Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition (13 page)

“
Oh my!”
She aped shock. “They should TELL people that!”

“
Do
WHAT?! And not make the SALE?!?!” he cried, outdoing the shocked
look.

“
I’m
going to meet Manny at The Reef for lunch. You’re invited. About
twelvish.”

He nodded and waved, then went inside to
check the e-mail. Not much new there. He put on the coffee and went
to the deck to see it freshly stripped and painted. He shook his
head and went back in to turn on the local news on TV.

Standard. Traffic accidents, a suicide in
Penonomé, a small riot about wages in Panamá City, a murder in
Santiago, an unidentified woman, and some politics. The run-through
showed a picture of the dead woman (they love to show dead bodies
on TV here). It was Dona Mariana.

“
Oh,
SHIT!” he cried and called Marko, who didn’t know anything about
it. He would check. Ten minutes later Marko called back to say it
was a hit that was supposed to look like a robbery. He’d called
Vincente, who told him he didn’t know who was behind it. He thought
it was probably Marko or the Fiona-bitch. He didn’t seem unduly
upset about it until Marko pointed out that meant he was next in
line for an accident or something then, seeing he was the only one
who knew whatever Dona knew.

“
What
would be the point of hitting her?” Clint asked. “What would that
prove, seeing that bunch is as much as untouchable from anything
she might know.”

“
I’m
getting in touch with the police there. I want to know if there’s
anything odd about it. It’s a warning to someone, so they would
leave a message.”

Clint went to take a shower and clean up.

“
There
was a message the police didn’t understand or know about,” Marko
(Manny) reported at lunch. “It was stupid beyond belief and typical
of what she is. There was a picture of Raymondo’s body on your deck
sticking out of her purse.”

“
So is
the threat to you or me? Me. She wouldn’t be stupid enough to
directly threaten you.”

“
Y’know
what? I think she would. She’s living in some fantasy world where
she’s beyond the reach of anyone,” Manny replied sourly. “She’s
gotten away with it for years because of the people she’s with,
like that Juan clod.”

“
They
can’t protect her from even the local hoods if they decide she’s
becoming too much of a problem – and they haven’t – so what’s going
on?”

“
Y’got
me! Let’s go to the girls and get some lunch.”

The lunch went well. Everyone laughed and had
a good time. They were popular with the locals, several of whom
joined them for a few minutes. When they stood to leave, Clint
looked at Manny and said, “They’re puppets being used to hide
something – or someone.”

Manny nodded.

“
I think
I’m going to take a few days in Panamá City,“ Clint said. “I’d like
a little company.”

“
We can
go in the morning.”

“
Not you.
You have to keep out of it. You’re in the Med.”

“
Okay.
I’ve got a guy and a woman who can show them how it’s done. What’s
the plan?”

“
To find
out exactly who’s behind this soap opera. And why. It AIN’T no
damned development near Barqueta.”

Again, Manny nodded. “It IS weird
though.”

Sandi was a beautiful naive woman and William
was the overly-handsome type of typical gigolo a lot of women
couldn’t resist. Candi was the third, looked like a dream and was
more than qualified for anything. She was very deliberately sexy.
To look at.

They were three of Marko’s best friends and
best agents. They were in Panamá for the first time, but looked
like natives and spoke and acted same. Candi was to be Clint’s
“escort” for the trip. She was a bimbo-type of airhead who always
said or did something stupid at the most embarrassing time. She was
actually “more than average intelligent” and was a black belt
Tae-kwon-do instructor. She spoke flawless German, French, Italian,
Danish, Spanish, and Portugese. She was also a computer expert.

They booked in at the Hotel California and
went to the restaurante for some of the great espageti con
camarones (spaghetti with shrimp) they served there and to discuss
what they were looking for. Two locals came to sit at the nearest
table after about five minutes.

“
Oh!
Look!” Candi suddenly cried. “I can’t believe how many camiones are
in this!”

