He stood up to greet their old acquaintance as he entered the restaurant, and so did Stone. Shortly, Tommy had a margarita before him.
“You’re drinking that tropical swill?” Dino asked.
“After a while down here, it gets to be unpatriotic if you don’t,”
Tommy replied.
“How’s retirement treating you, Tommy?” Stone asked.
“Who’s retired? A week after I hit town, I was a detective again.”
“Working homicide?”
“Are you kidding? You’re in Paradise; we get like one homicide a year, if we’re lucky, and it’s nearly always perfectly clear who the killer is. He’s usually standing there, holding a gun or a claw hammer in his hand, when we walk in. The only problem is getting him not to talk too fast while we’re taking his statement.”
“What keeps you busy, then?” Dino asked.
“Drug stuff, burglaries, mostly small-time. We get a lot of drifters down here, especially in the winter. They at least know they’re not going to freeze to death, and they can steal enough to eat. We get the usual domestic stuff, too, only more of it is gay than in New York.”
“What’s the job like?”
“Pretty interesting. The first thing I had to do was to train my partner, a kid named Daryl, whose acne had not yet cleared up. He was the chief’s nephew at the time.”
“Sounds like a drag.”
“No, he was quick to learn, and he’s turned into a pretty good detective. His uncle is gone now, and so is the guy who replaced him. Last week, the chief and two captains resigned over a scandal.”
“What kind of scandal?”
“Fixing parking tickets, harassing gay guys on bicycles, hiring girlfriends as secretaries and fucking them in the supply room, drinking on the job, you name it. Nothing big, just a lot of continuous horseshit. I’m currently acting chief of detectives—all six of them. They offered me the chief’s job, but I’m too old for the politics and the PR horseshit.”
“I don’t blame you,” Dino said. “I’m running the squad at the Nineteenth, and that’s almost more politics than I can stand.”
“What’s the most interesting case you’ve worked down here, Tommy?” Stone asked.
“Oh, that’s an easy one,” Tommy laughed. “We had a big drugs, murder, sex thing right after I signed on that involved some prominent locals, among them the local tennis pro. You remember a player named Chuck Chandler?”
“The guy who choked in the Wimbledon final some years back?”
“That’s the guy. The sports pages called it the Chuck Choke, and it stuck.”
“I hope he didn’t murder anybody.”
“Nah, he was pretty much the dope in the thing. There was one very hot babe mixed up in it, though. She’s doing time right now, ought to be out soon.”
“What’s it like living here?” Stone asked.
“Beautiful in the winter, spring and fall; hot as hell in the summer, but no worse than New York. At least we get the breeze. You like boats?”
“Sure, who doesn’t?”
“I’ll take you out for some snorkeling,” Tommy said. “Snorkeling and a few drinks. We got a very nice little yacht club here, and I’ll take you there for dinner. Tomorrow night?”
“Sure,” Stone and Dino said simultaneously.
“So,” Tommy said, “what brings you guys down here?”
“It’s winter, isn’t it?” Dino answered.
“I’m running a legal errand,” Stone said. “I’ve got to fi nd a guy and get him to sign some papers.”
“Anybody I know?”
“I doubt it. Kid hates his father, but the old man needs his signature on some papers to sell the family business. Means a lot of bucks for the whole family, the kid, too, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble to persuade him.” Stone showed Tommy the old photo of Evan. Tommy looked at it and screwed his face up. “What’s his name?”
“Evan Keating,” Stone replied. “Know him?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Tommy replied. “I busted him in a drug case yesterday, but it ain’t going to stick.”
“Do you know where I can fi nd him?”
Tommy motioned his chin in the direction of the bar. “Right over there, third stool from the left.”
Stone looked toward the bar. The man’s back was mostly to him, but he could catch a little profile. He was heavier than in his college photo and had longer hair, and he was dressed in jeans, cowboy boots and a flowered shirt, with the tail out, Hawaiian-style. He was talking to a beautiful girl on the next bar stool, with long, honeycolored hair, dressed in tight jeans and a leather jacket.
“Excuse me a minute,” Stone said, rising and walking toward the bar. He walked up to the two people, who turned and looked at him. Evan Keating had a thin, straight nose and bright blue eyes.
“Mr. Keating?” Stone said. “I’m sorry to intrude, but I just wanted to introduce myself.” He handed the young man his card. “My name is Stone Barrington, and I’ve been sent by my law firm to Key West to deliver some documents for your signature.”
“You must think I’m somebody else,” Keating said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m aware of that, Mr. Keating, but we could get together for a few minutes tomorrow morning. I’m sure you will find our conversation greatly to your advantage.”
Keating regarded him evenly for a moment without speaking, then he said, “Why don’t we step outside for a moment and discuss this?”
“Of course,” Stone replied.
Keating got up and led the way out, while Stone followed. Outside on the sidewalk a bench had been placed as a waiting area for the restaurant, and Keating motioned Stone to sit down. Stone sat down next to Keating, his back to the restaurant door.
“I know this will come as a surprise to you, but my law fi rm represents Elijah Keating’s Sons, and . . .”
Something struck the back of Stone’s neck, and the night exploded in stars.
5
STONE SWAM BACK into consciousness, opened his eyes, then closed them again. Some sort of bright light had blinded him. A cool hand was resting on his forehead.
“Mr. Barrington?” a woman’s low voice said.
“What?” Stone replied. He tried to open his eyes again but it didn’t work.
“Can you look at me, please?”
“It’s too bright,” Stone said. Immediately, the brightness disappeared.
“Is that better?”
“Okay, yes.”
“Can you open your eyes now?”
Stone opened his eyes and found his vision filled with the face of a woman. “What happened?” he asked.
“We don’t know,” she replied.
Dino’s face replaced the woman’s, and Tommy Sculley was right behind him. “We found you face down on the sidewalk,” he said.
“I liked the other face better,” Stone said and tried to sit up straighter.
“Let’s get him up on the bench,” the woman said, and hands gripped his arms and helped him upward.
“What happened to you, Stone?” Dino asked.
“How the hell should I know?” Stone said irritably. “I was unconscious, wasn’t I?”
“Yeah, that was kind of the point,” Dino said. “Do you have any idea how you got that way?”
“Well, I was sitting at a table with you and Tommy, having a drink, and then I woke up here.”
“Nothing in between?” Dino asked.
“I’ve got a headache,” Stone said, rubbing the back of his neck and fi nding it sore.
The woman spoke again. “He should really be in a hospital,” she said.
“I don’t need to go to a hospital,” Stone retorted. “I need some aspirin and a drink.”
She explored the back of his head and his neck with her fi ngers, and he winced when she got to his neck. “Seems like a blow to the back of the neck, rather than his head, so I think we can discount a skull fracture or a concussion.”