Deadly Moves Read online

  Simmons turned and walked back outside.

  Dan shook Millhouse's hand and then Mel shoved his hand at the investigator. “Mel Gormin, PI,” he said.

  “You're a private investigator?” Millhouse asked.

  “Yes,” Mel responded.

  “No,” said Dan. “He's not a private investigator.”

  Millhouse lowered his brow and looked to Simmons and then back to Dan. “Why did he say he was?”

  Dan leaned into Millhouse and said conspiratorially, “Can we step over here for a second?” He and Millhouse walked a few feet away. Millhouse never took his eyes off of Mel. Dan leaned in and whispered, “He's a patient at the Lower Keys Psychiatric Center. He's staying with my girlfriend and me for the week; she's a nurse there. He used to think he was a cop, and now he thinks he's a private investigator.”

  Millhouse looked Mel up and down. “He's dressed just like Tom Selleck.”

  “Yeah,” Dan explained. “That's his newest thing. It's best to just go along with it.”

  Millhouse agreed and together they walked back to the body.

  “Is this the man you bought the car from?” Millhouse asked, pointing at the dead man in the chair. The man's head was back and his eyes were open. His hands were tied behind his back.

  Dan shook his head. “No,” he answered. “Mitch Fallon is taller, thinner, and a few years younger.”

  “This is Mitch Fallon,” Millhouse said. “And that's Rebecca Fallon under the sheet. They put a bullet through her forehead right there on the floor.”

  “Christ,” Dan said.

  “When does the coroner put time of death?” Mel asked.

  Millhouse was a little surprised by the question. “He's been dead at least thirty-six hours, and her … around three hours.”

  “So you think Fallon was in here dead while I bought a car from his killer,” Dan reasoned.

  “Looks that way,” Millhouse concurred. “How much did you give him?”

  “It was a five hundred dollar deposit,” said Dan. He gripped the envelope he was holding a little tighter.

  “What's in the envelope, Mr. Coast?” Millhouse asked.

  “Some money for the car.”

  “Over forty thousand dollars,” Mel added.

  “You have forty thousand dollars in that envelope?” Millhouse asked.

  “He sure does,” Mel replied. “He doesn't even work but he sure has a lot of money.”

  “Shut up, Mel,” Dan ordered.

  “Where did you get that kind of money, Coast?”

  “My house,” Dan answered.

  “He keeps a bunch of money and a gun in a bag under his closet floor,” Mel said.

  Dan grinned nervously. “Quiet, Mel.”

  “Is there anything else in that bag under the floor that I should know about?” Millhouse asked.

  “No,” Dan replied.

  “There's a cell phone and a couple pictures of girls,” said Mel. “I think one of the girls is dead.”

  Dan put up his hand. “It's not like it sounds,” he said.

  “It never is, Coast,” said Millhouse as he reached for the envelope. “I think I'm going to have you gentlemen come down to the station and answer a few more questions.”

  Dan dropped his head and handed the envelope to Millhouse. “What the Christ?”

  Chapter Six

  Red was waiting in the parking lot when Dan and Mel walked out of the Monroe County Sheriff's Department. Dan opened the passenger side door, pulled the seat forward, and Mel jumped into the back seat.

  “Thanks for waiting,” Dan said, climbing into the front seat.

  “It's not the first time I've picked you up at the police station,” Red reminded him.

  “And it probably won't be the last,” said Dan.

  Red started the car and put it in drive. “Get everything squared away?” he asked.

  “Yup. I had them give Rick a call. He explained everything.”

  “I bet he did.”

  Dan opened his envelope and began counting the bills. “Just want to make sure it's all here,” he said. “It was out of my sight for about twenty minutes while they were on the phone with Rick.”

  “I doubt they stole any of your money.”

  “Ya never know.” Dan pulled out his phone and began hitting buttons.

  “Where to?” Red asked.

  “Your place, I guess,” Dan replied. “You getting hungry, Mel?”

  “Yes, and I think I'm supposed to take my pills,” Mel informed him.

