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where Candi’s hiding. Frankie got pissed off the way they talked to me and mixed it up with one of ‘em. He’s kind of protective...you know what I mean. You think he looks bad, the other guy ran out of here carrying one of his own ears. Frankie clipped him with a sap.”
    “Why would they think you know anything about Candi?”
    Tommy looked wistful and his eyes softened.
    “I used watch out for Candi, made sure nobody bothered her.”
    Tommy looked as if he might say more, and Sam waited for several seconds until Tommy finally leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms.
    “What about the Government? Where do they fit in?”
    Tommy shook his head.
    “They don’t fit in nowhere, far as I know.”
    THEY FINISHED their beer, said good-bye, and left. As they rode through the electronic gate and pulled into the traffic, Sam looked for the gray Dodge. He spotted it turn onto the street several cars behind them.
    “You knew all along, didn’t you?” Sam said.
    “Knew what, Samuel?”
    “About Candi Moran, her father, the money.”
    Jack glanced at Sam and grinned. “What?”
    Sam smiled and shook his head.
    After several seconds Jack sighed. “Okay, I just didn’t want you to think I was in the middle of this. Tommy called me last week about Candi. He said this La Salle character had already threatened him about dealing with Philly’s former clients, and he didn’t want to make matters worse. I told him to send her to you.”
    “Thanks a lot.”
    Jack raised an eyebrow and looked at Sam. “Hey, I knew you’d know what to do. And you did. This could be really big, you know.”
    Those were the key words: really big . Millions of missing dollars get a lot of attention, especially from an old con man like Jack Craft. And Sam hadn’t missed the look Tommy and Jack exchanged at the mention of the money.
    “Why all the games, then?”
    “No games, I thought you might want to hear everything from Tommy.”
    Which meant he would never have said anything if Sam hadn’t guessed it.
    “Yeah, well, I couldn’t help but notice that you and Tommy are pretty chummy. Why is that?”
    “I helped him out of a situation awhile back. I suppose he thinks he owes me.”
    The Mercedes whisked north on US1, crossed the Miami River and turned right on the MacArthur Causeway. Sam looked out over the channel at a thunderhead rolling in from the Atlantic. The cruise ships wouldn’t like that. They passed the Coast Guard Station and Sam could see a curtain of rain in the distance sweeping across the tip of Miami Beach, coming fast toward the Causeway. He was glad when they rolled off the bridge ahead of the storm and slowed for the turn into the marina.
    “He’s lying about the Government,” Sam said. “He knows something.”
    Jack glanced at him. “Maybe he didn’t pay his taxes?”
    “I recognized one of the men in the Dodge. His name is Grimes, and he isn’t a tax man.”
    “Yeah?” Jack drove into his usual parking space and turned off the engine.
    Rain pounded the roof of the Mercedes, and wind assaulted it like a grizzly tossing its prey. Jack turned on the radio and tried to get a weather report. A news program played, and the reporter said pieces of what was thought to be a missing fishing boat had washed up in Grand Cayman that morning. The authorities suspected an explosion of some kind. Sam wondered what might have happened to the boat. Lots of things can go wrong on the open sea. The weather man came on and said the rain would last through the night and be gone by morning. Jack turned off the radio.
    “You should remember Grimes,” Sam said, “from that operation that went bad in Marseilles a couple of years ago.”
    Jack nodded and Sam watched his face for some reaction, but he just leaned forward and gazed out the windshield at the sky. He looked at Sam, frowned and said, “Doozy of a storm, huh!”
     

Chapter 4
     
    S AM RAN in the downpour to his boat, a newspaper from Jack's car over his head. In his