Page 113 of Maddy's Justice

“Someone wired my place. Cameras not just audio. Are the Feds that sophisticated?” Labelle asked Gavin and Alan.

They both nodded and said yes.

“I’ll look into it,” the island’s owner said. “Don’t do anything until I find out for sure. But I’m almost certain it’s not the Feds and it certainly is not the Chicago cops. I’ll bet it is our friends from Minnesota.”

“What do you want to do?” Labelle asked.

“I have a couple of ideas. First thing tomorrow you two go back and look into the bugs in your offices. Then call me and we’ll discuss what to do about that and these private investigators. Let me check with Washington and find out if this is the Feds. I thought we ended that. I’ll know in a day or two. In the meantime, don’t do anything.”

“Got it.”

“What do you want to do?” Maddy asked Carvelli.

They had followed James Labelle and his bodyguard driver to the Chicago Vertiport. Parking in the lot, Carvelli had followed them to the rental building, then to the helicopter. Unlike the tourists lined up for a ride around Chicago, Labelle and friend walked right up to the counter. The driver, whose identity Carvelli did not know, signed them in. They went out to the tarmac where a helicopter was warmed up and waiting.

“How can you eat that stuff?” Carvelli asked Maddy in response.

“It’s strawberry yogurt. It’s good. You should try it. More of this and less beer and burgers. You’d look better and feel better.”

“I look great and if that’s what I gotta eat to live longer, what’s the point? Why bother?”

“I repeat, what do you want to do?” Maddy asked again.

“You want to take a run at the counter guy? See if they filed a flight plan?”

With the binoculars they had in the rental car, they had followed the helicopter as far as possible. It had circled east around downtown Chicago before turning north over Lake Michigan. When it turned north, they lost it in less than a minute.

“Okay, which one,” Maddy said. She finished the yogurt, put the container in the small paper sack it came in and tossed it in the back seat.

Carvelli was giving her a disapproving look and Maddy said, “What? It’s a rental. They have to clean it anyway. Which one?” she repeated.

“The one on the far-left end of the counter,” Carvelli said.

Maddy took off her ring, placed it in a cupholder, then got out of the car and bent forward at the waist to let all of her fall forward. She quickly stood and tossed her hair back which gave her a party-girl come on look. She then pushed her breasts up to finish the job, looked at Carvelli and winked while he shook his head.

“Hey, um, hi,” Maddy said her head tilted slightly using her helpless, ditzy chick look. “I was wondering…”

“Yes?” the young man behind the counter asked while fantasy images were forming in his head.

“Well, my boyfriend, well he was with his rich boss and um, I hate to admit this, but I followed him cause I’m pretty sure he’s cheating on me.”

“Your boyfriend is cheating on you? Is he crazy?”

“Oh gosh,” Maddy said laying it on a little more, “that’s sweet, but yeah I think he is. They’ve come here before, his boss, a guy named Labelle and they take helicopters. Could you, maybe, tell me where they go.”

“Well, I’m really not supposed to, but I don’t know exactly. It’s somewhere up in Northern Wisconsin. A secret resort. Very nice, at least that’s what I’ve heard from a pilot.”

“Oh shoot. That’s it, just Northern Wisconsin? Are there girls there? I’ll bet there are,” Maddy said with an angry pouting look.

The young man looked around to see if anyone was watching then leaned forward.

“I shouldn’t tell you this but, it’s about two hundred miles. The same pilot told me it’s not too far from Wausau. Northwest of Wausau.”

“Really? You think I could find it on Google? But you don’t know the name of the resort, do you?” Maddy cheerily asked.

“Sorry, no. It’s kind of private but you could try.”

Maddy pursed her lips, stamped her right foot and said, “Never mind. I’m just gonna break up with him.”

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