Why I Hated The Guy From The FBI Ch. 08

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"How profitable Frank?"

"We will pay you $10,000 plus expenses, for a week of your time, my friend."

"When do you want me to leave?"

"Yesterday!"

"I will call you right back Frank."

Frank ran into the bedroom and jumped onto the bed where Antonia was still sleeping.

She screamed and jumped in confusion as he landed on her. "Frank, you idiot, you could have hurt me."

"It is so nice that you have mellowed these past few days. I thought I was going to get hit in return."

"Do not tempt me Frank. I will take a dump in your coffee, next time."

"Gomes found the place Celeste talked about."

"Why did not you say that in the first place? I might have kissed you instead."

"I did not want to ruin your record of insulting me, when you woke up in the morning."

"Thank you, Frank. Where is this place, and how do I get there?"

"It is in the middle of the Amazon jungle, and you do not get to go there."

"Wild horses could not keep me from going there Frank. I have to know that she is all right."

"Gomes is going I made him an offer he couldn't refuse."

"Why can't I go?"

"Go where Antonia," Rose asked?

"Good morning mother. I kind of forgot you were here for a moment. I am sorry."

"Are you talking about your friend Celeste?"

"Yes, Frank's friend from the FBI found her, in the middle of the Amazon jungle."

"That is a very weird place for a very wealthy person to want to be," Rose replied. "Why would she go there?"

"Frank remembered a conversation with her where she mentioned an opera house and the word St. Louis. The St. Louis in the United States does not have an opera house. Celeste has been all over the world and this place seemed to be fixed in Frank's head with the conversation they were having."

Rose laughed. "I hope your friend had all his shots. I saw a program on television by National Geographic, and the bugs were huge."

Frank replied that he had seen the same program, and he thought some of the bugs could carry Antonia away.

"Why is it always me Frank? Why cannot you think of somebody else to pick upon."

Frank walked over and stood by Rose. Then he looked at Antonia and said, "If a bug looked at your mother, then looked at me, and finally looked at you, which one would he choose to carry away?"

He did not get an answer verbally, he received a pillow instead. Then he received a shoe, and then the second one. He looked at Rose and said, "She has small feet, too."

Antonia screamed in defeat and covered herself with the blankets."

Gomes called back, and said he could leave in two days' time.

Frank asked him for his account number so we can wire him the money.

Gomes said, "Why do not you make it an even $12,000 and will call it straight."

Frank asked him if he was sure about it, because he did not want his friend to be shorted because the trip could be more expensive. After a short conversation, Frank wired him the $12,000, and the waiting period started.

Antonia and her mother finally had a chance to go with Philip into Malan to find her wedding dress. The design houses were everywhere and the prices were astronomical. Rose asked Philip if there were any other places that they could go to and purchase a more reasonable dress.

Philip replied that his aunts and cousins had a dressmaking shop on the outskirts of town, where they made dresses. If Rose and Antonia would like to take a look at what they have made in the past, he would gladly take them there.

Rose agreed readily, because she remembered her aunts from years gone by. When they arrived at the store, there was another family reunion.

Finally, Philip had to break it up. He said, "Ladies, if you keep talking like this you will lose your business, and you will never be able to make Antonia her wedding dress before December 8th." As soon as this fell out of his mouth, he realized he had made a mistake. The screaming and yelling started all over again. He left the store and walked down the street to the coffee shop on the corner.

The owner knew him and brought him his usual coffee and asked if he would like anything else?

Philip said, "Yes! Do you have anything that will take eight screaming women out of my head?"

The owner replied, "I have some excellent wine from a local young winemaker in the back if you would like some?"

"Yes, if you would not mind, that would do nicely."

Back in the shop, the screaming had just barely calmed down, the questions started, and the measuring tapes were coming out.

"How high are your shoes going to be? How tall a crown do you want? Do you want short sleeves, long sleeves or in between?

