulder. “See ya.”

  Luke was shaking his head and chuckling. “That chick is a hot mess.”

  I agreed. “I know. She cracks me up.” He helped me pack up the rest of the food while I cleaned the countertop and loaded the dishwasher.

  “Did my dad have anything else to say?”

  Luke studiously avoided my eyes. “Not much.” He put the leftover cheese straws in a baggie and stuck it in my tote bag. I narrowed my eyes and looked at him and he sighed. “Fine. Look, it’s not my idea, but…”

  “Shit. I knew it. My mom wants to come, doesn’t she? Who squealed? My dad?”

  Luke looked pained. “No, it was actually Bella. Apparently, your mom is on her do-gooder mailing list, so she got the information about the benefit and asked your dad if he wanted to go and he couldn’t really say no since he’ll be there.”

  Damn it. “Does she know what all’s going on?”

  Luke shook his head. “No, she just knows it’s a benefit in Puerto Rico and, thanks to all the hype of being the event of the season, she wants to go and your dad said he’d take her. She doesn’t know anything about Glenda and Nick and has no idea we’re going or what’s going on with us.”

  I looked him in the eye to see if he was lying. “Are you sure?”

  He looked at me without flinching. “I promise, she doesn’t know anything.” When I still looked at him suspiciously, he rolled his eyes. “Daisy, think about it. If she thought you were going to a benefit for any reason, especially one that she’s also attending, wouldn’t she already have been bugging the shit out of you about a new dress, new hair,” and now he scowled, “and smaller boobs?”

  I relaxed. Good point. I will say this, the good thing about my mom is that she’s been a cop’s wife for a long time, so even if she found out, she’d never do anything to screw up an operation. That being said, she wouldn’t hesitate to drive me freaking crazy, so I don’t want her to find out what’s going on. It’s going to be bad enough with Sara and Lola, because those two won’t rest until they have me trussed up in some fancy-ass dress, but if you add my mom to the mix, my life will be a living hell for the next few weeks.

  Luke kissed my head, grabbed my tote bag, we yelled that we were out of there, and we went home. As soon as we got in, we took the dogs for a quick walk then went outside to sit on the glider together with a glass of tea and some leftover snacks. Luke grabbed a red velvet cupcake, took a huge bite, and looked around the porch while he chewed. “Hey, what would you think of letting me build you a fireplace or a deck for a firepit so you could use this place year round? I know you love sitting out here.”

  Awww. I leaned over to kiss him. “You are such a sweetie, and I would love that. I’ll tell you what, once this is all over, we’ll do it.” I patted his arm. “So, what do you think about all this? Just think…in less than a month, Glenda and Nick will be in prison and that part of your life will finally be over. You’ll be ready to start with a clean slate.”

  He pulled me over and I snuggled against him, enjoying the cool evening air. He looked down at me with a serious look on his face. “You know, Daisy, as far as I’m concerned, that part of my life has been over for a long time. Now, I’ve moved here and hooked back up with all of my old friends from college, I’m starting a new business doing what I love, but without all the bullshit I hated, and I fell in love with someone I’ve known since I was a kid.” He leaned over to kiss me and pulled back so he could smile into my eyes. “I’m so happy with my life just the way it is, that, no matter what happens with those two jackasses, I’m still the luckiest man I know.”

  I could feel my eyes tearing up, and I climbed onto his lap so that I straddled him and threw my arms around his neck and he wrapped me up in a big hug. I squeezed him so tight I could feel his ribs compress. We just sat like that for a while and finally we went in and went to bed.

  15

 
; Sara, Mo, and Lola came to pick me up one Saturday morning for brunch and shopping. They warned me before we left that there would be no drunk shopping and limited me to only one Bloody Mary. I told them that brunch without alcohol was just some sad little breakfast for people who don’t get up early, but they didn’t seem to care.

  We went to Einstein’s and sat out on their patio, where I immediately ordered their eggs benedict special and one extra-large Bloody Mary. Ha. If they were limiting me to one drink, I was going to get my money’s worth. The weather was warm, sunny, and breezy, and we had a great time, as always, but as soon as we were done with our meals, Lola announced it was time to go, no hanging out for hours. We had some power shopping to do.

