chest. To top off his ensemble, he sported a lime-green baseball cap that read; don’t ask I’m gay.
I waited until Joe looked my way, held up a finger, and walked toward the bar while he pulled out a Miller Lite. I worked my way through the crowd, picked up the beer, and said, “Thanks for covering for me.”
“Sorry to hear about your friend.”
I nodded, turned to face the room, and leaned back against the bar. Tanya and Marissa were running around taking orders, but when Tanya looked up and saw me she excused herself and walked over.
Tanya’s skin was cocoa-colored, and her large green eyes worked to accentuate her mixed heritage. I found her attractive despite the fact I hated her short spiked hair. She wore a Dirty Alvin’s t-shirt tied off below her breasts, a pair of low-riding jean shorts, and I thought she was a hell of a lot hotter than the Amazon I’d just located for Frankie Szymanski.
The problem was, every time I made an effort to show a little interest Tanya backed away. I figured part of the problem was that her father died from cancer only two weeks before I came to work for her. She was still grieving. Beyond that I didn’t know much about her personal life. I’d learned through a conversation with Marissa that Tanya lived alone, and I never saw her out with a guy. Hell, for all I knew she could be gay, which might explain her aloofness toward me.
“How ya doing?” she asked.
“I’ll get by.”
“I didn’t think you’d stop by tonight. You said your mother was coming into town?”
“She’s not here yet.”
“So you stopped in why-because you’re lonely?”
“Actually,” I said, choosing my words with care. “I told my mother I’d wrap up the case my friend Nick was working on before he died.”
Tanya looked confused. “I don’t understand.”
“In my past life, before I came to work for you, I was a private investigator. I worked for my mother too, just like Nick did.”
“I still don’t understand what that has to do with your being here tonight.”
The jukebox went dead and I looked up to see Billy pick up his guitar and step up to the microphone. When he started to sing an off-key version of Jimmy Buffett’s ‘Come Monday’, I glanced over to where he’d been seated and said, “I stopped by to ask you about her.”
She followed my gaze and her voice turned cool when she said, “What’s Gail done now?”
“Far as I know she hasn’t done anything. I think it’s a case of unrequited love.”
Tanya let out a little snort. “I’ve watched a lot of guys fall in love with Gail, but I’ve never seen her return it. Tell your client he’s wasting his time. What are you supposed to do, bring her a proposal or something?”
I shook my head. “We were hired to find her and let the client know where she is.”
“Look-Gail’s had enough problems in her life. Why don’t you tell your client you couldn’t find her? She doesn’t need some lovesick guy chasing her all over the place.”
“I can’t do that,” I said. “Besides, she’s a stripper for Christ’s sake. She’s paid to have men chase after her.”
“She wasn’t always a stripper,” Tanya said. “She’s put up with a lot in her life, and I’m asking this as a favor. Gail and I were good friends at one time, almost like sisters.”
“I promised my mother I’d do this.”
“I never pegged you for a momma’s boy,” Tanya said, before she turned and walked away.
I wanted to run after her. I wanted to explain it was too late to do what she asked. Instead, I turned my attention to Destiny. She was now standing in front of the stage, swaying to the music and looking more like a college girl on vacation than a stripper.
Destiny’s blue jeans were stylishly ragged and her white heels added to the impression that her legs went on forever. She wore little or no makeup and her red hair flowed across her shoulders as she danced.
While I stood there watching, three different guys came up and hit on her. She dismissed each of them. She seemed totally into Billy and I figured Tanya was right; Frankie Szymanski was wasting his time chasing this girl.
After I finished my beer I set the bottle on the counter and looked around for Tanya. She was behind the bar working the register. I was about to head over to apologize when my phone rang.
I wanted to ignore the call, but I’d been trained by the best. In the detective business information is everything and I was on a case. When I answered, a thick demanding voice on the other end asked, “Is she there?”
“Who the hell is this?” I asked.
“Who do you think it is asshole, George W. fuckin’ Bush? You made a big mistake pissing my boys off. They were ready to break both your legs after the incident this afternoon. Your mother said Destiny would be at this Dirty Alvin’s place tonight. Is she there?”
“How am I supposed to know?” I asked.
“Don’t be a smart ass. You think I trust you after this morning? I sent one of the boys to watch the place and he saw you go in. Now is she there or not?”
I didn’t like Frankie Szymanski any more than I liked the brothers who worked for him. If I hadn’t promised my mother I would have hung up on him. Instead, I reigned in my irritation and said, “She’s here all right.”
“Good. Keep an eye on her and if she leaves, call me. I’m in town and either me, or one of my associates, will be there to talk to her before close.”
He hung up before I could reply, so I slid the phone back into my pocket, turned back to the bar, and ordered another beer.
I never did get a chance to talk to Tanya; she spent the night avoiding me. I stuck around, helped behind the bar, and waited for my client to appear. He never showed, and a little before two, I left Dirty Alvin’s.
When I stepped outside into the humid night, I nearly collided with one of the brothers. He was dressed in black, and I suspected he was high on something. He shifted around on his feet and moved his shoulders, almost as if he were slow dancing to a beat only he could hear. His black jeans and t-shirt looked like they were brand new, and the black leather jacket hanging unzipped from his lanky frame was out of place on the warm Key West night, as his earlier outfit had been out of place on the docks.
“She still in there?” he asked
“Where’s your doppelganger?” I asked.
“What are you talking about asshole?”
“Let me make it simple for you. Where’s Willie?”
“You don’t need to know where Willie is. All you need to remember, is he’s always got my back.”
I glanced around and didn’t spot Willie. “I’ve got to tell you,” I said. “You and your brother need to hire yourselves a fashion consultant. You’re way overdressed for Key West.”
He popped something into his mouth, and pulling a handkerchief from his jacket pocket he mopped a trickle of sweat from his brow. His head was shaved and he was a couple of inches taller than me; six-three, maybe even six-four, it was hard to tell for sure with the way he slouched.
“It’s fucking February. It’s not natural for it to be this hot.” He leaned a little closer and his breath was mint fresh. “Besides, I’m not dressed to impress you. Now shut up and take this.”
He held out an envelope to me. “Frankie says there’s a nice bonus in there for you. He says forget you ever heard a Destiny or Frankie Szymanski.”
I took the envelope and counted out twenty-five hundred dollar bills. “We usually bill our clients,” I said as I folded the envelope and tucked it into my front pocket. “And I was expecting Frankie.”
“Frankie’s administration. He doesn’t get out much anymore. I guess you could call me the field rep. I’m going to have a little talk with this Destiny chick, get what she took from the boss, and then I can go back to Detroit where fags don’t walk around holding hands and cats don’t do tricks for idiots who come in on cruise ships.”
My stomach began to churn a little at what I was hearing. “I thought this was all about locating a lost love,” I said.
“Yeah-right. Like Frankie is going to waste all this time and money looking for a hundred dollar whore. She took something and the boss wants it back.”
