Last Call (5 page)
“Perfect!” she said, thinking aloud as she scribbled on a napkin.
“Educated at Brown.”
“Hold on.That is
so
misleading.”
“Half your callbacks will be from married men who keep a credit card and a cell phone in the name of an unmarried friend so that the wife won’t see the paper trail.
That’s
misleading.”
Andie retrieved her résumé. “You know, maybe this online stuff isn’t for me.”
Her cell phone rang. It was Guy Schwartz, the assistant special agent in charge of the Miami field office. Her boss. She excused herself and took the call, finding a more private spot a little farther down the mall. She talked while standing in the recessed entrance-way to a closed gallery.
“The feds are getting into the Isaac Reems manhunt,” Schwartz said.
“We clearly have jurisdiction. Reems was in federal custody before we released him to TGK for trial on the state charges.”
“Yeah. Apparently life in federal prison for kidnapping wasn’t enough for the state attorney. She had to tack on sexual assault under Florida law.”
“Hard to argue with that if you look through the victim’s eyes,”
said Andie.
“Sure. But now look where we are. Miami-Dade Corrections let him slip out the window on a rope made from bedsheets.
Bedsheets.
How the hell does that happen in the twenty-first century?”
“He won’t get far.”
“That’s where you come in. I just got off the phone with the commander of the Violent Offenders and Fugitive Task Force. He’s bringing in every resource—the state and locals, the U.S. Marshals, and the FBI. I need an agent I can count on to coordinate our LAST CALL
35
office’s involvement.You’ve done excellent work with the kidnapping joint task forces. I would expect nothing less here.”
“When do I start?”
“How soon can you be here?”
She checked her appearance. Sweatpants and a leotard weren’t exactly office attire. Good thing she kept a clean set of clothes at work. She could shower there, too. “See you in twenty minutes,”
she said.
The search was on.With the help of Uncle Cy,Theo was de -
termined to find the perfect location for Sparky’s II.
They checked out three locations before lunch. Theo saved the best for last.
“Holy crap,” said Cy. He was dressed like Johnny Cash—black shirt, black shoes, and black pants. It was his serious jazz club attire, but he had a smile that brought the look to life.
They were standing in a vacant restaurant with old wood floors, redbrick walls, and high ceilings. On one side of the room was a huge U-shaped bar that would allow the bartender to work three sides; the top of the U was closed off by café doors that led to the kitchen. The bar stools had been sold off in the previous tenant’s liquidation, but Theo could pick up some used ones on the cheap.
The chandeliers were also gone, but it didn’t take much to imagine a big brass antique casting its moody glow as Theo served up drinks till the wee hours of the morning.The previous tenant had obviously overimproved, the cost of the build-out making profit impossible. The restaurant owner’s downfall was the bar owner’s windfall. Capitalism, 100 proof.
“You like it?” said Theo.
“Holy crap,” he said again.
Theo crossed the room.“This is where the dinner tables used to be.We could put cocktail tables here, and the ceiling is plenty high for us to build a little stage against the back wall for the band.”
“I can hear that beautiful sax already,” said Cy.
“I was thinking maybe fifteen tables or so.”
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37
“Twenty,” said Cy.“You need that crowded jazz bar feelin’ with the lights dimmed and the smoke risin’ up—”
“No smoking,” said Theo. “It’s against the law if we’re gonna serve food.”
“No smoke in a jazz bar? That’s like no blue in the Blue Note.”
“Things change,” said Theo.
“Yeah,” he said wistfully,“they sure do.”Then his face lit up.“Hey, here’s an idea.Why don’t I take you on a tour? Overtown, old Miami, Miami Beach. I’ll show you all the joints I used to play.”
“Are they still around?”
“Yeah, every last one of them is still right here,” he said, as he pointed to his heart.“Don’t make no difference if they’ve been turned into parking lots or fancy office buildings. It’s like visiting hallowed ground. It’ll all come back to me when we walk the old streets. Maybe you’ll even pick up some vibes of inspiration for this joint.”
“I’d like that,” said Theo.“We should have done it a long time ago.”
