Chapters (64)
“Nope, she’s cooking.”
“What’s she cooking?” Dino asked.
“Who cares? I’m sure it will be delicious, and if it isn’t, she will be.”
“I’d call that an evening with no downside,” Tommy said. “What’s her story, anyway?”
“She’s Swedish,” Stone explained.
“Oh.”
“You seem to have gotten over Tatiana pretty easily,” Dino said.
“I thought you were all broken up.”
“I was,” Stone replied, “and more than I’d realized at fi rst. But it’s easier to pick up the pieces if there’s somebody to help rearrange them.”
“And he isn’t talking about you, Dino,” Tommy said.
“You think I didn’t know that? It’s a pity, really. This Tati was a beautiful woman. And the killer is, she went back to her awful ex-husband.”
“They’ll do that,” Tommy said. “No guy can ever understand why a woman would go back to her ex.”
“Do you have an explanation for that phenomenon?” Stone asked.
“Nope. I’m a guy.”
“Don’t worry,” Dino said. “It’ll end badly. She’ll come back after he goes off the wagon a couple of times and breaks her china.”
“Let’s not talk about Tati anymore,” Stone said. “There’s nothing I can do about her. I’m in Key West.”
“With a Swedish beauty,” Dino added.
“That too.”
“What happens to her when we find Keating and go back to New York?”
“I’ll throw a sack over her head and take her with me.”
“Now you’re talking!”
“I’ve thought of a way we might find Evan Keating,” Tommy said suddenly.
“Speak to me,” Stone replied.
“I’ll have somebody at the station call the twenty best restaurants in town and alert them to call us if Keating makes a reservation.”
“That’s brilliant,” Stone said. “He looks like the kind of guy who’s eating out at the best places every night.”
“He’s gotta eat,” Tommy said, reaching for his cell phone and pressing a speed-dial button. He gave the instructions and hung up.
“It’s done; all we’ve gotta do is wait, then meet him at the restaurant. It helps that he’s now a person of interest in the death of Charley Boggs.”
“Did Charley have any visible means of support?” Dino asked.
“Not so’s you’d notice,” Tommy said.
Dino sighed. “One more dead end.”
“I like the restaurant idea,” Stone said.
“It occurs to me,” Dino said, “that maybe, in light of what hap-pened to Charley Boggs, we should be packing.”
“The State of Florida is okay with cops from other jurisdictions packing,” Tommy said.
“How about retired cops?” Stone asked.
“We’ll cut you some slack.”
Stone’s cell phone buzzed, and he flipped it open. “Yes?”
“It’s Eggers.”
“Oh, hi, Bill.”
“Don’t hi me; where’s that signed paperwork?”
“We’re working on a new way to track the guy down.”