Olivia had just finished her salad when Scott sprang to his feet and a woman walked up to Scott’s table. Olivia took time stamped pictures as he hugged and kissed the woman lightly on the lips and held out for chair as she sat.
The woman was quite pretty, Olivia thought as she snapped pictures of her. The woman was tall, five-eight, maybe five-nine with shoulder-length hair, which appeared to be her own. She was approximately one hundred and fifty pounds and no identifying marks that Olivia could see from her vantage point.
After Mr. Daniels and his guest finished their meals, Olivia followed them to the Ritz Carlton Hotel. She was able to get pictures of them walking arm in arm into the hotel, a shot of them standing together at the counter and one of them going into the elevator. Olivia went into the bar in the hotel and had a seat, waiting until they came down.
A little over an hour later, Olivia was able to get a picture of the couple exiting the elevator, arm in arm once again. After which Scott drove his lunch guest
back to Oceanaire. Olivia took more shots of Scott walking his guest back to her brand new 300 horsepower-twin turbo charged BMW 3 Series Convertible. “Oh, no she don’t. I don’t like that bitch already,” Olivia commented as she snapped more pictures.
After Scott returned to his car, Olivia followed the BMW to some condos off of North Avenue. The same condos that Scott’s company had recently built. She looked on as the woman got out of her car and approached the mailboxes. The woman opened her box, went through the mail, sorting out the items of junk mail and useless newspapers, and then threw them in the trash before returning to her car.
Olivia followed the woman to her building and watched as she entered a unit. Once Olivia had an address, she immediately returned to the trashcan at the mailbox and went through the items until she found what she was looking for.
“Abril Arrington.”
5
That same afternoon, Marcus was in his office reviewing the notes he had made for his upcoming case. Marcus was confident that he had an excellent chance of proving that the prosecutor in the case was excluding jurors based solely on their race. He had just decided to call it a night when Janise called.
“I have Panthea Daniels for you on line two.”
“Did she say what it was in reference to, Janise?”
“No, Marcus. Just that she wanted to speak with you. Should I tell her you’re in a meeting?”
“No, Janise, I’ll talk to her,” Marcus told his secretary. Once he put away his papers, Marcus picked up the line. “Marcus Douglas.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Douglas. This is Panthea Daniels, how are you today?”
“I’m doing just fine, Mrs. Daniels. What about you?”
“I’m fine. Thank you very much for asking. I know you’re a very busy man, so I will get to the reason I called. I wanted to let you know that Mr. Mason, the investigator you told me would call, didn’t. However, a woman name Olivia Wayne called. She said she was contracted by you and that I could give her the information about my husband Scott.”
“Did you give her the information she asked for, Mrs. Daniels?”
“Oh, yes. Yes I did, but after I gave it to her, I thought about the fact that you said that Mr. Mason would call, and it’s been bothering me all day. So, I called to make sure that I had done the right thing.”
“That’s quite all right, Mrs. Daniels. I understand your concern, and you’re right, you can’t be too careful these days. I spoke with Mr. Mason about your case yesterday. Olivia Wayne is one of his best operatives, and he assures me that she’ll do an excellent job for you.”
“That’s good to know, Mr. Douglas. I don’t mean to be a problem, but as I said, I’ve been thinking about it all day, and it’s been bothering me so I had to call and make sure that she was working for you like she said.”
“Not a problem at all, Mrs. Daniels. In fact, anytime you have questions or concerns, please feel free to call. If I’m not available, I’m sure Janise or one of our other associates will be able to answer any questions you may have.”
“That’s also very good to know. Tell me, Mr. Douglas, do you extend the same service to all your clients?”
“Of course I do, Mrs. Daniels. We like all of our clients to feel like their important to us, because they are.”
“And here I was thinking I was getting some special treatment from you because you found me attractive.”
Marcus let out a little laugh. He was intrigued by her obvious flirtation. “No, Mrs. Daniels, no special treatment, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t find you to be an attractive woman,” Marcus told Panthea, and was somewhat surprised at himself for saying it.
Mrs. Daniels wasn’t the first client who tried to flirt with him. However, there was something about Panthea Daniels that had his attention. Since she had left his office the previous day, Marcus had been thinking about her. Panthea was a tall attractive woman, with beautiful dark skin, a smile that had brightened his office and eyes that seemed to dance when she spoke to him.
Yes, Marcus was definitely intrigued by Panthea Daniels. Just the type of woman to make him forget about Carmen Taylor.
“Because you are a very attractive woman, Mrs. Daniels,” he continued.
“Please. Call me Panthea.”