Together, they fell into silence, remembering when Uncle Cy had made that very suggestion years earlier—before Theo got mixed up with the Grove Lords and ended up in prison.
His cell phone rang. He checked the number, and it was Trina.
“Gotta take this.”
“You go ahead. I’ll just keep on dreamin’.”
Theo wandered toward the bar and took the call. He could hear the excitement in Trina’s voice.
“I figured out what I want,” she said.
“Huh?”
“For my birthday. The replacement for the roach brooch.You said I could have whatever I wanted.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said.
She’s actually holding me to this.
“This may be asking too much,” she said.“But would you even consider getting a Prince Albert for me?”
38
James Grippando
Theo leaned against the bar.“A what?”
“A Prince Albert.You know what it is, right?”
“Uh . . . yeah. ’Course I know what it is.”
“Can you get one?”
He ran his finger over the bar top and collected a good six months’ worth of dust—a long time for commercial property to sit idle.
Room to negotiate on the rent
. “Sure. If a Prince Albert is what you want, I’ll get it for you.”
“Really? Oh,Theo, you are the absolute best.”
“True. But we already knew that.”
“Do you know where to go?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
“Be careful. There are good ones and bad ones.You can’t just go anywhere.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Okay. But I’ve researched this. For people who are serious and don’t mind paying a little extra, the go-to guy is down in Mara-thon. His name’s Manny Ochoa.”
“Okay. I’ve got a few sources of my own. But I’ll check out this Manny.”
“Thank you. I can’t wait to see it.This is the best birthday present this girl has ever gotten.”
“I aim to please.”
“And your aim is getting better all the time.”
They shared a laugh and said good-bye. Theo closed his flip phone slowly, then reached inside his pocket and clutched his wallet. It gave him an uneasy feeling. He had no idea what he’d just promised to get her.
“Everything okay?” asked Cy.
“Yeah, same old bullshit. Where do we start on this tour of yours?”
“I thought we’d head on over to—”
The ring of Theo’s cell interrupted again. He left it in his LAST CALL
39
pocket, not even checking the number. “Head over to where?”
said Theo.
The phone continued to ring. “Don’t you need to get that?”
said his uncle.
“I’m sure it’s Trina calling back.”
“Then take it.”
“I don’t feel like it. I swear she’s always changing her mind.”
“You want her to change her mind
about you
? Take the call, fool.”
Uncle Cy was the only man besides Jack who could talk like that to Theo. But at least the old man made sense. Theo dug the phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.“Whassup, baby?”
“Whassup, baby yourself.” It was Isaac’s voice.
Theo struggled to show no reaction, but his uncle seemed to pick up his sudden annoyance. He drifted in the general direction of Theo’s future stage, pretending to act busy by pacing off the room’s dimensions.
“I thought we were done,”Theo said through clenched teeth.
“We would be if you hadn’t tried to change our deal.”
“What the hell do you mean?”
“Come on, dude. If I didn’t know you so well, I’d think you got your phone calls open to the cops or somethin’. Quit playing games and stop talkin’ like it wasn’t you who helped me blow TGK
in the first place.”
Theo was on to him immediately. Isaac was making good on his threat: If Theo went to the police, he was going to convince them that Theo had “come to Jesus” only
after
he’d helped Isaac escape. Thank God he and Jack had decided not to let the cops monitor his phones.
Theo said,“I got nothin’ to say to you.”
“Hey, I know it didn’t go exactly as we planned, but—”
“We never had no plan, you son of a bitch.”
“I ain’t askin’ for freebies here.There’s something in it for you, too.”
40
James Grippando
“I already called the cops, all right? Don’t bother me no more.”
“You
what
? You motha’—”
“Don’t
call me.” He ended the call and drew a deep breath as he rolled his head from one shoulder to the other, trying to release the anger. He opened the flip phone again, but the sound of his uncle’s voice kept him from hitting Jack’s speed-dial digit.
“What’s wrong?” said Cy.
Theo closed the cell phone.The old man had always been good about not butting into Theo’s business, but he seemed to have a nose for real trouble.
“That definitely wasn’t Trina,” his uncle said.“Who was it?”
