by Stuart Woods
“Don’t kill yourself or anybody else!” Tommy said. “We’ll head him off at the pass.”
Dino eased off and got stuck behind a line of traffic. Ten seconds later, he was in oncoming traffic, blowing his horn over and over. 2 3 4
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Now he was free and up to ninety miles an hour. He saw the bike make the curve to the right. By the time he got to the turn, he was in the wrong lane again, signaling for a left turn onto U.S. 1. He made the corner with a great screeching of tires and saw two cop cars blocking the bridge. The motorcycle was on the sidewalk, getting past them.
“Shit!” Dino yelled, slamming on his brakes. He held his badge out the window, blowing his horn, but he had to come to a complete stop. “That’s the guy!” he yelled at the two policemen, who were watching the motorcycle disappear down the road. The cops dived into their cars and got them turned around, then Dino was bringing up the rear of a procession, as the two police cars headed up U.S. 1.
“Tommy,” Dino yelled into the phone, “the bike got past the cops on the bridge, and he’s headed north.” Then, as they passed a wide street forking to the right, Dino thought he caught a glimpse of a motorcycle down that road, turning a corner. He put his car into a four-wheel drift and made the fork. What the hell, he thought, the cops have got the main road covered.
Dino was still driving fast, but he slowed at every corner, looking for the motorcycle. Then, a quarter-mile down the road, he saw it, lying on its side in the gutter. Two small boys were standing over it, looking at it. Dino slammed on his brakes, reversed and turned into the street.
He got out of the car and ran over to the motorcycle, which was still running. That, he supposed, was what was fascinating the two boys. “Kids,” he said breathlessly, “did you see the rider get off?”
They both nodded.
“Which way did he go?”
They pointed down the street.
“Is he on foot?”
“Naw,” one of the kids said. “He got in a car and drove off.” He pointed at the rubber the man had left behind.
“Straight down the road?”
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“Naw, he turned that way at the corner,” the boy said, pointing right.
“What kind of car?”
“Ford,” one kid said.
“Toyota,” the other said. They began to argue.
“Shut up!” Dino said. “What color?”
“Black,” one said.
“Green,” the other said.
“Shit,” Dino muttered to himself, running back to his car.
“Tommy,” he said into the phone, “you still there?”
“Yeah,” Tommy said.
“The bike took a right at a fork in the road.”
“I know where that is.”
“He took another right, abandoned the bike and took off in a car, turned right at the next corner. He could be headed back toward Key West.”
“Holy shit!” Tommy yelled. “Call you back.”
Dino went back to the motorcycle and turned it off. There was a long leather scabbard buckled to a knee guard. His phone rang.
“Yeah?”
“We’re searching the whole island now,” Tommy said.
“The bike is …” Dino looked for a street sign and gave him the name. “It’s got a scabbard for a rifle strapped to it. Get somebody out here; there may be prints.”
“Right,” Tommy said, and he hung up again.
“Listen to me, kids,” he said, showing them his badge. “Don’t you touch that bike, and don’t you let anybody else touch it. More cops will be here in a minute.” He gave each of them a ten, then he got back into his car and turned around.
There was no point in continuing his search, since he didn’t know what he was looking for. He drove back to the Marquesa restaurant. As he reached the corner he saw a pair of EMTs wheeling a gurney out into the street. Nobody was holding an IV bottle over her, 2 3 6
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and the sheet was pulled over her head. He went into the restaurant and found Stone, sitting on a bar stool, talking into his cell phone. Stone hung up. “That was Tommy. They’ve lost the son of a bitch,”
he said. “They’re setting up another roadblock at the Seven Mile Bridge, but he could be back in Key West now, or on a plane.”
“Annika?” Dino asked.
“The bullet went in here,” Stone said, pointing to a spot over his left ear, “and came out over her right eye. She had a pulse for a couple of minutes, but I lost it. The EMTs said there was never a chance.” Stone slumped over the bar. “Now what do I do?” he said, disconsolately.
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STON E WA S ST R E TC H E D out on his bed, half asleep. Dino had contacted Annika’s sister, who was on her way to Key West, and he was now on the phone, making arrangements with a funeral director whom Tommy had recommended.
Stone felt as if he had been beaten up—stiff and sore and slightly nauseated. He sat up and put his feet on the floor and his head in his hands, then he got up, went into the bathroom and vomited. He wiped his face with a cold washcloth and went out to the porch. Dino and Tommy were sitting there.
“How are you feeling?” Dino asked.
“Lousy, but we have things to do.”
“Everything has been done that can be done,” Dino said. “Go lie down.”
“I can’t,” Stone said. “There’s more to do.”
“What?” Dino asked.
“We’ve got to keep Evan alive,” Stone said.
“He’s okay for the moment,” Tommy said. “Dino and I are both carrying, and you should be, too.”
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“That’s not what I’m talking about. Dino, did you hear my brief conversation with Gigi in the restaurant, right before the shooting?”
