“What time does
“Ten in the morning on Disney.”
“But you didn’t see anything.”
“I was busy. I work from home, doing mailers.”
“You didn’t hear a car?”
“My printer’s really noisy. Plus, I never miss
Jolie bent back down so she was face-to-face with Charly.
“You said you asked Luke where he was going?”
The little girl squirmed. “I called to him. I was in the door.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he was going with Will.”
“Will?”
Mrs. Frawley shrugged. “She’s got Will Smith on the brain. I have all the
“Did he say anything else?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“The man got out.”
“Got out? Of the car, you mean?”
She nodded gravely. “He scared me.”
“Why?”
“Because he looked like a bad guy in the movies.”
“Movies again!” Mrs. Frawley snorted.
Charly said, “When he lifted his arms, I could see a
“Where was the gun?”
“It was under his arm.”
“Do you remember what color his hair was?”
“It was yellow, like Granny’s. Only real short.”
“Anything else you can remember?”
“He stood like this.” She spread her legs slightly and put her hands on her hips. “He was right over there.” She pointed to where the walk met the driveway. “I asked him if Luke was going to be in a movie, and he said yes. It was a secret, and I couldn’t tell anybody.”
Then her face lit up. “Is Luke going to be in
Davy Crockett met Jolie at Bizzy’s Diner. He sat down, placing his hat with deliberation on the table. The top of his skull gleamed in the low lights of the diner. When he turned to look for the waitress, Jolie noted the shar-pei folds where his head met his neck. Despite his massive proportions, his bare head made him seem vulnerable, like a newborn. “What’s so important you had to interrupt me in the middle of my Lean Cuisine?” he asked her.
“Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. I didn’t plan to eat out, but now I’m here, I believe I’ll have the Manhandler Breakfast. They’re still serving breakfast, aren’t they?”
“Far as I know. But what are you going to tell your wife?”
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. A man’s got to have some kind of life. It’s not like I’m sleeping around or anything. So what’s up?”
“It’s about Luke Perdue.”
He frowned. “The one-man wrecking ball. Yup, he sure did raise our profile at the Gardenia PD. Made us look like a bunch of clowns. FBI didn’t come off looking too good, either.”
Jolie told him about the man she believed picked up Luke Perdue on the morning of the standoff. “It was right before ten a.m. What time was the call-out?”
Davy thought about it. “Between ten a.m. and eleven. If you pushed me, I’d guess right around ten thirty. You’re saying just before Luke showed up at the Starliner Motel, he left with an FBI agent?”
“That’s what the little girl said. The FBI showed up at Luke’s apartment around ten forty. I know that’s true because Mrs. Frawley was looking at the clock. She was dyeing her hair.”
“Jesus, that’s fast.”
“Around ten, some guy—Frawley thinks FBI—picks Luke up. At ten thirty you get the call-out to the Starliner Motel—”
“And fifteen minutes later, the FBI’s searching the premises.”
“Without a warrant,” Jolie said. “I’m sure they’d claim ‘exigent circumstances,’ if Mrs. Frawley had asked.”
“Which she didn’t,” Davy said.
“When did the standoff end?”
“Around dinnertime. I remember seeing the chief when he came in.” He shook his head. “The man was shell-shocked.”
“Do you know when Gardenia PD was dispatched to Luke’s place?”
“It wasn’t at ten forty, I can tell you that much.” He leaned forward. “What does all this mean?”
“I have no idea.”
“It was FBI shooters who took him out. Her too. You have any ideas?”
Jolie had been thinking about it since she left Mrs. Frawley’s. “Maybe he was scared.”
“So he holds a woman at gunpoint?”
“If he was scared enough. If he got away from the blond guy? The man Charly saw? He might have seen that as an option.” Jolie realized how weird this sounded. “You think the FBI picked him up for some reason and he escaped?”
“Neat trick if you can do it. Why are you dumping all this on me? Luke’s Most Excellent Adventure is the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s headache. They’re the ones who’re investigating the Starliner Motel shooting now.”
“Then you’ll have something you can give the FDLE.”
He ran a palm over his clean skull. “Tell you what. Y’all give me Mrs. Frawley’s contact info, I’ll see it gets to the right people. Then it’ll be their headache.”
From his solemn expression, Jolie could see it sinking in. And there was a lot more to this story. Jolie saw her uneasiness reflected back to her in Davy Crockett’s eyes. They both felt the same way.
Jolie said, “The little girl—Charly—said Luke was going with Will. She thought it had something to do with Will Smith, the actor. But maybe Luke told her he was going
“Could be. Looks like the FDLE’s gonna have their work cut out for them.”
The waitress came and took their orders. After she left, Davy said, “Now I’ve got something for you.”
21
Davy knew a guy who knew a guy. The second guy did some work on Chief Akers’s house. Davy thought it was under the table. But the thing was, this guy—his name was James Dooley—used to get drunk up in a bar in Wewahitchka, where he lived, and claim he had “offed thirteen people.” He would tell anyone who listened he was a hit man in another life, but now he’d gone straight, although he still did favors from time to time.
“Do real hit men boast?” Jolie asked.
“How would I know? But you might want to check him out just the same.”
After they parted ways, Jolie tried Amy’s cell again. This time Amy’s mailbox was full. The Royal Court Apartments were only a couple of blocks from Bizzy’s, so Jolie drove by. The U-Haul was still out in front. As Jolie walked across the parking lot, she heard a thump and a scrape. She came around to the end of the U-Haul and saw Niraj Bandhu and another guy carrying a table into the apartment. Niraj struggled, his arm in a sling.
Jolie followed them in. Niraj’s face looked pale and sweat popped out on his forehead. He sat on the
