Key Weird 06; Key Dali Read online

  The first shaved key is not even close. The second one is nearly it, but too tight, so I go for the cut-down saw blade. It’s thinner than the filed keys, but not as strong, so I have to be careful. If I break it off in the lock it’s going to be a long, disappointed walk back to Taco Bob’s houseboat. And if I set off the alarm, it’s going to be a fast run out of the marina.

  With my homemade bump key in the lock I determine which direction has the slightest bit of give, then put a tiny bit of pressure on the key in the right direction and bump the taped-up end once with the back of my hand. Nothing. I try again and still nothing.

  I take the flashlight from Josephine and nod to her twice, which is the signal that I think we may be in trouble. She takes a step closer to the dock so she can be ready to run, and I give my key a good one with the flashlight. Still nothing, but no alarm and the key didn’t break. I also think I felt some pins move, so I give it another tap and the key turns and the little red light goes off.

  With a tiny screwdriver and the dental pick I have the door lock in under a minute and we’re in. Josephine has the flashlight on and is looking methodically through the darkened main salon of the big boat. I close the door behind me and realize I’m soaked with sweat and shaking. By the time I get myself calmed down Josephine has a laptop computer opened on a small table in one corner of the room.

  I hold the flashlight for her as she powers up the laptop, then turn it off when the computer screen lights up. She points to her eyes and the windows, so I go with the plan and take a position off to the side of a window where I have the best view of the dock. It’s a comfort to see the small huddled form a short ways down the dock.

  I can see the computer screen from where I stand and it looks like they were right earlier about the likelihood of it being password protected. Josephine’s fingers fly over the keyboard, but no joy. She takes a dark envelope from her shirt and a CD goes in the laptop. A few key taps and she’s in. Out comes the CD and in goes another from the envelope. More tapping and those eyes look up at me while she waits for the CD to download. I check the dock again and now Josephine is bringing up some files. She motions for me to look and I take a couple of steps closer and see the file she is pointing to is ‘Banks’.

  My partner in crime winks and I go back to my post. The download completes and she quickly changes CDs once more. Files are copied from the hard drive and the last CD goes back in the envelope, which disappears into Josephine’s shirt. She powers down the laptop and stands, putting the computer back exactly the way she found it on the table, then looks at me and nods once. We’ve got the most important part done – we’re in the bonus round now. Let’s see what else Steve may have laying around.

  I stay at my post as Josephine again methodically uses the flashlight. I catch movement out on the dock and snap my fingers once. Josephine freezes and the light goes out. On the dock a big man carrying a grocery sack is walking our way like he knows where he’s going. He shakes his head as he passes the boy on the dock holding up a bag of peanuts. There’s no way anyone can see us inside, but we both duck down anyway as the man gets closer, then walks past and down to the cabin cruiser with the lights. We can hear a greeting as he steps aboard. My heart feels like it is about to bust out of my chest, but Josephine just shrugs and goes back to her search.

  I really wish she would find something or give up, as I’m definitely ready to go. Here she comes from one of the other rooms and thankfully the flashlight is off and I can see her pointing to the door. Let’s go.

  I go for the door but a hand grabs my arm. Josephine holds up one finger for me to hold on. The flashlight comes on and she’s looking in a trash bin right behind where I’ve been standing. She digs around inside the bin, and a plastic bag with something in it goes on the floor. The bag has writing on the outside and small holes – a potato bag? She turns it over and there are indeed a couple of potatoes inside. Also inside is a pair of rubber gloves and an ice pick. Josephine spreads the items on the floor and takes a picture with her phone, then puts everything back in the trash. One last scan of the room with her flashlight and we’re out the door. I get the door relocked and the alarm reset after only a couple of tries and we are at last again walking easily down the dock.

  ∨ Key Dali ∧

  25

  Decompress

  As soon as we step inside the Sandy Bottomed Girl Josephine turns and gives me a bone-crusher hug. She’s beaming when she turns me loose and pulls out the CD envelope to wave triumphantly for Taco Bob, who is now smiling as well.

