Free The Dragon Delasangre by Alan F. Troop Page B

sometimes I think you underestimate me too.”
    â€œIs that a threat?” I ask, locking eyes with him.
    Arturo knows better than to challenge me. “No, just temperament,” he says. He runs his manicured fingers through his graying hair, shrugs, grins a grin wide enough to show off all his newly capped, white teeth. “I could use a vacation, I guess. I can keep in touch with the office by cell phone. I already have an accountant secretly going over all the books. I’ll have some of my other people watch Jeremy while I’m out.” Arturo pauses, straightens his silk tie, grins even more. “How long did you say?”
    Â 
    Jeremy Tindall answers my summons and comes to my office after Arturo leaves. Where Gomez feigned pleasure to see me, Tindall’s frown clearly shows he’s annoyed to have his day disturbed. “Peter,” he says, “you’re holding me up from doing your business. I had to leave the mayor and two councilmen sitting in my office—”
    â€œLet them wait,” I say, glaring at the tall man—so thin and pale that he looks like a walking cadaver. “If they’re unhappy, you can always send Arturo to them with a few more paper bags stuffed with money.”
    Tindall looks around the room as if he’s worried someone’s placed a wire. I smile at his show of concern, his never-ending paranoia. As my attorney, Jeremy handles all my legal activities, all my major purchases and sales. As my trusted retainer, Arturo takes care of my and the company’sillicit needs, from money laundering and bribery to physical coercion.
    Jeremy’s perfectly comfortable with availing himself of Arturo’s aid, his connections to South Florida’s underworld. He uses him frequently to lubricate the process of business, to intimidate those who threaten our interests, but he despises the mention of it.
    â€œWe are what we are,” Father used to say. “And we are what we do. The Tindalls just don’t like to admit it.”
    Father had traveled to Washington as soon as the government took control of Florida from Spain. “Under disguise, I wandered from lawyer’s office to lawyer’s office to lawyer’s office, asking if the attorneys could help me circumvent the government’s laws, bribe officials, help me conceal crimes. At those few offices that didn’t ask me to leave, I escalated my requests, alluding to white slavery, even murder. Ethan Tindall was the only one who didn’t even blink. He stated his price and I hired him. I told him to move to Florida, to make sure our land grants were honored and to handle our business interests after that.”
    Jeremy’s face flushes red. “So what’s so important?”
    The memory of cinnamon and musk comes up in my mind and I’m tempted to tell him about the girl and my need to find her. But no matter how much I want to talk about her with someone, anyone, I control my tongue. “You can only trust the Tindalls to do what greed and fear dictate,” Father taught me. “In all dealings with them, you must remember to be cautious.”
    It took Father only a few months to catch Ethan Tindall betraying him. “The fool stole money from me,” Father said. “I was glad to catch him at it early in our relationship. When I confronted him, he, of course, denied it. I grabbed his left arm and bit his hand off at the wrist. I don’t believe he ever cheated me again.”
    â€œYour boat,” I say to Jeremy. “I need to borrow it.”
    The man’s face glows even redder. “My Grand Banks? You can’t be serious.”
    I nod, not at all surprised by Jeremy’s reluctance. Pictures of the forty-two-foot trawler crowd the walls of his office, outnumbering photographs of his family by a ratio of five to one.
    â€œFor Christ’s sake, Peter, you can afford to buy one of your own.”
    â€œNo,” I say.