“No, not tonight. Just killing time before dinner.” The waitress nodded and left.
Chichi sipped her drink and mentally took pictures of the men at the bar.
She was about to leave when her phone vibrated. She casually pulled her phone out of her pocket.
“He’s on his way in with a mom-in-law in tow.” Jerry said.
She closed the phone and pulled a travel guide out of her purse and started looking in it. They sat at a corner table. Chichi slipped her special hearing device in her ear.
“I’m telling you, Carl. This is not the way to handle this situation.”
“Too damn bad. I think it’ll work.”
“And if it doesn’t, then what?”
“I’ll take care of that when the time comes.”
“It’s been a long day. I’m going to eat dinner and go back to the hotel.”
“First have a drink. It will relax you.”
“What makes you think I’m not relaxed?”
“You’re raising your voice. Pipe down and relax. Nobody knows we’re here. My plan will work. It went out this afternoon and I bet I get a call tomorrow at the latest. Where there’s money involved time moves fast.”
“Look, I’m hungry. Let’s go get something to eat.”
Carl looked perturbed but decided to finish his drink and stood to go.
Chichi called Jerry. “Coming your way to have dinner.”
“Thanks. Meet me out by the dining room. I’m following them now.”
Chichi finished her drink and headed for the dining area.
She pulled her black jacket out of the purse and stuffed the lightweight wind breaker into the purse. Slipping into a bolero jacket she joined Jerry.
He grinned as she approached. “Good job.”
“He’s up to something,” Chichi said with a short nod of her head.
“There they are,” Jerry said, looking towards the restaurant entrance.
“Okay, honey, let’s eat. I’m starving.” They watched Carl and Stephanie sit in the outside section of the dining room.
“You go in and order. I’ll have whatever you have. Be right back,” Jerry said.
Jerry went into the garden and walked to the far end.
“Alex, it’s Jerry. We’re watching Carl and he’s arguing about something he has planned, and they expect it to go down sometime before tomorrow.”
“He makes a move to leave, you follow and call me for back up,” Alex said.
“Got it.”
* * *
Harris held the gun on Javier for a long minute trying to get his mind on track. His eyes never left Javier’s face. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just shoot you now.”
Javier was breathing fast, and he looked like he was about to cry.
“Please, I have no one to help me. I want to stop this, but I don’t know how. Vasquez can be ruthless. He needs me, that’s the only reason I’m still alive. He’s going to have me take Mateo back to Chile when his passport comes in a week or so. I need your help. I don’t know what to do.”
“How do you even know about me?” Harris asked.
“Susan talked about you. She had a picture of you up over the fireplace. She said you were a policeman. But you had to go away. She loved you. I was the only one she felt she could talk to about you. Her mother, Stephanie, would not let her even mention you. She never had the picture up when Stephanie was there.”
Harris thought for a long moment. A wrinkle formed between his eyes. He looked at the terrified young man and put his gun back in its holster.
“You got food?”
“Yes, it’s Chilean. Is that all right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I’ll make us some dinner.”
“What do you do for a living in Chile?”
Javier opened the refrigerator and pulled out packages of meat, and vegetables. He pulled a knife out of the drawer and saw that Harris had his gun out again.
“My father has a winery in Chile. I inherited it when he and my mother were killed in a private plane crash. I was seventeen at the time.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Harris said. He looked at Javier. The young man was obviously upset.
“I won’t hurt you…but I’m not stupid. So, don’t you be, because I can take you down in a heartbeat. Cook. I’ll be watching you.”
Harris sat at the kitchen counter and watched as Javier made dinner.
“I’m sorry…” Javier said. “I know that you have no reason to believe me.”
“Okay, I’ll put my gun away and you tell me everything you can about your Uncle. The good, bad and ugly.”
“All right. Dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes.”
“Relax, Javier. You asked for my help and from what I heard so far, you’re going to need it.”
Harris observed that Javier was very adept in the kitchen, another thing Susan might have admired about him.
“So, you got a winery. How big?”
“It’s what is called a boutique winery. The wine business is a big thing in Chile. The big wineries are flourishing with huge sales to America, and the world. There are a good number of small vineyards. Mine is relatively small and the wines we produce are age-old recipes but with a twist. Subtle flavors of other fruits.
“It sounds like that could be a good lifestyle. Is it going well?”
“I am struggling to keep it going. The bulk of my income is from the work I do promoting a collection of small vineyards here in America. I’m a promoter or salesman for many of the small Chilean wineries. At that, I do well enough to keep my vineyard going until the new vines are ready to produce. I think the food is ready.”
“Good. Let’s eat. Then we talk more.”
* * *
Meanwhile, back at the restaurant, Chichi sat listening to Stephanie and Carl talk, relaying what she heard through the earpiece to Jerry sitting next to her.
“They’re talking about Susan,” Chichi said. “Carl is upset that his child support was going to support another illegitimate kid. That wasn’t part of the deal when she asked him to leave.”
“If you had stayed with her in the first place none of this would have happened. You’re such a flake,” Stephanie hissed, pushing her dinner away from her.
“Go to hell.” Carl said something else Chichi didn’t want to repeat when Stephanie threw her drink in his face and stormed out.
