Drunk Driving

by Zane Mitchell

“Good.” Artie’s head bobbed. “So, then what’s this got to do with Giselle?”

  “One of her friends went missing and she asked for my help to find her.”

  “And you’re having a hard time finding her?”

  “Actually, we found her.”

  “Good for you.”

  “Not good for me. The cops found her drowned over at the Sandy Bay Beach. She was dead.”

  “Oh shit.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, oh shit. It’s led to all kinds of stuff I wish I’d never found out about. But mostly, it’s led me to this guy who lives on the island part-time. His name is Harvey Markovitz. He’s from the States. Ever heard of him?”

  Artie’s lips swished over to the side. “Mmmm. The name rings a bell. I might’ve heard it before. Of course I don’t get off the resort property a whole lot, so I don’t know him personally or anything.”

  “Yeah,” I said with a sigh.

  “So you’ve got a name. What’s the problem?”

  “Well, the problem is that Sergeant Gibson isn’t exactly my biggest fan. There’s no way he’s gonna believe me if I go to him without any kind of evidence to link Harvey to this girl’s death.”

  “So get some evidence.”

  “Thanks,” I puffed. “Never would’ve thought of it.”

  Artie chuckled. “Okay, okay, maybe that was too obvious.”

  “I guess Al and I just need to find out where he lives and sneak in somehow.”

  Artie winced. “Sounds dangerous. Do me a favor, will ya? Leave your partner behind when you do that assignment.”

  “Hey, don’t underestimate Al. You’d be surprised at the amount of heart that guy still has left in him.”

  “I never said anything about his heart. I’m more concerned about his legs. I’m not sure how good they are at running anymore,” sighed Artie.

  “Don’t worry. I can handle the running part for both of us. From what I understand, this guy Markovitz throws these like big beach parties. Maybe I need to find out when the next one is and see if I can’t get an invite.”

  “There you go. Sneak in right under his nose.”

  And then a thought hit me. “Hey, Artie. You remember Steve Dillon was willing to give you a discount on a new car on his lot?”

  Artie lowered a brow and looked at me curiously. “Yeah?”

  “It recently came to our attention that Steve Dillon is a friend of Markovitz’s. We were in his office the other day, and Al found a picture of the two of them together. I’m not much of a betting man, but if I were, I’d put money on the fact that the picture was taken at one of Markovitz’s parties. Think there’s any way you could call Steve and try and get an invite?”

  Artie’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s the party you’re talking about?”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Artie pulled a handkerchief out of the breast pocket of his white linen suit and sopped up the sweat that glistened on his face. “A couple times a month, I get an email inviting me to a beach party. It’s invite-only. And from what I understand, the invites only go to notable business owners on the island. I think it’s kind of like a who’s who in Paradise.”

  “And you think it’s the same party I’m talking about?”

  “It sounds like it, doesn’t it? Steve’s name is always in the contacts list.”

  “Does the email come from Harvey Markovitz himself?”

  Artie frowned as he thought about it. “No. I’ve never seen that name before. I believe the invitation comes from Kip Dalton. I think he owns a couple clubs on the island.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that poured across my face. It had to be the same party. “I can’t believe it, Artie. You get invited to Harvey’s parties?”

  “You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

  I gave him a half shrug. “Sorry, man, you just don’t seem like much of a party guy to me.”

  “Well,” he said before clearing his throat. His face reddened. “I’ve never actually gone to one of the parties. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have connections. You seem to be forgetting that I own a major resort on the island, Drunk. You don’t own something like the Seacoast Majestic without getting to know a few people. As a matter of fact, last year I happen to have rubbed elbows with the new governor of the island.”

  “No way. You know the governor? Like personally?”

  Artie’s head bobbed. “I do. Governor Bustamante invited me to a luncheon when I first moved to the island last year. He invited all of the other resort owners so I could get to know my peers. Very down-to-earth guy—real salt of the Earth. I really appreciated him taking the time out of his busy schedule to welcome me like that.”

