21. April 13, 2023 #2
Once he was underneath the branches of the tree, he hit the button on his watch that would actually connect him to Midas.
While they talked, he would hold the phone up to his ear so that he looked as if he were actually talking on the phone.
Should anyone confiscate it, the call history would show a call to the phone number of the fake company he and Cherry supposedly worked for, even though the actual communication was working through his watch.
The phone had barely rung when Midas picked up. “You alone?”
Demon looked over to where Matthew stood in the shade of an eave of the main building as he lit a cigarette, looking like he’d be standing there for a while.
Knowing he’d have to be careful despite the distance he’d put between himself and Matthew to make the call, he couched his answer as generically as he could.
“I’m calling from the luncheon. What’s going on? ”
“Just wanted to let you know Steel wasn’t able to get inside the meeting room itself, but he managed a Cyclopes eye on the outside window of the meeting room.
Quality is shit, but it’s the best we could do with limited reconnaissance.
I’ll try to clean it up some today and see if there’s anything new to catch.
As far as I can tell, they discussed issues typical to purchasing of planes and other related items.”
“But?”
“I haven’t had a lot of time to compare the discussion to the financial and physical movements, but Waters said his spidey senses were going off, and he found something weird about the numbers. He’s going to let me know when he’s done looking into the data I gave him.”
“Sounds good. And the other issues?”
“I got the applications for the two men recommended to me.”
Howard and Giudici. “Bad references?”
“Questionable is more like it. Elliott Howard, married to Hannah Black in 1978. Daughter, Valerie, born in 1979, hit by a car riding her bicycle in 1986. No other children. Here’s the juicy bit. The last time anyone saw Howard’s wife was May 26, 1998. That date important to you?”
“Shite,” Demon whispered. He turned his back to Matthew. “Cherry’s graduation?”
“Ding ding ding! Bonus point question. Guess who was the best man at Grayson Bosworth’s wedding in 1979?”
“Howard.”
“He wasn’t a general then, but yes, it was him. Even more interesting? He never reported his lovely wife missing. He transferred across the country almost immediately after that, and no one really thought to question it, I’m sure, because military people move all the time.”
“No one? Wouldn’t she have called, at least, to let someone know she wouldn’t be around anymore, rather than just leave?”
“Nope. Apparently, she hadn’t really become close to anyone, as they’d only been there about nine weeks. Like I said, they moved a lot. If you look at this guy’s transfer rate after that, it’s like reading a train schedule for the London Underground.”
Paper shuffled in the background. “Giudici had a partner some years ago for around a year. Still digging on those details, but other than her name, I haven’t found any record of her once they broke it off.”
“Feck! Do you suspect a connection between the two terminations?”
There was a snort from down the line. “You don’t think they’re connected?”
Demon ran his free hand through his hair, then put it on his hip. He stared at the rows of banana trees stretching out to the volcano. “No, I do. It’s just this creates a much bigger mess than we suspected.”
“Should have more for you tomorrow morning. The guys said I need a wetsuit?”
“Yeah. Taking Esme surfing. Booked her some ‘lessons’ in the bay.”
“Gotcha. Should make for a good cover story so we can all meet publicly. Nova and I are working on additional avenues of information. I’m hoping my searches tonight will shed some light.
See you soon. And bruh, be careful, yeah?
After this recent development, we’ve all got a case of the…
what does Flame call them? The jinkies?”
Demon laughed despite the situation. “No, ‘jinkies’ is a swear word for her. I think you mean ‘heebie-jeebies.’”
“Right. Well, either way, we’ve got a ‘shit show,’ so be on the lookout.”
“Take care.”
After he hung up, he stood still, tapping the phone’s edge against his chin, staring out into space.
To anyone watching, he’d look like someone contemplating the scenery, probably thinking about whatever problem his phone call from work was about.
