Key Lime Blues (A Wes Darling Mystery)

by Mike Jastrzebski

  “Sorry Wes. I know you’re only trying to help, but I’m not giving up the diamonds. Not to Frankie, and after all I’ve been through, I’m sure as hell not turning them over to the cops.”

  “Frankie won’t let you keep them.”

  She shrugged. “He has to catch me first.”

  “Why take the chance?”

  “Have you ever been poor, Wes? I don’t mean tight, I mean don’t know where the next meal is coming from poor?”

  I shook my head and she continued. “Well I have. After Alvin kicked us out my mother had a hard time making ends meet. She was too old to be stripping and eventually too old to be turning tricks.”

  “You’re not your mother,” I reminded her.

  “No, I’m not. And I can make some pretty good money stripping for another couple of years. But the younger girls are already getting the prime customers. I saw the diamonds as my way out and I still do.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” I said.

  Destiny cocked the revolver like she’d done it a hundred times before. “Don’t make me shoot you Wes. Now take your shorts back off.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  Moisture began to bead on my forehead, and I considered jumping her. She must have sensed something in my demeanor, because before I could move she raised the gun and pointed it at my chest.

  “Take them off,” she repeated. “Now. One of my mother’s boyfriends was a cop. He taught me how to shoot a pistol. After that, he took me back to my mother’s apartment and while she was off turning tricks, he taught me all sorts of other things.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “You don’t have to be. He wasn’t the first, or the last for that matter. Actually, he was pretty nice to me when he wasn’t pawing me. Now, I’m not going to tell you again. Take your damn clothes off.”

  I looked at the gun, studied the determination in her face, and stripped off my shorts. After I dropped them on the floor, she tossed the roll of duct tape in my direction.

  I caught it, and she said, “Wrap it three times around your right wrist.” I followed her directions and when I’d finished she added, “Now turn around, face the bed and put your hands behind your back.”

  She moved up behind me and placed the muzzle of the gun against the back of my head. “I don’t want to shoot, Darling. But I will if you make me. Right now I’m going to tape your hands and feet, and then I’m going to take my diamonds and get out of here.”

  “Frankie will find you,” I said, while she ran the tape around my wrists. “It’s still not too late to go to the cops.”

  She tapped my head lightly with the barrel of the gun. “Shut up, Wes. You’re beginning to piss me off. Now roll over onto your back.”

  I did what she asked, and she kneeled on the bed, pointed the gun between my legs, and said, “Lift your legs and hold them real steady. We don’t want the pistol going off now, do we?”

  My body was covered with a fine layer of sweat by the time she finished taping my ankles. She ripped the rest of the roll from the tape, tossed it across the room and slid over alongside of me.

  “Things could have been much more pleasant than this if only you’d stayed in bed in the first place,” she said

  “I guess I made a mistake.”

  “Big time.” She lay the gun down on the bed, reached out and touched my cheek, and then she bent forward and gave me a soft lingering kiss. While I caught my breath, she reached out and ran her fingertips along my stomach.

  I quivered, and despite the awkwardness of the situation, I felt myself stir. This seemed to amuse her and she let out a bawdy laugh.

  “Well at least I know you’re not gay,” she said. Climbing off the bed she picked up the gun and walked over to the door. “You take care now, Darling,” she added, before walking out the door.

  Chapter 18

  I struggled for several minutes after Destiny left, but all I did was work up a nice sweat. This woman was pissing me off. It was obvious she had been lying to me from the start. Like an idiot I’d let my good intentions and her good looks cloud my judgment. Along with the lies, she’d set me up with Frankie. If I wasn’t careful, the next body Detective Davies came across was going to be mine. All of this reinforced my decision to leave the agency for good. It was becoming clearer by the day that I wasn’t cut out to be a detective.

  The only good thing about meeting Destiny was that she’d brought me closer to Tanya. Of course, because of her I’d lost all interest in lending a helping hand to defenseless females. I swore right then and there that the next time my mother tried to guilt me into helping her with a case, I was going to hang up the phone and change my number again.

