“We already have our suspicions about Manny,” Dino said, “but even if they aren’t true, he probably knows more about all this than we do.”
“That wouldn’t be hard,” Stone said. “But first I need to call Evan.”
He did so.
“Hello?”
“It’s Stone. Where are you?”
“Still in Connecticut. We’re taking a morning flight from LaGuardia tomorrow, and we’ll land in Key West at two o’clock.”
“Where are you staying?”
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“At the Marquesa again. We can’t stay on the boat, can we?”
“Not yet. A DEA agent came to see me earlier today. Naturally, he’s anxious to talk with you about the drugs found on your boat.”
“Naturally,” Evan replied.
“I’ll set something up with him tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll go see him.”
“All right. Not before four o’clock; you know how flights are these days.”
“That will be good. See you then.” Stone hung up, called Rocco Corelli and made the appointment. “All right,” he said to Dino, “let’s go to Miami. Do we have an address?”
“He’ll be in the phone book,” Dino replied. On the way to the airport, Stone got a weather forecast and fi led a fl ight plan. Half an hour later they were winging their way north.
They landed at Tamiami Airport and got Manny White’s address from a phone book, then took a cab.
Manny White Investigations was housed in an elegant little Art Deco office building in South Beach, on the top floor. There was a nicely furnished reception room with a pretty receptionist, and they were shown into Manny’s office right away.
Manny didn’t rise to greet them. “Well,” he said, deadpan, “to what do I owe the thrill of this visit?”
“We were in town and thought we’d drop by to say hello,” Dino replied, offering himself a chair.
“Hello,” Manny said. He turned toward Stone. “You too.”
“Hi, Manny,” Stone replied.
“So how long you been in business here?” Dino asked.
“Since I retired, seven years ago.”
Dino looked around the office. “Business must be good.”
“Not bad,” Manny said. “It took a while to build it up.”
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“Skip tracing, employee embezzlement, divorce and child custody, you name it.”