Blood Orchid (Holly Barker 3)

“Do you know about any other contact he may have had with this man?”

“He would get calls on his cellphone when we were together. I noticed that he would answer the cellphone every time it rang, when, before, he would sometimes shut it off. He never failed to answer his cellphone after that.”

“Did Carlos ever tell you how much money he was getting?”

“No, but I think it must have been a great deal, because when I had the ring appraised for my insurance, it was valued at thirty-five thousand dollars.”

“Can you think of anything else that might help me in my investigation?” Holly asked.

Marina thought for a moment, then shook her head.

Holly had a thought. “Was Carlos interested in guns?”

“Yes, he owned a couple of pistols; he kept them at the shop, in case of thieves, he said. He went once a week to a shooting range in North Miami, called Miami Bullseye.” She looked down. “Tomorrow night would have been his night for that.”

Holly stood up. “Thank you, I won’t keep you further.” She handed Marina her card. “Will you call me if you think of anything else?”

“Yes, I will.”

“And I think it might be best if you didn’t mention our talk to Pedro.”

“I think you’re right.”

Marina’s mother came back into the living room with the tea.

“Won’t you please stay for tea?” Marina asked.

“Thank you, but I have to go.”

Marina followed her out onto the front porch.

“Marina, I want to express my sympathy for your loss.”

“Thank you.”

“I lost my fiancé a little over a year ago, so I understand how you feel.”

Marina began to tear up, and Holly embraced her. The two women stood on the front porch, holding each other, for another minute before Holly left, tears in her own eyes.

28

Holly walked Daisy and fed her some of the dry food and water she kept in her car, thinking the whole time. So Carlos had come into money? He wouldn’t have been paid so much to bug her phones and jimmy her alarm system, but Carlos had other talents. For the wiretapping and for three murders, he’d be very well paid indeed. Of course, he’d missed Ed Shine, but he’d been very successful with the other two.

But why would the people who’d hired him murder him? Because they were finished with him, of course, and maybe because he’d failed with Ed Shine, and the property went to another buyer.

She wasn’t driving back to Orchid Beach tonight; she had two other stops to make in the area, and she began thinking about where to spend the night. There were a lot of motels in the area, but would they take dogs? Then she remembered something. The year before, when she had been working with the FBI on a case, they had put her up at the Delano, a jazzy and elegant hotel in South Beach. What the hell, she was a woman of means, Jackson had seen to that in his will, and she deserved a good night’s rest. She called the Delano and made a reservation, getting an okay on Daisy, then she started driving.

She spent half an hour at a mall buying some extra clothes, then headed south. Fifteen minutes from her destination she saw a sign with a familiar name, and she braked hard, nearly throwing Daisy off the seat. She whipped into a parking spot. “You stay here, baby,” she said to Daisy. “It’s time for your mama to have dinner.” Daisy was used to waiting in the car.

She walked into Pellegrino’s and looked around; she saw the man almost immediately, talking to customers at a nearby table. He left them and approached her.

“Good evening,” he said. “May I help you?”

He was as Marina had described him, sleek and well dressed, about fifty, she reckoned.

“I haven’t made a reservation,” she said. “Do you have room for one for dinner?”

“I’m very sorry,” he said with a regretful smile, “we’re fully booked, but you can have dinner at the bar, if you wish. The menu is the same.”