Loitering with Intent sb-16

by Woods, Stuart

  “I don’t know,” Dino said, “maybe twenty-five, thirty thou? I guess it would depend on availability.”

  “There’s no way he could sell five or six kilos of uncut cocaine in Key West,” Tommy said. “If that much was in there, it was bound for somewhere else, like Miami.”

  “Tommy, if you had half a dozen kilos of pure coke and you wanted to get them to Miami, how would you do it?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t drive it,” Tommy said. “There’s only one road, and if you get stopped for a broken taillight and get searched, well . . .” He looked thoughtful. “Boat or light aircraft,” he said. “And there’s a lot more boats around here than light aircraft.”

  “How long to Miami in a boat?” Stone asked.

  “Well, in something that could do twenty-five, thirty knots, one long day. Any faster than that might attract the attention of the Coast Guard.”

  “The right boat sounds like a good investment in time,” Dino said.

  “We got two questions to answer here,” Tommy said. “Where did he get it, and how was he going to move it?”

  “He got it from South America or Mexico, like everybody else,”

  Stone said. “And there’s no shortage of means to move it.”

  “Evan Keating has a new boat,” Dino said, “and he was chummy with Charley Boggs, at least for a while.”

  “And his boat was parked all night out at the reef,” Tommy pointed out. “Another boat could have handed something off.”

  “Or an airplane could have dropped it,” Stone said. “As I recall, it isn’t very deep out at the reef.”

  “Not deep at all,” Tommy agreed. “You could pick something off the bottom with a snorkel; you wouldn’t even need scuba gear.”

  “Well,” Dino said, “I guess we’ve solved this crime. Except for the part about who killed Charley and where the cocaine is now.”

  “Yeah, except for that part,” Tommy said.

  “I don’t think Evan is our guy,” Stone said.

  “Why not?” Dino asked. “I like him for it.”

  “Okay, let’s say that Evan bought Chuck Chandler’s boat for the purpose of picking up packages at the reef and delivering them to Miami. Was Chuck’s old boat good for that, Tommy?”

  “Yeah, I know the boat, and it was pretty fast. It also doesn’t look like something a drug dealer would use, it being an old classic and all.”

  “But why would Evan hide the coke on Charley Boggs’s houseboat? Why wouldn’t he pick it up at the reef and just keep going until he got to Miami? Why trust Charley with a hundred and fifty grand worth of powder? Charley didn’t look all that trustworthy to me. And if Evan and Charley were in business together, why would Evan have to kill him to get the product?”

  “Partners can disagree,” Dino pointed out.

  Tommy sighed. “I don’t think we’ve solved this crime yet.”

  15

  THE THREE OF them had lunch at the Raw Bar. Dino looked across the table at Stone. “Why are you looking so glum? Are you sad that Charley Boggs is dead?”

  “Well, yeah, since he was our only connection to Evan Keating.”

  “We know what kind of boat Evan is driving now. How about that?”

  “Dino, you remember the whole afternoon we spent in a rented boat looking for Evan?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Do you recall seeing anything that answered the description of Choke?”

  Dino thought about it. “Now that you mention it, no.”

  “That’s because ninety-nine percent of all boats in Key West are white plastic tubs. There aren’t that many 1930s craft around.”

  “But at least we have a boat name now.”

  “Probably not,” Tommy said. “It’s awful easy to change the name on a boat these days. You don’t have to wait for a guy to paint it on—you just go to a graphics shop and they print it out on a sheet of polyethylene, and you slap it on the stern of your boat. The whole thing takes maybe a couple of hours, and that includes lifting the old name off with a hair dryer. If Keating doesn’t want to be found, you can bet he’s changed the name of his boat.”

  “Now I’m feeling glum,” Dino said.

  “You’ll feel better when Genevieve gets here,” Stone said.

  “She isn’t coming; she couldn’t get the time off.”

  “Okay, so we’re both glum.”

