AGAINST THE WIND (Book Two of The Miami Crime Trilogy)

by Don Donovan

  More thinking, more silence between them. The cars cruising by on State Road 7 provided the only soundtrack, constant and droning in the distance. Two or three customers exited the adjacent hardware store with their purchases and loaded them into pickup trucks. He's so intent on making it up to me, he wouldn't dare fuck it up. Like he says, he'll get Bebop or die trying.

  "Alicia?" Desi said. "What do you say? Will you let me go after him? Please?"

  "Okay," she said. She caught Desi's slight exhale. "Go over there and get that hijo de puta, and don't come back until you do."

  "Where is he? Where can I find him?"

  "You can find him hanging out at the Sunsplash Club. He's not there every night, but I hear he likes to go there. It's right here in North Miami on West Dixie Highway and Northeast 132nd Street. I wouldn't go in there if I were you. You'd be the only non-Jamaican in the place."

  "Sunsplash Club. Okay. Thanks, hermana. Muchisimas gracias por todo."

  "And Desi …"

  "Yeah?"

  "I shouldn't have to tell you this, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. Don't fuck it up."

  "No way," Desi said. "This time, the nigger goes down."

  "I'm telling you for real, hermano. Don't fuck it up. You understand me?"

  Desi swallowed. "I understand you, Alicia. No fuckups."

  She opened the back door to her Bentley. As she started to get in, she said, "And Desi …"

  "Yeah?"

  "Good luck. Be extra careful. I mean that." She disappeared inside her big car and Berto swung it out of the parking lot.

  28

  Silvana

  Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida

  Monday, April 9, 2012

  8:55 AM

  BOBBY VARGAS PULLED UP to the nicely-renovated building on Grand Avenue in Coconut Grove. Silvana looked it over. Small in size, it appeared to have been restored to some kind of faux original condition. Vargas parked in the bus stop directly in front, and he grabbed the manila envelope on the seat between them. Then he and Silvana got out of the car and entered the building.

  It had been a few days since Bob Harvey's funeral and their subsequent questioning of Maxie Méndez. After Méndez hinted that Phil Harvey might know something about the murder, Silvana's natural inclination was to rush over to Phil's office and brace him immediately. But she resisted. She took a deep breath and thought it through. A little homework on Mr Phil might be in order before paying him a visit. It took a couple of days to get the information she wanted, but now she had it.

  As they stepped off the elevator on the third floor, she took note of the clean lobby and modern furniture. She also noticed it wasn't nearly as big as she thought it would be, maybe even a tad bit on the cramped side. She never gave big real estate companies much thought, but when she did, they always carried the image of a huge operation, requiring lots of space and hundreds of buzzing employees. But, apparently not. At least, not in the case of Harvey Development, Incorporated.

  They approached the receptionist. She was around forty-five, but still wore that alluring look that made her a knockout when she was twenty-five. Slim, tight body, and long, slender hands poised over her keyboard. With the assistance of the right bra, her modest breasts pushed her contoured top to its limits, giving her a curvy silhouette and pouting cleavage. Sparkling eyes that looked like they never quit smiling sat under thin eyebrows, unnaturally arched by the wonders of modern makeup. Silvana tamped down the stirrings that suddenly arose within her.

  "May I help you?" Her voice was low and smoky. Shit, Silvana thought, she must've had guys drooling all over themselves back in the day. Girls, too. Probably still does.

  Silvana said, "We're police officers." They showed tin on cue. "We'd like to see Mr Harvey."

  "Well, I don't know if —"

  "This is in regard to his brother's murder, ma'am. We need to speak with him. Now."

  With a reddening face and tightening jaw, and yet with professional grace, the woman rose from her desk. Silvana could tell she was not used to being pushed around on her own turf, at her very desk, the epicenter of her power. "Please wait here a moment." Straightening her skirt, she went into an office down at the end of the hall and returned thirty seconds later. "This way, please."

