He tapped his finger down the list. “I know four of them besides Cracker and Barney. They were all kicked off the Miami police force because of felony convictions, three of them in the same racial beating. All four of them did time.”
“That means their police records have been doctored, like Cracker’s, or they wouldn’t have been licensed by the state.”
“And those are just the ones I know,” Barney said, checking off their names. “God knows how many of them I don’t know. Wait a minute, I recognize another name: Eduardo Flores. He was on the Tampa force and was convicted of assaulting a series of motorists he’d stopped for traffic violations. It was a famous case six or seven years ago.”
“So that’s half Barney’s security force who are convicted felons.”
“And all of them convicted of violent crimes.”
“I’d be willing to bet the rest have records, too, records that have been scrubbed.”
“I wouldn’t take that bet,” Jackson said. He handed Holly back the lists. “You should take this to the state attorney general’s office tomorrow. Blow it wide open.”
Holly shook her head. “Not yet. There’s a reason that people like this are carrying guns around that place, and I’m going to find out what it is. I’ll bet it’s bigger than falsifying state records; otherwise, why wouldn’t Barney just hire guys who were clean? Why go to all the trouble and risk of altering records?”
“Let’s look at the menus,” Jackson said. “Here comes our waitress.”
They sat drinking coffee over the remains of their dessert.
“All right, let’s go through what we know so far about Palmetto Gardens,” Holly said. “One, the place is sealed off. They don’t want the locals taking Sunday drives through the place. Two, at least half the security force are convicted felons, and there must be a reason. Three, the club members are solicited privately, not by the usual advertising that sells lots and houses in ritzy developments. What are the membership requirements, besides great wealth? And four, if they don’t want anybody visiting the place, what are they hiding? Is there something there that, if seen by outsiders, would tip them to something unusual going on?”
“Well, on our brief overflight, we did see that building with all the antennas. They must have some extraordinary communications equipment. I mean, they’re not just trying to get good TV reception with that really big dish.”
“You know, I’d really like to fly over there again,” Holly said.
“I’ve got a better idea,” Jackson said. “I know a guy who does aerial mapping. He’s got a big, slow airplane with a camera in the belly that takes overlapping landscape photographs. You must have seen that one at the municipal building of the whole island?”
“I thought that was taken by satellite,” Holly said.
“No, he took that series, and since he flies low, he can get as much detail as a spy satellite can. Two or three passes over the place, and we’d have some really nice snapshots.”
“Jackson, if you’ll spring for that, I’ll get you reimbursed from departmental funds, if we find something. How much will it cost?”
“I’m not sure, but certainly not more than a couple of grand. I’ll tell him I’ve got a client who’s interested in building a similar development. He’ll buy that.”
“Listen,” Ham said, “I’ll spring for the money. I’m flush.”
“You’re on, Ham,” Holly said.
“I know a guy at the FBI office in Miami,” Jackson said. “He’s in charge of the organized-crime division in the city. You want to get him involved?”
“Let’s wait until we know more. I don’t want him to think I’m crazy.”
“Okay, let me know when.”
“What we really need is somebody on the inside at Palmetto Gardens,” Holly said. “Somebody who’s in and out of there all the time, who could look around without calling attention to himself.”
Jackson thought about that. “I don’t know anybody,” he said.
“There must be at least some locals who deal with those people. They can’t completely cut themselves off from the outside.”
“You wouldn’t think so, would you?”
Ham spoke up. “I got an idea,” he said. “Why don’t I call Barney and tell him I’m looking for a job, that I’m bored with retirement.”
“Yeah, sure,” Holly said. “He’s going to hire the father of the chief of police? If there’
s something illegal going on there, you’d be the last person he’d hire.”