“Oh, you think so?”
“Don’t you?”
“Maybe. What do you think? Did I like it?” “No. But then again, it’s none of my business.” She looked over his shoulder at the yacht. “He has the best of everything,” she said. “Houses, planes, yachts.”
“And you? Are you one of his bests?”
“You don’t seem like a typical member of a landscaping crew.”
“I came here for a better life. I have yet to find it. In my country I had a good job. I used my brains. Here, I just use my back.”
“So why come here, then?”
“I had to.”
“Were things bad in your country?”
“Things were bad,” he said curtly.
“I see.”
“Do you really see?”
She looked at him with a bemused expression. “Why do I think you’re talking more about me than you?”
“Does the other man know?”
“James? James is lock, stock, and barrel with Peter.”
“This is a phrase I don’t understand.”
“Peter owns James. So, no, he doesn’t care.” “Then James is less than a man.”
“A fact I know perfectly well.”
“Why do you bother to talk to me? Because I saw?”
“I trust my gut on people. And you passed that test.”
“That doesn’t matter. People like you do not talk to people like me.”
“Is that the rule?”
“Yes.”
“I like to smash rules, Mecho. I always have.” He shrugged and went back to weeding.
“Will you be here much longer?” she asked. “Will you?”
“I don’t know. It’s up to Peter.”
The same for me, thought Mecho.
CHAPTER 59
The Plaza Hotel did not look like the far more famous one in New York City on the edge of Central Park. Its exterior was the usual beige stucco, its roof the usual terra-cotta tiles, and each balcony overlooking the water had columns shaped like palm trees.
Puller did not focus on the architecture of the building as he and Carson walked inside. He was thinking about Diego. And how to get him and Mateo back in something other than body bags. And he still had no clue where Isabel was.
“Do we tell the police about what just happened?” asked Carson as they hurried through the ornate lobby that had as its centerpiece a fountain with King Neptune in the center on a pedestal with dolphins and mermaids leaping around him. If it weren’t so garish it might have actually been funny.
“Yes, we do. They need to get an APB out on the kids right now.”
Landry met them at the elevator banks and they rode a car up to the floor where the murders had occurred. On the way Puller told her about Diego and Mateo and their run-in with the street kings.
“You’re lucky to still be walking around. Those guys are real animals.”
“They wouldn’t last a minute in Afghanistan,” said Puller.
“Amen to that,” added Carson.
Landry called in this information. “I’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything,” she said after she got off the phone.
As they climbed off the elevator Puller caught Landry and Carson checking each other out in a way only women could do and most men would never even notice. But Puller noticed and, again, it made him uncomfortable.
The hotel room was empty except for Bullock and the two dead bodies. Other than that there was no visible sign that anything had been processed.
Bullock came over to them, and as if in answer to his thoughts he said, “Called in some support from the state police. And I’m trying to think of a way to engage the FBI. This is getting out of control. But I’ve heard nothing back yet. Florida’s slashed its budget like every other state. Not sure we’re going to be getting any help.”
Puller was only half listening. His attention was on the bed where the two men lay. He drew closer, Carson right next to him.
“Not many who are women, I bet,” said Bullock.
“The Army could definitely do better in that regard,” agreed Carson.
Puller said, “Any leave-behinds from the killer?”
“Not much so far. No one saw anything. And unfortunately the hotel doesn’t have security cameras in the corridors.”
“Why not?’ asked Carson.