Motor Mouth

“Any other ideas?” I asked.

Silence. No other ideas.

“Gee, it sounds like a good plan,” I said, “but we can’t do it because we don’t know where they are.” Thank God.

“I’ve got that covered,” Suza

“I don’t know,” I said. “It sounds dangerous for the one who stays behind.” In fact, it sounded nuts!

“Piece of cake,” Felicia said. “I could do it. Look at me. I’m a grandma. He’ll believe I would let him go. But you have to promise to come get me before you bust in on the bad guys. I don’t want to miss anything.”

Who was this woman? Did she moonlight as the Terminator?

Rosa was at the wheel of the Camry, Suza

The call came through just as Ray bolted through the front door and hailed a cab.

“Felicia says it worked perfect,” Rosa said, following Ray’s cab. “She said it took so long because he locked her in the bathroom. And then she thinks he ate some stone crabs. And she said he took her cell phone and he better not be making any calls to Mexico.”

The cab went south on Collins, and we all knew the destination. Ray was going to the boat. He didn’t know about the fire. He didn’t know the boat had sailed. He wasn’t sure if Rodriguez and Lucca were at large. He was probably calling them on Felicia’s cell phone from the cab, not happy because they weren’t answering. Hell, what do I know, maybe they were answering. Maybe they were with Hooker, or maybe they were hiding out in Orlando with Mickey Mouse.

The cab pulled into the lot and dropped Ray off. Rosa idled on the street, and I ran through the courtyard attached to Monty’s so I could spy on Ray when he stepped onto the marina footpath.

I slipped into place, to the side of the building, just as Ray emerged from the lot and stood, staring at the empty space on the dock. He made a hand gesture that shouted where the fuck did the boat go? And he was back on his phone. Angry. Punching numbers in. Talking to someone. He had his hand on his hip, head down, trying not to go entirely gonzo with the person on the other end. He picked his head up and looked around. Not in my direction. Too pissed off to see anything anyway. He paced up and down the walkway, talking. He disco

It was early afternoon. Not a cloud in the sky. Slight breeze coming in off the ocean, ruffling the water and rustling in the palms. Cool enough to wear jeans but warm enough to wear a short-sleeved shirt. In other words, the weather was perfect. And Florida would have been paradise if only I wasn’t wanted for questioning in multiple murders and if only Hooker wasn’t being held hostage, and if only Beans didn’t have a billion-dollar circuit board working its way through his intestines.

Ray looked at his watch and nodded. He looked in the direction of the parking lot. He did another nod, then he put the phone away. Someone was coming to pick him up, I thought. Be interesting to see if it was Rodriguez or Lucca.

Thirty minutes later, I was back in the Camry with Rosa and Suza

“They checked out,” Rosa said. “I guess they didn’t think a fancy-ass hotel was a good place to rough up a hostage.”

I knew Rosa was just using the phrase as an expression, but the thought of Hooker getting roughed up made my stomach sick.

The BMW went north on Collins, turned onto Seventeenth Street, and took the Venetian Causeway. We were two cars back, watching carefully. The BMW turned into a residential neighborhood on Di Lido Island, wound its way to the northernmost point, and pulled into a gated driveway.

“Nice house,” Rosa said, looking through the wrought-iron gate to the house beyond. “I bet they got Dobermans.”

“This isn’t going to be easy,” Suza

We were parked down the street, debating our options, when my phone rang.

“This is Anthony Miranda,” he said. “I know the location of the circuit board, and I see no reason to wait any longer for it. You have one hour to give me either the circuit board or the dog.”

Ray was a big blabbermouth. “And if I don’t make the one-hour delivery?”

“I start to cut your friend’s fingers off his hand.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“It’s business,” Miranda said. “Nothing personal. There’s a small parking lot adjacent to a convenience store on the corner of Fifteenth Street and Alton Road. My representative will be there to collect my property. One hour.”

“I expect to collect my property as well. I’m not handing anything over until Hooker’s released.”

“Hooker will be released when I take possession of the circuit board.”

“And Gobbles?”

“And Gobbles.”

I disco

“Hard for him to drive without fingers,” Rosa said.

“I have an idea,” Suza

We all looked at Beans. He was panting and drooling. He lifted his ass off the seat a little and farted. We all jumped out of the car and fa

“Do you think that smelled like prunes?” Rosa wanted to know. “I think I might have caught a hint of prune.”

We got back into the car and Rosa drove off De Lido and took the causeway to Belle Island Park. She pulled up to a grassy area, and I got out with Beans and started walking him around.

“Do you have to poop?” I asked him. “Does Beansy have to poopie?”

He took a seven-minute tinkle, and he did a lot of drooling, but he didn’t poop.

“It’s not time yet,” I told everyone. “He’s not ready.”

Suza

Rosa drove to Suza

“I borrowed them from my neighbor,” Suza

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” I said. “He’s already had a lot of prunes.”

“Yes, but look how big he is,” Felicia said. “He could take a lot of prunes. Maybe not the whole box this time. Maybe only half a box.”