I Opia (13 page)

“Well? What do you think?” asked Vince.

“What do I think? Other than yet another hot man who has fallen for some young bimbo? I think, Cha-ching! This is a lot of cash.”

“Yes, but I think this will take awhile. Do we feel comfortable taking half up front?”

“Have you lost your mind? He needs to go tell his chickie that he has just put $2.5 million down toward the purchase of her heart’s desire! Absolutely we take it. But, I agree with you that we must make sure he understands this will be no easy task and that we need time. Deal?”

“Deal!” Vince exclaimed and the two joined pinkies to swear in the same manner they had since they were kids.

They returned to the conference room. It was obvious that Black was very stressed so Vince decided to let him off the hook early, “Mr. Black, my partner and I have discussed this transaction. We will agree to make every effort to procure these items for you. As you are well aware, this will not be an easy task. Therefore, we will not increase the price, but instead increase the usual amount of time that it normally takes for us to fulfill an order. We will agree to keep you apprised of our progress, and if at such time we deem that we cannot fulfill our agreement, your deposit will be returned in full. Does this sound reasonable to you?”

“Um. Yes. It does. Um. But, you will be able to get them, right? I mean Carole said you guys are the best.”

Blaine and Vince looked at each other and Vince replied, “Mr. Black, we are the best. Please rest assured that this transaction will be our top priority.”

“Good. Really good. I mean I know I shouldn’t have promised this, but I did.”

Hell no you shouldn’t have promised this! What the hell else did you promise? To grow a 7-inch dick?
Blaine realized that she was thinking badly of someone willing to pay them $5 million and that it was really none of her business what else he had promised. So she smiled, shook his hand and said, “Mr. Black. Such a pleasure to do business with you. We will be in touch.”

And that set in motion a year’s worth of research trying to find a rare three black-diamond tiara and matching earrings.

Blaine arrived at the office
and greeted Delores, who as always was cheerful. Blaine often wished cheerfulness were contagious, or at least transferable. Blaine had never been a fan of mornings. Especially mornings where there was a hot, young man still in bed and she had to go into the office. That said, she did her best to greet Delores and to thank her for the cup of coffee she had ready. If nothing else, Delores did know how to tame the beast.

She walked into Vince’s office. Her look told him not even to tease her as much as he wanted to. Instead, he got down to business. “So, I think we need to get into the Webbers’ house and look around. This is big. We have spent a year and I am very confident they have the tiara and earrings. For another $2.5 million it is worth a look.”

Blaine agreed, “Okay, but how do we get in? Do we go in overtly or covertly, because I don’t know of anything they are having at their house anytime soon. Nor do I think I can just get myself invited there with enough leeway to break the damn security system and take a look.”

Vince leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, “Well, then, it’s you and me sistah. We gotta get in there and take a look. And if the look is all we think it is, we gotta take what we gotta take.”

Blaine sipped her coffee.
Dammit! Why didn’t I invest in something like healthcare equipment again? Ohhhhh. Riiiiight. That’s boring.
“Okay, big guy, I am in. When?”

Vince said, “Well, Ms. Country Club USA I was hoping you would tell me. It’s Tuesday, right?”

Blaine blinked.
Holy crap! I so hate it when he is right. Dammit again!
“Yes, Vinny, it is Tuesday. I will find out this afternoon.” She said sighing.

Vince had, of course, remembered that Tuesday afternoon was the Ladies’ Regular Group at the Country Club.

Blaine arrived at the club
and let them valet her Mercedes. As always, she wore a golf skirt and shirt that were just sexy enough to make her feel good, but not so much as to get her expelled from the club. The valet boys were all half in love with her, and she had to admit, she enjoyed the attention. After a moment of flirting, she found her way to the women’s card room where today’s game would be decided. Her main goal in life right now was to play in Denise Webber’s group. She entered the ladies locker room and there was already a crowd. She greeted everyone as she usually did and then scanned to make sure Denise was there. She was not disappointed. She made her way over to Denise to say hello. Standing close to someone meant you usually got paired. Once again she was not disappointed.

On the course, the usual chitchat ensued as everyone teed off. Blaine always participated in the gossip, but listened more than she talked. While she was usually just taking inventory during these games, today she was trying to get a feel for the Webbers’ schedule. Denise was a very quiet and unassuming woman.
How the hell would someone like you want, much less acquire, such rare jewelry?
Blaine wondered. She knew she would probably never know the answer. Just like with sex, sometimes the quiet ones were the wildest. That said, little was forthcoming other than how she and Dan were taking golf lessons to get better, how their son was doing so well in college, and the usual blah blah.

It wasn’t until the 16
th
hole that a crack appeared in the glacier known as Denise. Blaine had totally forgotten that on Friday night, a fundraiser was being held at the club. Denise and Dan were hosts and would have to be at the club by 4 to get ready for the evening’s events. Blaine almost wanted to knock herself out with her club.
Of course! I knew this! What is wrong with me today? That is the perfect time!

The round was finished and the bets were being settled in the bar when Blaine text Vince:
Okay pretty boy. You. Me. Friday night.

Vince:
Friday night? Honey no can do! Eric and I are going to a charity event at the club!

Blaine:
Yup. Did you see who is hosting said event?

The phone went silent for awhile. She knew Vince was scrambling.

Vince:
Crap! WTF will I tell Eric? This is cray cray.

Blaine decided to let him off the hook
: Event starts at 7. Hosts here at 4. Gives us 3 hours. Cray cray or not. Nuff time dontcha think?

Vince:
Hope so. Ugh.

Friday came before they knew it.
Months earlier, Blaine had called some of their best artists to create replicas of the tiara and the earrings. They knew they would have to replace the fakes for the real ones to avoid the owner’s noticing their valuables had been stolen. Just like they had done with the dolls.