Theo slipped the phone back into his pocket. He’d already done the right thing. He’d called the cops. Like Jack had said: It was best to keep that between him and his lawyer. No point spoiling his afternoon with his uncle.
“Nobody,” said Theo.“A real nobody.”
Jack felt naked when he opened his front door. He was wearing only a swimsuit, and an FBI agent standing on his doorstep made him want to run for cover. Especially when it was Special Agent Andie Henning—with the emphasis on “special.”
“Hey, Andie.” He didn’t know what else to say. It had been almost three months since their last date, which hadn’t ended on the best of terms.
“Sorry to drop by unannounced,” she said. “I was afraid you might blow me off if I called. But I knew you’d be professional if I showed up on official business. It’s about—”
“Jack, did you hide my cover-up?” said Rene. She was suddenly standing right behind him, wearing a white string bikini that showcased every square inch of her suntan.
“Your what?” he said.
“My swimsuit cover-up. It’s a tunic-style wrap, Hawaiian-print.
Keeps the sun from turning me into a lobster.”
He’d last seen it on the floor. Next to the bed. Jack looked at Andie and said,“We were just getting ready to take the boat out.”
Andie was caught staring. Funny, Jack thought. If a man checks out another man in a bathing suit like that, he’s gay. If a woman checks out another woman, she’s—well, a woman.
“Sorry,” said Andie,“but this is important.”
“I’m sure it is,” said Rene. She was speaking to Jack but looking at Andie.
Jack said,“I’ll catch up with you on the boat.”
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James Grippando
“How long are you going to be?” said Rene, as she slipped her arms around his torso and hugged him from behind.
The affection wasn’t overdone, but it was still uncomfortable for Jack in front of Andie. “I’ll be quick. Just, uh . . . how about picking out some CDs?”
Rene let go of him.“You two have any favorites?”
For a split second he wondered how Rene could possibly have known, but how stupid was that?
They always know.
“Anything you like is fine,” said Jack, though he actually would have been more comfortable giving carte blanche to Andie.Weird, but Andie’s tastes were more in line with Jack’s than were Rene’s.
“Leave it to me,” said Rene, as she left the living room and headed for the back patio. It wasn’t until he heard the California door slide open and then close that Jack realized he was being rude to Andie.“Would you like to come inside?” he said.
“That’s okay. I can see you’re in a hurry.”
“What’s the official business?”
“Isaac Reems.There’s a joint task force led by the U.S. Marshals Service. I’m the bureau’s point person for the Miami field office.”
Jack couldn’t hide his surprise.When he’d cut a deal with the state attorney to keep Theo’s name out of the manhunt, he would have thought that had also covered the name of his attorney.“And what brings you here?” said Jack.
“You were Reems’s attorney of record during his first federal incarceration.”
Jack reeled in his anger against the prosecutor. Suddenly, he—
not Theo—was the tie to Isaac, but there was an even more surprising part of the equation.“The FBI chose
you
to come and talk to me?”
“Uh, yeah,” she said. “My ASAC remembered that you and I got to know each other on that kidnapping case I headed when I first moved here from Seattle.”
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43
“So you didn’t tell them that after the case was over we . . .”
“No. I didn’t tell anyone.”
Jack understood. That kind of personal history didn’t exactly spell career advancement at the bureau—an FBI agent crazy enough to date a criminal defense lawyer.
Andie said,“So, you weren’t Mr. Reems’s lawyer?”
“No.”
“But your name was on his list of approved visitors when he was serving time in the early nineties.”
“I’m sure he put it there when he heard that I got Theo Knight off death row. Half the inmates in Florida wanted me as their lawyer after that. The innocent half, anyway,” he said with a defense lawyer’s grin.
“Did he know Theo?”
Jack reeled in his smile, reluctant to involve Theo in anything that had to do with the FBI.
“Did he?” she pressed.
“They knew each other as teenagers. Basically, just two guys who grew up in the same neighborhood.”
Andie pulled a pen and notepad from her pocket and jotted something down.
Jack nearly groaned. “You’re not going to drag Theo into this, are you?”
“I’m just following every lead.”
Jack tried to fight it, but he could feel the personal emotions taking over the business profile. “When are you going to get off Theo’s back?”