“I thought you said you’d take care of it!”
“I am and I will,” Ben said calmly over the phone. “I’m only telling you this because you made me promise that I’d keep you in the loop on every little thing. Malloy is probably holding out for more money, but he’ll give in eventually, because they all do.”
“More money? Is Gavin trying to bribe him?”
“That would be illegal. He’s trying to buy the company, which would give us some rights to the footage.”
“You’re really going to buy the company?”
“That’s always been the plan. You knew that.”
“Yeah, but I thought you were just saying that… Ben, how much money do you have?”
“I already told you I own a company that invests in growing businesses. We Gotcha, Inc is about to become one of those, whether they like it or not. If I have to buy it for more than it’s worth, then I’ll just use it as a tax right off. So it’s a win-win all around.”
“This all sounds great, but meanwhile, how many people do you think have seen that footage?”
“I’m sure no one has seen it.” Only he didn’t sound so confident now.
“You’re kidding, right? Do you know how much We Gotcha charges to do security surveillance? If no one has seen it, then the city of Whispering Bay needs a refund.”
He let out a big sigh. “All right. I admit, someone has probably seen it. But it was dark in the hallway and I’m pretty sure the camera wasn’t at the right angle to get more than just a fuzzy picture. There’s no way they can identify who we are.”
“Oh my God. My mother will never be able to show her face at the Italian American club again.” A sudden and horrible image came to her. “What if someone from the company sends the video to one of those shows.”
“What show?”
“You know, America’s Craziest Videos, or something like that.”
“Never going to happen. I’d sue their ass all the way to hell and back.”
“What if they have a private party and show it to all their friends?”
“Then I’ll make them sorry they ever watched it.”
“And how do you propose to do that?”
“I’ll…hire a hit man to poke all their eyes out.”
Okay. So, yes, that was kind of funny. She cracked a smile. “Be serious.”
“I am being serious.”
She laughed a little.
“That’s more like it, Red. Look, the fact that we haven’t heard anything is good. More than likely, whoever is actually watching the footage chalked it up to two people having a little bit of fun. Nothing was stolen. Nothing was damaged. There’s nothing for him to report except a case of trespassing. No big deal. That said, I’m still going to get the footage back. Okay? Right now, this is all I have Gavin working on, and he’s going to come through for us.”
Us. She liked the way that sounded. If Ben believed in Gavin, then so did she. “Okay, I’ll try not to get hysterical again. At least not until tomorrow.”
“Good.” She could sense his smile, which in turn made her smile.
“How is Rachel? And your mom?”
“They’re both fine. We’re going to Hopalinka this morning to help her finish packing. The trailer goes on the market first thing Monday morning.”
This move to Miami was wrong for Pat. Jenna wished there was a way she could tell Ben what was going on without directly breaking his mother’s confidence. But he couldn’t be so completely blind to her feelings. He had to have some sort of clue. “This must stressful for your mom, huh?”
“Not really. We’re packing up the personal stuff, and the realty company is taking care of the rest. She doesn’t have to lift a finger unless she wants to.”