Vince had worked with his “consultants” to figure out the security system. Blaine didn’t ask too many questions. Vince always seemed to figure it out. At 2 p.m. on Friday, he assured her that he could disarm the system, but they would only have a very small window of time to get in and get out before the backup for the system kicked in and rearmed it. In other words, Blaine would have to pick the locks and disarm a safe, if necessary, within this window of time.

“Okay, what exactly is this ‘window’ as you call it of time? I mean, we don’t even know what the hell is in there.”

Vince nodded in sympathy, “Yea, I know. I think I can buy you 30 minutes. That’s it. This thing is complex. It has two firewalls, break one and the other kicks in. I can’t undo the second one until I see it. I won’t see it until it kicks in which means we are in the house.”

Blaine just looked at him as she ran her hand through her hair. “Let me get this straight. We will get to the house. You will disarm the system.
We
, no,
I
have to get us in the door. Then we find this ‘room’ that you and Matthew think they have installed then
we
, oops, no
I
must break the code on the safe. AND, all this must be done within 30 minutes. After that time, the security system re-arms and then . . . this is where I get confused.”

“Okay, this is where I have to once again disarm the system. That means I will have to be on my computer in the house with you, but not with you. Get it?”

“Yea, I get it. I get that this is the most asinine thing I have ever heard. Have you lost your mind?”

“Blaine! Shut up. I got this. WE got this. Teamwork. We either do this and collect $2.5 million more or we don’t and we refund $2.5 million AND risk losing our reputation. But, hey, if that’s the route you choose, partner. Then, I am in. We will go down together.”

“Oh shut the fuck up, Vince.”
I really seriously hate when this man is right.

The two pulled up at the Webbers’
. The house was really very unassuming. Not located in a gated community. Not surrounded by a fence or really any barrier. Only the two of them knew the security system that lay inside. It was 4:15 p.m. They had driven by the club on the way to the house to make sure that the Webbers had arrived at the club and were not at home.

As always, they drove a car appropriate to the neighborhood. Chow had taught Blaine long ago to never stand out. A broken down car or too nice a car stands out. A nice Mommy van does not. They were in the mini van that Vince had set up with all his gear. He worked furiously for what seemed like an eternity to Blaine, but was only in reality 15 minutes. “Done!” he exclaimed, “We are set. Your turn. And the clock is ticking.” He started the stopwatch on his arm.

The two very casually walked up to the door. It was, after all, only 4:30 in the afternoon. They looked like any normal couple going to visit another. The difference, of course, was that Vince smiled and tried to look nonchalant while Blaine worked the lock. She undid it in less than a minute. She looked triumphantly at Vince, “Well, dear, at least some of us can uphold our end in a short amount of time.”

“Shut up, we have 25, oops, now 24 more minutes thanks to your smart mouth and we are just now in the front door.”

She just stared at him.
Holy crap. Is he freaking right again?
He looked at her and then gave her a shove through the front door. Both had forgotten any decorum of looking proper. Blaine stumbled into the entry hall and Vince, with laptop under his arm followed. Blaine had never been in the Webbers’ home. In fact, she wasn’t sure anyone had. They never entertained. The two begin to look at room after room to figure out where the proverbial prize might be. After 15 minutes, which meant only 9 minutes to go, they had given up.

“Seriously Vince. Do you think Matthew might be off on this? I mean these people are very boring. They don’t entertain in their home, they don’t seem to be the kind to have such expensive items, much less items that need this much security. Maybe we should just go.”

“Blaine, listen, we aren’t wrong. We just haven’t seen it. Let’s keep looking for 4 more minutes. That will give me a comfortable buffer of 5 to disarm the system when it reactivates.”

Blaine rolled her eyes, “Okay, you better be right on this one.”

The two searched for another few minutes with Vince looking at his stopwatch. They both saw the door in the back of the kitchen pantry at the same time. They looked at each other. Vince looked at his stopwatch and held up one finger telling Blaine to wait. He sat on the floor and opened his laptop. Neither said a word as he furiously pounded on the keys, hacking into the security system. He finally looked up and Blaine and nodded his head. It was now 4:50 p.m.

“You sure it is okay now?”

Vince rolled his eyes. “Puh-leeze. Open the freaking door.”

Blaine stood for a minute as if unsure.
He has been right so far, why do I just have a bad feeling?
Blaine shook it off and opened the door. The two stared at a very meticulous spice rack. They looked at each other and then back at the rack. They stood there looking, wondering what to do next. They both heard the sirens. They looked at each other in panic.

“Fuck, Vince, fuck. I thought you had this. What the fuck? No really, what the fuck?”

Vince look terrified, “I don’t know, Blaine, I don’t. I must have been off by a minute or two. Oh shit. Oh shit.”

The sirens were coming closer. “I have an idea,” Blaine said as she closed the door to the pantry and grabbed Vince by the hand. She drug him to the master bedroom.

He was clutching his laptop and practically in tears, “I am so sorry, so sorry,” he kept saying.

They got to the master bedroom just as the police pulled into the driveway. Blaine grabbed Vince’s face in her hands and looked him in the eye, “Shhhh, Vinny. Shhhh. I got this. I need you to calm down, be quiet and crawl under the bed. NOW!!!!!”

He sniffled and looked at her. She put on the meanest look she could, “NOW!!” He complied and hunkered under the bed wondering what the hell Blaine was going to do.

The police were now pounding on the front door. Because of the way he was laying under the bed, he did not notice that all of Blaine’s clothes were now on the floor. All he saw were her bare feet padding down the hall. He shut his eyes and began to pray.

Blaine opened the door. She was wearing nothing but a towel. The officer pounding the door stopped with his hand mid-air. He just stared.