“
Trucks?”
William asked.

“
Huh?”
Candi replied brightly.

“
Camarones are shrimp. Camiones are trucks,” Clint explained
patiently.

“
Oh,
yeah. I always get this espaniola all screwed up. I don’t see why
they don’t talk English so everyone would understand them. I mean,
after all! They want us tourists to bring them our money – or
yours, at least – don’t they?” She looked innocently into Clint’s
eyes as she said it in a bimbo voice. Clint almost laughed at the
“typical airhead” act. He got it that the two were not just a
couple of locals who happened to sit at the next table.

“
Excuse
me,” one of them said. “Didn’t I meet you in Hollywood about a year
ago?”

She giggled and put a hand on his arm. “Oh,
I’ve never been in California since I was like four years old.
Maybe in Orlando? I live there since ... there was someone ... it
was Miami! You were on vacation and your wife was in ... oh!”

“
Oh, no!”
he cried, looking like he’d been slapped. “Er, It wasn’t in Miami
and I don’t have a wife.” He was looking for a way out. Obviously,
this was just a bimbo along for fun and games.

“
Oh, then
it was Orlando! I remember, I think! You didn’t want your BOYFRIEND
to know where you were!” She looked at his companion, then said,
“No. That wasn’t you, er, he was shorter, uh, so I was mistaken
about, uh, you, er, y’know.” She looked innocent, then confused,
then embarrassed as she went through the spiel. Clint was enjoying
it immensely.

“
Er, I
have to make a phone call. Excuse me,” he said and stood to hastily
head for the door. His companion was looking at him like he could
kill him. He stood and followed him out.

“
How did
you know?” Clint asked. “Nobody cares here, but I wouldn’t have
spotted them for being gay.”

“
The way
he was looking at William all along. Both of them. I just gave it a
shot.”

“
I can
get an ID on them and we can find who they’re working for here,”
William suggested. “I have some good pictures. Marko can find that
in minutes.”

“
Not
those two. They’ll work for Fiona-bitch,” Clint replied. “Maybe
they also do work for someone else. It’s worth a shot. The ones we
want won’t be that obvious and won’t speak to us.”

Sandi nodded. “Maybe they won’t speak to YOU,
but they’ll go for this ditzy half-brained idiot because she’ll
spill everything and not even know what she said or who she said it
to.”

Candi gave her the finger and agreed.

They soon went to their rooms, then into the
city for a spin or two at the casinos. Clint noticed the man who
seemed to be around a bit too much. William nodded, then suggested,
“Deliberately obvious to a detective. Not him.”

“
No.
Her,” Clint said and glanced at the slightly hard-looking woman at
the bar. “He’s using some kind of signal. She’s always where he can
see her when he takes out his phone to check it. He pushes a key so
the light will be on if anyone’s looking. He’s trying to do it when
none of us are watching, but there are a lot of mirrors here. I
would never have spotted her except for that.”

William
nodded. They played a couple of the poker machines, then a couple
hands of blackjack, then William suddenly went to the bar to ask
for a pack of cigarettes. He was almost touching the woman. He
smiled at her and came back to the table to hand the cigarettes to
a woman next to him who had smoked her last one a few minutes
before. A typical gigolo action.

“
Oh! Mil
gracias!” she exclaimed.

“
De nada
– por una muchacha bellisima.”

(You’re welcome – for a beautiful woman.)

He chatted with her for a minute until Sandi
icily said it was time to go. She tossed her head at the woman and
glared. William excused them and they went out.

“
Marko
says she’s Filomena Silvestre, a big deal with the Colombian mob.
He’s trying to trace who’s her boss,” William reported.
“Listen!”

There were the noises of the blackjack table
coming from his phone. A woman was asking the one he’d bought the
cigarettes for how long she had known that gorgeous man who was
talking to her. She said she’d just met him right there – and
wasn’t he the most charming man she’d ever seen! Those handsome men
were usually nothing but bums, but he was sophisticated and
educated – and so HANDSOME!