  “So you two had a good evening?”

  “P-p-perfect!”

  She gives Taco Bob a big hug as well. I’m still keyed up but we’re all three smiling big. Josephine plops on the couch and focuses all her attention on the laptop waiting for her on the low table. Taco Bob makes a quick call before snapping his cell closed.

  “Okay, Consuelo and Slip are coming in.” He glances at Josephine now tapping keys, then at me. “Looks like Josephine got what we were after, how did it go otherwise?”

  I tell my friend about the keys and the alarm and the door and Josephine finding the laptop out in the open and the man on the dock and what we found in the trash. He wants to know more about the trash, so Josephine shows him the picture from her phone on the laptop screen.

  “A potato bag with a couple of potatoes, an ice pick, and rubber gloves? Slip, and especially Consuelo, are going to love that.” He checks his watch just as the door opens and our lookout comes inside. “Right on time, Tim.”

  The kid is smiling ear to ear. “We did good, didn’t we? I saw Dali flash me a thumbs up when they came back by.”

  Taco Bob comes over and shakes Tim’s hand. “You did your part just fine, partner. It’s looking like the evening has been a success.”

  “And it gets even better. I got something for you, Taco Bob.” Tim reaches inside his satchel. “I caught a snapper and two grunts. They’re already cleaned even.”

  We all admire the boy’s catch. Taco Bob decides there’s no time like the present and him and Tim go in the galley, promising fresh fried fish fingers in just a few.

  I’m still too wired to sit, so I ease over for a peek at Josephine’s laptop. She shows me some pictures I’m guessing are from Steve’s computer. She flips through a few but they’re just Key West street scenes. Then the door bursts open and it’s Consuelo and Slip.

  Neither says a word. Slip heads for the galley – I assume for the beer locker – while his partner immediately sits next to Josephine, who turns the laptop so both sisters can see.

  I check with Taco Bob before using the head for a time-out and to wash my face to see if that helps me calm down. It does, and when I come back into the main salon everyone is taking seats around the low table, which is now holding not only the fish fingers, but also slices of cheese, crackers, olives, and several kinds of fruit. I am suddenly hungry.

  So is everyone else, it seems, and we load paper plates and get settled. Consuelo is looking pretty satisfied.

  “Okay, well done, everyone. Looks like Josephine might have some interesting stuff here. Let’s do the wraps from the teams, then see what’s she’s got.”

  Consuelo and Slip tell us Big Steve behaved himself and, after a quick stop for a burger, went into the right house just off Duval and was still there when they left. Taco Bob gives a brief rundown on the evening’s timing and lets us know he gave Lydia a quick rundown right after he told Consuelo and Slip to come in. He mentions the big man with the bag walking down the dock, who it seems got everyone’s heart rate up.

  I give a quick rundown of our time on the boat and field a few questions. Consuelo and Slip make me promise to show them how the keys work sometime. Tim gives a brief report including some details of his fish catching, which seems to be of interest only to Taco Bob and myself. Next are several compliments on the snacks, especially the most excellent fish fingers. Tim is beaming.

  I can’t believe the change in the young man in
just a few days. He even volunteers for galley slave duty and clears the now empty platters off the table and, after Consuelo gets him started, busies himself in the galley cleaning up and washing dishes while the rest of us get down to seeing what Josephine has on her computer.

  We move our chairs so we can all see the screen, then Consuelo takes over.

  “First off, Josey had to use a disc to bypass the password like we’d expected. I guess with the alarm system on the boat and password he wasn’t worried.” Everyone smiles at this. “She used three discs. The second one is the most important. It’s a software program that hides itself on the hard drive and will allow Josephine remote access to anything on that computer. She’ll be able to check all his files, e-mails, and everything else from her own laptop. She can even put a virus in his computer.” Josephine has an evil smile for this and bounces her eyebrows. “The only problem is that Stevie Dear’s computer has to be on for her to access it, so it may be hours or days before she can do any serious digging around in there.” Everyone seems to be good with that, so she goes on.

