“Let me buy you a drink, then. How about five o’clock?”
“Sounds good.”
One of the best ways I had found to get good information was to be friends with people. Take the time to get to know them and people were more willing to give you any information you needed.
Unfortunately, I didn’t really like talking to people much in my day-to-day life. I did it for work when it was required, but even then, I usually tried to find a way around dealing with actual people whenever possible.
By the time George the tour guide showed up at the bar, I had already availed myself to a beer. I intended to look drunk later that evening and what better way to do that than to actually have a few beers. It had been a whole day since I had drunk a beer – I was about due my normal daily relaxation.
“What branch?” George asked as he sat down next to me.
“Navy,” I replied. There was no use lying to the man. I was just a tourist doing some looking around Miami.
“Seal? You look like a Seal.”
“I dabbled in the Seal world. But I got out and moved overseas. I’ve been in Italy doing woodworking for the last couple of years.”
“Wow, that’s a big change.”
“Yeah, but so relaxing,” I said as I sipped my beer. “How about you? How did you end up in Miami?”
As we continued our small talk, I got to know George quite well. I learned about his family and his business. He was an interesting guy and very friendly. He seemed really genuine, and I thought he would appreciate our conversation. I also thought that he would have some information on Stephano, since he had been doing his tours for so many years.
“So, I heard that Stephano Copal lives on Star Island?” I said casually.
“Yeah, he’s got that big white house facing south. He’s a bigwig in Miami, but it’s mostly drug money. I’d stay away from him, if I were you.”
“Oh, yeah. I have no intention of going near the guy. I bet he’s got security all over that place.”
“Actually, don’t tell anyone I told you this, but I heard he doesn’t have any security outside. But he’s shot intruders when they’ve come in his house. I think he likes the sport of letting them all the way in the door and then shooting them in self-defense.”
“Yikes. I’m definitely not going over there,” I said as I broke out in fake laughter.
That sounded like something a guy like Stephano would do. No need to actually put security equipment around the home because if someone was dumb enough to try and break into his home, then he could claim self-defense when he shot them. Likely, the only people trying to get into his home were lowlifes who didn’t know who he was or people who knew exactly who he was. Either way, Stephano had a legal reason to kill them if they broke into his property.
It actually worried me more that he might not have security than if he had top notch security systems. A rouge criminal was much more dangerous than one who wanted to protect himself with the latest equipment.
“I better get going. It was nice meeting you,” I said as I stood up and stumbled a little.
“Whoa there, are you all right?”
“Sure am, my hotel’s right there, no worries.”
“Okay, take care of yourself, man.”
I had strumbled out of the bar and around the corner before I started to walk normally again. I had learned over the years that it was incredibly important to cover all your tracks. Making sure George saw me as a drunken ex-Seal was just one way that I could ensure my cover story if things ever went poorly for me during my search for Ana.
I made my way back to the bridge to Star Island. We had been near it when the Duck Tour went into the water, but I thought I would take a stroll over to Star Island to see what all the hype was about.
My stumbling started again as I got close to the security officer who stood outside of a small cabin in the middle of the road. There weren’t any barricades at the entrance to the island, no gate, either. Just the officer and a sign that read “Road Closed: Local Traffic Only,” so I continued to walk up the street.
Before I had even made it to the security officer’s building, he was out of his door and walking toward me. The guy tried to look menacing, but he didn’t look like anything but a rental cop. His uniform was loose fitting and he didn’t have his hair cut short. If the guy wanted to look like someone more powerful, he should have paid attention to his looks more. Security guards were always trying to look like they had power when they really didn’t have any at all.
“Do you live here?”
“No, Officer.”
“This is a private community.”