  “Swing by my house first, then. I'll grab his pills and then we can grab something to eat.”

  Red took a right off of College Road onto A1A.

  “Goddammit!” Dan blurted out.

  “What's the matter?” Red asked.

  “Trying to access my email. I keep putting in the password but it says it's not correct.”

  “What's the password?” Red asked.

  “I think it's buddythedog123.”

  “She changed it,” Mel said.

  “Changed what?”

  “When you told that guy on the phone what your password was, Maxine changed it.”

  “What did she change it too?”

  “I don't remember.”

  “Christ. Let me call her.”

  “Why do you need to check your email?” Red asked.

  “That guy is supposed to send me information on the woman we're body-guarding.”

  “I don't think body-guarding is a word,” Mel said.

  “I don't think I give a shit,” Dan replied as he punched in Maxine's number.

  “Hello?” Maxine answered.

  “What's my email password?” Dan asked.

  “Maxinethegirlfriend123,” Maxine replied.

  “Oh, yeah, that's right. Thanks.” Dan hung up.

  “So what is it?” Red asked.

  “She told me not to tell anyone.”

  Red rolled his eyes. “Don't you think we should all know it for the next time you forget it?”

  “Good point,” Dan agreed. “Maxinethegirlfriend123.”

  “Catchy,” said Red.

  “Kendra Hunt,” Dan said.

  “Who's Kendra Hunt?” Mel asked.

  “She's the woman we're body-guarding. Ever hear of her?”

  “Nope,” Mel said.

  “Sounds familiar,” Red said.

  “We'll have to look her up,” Dan said.

  “IMDb,” said Mel.

  “What's that?” Dan asked.

  “Internet Movie Database, you moron,” said Red. “Whenever there’s a dispute in the bar about who played so-and-so in such-and-such a movie. IMDb clears it up pronto.”

  “I want to look her up, I want to look her up!” Mel begged. “Give me your phone, Dan.”

  “Okay, here.” Dan handed his phone to Mel and Mel started tapping on the screen.

  “It says here she's an actress,” Mel retorted. “She's twenty-three years old, and she's from San Diego California. She's five-three, one hundred and ten pounds. She has blonde hair and she's really pretty.”

  “What's she been in?” Red asked.

  “Let me see. It says here she's been in thirty-five movies.”

  “Wow,” Dan said. “She must have started acting when she was a little kid.”

  “Nope,” Mel said. “Says here she didn't start acting until she was eighteen.”

  “Thirty-five movies in five years?” Red asked.

  “What are the movies?” Dan asked.

  “Let’s see,” Mel said as he scrolled down her credits. “Big Wet Butts, Big Wet Butts 2, Big Wet Butts 3—”

  Dan and Red quickly looked at each other. “That's enough, Mel, I think we got the idea,” Dan said.

  Mel continued. “Back Door Friends, Back Door Friends 2, Back Do—”

  Dan spun around and snatched his phone away from Mel. “Give me that damn phone!”

  “That's a lot of movies,” Mel pointed out. “She must be really famous.”

&nbs
p; Red busted out laughing. “Yeah, I bet she is, Mel, I bet she is.”

  “Okay let's just drop it,” Dan ordered.

  Grinning, Red whipped out his iPhone and began pecking away.

  “Now what are you doing?” Dan demanded, exasperated.

  Searching Kendra Hunt on RedTube, waddaya think?”

  “You're a pervert.”

  “Just being thorough. If we're going to protect this lovely lady, we need to … oh, my lord.”

  Mel craned his head forward and said, “I wanna see, I wanna see!” Red held up the iPhone for him. “Oh, my lord.”

  Dan asked, “What the Christ? Did you two just get religion?”

  “Sort of,” said Red, “Want to see living proof that there is a God, and he moves in mysterious ways?”

  Mel darted his head this way and that, trying to see the action. “And so does Miss Hunt,” he said wonderingly.

  “God, you're both perverts! Put that thing away. You're corrupting Mel.”

