On the Rocks

by Mia Gold

  He was dangling the bag of weed between two fingers. “We can arrest you for this.” He dropped the bag of weed onto the desk. “Or you can cooperate.”

  “I’ve told you everything already.”

  “Not exactly. I have a number of questions for you that were left unanswered from last time. But first off, where did you get all those bruises?”

  “Some guys tried to mug me. I managed to fight them off.”

  “Nassau can be dangerous at night. Would you like to file a complaint?” He almost sounded apologetic.

  “It was dark. I didn’t get a good look at them.”

  “More than one?” came the mocking, too-loud voice behind her. “And you fought them off all by yourself?”

  Ruby turned. She couldn’t help glaring at her, even though she knew it would not do her case any good. “I can handle myself, especially against a couple of wasted street punks.”

  Well, three street punks, and only one of them wasted. Plus a trained fighter with brass knuckles.

  “Yeah, drugs are a real problem in Nassau,” Detective Pinder said, returning her glare.

  The head of homicide cleared his throat. Ruby turned back to him.

  “Let’s set that aside for one moment and concentrate on Mr. Wainwright. Some new evidence has come to light that I’d like to share with you.”

  Ruby shifted in her seat. She didn’t like the sound of this.

  “It appears that he left the resort several nights in a row,” the detective said.

  “I thought the security footage showed he stayed on the property.”

  Anger flickered across Detective Anderson’s features. “Don’t play dumb with me. His widow wouldn’t have hired you if she thought he had stayed at home. He went out on the town without her knowing. Sometimes resorts will erase the footage if a guest asks them in the right way.”

  “You mean with the right amount. Yeah. Are you going to charge the Coast of Dreams for obstructing justice?”

  The homicide detective got a pained look. “That would be … complicated.”

  “I bet it would.”

  “What the hell are you implying?” Detective Pinder barked in her ear. Was this woman trying to give her an early hangover? Because it was working.

  Detective Anderson raised a calming hand, then turned back to Ruby. “It’s complicated because there’s no way to check the erased footage, and no way to tell who actually erase it, so who would I charge? Plus the resort has excellent lawyers.”

  And excellent lobbyists who bribe the government. Ruby was just in control of her emotions enough not to say that out loud.

  “So where did he go?” Ruby asked.

  “We haven’t discovered that yet. How about you tell us?”

  “Aren’t you the police?”

  Detective Anderson cast a warning look over Ruby’s shoulder as if to stop another outburst from his colleague and gave Ruby a flat smile. “We’re working a different angle.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “How about you answer my question.”

  Ruby paused, glancing at that incriminating bag of weed on the detective’s desk. She needed to give them something.

  “Richard was a bastard. Cheated on his wife during their honeymoon.”

  “With whom? The prostitutes who work in the strip club next to your bar? He was there, wasn’t he?”

  “No, he never went there.”

  “It would explain why he ended up dead in your dumpster,” Detective Pinder said in her ear.

  “You questioned them. They told you he didn’t come in.”

  The female detective scoffed. “Yeah, like their testimony is worth a damn.”

  Ruby sighed. The woman had a point.

  “I’m sure you questioned them too,” Detective Anderson said. “And they were probably more forthcoming with a neighbor than an officer of the law. What did they tell you?”

  “He did use prostitutes. And no, I don’t know which prostitutes. One of the girls who works in the strip club told me about a streetwalker friend who hooked up with him. And I also learned he was going to bare knuckle boxing matches, gambling and losing a lot.”

  Detective Anderson’s eyebrows shot up. “We’re heard rumors of these matches. Do you know where they take place?”

  Ruby paused. The temptation to narc on the King was strong. With a word she could wipe out the entire enterprise, get rid of the King, and keep him from trying to pull her back into that scene. It would get her in good with this damn detective too.

