"Something Brazilian. Seafood is always nice," Mike replied and Shy broke out her list of recommended restaurants.
"What about Confeitaria Colombo? According to the map it’s not far from here."
"I thought we passed that while we were downtown," Mike said.
"This is a branch of the one downtown. It’s located at the Copacabana Fort, and it says that it offers the most beautiful view of Copacabana Beach."
And with that thought in mind, Shy requested a table outside. They were escorted to their table, and Mike pulled her chair out for her. Always the perfect gentleman.
After the waiter took their order, Shy looked out at the sand and the water, felt the gentle breeze against her cheeks. One thing she couldn’t deny, she loved the beach.
As promised, they went sightseeing the following day. Their first stop was Corcovado. There they found Rio?s best-known icon, Cristo Redentor, Christ the Redeemer, a concrete statue of 30 meters whose wide open arms seemed to embrace the city and offered a magnificent view of Rio.
Mike had to admit, "The view is spectacular, Cassandra. I am glad you talked me into this."
After a day of sightseeing, they had a late dinner at Tia Palmira, which served extremely fresh fish, shrimp or crab all prepared with typical Brazilian recipes. They started with fried squid and then a bobo de camarao, which is shrimp in palm oil and ground yucca. "I love it here," Shy said while they waited for their food.
"Do you really? Maybe we could have moved here."
"That would be fine except that I don’t speak Portuguese. But I love it. I love being in a city, any city." Then Shy paused. "Don’t you wanna move back to New York?"
"No."
"I do."
"You ready to go to jail?" Mike asked, as he did every time Shy mentioned New York. But he wasn’t prepared for her answer.
"Yes."
"What?"
"I said yes. Living on an island paradise is wonderful, and I love being there with you. I love being anywhere that you are." Shy reached across the table and held Mike’s hands. "Michael, I love you, but I am bored out of my mind in the Bahamas."
"Okay, so we’ll pick another island."
"You’re not understanding me, Michael. I want to go back to New York, and I’m willing to go to jail if I have to," Shy said slowly and clearly, making sure that she pronounced every syllable.
"Have you lost your mind?"
"No, baby, I really am thinking about it. What I’m hoping is that I won’t have to do any time, and if I do, it won’t be for long. I’ve been talkin’ to Wanda, and she thinks she can plea it down to a misdemeanor and get probation, or I may only have to do a year."
"No," Mike said flatly and Shy dropped it. She was enjoying their vacation too much to ruin it with that.
They had fun the next couple of days, spending their days either at the beach or somewhere near the water and sightseeing. Their nights were spent dancing at clubs like the Nova Lounge and Spazio in Ipanema. The subject didn’t come up again during the rest of the trip, but it was all out there.
They didn’t discuss it again until the night before all this began, Shy was thinking when she heard somebody unlocking the door. She tried to lie as still as possible and watched as two people entered the room. All that Shy could see under the blindfold was that it was a man and woman.
"There she is. You happy now?" Shy heard the man say.
"No. I’d be happy if you kill the bitch now and get it over with," the woman said.
"That ain’t gonna happen. I told you before, the man says to keep her alive until he gets here."
"You could say that she was trying to escape and you had to shoot her."
"What you think I’ma do? Untie her, tell her to run and shoot her in the back? Is that what you think I should do? Do I look stupid to you? ’Cause that’s how that move would make me look-stupid, stupid and dead."
"I don’t care what you tell them, just kill her."
"Ain’t happenin’."
Shy watched as the woman stepped closer to the man. "Please, baby. Do it for me."
"I told you that shit ain’t happenin’, now stop fuckin’ asking me that shit. This bitch gonna lay right here, alive, until he gets here and takes her off my hands."
The man and woman left the room, but before they closed the door, Shy heard the man say, "I thought you was over that shit."
As Shy heard the door lock, she tried to think of who this woman was and why she wanted the man to kill her so badly.
Chapter Nine
There weren’t too many days when Detective Kirkland was late getting to the precinct, but today was one of those days. It was a little after 12:30 when Kirk sat down at his desk with his coffee. And it wasn’t too much longer before he heard, "Kirk! You and Richards, my office now!"
"What did you do now?" Kirk asked Richards as he got up.
"I ain’t did shit, officer. That bitch trippin’," Richards joked as he followed Kirk into the captain’s office, where there were two men already seated in front of the captain’s desk. The two men rose to their feet when the detectives entered the office. Kirk recognized one of them right away.
"Detectives, this is State Senator Martin Marshall, and this is Kenneth DeFrancisco of the DEA," the captain said, and the men all shook hands. "Kirk here is our resident expert on Mike Black."
"What can you tell me about Mike Black’s involvement in drug trafficking, detective?" Agent DeFrancisco asked.
"Nothing," was Kirk’s simple answer.
"Excuse me?" The agent gave the captain a puzzled look then looked back at Kirk.
"I can’t tell you anything because there’s nothing to tell. Mike Black has no involvement in drugs or drug trafficking."
"We have information that leads us to believe that’s incorrect," Senator Marshall said.
Kirk looked at Marshall, making no effort to hide his contempt. "And what might that be?"
"We’ll share that information with you at the appropriate time, detective," Agent DeFrancisco answered. "Right now, what I need is your assistance in this investigation."
"I assured the agent that you would assist the DEA in any way you could, detective," the captain interjected.
"You planning on conducting this investigation in the Bahamas, Agent DeFrancisco? ’Cause that’s where he is."
"Mr. Black and two associates arrived at JFK at ten-thirty this morning," Marshall said.
"Now, you two will serve in primarily an advisory role, but I’m sure you’ll get in on some of the action," Agent DeFrancisco said and stood up. "Captain, I’ll leave you to brief the detectives. Thanks for your time and cooperation." Agent DeFrancisco and Senator Marshall left the office.
After they were gone, Kirk asked the captain, "Now, what the fuck was that about, Gus? You know as well as I do that Black’s got nothing to do with drugs."
"That’s true as far as I know, but who knows?"
"And to be honest with you, I don’t trust anything that that sleaze Marshall is involved in."
"Look, Kirk, the guy is a state senator, and that means I don’t fuck with him unless it is absolutely necessary." The captain handed Kirk a piece of paper. "Listen, you and Richards report to that address in the morning. You spend a couple months with those assholes, tellin’ them what they wanna know, and if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll get to spend some time in the Bahamas."
"I’m all for that," Richards said.
"Okay, Gus," Kirk said and stood up. "But I still don’t like it."
"Yeah, whatever, enjoy the vacation. Check with Narcotics before you go. Make sure that what these assholes are doing doesn’t interfere with any on-going operations."
"Yes, sir," Kirk said and left the captain’s office.
Kirk and Richards went straight to the head of Narcotics, Lieutenant Gene Sanchez. "You’re wasting your time, Kirk. We got nothing goin’ on Black. The guy’s been off our radar for years," Sanchez told Kirk.