Loitering With Intent by Stuart Woods Read Free Book Online

well?
    Well enough to know that he doesn't seem to do anything to make a living. Most of the time, he's fishing off the back of that boat.
    Has his houseboat been moored here long?
    He bought it from the previous berth holder a few months back. That's how you get a houseboat berth in Key West you buy the houseboat.
    Had you seen the couple in the boat before?
    I saw them once having a drink with Boggs up on the top deck.
    Do you have any idea where they live?
    No idea at all. You want me to give Boggs a message when he comes back?
    Stone wrote his cell number on his card. There's a hundred in it for you if you'll call me when he returns or if you see the couple again.
    I can always use a hundred, the woman said, stretching out between the boats to take the card.
    Stone and Dino drove back to the Marquesa.
    Evan Keating is . . . what's the word? Dino asked.
    Elusive, Stone replied.

    Chapter 12
    STO N E , A S E A R L I E R requested, picked up Annika Swenson at a small, pretty conch house on South Street. She was dressed in white lacy top, linen pants with a yellow sweater thrown over her shoulders. Stone put her in the car.
    I booked us a table at Louie's Backyard, she said. Straight ahead, I'll direct you.
    Louie's turned out to be a large clapboard house on the beach with a big deck out back overlooking the water. They took a table on the deck, ordered mojitos and asked the waitress to call them when their dinner table was ready. The sun was going down.
    The light is beautiful here, Stone said.
    Always, Annika replied.
    What brought you to Key West?
    A job in the ER here. I was a late finisher from med school Johns Hopkins and by the time I finished my internship and residency, I was already thirty-five. I had had enough of cold winters, so when I got the Key West offer I jumped at it.
    Were you born in this country? I think I detect a slight accent.
    No. I was born in Stockholm. My parents moved to Miami when I finished college, and I came with them and applied to Johns Hopkins.
    Do you prefer the United States to Sweden?
    Yes, I think so. At any rate, I never think about moving back to Sweden. I do miss some of the Swedish attitudes.
    Attitudes about what?
    Sex, mainly. Americans have so many hang-ups about sex. Things are simpler in Sweden.
    I've heard that, but I haven't encountered it.
    You have now. For instance, what would you say if I told you that I find you attractive, and that after dinner I would like to take you back to my house and make love to you?
    Are we speaking hypothetically?
    Not necessarily.
    I would be flattered and pleased, Stone said.
    Then you have a Swedish attitude, she said. Then there was some sort of scuffle at the bar, and Stone turned to see a man take a swing at another. The swinger was a compact, muscular man with blood in his eye; the one scrambling to his feet was Charley Boggs.
    Two men came running down the stairs from the main restaurant and pulled the fighters apart. There was some discussion, which Stone couldn't hear, then Charley Boggs stalked away from the deck and out of the restaurant, while the shorter man returned to his table and his drink.
    Why are you so interested in this argument? Annika asked.
    I'm sorry, I'm a great deal more interested in you, but I know one of the men.
    Which one?
    The one who got thrown out. His name is Charley Boggs, and the local police suspect him of being a drug dealer.
    And why are you acquainted with a drug dealer? she asked, not unreasonably.
    I've met him only once; he's apparently an associate of a man I'm trying to fi nd.
    Do you want to follow him?
    No, I want to have dinner with you, then take you back to your house and make love to you.
    She smiled. Thank you, I would prefer that, too. Who is the man you're looking for, and why?
    His name is Evan Keating, and I need to get his signature on some legal documents.
    Are you a lawyer?
    Yes, in New York.
    Does your work often bring you into contact with drug dealers?
    No. Keating's father