Chapter Twelve
Clarity had a good breakfast at the East, and took a cab to South Dixie Highway. She spent the whole day at the Siena kennel club, becoming familiar with the rules of dog shows, as Baggio had told her to do. At One pm in the afternoon, a container coming from Cayman delivered Lord Moorehead III, the Great Dane that Mannen used as 'front person' for his business with Lofty, to the club. The container also delivered a few other dogs taking part in the show, an Airedale terrier, clever, confident, and friendly, but also courageous, a Dogue de Bordeaux, known for being loyal, affectionate and protective, a Victorian bulldog, and a borzoi, a somewhat independent minded four legged mammal. Finally, A message on her What's Mobbing app from Mannen at twelve minutes past eight o'clock gave her additional information on what was happening. The dog show is staged, welcome Di Laure and Moe Alamy, let her dog take part in it. Harvege will take care of Lord Moorehead III after the show. I'll pick you up at eight fifty eight with the Jaguar 73.
Harvege and Monfort came at eight twenty, bringing one dog each, a Chinese Shar Pei, and a Lhasa Apso. Revving came slightly later, and Di Laure and Moe Alamy showed up last around eight thirty pm. Moe noticed Clarity immediately.
"You're still here, I don't believe this. What are you doing here, I want you out of Florida."
Moe began to look for Ambrosio, but realized the retainer was at the pawnshop with Giacomino, to empty the shop of Mannen of all remaining items, and to look for the statutes of Gladeview that Mannen had promised. She wanted the pawnshop to close. Harvege walked towards them, to ensure Moe did not keep arguing with the teleoperator. The girl with light brown hair from Malibu calmed the old lady and held on to the plan that Mannen had told her the day before.
"Miss Alamy, look, Lord Moorehead III is here," said Clarity, "Mr. Mannen will be here shortly, he sent me to explain the rules of the show to you."
"The rules?"
Moe Alamy nearly did a back somersault on the grass of the kennel club, when the young teleoperator seemed to indicate to her that she was giving out the rules to the old lady. Moe glanced at the kennel of the Great Dane being lowered out of the container delivered to the club. The dog shelter had the dog's name at the top, and Moe knew that Mannen used the dog for several business functions and activities in Cayman. If the dog was there, the owner was not far from it. She calmed down somewhat.
Clarity ignored the whining of the old lady, and of her poodle, and began to explain the rules of the dog show to the shriveled mobster and to her protege, Di Laure. There were six dogs in the show, in addition to Lord Moorehead, and then there was Quincy, brought in last minute by Moe. A dog official paid by Mannen was giving problems to Moe, alledging registration for the dogs had to be filled out three weeks in advance.
"You can't be here, if the dog is not part of the show," said the official.
"I'm meeting someone here, the owner of that dog, Lord Moorehead III."
The official asked for guest tickets, and Di Laure had to pay one hundred fifty dollars for three admission tickets to the show. Moe paid a few hundred additional dollars to get Quincy in the show, getting her dog to waive the first round of the event. Harvege approached Di Laure and began to talk to the smooth white-haired mobster, comparing cuffs with him, and teasing him about why Di Laure wore his watch over the shirt cuff. Monfort was talking to Revving, asking him about business in North Florida, where Revving usually played golf.
"Where is Mannen?" Moe Alamy was getting edgy.
Clarity ignored the question, and left Moe Alamy with the dog show official, and with a chart explaining the proceedings of the dog show, telling Moe that a catering service would bring them dinner soon. She walked to the entrance of the club, ensuring no one was paying attention to her. The car of Mannen, Jaguar 73, pulled swiftly into the valet parking area and the backdoor swung open.
"Get in." Clarity hopped in the car, joining Mannen in the back seat, and Baggio pressed the foot pedal to get back on the street.
"You're not going to the dog show?" Asked Clarity.
"No, we're going somewhere else."
His watch was showing a few minutes past nine o'clock in the evening. After forty minutes of driving north through Coral Gables and downtown Miami, the car of Mannen headed for South Beach and slowed down. Clarity glanced out the window, seeing a soft lit open air parking structure which was their final destination. The Jaguar queued behind a caravan of cars with investors, meat packers, meat distributors, and golfers acting as business angels for his new venture, inside, all attending the place hosting his ballyhoo meeting, the 11 11 Lincoln Road parking garage structure. The place acted as a gateway to the stylish pedestrian promenade in Miami known as Lincoln Road mall. The unique venue had very high ceilings with a panoramic view of the Miami skyline and its bay. The place, which had seven floors, was used as a parking space for those doing their shopping on Lincoln Road, and it was also used for events. Banks, investment companies, charity-event hosts, elegant wine tastings, and couples getting married, came to gather at the high end architecture structure designed by the firm Herzog & de Meuron. The open-air structure housed a glassed high fashion boutique on the fifth floor, and was admired by tourists for blending a parking garage with a gigantic loft apartment with no exterior walls.
Mannen's car and all the vehicles attending the hosted dinner conference, parked on the first floor of the parking structure. Everyone rode the elevator to floor seven, the top floor, where all events were hosted. Guests also included twenty investors, 'golfers' of Lofty, twelve local meat distributors in Miami, and representatives from Millenson Foods, South Beef Industries, Garstecki meat packers, and Fothergill-Fohey. Mannen had met the bigger meat packers separately and had paid for their transportation and venue expense.