  Red burst out laughing. “So, when's her plane arrive?” he asked.

  “Day after tomorrow… at three in the afternoon.”

  “That gives you two days to break it to Maxine that you'll be body-guarding a twenty-three year old porn star.”

  “I was thinking I have two days to fake my own death.”

  Chapter Seven

  It was a little after eleven thirty when Maxine walked in from work. Dan was in his recliner watching Perry Mason and working on his fourth tequila and 7Up.

  “Hey,” Dan said as she walked into the room and tossed her car keys onto the small table next to Buddy's bed.

  “Hey,” Maxine returned. “Where's Mel?”

  “I killed him and buried him in the backyard.”

  Maxine walked over and gave Dan a peck on the cheek. “He get on your nerves today?”

  “No, he was fine.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Bed.”

  “Did you give him his medication?”

  “Yut.”

  “All of it?”

  “Yut.”

  “On time?”

  “More or less.”

  “More, I hope.” As she headed down the hallway she heard Dan turn up the television volume slightly. “Am I talking too much?”

  “Yut.”

  When Maxine passed back through the living room on her way to the kitchen she was wearing a pair of black yoga pants and an olive-green Captain Tony's T-shirt. “I'm going to make a sandwich. You want something?”

  “Sure.”

  “You want a sandwich?”

  “No. just grab me that bag of Doritos.”

  When Maxine returned she was carrying a plate in one hand, a glass of milk in the other, and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos between her teeth. She dropped the chips in Dan's lap.

  Dan grabbed the chips and stood. “Here,” he said. “Sit here.”

  “Thank you,” Maxine said, and took a seat in the La-Z-Boy. She placed her glass of milk on the end table next to her. “You really need to buy another chair.”

  Dan grabbed a chair from the dining room table and slid it over next to Maxine. “I know, I know.”

  “I have tomorrow off. We should go to the furniture store and grab you a new chair, and maybe a couch.” She took a bite of her sandwich.

  “A couch and a chair? Who's gonna be sitting on all this furniture?”

  “Whoever wants to.”

  “A couch and two chairs—that would be seating for like five or six people. When do I ever have that many people in my house?”

  “I've seen that many people in your house before, a few times.”

  “Yeah, a few times, and on those rare occasions there's dining room chairs.”

  Maxine shook her head. “Like I said, I have tomorrow off, and we're going to the furniture store.”

  “You're not the boss of me,” Dan mumbled.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Did you have something to do tomorrow?”

  “No, my new client doesn't get into town until the day after tomorrow.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Dan knew there were questions coming his way, questions he did not feel like answering. He cleared his throat and suddenly felt a wave of guilt come over him. Why? he thought. I haven't done anything wrong. She's just a client, no different than any other client … except for the fact that she's a beautiful, twenty-three-year-old porn star.

  “Oh, did that guy send you the information you were waiting for?”

  “Yeah.” He cleared his throat again.

  “So, is she an actress?”

  “Yes.”

  “Somebody famous?”

  “Not real famous.”

  “What's her name?”

  “Kendra Hunt, I think. I think that's what it was.”

  “Did he send you a picture of her?”

  Dan felt as though he was sitting in a smoky room being interrogated by a homicide detective. The only thing missing was a spotlight in his face. “Yeah, he sent a picture.”

  “Is she pretty?”

  Dan thought for a second. How do I answer this? It's a no win situation. “She's okay … I guess.” His voice cracked. He felt his face redden and his mouth go dry.

  Maxine caught it and shot him a look. “Just okay?” She furrowed her brows and gazed at him like a falcon staring down at a field mouse from thirty yards away. “What movies has she been in? Let me see the picture.”

  Dan was praying for a cerebral hemorrhage as he reached into his pocket for his cell phone. As he tapped the icons to open his email he was sure he had the same feeling in the pit of his stomach as a condemned man on his way to the electric chair. When the picture appeared on his screen he turned it toward Maxine.

  “Oh, wow, she is pretty,” Maxine said.

