Loitering with Intent

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 our 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.