Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

When Manuel Garcia entered the small Indian restaurant for his private meeting that afternoon, it was almost empty.  In his forties, and wearing a white Guayabera, he sported a dark mustache that made him look like a Hispanic actor in a Colombian coffee commercial.

He went and sat down in a far corner of the room, as he had been instructed. He then ordered a beer and waited.

No one recognized him.  Usually, he would take offense to that, but not today.

The restaurant was in the western part of the City of Fort Lauderdale, more than twenty-five miles away from his home in Miami.

As the recently elected county commissioner who cast the tie vote for Atlantis Construction over Prentiss Construction, he was frustrated that the windfall that was promised to him had been delayed.  Although he had received some advance money, the bulk of the money had not yet materialized.

He needed the money. He had two kids in college and a new young wife whose taste for jewelry and cosmetic surgery would match that of any Hollywood star.

He was there for only a few minutes when a woman, dressed in a colorful sari outfit, came and sat down across from him.

“Who are you? Where is Stephen?” he asked.

“Mr. Moray can’t make it and he sent me instead,” the woman said, as she gazed at him through brown-tinted contact lenses. She was average looking, average height, with a small birthmark on her left cheek.

“Where is my money?” he asked. “I have done what was promised and I’ve been waiting too long for this.”

“Relax, that’s why I’m here,” the woman said in a casual and reassuring tone. “I brought half with me and we will talk later about the other half.”

“What do you mean, we’ll talk later?” Commissioner Garcia exploded, his face now very red.

He was still fuming when the waiter approached to take the woman’s order. She declined.  She never looked at the menu and did not have any intention of prolonging the meeting any more than was necessary.

As soon as the server departed, he berated her. “Because of me, Atlantis is going to make close to one hundred twenty-five million dollars on the contract. I’m not going to let you cheat me out of my money.”

“The contract is only for seventy-five million dollars…” the woman began to protest.

“Don’t play games with me,” he interrupted her. “The seventy-five million dollars is what’s on paper.  But with added fees and extensions, Atlantis stands to make close to one hundred twenty-five million dollars on this deal. I’m not stupid.”

The woman did not expect Commissioner Garcia to lose his temper. She turned and looked at the hostess behind the bar in the middle of the restaurant. Commissioner Garcia’s tantrum had not gone unnoticed. The young woman was looking at them.

“Keep your voice down Mr. Garcia,” she warned him. “We spent a lot of money to get you elected. For you to win after coming back from several points behind, five days before the election, was no small feat. If we start showering you with money, people will start to notice.  All we want is for you to be careful.”

“My upset win had nothing to do with Atlantis,” he complained. He looked around the restaurant and was relieved that the hostess was now busy with another customer. The meeting place had been chosen carefully.  As a politician of Cuban ancestry, he could not risk going to any Latin restaurant, even if it was that far away, due to Hispanic television news networks that covered almost all of South Florida. Since Hispanics also frequented most other types of restaurants, they had settled on this restaurant, believing Indian food would seem the most foreign to people in his district. Still, he was incensed at how he was being treated, and wanted the woman to know that. “I appreciated the confidential campaign donations, but I don’t owe Atlantis anything for winning this commission seat. We had a deal regarding my vote on the contract and Atlantis now seems to be backing out.”

“We are not backing out of anything,” the woman told him. “Some issues have come up and we thought it would be prudent to give you part of the money now and delay the rest until everything clears up.”

“There is nothing that needs to be cleared up,” the commissioner said tersely.

“Yes there is, Mr. Garcia,” she countered. “You don’t really believe you won the election fair and square, do you?”

If she really thinks that I’m going to admit anything, she’s crazy, Commissioner Garcia thought. “What do you mean the election wasn’t fair? If you’re talking about paying a few hundred people for their votes, both sides do it and it’s no big deal.”

Frustrated, the woman shook her head. “You know I’m not talking about that.”

Commissioner Garcia, who had enough of the woman’s excuses, said, “This meeting has nothing to do with the election. It has to do with money that Atlantis owes me.”

Commissioner Garcia’s apparent irritation caused the woman to relent a little bit, and she said, “I will talk to Mr. Moray about your unhappiness with the delay. In the meantime, if you look in the trunk of your car, the money that I brought with me is there.”

“Thanks,” he said grudgingly. Suddenly, he looked at the woman, who was already getting up to leave, and asked, “Wait a minute. How did you get into my car?”

“We have our ways,” she said, before walking out.  

###

The next day, Mark drove to the office early.  He wanted to talk to Joan about hiring Daniela before Daniela showed up.  He was hoping Joan would be happy that the office would get an extra set of hands. He was wrong.

“What do you mean you have a new paralegal?” Joan growled.  “You barely have money to pay me.  How do you expect to pay her?” 

Mark, who had not seen her that upset since the day of her divorce, looked at Joan, who was standing in front of his desk with her arms crossed on her chest, and said, “Daniela is going to work for free and help us with the Prentiss case.  The lawyer who used to handle the case was her father.”