  “Since everything was on schedule and there weren’t any problems, she went ahead and used the third disc to copy a few files, which is what we’re going to take a look at now.”

  We all crowd onto the couch to look at the file pictures, but at Slips insistence we start with the picture of the potato bag. After we study the picture and have a brief discussion, a clearly upset Slip stands up and starts pacing in front of the couch.

  “That’s enough for me. There’s no doubt this scumhole flushed potatoes down the marina toilets and used that ice pick on the icemaker and shrimp tank pump. I’ll bet those are the gloves he wore while he did it, too. Then he put something in the fuel tanks.” Slip crushes the beer can in his hand like it was made of paper and slams it in a wastebasket on his way to the door. I see Tim peek from the galley.

  Consuelo jumps to her feet, hands on her hips. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Take a wild guess. I’m going to have a word with Mr. Steve.”

  Consuelo springs like a gazelle and gets to the door before Slip. She blocks the door and she and Slip are glaring at each other as Taco Bob jumps to his feet.

  “Hold on, you two. I like the inside of my home just fine the way it is without bloodstains all over everything.”

  Neither Consuelo nor Slip back off and I definitely don’t want to be in the room if these two go at it. Thankfully, Taco Bob cautiously steps over and puts a hand on Slip’s shoulder. He talks softly until his two friends drop their eyes and stand down.

  Consuelo and Slip both have their heads bowed as they go back to their seats.

  Taco Bob sits down as well, then puffs out his cheeks before blowing the air out. “I can’t blame you much, Slip. I feel the same way you do about someone doing that kind of stuff to honest, hard-working folks like Jim and his wife. But we play this right we might be able to do some real damage to the man with Josephine’s computer and a little patience.”

  Everyone agrees, and the anger has passed for the moment. Tim is back to washing dishes and Josephine is bringing up the files from Steve’s computer. A few minutes later Tim comes in the main room but quickly retires to an easy chair on the other side of the room with a comic book. He’s been acting like he doesn’t care about what we found, but I suspect it’s part of his training as a sneak.

  The files Josephine copied are mostly pictures. One is street scenes of Key West and even a few of the marina. We study the marina pictures carefully but they seem to be just ordinary tourist-grade images of boats.

  One file is internet porn, some of it pretty sick and violent stuff. Another is amateurish porn pictures of several women we decide were taken inside Steve’s boat. Some of the women are tied up and look quite unhappy. I tell everyone I recognize a woman from Mallory. Slip says he may have seen her around town as well. I’m relieved to see Socks is not one of the women.

  The most interesting file is the one labeled as ‘Banks’. We soon identify the pictures as both outside and inside shots of several Key West banks. This reminds me that one of the things Steve wanted Socks to do was take pictures of banks, so I pass this along.

  We all agree our man Steve has a seriously unhealthy attitude toward women, and is far too interested in Key West banks.

  Consuelo stands up as soon as we’ve seen all the files. She takes drink orders and heads for the galley. After handing out the drinks she remains standing in front of the couch.

  “Okay, the potato bag is pretty damning evidence,” Slip gets a small nod, “and we’re pretty sure whoever has been sabotaging things around here is working for the bank, but why is he taking pictures of the local banks? In particular, why is he taking pictures of greedy-ass Greater Keys National Bank? He’s scoping out the people he works for?”

  Taco Bob is shaking his head before he speaks. “He might be planning on pulling something similar on the banks to ruin their business. But like Consuelo says, why the bank he’s working for?”

  “L-lawyers?” Everyone looks at Josephine. “He w-w-works f-for law-lawyers, r-right?”

  Consuelo snaps her fingers. “That’s right, sis. He probably doesn’t work directly for the bank – they wouldn’t want to get their lily-white hands dirty. More likely the same lawyers who are squeezing the marina owners got someone to hire a lowlife like Steve to do the sabotage. I wouldn’t be surprised if the lawyers didn’t work it so they pick up a fat bonus if they can close the marina deal quickly.”

