Jack sighed. It was clear to him that he had to come up with some witty dialogue before Harry went nuclear. Harry hated to be confined to small spaces, and while the Range Rover was relatively spacious, it was still a box, however large, on wheels, and Harry still felt confined.

While Jack was thinking, Ted bellowed that he had just gotten a text from Maggie. “She said Baron Bell was out of the office when she got there. She said the dragon manning the office said she had missed him by five minutes. Being as smart and astute as she is, Maggie hotfooted it back to Newsom’s office and got there in time to see the two of them getting into a chauffeur-driven Town Car. She was on foot, so she couldn’t follow them, and there were no taxis available. She thinks they might be headed to Rehoboth, which—by the way—is getting more snow than the District.”

“Then they must be worried,” Jack said. “What does she expect us to do, Ted?”

“To act independently and do whatever needs to be done. And not get caught doing it,” Ted responded.

Jack offered up a few choice words of disgust.

“We’re about fifteen minutes away from our destination according to the GPS,” Espinosa said, one eye on his GPS, the other on the road.

Harry mumbled something that sounded terrible to Jack. Hoping to diffuse whatever Harry was about to do or say next, he literally bellowed, “So what are you guys getting the girls for Christmas?”

A spirited dialogue followed and ended with what every woman in the world knew already—none of the men had a clue what the in Christmas present was that year.

Since Jack considered himself an authority on women and their wants and needs, he said, “You can’t go wrong with diamonds.”

“Diamonds cost money,” Ted growled. “Lots of money. More than I have, that’s for sure.”

“That depends on the carat weight,” Jack said knowledgeably. “I bet none of you know that women consider their ears as storage vaults. These days women have two holes in each ear. That means four earrings per woman. The translation to that is it frees up room in their jewelry boxes for even more gems. You getting my drift here? I also know that women love and adore earrings. They like to pick their own rings and bracelets. Do not ever buy them a necklace unless it is a string of matched pearls like the kind Myra wears and none of us could afford even if we bought it on the installment plan. It would take forever to pay it off. So, it’s earrings. I’m open for discussion, gentlemen.”

Espinosa sounded like he was going to cry. “Four earrings at a carat each is four carats. That’s got to be a year’s salary at least.”