Antonia was just about to answer these questions, when the eldest of her aunts said, "Do not bother, we will take care of it. However, all brides lose weight before the wedding. You are not allowed to lose weight; not 1 ounce or the dress will outweigh you. Strip her and take her to the scale."

Antonia looked at her mother and shrugged her shoulders. She told them she was 103 pounds. I am always 103 pounds. They put her on the scale and she was 103 lbs. 2 oz. Her aunt said to her, "On December 3, you will be exactly that weight. If you are too light we will feed you. If you are too heavy you will go into the steam room and come out at that weight. Do you understand?"

"It is easier to put a little elastic around the middle, just in case I get pregnant, between now and then."

Her aunt came over to her, put her hand on her lower belly and patted it. She said, "Pregnant starts here, not up here around your waist. This is fat. That comes later when you are old like me."

Everyone in the room laughed at the matriarch of the family. Once they finalized their measurements, they started on the designs. Book after book, wedding gown after wedding gown, they looked and they looked, but did not find one that would look good on Antonia. Each dress was designed for a tall elegant woman. They had to find one that would define a little princess; and that was when it struck all of them at the same time. The little princess needed a princess wedding dress. Antonia was not happy when they took out the children's books. When Rose saw the look in her eyes she called her over and said to her that they were only getting ideas for her dress, they were not going to make her a dress from the book.

She said to Antonia, "If you are not happy with the design, we will go back into Milan, and we will get you something from there with which you will be happy. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes mother, I am better now. I just hate being like a child."

"Antonia, you are anything but a child. You are a woman in every sense of the word. You have growing up to do, but remember you are just 19 years old. You have a whole lifetime ahead of you. No one has told you who you have to marry, like they told me. No one told you who to love, like they told me. Be happy with yourself, and give yourself time to grow up."

Antonia put her head against her mother's chest and said, "Thank you mom."

From the other side of the room it was a shout, "We have it!"

Antonia raced over to see what they had found. She looked over at the dress they were pointing to and she was mortified. It was a dress for a 4 to 5-year-old girl with puffy sleeves and a flouncy bottom with crinolines underneath, that made it stand out. It was truly ugly.

Her aunt brought a sketching pad to the table and began drawing the figure. Antonia did not believe you could draw a three-dimensional figure on a two dimensional pad, but she watched this 80-year-old woman do it before her eyes. The dress on the pad had no resemblance to the dress on the page below. It took nearly 10 minutes for her to finish but when it was done Antonia was in love. She looked at the dress and could see herself in it. She looked at her mother and her mother just looked back at her to see her smiling. When her aunt said, "What do you think of my initial drawing?" Antonia replied, "If you change a thing I will kill you."

The matriarch laughed, looked at Rose and said, "If I did not know she was your daughter, I would definitely know she was from our family. She has the mouth."

Everyone in the room burst into laughter again as they hugged each other. Antonia asked, "I guess I do not have to pick out the fabrics or anything, because you are going to take care of that, right?"

"Do you see how smart she is Rose? It did not take her long to figure out that she has nothing to say about anything that goes on in the shop. Why do not you go up to the coffee house and get Philip before he drowns himself. Come back in three weeks for the first fitting of the gown. Come back any time before then to visit."

After a 10 hour layover in Miami, Charles Gomes was finally on his way to Manaus, Brazil. The Airbus was only half full so he was able to stretch out and read the material he had brought with him about Celeste Mesner, without interruption. He could not believe that a billionaire would pick such an inhospitable place to visit in the middle of the South American summer. The Amazon was in the middle of its flood season, which would mean the fishing was great, but the bugs would be feasting on everything and anything that moved. He had brought with him every repellent the FBI had in its arsenal plus some that a friend that worked in the CIA had given him. He knew he only had two objectives while he was there. The first was to find her. The second was to ascertain if she was okay, both mentally and physically. He had no authority in Brazil, and could do nothing to remove further from that country. He could only ask her if she would call Antonia and let her hear her voice, because she was very concerned about her. Failing that, there was nothing else he could do except make that phone call for her. He would make tapes of their conversations that he could play for his friend, but that would be the limit of his options. For $12,000, he wished he would be able to do more, but it added nicely to his retirement nest egg, and he had a feeling that Frank would not miss the money, because he offered it so freely.

