S t u a r t W o o d s
“You’re right; Tommy’s a great guy, and he’s been nothing but helpful. My mind’s a little fuzzy, that’s all. Lack of sleep.”
“Too much sex,” Dino said. “It always wears you down.”
“It does not,” Stone protested. “I thrive on it.”
“You’ve been eating like a pig ever since we got here. Gained any weight?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’d say you’ve lost a couple of pounds,” Dino said. “It’s the Swede; she’s sapping your life force.”
“Nonsense.”
“Otherwise, why would you let Evan Keating hire you in about a second?”
“An excuse to stay here for a few days. The money’s good, too.”
“It smells funny,” Dino said, and he took a big bite of an English muffi n.
“Why do you think that?”
“What could he possibly have for you to negotiate?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s buying a house or something.”
“He’d hire Jack Spottswood if he were buying a house, or somebody else local who knows the market. You’d be useless.”
“I can read a contract.”
“But what’s to negotiate? And why the hell isn’t Evan getting his ass out of Key West? He didn’t go when you warned him, and now he’s been shot, nearly killed, and he’s still hanging around. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I guess he has some unfi nished business.”
“The guy is in line for whatever a third of eight hundred million bucks is, and he’s got business in Key West? What does he need with business here?”
“All right, it’s screwy. I’ll give you that.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“It’s also intriguing, and I want to see how it plays out.”
“Well, while it’s playing out, I hope you don’t end up between 1 4 2
L o i t e r i n g w i t h I n t e n t
Evan and whoever took that shot. From what Tommy says, it was a damn fine shot, and if the guy left the rifle there, it only means that he’s got something else to shoot with.”
“I like the private airplane thing,” Stone said.
“It’s one way to travel.”
“It’s an ideal way to travel, if you don’t want your luggage X-rayed or searched,” Stone pointed out. “After all, it’s how you and I got here armed.”
Dino stuffed the last piece of sausage in his mouth. “Okay, you want to go to the airport, right?”
“Right.”