  “I don’t know why you’re glum; you’ve got the Swedish doctor.”

  Stone brightened. “That’s right, I do. We’ve already made dinner plans for tonight.”

  “Where are you going?” Tommy asked. “You need a recommendation?”

  “Nope, she’s cooking.”

  “What’s she cooking?” Dino asked.

  “Who cares? I’m sure it will be delicious, and if it isn’t, she will be.”

  “I’d call that an evening with no downside,” Tommy said. “What’s her story, anyway?”

  “She’s Swedish,” Stone explained.

  “Oh.”

  “You seem to have gotten over Tatiana pretty easily,” Dino said.

  “I thought you were all broken up.”

  “I was,” Stone replied, “and more than I’d realized at fi rst. But it’s easier to pick up the pieces if there’s somebody to help rearrange them.”

  “And he isn’t talking about you, Dino,” Tommy said.

  “You think I didn’t know that? It’s a pity, really. This Tati was a beautiful woman. And the killer is, she went back to her awful ex-husband.”

  “They’ll do that,” Tommy said. “No guy can ever understand why a woman would go back to her ex.”

  “Do you have an explanation for that phenomenon?” Stone asked.

  “Nope. I’m a guy.”

  “Don’t worry,” Dino said. “It’ll end badly. She’ll come back after he goes off the wagon a couple of times and breaks her china.”

  “Let’s not talk about Tati anymore,” Stone said. “There’s nothing I can do about her. I’m in Key West.”

  “With a Swedish beauty,” Dino added.

  “That too.”

  “What happens to her when we find Keating and go back to New York?”

  “I’ll throw a sack over her head and take her with me.”

  “Now you’re talking!”

  “I’ve thought of a way we might find Evan Keating,” Tommy said suddenly.

  “Speak to me,” Stone replied.

  “I’ll have somebody at the station call the twenty best restaurants in town and alert them to call us if Keating makes a reservation.”

  “That’s brilliant,” Stone said. “He looks like the kind of guy who’s eating out at the best places every night.”

  “He’s gotta eat,” Tommy said, reaching for his cell phone and pressing a speed-dial button. He gave the instructions and hung up.

  “It’s done; all we’ve gotta do is wait, then meet him at the restaurant. It helps that he’s now a person of interest in the death of Charley Boggs.”

  “Did Charley have any visible means of support?” Dino asked.

  “Not so’s you’d notice,” Tommy said.

  Dino sighed. “One more dead end.”

  “I like the restaurant idea,” Stone said.

  “It occurs to me,” Dino said, “that maybe, in light of what hap-pened to Charley Boggs, we should be packing.”

  “The State of Florida is okay with cops from other jurisdictions packing,” Tommy said.

  “How about retired cops?” Stone asked.

  “We’ll cut you some slack.”

  Stone’s cell phone buzzed, and he flipped it open. “Yes?”

  “It’s Eggers.”

  “Oh, hi, Bill.”

  “Don’t hi me; where’s that signed paperwork?”

  “We’re working on a new way to track the guy down.”

  “Working? Why haven’t you already worked?”

  “Bill, it’s tougher than you think. A friend of Evan’s turned up dead, so we’ve got the local cops on o
ur side now; they want to talk to him as much as we do.”

  “I don’t care if they talk to him or not,” Eggers said. “I just want those papers back—signed, sealed and delivered.”

  “That’s what I want, too, Bill, but I’ll understand if you’d rather send somebody else down here to find the kid.”

  “Don’t hand me that crap. You know I don’t have time to start over with somebody else.”

  “Then leave it with me, and let me get the job done, okay?”

  Eggers made a harrumphing noise and hung up.

  “He’s not happy?” Dino asked.

  “What do you think?”

  “I think he’s not happy.”

  “Good guess. I can’t say that I’m happy, either.”

  “Except for the Swedish doctor.”

  “Except for the Swedish doctor; I’m happy about her. You want me to see if she has a friend?”

