“Don’t know.”
“And where are these diamonds? No let me guess. You don’t know.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Look, I’ve told you everything I know. I’ve got a headache and I’m tired. Can I go home now?”
“No. How’d you get here?”
I pointed toward the dinghy docks. “I live on a boat out in the mooring field. I came in on my skiff.”
“You headed back there now?”
I thought about Willie and the fact that I hadn’t mentioned him. I shook my head. “I think I’ll call a friend.”
“Tanya Robertson?”
When I nodded she gave me a whimsical smile. “Hang around for a few minutes. I want to talk to the M.E. first, and maybe check out the scene a little. I’ll let you know when you can leave.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “But I need to call Tanya.”
“Go ahead and call her, but don’t leave until I give you the go ahead.”
When Davies turned away I reached for my phone, and let out a groan. It wasn’t in its holster. “I must have dropped my phone over there when the shots were fired,” I said. “Do you mind if I go look for it?”
“You stay here and I’ll see if they’ve found it.” Davies glanced back and frowned at me before setting off toward where Bob's body lay. She stopped and talked to a round, gray-haired man who appeared to have finished examining the body.
He was an animated man, moving his hands about while he talked. Davies listened to what he was saying and nodded several times before shifting her attention to a uniformed officer standing nearby.
She said something to the officer, pointed to the ground, and the two of them began walking along the weeded edge of the parking lot, flashlights pointed downward, bodies bent.
The two hunted for several minutes before the officer stopped and called out to Davies. The detective joined the man, took a pair of gloves out of her purse, and reaching down she plucked the phone from the ground.
Davies stood with her back to me and I could see her shoulders moving. When she turned to face me she held up my cell phone. I jumped down from the gurney, but she called out, “Stay where you are, I’ll bring it over to you.”
She spoke once again to the uniformed officer, holding a whispered conversation I couldn’t hear. When she got back to where I was standing she opened the phone and began to study the call log.
“Isn’t that illegal,” I said. “Searching my call list without a warrant?”
She shrugged and handed the phone to me. “I thought I was doing you a favor. I wanted to make sure it belonged to you.”
I was now glad I hadn’t added Elvis or Destiny's name to my list. She might see the numbers I’d called, but at least she didn’t have any names to go along with them. Unless she was a savant, or had a fantastic memory, what she saw wasn’t going to do her a hell of a lot of good.
“Thanks,” I said.
“You can go now, but what I said earlier about not leaving town goes double.” Davies nodded her head toward the road. “I want you to give me a call sometime during the day. I’m giving you a break here, Darling. Don’t make me send someone out to look for you. Or maybe I should just lock you up?”
“Look,” I said. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but I’m a big boy now and it’s time I went out into the world all by myself.”
Davies made a face before turning away. “You’re a regular comedian,” she said. “Just remember what I told you. I don’t think your humor will go over well with the prison crowd. If someone calls you Darling in the slammer, they’re going to expect a lot more from you than a weak joke.”
I wasn’t too concerned about being tossed into jail. Despite her rhetoric, I didn’t think Davies believed I was a murderer. I called Tanya’s cell and explained that I needed a place to stay for the night. I thought she sounded pleased, and after she told me where she kept her spare key she added that she’d be home in about an hour.
Five minutes later I was walking toward Tanya’s house. I couldn’t help but brood. I knew I was being played by Destiny. I didn’t believe Bob and Willie just happened to be waiting for me. Destiny was a lot more dangerous than she was beautiful, and that was saying a lot. I also realized that Frank and Willie were not going to be pleased with me when they found out that Bob was dead.
All of these thoughts were going through my mind when the phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number and I snapped at the caller. “Whoever this is, it’s not a good time for me.”
“Well it’s not a good time for me either,” Frankie’s voice rang out from the phone. “I haven’t been able to get hold of Bob and he’s supposed to be bringing you to me. So where the hell is he?”
Chapter 17
Cursing under my breath I debated what to tell Frankie. I was pretty sure the cops would contact him after the story I’d told Davies. It was tempting to let her break the news about Bob’s death.
Of course, doing so would put me closer to the top of his shit list if I didn’t already head the list, so I blurted out, “Bob’s dead.”
“What?”
“I said Bob is dead. Someone shot him. It wasn’t me.”
“Who the hell was it?”
“I don’t have a clue, but whoever it was also took a couple of shots at me. I got lucky.”
“Depends on your definition of lucky,” Frankie said. “Bob was my sister Ruth’s kid. How the hell am I supposed to tell my sister her kid’s dead? And Willie’s going to be real anxious to get his hands on you. Him and Bob were inseparable, except when they were in prison. I never could figure out why they wouldn’t let the two of them serve their time together.”
“Look,” I said. “Bob had the gun and I was going where he told me to go. This isn’t my fault here. But I am sorry for your loss.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it.” Frankie said. “If you’d kept your nose out of this Bob wouldn’t have been chasing you all over Key West. Where’d it happen?”
“Under the bridge where Bob and Willie found me. The police are there now.”
“You called the cops?” Frankie asked.
“No. My guess is someone heard the shots and called them. Or maybe it was the shooter. I didn’t ask.”
“You did mention my name, did you?”
“I didn’t have much choice.”
He was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “I need you to go back to your boat and pick up Willie.”
“I don’t think so, Frankie. You said yourself he’ll be anxious to kill me. I’ll let you know when I find the diamonds.”
“It’s not about the diamonds anymore,” Frankie said. “It’s about family. Now get your ass out there and bring me Willie. Understand?” He sounded calm, and his voice took on a deadpan quality, but there was no doubt in my mind he was pissed. I considered the best way to tell him no, but when I couldn’t think of one I disconnected the phone and continued on my way.
I knew Frankie would not be a happy camper, but I figured he couldn’t get any angrier than he was at the moment. There was no way I was going to go out to my boat and break the news to Willie that his brother was dead.
I should have known better than to get involved with the agency again. I’m sure Nick and my mother both expected this to be a simple case. It was all about finding a girl and calling the client; that was it. Instead, Nick was dead. As for me, I’d been attacked by an Amazon stripper, shot at, knocked out, interrogated, and now the client wanted me dead.
My stomach burned and my head felt like a volcano might erupt in there at any moment. At twenty-nine I was too damn young to be suffering from heartburn. I was regretting letting my mother guilt me into helping on this case.