  She showed the cops into Harvey's office and left without comment. He got up from his swivel chair and came around his desk to greet them.

  "Mr Harvey," Silvana said, "I'm Sergeant Machado, Miami Homicide. This is my partner, Detective Vargas."

  "Detectives," Harvey said. "Pleasure. Won't you sit down?" He indicated the opulent leather sofa against the wall. They sat and he took one of the two matching chairs opposite the couch. "What can I do for you?" he said.

  Silvana said, "What can you tell us about your brother being at the Sea & Sand Motel the day he was killed?"

  "Nothing," Harvey replied with a light shrug. "I'd never heard of the place and I have no idea why he was there. I drove past it last week. It doesn't look like the type of place he would ever go to."

  "You're sure? You have no idea why he was there?"

  "No. None."

  "You do know, however, that it's a low-grade rendezvous for prostitutes and their johns."

  "I did not know that," he said. "Then … then you mean that Bob …"

  "He was there with a prostitute," Vargas said. "And the motel manager says he remembers him from previous encounters, previous check-ins."

  "Bob? With a prostitute? In that place?" Harvey said. "You've gotta be kidding."

  Silvana said, "We're not kidding. Now, are you familiar with one Evalena Díaz, aka 'Diamond'?"

  "Diamond? Mmm, no, I don't know anyone by that name. Or the other name, either." He reached for his necktie, touching it as if to loosen or adjust it. Either way, he was uncomfortable at the mention of this name, and Silvana picked up on it.

  She nodded at Vargas. He reached into the manila envelope. He came out holding a photograph, about three by five. Silvana took it and showed it to Harvey.

  "Maybe this will jog your memory," she said.

  Harvey took the photo. It was a booking shot, dated a year or so earlier, taken with awkward lighting and a height-measurement background. But the girl in the foreground didn't need fancy lighting or costumes to show off her breathtaking beauty. A well-constructed face featured paralyzing dark eyes and a trim little nose over a full-lipped, sensuous mouth. All this under a forest of raven hair flowing to her shoulders. Her half-smile seemed genuine, not forced for the photo and conspicuously lacking attitude. She spelled danger while somehow managing to come off looking like the cuddly girl next door all gussied up for the big dance.

  "Never seen her before," Harvey said.

  "Well, that's not what we hear," Silvana said. "According to Vice, you were seen checking into the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables with her at your side on at least several occasions."

  "That's outrageous! I've never done anything like that! I'm a married m —"

  "Think again," Vargas said, as he produced another photo, this one from the manila envelope. It was also color, a security cam photo from behind the Biltmore front desk, clearly showing Harvey and Evalena Díaz checking in. "We have several more of these, too. Each one from different dates, and in each one the two of you are checking in to the hotel."

  Harvey's head sunk and might have sunk all the way to the floor if his hands weren't there to catch it. His head rested in his hands while he said, "I … I … you've got to believe me, I don't do that kind of thing. Only just a few times with … with that girl. She's so … ravishing, she … she just …"

  Silvana said, "Would it interest you to know that Vice contacted the escort service she works for and they have her going on a date to the Sea & Sand Motel at two o'clock on March 30, shortly before your brother was murdered?"

  "W-well, that could be coincidence."

  "Hardly," Silvana said. "The records of the motel show a man fitting your brother's description as checking in on March 30 under the na
me 'Eric Clapton', and they also show him checking in every other Friday at around two o'clock PM under that name for the last several months."

  "That doesn't mean it was him!" he cried. "In fact, if she was there, she's probably the one who killed him."

  "We're looking into it. Now, how about if I tell you the escort service confirms Evalena Díaz keeping dates at the Sea & Sand Motel on those very same Fridays and at the very same hour?" Silvana modulated her voice down to sympathetic level. "Listen, Mr Harvey, there's nothing wrong with using hookers. People have been doing it since the beginning of time. Men, women … you do it yourself. In fact with the same hooker as your brother."

  "N-nothing wrong?"

