Guava Moon Revenge: An Alex Rutledge Novel by Tom Corcoran

Author:Tom Corcoran [Corcoran, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Dredgers Lane, LLC
Published: 2018-11-16T05:00:00+00:00

19

Bobbi Lewis’s dash-mounted laptop showed the tail end of an old Honda CR-V—from when they still had tailgate-mounted spares. Next to it was a large image of a regular Florida license tag, bright, sharp and close-up. Lewis’s phone wolf-whistled. She took the call and listened for about ten seconds.

“Stay on her, but way back,” said Lewis. “I’m maybe five minutes from you…” She paused, started the car and started for the Walmart lot exit. “Okay, that’s great, I know that mall but, no matter what, keep your distance.” A pause. “Okay, Starbucks, perfect. Is there a pet store next to it? I’ll buy you a puppy. Better yet, I know there’s a Smoothie King. You and your partner need something cold and non-alcoholic, though I’d be happy to treat you both to something stronger after this episode.”

Lewis clicked off her phone, cleared the Walmart by way of a side street, hit the main road’s center lane and lighted her flashers. Vehicles swerved into the right and left lanes to give her a clear shot. Ninety seconds later she eased to the right, looked ahead at the stalled traffic, beeped her siren and veered across two lanes to a left turnoff. Then: no traffic for the next mile on an open road westward to a right turn onto another county road and over a bridge high above the snarl of businesses and the traffic we had seen two minutes earlier. We merged, she doused her flashing roof lights, and I realized she had driven to the front of the same traffic jam.

Inside of another two minutes we rolled into a strip mall, drove past the parked Honda CR-V and stopped in another row. Detective Lewis chose an east-facing slot so the afternoon sun wouldn’t blast through her windshield and roast the car’s interior.

We faced a fitness gym where a slow file of the buff and the ripped, female and male, toted name-brand athletic bags as they came and went. Clean towel inbound, sweat rag out. Guilt inbound, and clean conscience out—for their money’s worth plus hookups and drama.

Bobbi jacked her thumb toward the Starbucks. “She went in there carrying a notebook, so she might have work to do, might stay for a while. She’s wearing an open white top over a dark tank top. I’m thinking you need several breadbombs for your late lunch and a 20-ounce Sumatra with extra sugar.”

“Anything in particular you need me to learn from this woman?” I said.

“Follow your judgment, Alex. We need to piece together the story that Hoffman refuses to tell, and corroborate my hunch that the DNA’s not right. I assure you, if I’m not convinced of his innocence on the day he walks out of that hospital, healthy enough to travel, we’ll be shipping his ass to Monroe County.”

“All you know for certain is that she visited the island?”

Lewis nodded. “At this point we can’t even prove that they met down there. Go chat her up and see what spews forth.”

“Can you pop the trunk lid for me? I’ve got some kind of Key West ballcap in my backpack.

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.