“I heard her apologize for hitting you over the head, that’s all.”
“I asked her where she was from, what sort of work she did before she met Evan.”
“I didn’t hear that part, I guess.”
“She said she had sold real estate and boats and that she had started a couple of small businesses. She also said she had been a private investigator for a while, and that’s how she met Evan.”
Dino stared at him. “You’re thinking …”
Stone nodded. “All this time we’ve been trying to connect the dots, trying to figure out who had motive and the connection with Manny White, and we forgot about Gigi.”
“Well,” Dino said, “she’s certainly got motive now, and if she worked for Manny …”
“If she knows Manny well, she’d know about his little sideline,”
Tommy said.
“I think we’re all on the same page now,” Stone said. “Except Evan.”
“And the guy’s still out there,” Tommy said. “And so’s Evan.” He nodded toward the walkway.
Stone looked up to see Evan coming down the walk, and they pulled up another chair for him.
“How are you feeling?” Evan asked Stone.
“I’m all right.”
“I want to tell you how sorry I am,” Evan said.
“Thanks,” Stone replied, “but I’m afraid you’ve got more problems than I have.”
“You think he’ll try again?”
“Yes, but there’s more to it than that.”
“What else?”
Stone took a deep breath. “Have you ever heard of Manny White Investigations?”
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“Yeah,” Evan replied. “Gigi used to work for them.”
“Evan, all three of us knew Manny White when we were on the NYPD, years ago.”
“I never met the guy,” Evan said. “Gigi quit after we met.”
“We think Manny White was the middleman who hired the guy who shot you last time.”
“That
’s quite a coincidence,” Evan said.
“There are more coincidences,” Stone said. “We think he also sent the man who killed your father. The bullets from your shooting and his are a match; they were fired from the same gun, and when Tommy gets back the ballistics report on today’s shooting, we think there’s going to be another match.”
“This is bizarre,” Evan said.
“There’s still more,” Stone said. “The first person to come under suspicion for both shootings was your grandfather.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Probably so, but he was the only one with a fi nancial motive for both shootings. Or at least he was at the time.”
“Who do you suspect now?”
“There’s only one other person with both a motive and a connection to Manny White,” Stone said, then waited for it to sink in. There were clearly wheels turning in Evan’s head, then the penny dropped. “No, that’s crazy.”
“Think about it,” Stone said. “Killing your father gave you a much larger share of the proceeds from the sale of the business, didn’t it?”
“Yes, but Gigi would have had no claim on that.”
“Not then,” Stone said, “but she was planning ahead, and now things are different. I haven’t read your will, but I’m just guessing that Gigi is the principal benefi ciary.”
Evan stared at him. “She’s the only benefi ciary,” he said.
“When your father tried to have you killed she must have been very angry.”
“She was. Very.”
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“So she called Manny White and arranged for Warren to be killed.”
Evan was looking at his feet and shaking his head.
“And when the two of you were married and you signed that will …”
“Where is the will?” Evan asked.
Stone got up, went inside, got the will from his pocket, came back to the porch and handed Evan the envelope.
Evan stared at it but said nothing.
“I know how hard this is,” Stone said.
“No, you don’t,” Evan snapped. “I wish you’d never told me this. I would rather have …” He trailed off.
“You’d rather have remained fat, dumb and happy and let her have you killed?”
“It would have been easier,” Evan said.
“No, it wouldn’t have. You’d have figured it out eventually, but with that shooter still in Key West, he might have gotten to you before you did.”
“She couldn’t have done this,” Evan said.
“Evan, how many people knew where you were having your wedding lunch today?” Dino asked.
Evan thought about it. “Just the people at the table and the JP,” he replied.
“And whose idea was it to have the lunch at the Marquesa restaurant?”
“Gigi’s.”
“And who chose the table by the Simonton Street window?”
“Gigi,” he replied.
“I think you’ve just narrowed the list of suspects,” Stone said. Evan tore the will into small pieces.
“I’m afraid the will doesn’t matter anymore,” Stone said.
“Why not?” Evan asked.
“Because there’s a marriage certificate. The JP would have fi led it, 2 41
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and you’ll be mailed a copy. Under Florida law, she stands to inherit everything you have.”
“I just can’t believe this,” Evan said, shaking his head.
“If not for Annika’s move toward you at lunch, Gigi would now be a very rich widow.”
“Can you prove all of this?” Evan asked.
“No,” Stone said.
“If you’re right, this guy is just going to keep coming after me, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“What should I do?”
“First, let me find you a Key West attorney and file for an annulment.”
“How long will that take?”
“I don’t know, perhaps several weeks.”
“And what am I going to do for that time?” Evan asked.
“Well, for a start,” Stone said, “don’t consummate the marriage.”
“What else?”
“Only one person can connect Gigi to the shooting today,” Stone said. “So we’ve got to find a way to persuade Manny White to tell us everything.”
“How are you going to do that?” Evan asked.
