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BILLY, ALEX AND I SAT in the Sheriff’s Office having a face-to-face with Mike Stone and a few select members of the Bomb Squad.
Mike held his styrofoam cup of coffee up under his chin.“I don’t think any of us has any doubt at this stage you’re the target.” He took a sip and put the cup down on the table. “Your boat. Your car. And as I understand, you’re temporary sleeping quarters up above the restaurant.” Mike shook his head. “Looks like I’m not the only one who doesn’t like you.” He turned to Billy. “Probably regret offering him your couch, huh?”
Billy looked right back at Mike, his eyes narrowed. “Sorry, I don’t get your humor. All I can say is I’m happy my friend’s alive.”
Mike gave Billy a look. “You seem to be taking this all quite well. For someone who just lost his business...”
“Are you implying I had something to do with it? Because you’re right. You got me...I blew the place up. I did the boat, too. And the car, too.”
I looked at Billy and gave him a nod.
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THE THREE OF US WALKED down the steps of the Sheriff’s Office and headed across the parking lot toward Billy’s car. I walked around to the passenger side and across the roof said, “I’m really sorry, Billy. I know this is all my fault.”
Billy shook his head. “You’re not the one who destroyed my restaurant.”
“You know what I mean,” I said. “As Mike made so clear, it was obviously meant for me.”
“Listen,” Billy said. “Maybe it’s a blessing...for the best. Insurance will cover it. I’m just glad you’re alive.” He opened his door and stepped inside. “Besides, maybe it gives me a fresh start.”
“That’s quite a glass-is-half-full way to look at it.” I buckled myself into the passenger seat. “I hope that means you’ll reopen.”
Billy shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe I’ll get out of the restaurant business.”
Alex was already sitting in the back seat with her head down in her phone. “Did you just say you might get out of the restaurant business?”
He looked into the rearview as he shifted into reverse, turned in his seat to back out of the parking space. “Just a thought.”
I turned around to Alex. “We need to dig as deep as we can into everyone’s past, find a link to explosives. I don’t know if it’s military or what, but...”
“You still think Philip is behind this?” Billy said.
I shook my head. “I could see him blowing up his own boat. He’d just get a new one. But he wouldn’t do it if it’d harm someone. And I’d like to think he wouldn’t want to kill me.” I looked out the passenger window. “At least I’d like to think he wouldn’t.”
Billy turned onto North Liberty and took a quick left onto East Bay.
I turned again to Alex. “Can you check with your friend...see if he’s had a chance to look at the footage from Darcy Car Rental.”
She looked down at her phone and dialed. “Hey,” she said. “It’s Alex. Just wondering if you...You did? I haven’t checked. Okay, yes. Uh huh. Makes sense. I’ll check now. I appreciate it.”
“Anything?” I said, as I turned and looked at Alex over my shoulder.
“He said he did what he could, but couldn’t find a match in the database.”
I said, “Did you send him the picture of Carla?”
“Yes, but he said the footage isn’t clear enough to make a match.”
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ALEX AND I DROVE TOGETHER out to Neptune Beach and parked in front of the leasing office at Carla’s apartment. I knew Carla was gone, but hoped someone might provide us a clue about where we could find her.
“I’ll tell them I’m looking for a place,” I said. “Pretty sure Carla’s is vacant.”
Alex said, “Would you really want to live all the way out here?”
“Why not? I like the beach. And a change wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”
We walked into the leasing office. A young woman looked up at us from behind a desk and stood from her chair, walked toward us with her hand extended and shook our hands. “Hello,” she said. “I’m CeCe. How may I help you two?”
“CeCe?” I said.
She nodded.
“I’m looking for an apartment. A friend of mine told me you might have a vacancy over on the third floor.”
She put on a big smile. “When are you looking to move in?”
I looked through the blinds covering the window, and spotted a sign on the post outside. It said Beach Path with an arrow pointing toward the back of the building. “How about today?”
She laughed. “Well, the soonest we have available is a couple of weeks.” CeCe’s eyes went back and forth between me and Alex. “I don’t think I can show you the home just yet. Not right now. It’s only been recently vacated. It’s being refurbished.” She held the back of her hand up near her mouth, like she was letting us in on a secret. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but someone smashed the sliding glass door off the balcony. It’s being repaired.”
I glanced back at Alex. “Must have had some rowdy tenants,” I said. “But I don’t mind if it’s being worked on. I’d love to see it, since I drove all the way out here.” I spotted a board with dozens of keys hanging on hooks. “Does it have a view?”
She nodded. “Third floor...one of the nicest in the building. It’s overlooking the beach.”
“So why’d she move out?”
The smile dropped from her face. “How’d you know the tenant was a she?”
“Oh, a woman lived there?”
CeCe had a tilt to her head, stared back at me for a moment then said. “She was nice. Kind of caught me off guard she was leaving...still had three months on her lease.”
“She broke the lease?”
“Yes, but it was paid in full.” She looked back at Alex and raised her eyebrows. “Paid in cash.”
“How long ago’d she leave?”
“Officially? This morning.” CeCe looked up at the clock on the wall behind her desk. “I’d say about three hours ago.”
“When she left, did you see who she left with?”
CeCe folded her arms. “I’m sorry. But you’re asking a lot of questions that aren’t exactly what we hear from someone looking to move in here.”
I shot Alex a quick look, turned back to CeCe and said, “The truth is, I like the area. And I am looking for a place.” I paused a moment and handed her my card. “I’m a private investigator.”
“What are you investigating?”
“I’m looking for your former tenant, Carla Weiss.”
CeCe swallowed hard, her eyes went past me, toward the door. “You know, I didn’t know her very well. She kept to herself. And today, when she was leaving—after she came in to tell me—I saw a kid she was with. I swear I went to high school with him, down in St. Augustine.”
“You’re not from around here?”
She shook her head. “I moved here after high school. To work here.” She stood quiet for a moment.
“So this kid she was with...anything you can tell us?”
Her face got a bit twisted as she shrugged. “I don’t know...he was a black kid. Not that I mean anything by that. I’m just saying. He was one of the smarter kids in my school. Kind of a nerd, I guess. But he got expelled and I never saw him again.”
Alex said, “You remember his name?”
“Like I said, maybe it wasn’t him. The boy I knew...his name was Jason Raymond.”
I looked at Alex. “Jason Raymond?”
She stared back at me for a moment, then realized what I’d already figured out. “JayRay?”
I nodded. “It had to be. Jason Raymond is JayRay.”
Alex turned to the young woman, “You know what he got expelled for?”
She shook her head. “It was kind of a big deal at the time. He made a bomb.”