He fell asleep somewhere over Columbia and did not wake up until the captain announced that they were preparing to descend into Gomes International Airport, which made him laugh. He thought, "I traveled nearly 4000 miles to land at an airport named after me."

At customs, he showed his FBI identification and his weapon. He was directed to the chief of customs at the airport, who asked if he was on official business.

He told them he was looking for an American citizen, who may have a medical problem. He just needed to know if she was well and had received medical treatment. If she was in good health he would leave and she would stay here. If she was unwell, he would ask the Brazilian authorities for assistance in getting her the help she needed. He advise them, "that in no case would he try to remove her from Brazil, without her explicit consent, in writing."

The authorities asked for her name and he told them, "Celeste Mesner."

The custom chief said, "Miss Mesner is not here. She is well known to us, and a benefactor to many of our local charities. When she arrives we always have a large celebration, in her honor."

"Could she have come in by boat, unseen by anyone?"

"If someone of Miss Mesner's stature is coming upriver, word of her arrival is here before she is. If she is flying in on a commercial aircraft, the pilot lets us know she is on board. If she is on her private jet, we know it is number. If she has rented a jet, we know who is on board because it is required by law. No one can sneak into a town in the middle of the Amazon River Basin, without being seen by one of the townspeople or one of our indigenous tribes."

"Would you mind if I look around for myself?"

"Anyone spending money in our city is welcome. Enjoy your stay."

Gomes did not think he was being lied to, however he wanted to earn his money. He checked in to the most expensive hotel in the city, which by any measure would have been that most a three-star hotel. He asked at the desk if they knew Celeste, and of course they did. He asked several more questions and the answers he got coincided with the answers he received customs. It appeared to him that this was going to be the shortest trip he had never taken. As night fell, and the bugs outnumbered the people 1 million to 1, he retreated to his hotel room. He took out his satellite phone and called Frank with the news. "Frank, she is not here. Everyone from the customs agents to the local clerks gave me the same answer. When she gets here they throw a party, because she is so generous to everyone. She has not been here in over a year. What do you want me to do?"

"If you are absolutely sure she is not there Gomes, go home. You have done what I asked you to do, and you have earned your money. I have to go back to the drawing board, and figure out where she may have gone into hiding. Antonia is going to be worried sick over this development. Her mother leaves tomorrow and Rose has been a calming influence for her."

"You still have five days of my time, Frank. Can you think of any place else she might be?"

"The only other substantive conversation we had concerned Antonia safety. She called the lawyer in France and sent someone here to put the brakes on an all-out war between the families. You would not believe how quickly they stopped arguing."

"How did she accomplish that Frank?"

She said, "In high school, there were two attempts to kidnap her. I will not go into the details because they are too gory and could get her into trouble, because of what her father did to the people involved. However, by the time she reached college she was able to walk around, as free as a bird, without any fear of being kidnapped ever again."

"Where did she go to college Frank?"

"The University of California. Oh Shit. It is not St. Louis, it is St. Luis Obisbo!"

"Frank, are you thinking you sent me to the wrong St. Louis?"

"Gomes, I am an idiot. She went home."

"I am on my way, Frank. I will call you from there."

"Thank you Charlie."

"Charlie, I did not even know you knew my first name."

"It was a slip of the tongue Gomes."

"Good, now I feel better."

29. Celeste, The Professor and Gomes

If you have ever had an airline ticket agent tell you, "You cannot get there from here," Charlie Gomes was getting that information from an agent that morning. Unless he was willing to take three different airlines and make five different stops to get to San Diego in 1 ½ days, he would have to fly back to Miami. From Miami he would have to fly to Los Angeles and drive down to St. Luis Obisbo. Luckily for him, the flight from Manaus to Miami departed in two hours. He reported to the customs chief that he was leaving, and thanked him for his help. He informed him that they believe they knew the location of Miss Mesner, and he was off to investigate the new sighting. He knew that it was always nice to make new friends in high places, just in case you needed their help in the future.

