“My girlfriend’s boyfriend is pretty plugged in around town. You two might do some business.”

“What kind of business?”

“The kind that makes lots of money, judging from the way he spends it.”

“What’s his name?”

“Jimmy James.”

“Is he connected?”

“You mean, like, to-the-mob connected?”

“Yeah.”

“I get the impression that he knows those guys, sometimes does business with them, but he’s independent.”

“Then I’d like to meet him.”

She got up. “I’ll go call Gina, see when they’re free.”

“That’d be good. Oh, by the way, my last name is now Riggs.”

“Whatever you say, baby.”

Frank lay back and watched the yachts move up and down the waterway.

Susie returned. “Tonight at seven. They’ll pick us up.”

“Sounds good.”

—

A new BMW pulled up to where Frank and Susie waited, and a handsome man in a good suit got out and shook Frank’s hand. “I’m Jim James,” he said.

“Frank Riggs.”

Everybody got into the car, and they made first-date conversation on the way to the restaurant, which was very fancy American; Frank had expected Italian, somehow. They ordered drinks, and the two men had a chance to talk. Frank was impressed that Jim didn’t have a New York accent and that he spoke in complete sentences, with very little slang. He was going to have to work on his own speech, if he wanted to do well down here.

“You Italian?” Jim asked.

“Used to be. You?”

“Same here. Tell me,” Jim said, “what were you doing with yourself in New York?”

“I suppose you could say I was an entrepreneur,” Frank replied. “I recently ended a business relationship, and I thought I’d invest my profits in a place with no winter.”

“Did the business relationship end badly?”

“Not for me.”

“Susie has a high opinion of you, Frank, and I have a high opinion of Susie.”

“She has a high opinion of you, too, Jim. Everybody has a high opinion of everybody. I think that’s a good start.”

“Perhaps we could do some business sometime.”

“I’d be interested in that.”

The girls came back and started in on their margaritas.

The evening went swimmingly; the two men split the check and made a date for lunch the next day. Frank and Susie were dropped off at their building.

“What did you think of Jimmy?” Susie asked.

“Seems like an interesting guy.”

“You think you two could do some business?”

“I think he has something in mind. I’ll let you know after lunch tomorrow.”

Chapter 28