Redemption Key (A Dani Britton Thriller) (8 page)

“It’s funny you haven’t met Caldwell before today, isn’t it? How’d that happen?”

Dani shrugged, scanning the bar to see if anyone needed drinks.

“He says he’s seen you around but he hasn’t had a chance to meet you. He says you’ve been ducking him. Have you been ducking him?”

She looked up at him, her pretty, tan face clear and smooth. “Usually when someone tries to get my attention by the units, it’s to unstop their toilets or to get a rat out of their room.”

She said nothing else, just shrugged as if that explained everything. Oren supposed it did, although couldn’t help but think that her excuse sounded an awful lot like an explanation of the bullet wound on her leg.

Dani felt a dribble of water slide down her right leg where the bucket bumped against her. She loosened her grip on the plastic handle to dry the sweat that coated her palm. If Mr. Randolph was asking about Caldwell, Caldwell had been asking about Dani.

Caldwell and Mr. Randolph were more than just drinking buddies or acquaintances. They trusted each other. That’s why Dani had kept her distance from the agent. If Mr. Randolph went to Caldwell for background information on Dani, Caldwell would go to his bosses at the FBI. Who knew what story the powers behind this whole mess would tell about her? It probably wasn’t a good one, she would bet. She did bet. She was betting what little shred of normalcy she had carved out here on the generosity of a nameless authority.

Mr. Randolph thought the Wheelers were bad news. The people she had worked for made the psychotic drug dealers look like a Little League team.

The couple at the end needed another round of margaritas, and Dani nodded to them. She could run. She could walk off the deck and climb into the car and be halfway out of the state before sunset.
But where would she go? She had her money, but they had everything else. They had the roads and the law and the cameras and the manpower to find her anywhere she went. They could say anything about her they wanted; they could give her a criminal record and put a warrant out for her arrest. They could make her disappear. They could make jail look like the best-case scenario. They could—

“Damn it, Dani.” Mr. Randolph broke her downward spiral of thought. “Is it just me or does Juan look nervous?”

“What? What?” Dani didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath.

“Juan Wheeler! Look at him. This deal is bad. I can feel it. I mean, even worse than a regular Wheeler deal.” Mr. Randolph gnawed on his lime peel. “Or am I just crazy? Having some kind of midlife crisis?” He arched an eyebrow at her in comic seriousness. “And don’t you dare tell me I’m way too old for this to be midlife.”

She laughed, relieved to be knocked off her train of thought. “I’ll go ask him what cologne he uses. I’ll tell him I’m looking for a Christmas gift for you.”

Mr. Randolph scrunched up his face in a passable rendition of the smaller Wheeler’s scowl, making his eyebrows twitch. “It’s the smell of power,
chica
. Power and women. And money. And my mother. Power, women, money, and mother—and not in that order.” He let his scratchy falsetto disintegrate into Wheeler’s familiar chittering giggle.

Dani laughed again, making a point of not looking at the scowling man out on the deck. Mr. Randolph wasn’t checking on her; he wasn’t asking Caldwell to. He had a meeting to oversee and a bar to run. He had problems of his own that had nothing to do with her. As far as he was concerned she was just another housekeeper, another bartender. He must have seen her relax because he draped his arm over her shoulder in a paternal hug.

“I’m getting too old for this, Dani. These meetings and these worries.” He turned her so they both stared out over the drunken
room. “One of these days I’m just going to get on my boat and sail to distant shores. I’ll just be gone and this will all be yours. What do you think?”

She knew he had no intention of ever leaving Jinky’s. “Do I get to keep Peg and Rolly?”

“Do you have the firepower to get them out?”

He hugged her closer and Dani let herself relax against him. His arm felt warm and heavy on her shoulder. She could have stood there forever. The feeling of solidity, of safety, of belonging, blew in on the hot tidal breeze. Mr. Randolph swayed gently with her, rocking them side by side.

