Like Coffee and Doughnuts

by Ellle Parker

  “So, drugs, hookers and probably a few other things frowned upon by the Miami PD.”

  “It’s a competitive market, and I have to offer what the people want.” His expression was completely unapologetic.

  “How do Serrano and his notebook fit into all this?” I asked.

  McCann’s face darkened. “Darryl Serrano was employed by one of the seedier clubs I often do business with, The Shark Pond. You’ve been there. He generally acts as a courier when we purchase supplies from them.”

  “He’s your drug dealer.” I loved how he was putting a respectable spin on everything like we both didn’t know just what the hell he was talking about.

  “He was a runner. He didn’t have the brains or the attention span to deal drugs,” McCann said. “He did, however, have barely enough street smarts and reckless stupidity to do an end run around my man during the last drop. He made off with a substantial amount of my money and the equivalent in his employer’s designer drugs. He’s made a lot of people very angry.”

  “How much are we talking about?” I asked.

  “One million dollars.”

  Seth whistled. “Of each?”

  McCann nodded.

  “Is that why you killed him?” I asked, tipping back the last of my drink. “Did you kill the guy that let him make off with your money too?”

  “My man was taught a hard lesson and let go,” he said. “As for Serrano, he was alive when my boys left him. He was extremely unhappy and not incredibly coherent, from what I understand, but we got the information about the notebook out of him. We thought that would be all we needed.”

  “Who killed him then?”

  McCann raised an eyebrow. “I really couldn’t say. But if I were to hazard a guess, I’d think it was the other party he screwed over. They’re an unsavory bunch, and their methods are crude and extreme.”

  “I see. And you want to wind up with the drugs and the cash in the end?”

  “Exactly,” said McCann. “And if we can do so without alerting the denizens of The Shark Pond, then so much the better.”

  “So, now you’re gonna do the double crossing.”

  “Not at all. It was their employee who broke the rules in the first place. With him gone, and the merchandise still at large… Well, as far as I’m concerned it’s fair game. I’m quite sure they view it that way too, and I would be out my money if they found it first.”

  I mulled that over. “You have any idea if they’re looking?”

  “They would be stupid not to be,” McCann said. “I suggest you watch your back.”

  “All right, here’s the way it’s gonna work,” I said. “We’ll scope out the other sites to get a feel for them, but we are not goin’ after this stuff until it’s dark. I want as much of an advantage as possible.”

  “That’s understandable. You can return here when you’re finished, and I’ll collect my property then.” He stood up and brushed the wrinkles from his suit. “Well, I’ve taken up enough of your time. I’m sure you’ll want to get to work right away. The room is yours to use, of course, and I’ll have a few of my men keeping tabs on your progress, to make sure you stay on track.”

  Seth made a face, and I had a feeling he was about to say something rude, so I cut him off. “Just make sure they stay the hell out of our way.”

  “You’ll hardly even know they’re there,” McCann said smugly.

  He and his men walked into the hallway, and I went to the peephole. I looked out to see the four of them in a hushed conference before McCann and two others strode down the hallway as if they had somewhere to be. The other guy had the slower gait of someone who’d just been assigned stakeout duty.

  Back in the room, Seth was pacing like a caged dog. “This stinks, Dino,” he snapped. “How in the fuck are we supposed to get anything done with those pricks all over our backs?”

  “Relax,” I told him, catching his arm to take the barely touched drink out of his hand before he sloshed it all over the bedspread. “They want us to get the job done, so I don’t think they’ll give us a hard time as long as they know we’re workin’ on it.”

  I finally had him alone, and I wanted to tell him how sorry I was, how scared I’d been all morning, but it didn’t seem like the best time.

  “You hurt bad?” I asked, running a hand over him slowly. I was checking for injuries, but I didn’t mind when he took it as a caress and pressed up against me, resting his forehead on my shoulder.

  “Not really.” He looked up me and grinned. “And I got even.”

  “Yeah, I saw that.” I touched his bruised lip with my thumb. “Did it ever occur to you that you could save yourself a lot of pain?”

  He shrugged. “What’s the fun in that? You got anything to eat? I’m starving. Those assholes didn’t feed me.”

  I didn’t need to answer him, because he was already rooting through my briefcase. He found the bag from Donadio’s and pulled out a roll, stuffing it in his mouth as he turned back to me. He ripped off one bite and swallowed it whole, then tore off another.

  “Hey,” I said, “don’t scarf those down like a mangy dog, those are Rosa’s.”

  “And they’re great,” he mumbled through a mouthful. In fifteen seconds he’d eaten one entire roll and took a second one from the bag.

  “I’m serious. It’s alarming to watch you eat that way. You’re gonna choke yourself.”

  He paused for a moment, looked vaguely ill, and then belched obnoxiously.

  I shook my head. “You are disgusting.”

  “I haven’t eaten anything since last night, Dino, I’m about to pass out here.”

  “Not likely,” I said. “So tell me what happened.”

  “Hey, there’s cookies in here.”

  “Give me one of those.”

  He handed me a cookie and said, “Those fuckers are sneaky. One minute I was Joe Mechanic about to open up for the day, and the next, I got some thug cramming something in my mouth. I woke up a while later in heap on the floor of a van driving who knows where.”