  But the image of that showoff sitting on his ridiculous throne, surrounded by men with assault rifles while looking through her phone caught her short. He had seen where she worked, who her friends were, and that knowledge filled her with a different image.

  One of the Pirate’s Cove in flames, Neville and Kristiano dead. The King wouldn’t be taken down so easily, and to have survived for so long without the police having much knowledge of him meant he was very well connected. Even in prison he would have a long reach.

  Ruby hung her head.

  “No. I don’t know,” she mumbled.

  “How did you get those bruises again?” the detective asked.

  “A couple of guys tried to mug me. I told you.”

  Ruby looked up at him, struggling to meet his gaze in an attempt to sound believable. The look he gave back was at once inscrutable and penetrating. Ruby felt like he could see through every lie, could see she was up to her neck in illegal activity, could see she was on the run from her past.

  But what he would do with that knowledge? She had no idea.

  Detective Anderson leaned forward on his desk, fingers interlaced, and stared at her for a moment. Ruby sensed Detective Pinder move in closer too. She could practically feel that woman’s body heat.

  She sat in silence, waiting.

  Detective Anderson’s eyes strayed down to the bag of marijuana on his desk, then back at her.

  “You’re a mess, Ms. Steele.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “Drunk in the middle of the day. Beaten up. And controlled substances? This will not look good in court.”

  Ruby’s heart flipped. “Court for what?”

  Detective Anderson made a little smile. It did not last long, as if his face had made a thought and immediately dismissed it.

  He studied her for a moment.

  “Thank you for your cooperation. You may go now.”

  Ruby felt herself tense. The way he said it made her know that while he was letting her go, she was in no way free.

  As a fighter she had learned to sense traps. A fighter lets his guard down a little bit, not much but just enough to tempt you to try a strike, but something in their eyes tells you that if you take that strike, you’ll get smacked with a surprise counterstrike of their own.

  That’s what Detective Anderson’s eyes looked like now.

  The only difference was, Ruby had no way of avoiding the trap.

  Ruby let out a gust of relief as she left the police station. Only until she stepped outside into the warm tropical sun did she fully realize that she hadn’t expected to get out of the station at all. It puzzled her that they had let her go when they really had her this time. What kind of game were they playing?

  She didn’t have the time to worry about that at the moment. During the interview, she had gotten two texts, one from Tim and one from Elaine.

  Tim’s simply said, “Call me.” Elaine’s said, “I really need you to come NOW.”

  She hurried into the street and hailed the first taxi she could.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  Ruby texted Elaine to say she was stopping by the Coast of Dreams right away. In the taxi over, she called Tim.

  “Hey, Ruby! What happened? Sanyjah told me you were arrested.”

  “Not arrested. They’re investigating a murder that happened behind my bar.”

  “Jesus! Need any help?”

  “No, everything’s fine. Just routine.” She
didn’t want to drag Tim into this. He was involved in enough crap already, and there was nothing he could do to help anyway.

  Ruby wondered if she could even help herself.

  “Oh, all right. Thanks for introducing me to Sanyjah. She’s going to take me out to see the island after her shift.”

  “I thought you were down here investigating what happened to our former client,” she said, glancing at the taxi driver. After all she’d been through, Ruby was getting careful about what she said in public.

  “I thought you were,” Tim said with a laugh. “I’ve been doing a bit of digging. Looking around to see what the senator could have been interested in. You know there’s a lot of money laundering in the Bahamas. It’s not as bad as some countries, but it doesn’t exactly have strict oversight. I’m thinking maybe she was hiding money here.”

  “But why hint to me about it?”

  “No idea. Anyway, tracking hidden funds is way out of my skill set. I doubt that I’ll find any good evidence on this trip. If I’m lucky, I’ll stir up a few leads. Whatever I find I’ll share with you.”

  “Thanks, Tim. I’m really glad you’re here,” Ruby said, and meant it.

  “Look, Ruby, you sure you don’t need some backup? You seem really spun out.”