  Dino thought about that. “Nah, Genevieve would find out and nail me with it.”

  “How would she find out? I wouldn’t tell.”

  “She’d find out, believe me. Sometimes I think she has some sort of ESP girl-to-girl network that constantly broadcasts my whereabouts and my company.”

  “That’s a scary thought,” Stone said.

  16

  STONE KNOCKED ON Annika’s door, clutching a bouquet of flowers. She opened the door, kissed him, took the fl owers and led him inside.

  “Can I get you a drink?” she asked.

  “Do you have any bourbon?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, pointing at the bar. “Look through those bottles.”

  To Stone’s surprise, he found a bottle of Knob Creek, unopened.

  “My favorite,” he called to her, holding up the bottle. “How’d you know?”

  “I didn’t,” she called from the kitchen. “Most of those bottles were brought by other people as gifts.”

  Stone was opening the bottle when his cell phone vibrated. “Yes?”

  “It’s Tommy. Evan Keating has a reservation at Louie’s Backyard.”

  “When?”

  “Five minutes ago. I’m going over there myself.”

  “Will you give me a couple of minutes with him before you barge in?”

  “Yeah, sure, but move your ass.”

  Stone hung up and went into the kitchen, where something smelled good. “I have to go out for a few minutes. It’s business. Will you forgive me?”

  “If you hurry,” she said.

  He kissed her and ran for his car. Five minutes later he was walking into Louie’s. He looked around the restaurant but didn’t see Keating, then he walked outside to the bar area and saw him seated, alone, at a table by the water. He walked over to the table and sat down.

  “Now listen . . .” Keating said.

  “No, you listen.” Stone took a card from his wallet and wrote his cell phone number on the back. “Here’s how you can get in touch with me.”

  Keating looked at the card on the table but didn’t pick it up. “I don’t want to get in touch with you. Now, leave.”

  “How would you like to have twenty-one million dollars?” Stone asked.

  “You’re going to give me twenty-one million dollars?”

  “I think I told you this before, but your father is selling the company, and that’s your share of the proceeds.”

  “That’s what my father says my share is?” Keating asked.

  “It is.”

  “Then it’s the wrong amount. My father is a liar and a thief, and if he’s offering me that much money, he owes me a lot more.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Why don’t you ask my Uncle Harry?”

  “I didn’t know you had an Uncle Harry.”

  “I don’t anymore; he’s dead.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Mr. Barrington, my Uncle Harry is the one who made the company into what it is. My father had nothing to do with its success, and now that Uncle Harry is dead, he’s cashing in.”

  “What about your grandfather? Can he still run it?”

  “My grandfather has Alzheimer’s; he’s in a home.”

  “Do you have any interest in running the company?” Stone asked.

  “Not in the least.”

  “Then why don’t you just take the money?”

  “I told you, my father is a liar and a thief. He made a drunk of my mother, and he probably murdered my Uncle Harry.”

  “Do you have any evidence of that?”

  “No, but I understand the police are looking into it.”

  “When did your Uncle Harry die?”

  “Three months ago. I saw his obituary in the New York Times. ”

  “So you’re not going to sign the papers okaying the sale?”

  “No, I’m not. That will royally screw my father, and I’ll enjoy that.”

  Shit, Stone thought. “Then I’m wasting my time?”

  “Yes, you are. By the way, I owe you an apology. I’m sorry you got socked in the neck the last time we met.”

  “Why did that happen?”

  “My girlfriend is sometimes a little overprotective. Apparently, she thought you meant me ill.”

  “Where is she now?” Stone said, looking behind him.

  “Relax, she’s in the ladies’ room.”

  “Good. By the way, did you know that Charley Boggs is dead?”

  Keating’s face fell. “What are you talking about?”

  “I saw them fish his body out of Garrison Bight this morning. You’ll read about it in tomorrow’s paper.”

