Crystal Ball

by Laney Kay

  He was drying off, laughing at my expression. “Because you were just standing there, gawking at my naked body and not listening to a word I was saying, ADD girl. I asked you three times if we’re still meeting at a quarter to ten.”

  I told him yes and stuck out my tongue. He laughed and followed me when I walked into the room to change clothes. I pulled out a T-shirt, a denim skirt, and a pair of Teva sandals and started to change. He pulled on a pair of cargo shorts, no underwear, of course, an ancient Lynyrd Skynyrd concert t-shirt, and a pair of running shoes. Both of us were ready to go and headed downstairs at nine thirty.

  By nine forty-five we were all assembled in the lobby. I called Bella and told her we were about to head over. Unlike me, Bella didn’t sound nervous at all. “That’s great, Daisy. If y’all go around to the back of your hotel, there’s an employee parking lot that your hotel shares with this one. If you walk through there towards the back of this hotel, no one will see you come in. Just text me when y’all get here and I’ll let you in.”

  It took us about ten minutes to get there, and it turns out she was already waiting for us outside the employee entrance. We followed her back to the conference center, my dad let us into the ballroom as soon as we knocked, and Bella walked us through the stage area and had us tucked away in her little, windowless, meeting room in no time.

  Harrison and Mark pulled in some extra chairs so we’d all have a place to sit, and Bella spent a few minutes plugging wires into a big TV, and what I guessed was a recorder with a microphone attached to it, which was sitting in the middle of a round table. Suddenly, a picture came on and we could see Agent Prince waving at us.

  Bella stood up and walked to the door. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to adjust the camera.” Within moments, we could see Bella walking across a stage to a podium and then she placed a microphone in a stand. A few seconds later, she rejoined us in the room, hit the button on the microphone, and spoke directly into it. “Testing, one, two, three. Mic check, check, check.” We could see Prince and Spencer in their security guard uniforms, touching their earpieces and giving her a thumbs up. She checked the recorder to make sure it was recording both video and audio and then, apparently satisfied, turned to us.

  “Okay guys, make yourselves comfortable. There are drinks in the cooler. Y’all lock the door behind me and stay put until you see Glenda and Nick get arrested and Agent Prince tells y’all to come in.”

  We all nodded that we understood. Mark asked her if she needed us to do anything like start the recording, but she said no. “Here’s how this works. As soon as we turn the stage microphone on, this machine will start recording everything that’s said on stage until I come in here and stop it. All y’all have to do is watch and enjoy.” She pointed to the microphone with the button on the base. “If you need to say something to Prince and Spencer in private, just hit this button on the microphone and talk, and they’ll hear it in their earpieces. It won’t come through the big speakers, so no one but the two of them and Clayton will hear it.” Her phone dinged and she looked at it with a pleased expression. “Well, speak of the devil. Glenda and Nick are heading down to the lobby. Here we go folks. It’s showtime.”

  She texted back, “Meet you in the lobby in ten minutes,” squeezed Luke’s shoulder, and headed out the door. We saw Bella on the monitor as she stepped on the stage, turned on the microphone, and then we could hear everything as she, Prince, and Spencer went over the details. Yes, all of the doors were locked except the one from lobby, and my dad was guarding that door and letting people in and out. Yes, Prince and Spencer would be stationed on each side of the stage when Glenda and Nick got there, and they would quietly come down while they were doing the run-through and arrest them while they weren’t paying attention. Yes, the backstage area was completely empty except for us, so there wouldn’t be any interference during the arrest.

  They all looked at each other and smiled, then Bella moved off camera as she left the ballroom to go meet Glenda and Nick. Agent Prince turned to the camera and said to us, “As soon as we have them on the ground and the handcuffs are on, all of y’all can come out. Luke, you can come over and talk to them, but it would be better if the rest of you stay back just so we can keep the area clear.”

  Luke leaned forward and hit the button to speak into the microphone. “No problem. We’ll stay out of the way until y’all say to come on in.” Prince smiled at the camera and gave us a thumbs up, and he went to take his place at the top of the stage.

