Key West Gone into the Night by Elizabeth Hilleren (best authors to read txt) 📗

She pulled her black jacket out of the purse and stuffed the lightweight wind breaker into the purse. Slipping into a bolero jacket she joined Jerry.

He grinned as she approached. “Good job.”

“He’s up to something,” Chichi said with a short nod of her head.

“There they are,” Jerry said, looking towards the restaurant entrance.

“Okay, honey, let’s eat. I’m starving.” They watched Carl and Stephanie sit in the outside section of the dining room.

“You go in and order. I’ll have whatever you have. Be right back,” Jerry said.

Jerry went into the garden and walked to the far end.

“Alex, it’s Jerry. We’re watching Carl and he’s arguing about something he has planned, and they expect it to go down sometime before tomorrow.”

“He makes a move to leave, you follow and call me for back up,” Alex said.

“Got it.”

*    *    *

Harris held the gun on Javier for a long minute trying to get his mind on track. His eyes never left Javier’s face. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just shoot you now.”

Javier was breathing fast, and he looked like he was about to cry.

“Please, I have no one to help me. I want to stop this, but I don’t know how. Vasquez can be ruthless. He needs me, that’s the only reason I’m still alive.  He’s going to have me take Mateo back to Chile when his passport comes in a week or so. I need your help. I don’t know what to do.”

“How do you even know about me?” Harris asked.

“Susan talked about you. She had a picture of you up over the fireplace. She said you were a policeman. But you had to go away. She loved you. I was the only one she felt she could talk to about you. Her mother, Stephanie, would not let her even mention you. She never had the picture up when Stephanie was there.”

Harris thought for a long moment. A wrinkle formed between his eyes. He looked at the terrified young man and put his gun back in its holster.

“You got food?”

“Yes, it’s Chilean. Is that all right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’ll make us some dinner.”

“What do you do for a living in Chile?”

Javier opened the refrigerator and pulled out packages of meat, and vegetables. He pulled a knife out of the drawer and saw that Harris had his gun out again.

“My father has a winery in Chile. I inherited it when he and my mother were killed in a private plane crash. I was seventeen at the time.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Harris said. He looked at Javier.  The young man was obviously upset.

“I won’t hurt you…but I’m not stupid. So, don’t you be, because I can take you down in a heartbeat.  Cook. I’ll be watching you.”

Harris sat at the kitchen counter and watched as Javier made dinner.

“I’m sorry…” Javier said. “I know that you have no reason to believe me.”

“Okay, I’ll put my gun away and you tell me everything you can about your Uncle.  The good, bad and ugly.”

“All right.  Dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes.”

“Relax, Javier. You asked for my help and from what I heard so far, you’re going to need it.”

Harris observed that Javier was very adept in the kitchen, another thing Susan might have admired about him.

“So, you got a winery. How big?”

“It’s what is called a boutique winery. The wine business is a big thing in Chile. The big wineries are flourishing with huge sales to America, and the world.  There are a good number of small vineyards. Mine is relatively small and the wines we produce are age-old recipes but with a twist. Subtle flavors of other fruits.

“It sounds like that could be a good lifestyle.  Is it going well?”

“I am struggling to keep it going. The bulk of my income is from the work I do promoting a collection of small vineyards here in America. I’m a promoter or salesman for many of the small Chilean wineries. At that, I do well enough to keep my vineyard going until the new vines are ready to produce. I think the food is ready.”

“Good.  Let’s eat. Then we talk more.”

*    *    *

Meanwhile, back at the restaurant, Chichi sat listening to Stephanie and Carl talk, relaying what she heard through the earpiece to Jerry sitting next to her.

“They’re talking about Susan,” Chichi said. “Carl is upset that his child support was going to support another illegitimate kid. That wasn’t part of the deal when she asked him to leave.”

“If you had stayed with her in the first place none of this would have happened. You’re such a flake,” Stephanie hissed, pushing her dinner away from her.

“Go to hell.”  Carl said something else Chichi didn’t want to repeat when Stephanie threw her drink in his face and stormed out.

“Wow, fireworks,” Jerry said. “Don’t turn around. She just threw her drink in his face and stormed out.”

“Oh my. What’s happening now?”

“The waitress is trying to dry him off.”

Chichi laughed as she covered her face with her napkin.

“I’m getting up to follow him. I think he’s headed to the elevators. Get them to wrap our dinner if I’m not back. I’ll call you,” Jerry said.

“Just be careful. These people aren’t really stable and are acting kind of scary,” Chichi warned.

“Always.” Jerry casually walked out of the restaurant and saw Carl heading to the elevators.

“He’s going upstairs. Let’s get a room and sit in the lobby for a while.” Chichi suggested. “I got our dinner and I’ll be right there.”

Jerry made a quick call to Alex.

“You want to join us? Things are getting interesting. I need somebody in the lobby of the Hyatt to make sure Abbott doesn’t slip away from us. They have something planned and there are