“For one, they’re in the business as our competitors who don’t have a problem using guns to intimidate the competition. The crew fights dirty and often. And it’s rumored they have a financial bigwig who equipped that forty-five-foot monster with state of the art everything.”
Walsh took exception to that. “Hey, we’re not exactly slouches. Thanks to some amazing conversions, The Black Rum’s been outfitted to the hilt. I’ll match our engines and speed any day of the week with what they’ve got.”
Mitch slapped Walsh on the back. “I know and you’d get beaten every time. Do me a favor.”
“Mitch boy, you’re racking ’em up faster than I’m able to keep a tally.”
“I know that too. Get online. Ask around the blog sites. See if you can determine what they’re doing in our neck of the woods so far from the South Atlantic. There has to be scuttlebutt somewhere.”
“Sheesh, that doesn’t take a genius. What else? They’re after treasure.”
“Yeah, but I want to know which treasure in which location? And get specifics.”
“Sure, what else have I got to do?” Walsh pivoted to get a better look at the town. “So this is where you spend Christmas every year, huh? Do I get to meet the parents?”
“Absolutely. But keep in mind it’s not the greatest time to catch them at their best. It’s day to day. My mom and dad have taken a hit and have yet to bounce back. They’re trying to keep it going, but it’s been tough.”
“Understandable. So when do you want us to get started?”
Mitch scratched his head. “Well, we’ve been all over town, gone up and down the beaches, explored every empty lot between here and the city limits sign. I’d say now’s the time to move it to the water. But first I have to clear it with the authorities. Hopefully, I’ll be able to talk them into helping us with diving on the bay. When we branch out to the Atlantic, which we will, I’m hopeful we’ll be able to conduct that search ourselves. As to lodging for the crew, there’s a hotel across the street.”
“Nah, we’re bunking on board, same as we always do.” Walsh turned to go, but stopped. “You know she isn’t out there, not in this harbor. Your sister. Her family. Too busy. My gut tells me you’ll be looking in the wrong place. You should concentrate out in open water where there’s less boat traffic. Pick a side of the island to start with. Gulf to the west. Atlantic to the east. That’s what I’d do.”
“I don’t disagree. But people have been known to dump bodies in the bay once the sun goes down,” Mitch declared. “We have to cover all our bases. The bay is one.”
Intrigued with the confident way Walsh had argued his point, Jackson angled toward the crew chief. “What makes you think Livvy is farther out?”
Walsh lifted a shoulder. “Pure instinct.” He tapped Mitch on the shoulder. “But he’s the boss. And your brother will attest, I’m only right about eighty-five percent of the time.”
Mitch coughed for effect. “Unfortunately, it’s that fifteen percent that always gets us into trouble.”
Chapter Thirteen
By midday, Tessa sat in the passenger seat of Raine’s vintage Fiat roadster speeding down the Overseas Highway. Raine didn’t seem overly concerned about clipping along fifteen over the limit.
So far, they’d driven through town without a word exchanged between them. Instead of talking, Raine had cranked up the music—a Death Port CD blared from the speakers.
The minute they’d left the marina Raine had used the alternative rock to avoid any attempt at conversation.
The reason didn’t escape Tessa. Raine’s mood had gone south since spending the better part of her morning around Mitch. After four hours of playing nice, she’d grown downright sullen. Tessa knew it was all on her. “Look, I’m sorry I made you go. Obviously you don’t like being anywhere near the man, even plastering on a fake smile for Livvy’s benefit.”
“Ha, that’s how much you know,” Raine shouted over the rock band. “We got along great, like two old foes afraid to talk to each other for fear of pissing each other off and creating a scene. We wouldn’t want to create a scene, now would we?”
Raine finally reached over and adjusted the volume. “It isn’t your fault. I should’ve showed up on Sunday. I purposely avoided the damn thing knowing I’d see him, which is silly because it’s ancient history.”
“History has a way of repeating itself with very little effort,” Tessa warned.