Clarity counted forty five guests, sitting on two long dining tables holding about twenty five people each. A delicious dinner was served by Bill Hansen catering services, and included the new flagship product of Mannen's new venture, an expensive burger costing five hundred dollars, known as the King George III burger. The burger was going to be offered at the locations where Mannen planned to open his new expensive burger franchise, called Oakland Bellevue. Those places corresponded to the twenty four locations of Mclannan's that Mannen wanted to purchase.
Mannen liked to stage his business presentations. When dessert was being served, he walked to a corner of the open-air area, and grabbed a wooden crate, reminiscent of a 'soapbox', the item used by street-corner orators in New York, or at the Speaker's corner of Hyde Park, in London, or by other speakers in Chinatown, in San Francisco. The chubby banking agent from Cayman stood on the crate, and held a wireless microphone. Speaking loudly on the mike, Mannen began to sell all the qualities of his new venture. Money for the idea was there, thanks to the guests who were present. About forty six to fifty million dollars were available to purchase Mclannan's locations and refurbish the locations. Investors would receive a good chunk of money in return over a period spanning five or ten years. Mannen ended his speech by commending the work of Eiesland and Clarity, and of his driver Baggio. He stepped down from the crate, and opened the floor for questions. A guy for Millenson Foods took the microphone and asked the first question.
"What is going to be the arrangement for meat packing and distribution in South Florida?"
"I'm going to be the new spokesperson for the Syndicate of South Florida. Mr. Di Laure and Moe Alamy have withdrawn as a result of the horse meat fiasco of Mclannan's."
The comment created a hubbub among meat distributors and also with the meat packers. The uproar lessened when twenty bottles of Pol Roger champagne were served and popped open at the tables. The ballyhoo was being staged so that all the information passed on would be well received by everyone. Someone else asked a different question, less controversial.
"Is there a USDA license for the organic beef that will be used at Oakland locations?" Organic beef was one of the reasons why the king George III burger was so expensive.
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"We're working on that," said Mannen. "My assistant Clarity will provide that in the next few weeks, maybe earlier than that."
Clarity scooped her green apple and champagne sorbet, deciding not to listen to what probably was going to be her next task. The next question from the floor was more difficult to answer. It came from an old timer investor, Fursey Picketty, a man who liked to play golf on most days at the Gasparilla Inn golf course in Boca Grande.
"How are you going to elicit the sale of Mclannan's locations? Is that done, or in place?"
"The shareholders of Mclannan's are deciding on a new strategic course, that will lead them to doing business in North Florida. Oakland Capital will help those shareholders do that, by purchasing twenty four of its fifty four locations."
Ann Frayley, a former executive at a provider of commercial notebooks, workstations, and retail point of sale systems, voiced her own concern.
"Gavino Di Laure doesn't look like he's willing to sell anything when you listen to him and Moe Alamy on television. You sure you can bring them to sell Mclannan to you?"
"Yeah, we're talking to them," said Mannen, "and they are willing to sell some of the locations to us. The horse meat fiasco has dented their image, we're offering a good price for those locations. But we need the money in place in our vehicle, when we reach agreement on the deal." The woman asked a second question.
"What about the problems of Lofty in Miami? It is the arranger of the Oakland Capital transaction? There's a pawnshop which is representing Lofty here in Miami. Is all of that working properly?"
"We're making some political arrangements," said Mannen. "It is not simple to invest in Florida, but it is not impossible, a few details with authorities are going to be in place in the next few days. The entrepreneurial spirit here will remain strong. We'll inform you of that."
Baggio walked towards Mannen and whispered something to his boss. According to Harvege, Di Laure and Moe Alamy were headed for the parking lot structure on Lincoln Road, after a brief text received by Revving had told them about where the real meeting was taking place. Revving had informants among his investor 'golfers'. Mannen thought that one of those golfers working with Lofty or attending the dinner, had alerted Revving about the real location of the meeting. The chubby bank agent ended the venue and asked everyone to go to their cars and go home, reassuring them that Eiesland would get in touch when Oakland Capital would buy the assets of Mclannan's. Mannen got inside the backseat of the Jaguar after Clarity, and told Baggio to head for Swankeye.
"Political arrangements?" Asked Clarity.
"Collins texted me during dinner, he ran into problems when he spoke with Grover. He's trying to avoid a meeting with me, Di Laure and Moe Alamy, and with Senator Grover, and also with Judge Alridge, to discuss the issue of the license to operate Oakland Bellevue, and the future of my pawnshop here in Miami. Not sure if I'll be able to avoid that. I want you to take care of something though, I want you to bring something to that meeting, in case it does take place."
As long as it didn't involve meeting Ambrosio or Giacomino, Clarity was all right with that and with meetings. Mannen reached inside his vest and pulled out a business card.
"See this person tomorrow, and solve this thing with the USDA, I need that organic beef license to do this and set up Oakland here."
Clarity looked at the name on the business card, thinking things were not getting particularly easy for her. The card said Damario Abreyo, U.S. Department of Agriculture, General licensing and importing department, Florida District. Her eyes widened at the sheer audacity of Mannen's move on that day. First, he'd blindsided Di Laure and Moe Alamy with a fake meeting at the dog show. Then, he'd held his own meeting with meat packers and distributors without the two Florida Cappi, and without telling them about the new arrangement with those meat packers and distributors in South Florida. She had no clue of how the FDA operated. How in the world was she going to get a license for a place that wasn't even there?