A Mighty Fortress (29 page)

I waved bye to Stewart and blew him a kiss.

The address Judge Pinkerton gave me turned out to be a Denny’s on Fowler Avenue, a commercial street abutting the southern edge of the USF campus. Further to the west, a few blocks from the Denny’s, Fowler runs through the part of Tampa known as “Suitcase City” for its large vagrant population, who live out of their suitcases as they move from one weekly rental to the next.

The Denny’s parking lot was full, especially for a Thursday night. A few college kids were laughing at my car when I parked, but they stopped when I got out and stretched. I asked them to keep an eye on it. They nodded politely.

I had no problem finding Pinkerton: he was seated at a booth near the entrance. Were it not for the young blonde next to him, he would have fit in well with the local riffraff. The sheen in his hair and beard suggested he’d been sweating tonight. I hoped I didn’t have to hear the details of whatever had made him perspire.

I took a seat and ordered a coffee. He nodded, grinning like the Cheshire.

She was a lanky blonde, maybe early twenties. She had random tats on her arms, and gave me an uneasy smile. Pinkerton patted her hand.

“This is the guy I was telling you about. He’s not as mean as he looks.”

She was still staring at me. “He doesn’t look that mean.”

“Thanks,” I told her, and then I asked the judge, “So where’s the gold?”

“In due course, Porter. In due course. I’ve got a lot to unload on you, and it’s going to take some time. We just ordered a couple of burgers. I ordered one for you, too. A big one, actually—I got you a double with everything on it. I told her to throw on some cheddar and bacon and barbecue sauce. That sounded like something you’d eat. Sorry, they don’t serve beer here.”

I sighed. I didn’t want to be there long, but my stomach wanted to stay. More importantly, I wondered why the judge was pandering to me.

“You can probably still change the order if you want something else.”

“No, that’ll be fine, Judge. That was very thoughtful of you.”

He let go of her hand and leaned toward me. “Don’t worry about airs, Porter. She knows I’m a feisty old codger.” He smiled at her. “But I think she loves me anyway.”

She turned with him, nodded, and chuckled. Then she smiled at me. “I do love him.”

Pinkerton didn’t strike me as the type to get played by a working girl, but then again I’d only known him for three days. “Okay, Judge. Tell me what happened tonight.”

He looked her in the eyes. She returned a nod of approval. He met my stare with a warm smile. I looked around for the hidden camera. Seeing none, I settled in for the story to follow, really wishing I had that beer.

“So, that first place you dropped me off at, I struck out. Two girls were working there. All business. I’m pretty sure they were on some serious horse tranquilizers. But they put me in this room, and they each came in, like I had to pick which one I wanted to see. So the first one came in, asked if I’d ever been there before. I said once. She asked who I saw. I told her I thought her name was Evie. She said she didn’t know if anyone by that name had ever worked there. I repeated the drill with girl number two. Same result, so I left.

“I took a taxi to the next place on your list. You owe me twenty for the fare, by the way. At the next place, they lead me into another little room. It’s the same drill. But I’m sitting there, and something isn’t right. My heart wasn’t beating right. Really tense. And I felt the sweats coming on.”

“Sounds like an anxiety attack,” I said.

He nodded. “Damn straight it was. But I had nothing to be anxious about, did I? Well, it got worse. This one here,” he said and nodded at her, “well, she walked in and told me I looked like her grandfather.”

“My Grandpa Earl,” she clarified.

He nodded at her. “Yeah, you did say that.” Then back to me. “She did say that, and then she looked really sorry for saying it. She went flush. Meanwhile, I felt like the blood was draining from my head. I was already seated, but I wanted to hit the floor. She asked me if I felt okay. I told her not really. She asked if I wanted to go. I said no. So I gave her the house fee, and she led me back to a room. And I’m thinking about what goes on in this place, and it was making me sick, Porter. I don’t know why, but for the first time, I felt like I had a conscience about these things.”

She cleared her throat. “So did I.”

They were smiling and nodding at each other. “But I didn’t tell her that. I was panting, unable to catch my breath. She finally got me calmed down.”

“I put a cold towel on his forehead.”

