Second Chance Read Online Free Page A

I was spared a verbal ass-whooping that might have sounded something like, “Good God, girl, is this about the police search in the harbor? How do you expect to find a hot-bodied man while you’re sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong?” Anyway, you get the point.
    Flynn stood alongside the railing on the ocean side of the pool deck and out of earshot from hotel guests and staff. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
    “You’re a cop, right?” he asked nervously.
    I hadn’t said a word about being on the job. Am I that obvious? I guess I’d be a terrible choice for undercover work. I pretended that I was shocked. “What?”
    “Look, I saw the case you carried into the safe room. It’s a lockbox for a gun. I’ve seen them before, many times. I mean … just tell me if I’m right because I’m in trouble and I need some advice.”
    I wanted to get involved. I almost ached to get involved, but I knew better. “Look, Flynn, if you’re in trouble, you should go to the authorities. Whether or not I’m in law enforcement is unimportant. I’m not the local police, and I have no jurisdiction in the state of Florida.”
    “I can’t go to Miami Metro. I know you’re from New York, but … Look, just tell me if you’re a cop, all right?”
    Flynn appeared to be genuinely frightened. I took a moment to think it over. “Why?”
    Flynn sighed a long and troubled sigh. “The police activity you saw this afternoon … Miami Metro is interviewing the staff. They found—”
    Oh, you mean the police activity you said you knew nothing about? I knew what was coming. I braced myself for tragic news, and it didn’t involve a porpoise getting tangled up in a fishing net. “They found a body, didn’t they?”
    Flynn covered his mouth. “They found a woman’s head.” He turned away from me to look out at the ocean. He was clearly distressed. “My friend Keyla didn’t show up for work this morning, and she hasn’t called or answered any of my messages. She usually answers in a flash.”
    “And you think …”
    He nodded without speaking, but his nod indicated that he felt sure. “She’s been hanging out at this club. It’s owned by this guy named Donovan and …”
    “Still, you’re presuming an awful lot. She may be perfectly fine, but I’d go to the police right now, just in case.” I put my hand on his shoulder in a reassuring manner. “Withholding information pertinent to a police investigation is a really dumb thing to do. Why are you so frightened of this Donovan fellow anyway?”
    “He’s an animal. He’d kill me if he knew I talked about him with anyone. If he ever found out that I talked to Metro …”
    I glanced over at Tay. She had miraculously awakened. It looked as if someone had sent over a drink—the waiter had just dropped off a fresh glass of a minty, mottled libation and was pointing to a handsome gent with soulful eyes at the bar. He looked a little like Barry White. Tay blew him a kiss. God, I hope she knows what she’s doing. I’m taking my next vacation solo.
    “Flynn, you’re only providing the police with a lead. There’s no way for Donovan to find out about it. You didn’t witness a crime, did you?”
    “No but I was at the club with Keyla last night,” he confessed reluctantly. “I saw them together. He saw me. He knows we were together at the club.”
    “You saw your friend, Keyla, with this guy, Donovan?” Flynn nodded. “And you think he’d kill you if you mentioned it to the police?”
    He closed his eyes and nodded again. “That’s why I’m talking to you instead of the Miami police. I’m really scared. Tell me what to do.”
    “I already told you what to do.”
    “Tell me something else. I’m coming apart at the seams.”
    “This Donovan, he’s—”
    “Jamaican mob.”
    I gritted my teeth. Manhattan was swarming with Jamaican gangsters and they were bad news—brutal and violent. Flynn’s fear was likely justified.
    I heard Tay clear her throat. I