13 hours later, he landed in Los Angeles thoroughly exhausted and checked into the airport hotel to get some decent food and rest. At 10 o'clock the next morning, he called the local FBI office to let them know he was in town, where he was going and that it was private business. They laughed at him for picking this time of day to go south on Interstate-5. The agent asked him if he had packed lunch, a snack, and dinner for his trip.

Gomes asked him, "Why?"

He replied, "I guess you do not know that the southbound interstate is down to two lanes from 20 miles North of Bakersfield to 10 miles south of it."

"Is there any way around it," Gomes asked?

"You could always take California 1, however everyone else is using it, and the speed limit varies from 30 mph to 45 mph. Why don't you do what we do; go over it? Where are you?"

"I am at LAX."

"Beautiful, go over to the general aviation building and see if you can hitch a ride with anybody going south. If not, rent an aircraft and a pilot for the ride. With your badge, it will cost you about $400."

"That would not be ethical, and an abuse of power. I will pay the full ride. Thanks anyway."

It took him some time, but by 2:30 PM he was in the air headed southbound along the California coast, at 1500 feet. He marveled at the sandy beaches, the blue ocean, and the amount of people lining the shore, during a weekday.

The pilot asked him if he wanted to go lower so he could see the bikinis better.

Gomes said, "No thanks." He thought this was too low already.

The pilot reminded him that from this altitude he could glide the airplane to a safe landing on the beach, if the engine knocked out. He could also do it from a lower altitude, if necessary.

Gomes told him to keep flying, get into his destination in one piece, and he would be very happy.

After landing, he rented a car and decided that his best bet was to go to the college. She would not want to be alone in her misery. If what Frank told him about her conversation with Philip was correct, she would go to someone who could comfort her; someone she trusted from her years at school. He would have to find out who that person would be, and where to find him or her.

His first stop was the registrar's office, where he asked to speak to the person in charge. The assistant registrar came out and asked how he could be helped. He showed her his identification and told him he was looking for a former student by the name of Celeste Mesner, and did she have any information regarding her whereabouts. The assistant went to her computer and advised him that Miss Mesner had graduated six years prior and had not re-enrolled in the school since then.

Gomes then asked her for a list of her classes for the last two years she was at the school.

The registrar said, "Sir, for that information you would need a warrant."

He replied, "Miss Mesner is not in any trouble. We are trying to ascertain if she is healthy and in good spirits. She left her friends, in Italy, in a terrible state, and they are worried about her. If you wish to speak to them, I can call them and you can hear about their concern for her. I am not here on official business. I am here at the behest of a friend to find out if she is well."

The registrar asked him to sit down while she made a phone call.

20 minutes later Professor Ann Michaels walked into the building and the registrar pointed out Charles Gomes to her. She offered them her office for their conversation.

Prof. Michaels was very guarded as she began this conversation. "What do you want with Celeste?"

"I do not want anything from her. Frank Gennaro and Antonia Caruso sent me here to make sure she was okay. She left Italy, in such an irrational state of mind, they were worried that she would hurt herself. Philip Castronova was despondent over her leaving. He did not eat or sleep for several days and had to be restrained, before he did something to himself. This is as messy a situation, between two people in love, as I have ever seen. All Frank and Antonia want to know, is that I have seen her, talked to her, and made sure that she is healthy in mind and in spirit. After that, I can go back to my job at the FBI New York office and do what I always do."

"You swear she's not in trouble."

"She has done nothing against any law, in any country on this earth. I swear on my parents' graves, and on my life."

"Mr. Gomes, do you like Italian?"

"I know it doesn't sound like I am, but I am Italian on my mother's side, and I love to cook."

"Good, we will stop by the store and buy things for tonight's dinner. You can make the sauce."

When Celeste walked in and smell the sauce cooking she yelled, "You have finally learned to season a jar of sauce properly?"