“They’re small engines, but they give you a lot more maneuverability than a single.”
“Gas or diesel?”
“Gas.”
“Anything else you can tell us about it?”
“Prettiest boat in Key West, except for Choke II. ”
“Do you know anything at all about Keating, besides that he bought your boat?” Stone asked.
Chuck thought about it. “He has a pretty girlfriend, name of Gigi.”
“Anything else?”
“He saw me play at Wimbledon, the year I, ah, fi nished second. Seems like half the world saw me fuck it up.”
“Was Keating driving a car when you met him?”
“Oh, yeah, he was driving a Chrysler convertible; that’s a common rental here.”
“Color?”
“Ummm, silver—no, white. Oh, and he brought a guy with him to help him move the boat. I spent an hour showing them around it. The girl drove away in the convertible.”
“Can you describe his helper?”
4 9
S t u a r t W o o d s
“A little under six feet, I guess, fairly scrawny. Full beard. Oh, and Keating called him Charley.”
“Aha,” Stone said, “Boggs lied to us.”
“What did you expect?” Dino asked.
“Want to play another set?” Chuck asked.
“I think we have to go see Charley Boggs,” Stone said. TH E Y D R O V E B AC K to Garrison Bight, parked near the sport fi sherman fleet and walked over to Boggs’s houseboat. Nobody home. Stone and Dino looked through the windows. The boat was sparsely furnished.
“Can I help you?” a voice said from behind them. They turned to find a woman on the next boat looking at them.
“We’re looking for Charley Boggs,” Stone said.
“Haven’t seen him since yesterday,” the woman replied. “A couple came and got him in a boat, and he hasn’t come back yet.”
“What kind of boat?”
“Old, pretty; white hull, mahogany everything else.”
“Right. Do you know Charley well?”
“Well enough to know that he doesn’t seem to do anything to make a living. Most of the time, he’s fishing off the back of that boat.”
“Has his houseboat been moored here long?”
“He bought it from the previous berth holder a few months back. That’s how you get a houseboat berth in Key West—you buy the houseboat.”