  We all looked at each other, all of us obviously nervous. Harrison started pacing, Mo and Sara were both chewing their nails, and I had to keep reminding myself to breathe. Mark moved to the cooler and handed us Cokes and then sat back down. We all absently took sips of our drinks, but mostly we were staring at the TV, just watching an empty stage with Prince and Spencer standing like statues at either end of the stage.

  Lola, God love her, finally broke the tension. She hit the button on the microphone. “Is it just me or is this the most boring reality show ever?” We all laughed and we could see that Prince and Spencer heard the comment because both of them were smiling.

  Suddenly, we could hear Bella’s voice. “…Well, they’re finishing the decorations this afternoon, so it’ll be much more festive this evening. I just wanted to make sure y’all know where to stand, what y’all will be doing, and where I’ll be in case you need anything. This will just take a few minutes to run through.”

  Luke was leaning forward and I could see the tension in his big body. I put my hand comfortingly on his leg, and he patted my hand absently as he stared at the screen.

  Suddenly, there they were. Bella and Glenda and Nick, in the flesh. I realized that I had been holding my breath again, and let it out in a whoosh. When I heard “whooshes” all around me, I realized I wasn’t the only one. We all smiled at each other in relief. They were actually here.

  Luke leaned forward and focused intently on the screen, not moving a muscle, so tense it almost looked like he was vibrating. His eyes followed them as they moved around the stage.

  Bella walked them to the top of the stage and pointed out where they would be standing. “Y’all will be standing backstage at first. We’ll play a video that shows the damage from the hurricane and what projects we are raising money for, then tell everyone about how much money we’ve already raised, and how much work has been done. Then I’ll tell them how y’all have been some of the primary organizers, and Nicholai, I will tell them how you’ve been overseeing the construction crews and how we couldn’t have done any of this without your amazing help.”

  Bella moved out of the picture. “Glynn, Nicholai, y’all will walk in from backstage together and move to the podium.” They followed her direction and went to stand at the podium. “Glynn, give me a sound check, just a ‘testing, one, two, three’, then Nicholai, please do the same.” They both did as she directed. “Then, we’ll present you with plaques and an award.” She motioned to Prince and Spencer to come forward. “We’re going to use you two to present the awards since you’ll be all dressed up and looking pretty and you’re already standing there. Please stand next to Glynn and Nicholai.” Prince and Spencer moved in close to both of them, who didn’t really notice how close they were standing because they were looking to Bella for additional direction. They also didn’t notice that both men had handcuffs in their hands and were in a perfect position to easily overpower them.

  And then it was too late. In a blur of movement, Prince and Spencer took Glynn and Nicholai down to the floor, and before either of them knew what was happening, they were both handcuffed with their hands behind their backs with two burly FBI agents kneeling beside them. My dad moved forward, close enough to get involved, if necessary, but mostly just helping to monitor the situation.

  Glynn was the first to react. She immediately starting screaming and thrashing around, trying to get off the floor. “Do you know who I am? Bella, where are you, you bitch? What do you think you’re doing? Yo
u don’t know who you’re messing with!”

  Spencer and Prince hauled Glenda and Nick to their knees and kept them there. Agent Prince got right in Glenda’s face. “Oh, I know exactly who you both are. Glenda Mathis, Nicholas Watson, I’m Agent Prince from the New Orleans office of the FBI, and you are both under arrest for all kinds of charges. Fun stuff like false claims against the government; theft of government property; credit card, bank, mail, and wire fraud; and I’m sure there will be a few more by the time we’re done. And here’s the best part. Since the money you stole was disaster relief funds for Katrina, and since y’all ran to avoid prosecution, there’s no problem with the statute of limitations, so y’all are still on the hook for everything you’ve done.” He read them their rights, read them the official charges, and then smiled at both of them.

  Glenda snarled at him. “Oh really? Well, I know my rights and I know that unless the FBI is working with another country’s government, the FBI can only arrest us if we’re on American soil. Well, you’d better be ready to let us go, because I don’t see anyone here but you. This is Puerto Rico, not America.”

  Prince and Spencer looked at each other and laughed. Spencer took a dollar out of his shirt pocket and handed it to Prince who immediately waved it in front of Glenda’s and Nick’s faces and shoved it in his pocket with a smirk. “You were right. I said they couldn’t be that freaking stupid that they didn’t know that Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and therefore it is U.S. soil, but you were right. They are that freaking stupid.”