“I don’t know,” Stone said, “but you can’t go back to your cottage. We’re going to have to move you to someplace safer.”
Tommy spoke up. “My department has a little house we use to stash witnesses sometimes,” he said. “I could take him there.”
“Where’s Gigi at the moment?” Stone asked Evan.
“She went for a walk.”
“Then let’s go move you out of that cottage right now,” Stone said.
“You want me to just disappear?”
“You have to.”
“What am I going to tell Gigi?”
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“Not a thing. You can leave her a note saying you had to go to Connecticut; your grandfather has had a stroke. That might even buy us some time, since she knows that if he dies, she could inherit even more money.”
“We’re wasting time,” Dino said.
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THE H O U S E WA S down a little lane a few blocks from the Marquesa, and it was tiny: two small bedrooms and a sitting room with an old TV.
“Don’t worry,” Tommy said to Evan, “you’ve got cable. And by the way, don’t use your cell phone.”
“I left it in the cottage, at Stone’s insistence. Gigi is supposed to think I forgot it.”
“Good idea. Got everything you need?”
“Oh, it’s great,” Evan said, tossing his suitcase on the bed in the larger of the two bedrooms. “I hope you don’t mind, I’m going to take a nap,” he said, then he closed the door. Stone, Dino and Tommy sat down in the living room.
“Tommy,” Dino said, “can you put a guard on him, or do we have to do it ourselves?”
“We’re not going to be here long,” Stone said, “and since nobody knows where he is, a guard won’t be necessary.”
“You know something we don’t know?” Dino asked.
“Look, our only shot is to get Manny White to agree to arrange a hit on somebody, then nail him, right?”
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“Right,” Dino said.
“Well, you, Tommy and I are out; he knows us all, and he won’t trust any of us.”
“When you’re right, you’re right,” Dino said.
“So who are we going to get to do this?”
“I don’t think my boss would go for sending a Key West cop up there,” Tommy said, “so don’t count on any of my people.”
“Okay,” Stone replied. “How about a Miami cop?”
“The interdepartmental thing is complicated,” Tommy said, “and it could take a while to set it up.”
“And Miami would get the collar,” Dino pointed out.
“Oh, I don’t give a shit about that,” Tommy said.
“Who do we know who could pull this off that Manny doesn’t know?” Dino asked.
“I can think of one guy,” Stone said.
“Yeah, who?”
“Evan.”
“And why do you think Evan could pull this off?” Dino asked.
“He’s a very calm guy,” Stone said. “He doesn’t rattle easily.”
“I’ll give you that,” Dino replied.
“And he’s motivated,” Tommy pointed out.
“That too,” Dino said.
“Okay, let’s say he’ll do it,” Stone said. “Who’s the target? Who does he want killed and where?”
“Somebody in South Florida,” Tommy said, “not Key West.”
“Good,” Stone said.
“Who and where?”
“You guys ever know Mike Levy, who was an investigator for the DA’s office?” Tommy asked.
“No,” Stone and Dino said simultaneously.
“He’s retired, lives on the inland waterway, somewhere between Stuart and Palm Beach. Is that too far north?”
“Is it near the interstate?”
“Yeah. It’s only a couple of hours’ drive from Miami, and being 2 45
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on the waterway, it could be approached by boat. That might appeal to the shooter.”
“Does Levy have any family?”
“His wife died last year; I went to the funeral. He’s got kids, but they’re both in the New York area.”
“So he’s all alone there?”
“Yeah, and Mike might find something like this entertaining.”
“Who do we get for backup?” Stone asked.
“The local sheriff might play,” Tommy said. “I worked on something with him a while back.”
“We’re going to need a lot of cash for bait,” Dino said.
“Evan can supply that,” Stone said.
“We’re going to have to get him some fake I.D.,” Dino said. “Manny’s going to be careful. He’ll search him for a wire, maybe even check him out.”
“Let me work on that,” Tommy said. “We’ve done that kind of thing for undercover drug buys.”
“There’s something else,” Stone said. “We need a connection to Manny White that can’t be traced back to us. Evan’s going to have to say that somebody sent him, somebody Manny would trust.”
“Wally Millard,” Dino said. “Wally’s sent him business before; Manny would trust him.”
“You think Wally would do it?” Stone asked.
“Let me talk to him about it,” Dino said.
“What else haven’t we covered?” Stone asked.
“I think that’s about it,” Stone said. “I’ll talk to Evan.”
“Talk to me about what?” Evan asked.
Stone turned to see him standing in the bedroom door, in his shorts, rubbing his eyes.
“Evan,” Stone said, “go back in the bedroom and use the phone to call your grandfather’s house. Tell his secretary that if anyone calls for you to say you’re on your way there, or if it’s tomorrow, that you’re in town, but not in. Tell her to confirm that your grandfa2 4 6
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ther has had a stroke, if anybody questions that. Then put on some clothes and come sit down for a minute,” Stone said. Evan went back into the bedroom and closed the door.
