by Derek Fee
‘We’re only in Tampa for the day.’ Shea was smiling at Moira’s ‘darling’ but quickly changed to put on his most hopeful look. ‘Do you think we could possibly view the property right now? We’re talking about at least a three-month rental, possibly even six months.’
‘The current clients are still in residence.’ Gove had already done the calculation of her commission for a three-month rental. ‘I suppose I could contact them and see if they are amenable.’
‘That would be wonderful.’ Shea took Moira’s hand in his and gave her doe eyes.
Gove spun around and picked up a phone on the side of her desk. She had an ancient Rolodex there and she pulled up a card and started to dial.
Moira pulled her hand away from Shea and put her fingers in her mouth in the sign for vomiting. Shea started laughing.
Gove turned back after a few minutes. ‘There’s no answer from either the home phone or the cell number the clients gave me.’
Shea and Moira looked downcast. ‘It was a really good prospect,’ Shea said. ‘But we’d be foolish to rent without seeing it.’
‘Looks like we’ll have to go for that place in Fort Myers.’ Moira touched Shea on the shoulder. He took her hand and kissed it.
Gove could see her commission flying out the window. ‘Maybe they’ve gone out for the day.’ She opened her drawer and rummaged around. ‘I’ve got a second set of keys here. Perhaps we could take a little peek.’
Moira beamed. ‘That would be wonderful.’
Gove picked up the keys from the desk and stood up. ‘I’ll get my car from the garage and meet you out front.’ She knew she was taking a risk of pissing off the clients who were in the house, but they were leaving soon and it was worth the commission.’
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
G ove took what she considered to be the scenic route to Longboat Key. She took the ramp onto the I-275 south at East Kay Street and drove past St Petersburg, across the bridge over Tampa Bay and on to Longboat Key. Moira sat in the passenger seat while Shea and Brendan sat in the rear. Gove had been a bit confused when she found three clients waiting in front of the office building, but Shea explained that Brendan was a friend who had come along for the trip.
Shea was on edge. They were close. Gove had told him that the trip to Longboat Key would take approximately one hour depending on the traffic. If Greg and his new friend were at home, it would mean the end of the road for his investigation. They would hand over everything they found to Halliday and whatever followed would be up to Miami PD. But what exactly would follow? There would have to be a criminal complaint for Miami PD to lock up Greg and Hernandez. Who was going to make that complaint? Certainly none of the people who had put up the money to fund a criminal enterprise. He stared out of the car at the blue waters of the Gulf. It would be a real pisser if the only thing they’d get on Greg was wasting police time. He didn’t really give a damn what came next for Greg. He’d made his bed and he was going to have to lie in it. His emotions were torn. On the positive side, they had probably succeeded in finding Greg and might even be successful in returning him to his family. On the negative side, he would be back to searching for some purpose in life and Moira would return to the rear of the lecture hall at Harvard. It would not be a palatable solution for either of them. He was sitting directly behind Moira and her scent was in his nostrils. He was going to miss her. At Terra Ceia they left the I-275 and took US 19 heading south. They continued on through Bradenton before turning towards the coast and onto the strip of land that constituted Longboat Key. They crossed the short stretch of water separating the mainland from the Key and headed south on Gulf Drive.
‘Outstanding isn’t it?’ Gove said as she drove south. She turned onto Hornblower Lane and pulled up beside the house Shea recognised from the description sheet at the office. He didn’t like the fact that the place seemed deserted. Gove drove up the driveway that formed a half-circle in front of the large property, stopping next to a large palm tree on the lawn in front of the house. The building was two-storied with three porticoes at the entrance. A large set of mahogany doors were in the central portico.
‘Impressive,’ Brendan said as the occupants of the car alighted.
‘I need to try the cell again before we go in,’ Gove said, standing in front of the entrance door. She dialled and put the phone on speaker. There were the sounds of digital connection and then outer space. ‘They must be out of range.’
Shea was hoping that they were out by the pool or still in bed, or at least somewhere in the house.
