The Four Corners of the Sky_ A Novel - Michael Malone [139]
The slender musician stared at her in horror then abruptly threw open the car door and tumbled out of it into the street. “Gracias!” he shouted over his shoulder.
“Raffy! Come back here!”
But he ran across the divider into the rush-hour traffic on Ocean Drive.
“Raffy!”
Dodging honking cars, threading his way to the beach side of the busy four-lane, he soon disappeared into the crowd.
Annie shook her head, watching him go. The car behind her beeped. She leaned over, closed the door. Traffic moved and she moved with it. Oddly enough, she had no doubt she would see him again.
***
The desk officer at the Vice Unit of the central Miami Police Department was evasive when Annie persisted in her demands to speak with Sgt. Daniel Hart, whose home number and address were unlisted in the phone directory. Finally he snarled at her, “Try La Loca. It’s a bar in Coconut Grove. Dan’s there every night.”
Night? It was only nine-thirty in the morning. She needed to see Hart sooner than that. The desk officer was sorry, but could do nothing about it.
He connected her with another Vice detective to whom she gave the basic facts about the fraud case that Hart was pursuing, although she did not give him the details of her father’s whereabouts or the whereabouts of the statue of the Queen. This detective didn’t appear to be much interested but he agreed to pass along her information to Hart. Clearly the capture of Jack Peregrine was not an urgent priority here at MPD, nor was the current location of Sgt. Daniel Hart.
She headed back onto the expressway, making slow progress through the morning’s rush-hour traffic. As she drove, she called Golden Days. They had no Dr. Parker on their staff, or at least wouldn’t admit to it. When she asked to speak to Coach Ronny Buchstabe, they tried to put her through to their administrator, Ms. Skippings. Annie hung up. She didn’t want her dad arrested until she could set up an amnesty arrangement with Hart. Better just to leave him resting at Golden Days. She called Sam in Emerald to fill her in on her latest encounters with her father, including a report of Jack’s weak condition in the hospital. She also described the discovery of the gold statue in the courier case and Rook’s endless tales of Jack’s criminal past. But it was Jack’s current health that Sam most wanted information on.
Hearing that he might really be dying of cancer, Sam made a sudden sobbing noise but stopped herself quickly with a sharp laugh.
“I don’t know what to think,” Annie told her. “Is it true? Is it a con? What do you think?”
The truth was that Sam thought her brother had terminal cancer, but she quickly reassured her niece that “Jack’s pulling our leg. But it’s a very, very bad joke.”
Annie agreed that it wasn’t funny. Meanwhile it seemed likely that, even if terminal, Jack’s condition wasn’t immediately critical; when she’d seen him yesterday he wasn’t even in intensive care. But she would definitely speak with a doctor at Golden Days as soon as possible and would insist that they move her father to a better hospital, even if it meant returning him to prison. As soon as she found the elusive Daniel Hart, she would sort it all out.
“Poor Jack,” sighed Sam. “He got mixed up with a bad crowd.”
“Right. Poor dad. This Feliz Diaz must have corrupted him.”
Sam said, “Listen, if I’ve heard of Feliz Diaz, he’s a kingpin, because you know I never watch that junk TV news and I don’t read the right-wing rags.”
“Sam, you think Newsweek and the New York Times are right-wing rags.”
“Bought and sold, baby.” Sam urged Annie to collect Jack and fly him home on one of Brad’s Hopper Jets so that Clark could get him admitted to the hospital