  “They drugged you?”

  “Yeah, but I got even for that too. I puked on their carpet.”

  “Shit, I’m sorry…”

  Seth shrugged and ate another cookie. “I felt fine after that. They took me to some old warehouse and kept me in the van until Slick in the Suit showed up and started asking me about Serrano’s notebook. I gave him the party line, which was that we only knew about the one stash of drugs and he should feel free to go fuck himself. Then me and the boys played a fun game of ‘beat the shit out of Seth’ while Slick messed around with my cellphone.”

  “That’s when I got the call?”

  “Yep.”

  “Did you spend the next three hours antagonizing them?”

  “Of course I did, what do you think? Had to entertain myself somehow.”

  I shook my head. Seth wadded up the empty bag and tossed it in the garbage can. “Got any cash on you?” he asked. “I saw some vending machines when they dragged me in here, and I want a sandwich.”

  “Sure,” I said. McCann had left the room keys on the dresser, so I took one. “I’ll walk down with you.”

  Once we were out in the hall, I said, “I think we’d be wise to assume the hotel room is probably bugged, and by now they would have had time to bug Matilda too, if they’re going to.”

  “I wish I could tell you,” Seth said. “The way they had me on that bed, I couldn’t see much of what was going on. What do we do about it?”

  “Nothing. Just keep it in mind and don’t say anything you don’t want them to hear. Either write it down, or save it until we’re somewhere clear. Trying to find or destroy the bugs would just piss them off, plus they’d probably do it again anyway. Better to let them think we don’t know.”

  Seth nodded and said, “Can I spend all my time talking about how ugly and dickless they all are?”

  “Sure, knock yourself out.”

  One of the vending machines sold toiletries, so I got some
Tylenol for both of us, and a sandwich since I hadn’t eaten either. Seth got an egg salad made on fluorescent orange bread that was supposed to taste like cheese. He also bought a bag of chips, a package of Oreos and two of those horrible energy drinks he likes.

  “It’s no damn wonder you barfed in their van,” I said, when he dumped it all on the table in our room.

  “Dude, I wish I could’ve had orange bread and Oreos. That would have been awesome. If they try anything tonight, I’m going to try to take a gut shot.”

  “Well, stay the hell away from me then,” I said, unwrapping my food.

  Seth wolfed down his lunch, then stalked around the room with a scowl on his face. He grabbed a handful of ice out of the bucket on the dresser and started flinging cubes at the wall. “This is gonna be one long ass afternoon, Dino. I don’t know if I can hack it, I just want to get out there and take care of this.”

  “You need to settle down and pull yourself together,” I said, looking up from my notes and folding my arms over my chest. This was not the time I wanted to be dealing with one of Seth’s minor meltdowns.

  He turned and started pelting me with ice cubes.

  I swatted at them and said, “Stop that, asshole.”

  He had the good grace to look mildly chagrined and dumped the rest of the ice back in the bucket. “Look, we know where everything is, why don’t we just go get it and be done?”

  “Because we only think we know where everything is, and I don’t want to have half a million bucks worth of drugs in my possession when we hit a snag we weren’t ready for.”

  I got up and stopped his pacing, rubbing his neck to calm him. “We’re gonna head out right now and check on the other cars, make sure we know where stuff is and what it’s going to take to get it. All right?”

  He nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, all right. I just need to let the food kick in. I’ll be fine once we get moving.”

  “Okay, then, let’s go.”

  Chapter 24

  The first stop on the agenda was Auto Parts Unlimited, where we were in search of an older Buick Riviera. We pulled into the lot and parked near the back. I studied the top of the surrounding wall and the corners of the building that housed the main office. There were no cameras or other obvious security devices, just a few halogen spotlights that probably stayed on all night. A sign by the main entrance announced Lyle Taggart, General Manager.

  As we went inside, I checked the office door for any kind of alarm system and was surprised to find nothing. Apparently, Lyle and company relied on the power of good old-fashioned locks and the decency of humanity.

  We ran the picky wife routine again, and followed Serrano’s clues to the car in question. It was a blue Riv with only one remaining door and no front seats.

  “Where do you want to start?” Seth asked.

  “Why don’t you look inside while I try to get the trunk open.”

  I went around to search the back end of the car. The paint was scratched and dirty, and there was rust dotting the edges and seams. I tried simply lifting the trunk in case it wasn’t latched, but nothing happened, so I felt along the lip. Just to the right of center was a chewed up spot that was dented and flared.

  “Hey, Seth,” I called. “I think I got something.”

  He backed himself out and stood up, brushing dirt and bits of safety glass off his jeans. “Good, because I really doubt there’s anything inside, it’s destroyed in there.”

  “Look,” I said, pointing to the damage on the trunk lid. “This has been pried open.”

  He bent down to look at it closely, flicking away some of the chipped paint with his fingernail. “Yup, not very much rust, either. It wasn’t all that long ago.”

  He reached into his jeans and took out his pry bar. With one good yank, he popped the trunk open and raised the lid. It took some work, but we found the box hidden underneath the flooring. The contents were the same as the first one we’d found. Seth gave a low whistle and shook his head.

