Chapter 1

It was one heck of year thought Matt Pierson as he was loading up his Honda Accord for the drive south. First of all his wife of thirty-two years, Lisa, had succumbed after a two year battle with the 'Big C, ' breast cancer. It was a great and loving marriage which had borne three wonderful children who had all left the nest. While his children and friends had expressed their sympathy, Matt knew he had to put this behind him and get on with his life. He was trying but it was easier said than done. It's impossible to forget what he had with Lisa but in his heart he knew she would want him to be happy in the time he had remaining until he joined her.

He had enjoyed his work as the CEO of a moderate-sized engineering firm but after Lisa's death he lost all interest in work. He was fifty-five years of age and asked his Board of Directors for an early retirement buy-out. Because of the success Matt had achieved with the business, they gave him a very generous retirement package. He would not have any money worries for the remainder of his life. Matt had thought long and hard about what to do now that he didn't work. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do but he knew he didn't want to become a couch potato.

The first thing to do he concluded was to sell the large house they lived in. With his kids gone and scattered around the country he no longer had the need for it. The house was located in a private golf course community and sold rather quickly with him receiving more than he expected when it turned into a bidding war among three buyers. Where to move to was another question? After some thought he decided to return to where he was born and raised, Joliet, Illinois. This was about 30 miles south from his present house and he had good memories of his early life there. It was where he had met Lisa.

Matt while working with a realtor found a large two-bedroom condominium in a sprawling complex. It was housing that he could lock the door and not have to worry about the condo when he traveled. While it was not an over-fifty-five age community, the great majority of the residents who lived there were in that age bracket. This resulted in a quiet living atmosphere. Moving was a little bit of a hassle but a re-sale store, the Salvation Army and Am Vets were the recipients of the excess household items that he had no longer a need or room for. Matt didn't believe in garage sales.

Each one of his children had invited him to come and visit and spend the Christmas holidays with them but he had politely turned them all down. Matt thought that if he were to spend the holidays with one of them the other two would feel they were not his favorite. They all were his favorites, so he didn't want them to have any misgivings about his love for them. Instead he mailed out his Christmas presents to them and to his grandchildren with instructions not to open till Christmas. He was preparing to drive down to sunny Florida and miss the snowy winters of Joliet.

Matt had kept in touch with some of his college friends. One of his friends, Jack Regal, had long ago relocated to Miami, Florida. Jack was a widower like Matt, with his wife suffering a brain aneurysm. Jack had invited Matt many times to come and visit him and the last time the invite was offered, Matt accepted. There was some discussion as to how long Matt would stay with Jack. Matt didn't want to impose on Jack and remembered the saying that "Familiarity breeds contempt." He asked if Jack could recommend some place that Matt could rent for a month. Because of Matt's insistence about not wanting to impose and wanting to rent, Jack acquiesced. One of Jack's condo neighbors was going to be leaving in a week for Utah to help her daughter deliver their first grandchild and would be gone for a month. Based on Jack's recommendation the neighbor agreed to rent her condo to Matt.

Arrangements were made with Matt's next door neighbor about his traveling and the Post Office about his mail. Armed with his laptop, clothes and his golf clubs, Matt left Joliet with snowflakes starting to fall a week before Christmas.

The drive down to Miami was uneventful and took two full days. Thank God for the interstate highway system, thought Matt as he sped along with the car in cruise control. Once outside of Illinois the weather changed for the better and it was a pleasant drive. Halfway through Georgia, Matt saw a Navy man in his whites hitchhiking. He picked him up and had him do the driving down to Mayport Naval Base where his ship was berthed. They had an interesting conversation about how the service today compared to what it was when Matt had been on active duty.

Using his GPS, Matt had no problems in finding Jack's condominium. Jack's condo was on the 14th floor of a high rise while the condo Matt had rented was on the 18th floor. Hugs and handshakes were given as Jack greeted Matt. They had a few adult beverages as they reminisced and brought each other up to date on what they had been doing. The reminiscing continued when they went out for dinner at a very nice restaurant a few city blocks down from the condo. They had met each other's wives and related a few fond memories of them. Feeling no pain from the drinks they had consumed, Matt slept like a baby.

The next day Jack, who was still working, went into his office. Matt had been to Miami once before and decided that he would visit South Beach to see what if anything had changed. If anything had changed it was that it was even more congested than he remembered. He found a parking lot where he could park the car and thought he would walk to a restaurant he had read about in the paper. As he turned a corner he heard "Stop thief! He stole my briefcase!"

Matt saw a teenager running toward him with a briefcase in his hand and a man behind him shouting and waving his arms. Without think about it Matt stuck out his foot and tripped the teenager running past him. The teenager stumbled and fell with the briefcase flying to the side. Matt started to go for the teenager but he was up on his feet running away leaving the briefcase behind. Matt picked up the briefcase and walked toward the man in the suit who had been shouting. As he approached the man he could see the man walked with a pronounced limp which probably prevented him running after the thief, not that he could have caught him.

"Oh thank God you stopped him and got my briefcase. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost it. I take that back. I know what I would have done and it wouldn't have been pleasant. Thank you. You save me a lot of work and probably saved that boy a lot of trouble. By the way, my name is Carl Duginn." He extended his hand to shake.

Matt shook his hand and said, "I was glad to help. I am sure if the situation was reversed you would have done the same thing."

"I would have tried but my bum leg may have prevented me from doing so. I am a lawyer and there are some papers in the briefcase that are highly confidential. I was just coming from conferring with a client of mine. How can I reward you for what you did?"

