Key Lime Blues (25 page)

“Stay where you are and put down the gun.” His voice quivered, and I was afraid that he was going to shoot me. I hesitated for only a second before setting the pistol and the purse down on the sidewalk. As I raised my hands above my head, Destiny disappeared into the shadows.

Chapter 24

By the time Davies arrived I’d been spread-eagled, roughed up, cuffed and thrown into the back of a police cruiser. If this kept up I was liable to develop a few phobias of my own. Maybe Elvis and I could form a support group and discuss what triggered our fears. Hell, if we bonded, maybe I’d even let him read my aura. Then again, probably not.

When the officer shoved me into the back seat of his car, I pleaded with him to call Detective Davies. If I couldn’t convince her to cut me loose, I was going to spend the night in jail. Doing so could cost Tanya her life.

Tanya would be arriving home from work at any time. I was worried about what Willie would do to her when she got there. Not only was he angry enough with me to hurt her just for the hell of it, but also, he wouldn’t be able to find the diamonds because they weren’t there. I was afraid that when he couldn’t contact Frankie, he might even kill Tanya.

I decided to tell Davies pretty much everything that had happened, including most of the information I’d held back the last time we spoke. I trusted her, but I had a problem with depending on the cops. I’d done it before, and as a result, Celine Stewart was dead. True, that was the FBI, but I figured a cop was a cop was a cop.

The FBI had done everything by the book, but the book had gotten Celine killed. I couldn’t help but feel that if I’d handled it myself, she’d still be alive. Her father felt the same; after all, I’d convinced him to go to the cops.

The case had wiped out any thrill I’d once felt about being a private investigator, and any confidence I might have had in the competence of the authorities. It’s why I quit the business, and I didn’t want to be responsible for someone else getting killed, especially someone I cared for. Now, while I waited for Davies, I found myself once again in that position. I didn’t like it one bit.

I was trying to figure out how I could break out of the car when Davies drove up. She was dressed island casual; beige shorts, a white blouse, and sandals. She was still clutching her oversized purse. She spoke to the officer who had cuffed me and walked over to where I was confined.

She stopped outside of the passenger side rear door and drummed her long fingernails on the top of the cruiser. She tapped out an irritating little riff that echoed throughout the car, and then opened the door and stooped down. “You know, I haven’t had more than three hours of unbroken sleep since I met you. I’d say you’re becoming a real pain in the ass, but that would be way too much of an understatement.”

“The past few days haven’t been a vacation for me either,” I said. “Now can you quit enjoying yourself so much and get me out of here?”

“You’re kidding, right?” she asked. “Are you abrasive by nature, Darling, or do you have to work at being an asshole?”

I thought about a retort, but I didn’t have time for games. “I need your help,” I said.

Davies laughed and backed away from the door. “Get out,” she said.

I slid across the seat, swung out of the car and stretched to my full height. “Could you get me out of these?” I shook the cuffs.

She ignored my request. Leaning back on her right hip, Davies gazed at my face as if it were a road map. Without looking away she reached into her suitcase of a purse and pulled out her cigarettes. She shook one out and tucked it into the corner of her mouth. Only then did she look away from me as she dipped her hand back into the bag and rummaged for a lighter.

“Let me get this straight,” she said. “You want my help? Let me tell you Darling, you’re in no position to ask for help. In fact, you should be on your knees begging me to let you help me.” She lit the cigarette, took a deep drag and blew a stream of smoke into my face.

I coughed and turned my head away. “I’ll beg, if that’s what it takes.”

“It’s tempting, but you need to help yourself.” Davies pointed at the cop who had arrested me and at the burning house. “You need to help me understand what the hell’s going on around here.” She paused for effect, and then took another deep hit of nicotine.

“The responding officer saw you waving a gun around. He observed a woman running away from you and you were holding a purse. This indicated to him that you had robbed her. On top of this, you reek of smoke and look like a bum. All this leads the officer to suspect that you may have started the fire that’s only now being brought under control. What about any of this makes you think I should do anything besides throw you into a cell?”

I groaned. “It’s not like it looks.”

“It never is. Why don’t you tell me what the hell’s going on and maybe I won’t throw your ass into the slammer—and that’s a real iffy, maybe.”

We both realized that I didn’t have much choice. I started talking. I told her about Destiny bludgeoning Frankie, about her telling me she’d killed Billy and Bob. When I told her about the diamonds she flicked her cigarette butt into the road. “Stay here.” She walked over to speak with the officer that had arrested me.

She took her time, but returned with Destiny’s purse. By the time she got back I was shuffling back and forth alongside the car and wondering what my chances would be if I took off and started running. When she reached my side, she opened the purse, took out the bag of diamonds, and shook them into her hand.

She let out a whistle and raised an eyebrow in my direction. “So this is what it’s all about?”

I nodded. “It is.”

“And where’s this Destiny chick?”

“I don’t know.”

“Describe her to me.”

I gave her a hurried description and told her Destiny’s real name. When I finished, she dug into her shorts pocket, took out a key and removed my cuffs. “I’m not quite sure why I’m doing this,” she said. “I’m thinking my life would be a lot easier if I threw you into a cell and forgot about you for awhile.”

“So you believe me?” I stretched my arms and was glad to be out of the restraints. I’d spent too much time with my arms bound behind me in the last couple of days, and my shoulders were doing a slow burn while my blood surged throughout my arms.

“What you’re telling me seems to match other information I now have,” Davies said. “We found a witness to your friend’s murder. Guy was sleeping on the beach. He heard what he thought was a car backfiring and when he looked around he said he saw a redheaded goddess running away. Needless to say he’d been drinking. We didn’t take his testimony too seriously.”

“Destiny admitted she killed Billy and Bob. She said Billy killed Nick.”

