by Dakan
"When we have time, it's amazing," said Paul. "But the sex has never been the problem. It's everything else."
"I have heard some shouting,"
"We're having a hard time..." Paul started, then stopped as he searched for the right words. "It's hard, you know. Living together. It's hard work. And it's not like our chosen lifestyle lends itself to a low stress environment, despite all the parties. This living a life of crime thing can be hard work too."
"Maybe you should talk more," Sandee said. "Air out your differences."
"Talking more isn't the solution," said Paul. "We talk plenty and air out pretty much everything. The problem's a little more unsolvable than that. Fact is, we want different things out of life and, well, those things are kind of incompatible."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I love it here," said Paul. "Current events aside, for me this is all just about perfect. Warm weather and parties and fun-filled scams, good drugs and great friends and free Internet access. Total freedom to do as we please."
"Amen, brother," Sandee said. "Sounds like paradise to me. So what's the problem?"
"Well, for you and me it's paradise - or it would be if there was a decent comic book store - but for Chloe, not so much. She's starting to feel penned-in here. It's too small for her."
"See, I love that it's so small but so alive and fun at the same time," said Sandee. "I mean, I've visited Miami and New York, but I keep coming back here."
"And I keep hoping Chloe will come to see it that way too," said Paul. "But I don't know if that's ever going to happen."
"It'll happen," said Sandee. "Key West gets to you. You just need to give it some time. And just because I love you kids, we could skip ahead in our lessons straight to the hour long orgasms. If that doesn't make her want to stay, nothing will."
Paul laughed. "Finally! That's why we signed up with you in the first place, you know."
"We've all got to crawl before we walk," Sandee chided with a smile.
They settled into a comfortable silence then, eating brown rice salad and watching the tourists waddle around on the laptop screens. Paul closed his eyes for a moment just to rest them. Just for a few seconds...
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Chapter 24
CHLOE worked the door's lock as quietly as possible, turning the knob with a slow, steady hand. She crept inside, the carpeting muffling her footsteps as she slid along the wall toward the living room. As she popped around the corner, she discovered all her stealth was for naught. There sat Sandee, smiling and waving at her while Paul was snoring in his seat in front of two laptops. She smiled and put a finger to her lips. Sandee nodded in response. Chloe moved up behind Paul, positioned her fingers just so on either side of his ribs and then started to tickle her boyfriend mercilessly.
"Ahhh!" shouted Paul as he jumped up from his seat while Sandee and Chloe descended into giggle fits.
"What the fuck...?" he said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
Still laughing, Chloe gave Paul a hug and kissed him, which calmed them both down a bit. She kissed him again and then one more time just because she could. It was good to see him.
"Hey, babe," she said.
"Hey yourself," he replied, his hands around her waist. "How'd it go with Bee?"
"She's pretty shaken up," said Chloe. "Raff was... well, Raff was Raff. He knew all the right things to say to push her buttons. It was hard for me to watch. I can't imagine how tough it was for her."
"He gave her shit for killing that PI fuck?" asked Paul.
"It's practically all they talked about. And then he tried to get her to come with him to some secret meeting with the guy's wife or some bullshit. That's when I pulled her out."
"She wasn't going to go, was she?" asked Sandee from his seat.
"I don't think so," Chloe replied. "She said she was just playing along, and maybe she was. She did manage to slip an RFID tag into the inseam of his shorts though, so mission accomplished there."
"Where's Raff now?" asked Paul.
"Bee's been tracking him by the tag and the cameras for the last half hour. He's just been wandering around Duval and slowly working his way back toward the Hyatt. Probably trying to shake the tail he assumes we put on him." Chloe glanced at the two laptops. "How're things here?"
"Great!" said Sandee, with an enthusiasm Chloe found kind of cute. "Paul was awesome in the hotel."
"We'll see," said Paul. "We have no way of knowing if Eddie bought our little ruse."