“No chance of that. I may not be the smartest person in the room, but I’m a grown woman now. I’m able to recognize a man who has no intentions of ever settling down in Indigo Key, a place where I have deep roots. How about we talk about something else?”
“Sure. This is a cute car.”
Raine snorted out a laugh. “It’s a piece of crap and doesn’t run half the time. But it belonged to Danny, which means I haven’t been able to work up enough of a reason to part with it. Every time I try to write out an ad for the classifieds to put it up for sale, I just can’t bear to complete the online post and face the prospect of letting it go. So, like a sentimental idiot, I keep it around as a reminder that Danny worked himself silly fixing this old heap up. I ought to hunt down Hudley Slocum, the guy who unloaded it on him.”
“Why don’t you?” Tessa wanted to know.
“Because it’s been a decade ago. Lots of water under the old bridge since that transaction went down.”
“It’s sweet that you hang onto Danny’s car like this. I wonder if I’ll…” Tessa’s voice hitched before trailing off. “I can’t think like that yet. I have to believe Ryan’s okay, that he’s out there somewhere. But I’m not stupid. I know he’d never walk away from the business he’d worked so hard to get off the ground. He wouldn’t disappear like this on his own.”
Raine took a deep breath. “I hear ya. For what it’s worth, I think something bad’s happened to Livvy and the kids.”
“Is Walker capable of harming his own children? There’s been a lot of speculation.”
“Why not? Desperate for money, he might try to collect on a bundle of life insurance and then take off. There’s just one problem with that theory.”
“Walker isn’t around to collect.”
“Yeah.” Raine glanced from the road long enough to briefly study her passenger. “Something tells me you aren’t completely comfortable heading to Key West like this.”
“Because we’ll be hitting the pavement looking for Walker’s girlfriend? No, I’m okay with it, mainly because I’m determined to do anything to help. I am troubled about one thing. Are you sure this is the right time of day to locate a stripper? Don’t they do their thing at night?”
Raine lifted a brow. “They don’t have daytime strip clubs back in North Carolina?”
“I guess I’ve led a sheltered life.”
“Probably. The thing is Walker used to make his trips to Key West in the middle of the day so he could be back by dinner time.”
“How considerate of him.”
“Wasn’t it though?”
Once they reached Key West the two women started at the string of nightspots along Dumont Street with names like Cherry Dolls and Body Shots and Topless Babes.
At each location Tessa and Raine took turns shoving Walker’s picture under as many noses as they could get to look at the photo. But three hours into their outing, after going from club to club, after using whatever story worked to get the dancers to study the snapshot, they had nada to show for their efforts.
None of the scantily clad females had any desire to own up to being Harlow, let alone to dating the guy in the photograph posed with his wife and two adorable kids.
After striking out with the dancers, they decided to aim the picture toward the bartenders and cocktail waitresses and the clientele. But again, after several more hours of walking until their feet hurt, they couldn’t find anyone who recognized Walker. They also found it odd that no one had heard of a stripper using Harlow as her stage name.
Around five o’clock, they gave up and heade
d to the car.
“As rank amateur detectives that was a bust,” Tessa admitted. “I expected more out of this.”
“It’s our first attempt,” Raine pointed out with a shrug. “We’re bound to get better.”
“Couldn’t get any worse. But for every time I get my hopes up, it’s ripped out from under me. I’m upset that I’m no closer than I was a week ago to finding…something. I fear I’m running out of time. Speaking of time, I have another favor to ask.”
Raine threw her a cautious look. “No.”
“You haven’t even heard it yet. Hear me out.”
“I don’t have to. Whatever it is it involves Mitchell Taylor Indigo. Let me guess. You want me to spend my Wednesday night off sitting around with some detective I’ve never met and be in the same room with him for longer than I care to be. The answer is no.”
Tessa decided to play hardball. “So people disappear around Indigo Key all the time?”
“What? Of course not.”
