what his plans are.'
'You just told me you were going to tell me about his plans. Now you're telling me you don't know what they are? I think you're a dead man.'
'No. Honestly. That's all I know. Man, I'm telling you everything I know.'
I looked at Jock, who nodded. I replaced the gag and pulled out my cell phone. I dialed the number Mendosa had given me and left my name and number with the machine. In less than ten seconds, my phone rang.
'Mr. Royal, I'm calling on behalf of Mr. Mendosa.'
'Do you know who I am?' I asked.
'Yes. Cracker Dix's friend. What can I do for you?'
'I've got another man I need put on ice.'
'Where are you?'
I gave him the address and hung up.
Jock was sitting on the side of the bed. 'What's that all about?'
'A friend of a friend. I'll explain later.'
I motioned jock to follow me out of the room. We stood in the hall, and in a low voice I brought him up to date on what was going on, and what I'd been up to in the two days I'd been in Key West.
'Laura's missing too?' he asked, when I'd finished.
'Yes. At least as of this morning, she was still gone. Her husband would have called me if she'd turned up. I'm worried sick about her. I think Peggy is okay, and with any luck we'll have her back home tomorrow. But what the hell happened to Laura? She didn't just wander off.'
I heard steps on the stairway, and the two men who'd come to Michelle's house earlier appeared. I led them into the room, and they both picked up the trussed man and left. Neither said a word.
'I've got to make a phone call,' said Jock. 'Why don't you get a shower? You stink.'
When I returned from the bathroom, Jock was sitting in the only chair in the room. 'You look beat,' he said. 'Get a couple of hours of shut-eye. I'll watch the place.'
'Are you going to stick around for tomorrow night's festivities?'
'Wouldn't miss it. I made a couple of calls. Logan is going to meet one of my colleagues at the dock at Moore's Stone Crab Restaurant at first light. He'll load the boat with some more firepower in case we need it. Logan will shove off as soon as the weapons are aboard. He said he should be at Faro Blanco by noon.'
'I thought you'd retired from all this.'
'I did, but I was called back on a special mission. One of our guys was killed in Sarasota. The agency found me playing golf in Australia, and told me to get to Miami. They've got some leads.'
'Why you?'
'Because of you.'
'I don't get it.'
'You found our guy's body. My boss knows we're friends, so here I am.'
'The man in the vulture pit?'
'Yes.'
'You know where the body is?'
'Buried in his family plot in Iowa.'
'The Sarasota cops know about this?'
'No,' he said. 'We take care of our own.'
'So, that's the reason his fingerprints weren't on file.'
'Yes. But when the local cops ran the prints, we were notified. We took it from there.'
'What's in Miami?'
'Probably nothing. I was supposed to meet one of our agents tomorrow and get completely briefed. Until today, I didn't know what our man was doing in Sarasota, or what kind of case he was working on.'
'Do you need to get back to Miami?'
'No. I needed to talk to you anyway.'
'I really don't know anything, Jock. I just found the body.'
'When I called to get Logan set up, I was told that you might have stumbled into something that's related to what our agent was looking into.'
'What?'
'The Reverend Robert William Simmermon. Get some sleep. We'll talk more tomorrow.'
I looked at my watch. Almost four a.m. 'We can count on a two-hour drive to Marathon,' I said. 'The traffic is always terrible on U.S. One. Wake me up in a couple of hours.'
He nodded his agreement.
'I'm glad you're here, old friend,' I said, and fell onto the bed and into a deep sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
I was dreaming of Laura. She was in a casket, a white one with walnut trim. I didn't want to look at her. Jock was pushing me forward, telling me I had to say good-bye. I moved toward the front of the room where she lay. Lilacs were stacked around her bier, and the air was suffused with the smell of fresh vanilla. I could see her face, thin now, the color leached out of it, diminished by the absence of her soul. A single tear leaked from her right eye, and a smile played at the corner of her lips, as if her death were a sad joke.
I awoke with a start. Sun was cascading through the window, and the confounded chickens were clucking in the yard. Relief chased the agony of Laura's death from my consciousness. Jock was asleep in the chair, his pistol in his hand
I didn't want to startle him. I lay still for a moment, and then said softly, 'Jock.'
His breathing didn't change, but his eyes popped open. He surveyed the room without moving. His pistol was in his lap, safety off. He knew exactly where he was and what he was doing. Then he stretched in the chair and said, 'Good morning, podner. Good nap?'
I looked at my watch. It was a few minutes after eight. I'd slept the better part of five hours, and I felt like a new man. I got up and padded down the hall to the bathroom. I washed my face and brushed my teeth. Life was looking up, but I couldn't shake the feeling of dread left by the dream. I hoped it wasn't a portent, some sort of augury seared into my unconscious by that part of me that was connected psychically to the woman I loved above all people. The thought of losing Laura was too much to bear, so I tried to put it out of my mind. I knew I'd be less than successful, and that the apprehension would ride with me until I found her.
When I got back to the room, Jock took my place in the bathroom. I called Debbie.
'Don't you ever sleep?' she said, mumbling into the phone.
'The sun's up, and I need information. What've you got on Simmermon?'
'You're going to owe me a lot of quarters. I found out a lot about him, but the story doesn't hang together too well. I don't understand it all.'
'Talk to me.'
'He was born in Troy, Alabama, graduated from high school there, and went to Troy State University. He dropped out during his freshman year, and then disappeared for a time.
'Two years later, he shows up living in Key West, working on a shrimp boat. Two years after that, he shows up in Boulder, Colorado. The odd thing is, there's almost nothing on him in Key West. He didn't have a phone, utilities, apartment, car, credit cards, none of the things we need to live. All I could find on him was some taxes withheld by a fishing company that's no longer in business. And, there's no record of a job in Colorado.'
'What about his evangelical organization?' I asked. 'When did he pop up with that?'
'About four years after he dropped out of sight in Key West, he began preaching in a small church in Anniston, Alabama. He preached at a number of small churches for about a year, but he never stayed in one place for more than a few weeks.
'About three years ago, he bought a big tent and began his revival meetings, traveling mostly in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.'
