“Wouldn’t Ruffing lose whatever money he had to invest in the property?” Alexis asked.
“Doubtful,” Annie jumped in. “Ruffing isn’t the type of guy who would do a deal that could hinder him in any way. Besides, we don’t give a hoot about what happens to him. At least not yet.” Annie looked at Myra, who looked at Nikki. Side glances went around the table as if they were all reading each other’s minds. Giggles followed.
“I have a feeling Daniel DJ Ruffing is going to come up covered in dog poop once we start digging,” Fergus said. More laughter ensued.
When Maggie’s cell phone beeped she checked and found that her assistant at the Post had forwarded her a recent voice-mail message from Gabby. After listening to it, she held up her hand to indicate everyone should listen. She clicked the SPEAKER button on her phone: “Mag. It’s Gabby. I’m okay. Back at The Haven. Strange happenings. I’ll try again, maybe tomorrow. ”
But instead of the call being disconnected, they could hear the noise of the phone being fumbled and a faint exchange between Gabby and a man. A man who sounded very annoyed.
Myra jumped in. “Play that last part back, please.”
Through the noise of the phone being juggled, she heard the man say stupid bitch. “Again.” Myra leaned in to listen closely.
“Did you hear that?” She was appalled. “He called her a ‘stupid bitch.’ ” Boos and hisses filled the room as all eyes looked in Charles’s direction.
Charles looked at Maggie. “Let’s see if we can trace it back.” Charles hit a few buttons on his computer keyboard, typed in the main number of the Post, then Maggie’s extension. Within seconds, Charles’s monitor brought up a list of phone numbers. “Let’s isolate the Florida area codes 305 and 786.” Four numbers came up. Maggie recognized the one from the florist. “With any luck, one of these is where Gabby is.” Charles uploaded the list to the monitors on the wall.
“Although I don’t think it’s a good idea to call them. We don’t want anyone to be aware that they are under scrutiny.”
“Agreed.” Myra leaned closer to the screen and fingered her pearls. “Annie, I think Maggie should go down there and do some digging.”
“Yes, but not alone. Alexis? Yoko? You said you had some free time?”
“Yes!” Yoko said with enthusiasm.
“Right on for me!” Alexis added.
“We tried to contact Avery, but he and his people are working on a project for the men right now. They may be able to help us next week. In the meantime, he is going to send a colleague down there to scope out the perimeter,” Fergus informed them. “The rest of the surveillance will be up to the three of you until we can get more assistance from Avery’s people.”
“As long as it isn’t a stakeout, I’m fine with that.” She hated stakeouts.
“I think we need to approach it like this,” Annie began. “Yoko, get in touch with your distributor. Tell him you want to visit the farmers’ market. You’ll even help.
“Alexis, you’ll pretend you’re a tourist and attend the farmers’ market. Take a look at what they’re selling and see what you can find out about the members and what else they may be pitching.
“Maggie, you go to the Miami Herald offices and see what you can dig up about The Haven, Ruffing, and the Westlake twins. See if there’s any ink on them. I know we can do it from here, but a face-to-face always gets better results,” Annie observed. “I’ll have my crew get the plane ready. Plan to leave tomorrow afternoon. Does that work for everyone?”
“Yeps!” “Yeses!” and “You betchas!” filled the room. High fives all around, and a salute to Lady Justice. And then they all went up the stairs for a belated dinner.
Chapter Thirteen
South Florida
The smell of the leather interior of the Cadillac Escalade was intoxicating. Rachel had never ridden in such an opulent vehicle in her life. She was sitting in the passenger seat next to Noah. She stroked the fine upholstery. “Is this one of The Haven’s cars?” she asked innocently.
“It’s part of our fleet. We get a good deal because we lease several at a time.” Noah was being unusually pleasant. “It handles well. Drives like a dream.”
“It sure is dreamy.” Rachel laid her head on the headrest. “So where are we going?”
“Too many questions,” Noah reminded her.
“Oh. Sorry. I’m just a little nervous.” Rachel’s face was flushed.
“No need. I think you are going to enjoy your new job.” Noah patted her knee. That, too, was out of character for him. But Rachel wasn’t thinking about Noah as much as she was thinking about her new assignment, even if she had no idea what it entailed. She had been picked to be a spokesperson for The Haven. How bad could it be?
They drove for almost an hour until they reached Fort Lauderdale. The car pulled into the underground parking lot of a very fancy high-rise. Rachel resisted the temptation to ask where they were. She kept telling herself she was on an adventure.
“Remember, do not speak to anyone.” Noah’s tone was more like what she was used to. Stern.
She nodded, fearing that if any more words came out of her mouth, she would be sent back to The Haven.
He guided her through the elevator doors and pushed a button for the fifth floor. When they emerged from the elevator, they were standing outside a dentist’s office. Rachel was about to protest. She hated dentists. Hadn’t been to one since ... well, she couldn’t remember when. She started to tremble. Noah touched her elbow. “Don’t worry. This won’t hurt a bit. You will be pleasantly surprised.”
Rachel thought the words not hurting and dentist did not belong in the same sentence. She took a deep breath as they entered the reception area of the very posh office. The receptionist smiled at Noah. “He’s ready.”
Noah led Rachel down the hall to a procedure room. “Relax. You are going to love how you look after this.”
Rachel was on the verge of hysteria and started to hiccup.
Dr. Stenhouse greeted her. “I see we have a nervous Nellie on our hands.” He was an older man with a kind face. “Here. Sit.” Rachel took a seat in the patient chair. “Give me a big smile.” Rachel almost winced. “Bigger,” the dentist instructed her. He held her chin and turned her head to the left, then to the right. “This shouldn’t be too difficult. We’ll be done in a jiffy.” Rachel wanted to scream, Done with what? But she was frozen in place. The dentist gave her a big smile. “Don’t go away. I’ll be right back.” He nodded for Noah to join him in the hallway.
“Looks like she did a lot of smoking at one time,” the dentist said. “But I think we can do the front, top, and bottom, in about two hours.”
“That’s fine,” Noah replied. “Thanks. Text me when she’s ready.”
“You got it.” The men shook hands as if this were not the first time they had met.