  Ruby opened her mouth to say yes, and then the word caught in her throat. She’d love to have this old comrade-in-arms helping her out. He was smart, a damn good fighter, and had a big heart.

  But in the past few days she had turned to poison. She had become a threat to Neville’s and Kristiano’s livelihoods. She was attracting attackers like bees to a flower. And the cops were bound to haul her in again. If they found Tim with her, he could end up in heaps of trouble.

  Whatever she faced in the next couple of days or however long Detective Anderson allowed her some liberty, she would have to face it alone.

  “No, Tim. I’m fine.”

  “You sure?” Tim did not sound convinced.

  “Yeah, I’ll be all right. Take care and keep in touch.”

  She hung up.

  The taxi rolled up to the Coast of Dreams. Ruby felt even more self-conscious than she had before. She was still drunk, smelled bad, was obviously beat up, and she couldn’t imagine how bloodshot her eyes must be.

  As soon as she stepped out of the taxi, one of the slabs of obsidian that passed for security at this resort stepped to block the front door. It took the guy five minutes of convincing before he called Elaine’s room to get confirmation that she was expected.

  Instead of meeting by the pool, Elaine had her come up to the room. A gleaming elevator of glass and chrome shot her up the side of the resort, giving her a sweeping view of the beach and the sea beyond. Despite her fatigue and stress, Ruby’s breath caught. She would never tire of the beauty of the Caribbean, and even the knowledge that it hid so much evil could not banish her enjoyment of it.

  This could be such a wonderful place to live if all this stuff just went away.

  But that’s never going to happen, is it? Even if you solve this case and get the cops off your back, there’s all that other stuff.

  Ruby leaned against the wall of the elevator, rubbing her eyes and trying to keep it together.

  The elevator pinged. The doors opened onto the top floor. Squaring her shoulders, Ruby stepped out into a hushed hallway of thick blue carpeting and marble walls. The doors were spaced so far apart that she knew they were suites. She found the correct one and knocked.

  The peephole darkened for a moment, then there came the rattle of locks and the clatter of a chain being unlatched.

  Elaine opened the door, looking haggard. Her eyes widened as she saw Ruby’s bruises.

  “What happened?”

  “I found out a little too much about what your husband was up to.”

  “Come in. Oh my God. What now?”

  Ruby entered the kind of suite she had only ever seen on television. A huge central room with floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over the water. Plush furniture and several potted plants tried to give a homey atmosphere, but not for any home Ruby had ever entered. A large flat-screen was attached to one wall, the others decorated with watercolors. Soothing New Age music filtered in from a high quality sound system. A wet bar stood to one side, stocked with all the finest brands. Ruby’s stomach clenched and she looked away.

  “Would you like something from room service?”

  “I’ll take a Morning Glory, thank you.” Ruby did not want to admit that she was hungover, but she suspected Elaine had already noticed that from her breath. She had edged a bit away from her.

  “I’ll call downstairs. You make yourself comfortable.” Elaine moved over to a phone at the wet bar.

  Ruby sat on one of the sofas, its deep cushions embracing her like a giant teddy bear.

  “That envelope on the table is for you.”

  Ruby saw a thick envelope on the clear glass table between a stack of luxury lifestyle magazines with a set of rental car keys on top and a weird modern sculpture that was all metal spikes.

  Richard must have been able to hold his liquor, Ruby thought. She imagined him stumbling home wasted and trying to sneak through the darkened suite. He could have stumbled and impaled himself. Saved everyone a lot of trouble.

  Ruby took the envelope and found another thousand inside.

  “You sounded urgent on the phone,” Ruby said.

  “Oh,” Elaine sighed. “Sorry about that. It’s just that I’m on the edge. I can’t stop thinking about what you’re doing and I need to know what’s going on.”

  “Sorry I haven’t been giving you more regular updates. It’s been slow going.” Ruby hoped Elaine couldn’t smell the booze on her breath. The police questioning had sobered her up some. “I am getting closer to figuring out what happened to your husband.”