“Then how do you explain the casual way some people in town refuse to help look for Livvy? As I see it, you either participate in some way or you live with the fact that your friend and her kids are missing, maybe for good. I know I couldn’t sit around on the sidelines doing nothing.”
Raine dug in her heels. “I drove all the way to Key West to look for a stripper. How is that sitting on the sidelines?”
“For one afternoon.” Tessa held up a hand. “I’m sorry. But is your resistance to meeting with the detective due solely to how you feel about Mitch?”
Raine chewed the inside of her jaw, beginning to get annoyed. “I have a problem spending time with the guy who dumped me without a backward glance, no postcard, no note. Is that so hard to understand?”
“Not at all. You’ve been in love with him a long time. It’s reasonable to be pissed off when that guy doesn’t return the feeling.”
“Now you sound like my mother.”
Tessa tried again. “Look, couldn’t you set aside your feelings long enough to be in the same room with him for this one meeting?”
“They’ve hired a pro. What possible thing could I bring to the table? I sling hash for a living.”
“You also know all the players, have a history with the locals. You knew about the rumors that Walker was seeing someone on the side. Maybe that different perspective is the very thing that could break the case. The more people put their heads together and try to solve this thing the better chance we have of finding out what happened.”
Raine let out a huge sigh and looked at her watch. “When’s the meeting?”
Tessa smiled. “Jackson’s text said six-thirty.”
“If we head back to Indigo now, we should be able to make it.” When she noted Tessa’s smug grin, she added, “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you won. I’m doing this to shut you up.”
“I don’t care why. It’s one evening.”
“After one morning. Besides, what makes you think the Indigos need me tossing in my two cents?”
“I think Tanner and Lenore need to hear what you have to say about Walker. It might reaffirm a few things they’ve been questioning. Think of it this way. It has less to do with Mitch and more to do with helping Livvy’s mom and dad.”
“Low blow, appeal to my sense of fairness.”
Tessa slipped her arm through Raine’s and picked up their pace to the car. “Come on, if you use that leadfoot like you did coming down here, we’ll be able to hustle through traffic to make it back there in no time.”
Chapter Fourteen
Everyone except Anniston had already settled around Lenore’s dining room table by the time Tessa and Raine walked in the door.
The private detective stood in front of a whiteboard she’d set up to review what she’d discovered so far. “I ran the plates from the photos Tessa took.”
Anniston began writing the names of each man using the marker as she ticked off the information. “Your police chief’s attendance is a given since he drove his squad car to the get-together. The other three vehicles you’ve already figured out. The Land Rover belongs to Boone Dandridge.” She jotted that make of vehicle next to the name on the chart she was building.
“Carson Frawley drives the Lexus, Dave Oakerson, the BMW, and Baskin owns the Infiniti. The fifth car, the Mercedes, is a rental I traced back to a German businessman named Werner Dietrich.”
“Why does that name sound so familiar?” Mitch asked, looking around at his brothers for help.
Jackson shrugged. “No idea, but he’s not from Indigo Key.”
Anniston turned to the whiteboard and wrote down Dietrich’s name. She also drew a line connecting the five men to their vehicles. She tapped the board, but circled Dietrich. “This is an important guy who has his hands in some of the top industries in Argentina, everything from banking to mining to oil. And in his spare time, Dietrich likes to dabble in precious gems, collecting art and other memorabilia from the pre-World War II era, with an emphasis on anything belonging to Hitler or Nazi Germany.”
Mitch ran his tongue around his teeth, snapped his fingers. “That’s it. Dietrich owns one of the biggest salvage vessels operating out of the South Atlantic. Son of a bitch. His Patagonia Pike is right here in port. It’s the same one Walsh spotted this morning refueling in Sugar Bay. It normally runs out of Buenos Aires, usually never leaves the shores of South America. As far as I know that crew has never ended up this far north.”
Jackson made a decisive noise in his throat. “Sounds like maybe Royce and these guys are working on some kind of joint venture, like a salvage operation right in our own backyard.”