“Wow, fireworks,” Jerry said. “Don’t turn around. She just threw her drink in his face and stormed out.”
“Oh my. What’s happening now?”
“The waitress is trying to dry him off.”
Chichi laughed as she covered her face with her napkin.
“I’m getting up to follow him. I think he’s headed to the elevators. Get them to wrap our dinner if I’m not back. I’ll call you,” Jerry said.
“Just be careful. These people aren’t really stable and are acting kind of scary,” Chichi warned.
“Always.” Jerry casually walked out of the restaurant and saw Carl heading to the elevators.
“He’s going upstairs. Let’s get a room and sit in the lobby for a while.” Chichi suggested. “I got our dinner and I’ll be right there.”
Jerry made a quick call to Alex.
“You want to join us? Things are getting interesting. I need somebody in the lobby of the Hyatt to make sure Abbott doesn’t slip away from us. They have something planned and there are several exits.”
“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 id
entification 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 gave me a loan to expand the winery and purchase the equipment that needed to be replaced. By the time I could take over I owed him hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“I worked hard on the promotions and was experiencing some success when Susan contacted me and told me I had a child in the states. When I confided in Ricardo, he was suddenly interested. He had a solution that would benefit us both. He wanted him. He said that he would cancel all my debts if I gave him Mateo.”
“So, you made a deal with the devil?” Harris put down his fork. He looked straight into Javier’s eyes.
“Yes. I saw no other way out. I knew he would take good care of him.”
“Give any thought to my daughter?” His words were steely hard.
“I know what I did was wrong…I took the coward’s way out. Now I’m so ashamed. It’s all my fault. I knew she would be upset, but I never thought she would be dead.”
Harris watched as the handsome, dark-haired man collapsed into tears.
“Okay, okay, pull it together. You’re not the first, or the last, young man who made the wrong decision. I’m not one to judge your decision. This is not the end. You still can help save the kids.”
Javier moved to the sink and threw water on his face.
“Come on back and finish eating. What’s done, is done. We’re up against the clock now.”
“Now, tell me about you and my daughter.”
They finished dinner and went into the living room. Harris pulled the heavy curtains and sat down on the sofa. Javier took the over-stuffed chair next to the couch.
“Susan was someone I took to right away. She had a wonderful laugh and she made me smile. She said I was too uptight.”
Harris could easily decipher the look that crossed Javier’s face. “She stole your heart.”
Javier smiled for the first time. “That she did. And she never gave it back. We went dancing, we spent a wonderful three weeks together, laughing and loving each other. I will always truly love her…and our son.”
He continued. “She was a wonderful mother to Tyler, he’s very bright for seven. I remember she sat with me by the Christmas tree and told me about your last Christmas together. She loved you. She told me about you because she couldn’t talk about you to Carl or her mother. They are not fond of you, you know?”
Harris let out a laugh. “Ya think?”
Javier didn’t smile. “Yes, I do. Stephanie is an incredibly angry and bitter woman. She did not like me, I think because I had an influence on Susan. She changed me, but I changed her.”
“You’re perceptive. I was beginning to worry about you.”
“You are joking?” Javier said, a doubtful look on his face.
“No. How soon will Ricardo move the children?”
Javier was taken aback by Harris. “You change subjects quickly.”
“Keep up,” Harris growled. “We don’t have that much time. The longer it takes, the more that can g
o wrong,” Harris said. “You have no idea where the kids are?”
“None…”
Harris took a deep breath. “All right. It’s late. We need to get some sleep.”
“Please help me. I will give my life for Susan and those two kids. Now that I know you, I trust you. I will do anything you feel is right.”
Harris looked at the young man. “We’ll think of something. I promise. Get some sleep. You take the sofa, I’ll take the recliner,” Harris said. Get ready for bed. I need to make a call on your phone.”
Javier looked startled.
“Don’t worry, it can’t be traced. It’s local.”
Javier went into the bathroom and Harris picked up the phone and dialed his home number. Amy picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, it’s me,” he said.
“Hey, you.”
“Listen, I’m fine. I’m just flying under the radar for a little while.”
“Okay.”
“Tell the Cuban that he will hear from me through Rex.”
“Got it,” she said.
“Love you…”
“You too. See ya.”
He hung up and called Rex.
“Rex, it’s me.”
“Hey there. Everything, all right?”
“Yeah, can you talk?”
“My office is open.”
“I got a person who can help us.”
“Good. Anytime tomorrow. I’ll be in my office all day.”
“Thanks. We’ll be there in the morning.”
“Sure.” Rex hung up.
* * *
Alex called Sharkey.
“Oh, man, that hurt. It’s Alex. They have Carl. I tried to help but they had a Gorilla-sized goon that tossed me ten feet into a bunch of bushes.”
“Where are you?”
“Behind the…ah…Turbo Street and the Ferry Terminal. Hurry. I saw her. Sooner or later, they’re going to realize that’s a problem they need to go back and fix.”
“Calling it in,” Sharkey said.
“Dispatch, Detective Sharkey. I need couple cars at Turbo Street and the back of the Ferry Terminal. Now. And an ambulance.”
Key West Gone into the Night Page 10
