7. Connect the Dots
7
CONNECT THE DOTS
Jake
Drum-heavy techno music reverberated in my bones as I weaved through the throng on the dance floor.
Sapphire lived up to its name.
The sleek, silvery nightclub shimmered. Mirrored walls behind the bar were edged with neon blue. Jewel-toned lights flashed from the ceiling, moving and swaying in colored spotlights. Women in barely-there black dresses that skimmed the top of their thighs on one end and plumped up their chests on the other sidled up beside girlfriends or next to men. The crowd was mostly young, but sprinkled with tourists of many ages—the mom and dad on a getaway from the kids, groups of forty-something friends reliving their younger days with a hot night on the town, and lots of single men, from frat boys to sugar-daddies.
I leaned against the bar, soaking it in, taking note of Eli’s new world. Everything sparkled. The lights, the bar, and the disco ball. My eyes roamed the dance floor, then I raised my gaze to the second level and spotted him.
The face matched the images I’d scoped out online. Like a middle-aged Robert Redford, he rested his hands on the railing and surveyed the scene, as if he were a prince presiding over his subjects.
What a sneaky fucker—stealing from his company then skipping out with a fortune in art. Maybe even turning that art back into dough here.
If Eli had poured the pilfered dollars into this club, he had picked wisely. But was this club the endgame or another scheme?
Judging from the liquor flowing, the cover charge, and the lack of elbow room, Eli was making money hand over fist. He looked the part, dressed in a crisp button-down and tailored pants. A woman with jet-black hair and a wine-red dress joined him, wrapping an arm around his waist. Eli glanced briefly at her, clasped her hand, then ran a finger across the hollow of her throat.
Something about her throat interested Eli. Which meant it interested me.
Setting my glass of ice water on the bar, I worked my way to the coiled metal staircase at the edge of the dance floor, keeping Eli and the woman in sight. I climbed the steps as quickly as possible with the crowd pushing in both directions. I reached the second level as the woman planted a kiss on Eli’s cheek.
Eli cupped her face in his hand and returned the smooch, his fingers drifting to her necklace, and a diamond bright enough to blind me from a distance. He was stroking it, caressing it, fondling the stone—the man was fixated on the rock more than the woman. I managed to sneak a few feet closer to snag a better look at the square-cut jewel with a bluish tint.
Like a sapphire.
Eli was dating an art dealer, all right, but the man sure seemed fonder of jewels. And there was big diamond business here on the Key.
I pivoted and turned to leave before I arose any suspicion. On the way, I played connect-the-dots in my head. Money, art, diamonds, club. I didn’t have enough information yet to draw a conclusion, but I didn’t want to leave any stones unturned. I glanced up at the balcony once more—in time to see Eli reach into his pocket and take out his phone to accept a call. His face lit up. Whoever had called him had made the man’s day. Eli spun around and opened a door, extracting himself from the crowds.
Maybe it wasn’t quite time to go. I surveyed the room for a few more minutes just in case the money man returned. No such luck, so I resumed my way out, and reached the exit, where a burly security guard manned the door. His arms were crossed, revealing ink on his forearm—an Army Ranger tattoo.
“How’s it going? Army here too,” I said.
The big man raised his gaze, and the expression in his eyes shifted from standoffish to engaged. “Yeah?”
“Intelligence. Six years.”
“Served for seven, myself. Cal Winters.”
“Jake Hawkins,” I said, shaking his hand. “See you around.”
Once I hit the street, I fingered the napkin in my pocket with the clue Ariel had left for tomorrow. Another chance with her was hard to resist, even though I probably should. I had enough on my plate to take care of—emailing tutors and planning my next step in the investigation.
Tonight’s visit to Sapphire had only reminded me that this was no easy job. I’d just begun, and I had a lot of legwork ahead of me to get to the bottom of the missing ten million dollars. Finding stolen goods wasn’t for the faint of heart.
Hell, the best gigs with the biggest payoffs were the toughest ones with the most twists and turns.
Distractions like beautiful women were ultimately just that—distractions.
As I walked away from the club, heading back to my hotel, I weighed my options, but I stopped weighing them when I spotted a familiar silhouette up ahead of me.
A blonde, with strong legs, and a confident stride. Had she come from the nightclub? How had I missed spotting her?
No idea, but I didn’t want to miss her now.
Guess that was the answer to whether I should see her tomorrow or not. I couldn’t wait. Distraction or not, I wanted to see her right fucking now.
I didn’t want to surprise her, so rather than run to catch up with her, I strode a little faster. As the salty ocean scents breezed by, I upped my speed, lasered in on the target in front of me until I was twenty then ten feet away from her. But she never turned around. She just kept marching forward on the sidewalk, passing the tourist shops, weaving past travelers.
Oh hell.
She probably had earbuds in.
When I was five feet away, I said, “Hey, Ariel.”
Nothing.
I caught up to her, gently setting a hand on her bare arm.
She jerked away, her eyes popping. Then she stumbled and I grabbed her arm immediately, steadying her. Her breath came fast.
“What the hell?” She ripped out her earbuds.
Now that she’d gained her footing, I let go of her and held up my hands in surrender. “I come in peace.”
“You scared the life out of me!”
I gave a forgive me smile. “I know. I’m sorry. I called out to you.”
“I was listening to a podcast,” she said, a little defensively, her breath still coming quickly.
“Anything good?” I asked, hoping to defuse the moment.
She narrowed her eyes but didn’t answer. Instead, she roamed her eyes up and down my frame, like she was assessing my outfit. “What are you doing?”
I quickly weighed the benefits and drawbacks of telling a reasonable lie.
The fewer lies I told, the easier this thing with us would be, but I didn’t want to let on why I was there. “I was trying to decide if I wanted to go into the nightclub. But I’m not much of a dancer.”
There. That was true enough. And I hadn’t admitted that I had been in there, scoping it out for a job.
Her expression softened slightly. “Oh,” she said. Then she glanced in the direction of the club too, and down at her clothes. “Same here.”
I laughed. “So you decided not to go in either?”
A smile tipped her lips. “Yeah. I’m not sure I have the moves for a club.”
I’d bet she did. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that I was drawn to her, as much as I’d been drawn to her when she walked into the bar. And I didn’t deny the part of me that craved a little more time with her, especially after the way our first meeting had ended. “Can I walk you somewhere, Ariel?”
Her smile disappeared. She crossed her arms. “Actually you can answer a few questions.”
Well then. That was an abrupt turn. Someone, it seemed, had an agenda.