Gove fiddled with the keys and opened the custom doors. They entered into a dramatic double-height foyer and living room with polished Travertine floors throughout.
Brendan let out a loud whistle as soon as he entered. ‘What’s the price of this place?’
‘It’s on the market for two million dollars,’ Gove said. ‘But you could get it for a million eight.’
Brendan looked at Moira. ‘I’ll have to tell my father about this place. He’s been talking about retiring and moving to Florida.’
Moira smiled. ‘But you know he’s only talking about retiring to see what your brothers will say.’ She looked around the huge living space. There was nothing except the furniture the house came with. There were no discarded clothes, no books or magazines on the coffee table. She walked into a large kitchen. There were no coffee cups in the sink or signs of last night’s meal in the bin. The house had been cleaned from top to bottom. She thought of calling Jamie and getting her to call all the cleaning services in the area but that would lead nowhere. Gardiner and Hernandez were gone. She walked back into the living room in time to see Shea descending the stairs.
‘They’re gone.’ Shea’s voice reverberated in the foyer-cum-living room.
‘Can someone please tell me what’s going on here?’ Gove asked. The clients had obviously abandoned their lease early but, since they had paid in advance, that was their prerogative. She also noticed that the place had been given a thorough cleaning, which meant she could pocket the cleaning fee she had already collected.
‘You don’t want to know,’ Brendan said. ‘Suffice it to say that they have decided not to rent the house.’
‘You mean I’ve driven all the way out here for nothing?’ Gove’s face was reddening under her foundation. ‘Get out.’ Her voice rose an octave. ‘Get the hell out of here before I call the cops. In fact, I might just call the cops anyway.’ She started pushing Brendan and Shea out of the living room. Moira walked alongside her like a true member of the sisterhood. Gove closed the large wooden front door and locked it. She marched to her car, sat in the driver’s seat, locked the doors and started the engine. She held up her middle finger as she drove away.
‘I guess that we deserved that,’ Shea said as he watched Gove leave.
‘What do we do now?’ Brendan asked. ‘The lovebirds have flown and we have no idea where. I don’t suppose your friend Ricky noticed anything in the Internet surfing history indicating where the next stop might be?’
Moira shook her head.
‘Back to square one.’ Shea started walking down the driveway. Saved by the bell, he was thinking. It really wouldn’t be over until the fat lady sang.
‘How do we get back to Tampa?’ Moira said.
Brendan put his arm round her shoulder. ‘If Shea’s paying, we’re going by taxi, otherwise we better start looking for a bus stop.’
The street to their right was completely empty. Shea looked to the left towards the end of the lane. There was a large turning circle on which three construction trucks were parked. To the left of the circle was the reason for the trucks. A house of significant stature was being built. Shea started walking in its direction. Moira and Brendan followed along behind.
Two minutes later they stood in front of the building site. There was a large skip on the left of the construction and two additional trucks were parked off the edge of the circle. Four men wearing fluorescent vests and hard hats were standing before
the half-structure examining what looked like a set of plans.
Shea marched up to them. ‘Excuse me.’
The men looked up from the drawings. Two of them were young and the third could have been Brendan’s father. The older man returned Shea’s greeting. ‘Hi.’
‘Sorry for bothering you guys.’ Shea stood in front of them. ‘I’m Frank Shea and some friends of mine were renting a house on the next block.’
‘The Latino lady and the blond guy?’ one of the young men said.
Shea was initially confused by the mention of a blond guy. Greg wasn’t blond but maybe now he was. ‘Yeah, that’s them. We came down to see them, but they appear to have gone.’
‘They’ve left?’ the older man said. ‘Maybe now we can get on with the job. Every time that dame goes outside the whole crew quits work to grab an eyeful. And I don’t blame them. She’s some looker.’
‘They left this morning,’ the second young man said. ‘A stretch limo pulled up and the driver loaded maybe five suitcases. Then she came out with the guy and they drove away. She was wearing some cream thing that made my jaw drop. If she’s your friend, will you give me her number?’