“Is that her only qualification?” Joan’s eyes opened widely as she looked at him behind the desk. Her jaw tensed and she opened her mouth halfway before continuing to reproach him. “After you and I have been working together for so long, you didn’t even bother consulting me?”

“I tried to call you late last night but you were out,” Mark stammered.  He was on the defensive. She had a point.  Joan was more than his secretary. She had become a trusted friend. 

“I’m not going to be her secretary.”

“No one is asking you to, Joan,” he said, trying to calm her.  “Daniela will do her own work.”

As they argued, they could hear the phone ringing outside, on Joan’s desk. Both ignored it.  It was before 9:00 a.m. and the office was not open.

Realizing that she was getting nowhere with Mark, Joan composed herself and asked, “Where are you going to put her? We don’t have any space.”

“I was thinking of buying a small desk and putting it in my office,” he proposed. In reality, there was not much room for another desk in Mark’s small office. In one corner of the room, close to his desk, he kept a file cabinet where he stored his clients’ files.  In the opposite corner, there was a small stand with a ceramic vase that contained a Chinese bamboo plant. It was a gift from a former client. That left the other two opposite corners by the door, which were still unoccupied and which could be used as a small space for Daniela. 

“Does she have any legal experience?” Joan asked, unimpressed by Mark’s explanations.

“I don’t think so.”

“So why is she here? Is she pretty?”

“I don’t know,” Mark answered, struggling with a proper response.  He did not want Joan to think that he noticed Daniela’s beauty. That would not sound too professional and that would be unfair to Daniela.  He was going to count on her for help, not because she was pretty. “Maybe she is pretty, but that’s not why I’m hiring her.  You’ll like her! Trust me.”

“I doubt it.  However, you’re the boss.  I’m just a secretary,” Joan said, as she uncrossed her arms and lifted her shoulders in a shrug.

“Don’t say that. You know that’s not true.  You’ll get along with her. She’s nice.”

Joan did not respond right away.  She paused before finally asking, “When is she starting?”

“In about an hour.”

Looking exasperated, she turned around and headed to the door. As she was about to cross the threshold, she stopped, turned to look at him, and said, “Where are my secretarial manners? A private detective called and made an appointment to come to see you.”

“When is he coming?”

“In about an hour.” 

###

As Mark was waiting for Daniela to come in, he decided to make his office presentable. He cleaned up his office, which meant rearranging the papers on his desk into separate piles. 

Despite Joan’s icy stare, he took one of the guest chairs from the reception room, brought it into his office, and placed it in the right corner of the room by the front door.

He was still fixing the chair, when he heard Daniela’s voice.  She was talking to Joan.

“Mark told me that you have been together for a long time.”

“More like forever.  He told me that you’re going to be a paralegal here?”

“I told him that I wanted to help. If I can help as a paralegal, I’ll be a paralegal,” Daniela responded.

“I wish you luck.  You can go in. Mark has been waiting for you.”

When Daniela entered Mark’s office, she had a big smile on her face.  She had on nice blue pants with a matching jacket. She was wearing some light make up, which made her look prettier than the day before.

“What are you smiling about?” Mark asked.

“It’s our first day working together. I have the feeling we’re going to do great.”  

Mark then showed her the chair that she would be using, before walking to the file cabinet to retrieve some forms for Daniela to fill out with her contact information.

As he handed the forms on a clipboard to Daniela, she looked at the small office and said, “Did you ever think of getting a bigger office in this building?  On my way here, I thought I saw some rental signs.”

Her unsolicited suggestion caused Mark’s jaw to drop. I can’t believe it, He thought, she just got in and she is already giving me real estate advice.

“This place is fine,” Mark told her. “Besides, I can’t afford a bigger space.”

As he walked back to his desk, Daniela said, “I plan on paying my fair share. Maybe we can rent a larger space and I can get an office of my own.”

Mark was beside himself.  On Daniela’s first working day, Daniela is already making plans for her own office, he thought.

After hearing a beep coming from Daniela’s purse, he waited until Daniela switched her phone to the vibrate setting before rejecting her advice. “If we get a bigger office, what will happen after the Prentiss case is over and you leave? I will still have to pay the rent.”

“I’m not planning on leaving you, Mark,” Daniela replied, trying to put him at ease. “After the Prentiss case, I’ll work on other cases with you.”

Hearing Daniela’s plan for his office almost caused Mark to faint. I should have seen this coming, he thought. She’s been here for only a few minutes and she’s already made plans to be here permanently.  Mark started to believe that Daniela was the type of woman who would kneel and propose herself, if she wanted to get married. 

Thinking about this made Mark suddenly realize that he did not know much about Daniela.  Was she married? Did she have any kids? Any criminal convictions? Drug use? 

Now he was worried more than ever about the Prentiss case.  If he did not think about investigating his own employee, how could he expect to learn the truth in the Prentiss case where the stakes were much higher?

 Mark was about to say something when he heard Joan say, “Go in.  He’s been waiting for you.”