Orchid Beach

CHAPTER

43

Holly worked late on the personnel files, then went home, changed, fed Daisy and went to Jackson’s house. In addition to Jackson’s car there were two gray vans parked outside. Inside, Harry Crisp was talking on Jackson’s phone, five young men sat around the living room watching TV and reading magazines, and Jackson was on the back porch, grilling steaks. She gave Harry a wave and went out back.

Jackson flipped over some steaks. “You’re just in time,” he said. “These guys are hungry, and if I kept them waiting any longer, they’d be eating Daisy.”

Daisy looked up at the mention of her name.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, nobody’s going to eat you,” Holly said.

Daisy sat down and watched the steaks closely, as if they might bolt at any moment.

“How long have they been here?” Holly asked.

“Nearly an hour. Harry has been on the phone for all of that. What with the long-distance charges and the steaks, they’re going to break me.” Jackson started forking the steaks onto a large platter. “His guy swept the place and your trailer; I gave him the key. No bugs.”

“That’s good.”

“Let’s eat,” he said. He walked into the house, showed Harry the food and called everybody to the table.

Harry hung up the phone. “Holly, how are you?”

“Okay, Harry.”

“Oh, these are my agents—Bill, Joe, Jim, Ed, and Arnie.”

“Hey, guys.”

Everybody waved; a couple of them shook her hand. They sat down and fell on the food.

Daisy curled up on the rug a few feet away.

“What kind of dog is that?” Bill asked.

“Doberman pinscher, name of Daisy.”

“Girl dog?”

“Bitch is the word.”

“Funny, she looks very nice. Does she do anything besides sleep?”

“Daisy, get me a beer,” Holly said.

Daisy got up, went to the fridge and brought Holly a beer.

“What, she doesn’t open it?” Bill asked.

“That’s my kind of dog,” Arnie said.

“She’ll chew your leg off at the hip, too, if she’s asked nicely,” Holly said.

“Sorry if I said anything to offend you, Daisy,” Bill said contritely.

“Anything new since yesterday?” Harry asked.

“Yeah,” she replied. “You’ll like this, Jackson. I’m pulling Cracker Mosely’s security-guard and gun licenses. I told Barney to have them on my desk by noon tomorrow, or I’d come out there and get them.”

“Why’d you do that?” Jackson asked.

“He showed up at my office and demanded to know why I was running criminal records checks on his people; he apparently got a call from his contact at the state level. I concocted a story that satisfied him, but he was annoying me, so I built a little fire under Cracker. Then he called John Westover and bitched about it to him, and John came down to my office and asked me to change my mind.”

“What’d you say to that?”

“I pretty much told him to go fuck himself. He didn’t have a leg to stand on. Did you know that he sells Palmetto Gardens their vehicles, including the Range Rovers?”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Jackson said.

“I want to get inside Palmetto Gardens,” Harry said.

“Yeah? How you going to do that?” Jackson asked.

“I don’t know. I was hoping you and Holly would have a suggestion.”

“They don’t use any local help that I’ve been able to learn about,” Holly said. “They seem to do all their own maintenence.”

“You know anybody who’s ever been in there?”

“Yeah, I have. Barney Noble gave me a superficial tour of the place, and I played golf out there with him once. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, except that some of the help were wearing guns under their jackets.”

“Tell me about the security you saw when you were there.”

“There are two gates, main and service. Both of them have steel barriers and tire spikes that are operated by the guard on duty from his booth. The guards wear sidearms and have assault rifles in their booths. Barney showed me security headquarters, but I didn’t go inside. He told me they had a lockup there, said it was like a small-town police station. That’s about it.”

“What do you think would happen if I went to the front gate, flashed my badge and said that I wanted to look around?”

“You’d be told that it was private property, and Barney would probably come to the gate and tell you you’d need a search warrant. He might give you the same tour he gave me.”

“Oh.”

“Why would you want him to know the feds were interested?”

“I wouldn’t. I’m just exploring possibilities.”

Jackson spoke up. “Might be nice to know who the owners are of the airplanes that fly in and out of there.”

“Good idea. Could the local tower give us that?”

“I doubt it, since they don’t land at Orchid airport,” Jackson said. “Air Traffic Control would have the registration numbers from the flight plans in their computer—Miami Center would be the place to call. They could also tell you where the flights originate.”

“Jim, you get onto that first thing tomorrow,” Harry said.

“Right,” Jim replied.

“Bill, you talk to customs and immigration. See if you can interview whoever they send to the Palmetto Gardens airfield when flights come in. I want to know everything about the people who’re flying in there.”

“Right,” Bill said.

“I could fly you over the place for a look, if you like,” Jackson said.

Harry shook his head. “I don’t think I’d see anything that isn’t in your aerial photographs. Besides, they’ve seen two low overflights already; we don’t want to make them nervous. Bill, while you’re talking to customs, find out if any boats have come into the Palmetto Gardens marina from out of the country.”

“Okay,” Bill replied.

“Arnie, I want you somewhere near the service gate out there. I want a description of every vehicle that comes and goes—food deliveries, plumbers, whatever.”

“Okay,” Arnie said.

“What can I do to help, Harry?” Holly asked.

“Well, you can’t put any of your people on this,” Harry said. “Not while you think you’ve got a mole in your department.”

“Good point. I’ve got complete freedom of movement myself, though.”

“First thing I want to know is does this Mosely guy show up with his licenses,” Harry said. “If he doesn’t, that’ll give you an excuse to go out there with a warrant. Then, if we want to get in there again, we could bust some more of Noble’s guys. How many of them showed up in the national computer?”

“All of them,” Holly said. “Barney’s security force is a regular rogue’s gallery.”

“That would rattle whoever controls the place,” Harry said. “If we bust their whole security force, that would get their attention.”

“I could have already done that,” Holly said, “but that’s not going to tell us what’s going on out there.”

“Could you check your local records for the names of the owners of the houses at Palmetto Gardens?” Harry asked.

“I can do that,” Holly replied

“That might give us a list of the members, then we could do background checks on them.”

“Good idea.”

“If Mosely comes in tomorrow, I’d like to get a good look at him. Can you arrange that?”

“Sure.”

“Without anyone knowing who I am?”

“Sure, I can handle that.”

“Suppose you question Mosely about something, anything, and I listen in. Maybe Mosely is a way into that place.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Holly said. “Let’s do it this way.” She outlined the idea that had just come to her. “It might not work, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.”