Geek Mafia: Mile Zero

by Dakan

  "We've got a lot to cover," Isaiah said, "And not a lot of time, as always. Why don't we start with what's on everyone's minds: the investigation into Raquel's murder. Paul, can you tell us all what you've found?"

  "Sure," said Paul, standing up. "Well, we know she was murdered out near the beach at Ft. Taylor Park, after hours when the park was closed. We then think the killers took her by boat off the beach area and then dumped her body back in her hotel room."

  "What the hell is that about?" asked Eddie. "Why the fuck would they do that?"

  "To send us all a message. We think they're trying to scuttle this whole endeavor of Isaiah's and they placed the body where only we were likely to find it."

  "That means the killer is one of us," said Marco, his voice calm and quiet. "Assuming we're the only ones who knew about the plan."

  "That's right!" Eddie shouted. "If what you're saying is right, then you're also accusing one of us of the murder."

  "Or someone that one of us told about the plan," Paul pointed out, staring right at Eddie as he said it. Even though he didn't believe Eddie's Crew had killed anyone, his distaste for the man brought out Paul's confrontational side. "Have any of you spoken of the plan to anyone outside our little inner circle?"

  "That is a very good question," Winston added from his seat. "Have any of us told anyone outside about the plan." He looked right at Eddie as he said this last bit.

  "Oh fuck you, old man," Eddie said. "You both know I've told someone else. But that was after the fucking murder, ok?"

  "Indeed?" Winston asked. "And this other Crew just happened to be in Key West at this particular moment in time?"

  "We asked them to meet us here, ok? It's not like we don't have other shit going down besides this whacked scheme of Isaiah's."

  "When did you ask them?" Winston asked.

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  "A couple weeks ago," Eddie admitted. "But before you get any ideas, we didn't tell them a fucking thing about you guys. They had no idea. As far as they're concerned, this was all about an unrelated piece of fucking business that's not any of your business."

  "Of course," said Winston, raising an eyebrow and making it clear to one and all that he didn't believe one word of it.

  Eddie started to say something, but Isaiah cut him off. "I believe there's more to Paul's report. Let's save the discussion until the end."

  Paul nodded and continued. "We do have a suspect. I've sent pics to Isaiah of a man we've identified as being involved in the killing in some way. We think that he definitely had a role in dumping the body back in the guest house and may have been the one to actually kill her as well."

  "I'm sending it to you now," said Amelia, speaking for the first time. Marcos, Eddie, Winston and Paul all watched their phones, and a minute later they had the pictures he'd sent.

  "This was taken off a security camera near the guesthouse," said Paul. "We have others showing him following Raquel shortly before the murder. He might have shaved his beard since then, especially if he knows we're looking for him. Does anyone recognize him?" Paul had to fight hard not to look extra hard at Winston as he said this.

  "Never seen him," Eddie said. "And before you two go accusing me of anything else, that's the goddamned truth. Never. Seen. This. Fuck."

  Paul didn't remember accusing Eddie of anything to his face, but apparently he'd been found guilty by association because Eddie perceived him to be Winston's ally. "Well, keep an eye out for him. He definitely wasn't acting alone in all this."

  "What about the cops?" Eddie asked. "What do they think?"

  "Not involved," said Paul. "They don't know about the murder, because we disposed of the body before anyone outside our circle could find out about it. Local law enforcement shouldn't be an issue moving forward."

  "Well at least you did that right," Eddie snipped.

  "What do you mean that right'?" Paul asked, his ire rising.

  "I mean you've done a pretty crappy job finding this killer."

  "Oh, come on, that's bullshit! I just fucking showed you a goddamned picture of the guy!"

  "But where is he now, huh, tough guy?"

  Paul dearly wanted to answer him, but he managed to hold his tongue, and Eddie jumped into the silence with more vitriol. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You got no answer for that, do you? You and your buddy there just finished telling us that the killer's got to be working for someone in our little circle of friends here, so it's not like there's this endless list of suspects. So what's taking you so long?"

