Showdown in the Keys by Matthew Rief

Author:Matthew Rief [Rief, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-30T04:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SIX

The lot was half-full when I pulled into Salty Pete’s. I strode through the front door of the restaurant and immediately made eye contact with Mia.

“You sure you don’t want to stay?” she said. “Pete’s upstairs and I’m sure he’d like the company.”

Any other time, I would have. But we had other, more urgent matters to attend to. And if Wake was going to send someone else to try and take me down, I wanted to either be at our house or our boat—ready and well armed.

“Ange will kill me if she doesn’t get her conch fritters,” I said.

She chuckled and handed me a bag with two boxes of food inside. I reached for my wallet, but she waved me off. After I’d lent a hand and some cash to renovate the place years earlier, neither she nor Pete ever let me pay. Before she could protest, I slipped a twenty into the tip jar and ducked out the door. She laughed as it shut behind me.

I crunched across the seashell lot toward my Tacoma. The night was quiet by Key West standards, aside from a few distant police sirens. Tuesday in mid-February. But I spotted more than one group of people passing by in costumes. I’d heard that there was a special event going on at Mallory Square. The usual sunset celebration, but with added buzz due to a new traveling street performer and a costume contest.

People who visited Key West didn’t just come for the views and ocean-related activities. They came to partake in the unique city’s legendary rip-roaring nightlife. In the capital of the Conch Republic, tourists and locals alike jumped at any excuse to have a party.

I reached for my keys and unlocked the driver’s-side door. Just as I reached for the handle, my phone vibrated in my front pocket. I grabbed it while opening the door and setting the bag of food on the passenger seat. Glancing at the screen, I saw that it was Jane Verona, Key West’s sheriff.

I answered with a hello.

“Logan, where are you?” she said.

She had a stern, focused tone. The voice of a woman who was used to being in control of things. But she sounded more rushed than usual. Like something serious was bothering her.

“I’m over at Pete’s, Jane. What’s up?”

“I need you to come down to Key West Scuba. There’s been an incident.”

“What kind of incident?”

She paused a moment.

“It’s Mayor Crawford. He’s dead. He was murdered, Logan. Look, I need you to come down to the scene right now.”

Mayor Crawford murdered?

I shook my head, then bit my lip as I looked up into the evening sky.

Murders happened. An unfortunate part of life that went all the way back to Cane and Abel. The homicide rate in Key West was slightly above the national average. But murders were still very uncommon and were mostly drug gang-related.

First we shoot up Wake’s secret hideout. Then we take down a group of killers sent after us. Now this?

I knew that it wasn’t likely a coincidence.

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