  “Oh, shit,” Keating said.

  “Well, yeah. The police want to talk to you about it.”

  “Me? I would never hurt Charley. We’ve been friends since prep school.”

  “Prep school? I thought Boggs was just some Key West drug dealer.”

  “He may be that, but it wasn’t a part of our relationship. When I came to Key West, he was the only person I knew here.”

  “The police found a bag of cocaine in his motorcycle storage locker and a hiding place on his houseboat where more drugs were probably stashed.”

  “I wouldn’t know anything about that,” Keating said. “How did Charley die?”

  “Bullet to the back of the head. Do you own a nine-millimeter pistol?”

  “No.”

  “Why was your boat out at the reef in the middle of the night a couple of days ago?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Keating said.

  “It was spotted there.” Stone didn’t tell him how. “The police are going to want to talk to you about that, too.”

  “I’ve only driven the boat once, the day I bought it. It’s been at anchor ever since.”

  “Could Charley Boggs have used it without your knowledge?”

  “Well, yes. He knew where the keys were stashed.”

  “Could Charley have used your cell phone?”

  “I lost my cell phone the day I bought the boat; it must have gone overboard.”

  “You may need a lawyer soon,” Stone said. “You’ve got my number.” He got up and left by the exit directly from the bar deck to the street and saw Tommy Sculley and Daryl getting out of their car.

  “He’s out back,” Stone said, jerking a thumb in that direction. Stone drove back to Annika’s house and found her setting the table.

  “Smells good,” he said. “What are we having?”

  “Swedish meatballs,” she replied. “What else?”

  “Sounds great.”

  “Did you conclude your business?”

  “Not really,” Stone replied. He had the feeling there was more business to do, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

  17

  STONE WOKE UP the following morning in Annika’s bed, exhausted. They had made love until they fell asleep after midnight, and she had wakened him in the middle of the night for more. He didn’t have another round in him, so he got out of bed, slipped into his clothes and tiptoed out of the
house. He was halfway back to the Marquesa when his cell phone vibrated. “Hello?”

  “Where did you go?” Annika said.

  “I have a breakfast meeting,” he lied.

  “I want you. Let’s have dinner tonight?”

  “I’m not sure what’s going on yet. Let me call you this afternoon.”

  “All right, but you better.”

  “I will.” He snapped the phone shut and returned it to its holster. Dino wasn’t up yet. Stone showered, shaved and dressed and walked out to their porch. Dino was sipping coffee from the pot in his room.

  “I ordered breakfast for you,” Dino said.

  “Good.”

  “You look a little peaked.”

  “You could say that,” Stone agreed.

  “Is the Swede turning out to be too much for you?”

  “Don’t ask.” Stone looked at his watch. Eggers would be at his desk momentarily.

  “Any news on any front?” Dino asked.

  “Yes, and I’m going to call Eggers in a minute. You can listen in, so I won’t have to repeat myself.”

  “I’ll try and contain myself,” Dino said drily. Stone pressed the speed-dial button on his phone, and it began to ring. He pressed the speaker button so Dino could hear the conversation.

  “Eggers,” the phone said.

  “It’s Stone.”

  “God, you’re up early; I hope it’s good news.”

  “Is there such a person as Harry Keating?”

  “Yes, or rather, there was.”

  “Was he Warren Keating’s brother?”

  “Yes, he was the man I dealt with until his death.”

  “What do you know about Warren Keating?”

  “That he was Harry’s brother. He wasn’t in the business until Harry died; doesn’t know anything about it, really. He’s a chemist, or at least he has a chemistry degree. I don’t think he had much of a career; he just took a monthly check from Harry.”

  “I finally pinned Evan Keating down last night, and he won’t sign the papers.”

  “What?”

  “He says his father is a liar and a thief.”

  “We’re talking twenty-one million dollars! Is the kid nuts?”

  “Do you know more about the family than the kid does?”

  “Well, no.”