  "No. Nothing at all. We're not here to arrest you for anything. You're not in any trouble. We just want information. Now, can you tell us why both you and your brother both happened to be seeing Evalena Díaz?"

  Harvey tried to straighten up and summon some composure. "He … he liked going to those seedy dumps. Said it made him feel like he'd crossed some kind of forbidden line. It actually excited him. Me, I could never see the point. If I was going to pay for sex, I was at least going to have it in clean surroundings. You know what I mean?"

  "We know what you mean," Vargas said. "So why were you both with the same girl?"

  "It all started about a year ago. A contractor I work with from time to time gave me the number of the escort service. Said they had the best girls in the city. Best in all South Florida, for that matter."

  "What was the name of this service?" Vargas asked.

  "Magic City Suites," Harvey said. "Best in all South Florida, that contractor told me. And he should know. He was a real whore dog, you know?"

  Silvana and Vargas noted the name and nodded. "Go on," she said.

  "S-so I called them one day. I didn't really know what to say, but they walked me through it. Then they asked me where I wanted the girl to show up." He chuckled a little and said, "You know, I hadn't really thought about that, so I just blurted out the Biltmore. It was close by and it was the only place I could think of."

  Vargas said, "So they sent Evalena Díaz?"

  "No. They sent another girl. She was blonde, and not Latina. We had a good time, but I always liked Cuban girls. They've just got a little something … something extra, you know what I mean? Oh — no offense, Sergeant, but you do know what I mean?"

  Silvana nodded patiently. "Yes, I know. And no offense taken."

  Harvey said, "A couple of weeks later, I called them again and asked for a Cuban girl, or Latina of some kind, and that's when they sent Diamond. From then on, I saw only her."

  "How often did you see her?" Silvana asked.

  "At first, only about once every five or six weeks. Then, these last few months, it got so we were together every week."

  "When did your brother enter the picture?"

  "One night about six months ago, we met after work for drinks. We got —"

  Silvana said, "Did you do that often?" She remembered Maxie Méndez's casual mention of how the two brothers never really got along too well.

  "No, not really," Harvey said. "But on this night, we got together to talk about this construction project my company is doing."

  "The Loma Linda Shopping Center, near Hialeah Park," Silvana said.

  Harvey made a little flick with his head, clearly surprised. "How did you know about that?"

  "Let's just say I'm well-informed. Now, was that the project?"

  "Yes. Yes, it was. Only now it's Loma Linda Center, which includes a shopping center and a hotel."

  Vargas said, "What aspects of it were you discussing?"

  "I don't really see how that's relevant."

  "It's relevant if we say it's relevant," Vargas said. "Now what were you discussing?"

  Silvana jumped in. "Mr Harvey, Detective Vargas sometimes gets a little carried away. What he really means is that every piece of information, no matter how small or how seemingly unconnected, is important in a murder case. And you never know when some 'irrelevant' bit of information might turn out to be critical."

  "Okay, okay." Harvey got up from his chair. "Can I get either of you something to drink? Coffee? Soda? Something stronger?" The cops shook their heads. Harvey said, "Well, I'm going to have some coffee, if it's okay." They nodded approval and he moved across the office to a coffeemaker and poured a steaming cup of black liquid. He didn't put anything else in it.

  When he took his seat again, Silvana said, "So what was the topic of discussion at your meeting?"

  Harvey said, "Last summer, someone tried to kill Maxie Méndez in the parking lot of some strip joint in Hialeah. Bob thought I had something to do with it."

  "Why would he think that?" Silvana said. "Aren't you working closely with him in this shopping center deal?"

  Again the head flick. Again the tell. "How do you know that?" he said.

  "Never mind where we get our information. Tell me why Méndez would think you tried to kill him if you and he were working together on this deal."

  "I don't know. Maybe because I didn't like the fact that Bob brought him in to begin with. Brought him in, you know, to handle things in the Hialeah Building Department. For permits and things like that. Also, to put out any fires that might flare up with the construction unions."

