Mike Jastrzebski - Key Lime Blues

“I know, I…” Tanya’s phone began to ring and she looked over, hesitated, and grabbed for it. “Sorry, I’ve got to take this. I’ve been on the phone since Detective Davies left. I’m trying to find a replacement for Billy.”

She answered it before I could reply, and then stood and walked across the porch out of earshot. When she returned, she refused to meet my gaze.

“I know it must seem a little callous to you,” she said.

I reached out and touched the back of her hand. “You’ve got a business to run. Find someone?”

“I’ve got a local guy who does karaoke for the next two nights, and I booked an oldies band from Marathon for the next week. Beyond that, I’ll have to see what happens.” She reached for her coffee cup. “So tell me how your morning went.”

I gathered my thoughts before launching into a condensed version of my visit with Elvis. I told her he’d denied knowing anything about the diamonds, but didn’t mention Celine. I didn’t feel like going through the entire story again. I also left out my coffee break with Brenda. When I finished, she took a final gulp of her coffee and set the cup back down.

“I wish we were sitting here under different circumstances,” she said. “I never cared much for Billy, but I’d never wish him dead. And I’m worried about Gail.”

“With good cause. I don’t think either of the twins will hesitate to kill her if they don’t get those diamonds back.”

“So now what?” she asked.

“Now I keep looking for Destiny.”

“I almost forgot.” Tanya leaned toward me. She smelled of apples and vanilla and the scent made me want to smile. “Gail’s called looking for you. When I told her you’d be coming back here, she asked me to let you know she’s made arrangements to pick up the diamonds tonight. She said she’d stop in at the bar around closing. She wants you to meet her there.”

“Did she leave a phone number?” I asked.

“I’ve got her cell number.” Tanya opened her phone and waited until I got mine out before reading the number to me. I punched it in, hit send and waited while Destiny’s phone rang. When it switched over to her voice mail I left a message asking her to call me, repeated my number twice, and hung up.

“I don’t trust her.” I jumped up and began pacing back and forth along the width of the porch. “She’s already taken me for a couple of grand. I need to find her before tonight. I suspect she’s stalling. For all I know she’s already got the diamonds and is on her way out of town.”

“It would be like her to leave her mess for someone else to clean up,” Tanya said. “You know what they say, like mother, like daughter.”

I crossed the porch and sat back down. “I thought it was like father, like son.”

“Same difference,” she said.

Sitting here with Tanya made me want to forget about work. I looked around, rested my elbows on my knees, and took a deep whiff of paradise. Key West is a mixed bouquet of scents and sensations. Flowers bloom year round, saltwater, diesel fuel and fresh rainwater permeate the air, and the wind disperses the fragrance throughout the island. A guy could get used to this, I realized. Especially if there was a good-looking woman around to share the experience.

I shook off those thoughts and forced my mind back to the subject at hand. “Exactly how well do you know Destiny? I’m not quite sure I understand your relationship with her.”

Tanya’s eyes took on a faraway look. As I shifted my body to get a little more comfortable, our arms brushed, sending a shiver through both of us.

“I think I told you my father and her mother were an item for awhile, didn’t I?” Tanya chewed on her lower lip, something she seemed to do whenever she was bothered or worried.

“You did.”

“Gail and I were in seventh grade when Dad moved them in here with us. I’m pretty sure he really loved Shelly. She was a beauty, but she had a haunted look about her. She was pretty messed up. Dad once referred to her as his broken angel.”

“Shelly is Gail’s mother?”

“Right.”

“And she was a stripper?”

“Yeah. She was into drugs and she was turning tricks.” The tips of Tanya’s teeth worked her lip furiously as she chose her words. “Dad never told me about those things, of course. But I overheard enough arguments to figure out what was going on.”

“Did Gail know her mother was an addict and a whore?”

Tanya shrugged. “Hard to say. We shared a room. She heard the same arguments. But I think she was in denial. What girl wants to admit those things about her mother?”

“How long did they live with you?”

“About two years. I think Dad figured if he loved Shelly enough he could get her to stop the drugs. When he refused to give her money to buy drugs, she started selling herself. Dad told me years later why he finally kicked her out of the house. He didn’t want me being exposed to the drugs and the lies.”

“What happened to Destiny?”

“She went with her mother. Dad offered to let her stay, but Shelly wouldn’t have it. After she left, Shelly drifted from man to man. I think Gail may have blamed me for the whole thing.”

“Why blame you?”

“About that time I started getting a little wild. I began hanging out with Gail and her friends. My grades went down and one night Dad came home from work and caught me smoking pot with this guy, Bennie Hall. I thought Dad was going to kill him. The next day he told Shelly she was going to have to leave.”

“Sounds to me like he did the right thing.”

“Yeah. But Gail always figured if I hadn’t gotten caught, Dad never would have thrown them out.”

“What do you think?”

“Dad told me my getting high was the icing on the cake. He was considering telling Shelly to leave anyway, but he felt if he waited any longer it might be too late for me.”

I digested what she’d said, but didn’t see how it could help me find Destiny.

“Could she have gone to stay with her mother?”

Tanya shook her head. “Shelly died from an overdose a few months before we graduated. I’ve always wondered if I should have tried to convince my dad to let them stay. Maybe he did kick them out because he caught me with the pot.”

“Where’d you get the pot?” I asked

“Gail stole it from her mother’s purse.”

I put my arm around her and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Then I guess she’s really the one to blame for what happened, isn’t she? Besides, it wasn’t your decision to make. You were a child. Your father did what he thought was best for you.”

“I guess, but somehow I feel responsible.”

I knew the feeling well and wasn’t sure I could say anything to ease her pain, so I turned the conversation back to Destiny. “What happened after her mother died?”

“Like I told you, she won a scholarship to Michigan State. I don’t know how she managed it living with Shelly. Dad was happy. He figured she was going to make something of herself. But Gail tried to make a buck and she screwed up. She ended up back here stripping, just like her mother. Things don’t look good for her, do they?”

“No they don’t.” I was afraid that when this was all over, Destiny might very well be dead. I was going to have to get damn lucky in order to keep her alive, or myself for that matter.

I hung around the house and waited until Tanya headed off to work before walking back to the dinghy docks. It was almost four-thirty and I was supposed to meet my mother at six, so I needed to pick up my van. I’d bought the six-year-old cargo van after moving aboard my boat.

I hate clutter, and there’s not much room to store things aboard a thirty-six foot boat. The van became my storage shed. I’d built shelves along either side in the back and filled them with tools, books, my banjo, and clothing I had only occasional use for, such as my winter jacket and my suit. I’m not a packrat, but there were some things I couldn’t get rid of.