Mike Jastrzebski - Key Lime Blues

Davies shrugged. “Our witness only saw the girl. Like I said, he was pretty drunk.”

“So does this mean I can leave?”

Davies took out her cigarettes again, and this time she offered me one.

I shook my head. “I don’t smoke.”

“I quit, you know.” Davies held a cigarette under her nose and sniffed it. She gave me a knowing smile. “Eight times last month alone.” She lit up and for a moment she looked younger as she took a drag, but the years came racing back when she exhaled through her nose. “What haven’t you told me?”

“You know everything I do.” I didn’t want to lie to her, but I needed to get out of there and try to catch Tanya at the bar. If I could warn her off I’d tell Davies the rest. If not, I needed to handle it myself. I knew if I told her about Willie, I’d be out of the loop. I wasn’t going to let that happen.

Davies looked over at the smoldering ruins and seemed lost in thought. “Why do I get the feeling you’re holding something back from me.”

“I have no reason to lie to you.”

She let out a little snort and shook her head. “You haven’t had a reason to lie since I met you, but it hasn’t stopped you.”

“I haven’t lied to you.”

Davies stubbed out her cigarette and set the butt upright on the roof of the car. She focused her attention on the short white pillar, and then reached out and flicked her finger, sending the butt flying across the cold metal surface.

“Yeah you have. You’ve lied to me and you’ve gotten in the way of this investigation. At least one person, this Frankie guy, might still be alive if you had come forward from the start.”

“Look I…”

She leaned toward me and asked, “Did I say I was finished?”

She waited as if daring me to speak. I clenched my fists and ground my teeth together in an effort to reign in my irritation. I was afraid anything I said might land me back in cuffs. That wouldn’t help Tanya. I ate crow and said, “Sorry.”

She shook her head. “No you’re not. I’ve met two kinds of private detectives. Neither one of them are worth a damn as far as I’m concerned.”

I took a step forward and moved my face up close to hers. She didn’t like me invading her space, but she didn’t back down. Her breath smelled of tobacco and something unpleasant left over from dinner. I wasn’t about to back down so I put up with the stench and waited.

After what seemed like an hour, I asked, “Are you going to educate me on the different types of detective, or can I go?”

“First, you’ve got your cop wannabes. They can’t make it as a real cop, so they pretend. They screw up because they can’t get anything right.”

“I never wanted to be a cop,” I said.

“No, you’re the loner type. Those are the ones who don’t play well with others. That would describe you, don’t you think?”

“I told you I’m not a P.I. anymore. Now if you’re done chastising me how about cutting me loose.”

Davies let out a big sigh and backed out of the way. “Go ahead. I don’t want to go through the paperwork involved in arresting you. But don’t leave town and keep your phone handy. If I can’t get hold of you, I’ll enjoy having you picked up.”

I didn’t thank her. I was afraid that if I said anything, she might come up with a reason to change her mind. As soon as she walked away, I grabbed my phone. I dialed Tanya’s cell first, then the bar. When Tanya didn’t answer either phone, I started running down the street.

This was a working class section of Key West. The houses were shabbier, the cars parked along the street were older, and most of the owners couldn’t afford to put in exotic landscaping. It wasn’t until I crossed Truman and turned onto Olivia that the area brightened and took on a more sculpted look.

I pulled up four houses from Tanya’s to catch my breath. I wished now that I had a gun. If Willie was waiting at the house, I didn’t think he’d hesitate to kill me.

I crept from house to house keeping to the dark areas until I was standing behind a small palm tree in front of Tanya’s neighbor’s house. I waited at the base of the palm for a good ten minutes watching and listening while I tried to decide on the best approach. It was almost four-thirty in the morning. Tanya should have arrived home a minimum of an hour earlier. Since the house was dark, I assumed Willie had already confronted Tanya and left.

My stomach churned and my imagination was operating on overdrive as I considered all the possibilities. Either Tanya was dead, or she was Willie’s prisoner. Either way I couldn’t risk barging in when there was still a chance Willie was inside. The problem was that if Tanya was still alive, my rushing in and getting killed was going to make things much worse for her.

My first thought was to cut through the neighbor’s yard and approach from the rear of the house, but a high wooden fence surrounded the yard. Even if I managed to get over the fence I had no idea what obstacles I’d encounter on the other side.

The other problem with an all out approach was the brightness of the moon. The last thing I needed was for someone to get up, look out their window, see me skulking about their yard, and call the cops. I was pretty sure Davies wouldn’t let me skate again. I decided on a frontal approach.

A full moon shone over the island and the night air was a comfortable seventy degrees. A fresh breeze rattled the palm fronds up and down the street and carried the tangy scent of the ocean across the island. I couldn’t stand around waiting much longer, so I bent forward and made my way along the fence surrounding Tanya’s property.

The house was dark, and the gate stood ajar. I didn’t know what to expect. Questions raced through my mind. Was Willie still there? Had Tanya made it home from work? Had something fortuitously detained her? Was Tanya even still alive? All these thoughts fanned my anger at Destiny. She might not feel she owed me anything, but she could have taken the time to call Tanya before she left the bar and warned her about Willie.

I took a moment to clear my mind while I glanced up and down the street. When I was sure I was alone I dropped to my knees and edged around the gate. Half-a-dozen shadowy figures rushed at me with reckless abandon. Startled, I jumped to my feet and had to stifle a nervous laugh when the shadows shifted and I realized that my opponents were nothing more than shrubs and plants activated by moonlight and wind. I was wound way too tight, so I forced myself to take several deep breaths in an effort to calm down.

As I waited for my adrenaline rush to subside and my heartbeat to slow, I cast a final look up and down the street. It was way past time for me to get my ass in gear. Dead or alive, I needed to know if Tanya was inside the house. Using my shoulders, I nudged the gate open wide enough for me to squeeze though.

In the distance a Harley thundered to life. The roar of the engine built to a crescendo, and the night went quiet as the motor’s echo faded. Shadows played along the edge of the yard while the white stone path sparkled like a lit runway. For the first time in my life I cursed the full moon.

Once again I dropped into a crouch and pushed my body close to the ground. Keeping as near to the fence as the shrubbery allowed, I duck-walked along the murky trail.

As I edged toward the back of the yard my muscles began to cramp and hidden thorns added to my torture, plucking at my shirt and shorts like a hundred tiny knives. By the time I reached the back of the house I was sweating, despite the cool night breeze. Rivulets of blood ran down my arms and legs where the thistles had found bare skin. I didn’t care. The tiny bursts of pain seemed to make me more alert and I was aware of every sound around me. The scurrying of a small animal. The call of a night bird. The whistle of the wind through the trees. Nothing seemed remotely human.