I'm still not sure this story truly qualifies as noir. But, readers' comments suggest that the first chapter was generally well received. Thank you.
This story is a work of fiction. Some real institutions are mentioned, but they are used fictitiously. Insofar as the author knows, no real person affiliated with any of those institutions has ever behaved as do the characters in this story. Any similarities between any character in this story and any real person are coincidental and unintended. I encourage comments on this story, both favorable and unfavorable. Thank you for reading this.
*****
Ali and I had to wait in the lobby of the Tampa Police building until Beth came out and told the uniformed officer to let us in. Visitor passes hanging from our necks, we rode an elevator up two floors to Beth's office. There we laid out the whole story for her.
"Just so I'm clear," Beth asked after we'd finished, "the owners of Bougainvillea Cove hired Ian because they suspected drug dealing on premises. Ian needed a woman to accompany him because the resort doesn't allow single males, so Ms. Nance volunteered. You both went to the resort, asked the barmaid if you could buy drugs, and she connected you with a Latino bodybuilder who offered to sell you drugs. You didn't buy anything. Last night, you followed the four people you suspected to a house here in Tampa. You watched the house overnight. This morning, you saw a van arrive. After the van left, you saw the four people getting back into the car you had followed, and you took the pictures you showed me."
"That's correct," I replied.
"I suppose you were both nude while you were at Bougainvillea Cove," Beth said, more as a statement of fact than a question.
"Of course," Ali replied, "it is a nude resort. We would look suspicious with clothes on. And, I don't get enough opportunities to go nude to pass one up."
Beth gave a tired smile. "Anyone want coffee?" she asked. When Ali and I both said yes, Beth said "Ian, why don't you come with me and help me carry it back?" We left Ali in Beth's office as I followed Beth down the hall to a small kitchenette. As she was pouring the coffee, Beth said, "Ian, you better be careful. I think Ms. Nance is infatuated with you."
"That's a problem?" I asked.
"Apparently not," Beth replied. Pointing at a spot on my jeans, Beth added, "I see she was useful on the stakeout."
I followed Beth back to her office carrying two cups of coffee. After Beth sat down at her desk and took a sip of coffee, she said, "Ms. Nance, I understand you intend to pursue a career in law enforcement. For your future reference, I want you to be aware that female officers do not generally give male officers hand jobs while they are on surveillance."
Ali smiled sweetly at Beth. "Thank you. I'm sure that's true," Ali said, "but I doubt that you generally conduct surveillance with someone who has as nice a dick as Ian."
"I'm not familiar with Ian's penis," Beth replied.
"And," Ali added, "he finger-fucked me to an O."
"Well, that makes a difference," Beth said. "Ian, you know I'm not narcotics. I need to hand this off. I called Brian Fitzpatrick before I came to get you two downstairs. He's waiting for us. Ian, you can trust Brian, but you will have to tell him the whole story." I nodded. Beth dialed an internal number. When someone answered Beth said, "I talked to them. It looks solid to me." She listened a moment, said "in five", and hung up. To Ali and me, Beth said, "let's go meet Lieutenant Fitzpatrick.
We met Fitzpatrick in a conference room one floor above Beth's office. I guessed he was younger than me, but much closer to my age than to Ali's. Ali and I ran through the story again and showed him the digital pictures on the camera.
"We need prints of these," Fitzpatrick said. "Anything on the camera we shouldn't see?" I shook my head. "I don't suppose you got plate numbers for the car or the van, did you? Fitzpatrick asked. Ali rattled off the license plate numbers, makes, models, and colors of both vehicles and added that the van had a dent in front of the driver's door. "Good work," Fitzpatrick commented. "I'm going to have prints made of your pictures. I need you to dictate statements which we'll turn into affidavits in support of a search warrant."