  “Huh,” I said, shaking my head. “I never would have guessed. So you and Steve are buddies too, then?”

  Artie kind of chuckled. “Steve’s a different story. I only know of the guy. Governor Bustamante’s office keeps a master email list of all business owners on the island. I assume that’s how he got my address.”

  “So are you trying to tell me that you can get us an invite to the next party?”

  Artie shook his head. “No. What I’m trying to tell you is that I don’t need to get you an invite, Drunk. I’ve already got one.”

  I grinned widely and my hands shot out wide. “Fuck! Artie! I love you, man!”

  Al came tottering around the corner just then. He raised his eyebrows at me. “Oh, am I interrupting something, fellas? Do you need another minute?” He pointed at the door. “I can come back.”

  Artie laughed. “Come on in, Al. Have a seat.”

  “Yeah, Al. You are never going to believe what Artie just said.”

  “Lemme guess—that he’s in love with you too?”

  I chuckled. “Better.” I spent the next couple minutes explaining to Al about the parties Artie had been invited to and how I thought those had to be the ones that Harvey was known for throwing. “Artie, you know offhand when the next party is?”

  “Yeah, there’s one this Saturday night.”

  I looked over at Al. “Better dust off your dancing shoes, Al.”

  Al shook his head. “I think not, kid. If Steve Dillon’s at that party, he’ll blow the whistle on us for sure.”

  I leaned back in my seat. “Shit. You’re right. And if Ayala’s there, he’ll recognize us for sure too. Plus there’s Vito. He might get smart and put two and two together and realize we were the plumbers and were really snooping around in his office. We gotta get some legit business owner into that party and find out why they’re inviting island big-wigs.”

  Al and I both stared at Artie.

  Artie’s dark eyes widened. He held up his dimpled hands in protest. “Oh no, fellas. Don’t look at me.”

  “Oh, come on, Artie. We need you!”

  “Yeah, Artie. Come on. The kid and I saved your ass, you know that. You owe us one.”

  Artie sponged off his forehead again. “I already gave Drunk a job. What more do I need to do?”

  “Go to this party and find out why you got an invitation. Al and I will handle the rest. Look, Artie. I know you like to live vicariously through me and Al’s stories. Don’t you want to be a part of one for a change?”

  Artie’s face flushed redder than usual. His eyebrows were both raised as he shook his head. “No, not really.”

  “Oh, come on, Artie—”

  “I can’t, guys. Come on. I’m not great in social situations. There’s no way I could go in there all alone.”

  “This is about a date?” I practically hollered. “Shit, Artie. Why didn’t you just say so? I can find you a date.”

  29

  “So. Are you gonna explain to me what we’re doing here?” Frankie asked me the next day.

  We were standing in the middle of a ritzy boutique in the downtown touristy area of the island. I’d called and asked Frankie to meet me down here the night before, but I’d told her I’d explain everything when we saw each other in person.

  “You’re go
nna love me,” I said, shooting her a wide smile while browsing through the rack of cocktail dresses.

  “Yeah? Why’s that?”

  “Because I figured out who our guy Harvey is.”

  “I did a little digging too,” admitted Frankie.

  “Did you figure it out?”

  “No, but I think I was getting close. I had a list of Harveys I was combing through.”

  I smiled. She didn’t need to know that if we hadn’t gotten a lead on that picture I’d taken, we’d be combing over the same list. “What do you think of this one?” I asked, holding a little black dress on a hanger up to my chin.

  “Looks a little small for you.”

  “Well, obviously I won’t be the one wearing it.”

  “You gonna tell me about this Harvey guy, or do I need to beat it out of you?”

  I raised my eyebrows and smiled at her. “Oooh. I think I prefer option two.”

  Smiling, she elbowed me in the ribs. “Be serious, Danny. I have to get back to work. What do you know? Fill me in.”

  “Okay. Here’s what I found out. Have you ever heard of Ziggy Thomas?”

  “Of course I have. He owns the helicopter tour company on the island. He’s kind of like a local celebrity.”