Shea smiled. ‘I’m afraid the guy is the friend, so we’ll have to take a rain check on the number. Did you notice whether the limo had a name on it?’
‘No name,’ the young man said. ‘Just a white stretch limo.’
“Sorry you’ve missed your friend,’ the older man said. ‘But we’re tryin’ to solve a problem here.’
‘Thanks,’ Shea said moving away. ‘And good luck with that problem.’ He walked over to Moira and Brendan. ‘They were picked up by a white stretch limo early this morning.’
‘Bugger,’ Moira said. ‘If we’d come down here yesterday, we would have had them.’
Shea turned to Brendan. ‘Is this just a coincidence or is someone in the team leaking?’
‘Who are you thinking about?’ Brendan asked.
‘Carmichael took over from Hernandez,’ Shea said. ‘Could she be still working for Greg?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Moira said. ‘I think she’s been straight with us.’
‘Then it’s a coincidence,’ Shea said.
‘People like Hernandez end up being kind of psychic about danger,’ Brendan said. ‘There are dozens of examples of criminals moving on just before their hiding places are raided.’
‘Where do we go from here?’ Shea asked. ‘They could be anywhere.’
Moira took out her phone and called Carmichael. ‘We need a favour,’ she said as soon as the phone was answered. She gave Carmichael the address of the villa. ‘Gardiner and Hernandez were picked up by a white stretch limo this morning. It was probably a local service. We need to know where they were taken. Call all the limo services in the area and find the one they used.’ Carmichael agreed to call back with the information. ‘By the way, how did you find the information from the estate agent?’ Moira asked.
A worried expression crossed Moira’s face. ‘You realise it’s an offence to impersonate a police officer.’ The phone went dead.
‘She’ll call us back when she has the information.’
‘If she gets the information,’ Brendan said.
‘Oh, I think she’ll get the information,’ Moira said. ‘In the meantime, would any of you gentlemen care to buy this lady lunch?’
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
T hey ate lunch at the Dock Waterfront Grill while looking out across Sarasota Bay. Just as they were finishing their meal, Moira’s phone began to spin on the table. She picked it up and pressed the green icon. ‘OK, Jamie, slow down.’ She listened for a few minutes. ‘Good work, we’ll be in touch.’ She put down the phone and looked at her companions. ‘The limo was supplied by a company in Sarasota. Jamie has been on to them, but they refuse to give out any information on either their clients or their destination. This is the problem of not being the police. Nobody is obliged to answer our questions.’
‘You could always contact this Halliday character at Miami PD,’ Brendan said. ‘Maybe he could find out the information for you?’
‘Yeah,’ Shea said. ‘At the same time he could ask some very embarrassing questions like what have you guys been up to since I last saw you? All ending with a request to attend him at the offices of Miami-Dade police.’
Moira nodded in agreement. ‘We’ve gone way beyond the point where we can go to Halliday for help.’
‘Did you get the name and address of the limo company?’ Shea asked.
‘Limo Services,’ Moira said. ‘They’re located in North Sarasota.’
‘Get me the phone number,’ Shea said.
Moira quickly sourced the phone number and passed her phone to Shea.
‘Hi,’ Shea said when the phone was answered. He gave his location and asked whether a limo was available immediately. He was asked for his ultimate destination and he replied that he didn’t know as he was expecting a call. He would be able to give the driver the information when he arrived at the restaurant. He omitted to ask for the cost and simply gave his credit card details as a guarantee, knowing that would get him instant service. ‘The limo will be here within the half-hour,’ he said as he returned the phone. ‘Which is very civilised since it gives us time for dessert and coffee.’
‘What are you planning to do next?’ Brendan asked.
‘We try to solve the problem the American way.’ Shea finished a glass of white wine and signalled for the waitress. ‘We throw money at it.’
They had completed their meal and paid their bill just as a white limo pulled up outside the restaurant. ‘Looks like our ride has arrived,’ Brendan said, leading the way out the front door of the restaurant.
