I was swimming laps effortlessly. My flip turns were perfect. There was only one small problem—Jaws, the killer shark of movie fame, was chasing me, and with almost no effort at all he was closing the gap between us. There was an annoying bell ringing loudly somewhere. I woke suddenly and grabbed the phone on the small night table beside the bed. Nothing - wrong phone. I found my tiny new cell phone and then the tinier green send button and pushed. It made a connection. It was Cooper. I glanced at my wristwatch. I’d slept for a grand total of four hours. I still felt woozy.
“You okay?” Cooper asked after he had identified himself.
“Yeah, I guess so. I had a run in with Sammy and another guy I’d never seen before, but I’m okay. I was asleep right after I got here. Have you found Billy Ray and his buddies, yet?”
“Yeah, well one of them anyway. We picked Billy Ray up outside the Tampa General Hospital. We think he was waiting for you to visit your friend, Mia. He was probably going to call in Sammy and other reinforcements to hit you coming out, but right now he’s saying nada. We really don’t have a thing to hold him on other than he had a bit of weed on him. Boyle is on probation, so that will keep him on ice for a while. The fact that Billy was hanging around the hospital tells us that he and, whoever is in this with him, knew your lady friend was hurt and had been taken to the General. But that’s pretty flimsy for a case of guilty knowledge. Any self respecting defence lawyer would chew that lame ass argument up in about ten seconds.”
That bit of information confirmed that they were after me, because of what Mia and I had set in motion. They would be after Langdon too. I told Cooper what I was thinking. I also asked him for pictures of Sammy Tolla and Billy Ray Boyle. He agreed to bring whatever he could dig up to lunch the next day. I wanted to run those photos by Ida May Thornberry to get a positive identification. There was no sense assuming that the two guys who took a run at me earlier were the only two players in this game. I recalled training officer McGregor’s advice—cross your “t”s and dot your “i”s lad—always verify the details.”
Fred Cooper went on, “Kemp is ahead of you in the worry department for Stu’s safety. Langdon’s wife, Babe, and his daughter, Paula, have been driving all over town looking for the crazy old fool since yesterday. Finally, they contacted Chance and told him that they were worried. They had not been able to find him anywhere. I think that at first they believed that he might have had another heart attack. But if that had happened, he should have shown up at admissions in one of the hospitals in town. There’s no trace of him. Babe told Kemp that he was working on something with you guys. Now with what’s happened to Mia, we’re thinking he could be in real danger. For the time being, we’re not telling his wife that. And in case you’re wondering, the reason they phoned Chance is that he broke in to the detective squad with Langdon as his training officer. He’s been a friend of the family ever since. That’s why he took an interest in your friend’s case. If those guys try anything with Stu, they’ll have to deal with Kemp soon enough.”
My estimation of Cooper as a police detective, which was already in the excellent range, had just gone up another notch. Anticipation and intuition are important parts of the job, and Cooper was proving to have more than his share of those qualities.
“So what do you think I ought to do now?” I asked. I knew what I was going to do, but I wasn’t ready to tell old Fred Cooper about my plans just yet.
“Well, if Billy Ray Boyle and Sammy Tolla were the guys looking for you, you should still be careful. We’re going to hold Boyle for a little while longer, and he may not be as keen to go looking for you after Kemp puts the fear of God into him. But he and Tolla are just muscle and there’s a lot of that to be picked up on the cheap in Tampa—even more since this recession got going. Whoever is running this thing can probably pull another stiff or two out of his hat. At some point, you might want to check on your lady friend. I know that’s what I’d be doing.”
“Thanks Fred,” I lied respectfully. “I think that’s just what I’ll do.”
Fred Cooper actually chuckled. “You shining me on boy? Got to go—don’t get yourself killed. Keep in touch eh?” Dead line.
I had my room at the Maple Leaf Motel for the rest of the night. My ribs were throbbing and my temple was scuffed from Sammy riding me to the road, but I had to act right away. I’d be back as soon as I could get some stuff that I needed out of my space at Mrs. Reilly’s. On my way back to the rooming house, I detoured into the parking area at the Hilton Hotel to find a car with out of state license plates. I spotted a parked navy blue Ford Explorer with red, white and blue Ohio plates. The front of the Explorer was pushing in close to the perimeter hedge of the lot. I bent over as if to tie up my shoes and, using the edge of a dime for ten seconds, relieved the vehicle of its front plate. I quickly tucked the stolen license plate into the back of my pants and pulled my shirt down over it.
Before going into my room, I did as thorough a visual check of the area as I could. I spotted a white Escalade parked across and down the street although it seemed empty. Max was out there somewhere watching my back. Good to know. No one else appeared to be taking any special interest in the little house. I slipped into the garage and removed both the Ontario plates from the Jag and threw them into the trunk. I put the fresh Ohio plate on the back of my car - instant disguise. If my two pals decided to try to find me again, at least my car wouldn’t give me away.
As I came out of the garage, my heart leapt into my throat.
“Food Guy—is that you?”
“Yeah Papa, you scared the crap out of me. What the hell are you doing here?”
“I was sleepin’.”
“Oh, well I wouldn’t be calling out my name. These guys might come back looking for me. So if you want to sleep there, I’m fine with it. But you be careful. I just have to get some stuff, and I’m outta here.”
“Okay Food Guy—you be careful too.”
“I will Papa, I will.”
I watched as Papa headed back to the canvas lounge chair, and then went into my room and gathered a change of clothes, some Extra Strength Tylenol, a tensor bandage and the other stuff that I needed. When I had all the stuff lying on my bed, I threw it into my backpack with my cell phones, and digital recorder. I drove the car back to the Maple Leaf Motel and parked. Its new Ohio license was facing the door of my room.
When I settled back on the bed, I phoned the intensive care unit of the hospital to check on Mia. The nurse I talked with reported that there was no change. Mia was still unconscious, still in critical condition and still fighting for her life. I made an attempt to reach Cooper without success. It was getting very late, and there was little else I could do that night, so I drafted my last will and testament on a lined piece of yellow paper that I had ripped off my legal pad. When I was completely satisfied that I had disposed of all my worldly possessions, I went to work with the same legal pad making my plan for finding and destroying the person or persons who had ruined Mia’s life and my happiness.
Finally, I fell asleep.
It Just Doesn’t Stop