Davies shrugged. “Our witness only saw the girl. Like I said, he was pretty drunk.”

“So does this mean I can leave?”

Davies took out her cigarettes again, and this time she offered me one.

I shook my head. “I don’t smoke.”

“I quit, you know.” Davies held a cigarette under her nose and sniffed it. She gave me a knowing smile. “Eight times last month alone.” She lit up and for a moment she looked younger as she took a drag, but the years came racing back when she exhaled through her nose. “What haven’t you told me?”

“You know everything I do.” I didn’t want to lie to her, but I needed to get out of there and try to catch Tanya at the bar. If I could warn her off I’d tell Davies the rest. If not, I needed to handle it myself. I knew if I told her about Willie, I’d be out of the loop. I wasn’t going to let that happen.

Davies looked over at the smoldering ruins and seemed lost in thought. “Why do I get the feeling you’re holding something back from me.”

“I have no reason to lie to you.”

She let out a little snort and shook her head. “You haven’t had a reason to lie since I met you, but it hasn’t stopped you.”

“I haven’t lied to you.”

Davies stubbed out her cigarette and set the butt upright on the roof of the car. She focused her attention on the short white pillar, and then reached out and flicked her finger, sending the butt flying across the cold metal surface.

“Yeah you have. You’ve lied to me and you’ve gotten in the way of this investigation. At least one person, this Frankie guy, might still be alive if you had come forward from the start.”

“Look I…”

She leaned toward me and asked, “Did I say I was finished?”

She waited as if daring me to speak. I clenched my fists and ground my teeth together in an effort to reign in my irritation. I was afraid anything I said might land me back in cuffs. That wouldn’t help Tanya. I ate crow and said, “Sorry.”

She shook her head. “No you’re not. I’ve met two kinds of private detectives. Neither one of them are worth a damn as far as I’m concerned.”

I took a step forward and moved my face up close to hers. She didn’t like me invading her space, but she didn’t back down. Her breath smelled of tobacco and something unpleasant left over from dinner. I wasn’t about to back down so I put up with the stench and waited.

After what seemed like an hour, I asked, “Are you going to educate me on the different types of detective, or can I go?”

“First, you’ve got your cop wannabes. They can’t make it as a real cop, so they pretend. They screw up because they can’t get anything right.”

“I never wanted to be a cop,” I said.

“No, you’re the loner type. Those are the ones who don’t play well with others. That would describe you, don’t you think?”

“I told you I’m not a P.I. anymore. Now if you’re done chastising me how about cutting me loose.”

Davies let out a big sigh and backed out of the way. “Go ahead. I don’t want to go through the paperwork involved in arresting you. But don’t leave town and keep your phone handy. If I can’t get hold of you, I’ll enjoy having you picked up.”

I didn’t thank her. I was afraid that if I said anything, she might come up with a reason to change her mind. As soon as she walked away, I grabbed my phone. I dialed Tanya’s cell first, then the bar. When Tanya didn’t answer either phone, I started running down the street.

This was a working class section of Key West. The houses were shabbier, the cars parked along the street were older, and most of the owners couldn’t afford to put in exotic landscaping. It wasn’t until I crossed Truman and turned onto Olivia that the area brightened and took on a more sculpted look.

I pulled up four houses from Tanya’s to catch my breath. I wished now that I had a gun. If Willie was waiting at the house, I didn’t think he’d hesitate to kill me.

Chapter 25

I crept from house to house keeping to the dark areas until I was standing behind a small palm tree in front of Tanya’s neighbor’s house. I waited at the base of the palm for a good ten minutes watching and listening while I tried to decide on the best approach. It was almost four-thirty in the morning. Tanya should have arrived home a minimum of an hour earlier. Since the house was dark, I assumed Willie had already confronted Tanya and left.

My stomach churned and my imagination was operating on overdrive as I considered all the possibilities. Either Tanya was dead, or she was Willie’s prisoner. Either way I couldn’t risk barging in when there was still a chance Willie was inside. The problem was that if Tanya was still alive, my rushing in and getting killed was going to make things much worse for her.

My first thought was to cut through the neighbor’s yard and approach from the rear of the house, but a high wooden fence surrounded the yard. Even if I managed to get over the fence I had no idea what obstacles I’d encounter on the other side.

The other problem with an all out approach was the brightness of the moon. The last thing I needed was for someone to get up, look out their window, see me skulking about their yard, and call the cops. I was pretty sure Davies wouldn’t let me skate again. I decided on a frontal approach.

A full moon shone over the island and the night air was a comfortable seventy degrees. A fresh breeze rattled the palm fronds up and down the street and carried the tangy scent of the ocean across the island. I couldn’t stand around waiting much longer, so I bent forward and made my way along the fence surrounding Tanya’s property.

The house was dark, and the gate stood ajar. I didn’t know what to expect. Questions raced through my mind. Was Willie still there? Had Tanya made it home from work? Had something fortuitously detained her? Was Tanya even still alive? All these thoughts fanned my anger at Destiny. She might not feel she owed me anything, but she could have taken the time to call Tanya before she left the bar and warned her about Willie.

I took a moment to clear my mind while I glanced up and down the street. When I was sure I was alone I dropped to my knees and edged around the gate. Half-a-dozen shadowy figures rushed at me with reckless abandon. Startled, I jumped to my feet and had to stifle a nervous laugh when the shadows shifted and I realized that my opponents were nothing more than shrubs and plants activated by moonlight and wind. I was wound way too tight, so I forced myself to take several deep breaths in an effort to calm down.

As I waited for my adrenaline rush to subside and my heartbeat to slow, I cast a final look up and down the street. It was way past time for me to get my ass in gear. Dead or alive, I needed to know if Tanya was inside the house. Using my shoulders, I nudged the gate open wide enough for me to squeeze though.