  “Okay, well, Ziggy is buddies with our guy Harvey, whose last name is Markovitz. Ever heard of him?”

  Frankie frowned. “Mmm. Sounds familiar, but it’s not coming to me right offhand.” She tipped her head sideways. “Now, how exactly did you figure this out?”

  I winced. I didn’t really feel like telling her about my visit to Steve Dillon’s yet. “It’s kind of a long story, but trust me. I have a picture of him at a party with our guy Markovitz, Steve Dillon of Steve Dillon’s Automart, Joseph Ayala the photographer, Kip Dalton, and the guy who runs Club Cobalt, Vito something.”

  “Vito D’Angelo. He’s kind of a shady character. He’s been in a bit of trouble here and there. Mostly assault charges.”

  “Okay. Yeah. Why does that not surprise me?” I said, rubbing my stomach. I could almost feel the punch in the gut once again.

  I put the little black dress back on the rack and pulled out another one. This one had a shorter hemline. I thought that might work better for my needs. “Anyway, so Markovitz seems to have these parties at his place like every couple of weeks. And all these guys seem to party over there with him. So, the plan is really quite simple. We go to the party. Get some evidence on this underage prostitution ring. And take it to your boss. Easy peasy.”

  Frankie’s brows shot up. “Easy peasy? Danny, are you out of your mind? That’s a major sting operation. That’s not just something where we waltz in and have a look around.”

  “Why not?”

  “Why not? Danny, that’s dangerous. I just got done telling you that Vito’s a dangerous guy. You really think he’s just going to let us in the front door to bust up whatever’s going on over there?”

  “Well, no. I didn’t exactly figure it was going to happen like that.”

  “I think we need to get Sergeant Gibson involved at this point. Let him handle the investigation from here on out. We’ve got a name and I assume an address. We’ve done a huge part of the work.”

  I shook my head. “No, Frankie. There’s no way we can go to Gibson yet. I didn’t tell you that he pulled me over after our interview yesterday.”

  Her mouth gaped open. “Gibson pulled you over?”

  “Yup.”

  “For what?”

  “To warn me, basically.”

  “Warn you? Warn you about what?”

  “Well, it certainly wasn’t about global warming, I’ll tell you that.”

  “Danny. What did he warn you about?” She looked concerned now.

  I rubbed the pads of my hand against my forehead. Even though I really didn’t want to, maybe it was time to come clean with Frankie. I sighed. “The other day, I went to see Steve Dillon about my new vehicle. I was concerned about the price I’d paid for it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Al and I sort of found out that Kip Dalton isn’t paying the tariff on his vehicles.”

  “How’d you find that out?”

  I shrugged. “Let’s just say I happened to see a couple of the invoices. We discovered that he’s getting some kind of business owner’s special.”

  “Okay?”

  “Well, now that your brothers have cut me into the business, I thought maybe I would be eligible for that discount too, and I wanted to talk to Steve about it. And he basically kicked me out after asking.”

  “Hey, the boys said something about bringing you in on the business. That’s awesome,” said Frankie with a wide smile. “Congratulations. I guess you’re part of the family now?”

  I laughed and held up my hands. “No. Definitely not part of the family. Let’s not get any funny ideas. We are most definitely not related.”

  “I don’t know about that. Solo said you’re like an honorary brother now.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Did he?”

  “Yeah. He was pretty direct about it, too.”

  I shook my head. I’d deal with all of that later. For now, we needed to keep our focus. “Anyway, Al and I also paid a visit to Joseph Ayala regarding some pictures that he took of some of the underage girls I thought Harvey had been assaulting. When I started asking him questions, he basically clammed up and walked away. Both of those douche canoes reported me to Gibson.”

  “Danny, you have to be careful. There are some dangerous people on this island. Everything on Paradise isn’t all palm trees, beaches, and mai tais. There’s a darker side too.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to tell me. I’ve gotten very exposed to it over the last couple weeks. And I’ll admit that I don’t exactly like what I see, but I promised Giselle I’d get justice for Jordan and that’s exactly what I plan to do.”