  “Okay,” I said, “close that up and stuff it back where you got it. We have two more to find, and then we have to come up with a game plan.”

  Seth snapped the box closed. “Why don’t we just take this with us now so we don’t have to come all the way back out here?”

  “No way. I don’t see how we could get it past the front gate without someone noticing, and I don’t want it with us now anyway. We come back tonight and do this under the cover of darkness. We’re fucked if we get caught, and I want every advantage we can get.”

  A-1 Auto Salvage & Towing was a little harder to find than the first lot, because it was down a small side street, and we missed it the first time. Although this yard was smaller than Unlimited, it had twice as many cars, at least. More than half of them were stacked two high, and I hoped like hell we weren’t going to have to start scaling wrecked automobiles.

  On the plus side, our luck seemed to be holding well in the security department. I cased the area as we walked toward the office and didn’t see anything more sophisticated than the motion lights and gate lock. There was a fairly tough looking dog on a chain, sleeping in the sun by the entrance. I couldn’t place the breed, but he was on the smaller side of huge and looked like he had a lot of teeth. It didn’t take much hard thinking to realize he was probably let loose in the yard at night. We’d have to consider that in our plans.

  The other thing that gave me cause for concern was the house located right next door. The worn, sandy path between it and the office building made it pretty clear the business was owner operated and they lived on the premise. Another slight complication.

  This time, the box was hidden in the engine compartment of a late model Thunderbird, and was a bitch to get at. We stuffed it under the seat, instead, to make things easier when we came back.

  When we tracked down the final box, we found it in the wheel well of a rusted Geo Hatchback. In each case, I paid close attention to the security measures the salvage yards used, and any potential obstacles to getting in and out quickly.

  “I got a hunch about why he picked the yards he did,” I told Seth as we stood under the island canopy of a gas station, filling up the tank.

  He leaned on the side of the car, hands stuffed in his pockets. “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “Easy to break into.”

  Seth smirked. “No shit? That would be fucking convenient, wouldn’t it?”

  “It looks that way to me. I mean, think about it, he’s just a dumb schmuck who wants to play at being a secret agent. He doesn’t want to get caught at it, so he scopes out a bunch of places and goes for the ones he figures are easy marks.”

  “Sweet. I finally have a reason to appreciate his delusional tendencies.”

  “They’re all older, small-time operations. None of them have cameras or decent security systems. It’s about time we caught a break.”

  I left Seth to keep an eye on the pump while I popped Matilda’s hood and checked the oil, washed the windshield and made sure the tires had enough air. We used the restrooms, bought a couple of candy bars and got moving again.

  “Next stop on Moron Serrano’s Magical Mystery Tour, EZ Mini Storage,” Seth said. He pulled out and turned right, following the directions I’d given him.

  I slid the page of notes out of the stack and laid it on top. The code for the storage unit was shorter and simpler than the others.

  8592124

  27272727

  361429

  We knew the first line was the address and were able to find it without any trouble. The one he’d picked was right off the Regan Turnpike, and I wondered if he’d planned it for a quick getaway.

  Seth turned into the parking lot and pulled off to the side. A sheet metal fence ran all the way around the outside of the storage lot, ending on either side of the office building. To the left of the building was an automatic gate with a drive-up card box on the side.

  Seth pointed to it. “Key card?”

  “That would be my guess.” I reached into m
y briefcase and took the key card out of Serrano’s envelope, dropping it in the palm of Seth’s outstretched hand.

  He put the car in gear and eased up to the box, sliding the card into it. The box beeped, and there was an audible click from the gate, then a motorized whir as it rolled open. We drove in, and it closed behind us.

  “Now where?” Seth asked, pausing to look both ways.

  I showed him the paper with the code. “You wanna bet we’re looking for unit number twenty-seven?”

  He snorted and said, “You’re shitting me.”

  “What else do you get out of that? They’re all two digit numbers from what I can see.”

  “Wow,” he said, following the directional signs to the twenty-one through thirty section. “He must have really been scraping the bottom of the barrel when he came up with that one.”

  “Probably burned out his last two brain cells,” I said.

  Seth rolled to a stop in front of twenty-seven, and we both turned to stare at the unit door. I grabbed Serrano’s key ring and the notes, and got out of the car. Seth came around the front end to stand beside me.

  The steel hasp on the side was fastened by not one, but two locks. One was a standard issue black and silver combination lock, and the other was a gold padlock.

  “Well,” Seth said, “what do you think is behind the door? A lady or a tiger?”

  I shot him a glance. “That is a surprisingly literary reference for you.”

  “I resent that.”

  “You know I’m right,” I said, trying the small gold key. I was hoping it fit the padlock, which would make sense given Serrano’s style.

  Luck was holding with us, and I grinned when the lock snapped open. I had bolt cutters that would have gotten us in, but I generally prefer the easy route if I can get it.

  Seth looked over my shoulder. “One down, one to go.”

  “Yeah. Here,” I said, handing him the paper, “read me the combination.”

  “Thirty-six, fourteen, twenty-nine.”