Chapter 25

I wake Dakota. She puts her arms around me and give me another passionate kiss. Jennifer jokingly says, “Hey, don’t I get one of those?”

Dakota hops off the bed and walks over to her. She cups the sides of her face, leans in, and kisses Jennifer passionately. It’s very erotic. Jennifer steps back and says, “While that was very sexy. I was asking David.” She says with a big smile on her face. Dakota shrugs her shoulders and heads into the bathroom.

Jennifer saunters over to me. I just stare at her. She is stunning, even with her hair in a towel wrap, she looks beautiful. She puts her hands on my face, cupping my cheeks. She leans into me and kisses me gently.

“David, thank you for the past 24 hours. Thank you for the job. Thank you for helping John grow-up a little, helping him mature. And, most of all, thank you for inviting me into your bed. I loved every minute of it. I certainly want to take you up on your offer about playing with you and Jill. She must be an amazing woman.” Jennifer says to me.

I kiss her back, this time more passionately. Jennifer is a good kisser.

She jokingly pushes me away to get dressed. She sees her clothes from last night and gives me a smooch on the cheek for doing laundry.

I hear the whole house now awake. Tina, Diane and John are all chatting and laughing in the kitchen.

Dakota emerges from the bathroom, also with her hair in that towel wrap that women do.

I head into the shower. As I’m in the shower, I hear the front door bell. Dakota yells into the bathroom that the cars are here. I quickly finish up, dry off, and dress.

I emerge from the bedroom, but head back into it to retrieve some cash from the firebox.

After locking the box, I head out to the living room. Jennifer, John, and Diane are all saying their goodbyes. Lots of hugging and kissing. Jennifer sees me and hustles over to me. She kisses me passionately, her mouth parting a small bit to push her tongue into my mouth. As we break our kiss she says to me, “Lover, you can count on seeing me soon ... real soon. We need to talk about where and when you want me to start the new job.”

I reply, “You are welcome here anytime. You need to text me your attorney’s name and number, so we can fax over your contract. Once that is signed, you can start the following Monday, sound ok to you?”

“Then why aren’t you faxing it right now?” She says smiling.

John presents himself in front of me. “Sir, since I met you that night in IHOP, you have changed my life. I promise I won’t let you down. What you told me in the hallway this morning, you need not worry.” He does the ‘man hug’ thing and heads out the door with Jennifer.

Diane is next to come kiss me. “David, I’m so happy to have met you at IHOP that night. You have changed our lives. Thank you for the advice about John. May I call you or Jill if I have questions?”

“Diane, you are a beautiful woman. Hang around Jennifer more. She really likes you, more than you just being her assistant. I think she sees someone who can help John continue to mature. John really likes you, just don’t convict him in advance. You and John are more than welcome to come visit or play anytime.” I say as I kiss her goodbye.

Once they are all in the town-car, the driver closes the door and off they go, I see Fred sitting patiently in the driver’s seat. I signal to him by pointing to the imaginary watch on my arm and holding up all five fingers. He nods in approval and goes back to reading his book.

I turn to see Dakota sitting in a chair, fully dressed and waiting for me. Yet, I don’t see Tina.

I head into the kitchen to pour my usual glass of pineapple juice. Still no Tina. I drink my entire glass of juice. Still no Tina. As I’m just about to go look for her, she emerges from down the hall.

“Here I am, ready to go.” She says with that beautiful smile that I remember from the very first day I met her at Happee Happy Limo which now seems like a lifetime ago.

We head to the car, Fred gets out and holds the door open for us. I let the ladies get I first. I join them. They both position themselves on either side of me.

We head off to the hospital. Fred already knew our itinerary. While we were driving to the hospital, I mentioned that the two assistants should sit on the other seat allowing Jill to sit next to me. They both reluctantly agreed.

As we arrived at the hospital, I asked our assistants to wait in the car. I headed inside. Jill was in a wheelchair with an orderly waiting for us just inside the front door, I kiss her deeply and passionately. I hug her for an extended hug. I whisper in her ear, “I love you darling.”

She kisses me back. “Can we leave now? I’m hungry.” Jill says smiling.

We head out to the car. Fred is holding the door open and holds his hand out to help Jill into the back. I follow. I ask Fred to take us to a breakfast diner. He closes the door and off we go.

All three of my beautiful women are in the car with just me. I tell myself that becoming a chauffeur certainly changed me life, for the better!

We finished breakfast rather quickly, keeping an eye on the time since we had to meet the Realtor. Jill was the first one finished. She was famished since the food at the hospital was not good at all.