  Glenda started shrieking and screaming, trying to get away from Agent Prince, but he controlled her easily with his hand on the handcuffs. Spencer hauled Nick to his feet and he just stood there quietly looking at the floor. It was total mayhem for a few minutes as Prince let Glenda exhaust herself with her struggles, but she finally became quiet, too. Prince hauled her back up to her feet, and she stood there next to Nick, staring at the floor and shaking like a leaf.

  While all that was going on, Prince had motioned for Luke to join them, so he had quietly come into the room, with all of us right behind him. We stood to the side as he slowly walked forward until he stood directly in front of them. He didn’t say a word, he just stood there, waiting for them to finally notice him. When they did, and saw who it was, Glenda gasped and Nick dropped his head again, shaking it silently.

  Luke stepped forward, crowding Glenda so she had to tip her head back to stare at him defiantly. He stared back at her and finally started speaking. “Glenda, I just wanted to make sure you know that I’m the one who found you, I’m the one who helped put this whole thing together, and I’m the reason you’re going to prison. There’s a special place in hell for someone like you that would steal money from people who are suffering, just to satisfy your own greed, and I knew that someday your actions would catch up with you. I’m just glad I could help. I’m also glad to know you’re going to spend a lot of your miserable life exactly where you deserve to be. In prison. I’ll see you when I come testify about exactly what you did to the people of New Orleans, and I hope that’s where you’ll serve your time.” He winked. “They’re gonna love you there.”

  He switched his attention to Nick, who avoided his gaze at first, but finally looked him in the eye. “Nick, I have to admit I kind of feel sorry for you, because I think karma already kicked you in the balls when you had to spend your last years as a free man with Glenda, but that’s the choice you made. You were like my brother, but you screwed me over and you screwed over the people of New Orleans when you did what you did, so I think this is just karma serving up justice one asshole at a time. Good luck in prison.” Nick just nodded once and dropped his gaze back down to his feet.

  Luke turned his back to them and walked over to all of us. Everyone smiled at him, and he grabbed my hand and squeezed it. He turned back. “Do y’all need anything else from us?”

  Agent Prince smiled. “Nope, we’re good. Clayton’s getting the car right now and we’re heading to the airport as soon as he gets back.” He smiled at Bella, who had joined our group. “Nice job, Bella. Thanks for all your help. I hope y’all make a ton of money tonight.”

  She smiled at him. “Oh, honey, trust me, we will. I’ll make sure everyone knows what happened here and it’ll add a little intrigue to the event. We’ll make enough money to fund everything we need, I’m sure.”

  I guess Sara couldn’t take it anymore. She strode up to Glenda and all of us immediately moved closer in case we had to grab her. When Glenda refused to bend down to talk to her, Sara narrowed her eyes, stood on her toes, grabbed a handful of Glenda’s hair and pulled on it until Glenda was forced to bend down to her level. As Sara whispered urgently in her ear, Glenda’s eyes widened, her face turned pale and she tried to back away from Sara with a fearful look on her face. Apparently, that reaction was good enough for Sara, because she smiled at Glenda and patted her cheek, and then backed up with a few parting words. “Bitch, I meant every word. You’d better hope you never see me again, because if you do, I promise you that’s the last thing you’ll ever see.” We all stood there with wide eyes and our mouths open as Sara walked back over to us and cheerfully asked, “Y’all ready to go?”

  We looked at her smiling little face and then looked at each other. She wasn’t offering, and we weren’t asking. Luke smiled back at her. “Sure, let’s go get some lunch.” He turned to Bella. “Bella, can you take an hour or so for lunch?”

  She looked at her watch and told us to hang on one second. She called one of the other organizers and then hung up and turned to us, relieved. “Hell, yes, I can join y’all. I need a damn break. I’m not cut out for criminals and arresting people. Let me stick to my socialite wrangling and fundraising. That doesn’t make me want to throw up from nerves.”

  We all laughed as we walked down the street to a restaurant overlooking the beach, totally relaxing for the first time in days. In Luke’s case, probably weeks. Maybe years. We ordered our meals, we ordered drinks, mostly fruity, island-y drinks, and we ordered one of every dessert. It was a great time because all we did was unwind and laugh.