"Think nothing of it. I just came down here to see what has changed in South Beach since the last time I was here and was going to stop and have some lunch."

"Tell you what ... Having lunch is also on my agenda as well so why don't you let me buy? I insist."

"Okay, eating by yourself is boring and the good restaurants usually don't want to seat single patrons."

Carl took the lead and they walked about one city block down the street to a restaurant named 'Dino's.' Matt saw that this was not a greasy spoon but an upscale restaurant that was surprisingly crowded at this time of the day. When the maître d' saw Carl they were immediately seated at a very nice table. Since Carl was having a drink Matt ordered one as well. When Matt asked Carl to recommend something to eat he expounded on the merits of the Blue Crab Salad. Carl said one of his clients owns the restaurant so he always manages to get a table while other people have to wait to be seated.

The conversation during lunch was interesting with each of them asking inquiring questions about the other's background and life. Carl expressed his condolences when Matt told him about Lisa. Matt was able to learn that Carl was a lawyer and was married but other than that Carl was guarded as to who his clients were or what specifically he did. When lunch was done Carl asked if Matt had plans for the weekend after Christmas which was in a few days. Matt said nothing was set in stone yet. Carl gave him his business card and wrote his home address on the back of it. He said that he was having a holiday party at his house that Saturday with some of the neighbors and would like Matt to attend. Matt told him he probably would and thanked him for the invitation.

Later in the evening at his condo, Matt related the events of the day to Jack. When Matt showed Jack the business card Carl had given him, Jack whistled and said, "Do you know who Carl is? Apparently you don't. Carl is one of the top criminal defense lawyers in this city. He has defended some high-profile politicians and alleged crime syndicate people. He is profiled as one of the ten most powerful people in this city. His address is on Star Island. That's a gated island community where a lot of celebrities and powerful people live. Welcome to the big time of Miami elite."

"All I did was to stick out my foot and stop a theft. I didn't know who he was. Maybe I shouldn't go to his party?"

"Nonsense! It's a great opportunity to see how the upper half lives. Go and enjoy yourself. I am going to visit my son and his family this weekend so this party will give you something to do."

Christmas Eve was quiet time. Matt and Jack had a quiet dinner where they split a bottle of fine wine. Their thoughts were on happier days of Christmas Eves past spent with their wives. This was Matt's first Christmas Eve without Lisa.

The next day Matt spent considerable time on the phone wishing his children and his grandchildren a merry Christmas. They were happy to hear from him and thanked him for the presents. Matt told them how he was doing and what he had done to get the invitation for the party this weekend. This forthcoming party excited them even more. Later, Jack and Matt went to Jack's daughter's house for Christmas dinner. Spending the day with a loving family was the way to spend Christmas. Matt had a great time and enjoyed telling stories to the children and reading books to them. Matt thought that next year he would spend Christmas with one of his children and tell the other two he would rotate the following Christmas's among them.

Driving to Carl's house was not difficult with the GPS telling him where to go and where to turn. The guard at the gate had Matt's name on a list so entry was no hassle. The houses on the island were impressive. They were large mansions with palm trees and intricate landscaping. There were a few cars parked on the circular driveway and Matt joined them. At the door he was greeted by Carl who shook his hand and thanked him for coming. Carl introduced Matt to his wife, Shelly who appeared to be in her early thirties and was a stunner. Matt thought she was a three-B'er; beautiful, blond, and built. She was dressed to show her killer figure. She thanked Matt for what he had done to stop the theft.

Shelly wrapped her arm around Matt's and took him out back to the patio by the pool where most of the twenty-five or so guests had gathered and were engaged in small talk. Shelly introduced him to some of the guests and Matt recognized some of them as famous entertainers and politicians. There was a man there who appeared to have Italian ancestry that shook Matt's hand and profusely thanked him for stopping the theft. He said his name was Victor Mariano and that Carl had just left him when the attempted theft occurred. He further said that if ever he could do anything for Matt, all Matt needed to do was to ask. There was something about Victor that just said you never wanted to get on his bad side and Matt's other thought was that the teenager who tried to steal the briefcase had better hope his identity remains unknown. Victor put a card in Matt's shirt pocket and said, "Like I said, you need anything, just call."

Shelly left Matt to greet another guest who had arrived. Matt drifted over to the bar and ordered himself a drink.

"So you are the man who saved a lot of people possible embarrassment and maybe from a few years in the slammer."

Matt turned to see who said that and was looking a very attractive tall lady with just-past-her-shoulders curly red hair wearing a tight green cocktail dress. The neckline of the dress showed the tops of two very fine breasts. Making a conscious effort to look her in the eyes and not at her breasts he said, "I am not sure what you mean?"

Taking a sip of the drink she was holding she said, "I hear that if the contents of Carl's briefcase fell into the wrong hands it would have caused some serious ― and I mean some very serious ― problems for a lot of people."

"Well I don't know about that. I was just glad to help. By the way my name is Matt Pierson." He extended his hand.

She took his hand and holding it a little longer than was necessary said, "My name is Tina. I am Shelly's older sister. Shelly invites me to these parties if I am in town. She calls me eye candy"

"I would say she is more than right. You certainly are very pleasing to the eyes. Let me guess ... You are a high fashion model."

"How did you know?"

"All I needed to do was to look at you. There was nothing else you could be."

"Thanks. A girl likes to hear things like that, especially from a good looking man." She said that with a devilish look in her eyes and in such a sultry tone of voice that Matt blushed.

Tina wrapped one of her arms around Matt's arm pressing it to her breast and said, "Let's attack the buffet. Lobster and king crab turn me on."