By the time they reached the car, the driver had already descended and was holding the rear door open. ‘Good afternoon,’ he said as Moira, Brendan and Shea entered the rear. The driver, a short, dark Latino, wore a smart chauffeur’s uniform. The brass nametag on the lapel of his jacket identified him as Jorge.
As soon as the clients were seated, the driver closed the door and retook his seat behind the steering wheel. ‘Where to?’ he asked.
‘That very much depends on you, Jorge,’ Shea said.
Jorge looked back at them. ‘Sorry, but I don’t understand. They told me at the office that you would give me the destination when I got here.’ He was beginning to get an uneasy feeling.
‘We were kind of hoping that you would give us the destination,’ Shea said. ‘Everything is cool. Let me explain. One of your colleagues, driving a white stretch limo, picked up a man and a woman at an address on Hornblower Lane this morning. We need to know where he took them.’
Jorge looked at the three occupants in the rear of his car. They didn’t look threatening, but in Florida looks could be deceiving. ‘I gotta call this in.’
‘I don’t think you want to do that, Jorge,’ Shea said, taking a roll of bills from his pocket. ‘I have five hundred dollars here that says you can find the destination of the white stretch limo.’
Jorge stared at the bills in Shea’s hand. ‘Why do you need to know the destination? If you plan to hurt someone, I could be arrested as an accessory or something like that.’
‘We have no intention of hurting anyone,’ Moira said. ‘The guy has run away from his wife, who happens to be this guy’s cousin.’ She slapped Shea on the shoulder. ‘We just want to talk to him.’
‘A thousand,’ Jorge said, still concentrating on the bills in Shea’s hand.
Shea counted off a thousand dollars and handed it to Jorge, who counted it again before making it disappear into his pocket. He took out a phone and punched in a number. Then he spoke rapidly in Spanish. When he finished the call he turned and looked at his passengers. ‘The driver is my friend Cecilio. He dropped them at Tampa Executive Airport a couple of hours ago.’
‘I’ve never heard of it,’ Shea said. He looked at Moira. ‘Bring it up.’
Moira got on her phone. ‘Tampa Executive Airport, it’s
about six miles east of the CBD of Tampa. It used to be known as Vandenberg Airport.’
‘How many operators use it?’ Shea asked.
Moira counted. ‘More than ten.’
Shea looked at Jorge. ‘Get us to Tampa.’ He turned to Moira. ‘Get on to Carmichael, get her to see if any of the operators will give her information on executive jet flights for a couple out of Tampa this morning. Whoever flew them will have to have filed a flight plan. I doubt very much if any of the operators will cooperate with Carmichael, but it’s worth a try.’
Jorge started the car. ‘Where in Tampa?’
‘I’ll tell you when I know,’ Shea said, settling back in his seat.
Jorge shook his head then turned the car north towards Bradenton.
Shea looked at Brendan. ‘What do you think?’
‘They’ve gone to an airport for God’s sake,’ Brendan said. ‘What do you think? They’re hardly going to fly to Indianapolis. I’m surprised they waited so long to get on the move. I suppose they were so damned confident that they waited to see whether the hue and cry for Gardiner died out. If it was me, I’d be heading south, maybe to Brazil, maybe Ecuador.’
‘We were so damned close,’ Shea said.
‘Close isn’t good enough,’ Moira said. ‘We need to know where they’ve gone and we need to follow them.’
‘And if they keep moving?’ Brendan asked.
Moira looked at Shea. ‘This is your gig. You decide when enough is enough and then it’s over.’
‘My guess is that they’re already in the air and on their way out of the country,’ Brendan said. ‘Do either of you have a passport?’
Moira opened her handbag and showed an Irish passport. ‘It comes with being an alien.’
Shea looked at Brendan. ‘What about you?’
Brendan shook his head. ‘I wasn’t planning on leaving the country.’
‘Neither was I,’ Shea said.
Moira replaced her passport in her bag. ‘Let’s find out first if we need to go.’