“It’s good to have you here, Dani. The customers like you. The locals like you. Hell, even Peg likes you, and she doesn’t like anyone.”

“She hasn’t sprayed me with the hose in months.”

“See? You’re practically sisters.”

She smiled at that, watching as Casper threw a plantain chip into a young woman’s mouth. “I like it here, Mr. Randolph.”

He nodded. “I’m glad.” They stood together in easy silence watching the old captain flirt with his drunken passengers. Finally he patted her arm. “We’ve got until tomorrow for the meeting. Why don’t you run down and tell Peg to help you out up here? Peg needs to burn off some steam, and it doesn’t look like anyone’s ready to quit drinking. Have Rolly whip you up some conch fritters, okay?”

“Okay, thanks. I’ll just do another pass of drinks first.” She swung her bucket and ducked back behind the bar. She felt mellow and loose, like she’d just had a good cry or a long nap. Two girls near the deck cooed at a tiny Key deer that strolled out from the bushes below and Dani smiled. She liked it here.

Oren watched Dani move through the crowd picking up empty glasses and wiping down tables. He’d just given her part of the day off and
she still wouldn’t stop working. The rental units had never been cleaner and the plumbing hadn’t backed up seriously since Dani had taken over maintenance. He’d never had an employee work that hard. He wasn’t entirely sure what motivated someone like that.

She took a picture of a couple at the bar, saying something that made them laugh just as the flash went off. Maybe he’d read her wrong earlier. Maybe that smile she’d flashed to Caldwell hadn’t been off. Hell, maybe she’d even been flirting with the agent. Stranger things had happened. But Caldwell wouldn’t have missed a flirtatious move, even a strange one. He had radar that put the military to shame when it came to reading women, and Caldwell’s reaction had been anything but flattered. Oren swirled his ice, a nervous habit he couldn’t kick. There couldn’t be anything to worry about if his buddy ran a background check, right? What could Dani have done that would be so horrible to unearth?

She pushed past him just then with two margaritas and a bucket of beer. He grabbed her towel and she glanced over her shoulder at him.

“What did I say?” He took the glasses in one hand, the bucket in the other. “You—stop working. Get Peg up here. Drink. Laugh. Shake that little ass you’ve been running all over hell and back and let Rolly fill you up with some greasy fried food. I own this place, remember? I can serve a drink.”

She surrendered the drinks and started pointing out who was expecting what. He leaned down close to her face. “I own this place,” he repeated slowly. “Remember?”

“Yes, boss,” she said, smiling up at him.

“That’s right, I’m the boss. You’re the employee. Now sit down and start ripping me off. You’re making the rest of the staff look bad.”

She giggled at that and headed down to get Peg. More than one man watched the swish of her skirt against her short, tan legs as she
headed past them. What could a little thing like that have done that could be so terrible the FBI would have a file?

99° F

Dani hadn’t realized how tense she’d been since meeting Caldwell. A sense of lightness filled her chest. Maybe she hadn’t really relaxed since she’d arrived on the island, maybe even since she’d left DC. The sensation left her a little dizzy in a champagne kind of way. That moment with Mr. Randolph, when he’d put his arm around her the way her father used to do, the same soft voice, easy swaying, made her feel safer than she had since her father’s death. Dani felt her need to be on Redemption Key, at Jinky’s, ache deep inside her, only now the ache didn’t feel like fear but like hope.

12:40pm, 99° F

Dani knocked on the metal kitchen counter. Rolly whistled into the fan that blew hot greasy air right back at him. “Hey, can I get a scavenge?” Mr. Randolph had told her to eat, but she knew the cook preferred to think the food was a personal favor. A scavenge was when Rolly would pick a piece or two off of several outgoing orders and heap them on a plate for her or Peg. Conch fritters, shrimp, some slices of fried plantain—whatever the crowd was ordering, that’s what they got to eat. Dani liked the surprise and she liked the pleased look on Rolly’s hangdog face when he would present her with his feast.