absence of family. Under those circumstances, you will be well advised to seek legal guidance.”
Everyone started heading for the exit. Detective Lyon opened the door, but moments before anyone stepped into the hallway, Chief Ramsey called out.
“You may go now. I thank you for coming here this afternoon. Please do not leave the island before making me or someone in my office aware of your plans.”
Brick and Threnody headed for the elevator first with Jessie following close behind. Dolly Jass hung back, and Kane motioned for her to go ahead of us. She smiled and batted her eyelashes at Kane as she stepped ahead.
“Let’s go someplace for lunch, Rafa,” Kane said in a voice that would carry to Chief Ramsey. “Maybe The Square Grouper.”
“That’s on Cudjoe Key, Kane. Off-island.”
“I know.” Kane linked his arm through mine, turned to grin at the chief, and gave a casual goodbye salute to Detective Lyon.
Chapter 12
(Still Sunday Afternoon)
When we were out of Chief Ramsey’s hearing in the parking lot, I headed for my car, slid behind the wheel, and sighed in exasperation when Kane slipped into the passenger seat.
“Kane, the chief said we’re not to leave the island without telling him or someone in his office. Why ask for trouble by driving off-island for lunch! We’re already persons of interest. Let’s don’t give the authorities reason to become more interested.”
“Okay. So you’re right, but his questions irritated me. Guess he intended them to irritate me, hoped I’d react by blurting something I’d regret.”
“But you didn’t. Good thinking.”
“Guess I wished I hadn’t written those letters.”
“Dad always advised me to set aside any letter written in anger and to let it cool overnight. Whenever I did that, I almost always destroyed the letter before it reached the post office.”
“If I’d known Diego was going to turn up murdered…” Kane pounded his knee with his doubled fist. “No. I’m not sorry I wrote those letters. Not sorry at all. I needed to let people know how strongly we shrimpers feel about our working waters. People need to know the inside scoop. They need to pay attention when a commissioner resigns from her job because she feels other committee members, secretly working on the side of land developers, pushed through legislation detrimental to the majority of citizens.”
“So you know who you’ll vote against at the next election, right?”
“Fat lot of good it’ll do now that the legislation has passed. Let’s forget it and find a place to eat.”
“Nobody should be at my place right now. We can go there. Or we can have The Frangi to ourselves, too—for a while at least. Better yet, let’s go to the hotel, order lunch, and eat outdoors beside the pool.”
“Fine with me. Maybe we can plan a strategy that will keep us low on the chief’s list of suspects.”
“Right. But I want to hear more about what you’ve heard about Diego’s murder. And maybe we can catch some news on radio or TV.”
“Not if we’re outside by the pool, unless we want to advertise our interest in Diego’s murder to the hotel guests.”
“You may be right about that. Let’s skip the radio.” I drove slowly to The Blue Mermaid, careful to obey all traffic rules and to attract no undue attention. Croton bushes lined the paved entryway to the hotel portico where several drivers waited behind their steering wheels for valets to take their cars into the ground level covered parking area. I drove on to the back entry.
Kane spoke up. “This hotel is a good example of the illegal stuff white-collar crooks can sneak into legislation before honest Key West citizens know what’s happened to them. A similar thing happened to our working waters.”
“I don’t get the connection, Kane.”
“The guy I bought The Buccaneer from me told me that years ago, building contractors and the commissioners, supposedly working on the behalf of local citizens, agreed that
Everyone started heading for the exit. Detective Lyon opened the door, but moments before anyone stepped into the hallway, Chief Ramsey called out.
“You may go now. I thank you for coming here this afternoon. Please do not leave the island before making me or someone in my office aware of your plans.”
Brick and Threnody headed for the elevator first with Jessie following close behind. Dolly Jass hung back, and Kane motioned for her to go ahead of us. She smiled and batted her eyelashes at Kane as she stepped ahead.
“Let’s go someplace for lunch, Rafa,” Kane said in a voice that would carry to Chief Ramsey. “Maybe The Square Grouper.”
“That’s on Cudjoe Key, Kane. Off-island.”
“I know.” Kane linked his arm through mine, turned to grin at the chief, and gave a casual goodbye salute to Detective Lyon.
Chapter 12
(Still Sunday Afternoon)
When we were out of Chief Ramsey’s hearing in the parking lot, I headed for my car, slid behind the wheel, and sighed in exasperation when Kane slipped into the passenger seat.
“Kane, the chief said we’re not to leave the island without telling him or someone in his office. Why ask for trouble by driving off-island for lunch! We’re already persons of interest. Let’s don’t give the authorities reason to become more interested.”
“Okay. So you’re right, but his questions irritated me. Guess he intended them to irritate me, hoped I’d react by blurting something I’d regret.”
“But you didn’t. Good thinking.”
“Guess I wished I hadn’t written those letters.”
“Dad always advised me to set aside any letter written in anger and to let it cool overnight. Whenever I did that, I almost always destroyed the letter before it reached the post office.”
“If I’d known Diego was going to turn up murdered…” Kane pounded his knee with his doubled fist. “No. I’m not sorry I wrote those letters. Not sorry at all. I needed to let people know how strongly we shrimpers feel about our working waters. People need to know the inside scoop. They need to pay attention when a commissioner resigns from her job because she feels other committee members, secretly working on the side of land developers, pushed through legislation detrimental to the majority of citizens.”
“So you know who you’ll vote against at the next election, right?”
“Fat lot of good it’ll do now that the legislation has passed. Let’s forget it and find a place to eat.”
“Nobody should be at my place right now. We can go there. Or we can have The Frangi to ourselves, too—for a while at least. Better yet, let’s go to the hotel, order lunch, and eat outdoors beside the pool.”
“Fine with me. Maybe we can plan a strategy that will keep us low on the chief’s list of suspects.”
“Right. But I want to hear more about what you’ve heard about Diego’s murder. And maybe we can catch some news on radio or TV.”
“Not if we’re outside by the pool, unless we want to advertise our interest in Diego’s murder to the hotel guests.”
“You may be right about that. Let’s skip the radio.” I drove slowly to The Blue Mermaid, careful to obey all traffic rules and to attract no undue attention. Croton bushes lined the paved entryway to the hotel portico where several drivers waited behind their steering wheels for valets to take their cars into the ground level covered parking area. I drove on to the back entry.
Kane spoke up. “This hotel is a good example of the illegal stuff white-collar crooks can sneak into legislation before honest Key West citizens know what’s happened to them. A similar thing happened to our working waters.”
“I don’t get the connection, Kane.”
“The guy I bought The Buccaneer from me told me that years ago, building contractors and the commissioners, supposedly working on the behalf of local citizens, agreed that
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