  "What's wrong with that?" Silvana said. "Those are valuable services he performs. They've got to be worth something to you."

  "Not that the services themselves aren't useful. Sure, we might've otherwise had trouble with the permitting process and sure, the unions have been unusually cooperative during construction, but he's a fucking gangster, you know? A criminal! I don't want to be seen doing business with that kind of person."

  "We know," said Silvana. "But you weren't committing any crime by doing business with him. By giving him a sweet deal on retail space and maybe a piece of the overall action. That might look a little shady, but it's no crime."

  Harvey sipped at his coffee, which was just now cooling down. He said, "I just didn't like Bob bringing him in. I didn't feel … clean, you know?"

  Silvana said, "What was the breakdown in the ownership between you, your brother, and Méndez?"

  "I'd rather not say."

  "It's important that we know, Mr Harvey," Silvana said. "Now what was the breakdown?"

  Harvey hesitated, lost in thought, or maybe worry. Presently, he said, "Bob had fifty-one percent. Méndez and I had twenty-four and a half each." Silvana and Vargas both exhaled in unison. Harvey allowed himself a sardonic grin and said, "Didn't think they had such big chunks, did you?"

  Silvana composed herself immediately. "I have to say, no we didn't, Mr Harvey."

  "Well, they did. That was Méndez's price for his help, and Bob shepherded the deal through all the rest of the county bureaucracy. Environmental impact, parking, planning department, zoning, all the rest of it. For that, he wanted half."

  "And you gave it to him?"

  "Shit, he knows everybody in the county! He can make things happen. If he wants something, he gets it."

  "What about financing?" Silvana said. "Where was the money coming from?"

  "Bob had the money set up through friends of his in the investment world."

  "All of it?" Vargas said. "That must be some serious chunk of change."

  "Serious is right, Detective," Harvey said. "But Bob had it all together."

  "Who was financing the deal?" Silvana asked.

  "A combination of a couple of pension funds and a real estate investment trust. People he knows," Harvey replied.

  Silvana crossed her legs on the sofa. "So Bob brings the money and he also greases the way through the county red tape. Maxie Méndez provides the permits and union peace. Is that right?"

  Harvey said yes, but Silvana could tell he wished he was saying no.

  She said, "But you've built other projects before. You've never needed your brother to … or … or have you?"

  "Okay, Sergeant, now you know my dirty little secret.
He had his hands in just about everything I've ever built. And this goes back over twenty-five years, back to when he was starting to amass influence, starting to build his empire in what was then Dade County." He drank from his coffee, a healthy swig. Silvana could tell it went down hard.

  Silvana paused for nearly thirty seconds, letting everything cool down. Then she said, "When did the subject of Evalena Diaz come up?"

  Harvey leaped back to their original conversation. "Right. It was that night when we met for drinks after work. Well, like I said, we started talking about Loma Linda, and we got heavily into it. We wound up having more drinks than I usually have. Anyway, after we got done talking business, I was feeling a little tipsy and I mentioned Diamond to him."

  "What was his response?" Vargas asked.

  "He was very interested. Especially when I described her to him. I even showed him a few pictures of her I'd taken on my cell phone."

  Silvana saw him hold back a smile when he said this. They must have been some pictures, she thought.

  "Pictures?" she said.

  Harvey held back. "Uh … umm … "

  "What kind of pictures," Vargas said. Silvana's heart rate picked up.

  Harvey drank again from his coffee. "Well, you know … pictures. Naked pictures."

  Silvana took a couple of breaths through her mouth, but she was sure neither of the men caught it. "Were these … pornographic pictures, Mr Harvey?"

  "Why, no. Not really. She was just by herself, you know, just sitting there. Naked. I've got to tell you, though, she was something to look at."

  "Do you have those pictures now?" Silvana asked, realizing immediately she shouldn't have said that. She quickly brought herself back under control.

  Harvey threw her a frown. "Why do want to see them, Sergeant?" he said.