  Suddenly, I had a thought. I shot up straight in my seat. “Hey wait a minute. We’ve already caught the bad guys, we’ve already donated money. Does this mean, we don’t have to get dressed up and go to the gala?” I was crossing my fingers and whispering in my mind, “please, please, please,” but everyone immediately said, “NO!” so emphatically that I knew I wouldn’t have a chance of skipping out.

  I sulked. “Fine.” But apparently I looked pitiful enough that Bella actually felt a little sorry for me. “Hey Daisy, if it helps, this really is mostly a party. We are going to have awards and boring speeches, but that’s thirty minutes, tops, and I will be talking about the arrest, which could be fun. Especially since I’m definitely going to show a little of that video, just to keep it lively. The rest of the evening is just eating and dancing and bidding on fun stuff, I promise. We have this amazing app that handles the silent auction, so you can bid all night on your phone, but you don’t have to run around checking on the stuff you bid on. I promise, it’ll be a fun night.”

  Luke grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You said your dress is actually comfortable, and you don’t have to wear makeup or heels if you don’t want to.” He kissed me and winked at me. “You look most beautiful just like this. You don’t need any of that girly stuff if you don’t want to wear it.”

  Awww. “Fine. I’ll go.” I tried to smile sincerely, but I’m positive I failed spectacularly. “I’m sure with Bella in charge, it won’t awful.”

  Luke laughed and kissed me on the neck and Bella laughed at the look on my face. “Daisy, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, but I’ll take it.”

  I could feel my face turn red. “Crap. Bella, I’m so sorry. You’ve been so wonderful and I know my attitude sucks, but I promise it has nothing to do with you. Please don’t take it personally.”

  Bella laughed. “Daisy, trust me, I know that dressing up an
d having to go to a gala isn’t your thing.” She gave me a quick hug. “I’m just impressed you’re still coming.” She waved to all of us as she left. “See y’all at six-thirty.”

  After lunch, we all went to the beach since we no longer were worried about being seen. We rented a bunch of lounge chairs and umbrellas and ran our poor waiter ragged ordering drinks and snacks. By about four o’clock, all of us had had enough sun and liquor, so we gave our sweet waiter a huge tip, we all went back to our rooms to rest awhile and said we’d meet in the hotel bar at 6:15.

  Luke and I immediately fell asleep and when the alarm went off we both felt great. We got up and took a shower, okay a shower with a little action, and then we started to get dressed. I put on my version of fancy makeup, which is bronzer, a little mascara, and some lip gloss, and enough product in my hair to keep it long and in ringlets, hopefully preventing it from ending up in a sweaty ball on top of my head by the end of the night. I finished my very limited makeup and hair routine and left the bathroom to get dressed. Fortunately, I was just in time to see Luke putting on a beautiful, off-white linen suit with slip on shoes and no tie.

  I stood there with my mouth open. When I finally could speak again, I croaked out, “Sweet baby Jesus, Luke, you look amazing.” I came closer and circled around him. “Seriously, you look like one of those gorgeous, badass, drug lords in some Miami cocaine movie.”

  He rolled his eyes and his cheeks turned red. “You’re ridiculous.” He came over and pulled me close to him. “I like your outfit better. Naked except for lip gloss.”

  I pushed against him. “Back away from the nakedness and the lip gloss. I’ve got to get dressed and you distracted me.”

  He laughed and kissed my forehead, then gave me a swat on the butt. “Fine. Got get dressed and I’ll check the football scores while you finish up.”

  He turned on the TV and I grabbed my clothes and went back into the bathroom. I put on my slinky new light control panties courtesy of Ms. Spanx, which I’m sure is not her real name, and stepped into my dress. I fastened the halter top, and made sure my boobs were seated securely in the low neckline, put on my low, sparkly heels, and walked out to the living room to show Luke. He must have liked it, because when I said, “Ta da!” twirled, and struck a pose, he didn’t say a word. He just stared at me with hot eyes, running his eyes over my chest, and standing up and walking around me to look at my butt, which I have to admit did look good in that dress. He reached for me, but I slapped his hands away. “Sorry bud, don’t mess with the dress. You’re going to have to wait till tonight.”