  "Methinks he doth protest too much," said Winston with a wry smile.

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  "Methinks that's bullshit," Eddie retorted as he stood up. He took out a folded sheaf of papers from his back pocket and angrily shook them loose as he tossed them across the aisle at Paul and Winston. "If you're done trying to stick your hand down my pants, maybe you can look somewhere else!"

  Paul picked up the papers from the floor near his feet. Each one was a printout of six grainy color pictures taken from the high angle characteristic of a security camera. They showed the lobby of the Hyatt, and there were images of Paul dressed as the Verizon rep, talking with the assistant manager. There were other pics of Sandee walking up and down a hall in the hotel which Paul assumed was where Eddie was staying.

  "Looks to me like Paul was being quite thorough and examining a valid suspect," said Winston as he looked at the pics. "Do you have a problem with that?"

  "I do have a problem with it, because I didn't kill the damn chick, ok?" shouted Eddie at Winston. Then he turned his wrath on Paul again. "And what did you find, tough guy? Any connection between me and this killer?"

  "Nothing I could find," Paul admitted.

  "But you still thought it was just peachy to start fucking with me and my friends and our business."

  Paul almost told Eddie that he and his "friend" Raff had some unfinished business of their own, but he literally bit his tongue. No need to tell Eddie something that Raff might've kept from him. Instead Paul said nothing.

  But Eddie wasn't done. "And what about my friends?" Eddie asked. "Did you find anything connecting them to the killer? Did you?"

  "Not yet, no," said Paul.

  "Well then! Now that you've cleared us, maybe we can bring in some competent, experienced help into this mess. I'm sure they can clear this all up."

  "Paul said he hadn't found anything yet," Winston pointed out. "That doesn't mean he's cleared you."

  "And who's cleared him?" Eddie asked. "It's his town, right? Who better than him to go around and commit murders and get away with it? Who cleared him and his Crew, that's what I want to know!"

  "I did," said Winston. "Paul's a known quantity and had no knowledge of either the meeting or Raquel before the murder. He couldn't have done it and wouldn't have if he could."

  "And we're supposed to just take your word for that, old man?" asked Eddie. "I don't think so. And how do you know what he did and didn't know? This is his town, right? His fucking town. If he's really worth being in our inner circle here, then surely nothing this big happens in his town without him knowing about it, right? I mean, if this were my fucking town, there's no way all these heavy hitters could come in here and set up without me knowing about it."

  The words struck Paul right in his stomach like a fist, confirming the doubts and worries he'd had ever since Isaiah told him about the shadow corporation plan. Eddie was right. If he and Chloe actually had a big-time Crew, they should have seen signs of Isaiah and Winston and Raquel and even Eddie in town long before two nights ago. But they didn't. And they weren't a big-time Crew. Which cast some serious doubt on their ability to play with the big boys here.

  "Enough," said Isaiah. "Let's just all stop cutting each other's throats for a few minutes here, and talk like Chapter 30

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  intelligent men." Everyone was watching Isaiah now, and Eddie chose that moment to sit back down in his seat. Paul did the same.
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  "Obviously we still can't proceed further until we know who the killer is working for," said Isaiah. "So we must renew our efforts to find him and bring him in."

  "And if we can't find him?" asked Winston. "If we never know for certain which of us he was working for?

  What then?"

  "I don't want to engage in hypotheticals," Isaiah said. "Let's not get distracted by..."

  "It's an important question," Winston interrupted. "If we can't find the killer among us, then how can we move forward? There will be no foundation of trust. No real security."

  "I one hundred percent agree with that," Eddie said. "One of you three fuckers killed that lady, and I'm not putting my neck on the line until I know who it is. Which is why I want to bring my other friends into the loop now, so they can help us find out who the rats are."

  "I'm not exposing my interests to unknown quantities," Winston countered. "Not under these circumstances."

  "Unknown quantities?" Eddie mocked. "Ask your little buddy there how unknown they are to him."