Chloe sat down in Paul's seat and leaned close to the laptop on the left. She recognized one of the people on the screen. It was Marco, Eddie's right-hand man whom she'd met at the bar when she tempted Eddie to the party. "How long has this guy been standing here?" she asked, pointing to a man leaning against the wall outside the hotel, reading a paper and smoking a cigarette
"Oh shit..." said Paul. "That's Marco."
"He's been there about ten, fifteen minutes," Sandee said. "Just sitting there smoking and reading and catching some rays I guess."
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"From there he can cover the main entrances to the hotel," said Paul. "He might be standing watch for Raff."
"I guess we'll see," said Chloe. She saw the empty containers of food and the cooler next to Sandee's chair. "Is there any food left?"
"Of course," said Sandee, reaching into the cooler. "Would you like some mango?"
The three of them only had to wait another twenty minutes before Bee called to let them know that Raff was approaching the hotel. And sure enough, a cab pulled up in front of the entrance and out stepped Raff, scanning the street around him. Marco had seen him too, and they locked eyes. Some unseen signal passed between them and, instead of going into the Hyatt, Raff came over to Marco and bummed a cigarette off him.
The two men talked for a few moments, and Chloe watched their body language closely. She'd worked with Raff for two years and knew a lot about his quirks and tells. Unfortunately the camera she was watching didn't have the resolution to give her a good look at his eyes, but even from his body language she could tell he was frustrated and maybe indignant. Marco remained calm and relaxed throughout the brief conversation, and in the end Raff seemed resigned to his fate. He shook Marco's hand and then walked away from the Hyatt, headed up Simonton.
"That's right, fucker," said Paul. "You got no home now."
"Ok," said Chloe, dialing Bee's number even as she talked to the other two. "Let's get going. Sandee, you take Whitehead Street. Paul, get on your wig and stuff and take Duval. I'll go along Elizabeth. That way, whichever way he goes we can..." She heard Bee answer the phone on her end. "Bee, he just got rebuffed at the... yeah, of course you were watching, sorry. Anyway, you play director and tell us where to go. We're going to track him down."
Two minutes later they were out the door, earpieces in and phones conferenced together, with Bee giving them directions. Between the RFID readers and cameras, it was easy for the three of them to stay at least three blocks away from Raff at all times and still keep him boxed in between them. He took a circuitous route through the city, working his way deeper into Old Town as he did so. The cameras and readers were fewer and farther between here, but so were his options - no stores or restaurants to duck into, just houses and guesthouses.
It took them an hour, but even Raff had his limits, and in the end he led them right to his secret location - a house at the corner of Leon and Duncan just a half-block down from Bayview Park. It was a newer place, built in the past couple years, probably on top of the ruins of some place that hadn't survived hurricane season.
From down the street, Sandee reported by phone as he watched Raff enter the house. Chloe and Paul moved in closer, and together the three of them watched the place for another hour. As it got dark and the street lights came on inside, they all agreed - this had to be where Raff and his Crew were staying. The question now was, what were they going to do with that information?
; "WE need to see if Raquel's murderer is in there with them," said Chloe. "He's got to be hiding somewhere, and if he's in there then we know Raff is behind this whole thing. Isaiah and the others will have to act."
They were stationed in a car parked three blocks away from Raff 's house. They'd moved their wireless cameras so they covered the front and rear of the house (or rather, the front of the house that sat to the rear of Raff 's house) as well as two more cameras at each end of the street. All were on batteries since they didn't have time to tap into a power source. That meant they only had a few more hours until they had to replace them, but every time they went near Raff 's place, the odds improved that Raff or someone else would spot them. So far they'd seen signs of movement in the house, but the blinds were shut, and they had no idea who or how many people are inside.
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"We could just knock on the door," said Sandee from the backseat of the old Honda Civic. "Ask to look around - tell them who we're looking for."
"They'd never let us in," said Chloe. "Why would they? And then we'd have tipped our hand."
