in a hotel.”
“I’ll direct the Coast Guard to do so,” Myers said, “but I must tell you that if evidence surfaces that indicates the involvement of Mr. Keating in drug dealing, his boat will be subject to impounding again.”
“I understand,” Evan said.
Stone and Evan rose, everybody shook hands, and they left the building and went to Stone’s car.
“That seemed to go well,” Evan said.
“Yes, it did. I’m greatly relieved,” Stone replied.
“I have your fee back at the Marquesa,” Evan said.
“Thank you,” Stone said. “If you see any other sort of trouble coming down the pike, I’d appreciate it if you’d tell me now.”
“What sort of trouble?”
“Do you expect to be stabbed, shot at or charged with any crime?”
Evan laughed. “No, I don’t. I hope to lead a more peaceful life from here on.”
“Good,” Stone replied.
48
LATE IN THE afternoon, Stone and Dino were having a drink on their front porch when Evan Keating came down the walkway and stopped.
“Good afternoon,” he said, offering Stone an envelope. “There’s your fee for your day’s work.”
“Thank you,” Stone replied, tucking it into a pocket.
“I wonder if I could ask a favor of the two of you?” Evan asked.
“What can we do for you?” Stone asked.
“Gigi and I are being married tomorrow morning, and since we don’t know anybody in Key West, we need a couple of witnesses. Would you stand up for us?”
Stone looked at Dino, who shrugged. “Sure,” Stone said.
“Thank you. We’re in the cottage at the end of the walk, and the hotel arranged for a justice of the peace at noon.”
“We’ll be there,” Stone said.
“There’ll be lunch in the restaurant after that, and I hope you can join us.”
“Sure, we’d like that,” Stone said.
“We’ll look forward to seeing you at noon, then,” Evan said, and with a wave, he walked back toward his cottage.
“You mind staying another night?” Stone said.
“Not at all,” Dino replied. “It’s funny, but usually, when I go on vacation, I’m antsy to get home. Something about this place, though— I hate to leave.”
“Why don’t you buy a house, and I’ll come to visit,” Stone said.
“Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing.”
They were just about to order their second drink when Tommy Sculley ambled up to their cottage and accepted a rocking chair and a drink.
“I thought you’d like to know that your client is clear with the feds,” Tommy said. “And the Coast Guard has released his boat. It’s being towed to the yacht club. They’ll put it in my berth, since my boat is out of the water for some work.”
“That’s good to hear,” Stone replied, “and I’ll pass the news about the boat on to Evan.”
“And the ballistics report the Connecticut cops sent me matches the bullet that was recovered from Evan’s boat, so the same assassin was after both Evan and his father.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Stone said. “The only person with any kind of motive to kill
“What can I tell you?” Tommy said, accepting a drink from the room service waitress. He raised his glass. “Here’s to unsolved murders; what would cops do without them?”
“Maybe you’re underestimating old Eli Keating,” Dino said to Stone. “Just because he’s old doesn’t mean he can’t hate, and God knows, he must have hated Warren for stashing him in that nursing home.”
“I’ll give you that,” Stone said, “but remember, Evan was shot at first, and even your Connecticut cop commented on how warm the relationship was between Evan and his grandfather.”
“Okay, but there’s one other solution to this, although it may seem improbable,” Dino said.
“I’ll take improbable, if it works,” Tommy replied.
“First, Warren hires the hit man to kill Evan. The guy takes his shot but doesn’t get the job done. Then either Evan or Eli, or both in collusion, hire the hit man to kill Warren, and that one takes. And both Eli and Evan had motive to kill Warren, you’ll admit.”
“And they hired the same hit man?” Tommy asked.
“That’s the improbable part,” Dino said.
“But how would two of them, or all three, know about the same hit man?”
“The answer has to be, they both, or all three, knew Manny White, in Miami, or knew about him.”
“How’s that?” Tommy asked.
Stone spoke up. “The law firm I work with, which was representing Warren, got in touch with Manny for a skip trace on Evan. Warren needed Evan’s signature on the contract to do the deal on selling the family business. Dino and I paid a visit to Manny, and we think he’s the middleman, the connection to the hit man.”
“Okay, so Warren, after he uses Manny for a skip trace, also uses him to find the hit man,” Tommy said. “I’ll buy that.”
“Manny was the one who warned us—well, sort of—that Evan was a candidate for a hit,” Dino said. “He said somebody had called him about some dirty work, but that he had hung up on him.”
“But he didn’t hang up,” Tommy said. “He arranged for the guy to come to Key West and plug Evan. I buy that. What I don’t quite buy is how Evan or his grandfather managed to hire the same hit man to go after Warren. Did either of them have a connection through the law firm, Stone?”
“No,” Stone replied. “Evan doesn’t know anybody at the law fi rm, and there’s no reason for him to know Manny White. His grandfather knows the managing partner at the law firm, Bill Eggers, but Bill would never help Eli find a hit man. He wouldn’t even put Eli in touch with Manny; if he needed Manny for something, Bill would deal with him himself.”
“Are you saying that this Eggers guy is involved?”
“Of course not. He’d have no motive to have Evan killed. He did the legal work on the sale of the family business, and he’d want it to go through.”
“All right,” Tommy said, “we’re agreed that both old Eli and young Evan would have motives for killing Warren— Eli because he got locked away in the nursing home, and Evan because his father tried to have him killed. Are we all agreed on that?”
“Agreed,” Stone said.
“Yeah,” Dino chimed in.
“But,” Stone pointed out, “how did one of them get in touch with Manny White? How did they know about him?”
“You got me,” Dino said.
“You got me, too,” Tommy agreed. “Why don’t we ask Manny?”
“We sort of already did,” Dino said. “Stone and I went to see him and talked like we wanted a hit man. He