  It was about ten minutes later when the front door opened and I called out, “I hope it’s you Tanya.”

  “You were expecting someone else?”

  I left the question unanswered for the moment. I was very aware of the muted sound of her feet moving through the house and I wondered how Tanya would respond to my situation. I could feel my face turning red, and a band of sweat formed across my forehead when I realized she was heading for the bedroom.

  When Tanya stepped through the doorway her eyes widened, a look of horror swept across her face, and her jaw dropped as she took in my plight. For a moment I was afraid she was going to turn and flee. Instead, she stood there shaking her head in disbelief.

  “Think you could give me a hand here?” I asked.

  Tanya nodded, and started toward me. Her steps were hesitant, and she turned her head back and forth while she made her way across the room. It was almost as if she expected Ashton Kutcher to step out and tell her she’d been punked. When she reached my side, she dropped to her knees and began to fumble with the tape holding my hands. “What the hell happened?”

  “Destiny happened,” I said.

  “Gail did this to you?”

  “I didn’t tie myself up.”

  She stopped tugging at the tape and gave me a quizzical look. “Why would she do this? What did you do to her?”

  “I didn’t do anything. It’s because I refused to have sex with her.”

  A smile flitted across her face. “This must be a first.”

  “I’m glad you’re amused.”

  I was making a concerted effort to control my temper, but the irony of my statement must have been lost on her because the smile returned full bloom. “You know what they say, don’t you?”

  “No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.” The muscles in my arms were cramping and I needed to scratch my nose. I was not amused when she continued.

  “If you’re gonna play, you gotta pay. What the hell were you doing in bed with Gail?”

  “It’s not what it looks like,” I said. “Maybe if you’re finished with the humor you could go find a knife and get this tape off of me.”

  “Getting a little testy, aren’t we?” Tanya stood and looked down at me. “If you’re not nice to me I may have to leave you there.” I could see she was fighting to keep a straight face, but she couldn’t hold it back and she burst out laughing. It was a deep hearty laugh, and I would have enjoyed it at any other time. At the moment, however, all it did was add to my irritability.

  “This isn’t funny,” I said.

  “Of course not.” She stopped laughing, but her eyes sparkled with amusement.

  “Would you please get a knife?”

  “Sure.” She reached down, opened her purse and took her phone out. “But first, I’ve got to get a picture of this.”

  “I said this isn’t funny, Tanya.” To emphasize how I felt, I began tugging on my bonds. This only served to raise my blood pressure, and came damn close to tossing me off the bed. Realizing my efforts were futile, I stopped struggling and lay there trying to maintain as much of my dignity as possible while she pointed the phone in my direction.

  “Smile,” she said. She clicked a picture, looked at it, and tucked the phone back into her purse. “I’ll be
right back,” she added, and then she turned and ran from the room.

  While she rummaged around for a knife, I added camera phones to the top of my list of things I hate in life.

  Tanya walked back into the room carrying a small, serrated knife, and I felt my anxiety begin to build again. She was the complete antithesis of Destiny, but it didn’t matter. I was developing a full-blown fear of women with weapons. Maybe I could trade my newfound phobia to Elvis for a tarot reading, and two future predictions of his choice.

  Tanya came over to the bed and stood above me with the knife extended. She bit her lip and I knew she was holding back another laugh, I could see it in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I just can’t help myself. If you were in my position, you’d be laughing too.”

  “I doubt it.” I rolled onto my side and added, “Now would you cut me free? Maybe I can get back a little of my dignity.”

  Tanya worked carefully on the bindings, but at one point I winced when she nicked my thumb. After she’d worked the tape off, blood rushed to my fingers and I groaned. While I tried to get the circulation flowing, she cut my feet free and pulled the sheet over my lower body.