"It's not totally crazy," Sandee countered. "We just lay it all out - that we know who killed Raquel and that they're working with Eddie and that if they're harboring the killer, then they're in a whole lot of trouble. And if they don't let us search that house, we assume they're hiding him. Plus I'd like to see them try and stop me."
Chloe shook her head. "No, too dangerous," she said. No one respected Sandee's ability to kick some ass more than she did, but his kung fu didn't make him bulletproof and they had no idea how many of them there were inside.
"Then we need to get some way in there," said Paul, speaking up for the first time in quite a while. He'd been deep in one of his private brainstorm modes, and Chloe knew better than to try and drag him out of it before he was ready. "Someone not tied to us and someone they won't hurt."
"You mean like the cops?" Chloe said, joking. The last thing they wanted was cops involved.
"I was thinking more like the pirates," Paul said, staring out the window at nothing in particular.
"I thought we were the pirates." said Chloe, not understanding what the hell Paul was talking about. "Or did you mean Isaiah? I thought he told you..."
"No, no," said Paul, coming out of his reverie. He turned to face Chloe and Sandee. "The other pirates. The Booty Hunt."
Sandee laughed, but Chloe was not amused. "The bar crawl people?" she asked. "What good would they do us?"
"It's what, 7:00?" said Paul, looking at the clock in the bottom right corner of the computer in his lap. "They start at 8:00, I think."
"Yeah, that sounds right," Sandee said.
"So we've got an hour. Plenty of time to call Bernie and get hooked up with the organizer. What's his name?
Hugh something?"
"Hubert Vandenburg," Sandee said.
"Right. Hubert. He buys from Bernie and he's been to the party at least once."
"Twice," said Sandee.
"Twice. So we got some pull. We can ask him to change the map."
"And what does that get us?" Chloe asked, still not quite sure how a bar-hopping bunch of tourists could help them.
"We make this house," said Paul, jamming his finger at the screen. "The fucking X that marks the spot on the map. The end of the line."
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"Right on!" shouted Sandee from the back. "And so they storm the place! Swords in hand!"
"You're kidding," said Chloe. "Is that what...?"
"At the end of the Booty Hunt, that's what they do," said Paul, excited now. "They go from bar to bar, drinking and work their way around town with their paper swords and hats. And they get a stamp at each place to put on their maps, and then, when they've got all the stamps they meet together at the final place. The treasure trove or whatever they call it, and they make a big show of shouting arrrgh!' and shit like that and then charge in. Usually it's a bar or sometimes a strip club. Places pay Hubert extra to be the last on the list, because everyone's usually drunk and spending money like crazy. But sometimes it ends up at a private party or something like that."
"We were thinking of driving them all to the party one night," Sandee interjected. "You know, bring in some one-timers and see what kind of fun we could have with them."
"Well," said Chloe, thinking. "It is a crazy idea..."
"But..." Paul replied, urging her on.
"But it might work. A bunch of drunken tourists showing up in their yard. Raff 's not going to shoot them, but he won't want the attention either. And it's not like he's going to call the cops. Not if he's hiding a killer in there. We might flush them out or at least get a view of who's in there."
"Great," said Paul. "I'll call Bernie..."
"Another but," Chloe interrupted. "And this is a big one. We can't wait four or five hours for them to get their drunk on and make their way to the end of the map. It's too long. Who knows what will happen between now and then."
"Yeah..." said Paul. "That is a problem. But we could... maybe we could..." his voice drifted off.
"Could what?" Chloe prompted.
"I'm thinking that maybe... I mean why not. If we pay off this Hubert guy enough, then why not? We could reverse the map. Have them start at the end, with the attack.' We just need to make it worth his while. I mean, what does he care?"
"That could do it," agreed Chloe. "How much are we talking here?"
"I'm not sure..."
"I know I could convince Hubert to go for five grand," Sandee said. "Especially if Bernie's there to help me out."