  "We'll compromise," Isaiah commanded. "I'll meet with you and your friend in private, Eddie. That will allow me to make my own judgment about them and what they might or might not have to offer. Then we'll revisit your motion that they be admitted to the board."

  Eddie stopped and listened to Marco whisper something in his ear. Eddie replied in kind, and they went back and forth a couple times before he finally said, "Ok, that'll work. Can we talk now?" he glanced over at Paul and Winston. "Just you and me?"

  "Of course," said Isaiah. "Now, if no one has anything else, I adjourn the meeting." No one said anything, and Isaiah nodded, gesturing toward the church door with his left hand. Eddie leaped up from his seat and cornered Isaiah in private conversation. Paul got up and headed straight for the door as well, wanting out of there before anything else disastrous happened.

  Outside, Winston caught up with him at the bottom of the church steps. "Paul," he said. "How are you?"

  Paul turned to face him steeling himself for the conversation he'd been dreading most. "I'm good," he said.

  "Just tired is all."

  "What did you think of our friend Eddie's performance in there?" Winston asked.

  "He's pretty mad."

  "A sure sign of guilt in my experience."

  "You think so?" Paul asked. "I guess..."

  "You do think he's behind the murder, don't you? Him or this Raff person?"

  "It makes the most sense," said Paul. "But I don't see how we'll ever prove it unless we find the killer."

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  "And how's that coming? Any sign of him?" Winston asked.

  "No, nothing," Paul lied. What was Winston playing at? Had he heard them on the bug or not? Or was he just trying to fuck with Paul's head?

  "Well, I'm not sure what will become of Isaiah's scheme if we can't find out the truth. You wouldn't trust your secrets with Eddie and Isaiah under these circumstances, would you?"

  "No, of course not," agreed Paul. Looking past Winston's shoulder, he saw Marco coming out the front doors of the church, a cigarette in hand. "Do you have a smoke?" he asked Winston, knowing the old man only smoked dope.

  "I'm afraid not," Winston said, giving Paul a quizzical look. "I didn't know..."

  "I'm going to bum one off Marco," Paul said. "Listen, let's get together later, ok? You, me and Chloe. We'll compare notes and hash out all this shit."

  "How is Chloe?" he asked as Paul tried to walk past him.

  "Getting some sleep," Paul said. "We've been running ourselves ragged on this thing. We'll give you a call in a few hours, ok?"

  Winston eyed him for a moment and then smiled. "An excellent plan," he said, patting Paul's shoulder and spinning on his heel to walk off into the sunshine.

  Marco looked a little surprised as Paul walked up the steps to where he was smoking. He just nodded to Paul in acknowledgement.

  "What's up, man?" Paul asked. "Can I bum a smoke?"

  "Sure," said Marco, taking the pack from his shirt pocket and offering one to Paul. He took it and put it in his mouth, the first one he'd had since college when he'd occasionally have a smoke while at a bar. Marco produced a Zippo and lit it for him and Paul took a shallow drag and tried not to cough.

  "Thanks," said Paul, turning to his side so that he and Marco were now both looking down the church steps to the street. There was a long silence between them, but Paul wanted Marco to talk first, figuring that might be the only way he would say anything interesting. He was counting on Eddie taking full advantage of his private time with Isaiah to vent every single one of his frustrations.

  After maybe a couple of minutes, Marco broke the silence. "Got pretty intense in there, huh?" he said to Paul.

  "Sure did," Paul agreed.

  "He can get that way, you know. When he's passionate about something? He starts seeing enemies everywhere."

  "Sometimes there are enemies everywhere," Paul pointed out.

  "But not always," Marco replied. "I know you're just doing what you've got to do, right? I'd be looking at us too. We're from out of town, and I guess you've got some history with Raff or whatever, so that's understandable." Paul wondered if Raff had told Marco and Eddie about their history or if he had figured it out for himself. Or maybe he was just fishing. Not wanting to give anything away, Paul stayed silent and let Chapter 30

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  Marco keep talking. "But we're not the only ones you should be looking at. We didn't do it, so you're wasting your time. But you know, whatever you gotta do. It's your town."