And they wouldn’t be wrong. But more important to Demon right now was how Cherry would take the news that General Howard seemed to have an even stronger connection to her father’s disappearance, especially since his own wife disappeared the same day. That felt… ominous.
Pulling himself together, Demon slipped his phone into his pocket and headed toward the entrance to the welcome center. He hadn’t gotten over ten steps when a voice called out to him.
“Remember to watch your step, sir.”
Demon turned to find Matthew, who hadn’t moved since their arrival, the plantation’s name plaque behind him, taking a last drag from his cigarette.
Once inhaled, he dropped the cigarette on the ground and meticulously placed his heel on top of the butt, grinding out any last vestiges of burning ash.
“It would be most unfortunate if you misstepped.”
Demon considered the man carefully. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Best that you do.” With that, Matthew put his hands in his pockets and walked around the side of the main building, going off to wherever employees went while the guests all stood mingling while having light cocktails before heading out to lunch.
Demon considered the spot Matthew had been standing before he continued into the building to find Cherry.
Removing his sunglasses, he scanned the room.
He felt a light touch on his forearm from the right.
Looking down, he saw Cherry’s manicured fingers resting in his arm's crook.
Like a good husband would after being separated from his wife, he greeted her by dipping down to meet her lips in a chaste kiss.
The touch complete, he turned his head to put his mouth close to her ear as if whispering something romantic.
“They got audio access to the room. Midas found some information I need to ask you about. And we still need to look around at the guests, but be careful. Matthew might have just warned me off.”
He pulled back, his face the perfect picture of a smitten lover. She bit her lip, casting her eyes down, then looking back up at him through her lashes. “We’ll have to find a private place to talk.”
Brushing his nose back and forth across the tip of hers, he nodded.
“Yes, that would be a good idea.” He slipped free of her hold but quickly repositioned them so that his arm was tight around her waist, pulling her as close to him as possible.
In a voice loud enough to be heard if anyone was listening, he declared, “I could use a drink, and you appear to need a refresher. To the bar, a chuisle .”
After securing drinks, they stepped away from the bar and into the center of the room.
Despite being a private business versus a public tourist attraction, the main building served as a welcome center for those permitted to visit the property, complete with flagstone floors, exposed stone walls, and dark wood beams that matched the furniture and stairs.
An indoor courtyard on the main floor resulted from the arrangement of rooms on the second and third floors, and workers could be seen moving busily about on the third floor.
Her hands wrapped around the delicate crystal glass that held her spritzer, she explained the setup of the room, sometimes using the glass as a pointer to what she was talking about.
“Downstairs is where all the public business happens, as well as a large kitchen which caters any food and drink needed.” She gestured up to the balconies seen from the center of the room.
“On the second floor, individual offices for the sales representatives, marketers, and upper management, and on the third floor is Calvin Deschamps’ office, as well as the large meeting room for events like today. ”
“What about the general workers?”
A voice came from behind him. “They report directly to their individual managers in the other buildings. Each structure focuses on a different portion of the production process.”
Zion.
Demon shifted so they were facing their host. “While the farm is impressive from what I could see on the drive in, I hope we’ll get to see some of the process as part of the tour.”
“You are interested in the process of growing bananas? Most people would rather enjoy alfresco dining, a short walk among the trees, and then leave, instead of enduring a long, hot, dusty walk among buildings and listening to someone drone on about the history and process of banana farming.”
“I’m always interested in learning new things,” Demon told him.
“Lunch and a walk will be wonderful, but I’m always more impressed by the substance of something than I am by the flashy surface.
So many things that look wonderful on the outside are often rotten to the core on the inside.
Don’t you think?” He was probably pushing his luck with his comments based on the pinch Cherry was giving to his waist, but he didn’t care. He hated this man.
“Yes, I think that’s often true,” Zion agreed. “So many things are not what they appear to be. And people.”
So. He knew the man didn’t like him, but clearly Zion didn’t trust him either. Good. He shouldn’t.