As Carlos clicked off his phone, he turned to Jeff and said softly, "They bombed Pearl Harper". Pearl was a maven who built an empire around cocktail table umbrellas and maintained a close friendship with Carlos. "Say it isn't so God - I loved that place" Carlos moaned forlornly. "Place?" Jeff inquired, "I thought Pearl was a person". "Yes, of course she is but her old factory in Metuchen was being preserved as a historical site until some greedy gringo found a loophole in its eligibility and had the designation revoke then demolished the place just to build another retail center". Jeff could see Carlos was saddened by this news and offered to help in any way. Carlos said "I have to see if I can locate Pearl, so could you give Lily a hand with the store, Jeff?" "Sure - I'll shift some things on my schedule and give you as much time as I can" Jeff fibbed knowing he had to be in L.A. tomorrow. Jeff went out to the front counter as Carlos pulled from the parking area and told Lily the highlights of what just occurred. "This could be fun, Jeff" Lily offered flirtatiously but Jeff wasn't buying any of her fun stuff - he had to work out the kinks to be in L.A. and help Carlos at the same time.