Stone looked at Tommy. “We’re not dressed for the occasion,” he called back.
“There are some towels below,” Tommy said, ducking into the cabin and returning with two skimpy bath towels. The cutter’s crew deployed fenders, and the female captain, who was petite and attractive, stepped aboard, wearing a handgun and a name tag that read “Tabor.” A crewman stood on the boat’s upper deck with an assault rifle at port arms.
“Is this your boat?” Tabor asked them.
“No, Captain Tabor,” Tommy said. “I’m Lieutenant Tommy Sculley, Key West PD.”
“I don’t see a badge,” she said, suppressing a smile.
“Right,” Tommy said. “It’s on our airplane.”
“What’s going on here?” she asked.
“We’re looking for the boat’s occupants,” Tommy said. “We got a report that the boat had been abandoned here, so we flew out for a look.”
She nodded toward the broken lock on the cabin door. “I suppose you have a search warrant?”
“No, we were concerned for the safety of the crew,” Tommy said, “so we had a look around.” He opened the stern locker. “All we found was this.”
Tabor looked into the locker and whistled. “Tell you what, lieutenant: why don’t you swim back to your airplane and bring me some I.D. And if you try to take off, that seaman over there with the M16 will shoot you down.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tommy said, dropping his towel.
43
TOMMY SWAM BACK , holding his I.D. wallet out of the water, and handed it to the Coast Guard captain.
She looked at it suspiciously, then turned to Stone. “And who would you be?” she asked.
“My name is Stone Barrington,” he replied. “If you want to see me without the towel, I’ll swim back and get my I.D., too.”
Tabor blushed. “Okay,” she said, “don’t bother.”
“We’d like to leave now,” Stone said.
“We’re going to tow this boat back to our base in Key West and impound it,” she said. “How do I get in touch with you?”
“Call Lieutenant Sculley and Key West PD,” Stone said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He dropped the towel, hopped over the side and swam back to the airplane, followed by Tommy.
“Well,” Tommy said, “that was interesting. I guess she just wanted to see me naked.”
They flew back to Key West. Then, back at the hotel, Stone called Evan Keating’s cell phone number and got his voice mail. “This is Stone Barrington; please call me immediately, very urgent,” he said, then he hung up.
“Looks like he’s going to need legal representation again,” Dino said.
“Looks like,” Stone agreed.
STONE WAS HAVING a drink before dinner with Annika at Louie’s Backyard when his cell phone buzzed. “Hello?”
“I got your message,” a voice on the phone said.
“To whom am I speaking this time?” Stone asked. “Evan Keating or Charley Boggs?”
“Take your pick,” he replied.
“Where are you?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Tell me something: When you were knifed, how did you pay your hospital bill?”
Silence.
“Was Charley Boggs using Evan Keating’s very exclusive credit card?”
“What’s your point?”
“I guess I’ll refer to you as Evan Keating from now on,” Stone said.
“Okay.”
“Once again, where are you?”
“I’m in Torrington, Connecticut.”
“Oh? Why?”
“Look, Stone, I don’t owe you any explanations.”
“Evan, it would be wise of you, in a legal sense, to answer my questions.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Where is your boat at this moment?”
“This is getting very strange,” Evan said.
“It’s even stranger that you’re in Connecticut.”
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“I know. How did you happen to fi nd out?”
“I spoke to my grandfather, and he told me.”
“When was that?”
“Early this morning.”
“Where were you at the time?”
“On my boat.”
“And where was the boat?”
“West of the Keys.”
“And how did you get back to Key West?”
“I didn’t go to Key West. I went by seaplane from the boat to Miami and got a plane there.”
“Your boat is no longer at Fort Jefferson,” Stone said.
“How do you know where it is?”
“Because I was aboard it this morning when the Coast Guard arrived, impounded it and towed it away.”
“Do I have your attention now, Evan?”
“You do.”
“Someone saw your boat out there, unattended. I went out there with the police to find out if you were aboard, dead.”
“Why should I be dead?”
“Well, during the past week or ten days you’ve been knifed and shot. It’s not too great a leap.”
“But why did the Coast Guard impound the boat? It’s not illegal to be anchored out there.”
“Gee, Evan, I’m not sure. Do you think it could be because of the large amount of drugs in the stern locker?”
“There are no drugs on my boat.”
“I pried the lock off the stern locker myself. The Coast Guard chose that moment to arrive, relieving me of the responsibility of calling them.”
“The stern locker wasn’t locked,” Evan said. “The lock I had on it rusted out, and I threw it away. I haven’t yet bought a replacement.”
“Well, somebody did you the favor of buying a replacement, a very substantial combination lock.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“Evan, I think you’d better return to Key West right away and answer some questions.”
“I can’t just yet. I’m dealing with my father’s burial. My grandfather isn’t up to it.”
