Chapter 12
“You know, I’m kind of hungry,” Daphne said. “The food in that place sucks. You should talk to somebody about that.”
“It’s not the Seven Seas,” I replied.
She chuckled. “No doubt. I could use a drink, too.”
I laughed. “Keep dreaming.”
“A change of clothes might be nice. How about we swing by my apartment?”
“Don’t forget why you’re on temporary release?”
“Refresh my memory.”
I craned my neck toward her. “We can spin around and go right back.”
That changed her tune. “I can think of a few people we should talk to.”
“Who?”
“You know, I’d really like to change clothes and get something to eat,” she sang again.
“Prove to me this wasn’t a mistake.”
“Honey, this will be the best decision you ever made.”
I scoffed. “Tell me where that dagger is. I’ll bet if we hang out there long enough, Dane and Brock will show up looking for it.”
“Not a chance. They don’t know where it is.”
I gave her a doubtful look. “You hope they don’t know where it is.”
She shook her head. “Those idiots will never find it.”
“Let's get down to the business of finding the idiots."
Daphne exhaled a breath. "Fine. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
"I'm anything but dull," Jack replied.
She lifted a curious eyebrow. "Time will tell." After a pause, she said, "Brock was dating this woman named Nadia. Dating might be a stretch. I don't know if they're still a thing. I've been in jail for a hot minute, and he changes girlfriends like he does underwear."
"Where does Nadia live?"
"I don't know. I never went to her house.”
"Does Nadia have a last name?" I asked like she was five.
"I'm sure she does, but I don't know what it is. You guys have ways of figuring that kind of thing out, don't you?"
"Have you ever met her?”
"Once or twice.”
I pulled out my phone and searched the online portal for everyone named Nadia in the DMV records.
There were three Nadias on the island, and only one was between the ages of 18 and 35. I pulled up Nadia's image and showed it to Daphne. "Is that her?"
She nodded.
I gave Jack the address, and he drove over to the Delphine.
It was a luxury midrise popular with young twenty-somethings with upward mobility.
Of course, it was also home to plenty of exotic entertainers, low-level drug dealers that catered to high-end clients, and up-and-coming tech types.
Maybe there wasn’t that much difference. They all sold dopamine hits.
Jack pulled into the visitor lot and found a place to park. I climbed out of the vehicle, helped Daphne out, and we escorted her to the main entrance.
"You could have just left me in the car. I'm not going anywhere."
I gave her a doubtful look.
I buzzed random numbers on the call box until somebody let us in.
Jack grabbed the door, and we hurried across the lobby to the elevators. I pressed the call button and waited.
The doors slid open a moment later, and an attractive woman stepped off. Her eyes were instantly drawn to Daphne's handcuffs as she passed.
"How about taking these things off?” Daphne asked with a cute face, displaying her stainless steel accessories. “This is embarrassing.”
"Should have thought about that before you broke the law," I said.
“Like you’ve never done anything illegal.”
I gave her a look.
“The average person commits three felonies a day. Look it up. There are over 1,500 sections of the US Code that create federal crimes. Combine that with overlapping regulatory burdens with weak mens rea requirements, and you have a recipe for criminality. It’s all by design.
If the feds want to make your life miserable, they can.
No one is immune. So before you go judging me, you might want to take a look in your own backyard. ”
“What are you, some kind of lawyer?”
“No. I read a lot. I’m not some dumb bimbo.”
Daphne had street smarts, but also a helluva lot more.
We stepped aboard the elevator and vaulted up to the fifth floor. I told Jack to wait down the hall with Daphne. I walked to #514 and put a heavy fist against the door.
Footsteps shuffled down the foyer, and the peephole flickered as someone peered through. "Who is it?"
I flashed my badge. "Coconut County. Open up.”
"You got a warrant?"
"Why would I need a warrant? I just want to talk." I got the suspicion that maybe Brock was in the apartment.
I signaled to JD, and he approached, towing Daphne along. They held up a few doors down and stayed out of view of the wide-angle peephole.
"I'm looking for Brock,” I said. “Is he here?”
"No. I haven't seen him.”
"He's a fugitive from the law. If you are aiding and abetting, I will take you to jail.”
There was a long pause, then the deadbolt unlatched. She pulled the door open. "I ain't helping that motherfucker."
Nadia was a good-looking woman. Long Raven hair, tan skin, brown eyes, and an hourglass figure. I'm not quite sure what she was doing with a loser like Brock.
"You're aware he escaped from the county jail and killed a guard in the process," I said.
Her mouth tightened. "Yeah, I saw that on the news."
"Has he tried to make contact with you?"
"Hell no. No phone call, nothing. If you find him, tell him to go fuck himself. When he first got arrested, he was trying to get me to bail him out of jail. I told him, ‘I ain’t putting my ass on the line for you.’”
"You know where he might be hiding out?”
"He's probably with that skank, Belinda.”
"Who's Belinda?"
"The stripper I caught him in bed with.” Anger gritted her teeth. "I would have given her a beat down, but I didn't want to go to jail.”
"Smart thinking,” I said. “What's Belinda's last name?
"Hell, I don't know."
"You know where we could find her?”
"Selling her ass at Forbidden Fruit.”
"Is that where Brock met her?”
"That's what I think.”
"Mind if I take a look around your apartment?”
"You got a warrant?" she said with a sassy head movement and a hand on her hip.
I smiled. "What have you got to hide?”
"Honey, I got nothing to hide. But you ain’t got no business in my apartment. I know my rights.”
"Would you do me a favor?"
Nadia looked me up and down, considering it. "Depends."
I dug into my pocket and handed her a card. "Give me a call if you hear from him.”
"I'll put you on speed dial. I hear anything from him, you’ll be the first to know about it.”
I took it with a grain of salt, but I smiled anyway. "I appreciate that.”
She closed the door and flipped the deadbolt, never having noticed JD and Daphne.
I walked down the hallway and rejoined them.
"Think she's lying?" JD asked.
"I don't know her well," Daphne said. "But I wouldn't trust anybody."
"I don't," I replied, staring into her devious eyes.
I pulled out my phone, searched the online portal for every Belinda on the island. She was not hard to find. Belinda had a prior for DUI, and her employment was listed at Forbidden Fruit. Easy to narrow down. Fortunately for us, she lived in the Delphine on the second floor.
We took the elevator down, and I banged on the door to unit #209.