James was waiting in front of the station when I pulled up in the truck. He got in the on passenger side and didn’t say a word.
“We’re going to take a trip down to a motel on the beach. There’s a property there you’re going to find interesting, James.”
He was biting his lower lip, staring straight ahead.
“Want to tell me what happened?”
“No.”
“Hey, bright side. You’re free and we’re still employed. I checked with the front desk. They’re comping us a second room. We both get a room and one’s got a kitchenette. Pretty cool.”
He didn’t smile.
“We’re moving up in the world, James.”
Turning left just before The Vein Care Center clinic, we crossed Old Highway and pulled in at the Ocean Air. Motel apparently wasn’t the appropriate word. The sign said Ocean Air Suites. A forty-something guy with short hair and an earring stood on the white porch, watching us get out of the truck. Slowly walking to the oil-guzzling truck, he approached me.
“We were thinking of maybe staying here sometime in the next couple of months. Thought we might check the place out.”
He kept staring at us.
“So, I wondered if we could just maybe take a quick look at the beach down there? Just a quick look.”
He nodded. “You understand it’s for guests only?”
“Just going to look. We’ll be right back.”
“Okay, then.” He didn’t sound happy about it. “You see it, then you come right back, you hear?”
James and I walked down the shell-covered path, heading toward the ocean. In the distance I could make out several wooden deck chairs and a tiki hut with a grass roof.
“So what are we going to see?”
I pointed to my right, where a tall metal fence ran the entire length from the road to the water. Trees, orange-flowering bougainvillea, and high grass blocked any view of the property next door.
“We’re hopefully going to get a view of that property.”
“And why are we doing this?”
“We might want to come back some night this week and bring a shovel.”
James’s eyes opened a little wider. “So, you found it already.”
“I did.”
“Pard, that’s great.” He punched me on the shoulder.
“Property is owned by a doctor on the Overseas Highway. Not a very pleasant guy. He keeps it under lock and key.”
“What’s so valuable?”
“Don’t know.”
We reached the beach, a little point of sand that stuck out into the water. An older, heavyset couple was sprawled out on two chairs, lathered in lotion, their tiny suits covering far too little. She was bright pink and the guy with socks and sandals was pasty white. European, for sure. I’d seen it before. The sun was bright, and I figured the guy’s white skin would be red soon. Except for his feet.
Walking farther to the edge, we could look back into the fenced-off grassy ground.
“Dude, there’s nothing there.”
A wooden boat dock reached into the water. Other than that, there was grass. Grass and more grass. The lot was vacant, fenced in on all four sides. Three sides were covered in trees and lush flowering plants, the waterside free of vegetation, but the fence ran all the way to the water’s edge.
“Why do you keep a vacant property locked up?”
I stared out at the sky-blue water, then back at the empty land. There was no boat at the dock.
“Picnickers? Kids? I mean this would be a great place to drink a six-pack, make out with your girlfriend-”
“Maybe go skinny dipping?”
“So you put up a sign that says private property. No need to put up a major security fence.” It seemed to make no sense.
“A sign would be a lot cheaper than this fence, that’s for sure.”
“Time to vacate the premises, boys.”
I spun around and there was the guy with the earring, perched on a white electric golf cart. Electric. A silent approach.
“I told you, we were just looking.”
Glancing down at the seat beside him I saw a nickel-plated revolver. Just lying on the white vinyl. A subtle threat, or else he was going to do some target practice with the dolphins.
“Move it. Guests here pay for this privilege. Understand?”
It was a spit of land, with no ambiance, no personality. Hardly worth the price.
The golf cart guy sat there, waiting for us to make our move.
“No problem. I don’t think we’ll be making reservations today. Okay?”
“We have no problem with gays, but you two are an exception.” He paused for a moment and just as I got ready to say something, he said, “Okay?” We walked back toward the truck, James kicking the occasional big piece of shell.
“Gays?”
“Everybody is trying to push your buttons today, James. Just settle down.”
“Sons of bitches seriously thought I might have had something to do with that Weezle guy. They thought that I would have killed someone. I mean what kind of a person would just automatically assume that-”
“James, you were not cooperating.”
“You think? When the first question out of their mouths was, ‘Did you kill the man in your room?’”
I hadn’t realized they would be that blunt.
“Hey, you’re free. They couldn’t make that connection because it didn’t exist. And by the way, that’s another thing I found out.”
“What?”
“The dead guy. It wasn’t Jim Weezle.”
“What? There’s no question, is there? We both recognized him from the Yellow Page ad online, right?”
Flipping the keys to James, I opened the passenger door and climbed up into the white beast.
“I thought so. But the name with the body is Peter Stiffle.”
“Stiffle?”
“That’s what Big D says.”
“Big D?”
James started the engine and it coughed several times before catching. Glancing in my side mirror I saw the cloud of oily smoke as James pulled away.
“Big D is-was-Maria’s boyfriend. He’s one of the cops who was at the Cove.”
He backed up, and we headed back to the highway.
“You know, I was gone one hour. I watched my time very carefully.”
“And?”
“In that time, in one hour, you learned that Maria has an ex-boyfriend named Big D, you learned that the dead guy was Peter Stiffle, you met a doctor you’re not too fond of, and you found the location of the old Coral Belle Hotel.”
“I did.”
“Why do you need me along, pard? You’re a one-man detecting machine.”
I smiled, looked out the window, and that’s when I saw the red flashing light in the side mirror.
“Did you cut somebody off? Change lanes with-”
“There are no lanes. Damn it, Skip. These guys aren’t going to leave me alone.”