  That was not the answer Dan was expecting. “I guess.”

  “You guess? She's gorgeous.”

  “She's not as pretty as you,” slipped unconvincingly out of Dan's mouth.

  Maxine laughed. “Yeah, right.”

  Dan stared at the television wondering how to derail the conversation.

  “You can say she's pretty,” Maxine informed him.

  “Someone killed the guy I was buying the car from,” Dan blurted out.

  Maxine was sipping her milk and did a spit take. “What!” she hollered. “What do you mean, someone killed him?”

  “Just what I said. Me, Red, and Mel went out to drop off the rest of the money and pick up the car, and when we got there a bunch of cops were there.”

  “Oh my God! Do they know who did it?”

  Dan was grinning on the inside. She completely forgot about the porn star. Thank God for murder. “They think it was the guy I gave the money to.”

  “Wait a minute, I'm confused. I thought you gave the money to the guy who owned the car.”

  “No, evidently the guy I gave the money to was just pretending to be Mitch Fallon. The real Mr. and Mrs. Fallon were in the house dead when we were there.”

  “That's horrible.”

  “I know. I'll probably never see that five hundred dollars again.”

  “I mean those people being murdered was horrible,” Maxine said.

  “Oh, yeah, that too.”

  Maxine got up from the recliner and carried her empty plate and glass back to the kitchen. When she returned she said, “So, you never said—what movies has that actress been in?”

  What the Christ! He took a deep breath and dove into the shallow end. “Big Wet Butts one through three and Back Door Friends one through seven, just to name a few.”

  Maxine was lowering herself into the La-Z-Boy and froze half way down. She raised an eyebrow and slowly turned her head toward Dan. “She's a porn star?”

  “Adult film star,” Dan corrected.

  Maxine sat. “How do you feel about that?”

  “Um, I feel exactly like you feel about it. How do you feel about it?”

  “I feel fine about it.”


  “You do?”

  “Yes. Why wouldn't I?”

  “Because she's a porn star … and I'm a man.”

  Maxine laughed. “You're a man who's old enough to be her father.”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “If you were fifteen or twenty years younger I might be a little worried.”

  “Ouch.”

  “When she sleeps with men your age it's because someone is paying her to; it's her job. I'm sure she doesn't run around jumping into the sack with every forty-something-year-old man she meets.”

  Dan didn't know whether to be insulted or relieved. “Okay then, I guess we don't have a problem.”

  Maxine stood and held out her hand. “Come on, let's go make some porn of our own.”

  Dan took Maxine's hand. “I'm pretty old, but I'll give it the old college try.”

  “You didn't go to college.”

  As they walked down the hall toward the bedroom Dan said, “Well you've insulted my age and my education in the last few minutes. Anything you want to say about my penis before we get to the bed room?”

  “Size don't matter?”

  “Ouch.”

  Chapter Eight

  The following afternoon—after hitting two furniture stores and not finding anything they could agree upon—Maxine dropped Dan and Mel off at Red's on her way to work. The two men sat on their usual stools drinking their usual drinks. Dan skimmed through the classifieds looking for a used mode of transportation. One Particular Harbor played on the old Wurlitzer.

  Red stood behind the bar, one foot on the floor and the other on the bar sink. “So, what are ya gonna do about a car?” he asked.

  “I don't know,” Dan replied as he ran his finger down the page. “Keep looking I guess.”

  “What about that car you looked at over on Hutchinson Lane awhile back? Maybe that old guy hasn't sold it yet.”

  “I called, he did.” Dan slid his glass across the bar and Red filled it up.

  “You need another water, Mel?” Red asked.

  Mel shook the ice in his glass. “No, thanks, I'm good.”

  Cindy walked through the door. “Gentlemen,” she announced. Her boyfriend Derrick walked in behind her and took a seat next to Dan.

  “What can I get you?” Red asked.

  “Coke,” Derrick answered. He turned to Dan. “You still looking for a car?”

  “Yeah.”