“
When he
came to the bar for your cigarettes I thought I would faint! He
smiled, and was so NICE!”

They giggled and she asked where he was
staying.

“
Wants to
know if that one is a plant of some kind,” William said. Clint
nodded and replied, “Mike in the cigarette pack?”

“
No. Too
easy to find. In the lighter on the tray with no flint. They’ll
throw it out in the morning.”

“
He
didn’t say. I think with that woman. His sister, I think. She
certainly didn’t want him talking to me!”

“
Well, we
can go find out who’s behind it now. I’m getting tired!” Clint
suggested. William raised an eyebrow.

Back at the hotel they were getting on the
elevator when Clint asked Candi to get him a couple beers and bring
them to the room. She pouted a bit and said she wanted red wine, so
he said she could get some of that for her. She looked a question
at him. They were just past the few people sitting in the lobby so
he said she could ride up with the beer and whoever would want to
see what the bimbo might know. “They’re damned curious as to why
I’m here and who you are.”

She grinned and took the twenty he gave her
and went out to the shop across the Via Espania while the rest of
them went up to their rooms.

“
Did you
get any pictures?” Sandi asked. Clint shook his head and said, “I
left the damned camera here! Real bright!”

Clint reached into his maleta and took out a
CD in an envelope. “I got a phone card. I also got this great Cd!
It’s beach and stream sounds to make you sleep. Trouble is, it
makes you have to piss all the time. Water sounds.” He slid it into
the CD slot on the TV and a whispery sound came out.

“
White
sound. If they’ve got any bugs in here they can’t hear a
thing.”

“
Okay.
Got the picture and recorded the ‘chance’ conversation in the
elevator,” Candi reported. “Wanted to know how long I’d known the
famous detective and friends and why they were all in Panamá City,
seeing Clint had so often said he hates cities.

“
I told
him ... here. Listen. I sent the pics to Marko.” She took a little
digital mini-recorder from her purse and turned it on.

“
Hola!
Que tal?”

(Hello. How are you?)

“
Oh,
hello! Do you speak English? My Spanish stinks!”

“
Some. I
saw you with the detective from Bocas. How long have you known him
and his friends?”

“
Oh, we
met in David. I’m on vacation with ... a man who just left me there
with no money or anything. His wife ... uh, a friend took him to
San Jose. In Costa Rica, you know.”

“
He hates
cities, so I’m surprised he’s here.”

“
Oh? You
know him?”

“
We’ve
met in Bocas. Chiriqui Grande.”

“
Well,”
she sounded confidential. “I think there’s some big trouble in
Bocaterenyo or something and he said he wants to lay low for awhile
and they’d never look for him here. I think maybe he’s got in big
trouble with some big gangsters about gambling or something. It’s
exciting and a little bit scary, but I don’t have enough money to
go back to Florida!”

“
Don’t
you have the return ticket? It’s required if you stay
here.”

“
But
HOWARD has it and he’s GONE!”

“
Oh. I
see.”

“
Oh,
here’s my floor! Have a good night!”

The phone rang. It was Jim and he had a
package. William told him to bring it up and explained that it was
a throw-away phone they could use to talk with Marko. They would be
able to trace the ones they’d been using by now. Clint nodded and
took the throw-away he’d bought while in David but not activated
from his maleta. William grinned. He called Marko, who conferenced
the call to William, Candi and Sandi, all of whom had throw-aways
from the package.

“
Okay.
The woman’s someone we can use if we have to so long as she don’t
know we know about her,” Marko said. “The one in the elevator is a
bit hard to find anything about, but he’s still in the lobby. Jim
said he watched him get into the elevator with the package and he
was close when he said it was for us. Maybe he can learn something.
Several people have asked Judi Sylvia and me about you. We tell
them you’ve got some kind of job or something and are in Santiago
or David or somewhere. We don’t meddle in your business.