“It helped. It really did. But I told her I didn’t really want to do anything. No more pretending. I just told her I was looking for a certain girl, and I told her the girl’s name. She said nothing but that Evie wasn’t working there anymore. That should have been a good sign, but I was more concerned about the pains in my chest. I was so sure the end was about to come, and I was going to have to give an account of everything I’ve done. I felt sick. So I said to myself, I said, ‘God, I’m done with this. Save me. I’ll stop.’” His eyes grew wide. “And wouldn’t you know, as soon as I said that, the pain stopped, and my breathing returned to normal. And then it was just me and this girl.”

She spoke up. “And the color returned to his cheeks, instantly. He went from ghost white to a cute shade of red.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, “but I didn’t catch your name.”

“My real name is Audrey.”

“Such a pretty name,” Judge Pinkerton said.

The burgers finally arrived. Audrey’s looked like a veggie burger. Pinkerton picked his up, took a bite, and continued talking. “So Audrey, I tell her, ‘Audrey, I’m getting you out of here. Right now’.”

She looked up from her plate and took over. “I asked him where we were going. He said it didn’t matter. We could go get a burger, and then decide. So here we are.”

“Here we are, but there’s more, Porter. A lot more. We snuck out the back and walked down the street until we got close to Florida Avenue, where I thought we could at least get a cab. As we’re walking, she asks how I knew Evie. I’d forgotten why I even went there. But it turns out, she knew Evie well. They used to work together.”

I looked to Audrey for more.
 

She gave it. “When I started working there about six months ago, Eve was the shit. She was the most in demand and made a killing. She left a few months ago. She told me on the way out that she was getting into a new industry, making ten times what we made. She said she liked me, and could introduce me to people.”

“She was talking about making porn,” I said.

The Judge gasped. “You’re quick, Porter. And rude.”

“Can we get to the point here?” I said.

The judge raised his hand. “Anyway, Audrey said she talked to Evie just last week.”

“When?” I asked.

“Friday, I guess,” Audrey said. “She wanted me to come to dinner to meet someone that weekend. Some big-shot from Miami.”

“Why didn’t you go?”

“I just had a bad feeling about it. Deep inside, I knew that wasn’t for me.”

Pinkerton started mauling his burger. Mine looked good, but I had too many questions. “Have you heard from her since then?”

“No. I actually tried calling her yesterday. Her phone number didn’t work.”

“It said it was out of service?”
 

She nodded. “Do you think she’s in some kind of trouble?”

I looked at Pinkerton, and he nodded for the truth. “Could be. We don’t know. That’s why we’re trying to find her.”

“So you’re some kind of investigator?” she asked.

“Something like that. What can you tell us about Evie? Anything that could help us track her down?”

She thought for a moment. “Just her number.”

“I already tried tracing it. It didn’t help much.” I sighed, probably sounding more frustrated than I really was. “You know anyone she might be staying with?”

She thought for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t think she was close to her family. In fact, I know she wasn’t. She told me her mom had died, and her dad’s some kind of whacko.”

I remembered Angie’s accent. Wasn’t sure if they bred accents like that around Tampa. “Any idea where they lived? Was it local?”

“Somewhere south.”

“South like Miami?”

She shook her head. “Not that far. And not that big. She always talked about it being a really small town. Like one of those you hear about sometimes but would never go to.”

“Bradenton?” I asked.

She didn’t stop shaking her head. “I think it started with an S.”

“Sarasota?” asked the Judge.

“No, she didn’t make it sound like somewhere I wanted to visit.”

I stood and returned to the entrance. I remembered seeing a holder with pamphlets for local tourist attractions—and maps. I grabbed a Florida atlas, returned to the booth, and opened the map so the bottom third of the state was showing. Then I started scanning.

“Sebring?” I asked.

She thought for a moment. “I don’t think so. It might have been an Indian name.”

“That starts with an S?”

She seemed to be fighting a headache now. “Maybe it didn’t start with an S.”

“Okeechobee?”

“I’d remember that,” she said dismissively.

I was looking up and down the map. “Not Naples, not Ft. Myers. Bonita Springs? Punta Gorda?”

“Sorry. You know, I think it might’ve started with a W.”

