The only way Lara could legitimately think of to stop Sonia from going to her appointment was to come up with something else for her to do, so she told her that Meg was crazy about her designs and really wanted to take her to lunch. It was a bit hard to persuade Sonia to agree, but in the end she agreed to reschedule her checkup for a second time. Given her semi-celebrity status, Dr. Treme’s office was more than happy to oblige.
Lara raced back to brief Meg on her “role,” and then they joined Sonia outside. Her chauffeur drove them over the causeway to South Beach.
The area had a character all its own, a faded elegance left over from the days of Sinatra and Al Capone, who had both spent time here. The hotels had weathered through the years, and the local kids had come in droves to ride waves that really weren’t there. High-class restaurants and nightclubs had been replaced by coffee shops and bagelries. Then a boom had hit. The old deco hotels had been recognized as the treasures they were, painted and spruced up, and high-end restaurants and clubs had made a comeback.
The problem with the beach now was parking, but they didn’t have to worry about that, since Sonia’s chauffeur would drop them off, then come back for them when Sonia called.
They opted to stroll along Lincoln Road Mall and choose a restaurant at random. Options were plentiful, along with shops, a movie theater, a bookstore—and dozens of dogs. The open-air mall was known for being pet friendly. All three of them were dog fans, and they stopped to compliment so many dogs that Lara was afraid she would be gone so long that she would miss a full afternoon of work.
Sonia finally chose a restaurant, and of course she knew the owners. They were shown to a special table and offered a select champagne. Lara and Meg demurred—they were working—but encouraged Sonia to enjoy.
Sonia, meanwhile, was delighted with the whole event. “Lunch with girlfriends! This is something I never get to do,” she told them.
As they ordered and ate, Lara thought she understood why. Sonia was approached several times by people who wanted their pictures taken with her.
Sonia explained that she always tried to be obliging when people recognized her. “I met Versace once when I was young. People loved him because he was always so available. He lived on the beach. He had breakfast at the News Café. He was a man of the people, and I want to be the same.”
Lara realized that she really liked Sonia. The woman was a bundle of sincere energy. Glancing at Meg, she knew that her friend was thinking the same. While Meg had always been hell-bent on her law enforcement career, Lara had intended to save the world through politics. Their friends hadn’t often been fashionistas.
It wasn’t until they were almost ready to leave that Lara noticed Ely Taggerly having lunch with three other men in a dark corner of the restaurant. Ely was nodding vehemently as he spoke, making some kind of point. He was clearly aggravated. Lara hadn’t seen him angry before, but then she’d only seen him at Sea Life, and the facility seemed to have a calming effect on everyone.
It wasn’t until Ely shifted in his chair that Lara realized one of the men he was having lunch with was Sea Life’s own Nelson Amory. Amory, too, looked annoyed.
“Look who’s here!” Sonia said, noticing the men at that moment, and before anyone could stop her, she hurriedly swept through the restaurant to their table.
As Lara quickly rushed to get ahead of the temperamental woman, intent on averting a potentially disastrous encounter if she could, she saw that the other men at the table were two of their other benefactors, Grant Blackwood and Mason Martinez.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” Lara said breathlessly as Sonia came up behind her. “How nice to see you all together. Are you planning a new line of vitamins for dolphin health?” she teased.
“No, no, of course not,” Dr. Amory said, rising. Lara was certain that he was drawing out his answer because he was thinking up a lie.
“We’re all planning on being at your Sunday event,” Grant said. By then, all four men had risen.
“And in the meantime, I’m trying to squeeze more money out of them for research,” Dr. Amory said.
They were lying—she was sure of it—but why lie to her? Maybe one of them was trying to persuade Dr. Amory to leave Sea Life and work for him instead?
Maybe later she would walk down to the education building and ask Dr. Amory straight out.
“Well, keep squeezing,” she said cheerfully.
“He’s pretty good at it,” Ely told her, smiling benignly.
He always appeared to be the perfect gentleman, but Grady had told her once that even though they always saw him as kind and smiling, he was hell in a boardroom. He’d built his pharmaceutical company from nothing, and his scientists had done a lot of groundbreaking work with diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.