James Swain - Bad News Travels

“Is she a hooker?”

“Sheriff doesn’t put up with hookers. His deputies have orders to run them out of town. She likes to troll, see what she’ll catch.”

“What’s her name?”

“Katya. My buddy Antonio took her out. Not sure why he broke it off.”

“Do you have Antonio’s number? We might want to talk to him.”

Arlen recited his friend’s number from memory, and Beth wrote it down on her notepad. Beth also asked for the spelling of Katya’s name, which she also wrote down. While this was taking place, Lancaster slipped his cell phone off the table, and pressed a button on the screen. He’d been secretly recording Arlen, and planned to listen to their conversation later, to see what he might have missed.

They were done. Arlen had given them enough information to move the investigation forward. They rose from the table, and he and Arlen shook hands.

“Thanks, brother,” he said.

“Anything for a Parrot Head,” Arlen replied.

“How much trouble are you in?” Jon asked.

Daniels stared at the ruler-straight highway, her hands gripping the wheel of her rental. There would be blowback from the ruse they had pulled on Phillips and his team, maybe even a formal review. The bureau did not tolerate impropriety among its agents, and her covering for Jon while he made the seventh marijuana plant disappear would be considered a major infraction.

She was in real trouble, no doubt about it.

She didn’t care. Her father’s death was looking more suspicious by the hour, and she was going to get to the bottom of the circumstances behind it, even if it meant pissing off every law enforcement officer on the east coast of Florida.

“Who cares?” she said.

“I do. Phillips will write up what happened, and he’ll assume that I made that pot plant disappear while you were distracting him and his team. That could hurt you.”

“Fifty-fifty Phillips doesn’t file a report.”

“You think your odds are that good?”

“I do. Busting Arlen would have silenced a valuable source. We needed him to talk, and arresting him would have accomplished the opposite. It was a judgment call.”

“But you broke the law.”

“I did no such thing. You broke the law. Look, I’m going to catch heat over this, no question about it. But if we break this open, all will be forgiven. My boss can be very understanding that way.”

“How is J. T. doing, anyway?”

“He’s back at work, cracking the whip. He’s one tough SOB.”

“My kind of guy.”

They had come to the drawbridge that connected the beach to old downtown. It was called the Bridge of Lions, and had two marble lions guarding the entrance that were copies of the famed Medici lions from Italy. Traffic started to crawl, and she hit the brakes a little too hard, throwing them both forward.

“Sorry,” she said.

“You okay?” he asked.

“No, I’m not okay,” she said through clenched teeth. “I’m a nervous god damn wreck. These things we’re learning about my father are tearing me apart, and I don’t know what the hell to do. This isn’t the man I knew.”

“You’re making assumptions. We don’t know how this is going to turn out.”

“It’s going to turn out badly, Jon. I can feel it in my bones.”

Red lights on the bridge began to flash. A crossing gate came down, and the drawbridge lifted to allow a large sailboat passage. Daniels threw the rental into park and fought back tears. Her father had gotten tangled up in a bad situation, one that involved gangsters and pretty young women with bad reputations. Instead of calling her for help, he’d let it spiral out of control until it was too late.

She got out and joined a group of tourists on the sidewalk, watching them take pictures of the sailboat. Lancaster edged up beside her, and handed her a tissue.

She blew her nose. “Thanks. When did you start carrying tissues?”

“I grabbed a few at the church this morning. Figured they might come in handy.”

“Always thinking ahead.”

“You got a call when we were talking to Arlen. Was it Nicki?”

“How did you know? My phone was muted, and in my purse.”

“It vibrated against something metallic.”

“I did get a call. How did you know it was Nicki?”

“She called me, too, asked me to call her back. She sounded very excited. I think she found something.”

Daniels groaned. Her niece was like a bull in a china shop. She was headstrong and watched too many cop shows. These shows were good at explaining the forensics used to catch criminals, but didn’t accurately portray the psychological toll of dealing with evil people. For Nicki, it was still a game.

“How do I tell her to stay out of this?” she asked.

“You already did that, and she didn’t listen. Why don’t you tell Melanie to take all of Nicki’s devices away from her? Then Nicki won’t be able to do any cybersleuthing.”

“That’s not going to happen, Jon. Nicki needs her devices to do her schoolwork.”

“Then I guess you’re stuck. Personally, I’d like to hear what she found.”

“You’re not helping. You know that, don’t you?”

“You can’t have everything, Beth. Want me to call her back?”

The red lights started to flash, and the drawbridge lowered. They crossed into town, their tires purring on the smooth cobblestone streets. Entering Saint Augustine was like taking a step back in time, the buildings rich with history and culture, and everything moving at a more civilized pace. She drove to a public lot across the street from a Spanish stone fortress called Castillo de San Marcos, and picked an empty spot. The fort was over three hundred years old, and had been built to defend Spain’s interests in Florida. She called Nicki back, and put her cell phone on speaker. As the call connected, she glanced at him and said, “I don’t feel good about this.”

“You want me to do the talking?” he asked.

“She’ll just roll right over you. She always does.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“You think I’m a pushover? Just watch me.”

Nicki answered on the first ring. She was filled with breathless enthusiasm and excitedly said hello. Before she could explain what she’d found, Daniels stopped her.

“Nicki, didn’t Jon and I ask you to stay out of this? These men are dangerous.”

“But I found the link!”

Daniels’s eyes went wide. “You did? Tell us.”

“Am I helping you with the investigation, or not?”

“Nicki, you don’t get to bargain with us. It doesn’t work that way. Where the heck are you, anyway? Are your parents there?”

“Dad pulled over for a pit stop. He and my mom are inside a 7-Eleven getting cold drinks and snacks. Remember what you told me, Aunt Beth? The more eyes on a case, the better chances you have of cracking it open. You told me that yourself.”

“She’s got you over a barrel,” Jon whispered.

Daniels mouthed the words, Shut up. To her niece she said, “Here’s the deal. You’re on the case as of right now. But if I decide that you need to bug out, you must agree to do that. This is for your own safety, Nicki. Do we have a deal?”

“Yes, Aunt Beth.”

“Splendid. Now let’s hear it. I’ve got Jon sitting here with me.”

“Okay, so here’s what I found. Saint Augustine has a newspaper called the St. Augustine Record , which has a website with a backlog of articles. Officer Spencer said that mummified hands had been found at five different homes in the past year. It made me think that a story would have been written about it in the newspaper. Guess what? There wasn’t a single mention.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a big enough story,” Daniels said.