“A W?” I skimmed the map and saw a bunch of W’s around Orlando. “Winter Park?”

She never stopped shaking her head.

“Winter Gardens? Winter Haven?”

“I said it sounded like an Indian name. It wasn’t a wintry place.”

“Weeki Wachee? That sounds native.”

Her eyes squinted. “I’ve heard of that one, but that wasn’t it.”

I moved farther south on the map. “Wauchula?”

I’d never heard of it, but her face lit up. “Say that again.”

I repeated it.

She nodded at the judge. “That’s it. I’m sure of it.”

Pinkerton rubbed his beard. “That’s Hardee County. Really not that far from here, but a world away, if you know what I mean.”

I surveyed the roads that would take me from Tampa to Wauchula. “Do you know anything other than her dad’s a whacko? Like his name, where he worked?”

She shook her head. “Just that he disowned her.”

I looked to Pinkerton. “What do you say, Judge? Up for a drive tomorrow?”

“I may be.”

The waitress passed by, and I waved and told her I’d need a box for my burger.

“They served a warrant on Alexi tonight,” I told the Judge.

“No shit?” he said.

“Don Alexi?” Audrey asked.

“You know him?” I said.

Her face said it all. “Dirtbag.”

“That’s our Donny,” I said.

“What was he arrested for?” she asked.

“I’m not sure.” I had to go, but wanted to make sure I had no other questions for Audrey. She knew Alexi. I wondered if she knew someone else. “What about Chad Scalzo? You know him?”

“
You
know him?” she asked in turn.

“I guess you could say that.”

“You know he’s dead?” she asked.

I nodded.
 

“Any idea who did it?”
 

“Not yet,” I said. “But I think finding your friend might help me find out.”

Another light went off in her head. “Oh, that reminds me. Evie… I did hear her say once that Chad Scalzo was the best lay she ever had, and if she ever quit this line of work, it would be for him.”

The judge and I exchanged stares. For some reason, I’d lost my appetite again. So I wrapped up my burger and left a twenty. “That will cover mine,” I said as I stood.

Pinkerton smiled. I wanted to have a word with him outside about his newfound love, but I hadn’t seen him that happy since, well, ever.

At least someone could be happy tonight. Given where I was going next, I knew that wasn’t going to be me.

I felt both relieved and terrified to see Val’s Jetta parked in Rico’s driveway. The house wasn’t quite dark yet, but the living room was, and there was a dim light coming from the kitchen.

I knocked gently on the front door. No one answered, so I pushed the door open. “Hello?” I whispered.

“You’re an asshole, you know that?” A lamp turned on, casting enough light for me to see Val scowling from the couch. “Seriously, Milo, what kind of asshole leaves the hospital after being shot in the face and having surgery? We considered having the Baker Act pulled on you.”

I fell into Rico’s ancient La-Z-Boy. “Where’s your brother?”

“He went for a walk.”

“Nice time of night to get in some cardio.”

“Yeah, he makes about as much sense as you do.”

Rico’s La-Z-Boy might have been the most comfortable chair I’d ever sat in. It would have been easy to fall asleep were it not for Val. I was pretty sure that when she was angry, her glare emitted a black light that would keep you awake for hours. I could even feel sweat on my brow. But that might have been because Rico was cheap and didn’t like to run his air conditioner after seven o’clock, even in August.

“Why are you sleeping here?” I asked, curious whether Rico had listened to me and commandeered his sister for the night.

She raised her knees to her chin and wrapped her arms around her shins. My back ached just thinking about that position. “Rico made me,” she said. “He didn’t want me to be alone.”
 

I was glad he’d finally listened to my advice. Why he left her alone with the door unlocked was another question. I escaped the grip of the La-Z-Boy and eased next to Val. I was afraid she’d push me away, but she went right to the bandage on my face. “This doesn’t look good, Milo,” she said softly.

“I was hoping you could change it for me. Kind of like they do in the movies.” Our heads were close, our faces aimed at each other’s; a smile blossomed on her face. “The romantic way, where our heads are almost touching, and you take really good care of me, and we have no choice but to …” We met in a warm, exhilarating kiss that I didn’t want to end.