“Sure, I’m off now. See you there,” Alex said.
Chichi went to the lobby and over to the front desk.
“We need a room for the night. Preferably on the sixth floor, the marina side.”
“You’re lucky, we have a nice one. The woman who had it unexpectedly cut her stay short. We just cleaned it up.”
“Wonderful,” she said with a thick Hispanic accent. “My hubby will be along soon.”
* * *
Alex walked in and over to the manager at the desk. He showed his identification and the manager nodded.
“Detective Sharkey said you would be here. Make yourself comfortable here in the lobby.”
“Thanks.” Alex walked over to where there were comfortable chairs and sat down, leaned back and appeared to be reading a book while waiting.
Meanwhile Jerry returned to his office on the motorcycle and picked up his car and returned to the hotel.
He parked where he could see Carl’s car. Chichi went out on the balcony and sat waiting for the lights next door to go out.
She nibbled at the cookies that she had taken from the snack rack in the room and sipped on a coke while watching the lights of the harbor. Then she noticed that the sliding glass door was open on the next balcony because she could hear music coming from the room. She could hear a table and chair scraping on the concrete.
About eleven she heard Carl’s phone ring. She sat up and listened.
“Yes, it is. Where?”
“Okay, twenty minutes. I’ll be there… Yes, cash all right?”
Chichi went inside and then into the bathroom and closed the door. “He’s on the move. Said he’d be at some location in twenty minutes.”
“Alex will pick him up in the lobby and will follow.”
“He may be on foot.”
“We got it covered.”
“All right. Good luck.”
* * *
Carl turned off the lights in his room and quietly took the elevator to the lobby. It was empty except for a man working on his computer in the corner. He crossed the parking lot and turned left toward the waterfront. It was almost midnight now and the people on the waterfront were thinning out. He walked along the marina boardwalk passing the Key West Seafood restaurant and towards the Brewery Tavern following the instructions on where to go. She had been very clear that no one was to follow him, or his son would suffer. He ducked into the Brewery Tavern and went out the back door. He followed around the building then cut back to the waterfront. No one was in sight. He could see the Ferry terminal now and turned, walking towards Turbo Street. He spotted her standing by a SUV on the dimly lit street.
“Carl?”
“Yes.”
She lit up a cigarette and started walking further up the empty dark street and he followed. Carl had his eyes on the woman and did not notice that the SUV was moving quietly behind him.
“Where’s my son?” he said, catching up with her.
She stopped and looked at him, “You have money?”
“Five thousand, cash.”
“Five thousand in cash? Only five? You said ten. That will not be enough to get more information than that he’s here in the Keys, but not for more than a week, ten days at the most.”
“Where is he?”
“Give me the money.”
He started to hand her the envelope, then tried to grab her. She reached for the money and her other hand hit his neck with a needle. He looked at her, his eyes large with surprise, and charged forward.
Alex rounded the Ferry building, saw what was happening, and raced to help Carl. He tackled them and landed on top of Carl and the woman. He rolled Carl off and got on top of the woman. Then he felt someone pick him up and toss him onto the air like a missile. The shrubs that ran along the sidewalk rushing at him was the last thing he saw for a moment. Then the shrubs were in his face. He struggled to get loose and fell to the ground.
The large man lifted Carl into the back seat of the SUV and the woman got into the front passenger seat.
“Get the hell out of here.” She was breathing heavy and holding her neck. The big man nodded and pushed hard on the accelerator.
“Who the hell was that man?”
“Don’t know, don’t know where he came from.”
“Well, we better find out because I got two problems. He saw me up close and personal, and he’s also still alive.”
The man smiled. “I have his wallet.”
* * *
“Smells good,” Harris said. He picked up his fork and tasted the meat. Good.
“One thing I learned from my mother, God rest her soul, was traditional cooking. You have someone waiting for you, Burt?”
“I’m Harris to you.”
Javier nodded.
“Yes, she’s a good woman and she will wait for me to contact her. My partner most likely is wondering where I am, but when he finds that my cell is dead, he won’t panic…at least not right away. You need to tell me everything that you know about your uncle.”
“He has lots of people working for him. He can be ruthless. When my parents died, he took me in and paid for me to go to business school and taught me how to run the winery business. My grades were good, and I found school easy. Soon I was traveling, helping to get our wines to go international. That was my father’s dream.
“The workers at the vineyard knew what to do and were loyal to my father. However, with me going to school, they needed their paychecks. Ricardo paid for them. He footed what the wine sales did not cover. He managed the bills for the four years I was gone. He paid for my schooling and