  Lola and Sara assured me that they knew a couple of boutiques in Buckhead that had great dresses so we loaded up in the car and headed out. I sat in the back seat, pretty much pouting because I had to go shopping, wishing I’d gone with the guys. “Okay, I’m doing this, but Lola, you need to remember that I don’t have your bank account and I don’t want to pay a fortune for some stupid dress I’ll only wear once.”

  She turned around and shook her finger in my face. “Look, you are involved in an international caper, like one of those chicks in the movies. What if we end up in the paper? You are an international woman of mystery, and you need to dress like it.” That made me laugh, as she intended. At that point, I decided I’d quit whining and get through it and, hopefully, it would all be over soon.

  It wasn’t soon enough for me, but it was fine. Thankfully, I found my dress at the first stop we made. The lady helping us saw me and immediately told me she had a perfect dress for me. It had been altered for someone else, but they accidently made it way too short. The person had big boobs and a big butt like me, or as the saleslady nicely put it, “was delightfully curvaceous,” so it had been sitting on their sale rack for a while. Uh, yeah. I’m a very curvy 4’11”, so I’m sure there aren’t a ton of us walking in the door. She told me to try it and if it fit, she’d give me a great deal.

  That dress fit like it was made for me. It was a beautiful sleeveless red dress with a low neckline, but it had some sort of miraculous built in bra that was obviously engineered for boobs like mine, because no matter how I moved or bent down, nothing was on the verge of popping out. The material was stretchy and sort of flowed instead of being clingy, so it was actually comfortable, and there was a slit up the front that was long enough to walk in easily, but not so high that I felt like my hoo hah was hanging out. As soon as my friends saw me in it, they all told me to get it. And the saleslady was right, she gave me a hellacious deal. Instead of it costing over eight hundred dollars, I paid two hundred and change. I told Luke later that the fact that I got a dress seventy five percent off at the first place I looked was a sign that Nick and Glenda were going to jail. He said he wasn’t exactly sure that’s how karma worked, but then he just agreed with me because it was easier. He’s learning.

  Three boutiques later, everyone found a dress, we all got shoes, and Mo even found a pair for me that was low-heeled and comfortable. Most importantly, we were done by three. I was thrilled. I told them they owed me another drink, and now I was hungry again, so we stopped in Inman Park for a little snack. We texted Bella and the guys and asked them to join us, but the guys had all decided to go to a bar so they could watch every SEC game at once and wouldn’t be home till late, and Bella had a lunch date. We told them all to have fun and we spent the rest of the afternoon eating, drinking, and chatting about the gala.

  Lola had talked to Bella earlier in the week, and Bella told her that Agent Prince confirmed that Glenda and Nick had booked flights and hotel rooms and were ready to go. Apparently, their flights were due in the night before the gala and then they were planning on staying for a couple of days afterwards.

  We were arriving a few days before the gala and leaving the morning after. “Bella said they reserved all of our flights and rooms under the foundation’s name, so our names won’t appear anywhere on the official guest list.”

  Mo stole a strawberry off my plate. “So we’ll just reimburse the charity after everything’s over, or should we write Bella a check beforehand?”

  I winced, knowing my news was going to cause an argument. “Uh, actually, Luke has already paid for everyone’s flights and rooms, including my folks, so y’all don’t have to worry about it.”

  Sara, Mo and Lola all fell silent and glared at me. I held up my hands before they could start yelling and explained. “Look, Luke said that the only reason y’all are coming is to support him, so paying your way is the least he can do.” They were all shaking their heads, and I continued. “He knew you would argue, so he said y’all could pay for all of our beer and food by the pool, so seriously, don’t make it a big deal.”

  They each took a sip of their drinks while they thought. Finally, Sara pointed out, “If you’re included in the deal, you’re right. He may make out like a bandit. You can eat an assload of cheese and drink a lot of sangria.”

  “Right?” Whew. That was close. I smiled at each of them and continued. “Seriously, ladies, Luke appreciates your support more than you know, and he wants to do this, so I say let him.” I took a sip of my drink. “He can afford it, and it’s really important to him that he takes care of y’all. And if it makes you feel better, I promise to eat and drink as much as possible so all y’all will be totally screwed in this deal.”

