I thought about telling her. I thought about Bruce Crayer being in the exact location at the exact time. I thought about our previous conversation, where she said that my being in trouble didn’t help a stable relationship. I didn’t want to go there again.
“No. It has nothing to do with any of this. There are a lot of people who disagree with the guy. You’ve listened to him. I’m sure he’s a regular target for the lunatic fringe.”
Em kissed me on the lips, I stepped out of the car, and before she’d disappeared from sight I was on a dead run to the truck. James had to hear this one.
He was wiping his hands on his apron, the lunch crowd having disappeared. I motioned him down from the truck and told him my story. James glanced up at Brook, in her tight shorts and halter top, and she waved down at us. She was covering the pans of peppers, onions and potatoes.
“Jesus, Skip. It doesn’t necessarily mean that — ”
“James,” I was whispering loudly. “I told Em, it could have been anyone. I mean this guy Romans agitates on a daily basis.”
“Yeah,” he copied my hushed tones, “but it does seem to be an added coincidence that it happens as soon as Cashdollar starts ranting against him.”
“And this thing with Bruce Crayer.”
“But Skip, he had every right to be there. It’s stranger than hell, but maybe he’s thinking the same thing.”
He’d lost me. He did that sometimes. “What?”
“Crayer comes back here and hears the same story about Romans getting shot. So he remembers seeing you at almost the exact location.”
“And he thinks that Em and I shot Romans? Give me a break.”
“Dude, it makes as much sense.”
“Not to me.” I glanced at the donut wagon. “James, this guy didn’t want me to see him. He ducked down, like he was trying to hide. Remember what he said about being there when Senator Long was shot?”
“Yeah, but — ”
I glanced over at the donut wagon.
“Was he open for lunch?”
“Yeah. There was a long line. I didn’t notice who was running the show. He might not have been there. I didn’t have time to see. Hell, we were swamped. I’ll bet we did a couple thousand dollars.”
“James,” she’d moved to the edge of the truck bed and sat her pretty butt down, letting her perfect, tanned legs swing over the edge. “I think everything is put away.”
“Hey, babe, thanks. Skip was just saying that he is very appreciative of your taking over lunch today.”
“Uh, yeah, Brook. It was great of you.”
“Well thank you, Skip. I’m glad you got to spend a couple of hours with Emily.”
“Yeah. Thanks. It was nice.”
“Mmm, I’ll bet it was. And we did some serious business of our own, didn’t we James?”
“We did.” He grinned at me. “We also did a good lunch.”
I didn’t even want to think about what went on in the truck before lunch.
“You see. My investment was a good one.” She hopped down from the truck, walked up to James, and gave him a big kiss. “You’ll be back at the apartment at ten?”
“Should be.”
“I’ll meet you there.” She spun around, batted her eyes for me and said good-bye.
“Nice girl.” I watched her wiggle as she walked away. All of a sudden everything had a sexual feeling about it.
A couple of vendors from down the row walked by, nodding to us and heading for the portable johns. The whole idea of this setup and what it stood for was foreign to me. It was like a summer camp, and your parents were going to pick you up Sunday afternoon. There was almost a feeling of make believe in the air.
“Skip, I don’t know what to think. After your story about last night, the gun and everything — ”
“Yeah. I know. And the note this morning? But this thing with Bruce Crayer has me confused. I mean, he’s the one who told us how powerful Cashdollar could be. Then all of a sudden he’s in the exact location of a shooting?”
“Let me borrow your cell phone.”
I handed it to him, hoping he wouldn’t use many minutes.
James dialed the number, waited, left a brief message, and handed the phone back to me.
“Daron Styles is going to call back.” He put his hands on the truck bed, lifted himself up, and walked to the front of the truck. He came back with two cold green labels and jumped down.
Daron Styles? I started to question the rationale of calling the con man, and then I remembered. “Oh, man, I forgot to get the beer.” I shook my head.
“Brook didn’t forget. Look. Foreign stuff.” He handed me a bottle and I took a long, slow swallow. God, it was good.
We sat on a wooden bench about fifteen feet from the truck.
“Money is safe?”
“We’re watching the truck aren’t we?”
“I guess.”
“I put it in the air filter.”
I’d waited long enough for the avoided explanation. “And what is Daron Styles calling back about?”
“I told you. He’s one of the reasons we’re here. He told me about this gig and how well he did selling religious statues and crosses and stuff. Daron worked for this road show, and he may be able to give us some insight.”
“Insight? Into what? How he was involved in the death of a vendor?”
“Into what’s going on.” He shot me a hard look. “Insight into these clowns who work here. I’ve got a lot of respect for Styles’s instincts. You may not approve of the businesses he runs, but he’s got a good head.”
“What’s he doing now?”
“He works right near the Versace mansion. You know, he sells stuff. Watches, purses, DVDs, scarves, stuff like that. The guy has his ear to the ground. His eyes on the world.”
I’d heard he was selling stuff. “So he knows what happened?”
“He knows the players. It’s a chance to pick his brain. He’ll at least have some ideas. I think it might be a good idea to have someone else helping us.”
I had my doubts. Daron Styles was a sleazy son of a bitch with a highly inflated ego. He’d never held a steady job for more than a couple of months, and the last I’d heard he was selling counterfeit merchandise out of his trunk. It matched what James had said about him.
“Maybe we don’t want to know something. Maybe we want to ignore this entire story, make our money, and go home.”
“And maybe, Skip, maybe we’ve already asked too many questions, and someone isn’t going to let us just walk away.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Are you crazy? You’re now the one doing this conspiracy theory thing and it makes no sense.”
“You believe the same thing. You know there’s something very strange going on here. You’ve told me the story about you and your uncle Buzz a couple of times. I thought about it, and I remember you said how you met this girl and the next day she’d been murdered. You’ve questioned this situation for ten years. Aren’t you the least bit interested? Don’t you want to take this just another step forward and see what’s going to happen next?”
I drained the beer. “We’ve got more of these?”
“We do, thanks to the beer goddess.”
I got into the truck and took two more bottles out of the cardboard carrier in the refrigerator. I carried them down to the bench.
“Skip, it’s better to be informed. Let’s see if we can figure out if any of our vendor group was responsible for the shooting. Let’s find out who messed with the truck. Let’s find out who stole our money. Let’s find out who is sending us threatening mail. They’re threatening to shoot us, Skip. Come on, dude, don’t you want to know who it was?”
I did think there were some serious problems. I didn’t trust any of the full-time vendors. I didn’t trust their businesses, their security system, or their poker game. I even wondered if James had won just because they wanted him to stick around. I know it sounds paranoid, but I wondered.
“Skip? I’m not crazy. I think we need to do a little investigating.”
“I know, I know. It’s a good chance to make some serious money, and it’s a good chance to see how Cashdollar makes his millions.”
“Yeah. All that too.”