"Ok, I love it, and it's damn certain that Raff won't be expecting it," Chloe said. "I'll call Bee and have her make up a map. Sandee, you call Bernie and then track down Hubert. Then swing by the house, pick up the money and the maps and maybe change into girl form for the occasion. You should stick with the Booty Hunt crowd and make sure they're riled up for the occasion."
"Will do," said Sandee, opening the car door. "And you two are going to stay and watch the house?"
"That's the plan," said Chloe.
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"Ok," said Sandee with a devilish grin, "But try and keep your eyes on the screens, ok? I haven't taught you two my patented Shiva and Shakti in the Backseat of a Civic, Reversed position yet."
"We'll be good," Chloe assured him.
"I don't want you to be good!" Sandee insisted. "I just want you to keep your eyes on the screens while you fuck." He exited the car, closing the door behind him before Chloe or Paul could respond.
She looked over at Paul, who was laughing to himself. They both smiled at one another, but then all of a sudden Chloe felt embarrassed and looked away. She certainly wanted to fuck Paul - but not right now. Not with all this other crap going on. They'd find the time later. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Paul had turned his attention back to his laptop. He must feel the same way, she thought, focusing on the job at hand.
Time enough for love later.
CHLOE had needed a breath of fresh air. Two hours of sitting in the Civic not talking to Paul had finally become too oppressive. There was this tension between them, and she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. It was like he blamed her somehow for Raff being here, as if it were all her fault. Not that he said that, of course. Or anything like that, really. But somehow every time he mentioned Winston or Isaiah or Raff, it was with this deep-seated venom, and she couldn't help but think that he might be feeling the same way about her.
The sad part was that he probably didn't even know he was doing it. He was just scared. And so was she, so at least they had that in common.
On the plus side, she'd finally gotten a hold of Winston. He'd told her that he'd taken care of the body (although not in so many words over a cell phone), and that he was heading back into Key West. Chloe guessed that he'd taken the body up the road to dispose of it, maybe as far as the Everglades, over three hours away. He'd certainly bee
n gone long enough to make it there and back. He'd promised to call again as soon as he and Lily got settled back in town.
It was 10:00 now. Bee and Sandee had both checked in and everything was going according to plan. Hubert had cost $6,500, not $5k, but he'd agreed to use their revised map. Sandee had called from Busted Bill's, the bar where the Booty Hunt always began, to say that the "pirates" were heading out. Thanks to Key West's liberal open container laws, she expected to see the crowd of pirate-hat wearing bar hoppers meandering down the street with plastic cups of rum punch and paper cutlasses in their hands any minute now.
She heard them before she saw them, an out of synch, boisterous chorus singing, "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest! Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum!" over and over again. Their vanguard rounded the corner, led by what looked like a woman with long, curly black hair tucked under a flamboyant pirate hat. The leader's trim figure was packed into skin-tight black pants, knee high, spike-heeled boots and a tight fitting red corset modeled after an old-fashioned captain's coat, with gold buttons and fringe. It was Sandee of course, who had apparently decided to personally take charge of the assault in his Captain Morgana costume. Chloe wished he hadn't done that; it was too conspicuous by far, but Sandee was never good at being demure.
Chloe backed into the shadows of a nearby tree, out of sight from the advancing mob of booty seekers. She counted them as they walked by her position, headed for Raff 's house. There had to be fifty of them! Fuck, this could either go really right or really fucking wrong. The crowd was mostly middle aged and probably all tourists, an even mix of men and women. Several passing cars honked their appreciation, and the gang cheered "ARRRR!" in return, as they'd been taught.
Once they'd passed, she jogged back to the car to watch on the video and let Paul knew what was up.
"They're coming," she told him as she got inside.
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"I heard," said Paul, not looking up from his screen.
"There's like, fifty of them," Chloe said.
"Christ, really?"
"Yeah. It's gonna be something."