  Elaine came back and slumped on an armchair opposite her.

  It’s about time too. You’ve given me several thousand dollars. The least I can do is solve the murder while breaking your heart.

  Elaine tensed. “So what have you discovered?”

  “He went out several times. It looks like he went out most nights.”

  Elaine groaned, rubbing her temples with jittery fingers.

  “Drinking?” she asked.

  “And gambling.” Should I tell her about the hookers? I’m not sure that’s necessary, since I don’t have any evidence that they killed him. “He also … went to a very bad neighborhood.”

  Elaine leaned forward. “Is that where you got hurt?”

  “It’s not as bad as it looks.” Except for the cracked ribs.

  “I am so sorry. If I thought for a minute that you’d—”

  “Never mind. The important thing is I discovered where he was going. He was mingling with some pretty shady characters.”

  “I-I don’t understand.”

  Ruby let out a deep sigh. “The last two nights, the night he got murdered and the night before that, he went to a place called the Maze. It’s a terrible slum. All sorts of things go on there. He went with a local criminal named Silver to see some bare knuckle fights.”

  Elaine nodded. “He always liked MMA. I couldn’t stand that stuff. I’d never watch with him.”

  “This is different than MMA. Hard core. No rules, no gloves. Sometimes they even wear brass knuckles.”

  “Disgusting. Only barbarians would fight like that.”

  Ruby shifted in her seat, uncomfortable at the unintended insult.

  “A lot of betting goes on there, and Richard lost twenty-four grand.”

  Elaine looked at her feet and shook her head.

  “Foolish man,” she whispered. The two words came out harsh, bitter.

  “There are a lot of really shady characters down there. I’m thinking that someone saw he was a high roller and decided to rob and kill him. I need to do some more scouting down there and find out who.”

  Elaine managed a weak smile and put a hand briefly on Ruby’s knee.

  “That�
��s why I hired you, because you know Nassau and the rest of the island. I don’t know it at all, really. I haven’t set foot out of the resort except for a couple of trips run by the management.”

  “For your own safety, I suggest you stay here. Since they stole his wallet, I suppose they got the room key card.”

  “Oh dear. I hadn’t thought of that. Well, it shows the resort logo but not the room number.”

  “Still, it would be best to stay inside the resort.”

  Elaine studied her for a moment.

  “Are you telling me everything?” she said in a soft voice. “Was he … I just got the feeling that he might …” Elaine’s voice choked off with a sob. She finished her sentence with a hoarse whisper. “That he might be seeing other women.”

  Ruby took a deep breath. Crap. “No. I … I didn’t want to tell you this, but … he was picking up prostitutes too.”

  Elaine grimaced, slumping her shoulders. She did not look surprised.

  Maybe you’re not as clueless as I thought.

  “I’m sorry,” Ruby said.

  “Not as sorry as I am,” Elaine murmured. She shook herself, became businesslike. “Sounds like this Silver fellow is the person you need to find next.”

  “Yeah.” Ruby nodded, suddenly feeling very tired. “I’ll track him down tonight. No point trying during the day. I won’t be able to get to my contact for him until well after dark. I’ll get him, though. I promise.”

  I better. I need to get this case closed before the cops pull me in again. For Elaine, and for me.

  Because the next time they pull me in, I might not get out again.

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  Despite taking a long nap in the afternoon, Ruby still felt exhausted when she showed up at the Tropical Twerker at around ten. A clearly grumpy Neville had let her take the night off again. Ruby suspected that if there hadn’t been a murder investigation over both their heads, she might have gotten fired. Even his patience and kindness had limits.

  She skirted the Pirate’s Cove by walking on the other side of the street until she came opposite the strip bar, then crossed over. A car slowed and honked. She gave the man in it the finger. He called her a predictable name and drove on.