Key Lime Blues Read Online Free PDF Page A

for you.   Where’s Willie?”
    “You don’t need to know where Willie is.   All you need to remember, is he’s always got my back.”
    I glanced around and didn’t spot Willie. “I’ve got to tell you,” I said.   “You and your brother need to hire yourselves a fashion consultant. You’re way overdressed for Key West.”   
    He popped something into his mouth, and pulling a handkerchief from his jacket pocket he mopped a trickle of sweat from his brow.   His head was shaved and he was a couple of inches taller than me; six-three, maybe even six-four, it was hard to tell for sure with the way he slouched.
    “It’s fucking February.   It’s not natural for it to be this hot.”   He leaned a little closer and his breath was mint fresh.   “Besides, I’m not dressed to impress you.   Now shut up and take this.”  
    He held out an envelope to me. “Frankie says there’s a nice bonus in there for you.   He says forget you ever heard a Destiny or Frankie Szymanski.”
    I took the envelope and counted out twenty-five hundred dollar bills.   “We usually bill our clients,” I said as I folded the envelope and tucked it into my front pocket.   “And I was expecting Frankie.”
    “Frankie’s administration.   He doesn’t get out much anymore.   I guess you could call me the field rep.   I’m going to have a little talk with this Destiny chick, get what she took from the boss, and then I can go back to Detroit where fags don’t walk around holding hands and cats don’t do tricks for idiots who come in on cruise ships.”
    My stomach began to churn a little at what I was hearing.   “I thought this was all about locating a lost love,” I said.
    “Yeah—right.   Like Frankie is going to waste all this time and money looking for a hundred dollar whore.   She took something and the boss wants it back.”
    “And if she doesn’t want to give back what she took?” I asked.
    He shook his head.   “Oh, she’ll give it back all right.   I always collect.   It’s why Frankie sent me.”   To further accentuate the point he straightened himself up, snapped his head to the side and smiled when his neck made a popping sound.   “Now get out of here.   I see they’re locking up the place and I don’t want to miss my Destiny now, do I?”   He laughed aloud at his own joke and took a step away from me.
    An uneasy feeling crept over me and I reached out and caught his arm.   “Maybe I should talk to her for you.”  
    Everything I’d read about Frankie Szymanski indicated he had a propensity for violence.   Despite the assurances, I didn’t trust Frankie, or his henchman.   The last thing I needed was to be responsible for another girl getting hurt or killed.
    With exaggerated care he shook my hand off his arm and turned back to face me.   “Don’t never touch me like that, Darling.”  
    When he realized what he'd said his eyes narrowed and his face took on a red glow. With a quick flick of his fingers he reached for the edge of his jacket and drew it aside enough for me to see the revolver hanging in a holster beneath his left arm.
    “I don’t plan to hurt the girl if get what I want.   Frankie, he also told me not to hurt you if you followed instructions and did what you were told.   Now like I said, get the hell out of my sight.”
    I considered my options.   My great-great-great grandfather, Dusty, would not have hesitated.   He’d have drawn his gun and shot first.   There were two problems with that scenario.   First, I didn’t have a gun on me, and second, the last thing I needed in the middle of Key West was to reenact the Gunfight at the OK Corral.   Especially when there was only one gun and it wasn’t mine.   I figured if I moved quickly I could probably disarm him, but then again, someone might get shot.   Since I was the likely recipient of the bullet, I decided on a tactical retreat.
    “Sure,” I said.   “It’s not really any of my