  They all laughed and the tension drained away. Whew. That is, until Sara shot up straight in her seat. “Oh, shit. So your mom’s staying at the same hotel we are? How are we going to avoid her seeing any of us?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Wouldn’t that be a nightmare? No, I specifically called Bella to make sure we weren’t staying in the same hotel as my parents. There are three different hotels with blocks of rooms for organizers and guests. My parents are staying at one hotel, Bella is staying at the hotel where the event is going to be held, along with all of the organizers and event participants, including Glenda and Nick, and we’re staying at the third one, which is a few hotels down the beach. Bella told my mom she’d asked my dad to help out with security and that’s why the foundation is paying for their room, so she’s perfectly happy with the situation.”

  Everyone looked relieved at not having to spend three days ducking my mom. That woman scares the bejesus out of all us.

  Lola said that Agent Prince had said we just needed to stay out of sight. “He said to stay at the hotel, don’t go wandering around Puerto Rico, stay off the beach, and he and his partner would keep an eye on Glenda and Nick as soon as they got there. Bella assured that she could keep them busy, so hopefully there won’t be any surprises.”

  Sara looked thoughtful. “So basically, our job is to hang out at a hotel at the beach for a few days, get dressed up and sneak into a hotel for a gala, watch Luke help catch a couple of criminals that totally screwed him over, then come home the next day?” She shrugged. “Sounds like a productive weekend.”

  We all laughed. It was pretty simple. Hopefully, everything would end up going that easy.

  16

  The day we were leaving for Puerto Rico was a perfect Georgia November day, sunny, bright, and cool. Everyone met at Lola’s condo and left our cars in her personal garage because she had hired a driver to take us to the airport. Apparently, she had just bought a limo company and hired one of her former clients to run it, and she said we were going to try out their newest car.

  About that time, a huge white Hummer limo pulled up and a tiny, little, blond guy in a suit with a huge smile, who looked about twelve, jumped out and rushed to hug Lola. She hugged him back, told him that he and the car looked great, and introduced us to “her friend and business partner, Darrell.”

  We all piled in the car while Darrell and the guys loaded up the suitcases. I was sitting next to Lola, so I whispered, “Business partner, huh? Awww, has Darrell been lucky enough to find a fairy godmother to go into business with?”

  She
shrugged, looked very uncomfortable, and whispered back. “Shut up. It was strictly a business decision. I got the company from a client who owed me money and I gave Darrell a piece of the business to make sure he stays. I sure as hell don’t want to run a limo company. Don’t make a big deal about it.”

  I smiled and patted her arm. She’s such a sweetie. I told her once she’s like an M&M with a hard candy shell and a squishy, gooshy middle. That pissed her off because she likes everyone thinking she’s all shell, no goosh. I leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Your secret was safe with me.” She just rolled her eyes and tried to ignore me.

  They guys got in and the trip to the airport was uneventful. We ended up getting to the gate with an hour and a half to spare. While we waited, Mo and I went to get everyone a Starbucks, and we boarded right on time. Three and a half hours later, we stepped off the plane into a beautiful, sunny Puerto Rican day.

  It turns out that San Juan sustained only moderate damage from the hurricane, mostly downed trees and flooding. All of the hotels and businesses still had a few boarded up windows and you could see where some trees had sustained damage, but overall, we were surprised that everything was in pretty good shape. Power was on, the stores were open again, and it was business as usual, for the most part. We were all glad that the money from the benefit would do a lot to restore normalcy to the rest of the island, which had been absolutely devastated.

  We all checked into our hotel and changed into shorts and bathing suits so we could go sit by the pool. There was an empty table and chairs with a huge umbrella, and we ordered lunch and a round of Bushwhackers, an ass-kicking frozen drink with rum and Kahlua, to celebrate. We had just sat down, when Luke and Lola’s phones indicated they’d received a text. Lola took a sip of her drink and read the texts aloud. “Apparently Bella wants to make sure we got in okay, and Agent Prince said we should all meet in my suite around eight this evening. That good with everyone?” We all nodded and Lola texted them back, confirming the time. We hung out a couple of hours and then all split to go back to our rooms until dinnertime.