Mike Jastrzebski - Key Lime Blues

“I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me,” I said when she finally walked in. She was much more casually dressed than the first two times I’d seen her; jeans, neatly pressed, and a light blue blouse. She still carried the huge purse slung over her shoulder, and she was carrying another file folder, which she tossed in front of an empty chair.

“Mister Darling, I’m glad you could make it. When you didn’t answer my earlier call, I thought maybe you were avoiding me.”

“What earlier call?” I asked, and then I remembered the call I’d received when I was with Elvis.

“It’s not important.” She sat down across from me. “What’s important is that you’re here now.” She leaned forward and I caught a hint of her perfume, something heady and exciting. It almost made me want to forget about this woman’s pock-marked face. “You don’t mind looking at a few other pictures, do you, Wes?”

I shook my head no. She leaned back and picked up the file folder. She never took her eyes off my face as she opened the file, took out an eight-by-ten publicity photo and slid it across the table to me. I tried to prepare myself for another look at Nick. I hesitated, picked up the picture, and glanced at it before tossing it back to Davies.

“That’s not Nick,” I said.

“No shit Sherlock. You really are a detective aren’t you? You do know who it is though?”

“His name is Billy. He works at Dirty Alvin’s. He was there last night in fact. What happened to him, and what does he have to do with Nick?” She had succeeded in surprising me, and I almost told her that I knew him and Destiny, but I held back. I wasn’t ready to let her in on my investigation. I didn’t like the implications. Billy was Destiny’s boyfriend, and Nick was looking for Destiny. It was a little too much to be a coincidence.

“His given name’s William Bodine,” she said, still watching my face. “He’s got a record. He has a temper, and we’ve received several complaints about him. We found him in his apartment this morning. He’d been shot in the head like your friend. By the way, Wes, where were you last night?”

My mouth went dry and I fought not to show any emotion on my face. Thanks for small favors, I thought. If I hadn’t let Destiny talk me into staying at Tanya’s I’d probably be in jail today. I could account for my time, but I wondered exactly when Destiny left Tanya’s house. I didn’t want to believe she was a murderer, but I wasn’t going to rule out the possibility. I also wasn’t ready to turn her over to the cops as a suspect.

“I asked where you were last night, Wes.” Davies’ voice hardened. “I want an answer, now.”

“I was at the bar until close. After I left Alvin’s I spent the night with friends.”

Davies nodded and pulled a notebook from her pocket. “The only reason you’re sitting here talking to me instead of behind bars is because I had a little talk with your boss, Tanya Robertson, before calling you. She told me you spent last night at her place. I’m not sure I buy it. Maybe she’s lying for you. Maybe you’re both in on this.”

“Why would I want to kill Billy? I hardly knew the guy. We talked a couple of times in the bar, nothing more. And I can’t even begin to imagine why Tanya would want him dead.”

“It could be any number of things,” she said. “It could be jealousy. Maybe he was hitting on the owner and you wanted her for yourself. Maybe the two of you were drinking and got into an argument. If you had a fight and it was self-defense, you could even get off without doing any jail time.”

“More bullshit,” I said. “From the sound of your voice, I don’t even think you believe the fantasy you laid out for me.”

“All right.” She sighed, and offered up another possibility. “Maybe you killed Billy because you found out he killed your friend, Nick.”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” I said. “And I find it hard to believe Billy killed Nick.” I’d watched the way Billy backed down from Bob and I couldn’t see how he would have gotten the drop on Nick, let alone killed him.

“Why not? We found a gun in the apartment. It’s the same caliber as the one used to kill Hastings; we’re waiting for a match from ballistics to confirm whether the bullets are the same. We also found a pistol registered to your buddy, Nick, under Billy’s bed. Hastings had a shoulder holster on him when his body was found, but the gun was missing. I figure Bodine killed Hastings and took the gun. The question is, who killed Bodine, and why? Vengeance is a strong motivator, Wes.”

She had a good point. Of course I possessed information Davies didn’t. I could only speculate about Bob. I wondered if he’d somehow tracked Billy down. If Billy wouldn’t or couldn’t tell him where Destiny was, I knew Bob was capable of killing him. I wondered if maybe Bob killed Nick and made it look like Billy did it. The trouble was, I couldn’t figure out a motivation. After all, Nick was trying to find the girl for them and I didn’t think he would hesitate to turn her over to them once he’d located her. He would have figured he was doing the job he was paid to do.

“Why would Billy kill Nick?” I asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Davies leaned across the table again and I was hit with her perfume one more time. There should be a law against cops wearing something so enticing.

“I was sort of hoping you could give me the answer,” she said.

“As far as I know, Nick and Billy never met. To be honest, I don’t know what the hell’s going on.”

“Call me a skeptic,” Davies said. “I don’t think you’ve told me the truth since I met you. “Get the hell out of here, but keep in touch. I still like you for Bodine’s death. You’ve got the motive, and if you didn’t have a strong alibi I’d arrest you right now. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Darling.”

***

While I walked back to Tanya’s house all I could think about was Nick. When I’d done something wrong as a kid, he’d often run interference with my mother. He’d bought me my first baseball glove. Offered me advice before my first date. Given me my first Playboy magazine. I had an empty space inside of me, and it wasn’t going away anytime soon. When I thought about Nick’s death I realized I was going to have to make amends with my mother. Life was too short to carry grudges.

Tanya was sitting on the porch swing drinking coffee and talking on her cell phone when I arrived. She appeared agitated and I hated to interrupt. I stood and watched her through the slats until she closed the phone, then I lifted the latch and opened the gate. Startled, she looked up and then smiled. Damn, I thought, even wearing old jeans and a Key West t-shirt two sizes too big for her, she looked good.

“Hey.” She set her cup down on the floor, laid her phone next to the cup, and jumped up.

“Hey yourself.” I took the steps two at a time and met her halfway across the porch. She reached out as if she were going to hug me, thought better of it, and instead took my hand.

“I’ve got a lot to tell you.” Tanya led me back to the swing and we sat down next to each other. “Just after you left this morning, a cop paid a visit. She told me Billy’s dead-murdered. For some reason she suspects you. I told her you stayed here last night. She had a thousand questions. Things like how well did you know Billy, and did the two of you get along.”

“Woman by the name of Davies?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s working on Nick’s murder too. Seems a little uptight, but likable enough.”

“Likable? She practically came right out and told me she thinks you killed Billy.”

“I think she knows I didn’t do it. I was here, remember?”