part0025

THE FIRST THING CORTEZ did was drop her eyes to his crotch. He did a little wiggle to show off his fishy-stain-free pants, got an appreciative nod back.

‘That’s the laid-back Keys for you. And thanks for calling Guillory, keeping her abreast of the important developments in the case.’

He didn’t tell her she didn’t get a chance, that was when he told her to piss off. He certainly didn’t tell her that the only thing she was giving him a hard time over was her, Detective Ana Maria Cortez. Nor did he spoil the illusion, didn’t say try calling her now, see how much us girls camaraderie there is coming from Guillory’s end of the line.

The thought depressed him, reminded him of his last conversation with Guillory. It had knocked most of the stuffing out of him, all of the joie de vivre . As a result, a long drive down from Miami on his own hadn’t held many attractions. Instead he’d flown into the Florida Keys International Airport at Marathon, picked up a car there. Not a convertible either.

She took it with less enthusiasm than he’d have liked. Didn’t exactly push him out of the way as she dived for her computer to plug it in.

She told him to pull over a chair. They both sat in front of her computer as she inserted the thumb drive. Squashed into the small cubicle, sitting up close next to her, he caught the scent of her perfume, was very aware of the heat of her body. It made him feel as if they were about to curl up on the sofa together for a night in watching a movie. He almost asked her when was the pizza going to be delivered.

It would’ve been a very lackluster start to the evening if that had been the case. They watched the short movie clip in silence.

‘Two people on vacation in Key West,’ she said when it was over. ‘Wow! You’ve cracked this one wide open.’

She was tapping a pencil impatiently against the desktop, a gesture he correctly identified as say something relevant or leave . At that moment a young woman stuck her head around the side of the partition. Leaning in close to Cortez, she said the captain wanted a word with her. Cortez told her that she’d be there in a couple of minutes, the implication being, as soon as she’d gotten rid of the time waster. The young woman didn’t leave. Smiling in embarrassment, she silently mouthed the word now .

Cortez told Evan to wait there and not touch anything. Then she followed the young woman across the bullpen area and into another office with large windows facing the bullpen. Inside the office an older, heavier man in shirtsleeves spoke briefly with her, while Cortez kept nodding. Finally Cortez left and retraced her steps back to where Evan was waiting.

The pencil was busily tapping on her desk again. In frustration this time. Evan decided to make matters worse.

‘I’d have thought you’d be pleased. Seeing as you don’t think there’s a case in the first place.’

He didn’t know why he said it. It was obvious what the problem was, one that he had no difficulty in understanding. She didn’t like to be told what to do. Especially not in front of a member of the public. She didn’t answer him, the pencil still going tap, tap, tap .

The tap, tap, tap got faster. He grabbed the end of the pencil, held it still. He could feel her body vibrating through it.

His long association with Guillory had prepared him well for times like this. The words don’t take it out on me never got further than the confines of his mind. Despite her snapping at him and the inadvisability of pushing her, he’d have liked an answer to his question. How did the captain know who he was? Was his presence there in any way connected to the abrupt closure of the case? Cortez didn’t give him time to think about the implications of either question.

‘I said come on .’ Then she dropped her voice. ‘I assume you’ve got a copy of that video on your phone.’

He came on, amazed at the power of pride, especially when pricked. Whoever promoted it to one of the seven deadly sins didn’t miss a trick. They went to a diner a couple of blocks away, took a seat in the window. Once they were settled in, he tried a different version of his earlier question.

‘No. He didn’t see fit to share that information with me.’ The thin line where her lips used to be and the flaring of her nostrils indicated that she didn’t want to be asked a third time. ‘Let me see the video again.’

He studied her face as she watched it again, thinking that the residual flush on her cheeks from the anger and embarrassment suited her. She must have read his mind.

He stopped staring, concentrated on getting the menus lined up neatly. Out of the corner of his eye he could still see her touch the tip of her tongue to her upper lip. She paused the video in the same place he had, trying to see the face of the man obscured by the couple taking the selfie. She gave up, pushed the phone across the table.

‘I still can’t see the connection. How are these people linked to Winter and to the guy in the video coming through the door?’

He turned the phone towards her, pointed at the young couple who were only ever going to move again when somebody pressed play , their actual lives on hold forever.

Something else took the place of the interest in her eyes. The gleam was still there but it was more mocking amusement than professional interest.

‘Let me get this straight. Winter’s job was to identify the couple in the video. They were then killed because of whatever they caught on the selfie that was going on behind them. And then Winter was killed to tidy up any loose ends.’

She pushed her coffee cup away. Leaned back in her seat. Let out a weary sigh, one that said she’d already had enough of being caught between the hardass captain on one side and the lunatic sitting opposite her on the other.

Then she leaned forwards again, put her elbows on the table. He leaned in to make a cozy little huddle like they were making plans to run away together. She dropped her voice to a whisper as if the words she was about to utter could get her fired.

She didn’t give him a chance to say no .

‘Hey! I’ve got one. How about Winter was paid to kill the couple in the video and then topped himself out of remorse?’

‘Good to know I won’t be getting you in any trouble with the captain. I wouldn’t have wanted that on my conscience.’

They stared at each other for a long moment. Then she put her hand on his arm, made him wonder if a male detective would’ve done the same or just told him to drop it and not tried to let him down gently.

‘Look, I’d like to help. If I had the captain’s blessing or you’d come up with some hard evidence, or even a bigger coincidence like they’d all been drowned, to make me go against him . . .’ She held her hands open wide, now’s the time to give it to me. ‘But seeing as I’ve got neither, there isn’t anything I can do. I’m sorry.’

For a moment he felt as if Guillory had had a last-minute change of heart, had come along for the ride after all. He frowned, not aware of having done anything. Yet.

‘ Ah . From Mr Conch?’

‘From Mr Romano , yes. Apparently, we sent some lunatic down there trying to wheedle confidential information out of the girl who works there—’

‘Amanda, yes. Seems this particular lunatic propositioned her as well, wanted her to take him out on a boat. He pretended he wanted to buy one but she said she wouldn’t have trusted this guy to clean one.’