  Slip’s eyes have gone flat again. “Maybe we need to find out who the lawyers are and pay them a visit – an after-hours visit.”

  Taco Bob has an idea and tries again. “Maybe the lawyers aren’t all that loyal to Greater Keys. Might just be testing the waters. They could be planning themselves some kind of similar sabotage scheme on several of the banks and decided to have their man in the field do some re-con on banks while he was at it.”

  We all give this some thought until Consuelo looks at her watch, then over at Tim asleep in the big chair.

  “Well, I think we did a damn good job. Thanks to Dali, Steve shouldn’t suspect anyone was even on his boat, much less in his computer tonight. As soon as Josey can check Steve’s e-mails she should be able to tell us some details of what’s going on here.” We all get one last serious look from Consuelo for the evening. “Besides Lydia, no one besides those of us in this room knows anything about this, so let’s keep it that way.” She makes a zipper move across her mouth.

  Josephine asks if she can tell Ben. Consuelo rolls her eyes and says yes, but to make sure he doesn’t tell anyone else, not even other aliens. I remember that Josephine supposedly has a tiny invisible boyfriend from another planet. The girl is so smart at some things I often forget when I’m around her that’s she’s also a bit bat-shit crazy.

  We all say goodnight and the two sisters gather up Tim and head for the hotel. Slip is right behind them and Taco Bob offers me the guest bedroom. But I’m suddenly so exhausted I fall asleep right there on the couch.

  ∨ Key Dali ∧

  26

  A New Day

  There’s a fresh morning sea breeze to greet me as I step off the Sandy Bottomed Girl. It’s another glorious day in paradise made more so by the knowledge that I have helped my friends once again with their efforts to save the marina.

  I slept surprisingly well on the old yellow couch. So well I didn’t wake up until my host came back from the marina office and store with coffee and news. The coffee was good, the news, not so.

  Taco Bob said he’d told Jim that very soon they might have something solid on whoever had been doing the sabotage. Jim was happy to hear that since it seems he received a certified letter late yesterday afternoon that turned out to be a low-ball offer from the bank for their equity in the marina, and the offer was for a limited time: only one week. So the pressure is really on Jim and his wife.

  But Taco Bob seemed confident that things were going to work out in the en
d. He was calling Consuelo to ask if her sister had found out anything else as I left the old houseboat and stepped into the new day, once again wearing my signature fedora and poncho. Taco Bob’s confidence is contagious and I smile. A few more lucrative evenings at Mallory and I might have enough money deposited in my underground savings account for the down payment on a houseboat for Father Murray. Over coffee I had mentioned this to my friend and he’d generously offered to help pick one out. He also said that if things worked out, Jim might be willing to cut the Father a deal on keeping the houseboat orphanage at the marina. The thought of houseboat shopping with Taco Bob makes me very happy.

  I stop on the sidewalk along the water and breathe deep and stretch. I take the feeling of accomplishment from helping my friends, fold it up, and put it in a safe place. Then I’m fully ready for this next day in my life, which I truly hope includes a happy and passionate reunion with Socks.

  It’s still fairly early, and a bike for transport to Stock Island and the trailer where Socks lives makes sense, so I head straight for Stoney’s hideaway to borrow a bicycle. No one is home, so since I know the combination to the lock holding Stoney’s bicycles, I’m pedaling across Duval in no time. And there’s Stoney.

  “Dali!” My friend is sitting alone at a sidewalk café. He has a phone to his ear, but covers it with his other hand as I pedal over. “How’s it going, Dali?”

  “It’s going very good! I couldn’t find you so I borrowed the bicycle to go find Socks. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Anytime, my friend, anytime.”

  “Have you seen her?”

  Stoney’s smile seems to be having trouble holding. “Yeah, I saw her, I guess it was the night before last. She was with that guy Steve. I saw them leaving Louie’s Backyard as I was going in.”