Chapter 29

Three years ago, Joe Garrett didn’t know he was in love with Julie O’Hara.

And then she walked through his office door.

Joe had seen Julie bite her lower lip that certain way, seen that elusive smile before. Her hair was tied back, but he knew at once what it looked like loose. And there was more…

He had tried to analyze it. Did Julie O’Hara just happen to fit some unconscious image he’d constructed? In the end, it didn’t matter.

Joe was bowled over by the déjà vu.

After a reasonable period, he had tried to let Julie know how he felt. But every attempt backfired. He flirted…and she ran for the shrubs like a feral cat. While it was true that Joe wasn’t used to being rebuffed, the deal with Julie was particularly confusing.

There was something between them, and he was sure she felt it, too. The more this odd push/pull magnetism continued, the more caught he was, like a moon circling a planet…unable to get closer but unable to get free.

Joe thought about their odd relationship once again, as he gulped down his morning coffee and set the empty mug on the kitchen bar. The door beside it was open to allow the morning air to come in through the screen.

He had been remodeling the second floor by himself, a little at a time, the operative word being little. So far, he’d opened up two interior walls and re-laid the oak flooring, but there was still that unfinished, unfurnished look about the place and a smell of raw wood and paint.

The kitchen Joe stood in had been installed first, so that he could live up there while he completed the two first-floor offices. The irony struck him.

So Merlin and I could have separate spaces.

Joe could hardly believe that she had finally called him.

Now, worried and occupied with her case, he couldn’t move fast enough. He closed and locked the back door and strode down the hall.

Joe stepped into the shower, shivering as the cold spray hit his body. Facing the round mirror stuck on the tile, he quickly brushed his teeth. He ran his hand over the stubble on his chin and decided to pass on shaving, since he’d probably be out of there before the water even warmed up.

Soon, he was out of the apartment and headed downstairs. He needed to talk to his secretary and make a couple calls before he left for the airport.

He found her in the office, standing on a chair, reaching for a chain attached to the ceiling fan. Janet Hawkins was a wise-cracking, petite and busty blonde on the sunny side of fifty. She was wearing slacks, for which Joe was very grateful, considering her position. “Hi, honey, I’m home,” he said…his usual greeting.

“Good. Hang on to this chair before I kill myself. Really, Joe, a woman my age needs this thing on High! Why do you keep turning it down?”

“Because, dear, it blows my papers all around.”

“You’re hardly ever here, and I’m always here. How about if you just shut it off on the wall switch when you’re working in the office?”

“I can do that. Here, let me help you down.”

“Thanks. So what’s up?”

“I’m not going to be around for the next few days,” said Joe, sitting down at the big oak desk that once belonged to his father. He grabbed his card file. “You know that friend of Merlin’s who died in Key West? Marc Solomon, the artist?”

“Yeah?” said Janet, peering at him over her glasses.

“She called me. She thinks he was murdered. I’m going to help her. I’m going to Miami and then I’m meeting her in Key West, but I’ll keep in touch.”

Joe knew from Janet’s expression of wide-eyed innocence that she couldn’t wait to discuss this development with Julie’s assistant, Luz.

“What?”

“Nothing,” said Joe. “Have we heard from Johnson & Cummings?”

“Yup. The check came in yesterday,” she said. “I deposited it. $8,600.00.”

“Hallelujah!”

Joe had been waiting for that case to settle.

“What else?”

“Angela called a couple of times,” said Janet, offering the information like a glass of sour milk.

Angela D’Amato was Joe’s ex-girlfriend. He broke up with Angie two years ago when he became hopelessly attracted to his new tenant. He told her he thought they should “see other people”. Of course, the only person Joe wanted to see was Julie.

But that didn’t happen. Joe really tried to avoid Angie…but sometimes he didn’t try too hard. Janet didn’t approve.

“I’ll call her later,” he said, flipping through the card file.

He found the one he was looking for:

Sawyer Aerial Photography

Will Sawyer was a pilot that Joe had met when he was in the service. He was a few years older than Joe, but they were both Florida boys away from home, and they had become good friends.

Joe punched in the number.

Will’s wife, Carolyn, answered the phone. Joe talked to her politely for a minute or so, before asking for Will.

“Hey, Buddy!” said Will, “How’s it going?”

“I’m good,” said Joe. “How’s everything down in Miami?”

“Great! When are you coming down? We’ll pull up some bugs!”

Will had a boat; Joe went down every so often to help him with lobster traps.

Joe told him about Julie’s case, particularly about the growing significance of the island, Castle Cay.

“So, I was hoping I could hire you to take me there, get some photos?”

“When?” asked Will.

“As soon as you can.”

Will paused. Joe waited.

“Tomorrow’s Saturday and I’m open,” he said at last. “There’s a tropical depression southeast of Haiti. That’s far enough away, but you never know in hurricane season. It may ground me pretty soon. How fast can you get here?”

“I can be there this afternoon,” said Joe.

“Yeah, okay. And Joe, I’ll only charge you for my costs.”

Joe closed his eyes and pumped his fist.

All right!

“Thanks, Will. I’ll grab a cab to your house from the airport. See you later.”

Joe hung up and reached for his card file again to look up Sherman Dixon’s number. He located the card and rang the number.

Long time since I talked to Sherman…

Sherman and Joe had gone to Florida State University together. What a time that was! They were campus heroes. It was all about babes, booze and football. Their senior year of college was a continuous party. Sherman graduated and went into the FBI.

Joe graduated and went into rehab.

Joe remembered his mother going nuts over his decision to join the navy after getting out of there. He would never forget his father’s sharp rebuke: “Let him go, Dot! It’ll make a man out of him.” How he had hated Big Joe for saying that. Of course, his father had been right on the money.

“Dixon, here.”

“Hi, Sherm. It’s Joe Garrett.”

“Joe! Good to hear from you! Did you see the game last Saturday?”

Joe knew he was talking about FSU. Sherm was still a huge Seminole fan, even though he didn’t live in Florida anymore.

Joe could picture the big black man standing in front of the TV in the den, yelling, “GO! GO!” at the FSU quarterback while his wife and two little girls looked on, mystified.

Joe said he’d missed the game, and filled Sherman in on Julie’s case.

“I’m thinking about this guy, Avram Solomon, the dead man’s brother,” Joe said. “Just thinking…but maybe the brother is involved with the Tambini family up there, and maybe it somehow connects to the death in Key West.

“I mean, Julie was really close to this guy, Sherm, and she’s a hundred percent sure he didn’t kill himself. Now, I know you can’t tell me anything about any ongoing cases, and I wouldn’t ask you to,” said Joe. “But I thought you might be able to just check out the name for me, see if it’s come up before. Is that possible?”

“Sure, I guess I can do that. You want me to call you after I check him out?”

“That’d be great.”

He gave Sherm his cell number, spelled out Avram’s name, and gave him the address of the Boston dealership. They talked a bit more, promising to get together soon, and hung up.

Last, Joe called the airlines for the next flight to Miami and booked a seat.

“Okay,” he said to Janet, rising. “I’m off. I’ll see you when I see you.”

Joe ran up the stairs, two at a time. He quickly went around the apartment, gathering up his stuff. Finally, his carry-on at his feet, he sat down on the couch to make one more call.

“Angie? Look, before you say anything… there’s something I’ve got to tell you…”

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