Claspers was feeling off balance. “I dunno what the hell you’re talking about.”
“It’s simple. You either get this fucking plane in the air right now, or your license gets yanked back in the States and you find another profession, like driving an ice-cream truck. That’s not too ambiguous, is it? Nothing fuzzy about the scenario I’m presenting. The man you call Grunion and his female companion? On several occasions you flew them nonstop from here to Monroe County, Florida—in this very same aircraft—without officially clearing at Tamiami or Key West. That’s a crime, and the look in your eyeballs tells me you’re aware of the possible shitstorm in your future. If you’ve never had the opportunity to interact with Homeland Security, you’re in for a treat. I’m Inspector Yancy, by the way, and this is Dr. Campesino.”
All the pilot could say was: “Grunion killed somebody?”
The pretty doctor patted his arm. “We really need to get moving.”
The hurricane stayed out over the Bahamas until meandering away. It rained heavily for a day in the Lower Keys but now the sun was shining and Evan Shook’s construction crew had returned to the job site. He was parked in front of the spec house talking on the phone with Mrs. Lipscomb. The topic was crown moldings.
A green Sebring convertible driven by a blonde pulled up next door at Yancy’s place. Evan Shook told Jayne Lipscomb he’d call her back.
“Will you check those prices? Ford thinks we can do better.”
“Sure. Right away,” Evan Shook said absently.
From the glove compartment he removed a stun gun he’d purchased just in case Andrew Yancy hadn’t hallucinated the wild dogs. Agent John Wesley Weiderman had said the woman didn’t have a violent past, but Evan Shook pocketed his new Taser, just in case.
Before stepping from the Suburban he looked at the photo once more—there was no doubt it was the same person. She entered Yancy’s house and Evan Shook moved closer to the fence separating the properties. His phone was in one hand; in the other was Agent Weiderman’s card. Evan Shook knew he should make the call immediately; it would be the responsible thing to do.
Before Plover Chase burned his neighbor’s house to the ground.
What a sight that would be, he thought. A bona fide inferno.
The fugitive came out the back door and stood on Yancy’s deck. She noticed Evan Shook watching as she tied her hair in pigtails. He waved and she nodded back pleasantly. Evan Shook couldn’t help wondering what sort of elaborate sex crime she’d committed—ropes? whips? manacles?—and what man in his right mind would press charges.
Back home at his club, Evan Shook was dependably conservative during law-and-order discussions: Lock up the bastards and throw away the key! Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time! One quick phone call and Miss Plover Chase would be prison-bound. Possibly there was a cash reward. Agent Weiderman would know.
Then again, it was difficult for Evan Shook to imagine how such a sunny-looking soul could be a menace to society. That was his dilemma as he tapped Agent Weiderman’s number into his smartphone. He was about to press Call when Plover Chase took off her cotton beach dress, under which was revealed a candy-striped two-piece swimsuit—not a bikini, yet still …
After dabbing sunblock on her nose, she stretched out on a plastic lounge chair that must’ve cost Yancy all of eleven dollars. To Evan Shook she seemed extremely laid-back for a would-be arsonist.
“Hi, there! I remember you!” Now she gave him a full-on wave.
Evan Shook tucked away the phone and Agent Weiderman’s card as he approached the fence. Conscious of his shortness, he stood straight as an aspen. The heel lifts in his loafers helped.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” he asked.
“We broke up,” she said, “but thanks for the motel room.”
“No problem.”
“I didn’t break into this place, don’t worry. I’ve got a key.” Her lips were a faint shade of pink but her toenails were the color of tangerines.
“Have you seen Andrew?” she asked.
“Not for a few days. Maybe he’s out of town.”
“I’m a friend of his. Really I am.”
“Then he’s a lucky guy. What’s your name, friend of Andrew?”
“Bonnie,” she said. “I tried his cell but he didn’t call back. Usually he’s good about returning his messages.”
“My name’s Evan. You want some water or a soda? It’s hot as blazes out here.”
“No, thanks. There’s beer in the fridge.”
Plover Chase had a nice figure and her legs looked naturally tanned, a feature Evan Shook appreciated. His wife got herself sprayed twice a month at a salon in downtown Syracuse, and she came out looking vinyl. Also, the stuff tasted like insecticide.
“Andrew’s the one who told us it was okay to crash at your house,” the fugitive confided. “Sorry about that.”
“I think he likes to play practical jokes.”
“Have you met his new girlfriend? The surgeon?”
Evan Shook heard himself say, “Yes, she’s down here a lot.”
Which was untrue.
“What’s she look like?” Plover Chase asked. “Good. She looks good.” Evan Shook had never set eyes on the woman, but he said it anyway. “She’s got long brown hair.”
“Scale of one to ten?”
“Eleven.”
“Whoa, daddy.”
“They seem pretty serious,” Evan Shook added.
The fugitive was looking at him over the tops of her sunglasses. “Like, how do you mean? Move-in-together serious, or get-married serious?”
“Well, you know Andrew.”
“Yes, I certainly do know Andrew,” she said.
Behind them, the construction site was a cacophony of hammers and table saws and sanders—even a boom box playing salsa music from Miami, heavy on the horns.
“Where you from, Emmett?”
“It’s Evan.” He spelled it. “I live in New York State.”
“So you’re down here really just to get that house built,” Plover Chase said. “All by your lonesome.”
“My family’s up north, that’s right. I fly back and forth most weekends.”
Yancy’s stalker crossed her killer legs, and Evan Shook found himself sidetracked by unwholesome fantasies.
“So this mansion you’re putting up, Evan, it’s basically a real estate investment?”
“When I’m here, I stay at the Casa Marina. That’s down in Key West.”
“And that’s where you go at night,” she said, smiling, “after a long hard day at the job site.”
“They have a nice bar. Cool and private.” He pointed. “Watch out, there’s a horsefly on … well, right there.”
“That would be my décolletage.” She flicked the insect away, and with a knuckle wiped the blood dot. “How old do you think Andrew’s girlfriend is?”
“I don’t know. Young for a doctor,” Evan Shook said. “Want to come by the Casa later for a drink? They’ve got a country band that’s not bad.”
Plover Chase sat up and swung her lovely feet to the deck. “Andrew’s somewhat famous around Key West. But you probably know that already. Infamous, I should say.”
“For what?”
“You don’t read the papers when you’re in town? Shame on you.”
“There’s a place on Duval where I buy the Times. But, really, I don’t pay much attention to the local news,” Evan Shook said. “So tell me what Andrew did to get his name in the headlines.”
The woman laughed and said never mind, it’s water under the bridge. Then she said good-bye and picked up her beach dress and disappeared into Yancy’s house.
Evan Shook walked back to the Suburban thinking about the justice system. The prisons of America had become so overcrowded that hard-core cutthroats were being turned loose daily, only to strike again. Where was the logic of locking up a hot-looking babe like Plover Chase for a crime of “exploitation,” whatever that might be?