  “You’re bleeding,” she said, looking at my hands. “I thought I was being careful.” She ran toward the door. “I’ll get a bandage.”

  Tanya returned with a washcloth and a box of generic bandages. I slid over to make room, and she sat down on the edge of the bed and set about cleaning and dressing my minor wound.

  When she finished playing nurse, Tanya took both my hands in hers and began to massage them. Working her way downward from my wrists to the fingertips, then back up again, she brought them back to life.

  “How’s that?” she asked as she released my hands.

  I was pouting and refused to answer at first, but she winked at me and I felt my anger begin to dissolve. “Much better,” I said. I even managed a brief smile.

  “Are you ready to tell me what happened here tonight?” she asked.

  “What do you want to hear about first?” I asked. “Should I describe the humility I felt at having a woman I thought I was helping pull a gun and force me to strip before she tied me up? Or the embarrassment of being photographed in this somewhat compromising situation?”

  “Somewhat compromising?” she said. “That would make you the master of the understatement. I didn’t mean to embarrass you, but you looked so cute and helpless I just had to have a picture. If it bothers you that much, I’ll erase it.”

  I mulled over her suggestion and decided I didn’t need to sweat the small things in life. “If you’ll guarantee I won’t appear on some obscure site on the Internet,” I said. “You can keep it.”

  “I don’t know if I can make that promise. I was even thinking of making a copy and pinning it up in the ladies room at the bar.”

  “You wouldn’t?”

  She raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Your secret is safe with me. I promise not to show the picture to anyone. I’m the only one who will ever see it, but it will be awhile before I let you forget it. If I ever need a favor, I might even use it to blackmail you. But enough about your naked ass—are you going to tell me what happened here, or are you going to leave it to my imagination?”

  Not likely, I thought, so I started talking. I told Tanya about my encounter with Bob and his twin, Willie. I filled her in about Bob getting shot, and about waking up to find Detective Davies watching over me. To wrap it up, I told her about jumping out of bed and getting dressed when I discovered Destiny in my bed.

  “I can’t help but notice you’re still calling her Destiny,” Tanya said.

  “You may think of her as a sweet young girl named Gail who you grew up with,” I said. “But I have a different image of that girl. Calling her Destiny reminds me of what she is, a stripper and a thief.”

  Tanya raised her eyebrows again. “Harsh words. So how did she manage to strip you, toss you back into bed, and hogtie you. I have to admit Gail’s a capable woman, but this seems a little extreme even for her.”

  “I still thought she wanted to work with me. I told her we needed to turn the diamonds over to the cops and after a little argument she agreed. I sent her out of the room to get dressed, and when she came strutting back through the door she brought Bob’s gun with her. She had it pointed in my direction and I believed her when she told me she’d shoot if I didn’t do what she wanted.”

  “She’s not going to let the diamonds go, is she?” Tanya asked.

  I shook my head. “I think she’s convinced herself she deserves the diamonds. She believes she can still get away.”

  “If this Frankie guy catches her, will he kill her?”

  “I’d bet money on it,” I said. “And if Elvis is involved, he might beat Frankie to the job. To be honest, though, I don’t think he has anything to do with the stones. I think Destiny had them the entire time.”

  “I had my doubts from the beginning,” Tanya said. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe in psychics. But Elvis has been a local character for a long time. I’ve met him, and I have a couple of friends besides Gail who swear by him. I think he’s even helped the police on a couple of cases. He’s got a successful business in town. Why would he try to kill Gail? For that matter, why would he try to steal the diamonds?”

  “I think she made the whole thing up to mislead me,” I said. “There was no reason not to believe her—the story seemed plausible. He’s my only lead right now. Destiny may have lied about him having the diamonds, but she seems to trust him. I suspect she’ll go back to him for advice.”

  When I looked her way, Tanya had a quizzical look on her face. “What?” I asked.

  “Are you going to tell me you weren’t even tempted?”

  “To take the cut she offered me on the diamonds?”

