Poison Candy: The Murderous Madam by Elizabeth Parker, Mark Ebner Read Free Book Online Page B

Someone who will help you.
    The note included a phone number with a 305 Miami area code. Dalia called the police, who came and filed a report. Mike was so shaken he couldn’t write up an official statement of what happened, so Dalia did it for him. After the police officer left, she dialed the number on the note and spoke with a woman who she told Mike threatened to kill them both if they didn’t come up with the money. Dalia and Mike were curious and they even went to the designated drop together at 9:30 a.m., but no one showed up. Later, Dalia seemed so shaken up that they briefly entertained the idea of getting an attack dog.
    Since they had been together in the gym when the note was placed on their car, they began racking their brains over who might be behind this increasingly bizarre series of incidents. As a condition of his 2003 probation, Mike had agreed to cooperate and testify against the others that he was arrested with. Although he hadn’t implicated anyone directly, some of the companies he’d worked for had pretty obvious ties to organized crime. These were the sorts of people who could easily see a broad, random threat as a low-premium insurance policy.
    But even this seemed far-fetched. For a guy who had been around institutional crime, amassed multiple drug habits, and served two years in state prison, he really didn’t have any enemies that he knew of. At one point, Dalia even suggested it might be his ex-wife Maria, still bitter about the divorce and having been replaced by another woman.
    When Mike called and asked her, she said, “Are you out of your fucking mind?”
    The worst part was the paranoia. He searched the house when he got home, searched the car before he went out, and searched his gym bag when he left the gym. It was making him a nervous wreck.
    On July 22, Mike had liposuction on his back and was bedridden for much of the next two weeks, in constant pain. He also had what he believed was food poisoning, and was violently ill for much of that time. The day of the lipo, Dalia informed Mike that she had a friend in Miami who was a judge, and he had recommended a lawyer who could help Mike get something called Administrative Probation, whereby he could manage all compliance issues by mail, leaving him free to travel or relocate at will. Moreover, probation would terminate altogether once he had completed full restitution to his victims. She had gone out of pocket for the retainer, and the lawyer would be calling him soon. Mike was skeptical, but figured what did he have to lose? Maybe she was trying to make amends.
    The next day, the attorney, Richard, called from a Miami number and relayed a more detailed version of the information Dalia had given. He instructed Mike to write a letter to the judge explaining why he was requesting administrative probation, and to meet him outside the Miami courthouse the following day. He would be tied up in court, but would send his paralegal out to collect the copy of the letter from Mike. Dalia volunteered to write the letter for Mike, and she drove them down to Miami, where they met the paralegal on the courthouse steps and gave him the letter for the judge. Several days later, Richard called again from the courthouse (Dalia insisted they check the number) to say that everything was going according to plan. In spite of himself, Mike was starting to get psyched again. Here was his freedom, so close yet again. On the 30th, Richard called again. This time there was good news and bad news: things were proceeding smoothly, but Mike’s house presented a huge red flag for purposes of restitution. Unless he wanted them to seize it automatically, he needed to temporarily get it out of his name. When Mike told Dalia what the lawyer had said, she made an appointment to arrange for transfer of title from Mike’s name to her name. The next day, July 31, they drove to Independence Title in Delray Beach, where they had done previous business.
    The lawyer, Todd