Fred joined us at breakfast. He was pleasant, but he didn’t really participate that much in the conversation going on around the table.

Fred quietly pointed to his watch, reminding us of our time to head to the Realtor. As we all piled back into the limo, Fred began heading to the real estate office. Jill sat next to me, with Dakota and Tina across from us.

The drive was expected to take about a half an hour as we were traveling through late morning traffic.

When we arrived at the office, only Jill and I got out of the car. We went inside and were met by Tim Brooks, the Broker. He informed us that our Realtor Mark had a death in the family last night and had to head back to St. Louis for his father’s funeral. He said that everything was set up for us to go see three properties. He asked if we would like to take his SUV. I explained that we already had a car waiting outside his office. He hesitantly agreed.

He said that he would show us the three in the order that they were given to him.

The first one we went to was completely out of the question. We had requested under 50 million, with multiple bathrooms and an estate large enough to entertain.

This one was $188 million. Jill and I couldn’t understand why we were being shown it. Don’t get me wrong, the house was gorgeous, 20 bedrooms/31 bathrooms over 28,000 square feet.

Mr. Brooks tried to explain that it had been on the market for such a long time due to the listing price that he was certain that the sellers would most likely take about 50% of the listing price (still $94 million). We accepted his offer to get out and preview the property, but alas Jill and I agreed that even at the reduced price, it was out of our price limit. Jill did tell Mr. Brooks if they were willing to get down to the $75 million range, we might be willing to buy it, no financing, straight cash offer. He told us he would pass that information along to them.

The second home we visited was on a hilltop. Again, large home, 12 bedrooms/17 bathrooms. 15,000 square feet. Beautiful view. However, this home was new on the market, yet it was built in 1998. Jill thought the home was nice. Tina fell in love with it the moment she laid eyes on it. This home had a listing price of $55 million, which interested Jill more than the other home.

The third home was nothing that we had interest in. Mediterranean style home. Needs work: electrical updating, pool resurfacing, one garage roof leaked, several small issues. At $25 million, we just felt it was a money pit waiting to happen. This home had also been on the market a long, long time. We toured the home and really didn’t like it at all.

When we all got back in the limo, Dakota said that she liked the first home the best, but she agreed with Jill that it was too much money, even though it was a beautiful home.

We gave Mr. Brooks some parameters that we had in mind. About 10 bedrooms, 15-20 bathrooms, pool, game room, movie room, huge kitchen, large lot with a breathtaking view, not really interested in paying for someone’s furniture. Must have room for at least 20 vehicles. A pool house and a spare house would be nice, but not mandatory. While we can make the top end at $75 million, that would be the absolute most, we are willing to spend.

He took notes and said he would be in touch next week with three new homes. He did say he would push our offer to the first owners, but he wasn’t overly enthused about them accepting the offer. He noted that $75 million against a listing price of $188 million was about 38% and to not get our hopes up.

As we drove back to the real estate office, very little was said. Tina and Dakota put their earbuds on and listened to some music.

Jill leaned into my chest/shoulder and drifted off to sleep.

When we arrived at the real estate office, Mr. Brooks thanked us for our time and went into the office. I texted our original real estate agent, Mark Newberg. I texted that we were sorry to hear that he had a death in his family. We got no immediate response.

While we were driving back to the house, I received a series of texts. The first one was from Roger Johnson. It read: another shooting at a different Pinetree. This one is in Omaha. One cop injured. Two dead. More later.

The second text was from Happee, Happy Limo. Paula texted: Police presented a search warrant and confiscated several computers including Sasha’s. They want to speak to you and Jill asap.

The third text was from Bob and Mel Jaxson. It read: Two separate restaurants closed by the Health Department. Employees found with hepatitis. One restaurant in Dallas, one in Jacksonville. According to Donna, director of Call Centers says Pinetree reservations are down 12%, also says restaurant closings made national news. Talk tomorrow. BOB.

The fourth text was a response from Mark Newberg. It read: Death in my family? No was let go by Brooks. Call my cell. I’m at a different RE company now.

The fifth and final text was from Dr. Ronda. It read: Is Jill doing OK?

WOW! My head was spinning. It just seemed to me that the whole world was falling apart.

I started with the shooting, calling Roger first.

Roger’s call was short. He didn’t have much information at this point. He said he got a call from a friend at the FBI who alerted him about the shooting. He’s got a flight to St. Louis scheduled in an hour. He said he will either call or text when he gets more information.