  She slapped my arm. “You know what I mean.”

  “Destiny is quite the package,” I admitted. “She’s sexy. She’s vivacious. She’s intelligent. But she’s also crazy. To be honest, she scares the hell out of me. I can visualize it like it was playing on a movie screen. First she’d play with me. Next there would be hours of wild sex. Then, once I fell asleep, she’d knock me on the head, or plunge a knife into my chest, or maybe she’d decide she wanted my balls for a souvenir. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize Destiny’s capable of doing any of those things.”

  “I think you’re exaggerating.”

  “Look what she did to me when I wouldn’t have sex with her.”

  Tanya ignored my comment and began chewing on her lip. “Would you have been as quick to throw me out of your bed? If it had been me?”

  “No.” I didn’t hesitate to answer her.

  “In that case,” she said, “Why don’t you roll over and make room for me?”

  I did what she asked. She jumped out of the bed, switched off the light, and I listened to the rustle of her clothing as she undressed. By the time she climbed back onto the mattress and slid her naked body up next to my back, my heart was racing.

  Just a short time earlier I was fighting to keep my eyes open. Now, as I started to roll toward her, sleep was the last thing on my mind. Unfortunately, whatever I had in mind didn’t coincide with Tanya’s plans.

  “Let’s get some sleep,” she said. “You must be tired after the terrible ordeal of having not one, but two naked women climb into bed with you. And it was busy at the bar tonight. I can hardly move right now. I’m sure a good night’s sleep will reinvigorate both of us.”

  I reigned in my disappointment, wiggled a little closer to her, and closed my eyes. Tanya was right. I was exhausted beyond belief. Still, as she drifted off to sleep, I laid awake, listening to her breathing. I couldn’t help but be aroused the heat of her body and the pressure of her breasts against my back. Damn, I thought when I closed my eyes; I better not wake up in the morning and discover this had all been a dream.

  The musical tone of my cell phone drew me from a sound sleep. I disengaged myself from Tanya
, whose arms were wrapped around my waist, and climbed out of bed.

  Tanya mumbled something I couldn’t hear, and pulled my pillow over her head. By the time I got to the phone it stopped ringing, but before I could turn away it started up again.

  I looked at my watch and saw it was nine-thirty, way past the time I usually got up. I had a good reason to ignore this call and climb back into bed.

  I looked over at the bed, felt a tingle when I saw Tanya’s bare leg sticking out from beneath the sheets, and with great reluctance I opened the phone.

  “Guess who just paid me a visit, Darling.” Frankie sounded annoyed and I regretted picking up the phone. The question must have been rhetorical, because he didn’t give me a chance to respond.

  “Destiny stopped by. You know what she told me?”

  “I don’t have a clue,” I said. “But I’m sure it’s a lie, no matter what she said.”

  “She said you told her you were going to keep the diamonds, and that I could fuck myself. You cannot imagine how unhappy those words made me, Darling. So I’m giving you one last chance. I’m staying at the Reach, and you’ve got until noon to get my diamonds to me. After noon, it’s hunting season. If I’ve got to send Willie after you, you’re a dead man.”

  “You can’t believe her,” I said. “I’ve never even touched the damn things.”

  “She’s standing right here next to me as I speak,” he said. “I don’t think she’s got the guts to tell me this kind of a lie. I’m telling you I want my diamonds back, and I want them today. And by the way, Bob was right, your name does suck,” he added, and hung up the phone.

  “Who was it?” Tanya pulled the pillow from her head when I climbed back into bed. Her eyes were sleepy looking, and a strand of hair hung down over her forehead.

  I reached out, brushed the errant hair back, and she took my hand and spread it open. She touched my palm to her lips and closed my fingers around her kiss.

  “Ah, it was Frankie,” I said.

  “So what did he want?” She pulled me closer to her and kissed me on the neck.

  “Ah…”

  “You don’t seem too concerned about it.”