I stood up. “Don’t answer that,” I said to him, holding out my palm to his seated form. “I’ve just made my twentieth executive decision of the day. You can call Mr. Halliday in my accounting department and tell them you’ve gotten your bank fired.”
He hadn’t been prepared, and started to stutter.
“With me, it only takes once. I don’t give second chances and I don’t like threats. In case you didn’t know, you just gave me one.”
I left.
It took me thirty seconds to catch a taxi. I’d just gotten seated when Frank dialed me.
“Not here, I’m in a cab,” I barked.
“Marco, have him wait. Step outside so I can have a conversation with you.” He sounded serious.
“Just tell me, dammit.”
As we sped toward the Towers, I learned that there had been a call on one of my loans and cash was needed to keep the bank from foreclosing on me. My commercial dealings in Florida had been compromised by the recent filing of an injunction against the housing project on the beach for old frogs. Calling around, my CFO had only located one bank that was willing to extend me a line of credit, based on my reputation and personal guarantee.
And I’d just pissed off that one bank who had been willing to help me out.
“Just go back in there and tell him you made a mistake. It was a misunderstanding,” Frank told me. I could tell he was pissed.
“Not on your life. Bankers get rich not by saying yes but by saying no as much as they can to cover all the bad yesses they make. I’m not going to give that sonofabitch the satisfaction.”
“Marco, you have to face the facts.”
“Fact is, Frank, I’m swimming with alligators, but I don’t have to become a fuckin’ yellow-finned tuna in the middle of the swamp.”
“Yellow-finned tuna don’t live in the swamp.”
“My point exactly. I wouldn’t make him that lucky and bestow on him such a miracle. Let him live on worms and rodents. There has to be another way.”
“Marco, there is no other way.”
“There always is another way!” I yelled. “Now don’t call me back until you figure that out!”
I hung up. I felt the cabbie’s eyes on me while I fussed. I wasn’t proud of my anger or that I’d yelled at him and I had been abusive. I dialed him right back.
Before I could say anything, he blurted out, “I’ve taken another job and I’ll be leaving on Monday. Maybe one of the sultan’s daughters needs a good husband. You’re that lucky, Marco, and way more good looking than I am so I think you could pull it off. But then, he’ll own you. Have a nice life, Marco.”
Chapter 8
Shannon
Jared was as good as his word. He nailed the location of Rebecca’s hotel in Clearwater by nine PM. I called the hotel and got through to her right away, which surprised me.
“Your Program Director speaks highly of you, Shannon. He also stated you thought my interview this morning had been botched.”
I was impressed Jared had the clout to be able to reach the ex-Mrs. Gambini, and even more by the fact that he told her about our conversation.
“I think she did a great disservice to your project, Mrs. Gambini.”
“Oh please, I’ve been going by “Hey Slut” now for the past year or more. You can call me Rebecca.”
She did have balls the size of his. Okay, so much for one wrong mismatch. Maybe hers were bigger? I couldn’t believe I was even thinking about his balls, and I certainly hoped she couldn’t tell.
You really have the chops to make it if it doesn’t go well?
Jared’s question hung upside down in the bedroom of my belly, somewhere dropped around my ankles where my underpants went every time I thought about Marco.
“Thank you, Rebecca. In short, I think she dissed you.”
“She totally dissed me, Shannon—or did I get that right?”
“It’s Shannon, correct. I thought her comment about you taking over was disrespectful—almost as if she wished you’d fail.”
“Well, I’ve dealt with little sluts before. Takes one to know one. If I didn’t know it, I’d almost believe she was one of my husband’s floozies.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize that—”
“Don’t be. It’s just my wild imagination. I can only imagine what he’s doing and how many women are hitting on him now. He was a Navy SEAL, you know.”
“Yes, I—” Shannon had to stop herself or she’d send a vibe Rebecca’s way that she was keen enough to pick up on. “I’ve read that was the inspiration for the project. A home for homeless SEALs. I didn’t know there were any.”
“A lot of people don’t know how haunted they can be. Some are driven, some are haunted by their past.” She sighed. Shannon surmised she was examining the grey clouds in the sky, detritus of the sunset nearly wiped away by now. “You want to join me for a drink, or is it too late? You’re a weather girl, right?”
“Actually, I’m a full-fledged reporter on a string to become a news reporter. They’ve just not discovered me yet.”
That was the truest thing I’d said to her so far. I was jumping at the chance to join her but didn’t want to appear too eager.
“Well, come on over. I’ll grant that interview. Who knows? Maybe we can help each other out?”
“Thank you. Hope it isn’t a big imposition.”
“Not at all. I don’t sleep well these nights. If I’m going to get drunk tonight, I might as well have company.”
“You’re on, then. So, you’re at the Wyndham?”
“Yes, ma’am. Penthouse suite. Nice view of the Gulf, which you won’t see much of.”
“I’ll be over as fast as I can.”
My fingers were fumbling, my nerves buzzing throughout my body as if I was on a blind date with a Martian. This wasn’t that kind of encounter of course, except for the fact that I had done all kinds of nasty things with