  "Well, your boss in there isn't acting very innocent if you ask me," Paul said, nodding his head toward the church door. "He seems pretty hot-headed. Pretty violent."

  "First of all, he's not my boss, he's my partner. But I get what you're saying. And yeah, just so you know, he is pretty violent. That's something else you should probably take into consideration. That can be a liability sometimes, but it's how things are for now."

  Paul considered very carefully what kinds of messages Marco might be sending his way. Was he threatening him with Eddie's violent side if he and Chloe didn't lay off the investigation? Or was he perhaps hinting that, although that's how things are now, maybe someday they'll change? Like when there was a change of leadership. Paul didn't know, so he just nodded.

  "So here's my advice," said Marco. "I'll keep Eddie focused on actual business instead of being pissed at you guys, and you guys maybe expand the focus of your inquiries. How does that sound?"

  "That first part sounds just fine," Paul said. "As for the inquiries, well, you'll have to trust me to do the right thing on that. If you guys didn't do it, then you've got nothing to worry about."

  "Now you sound like a cop."

  "Me? That's the last thing I am."

  "Uh huh," said Marco, flicking his cigarette into the street. "Just think about what I said, ok?"

  "Will do," said Paul, dropping his own smoke and stamping it out. The two of them parted without another word, Paul down the stairs and Marco with Eddie back inside the church.

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  Chapter 31

  CHLOE'S morning had been beyond frustrating. It had been downright depressing. After Bee's news about their compromised camera network, she'd spent a couple hours helping her engineer friend reconfigure the software on some of the cameras and install new security so that Winston couldn't tap into their feeds (or so they hoped). She'd then taken the new cameras out into the field to set them up around the bight marina, but when she got there, she discovered that Winston's boat was gone, presumably with the killer on board. They could be well on their way to Miami by now. Or Cuba. "Fuck" she said under her breath.

  She'd set up the cameras anyway, just in case they came back, and then went home to help Bee go through the video records and see if they could find any sign of where Winston or the killer or really anyone else had gone. Like Raff. Where the fuck had he gone? There'd been no sign of
him since he'd left his house in search of Sandee. The RFID tag hadn't popped up on any of the readers, and they couldn't find him on any of the cameras.

  And then the cameras had started dying. One by one, across the city, they'd started winking out. They were being blinded.

  "What the...?" Bee said when the first one went out. "I just lost the Petronia 4 Camera."

  "That's not good," Chloe replied. "Let's roll back the video on that camera and see if there's anything weird going on there."

  They watched the video, but there wasn't anything unusual in the half hour leading up to the camera going dead. No sign of Winston or Lily or anyone they recognized and no sign of anyone even noticing the camera.

  "Crap!" Bee shouted, "Look at that."

  The big screen showing the map of the city was now displaying a constellation of blinking red dots with camera names next to them, all around the west end of Duval Street. "Someone took down a wireless router there," Bee said.

  "Any chance it's just a coincidence?" Chloe asked.

  "Of course," said Bee. "They go down all the time. But I don't think so..." She typed and clicked on one of her computers. "As far as I can tell it just shut down. Probably someone pulled the power. I'll have to go out there to see what's wrong."

  "And while you're doing that, more of them will go down," Chloe said.

  "I don't see what else we can do," said Bee. "Whoever's doing this is blinding us all over the city."

  As they watched, three more cameras went down within a couple minutes of each other. "How're they doing that so fast?" asked Bee. "It's not a software thing. They're just out there yanking the plugs or something."

  "Winston must have his whole Crew on it. Probably took a pic of the whole camera map while he was here and then sent it out to his gang."

  "Doesn't he know that we'll be suspicious?" asked Bee. "I mean, who else could be doing it?"

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  "Well, Isaiah or Eddie or Raff cold be doing it. All of them probably would do it if they knew about the cameras. And that's probably going to be what Win tells me when we talk - that Eddie or Isaiah is after us and that the only way we can survive the night is to do exactly what he says. He's trying to panic us."