A sudden memory flashed to life in Tessa’s brain. “Oh my God! As a boy Ryan always wondered what it would be like to get involved in a hunt for one of those Spanish galleons. You don’t suppose…”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Anniston cautioned. But her warning was lost in the speculation that followed.
Jackson’s eyes flew around the room. “I should go back and have a talk with that old man, get him to talk. I can’t believe I fell for his act. He almost had me feeling sorry for him.”
Anniston was adamant. “Stop this. No one jeopardizes this investigation any more than it’s already been compromised. No one goes rogue. Do we understand each other? Nothing I’ve told you or will tell you leaves this room. I’m serious. If you guys won’t stick to the conditions of our contract, I’ll pack up tonight and head back to Miami. That’s how it’s gonna be. Period.”
That threat got reluctant agreements out of each Indigo male, even Tanner. When Anniston did speak it was to keep the topic alive. “This right here is the main reason investigators don’t like sharing what they learn with the family. It makes the situation too volatile. I made an exception for you guys because you’re dealing with five missing loved ones, a situation that is clearly emotional, and therefore, unpredictable.”
“Okay. Okay,” Garret said. “We get it. But how do we get answers if we don’t go rogue? You need to utilize all your resources better. There’s only one of you.” He spread his arms out to take in his family and friends. “We’re perfectly capable of doing legwork, recon, whatever you cops call it. If you feel the need for total autonomy and decide to shut us out, it’ll take you months to get anywhere.”
Anniston leveled a sharp gaze on Garret. “A thorough investigation could take months. This is a marathon, not a sprint. A sprint gets you sloppy mistakes. I’m looking down the road at what will hold up in a court of law, not careless supposition.” She let out a sigh. “I’m gathering evidence, which I will follow wherever it takes me. Then when I’ve got a clear picture as to what happened, I’ll take it to the proper authorities.”
“The proper authorities shouldn’t include Sinclair,” Tessa threw out. “Whatever Buchanan is working on with this Dietrich person, Sinclair is part of it.”
“More like half the town,” Jackson groaned.
&n
bsp; “That’s just it,” Anniston began. “We know the ones we shouldn’t trust. It’s more than we knew yesterday. In fact, anyone outside this room should be considered a risk. That’s why what we say here, stays here.”
Mitch had to raise his voice over the disgruntled din beginning to grow even louder. “And that’s why you should let us in on the routine inquiries because this thing’s branched out. Now we have to figure out the underlying reason Frawley, Dandridge, and Oakerson went out of their way to derail the search. Why would Royce be a part of something like that?”
“Because he’s a heartless old bastard,” Tanner added. “You have no idea what kind of monster you’re really dealing with in Royce Buchanan. Everybody knows that man’s always been slicker than owl shit.”
That accusation only drove the room into their battle positions, each one offering to do what they could to move the investigation along.
After listening to the appeals that came at her in a fevered pitch, Anniston said, “Fair enough, I’m not used to having partners other than my dad and brother. I’ll tell you what, I’ll keep at the five who are missing, which is what you guys hired me to do, while you guys dig into the meeting between Mr. Buchanan and his cronies.” She shuffled some papers around in her briefcase. “If we all agree to that, then is it okay to move on?”
“There’s more?” Garret asked.
A snide expression crossed Anniston’s face. “There’s a lot more. I didn’t just call this meeting to talk about vehicle registrations. First, I received notice from Dack Hawkins that he released the house. He feels nothing of evidentiary value is there.”
Jackson crossed his arms over his chest. “So that means Hawkins thinks no crime’s been committed and we’re back to square one.”
“Basically. Hawkins determined whatever happened didn’t happen inside the house. But here’s the good news for our side. Y’all are cleared to go back there and take a look around, get a second look for yourselves, maybe even a third. Releasing the house also indicates to me that the state is officially moving toward the conclusion that the family left voluntarily.”
[Indigo Brothers 01.0] Indigo Fire Page 18