  “It’s very noble of you. I just want you to be careful while you’re doing it.”

  I gave her a tight smile. “Thanks, Frankie.” I sighed. “Now. Which one of these two dresses do you like better?” I held two black dresses up.

  She quirked a brow. “Danny, I sure hope you don’t think you’re going to get me in one of those dresses.”

  I laughed. “As much as I would die to see you in one of these little numbers, no, they aren’t intended for you.”

  “Well, then, who are they—”

  “Oooh, hellooo, Drunk! Over here!” sang Valentina Carrizo, standing in the doorway of the boutique. “I was so excited to get your call!” She ran at me, her clunky plastic-wedged shoes clomping loudly on the travertine tile. She wore a bursting-at-the-seams pink sequined tube top and matching sequined skirt. She threw her arms over my shoulders and made a show of hugging me. “Oooh, I missed you!”

  “You know this woman?” asked Frankie, quirking a brow.

  I cleared my throat and tried to suppress my smile. Frankie almost looked jealous. In a weird kind of way, I found it to be sexy. “Oh. Yeah, I do. Frankie, this is Valentina Carrizo.” I unhooked Val’s arms from my shoulders and spun her around to face Frankie. Val curled into my side, hugging me around the waist.

  “Val, this is Officer Francesca Cruz. She’s a friend of mine.”

  Val refused to let go of my waist but did extend the fingers of one well-manicured hand to Frankie. “Hello,” she said shortly, like she didn’t like me being friends with Frankie.

  Frankie barely took Val’s hands, giving her fingers only a light squeeze before dropping them and wiping her hands on her uniform pants. “Hey.” She looked up at me. “So, what’s going on, Danny?”

  “Ooh, your first name ees Danny? Can I call you Danny too?” She squeezed her arms tighter around my waist and looked up at me, her long fake lashes fluttering at me.

  “Mmm. Let’s just stick with Drunk, shall we, Val?” I tried to unlatch the woman from my waist before Frankie got the wrong idea about us. “Umm, Val is here because she’s going to help us out tomorrow.”

  “Just l
ike I help you out the other night, no?” Holding me around the waist again, she winked up at me then reached down and grabbed my beef right in front of Frankie.

  Val! Fuck!

  Frankie stared at Val’s hand before blowing out a puff of air. “Well. I better get back to work. You two have fun shopping for new slut apparel.” She pivoted on her heel and began to leave.

  I yanked Val’s hand off my crotch, wiggled out of her viselike grip, and rushed towards Frankie. “Frankie, wait!”

  But she kept walking and was out the front door before I could grab hold of her.

  “Frankie!” I started to chase after her, but Val hollered at me.

  “Wait! Where are you going? Aren’t we going to look at new dresses for the party?”

  “Yes, we are,” I said firmly. I held out my hands palms up as if Val were an easily spooked animal. “Stay right there. I will be right back. I need to go talk to my friend.”

  Val’s eyes swung downward and she pouted out her bottom lip. “You like her better than me?”

  “Val, don’t do that. Please? I swear. I’ll be right back. I need my friend’s help tonight at the party. Okay?”

  Val sighed.

  I pointed at a rack of shoes. “While we’re getting you a new dress, how about we get shoes too?”

  That perked her up. “Oooh, new choos?”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, smiling ear to ear. “New choos. Go crazy. It’s on me.”

  “Yay!” she squealed, excitedly clapping her hands.

  I pointed at the sales lady. “Can you help her? She needs a dress for a party. Get her whatever she wants, okay? I’ll be right back.”

  The sales lady’s eyes widened as her head bobbed up and down. “Sure thing.”

  I rushed out to the sidewalk after Frankie. She was already all the way over to her squad car. “Frankie, wait!”

  “Danny, I really don’t have time for these games you play with crazy women.”

  “Games I play with crazy women? What are you talking about?!”

  She gestured towards the boutique. “Are you telling me that one isn’t crazy?”

  “Who, Val? I mean, she’s a little—umm—out there, I’ll give you that, but I wouldn’t call her crazy.”