KW 09:Shot on Location by Laurence Shames Read Free Book Online Page B

out. Why? Simple decency? Idle curiosity? Or was it just that the bad luck of witnessing a train wreck conferred responsibility, imposed a connection it would be shameful or impossible to dodge?
    He took another run at the receptionist and got nothing. Finally he gave up and went back to the compound. It was barely noon but it felt much later. He hadn’t yet spent twenty-four hours in Key West. Way too much had happened.
    He pushed open the compound gate and found Joey Goldman sitting by the pool. Sitting, but not relaxing; he kicked his feet out, pulled them back, kept rearranging his elbows. He said to Jake, “Helluva thing, huh?”
    “You’ve heard?”
    “It’s all over local news already. I mean, come on, it’s show business. I came down to check on Donna’s place, see if there was anything I could do.”
    Jake said, “I just came from the hospital.”
    “Nice of you to go. You see her?”
    “See her? I don’t even know if she’s alive.”
    Joey blinked. “They didn’t tell you?”
    “Tell me what?”
    “She’s in the I.C.U. Serious condition, just down from critical. Expected to recover. It was on the radio like ten minutes ago.”
    Jake felt his face get instantly hot, the skin congested. His eyes burned and welled up. This was from relief but he chose to ascribe it to fury. “Fuck! They won’t tell me anything while I’m standing in the lobby but they’ll put it on the radio?”
    “Crappy hospital,” said Joey. “They shoulda took her to Miami. She was a star, that’s where they woulda took her. You saw it happen?”
    “Yeah. It was nasty.” Jake blew out a deep breath. It suddenly seemed like it had been a while since he’d used his lungs. Inhaling, he remembered the taste of the air, flowery and salty. He sat down in a chair near Joey’s.
    Joey said, “The cops are calling it an accident. That’s their way of saying the victim was an out-of-towner and they don’t wanna be bothered.”
    Jake said nothing.
    “It look like an accident to you?”
    The writer fumbled for an answer. Until that moment it hadn’t really occurred to him that the disaster could have been anything else. The possibility put a sick taste at the back of his throat. “I … I don’t know,” he said. “People like to go too fast in boats, right? That adrenaline thing. Plus, the way those crazy speedboats ride so high, I can’t figure how anyone sees what’s out in front of him. Happened so fast, maybe the guy didn’t even know he’d hit anything.”
    “He’d’ve felt a bump,” said Joey. “Could’ve been bottom. Could’ve been a big ray or a manatee. Next time the guy turns on a radio or television, he’ll know what he hit. Then we’ll see what happens. My guess: nothing.”
    Jake looked down at the pool and had a brief, lovely, and disturbing vision of Donna swimming in it. He blinked it away. “Nothing?”
    “Think about it,” Joey said. “Say it was an accident. Totally innocent. Now it’s a hit-and-run. The guy’s gonna turn himself in? What if he was hopped up, drunk, in the middle of a blowjob? What if it was someone’s kid out for a joy ride? Forget the criminal part, just look at the liability. I just don’t see somebody coming forward.” He paused, rearranged his restless feet. “Even if it was an accident.”
    Jake looked sideways at Joey. “But you don’t really think it was.” He didn’t put it as a question.
    Joey shrugged. “Hey, wha’ do I know? Very little. But I’ve lived down here a long time and I know there are a lot of bad people doing a lot of bad things with very fast boats. Running drugs, running guns, smuggling people. And usually not getting caught. That fucking boat could be anywhere by now. Miami. Cuba. The Bahamas. Or tucked into some mangroves right under our noses.”
    Jake still resisted the idea of murderous intent. It just distressed and offended him too much. “Why would someone want to hurt her?”
    “I’m not saying someone does. I’m just