My second call was to Paula. We discussed the confiscated equipment at the limo company. She said that they made it very clear to her that Jill and I need to get in touch with them soon. I assured her that we would call today and set up an appointment with them, should they contact her?

My third and fourth calls were to the district offices of the closed restaurants. They expressed ‘shock’ about the whole incident. Both district managers put the blame on the employees. I told each of them that they should be hip deep into this and I expect follow up daily until the restaurants are cleared by the health departments to reopen. They each assured me that they would take care of things. I doubted it but let them do the job they are getting paid.

We arrived at the house before any further calls. I woke Jill. We all got out of the limo and headed inside. I gave Fred another tip, and he left.

Once inside, I sat at the dining room table to continue my phone calls. Jill headed to our bedroom to take a nap. Dakota sat down with me at the table. She had her assistant notebook out and her cell phone fully charged, just needing direction on what calls to make. I asked her to get copies of the health department reports on the two closed restaurants. I wanted to read what each one said. She began looking the numbers up and making the calls.

I went back to making my own calls. My fifth call was to the Police. I spoke with a Lt. Horowitz. I scheduled an appointment to bring Jill and myself, along with Tina, to his office tomorrow. He asked whom Tina was. I gave him an explanation, and he told me to absolutely bring her, as her name had not come up. We chose a time and ended the call.

My next call was to Mark Newberg.

“Hey Mark, it’s David.”

“Hey buddy. So, I hear I have a death in the family that I didn’t know about, eh?” he said jokingly.

“Well, apparently. Mr. Brooks took us to see the three houses that he said you left for him to show us.” I told him.

“That bastard! I figured out that he was trying to poach you from me to get him a huge commission. We argued about it and then he had my desk packed up and left at the receptionist desk with her asking me for my security badge since I had “quit”. I didn’t quit David. I was let go.” He explained.

“Ok, well then text me where and when you would like to show us the three houses, you think that we would like.”

Mark agreed, saying that he had left ‘decoy’ homes out. He had randomly picked out three homes and left the three in his top drawer. He told me the three addresses and sure enough, they matched the three Brooks showed us. I asked about the first one, the one priced at $188 million. Mark told me that it was owned by a company called ‘Tulip Productions’. Some Russian brothers owned it, but now just wanted to unload it. I asked if he thought that they would take an offer of $75 million or less. He said he was sure they would take about $50 million since they have had the house on the market for nearly two years but now are in desperate financial need. I told him to make an offer of $40 million and see if they bite. I also let Mark know about the conversation I had with Brooks about asking if they would take $75 million. He said that Brooks was basically lazy and might make the call, or not. I told Mark to fax over an offer contract ASAP, so we can get our offer official. He said that we would have to contract within the hour. I hung up very, very happy from that call, the first good call of the day.

I asked Dakota to let Jill and me know when we get the fax from Mark Newberg.

I didn’t tell her why, only to let us know when it arrived and to print it out on our printer in the spare bedroom. She said she would do so.

I got up from the table and headed down to check on Jill. She was sleeping peacefully.

Tina stopped me in the hallway.

“What can I do? Jill is sleeping. Is there anything I can do to help you and Dakota?”

“Absolutely! I need to put my hands on some documents. You can help Dakota with tracking them down. Also, please make sure the printer in the spare bedroom is stocked with paper and is on. I have some things coming soon via fax.”

She assured me she would take care of it.

I kissed her on the cheek and gave her a small pat on the rump. She smiled and headed off to the fourth bedroom.

Remembering my agreement with the police, I followed her into the fourth bedroom.

“Tina, I need to let you know that you and Jill will need to go with me to the police tomorrow. They want to discuss Happee Happy Limo and Sasha’s death. Our appointment is set for 9:30.” I said to her.

“OK, I’ll be ready.”

I headed back out of the bedroom to make more phone calls.

Back at the table, I gave Dakota a list of things that I wanted. She wrote them all down. I let her know that I asked Tina to help. She smiled, happy that I had included her.

My next call would be to Bob Jaxson. This one worried me. Before I made the call, I wanted to ensure that I had information about all the issues that were texted to me. Roger, done. Paula, done. Restaurant closures, done. Police appointment about limo company, done. Oops, I have not called Donna. This made me call Donna before calling Bob.

“Hey Donna, it’s David. How are you doing?”

“Well, I’ve had better mornings.”

“Why? What’s going on?” I asked.

“I’m getting yelled at by everyone. Team leaders, assistant managers, even Bob Jaxson has called twice. Are you really sure this is where you want me?” She said in a frustrated and somewhat defeated tone.