Mystery in the Sunshine State by Stuart Kaminsky

Author:Stuart Kaminsky [Kaminsky, Stuart]
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

I wasn’t quite to the sidewalk in front of Bo Smith’s building when a dark sedan pulled up to the curb. The driver was the only one in it, and even he wasn’t there very long.

Over the roof with, “You John Cuddy?”

“That’s right.”

“Get in.”

“How about some ID first?”

The man came around his car without bothering to close its door. About my height but thinner, no more than one-eighty stretched over his six-two plus. He didn’t wear a jacket, but the short-sleeved dress shirt was accompanied by the first tie outside my own that I’d seen on the island. His pants were straight cut, a badge and a semiautomatic resting near each other on the right side of his belt.

Up close, the hair was sandy brown and crew-cut, no sideburns. The nose ran straight and narrow, the green eyes burning.

He tapped his badge. “You seen enough?”

“Let me guess. Detective Jerry Finneran.”

The cleft chin jutted out a little. “Show me your license.”

It seemed kind of unnecessary, since he already knew my name, but I pulled out the Massachusetts one first.

Finneran looked at it, then grinned. “That carries zero weight down here.”

I opened the Florida version. “Like this one any better?”

The grin evaporated. “What the hell are you doing?”

“My job. How about you?”

You could see the jaw working under his skin. “Get in the car, mister.”

I glanced across the street. “There’s a nice bench over there. Why don’t we both take a little fresh air with the roust?”

Now I could hear teeth grinding, but Finneran spun on his heel and went to the car door, slamming it as he crossed the street in five strides.

I followed him at my own speed and lowered myself gently onto the opposite side of the bench.

Finneran said, “What’s your game. Cuddy?”

“No game. Just a job.”

“Being?”

“Trying to figure out what happened to Dr. Martin Kriss.”

“Del Wonsley hired you.”

“Would that make a difference to you?”

Finneran started to escalate, then took himself down a notch in a way that made me admire him a little. “Look, Cuddy. Marty Kriss was overweight and didn’t exercise. The man had a heart attack. End of story.”

“Somehow I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“You made an appointment to see him out of your usual rotation.”

Finneran scowled. “And that’s it?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether you can give me the name of the sailor who supposedly—”

“That’s none of your business, mister.”

“But your appointment just ‘happened’ to follow Ippoletti’s and Smith’s? Come on, Detective. Without knowing anything about the landscape and players down here, I rattled one of them enough to call you and the other enough to nearly swing on me.”

Finneran kept the scowl. “Cuddy, Marty Kriss just plain died.”

“I can see where you couldn’t know I was on the case until I visited Ippoletti this morning. I can even understand why neither of you could reach Smith, since Mr. Universe was in his backyard with enough music blaring through his ears that any telephone might as well be ringing in Miami. What I don’t get, though, is why the police

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.