Staff took statements from Ali and me. About a half hour later, we were signing affidavits about what we saw at the house and that the attached photos, which we took, fairly and accurately depicted what we saw when the four people had left the house that morning. Once our signatures were notarized, Fitzpatrick said, "I have to take these and the warrant application to the duty judge. They always love getting these on a holiday weekend. Sit tight."
Ali and I waited in the conference room for about an hour and a half. When Fitzpatrick returned, he said, "the warrant is signed. You think the four will be back at the resort tomorrow? It's Sunday."
"It's Sunday of a holiday weekend," Ali replied. "The resort is almost full, and it looked like they were doing good business. I doubt they would pass up the opportunity."
"Fair enough," Fitzpatrick said. He pushed a business card across the table. "I want you to do one more thing for me and then back off. Call me when the bad guys leave the resort tonight. We'll have people around the house. We'll probably wait until morning to execute the warrant in case they get another delivery. Did you see them with any weapons?"
"No," Ali replied, "but that doesn't mean . . . ."
"Doesn't mean they don't have any in that house," Fitzpatrick finished for her. "We'll be ready."
It was close to 2:00 p.m. when Ali and I got back to The Cove. We'd been awake over 36 hours. I set the alarm in our room for 7:00 p.m. We undressed, fell into bed, and basically passed out.
I was groggy and tired when the alarm went off. As befit a younger person, Ali seemed back to normal on just a few hours of sleep. We had our third nude dinner together and, about 9:15 p.m., took up positions. I never did find out where Ali was when she watched the condo parking lot, but she called me at 10:05 p.m. to report that the red Chrysler was leaving the lot with all four people in it.
I was in the brush beside the entrance to The Cove. I watched the red Chrysler pass and carefully stepped out into the street to see the light at 41. Once I saw the Chrysler turn south on 41, I called Fitzpatrick.
Back in our room, it was clear that Ali wanted to play. Something less than five hours of sleep was not enough for me to recover from a day and half without sleep. I fell asleep in Ali's arms.
Ali woke me around 9:00 on Labor Day morning. "Your phone just went off," she said. I checked my missed calls and returned the most recent. Fitzpatrick answered.
"I should say thank you," Fitzpatrick said. "The van showed up again and we went in. We got a man and two women in the house and two men from the van. There was a smorgasbord of drugs in the house and the van: coke, pills, meth. Not a massive quantity, but I'm guessing a couple hundred thou at street prices. I'm e-mailing you mug shots. Look at them and call me back if you can tell me anything about anyone."
A couple of minutes later, Fitzpatrick's e-mail hit my phone. Ali and I went through the pictures. "You know who's missing, don't you?" Ali asked. I did. Fitzpatrick had only gotten one of the two men who had been at The Cove."
I called Fitzpatrick back. "You're missing one of the clones," I told him.
"Which one is his twin?" Fitzpatrick asked. I told him which of the mug shots showed a man we had seen at The Cove. "I thought you would pick him," Fitzpatrick said. "Ricardo Olmos. He has a twin brother named Antonio. Ricky's done time for possession for sale. The brother, Tony, is bad news. Just after he turned 18, he knifed his girlfriend. The girl survived so he got ten. He did eight and a half. He's been out a little over three years. The address we have for Olmos is in Miami. I called a contact at Miami-Dade. He said there's a whole family: two sisters and a mother. They're on Miami-Dade's radar as dealers but, with all the shit down there, weren't big enough to be a priority. He said the Olmos clan went off their screen late last year. We don't know where Tony went. Does he know you?"
"We talked to one of the brothers on Thursday," I replied. "I can't say which one."
"You want to stay alert," Fitzpatrick said. "Busts are part of the day's work for these people, but Tony seems to have a temper."
I had decided not to report to the Westerfelds until the cops moved. I called Paul and asked for a meeting. He invited us over immediately. "Don't bother to dress," he added.
I had not seen Paul or Lilith nude before Ali and I had coffee with them that morning. Both were fit and completely tan. I summarized what had happened. "How was all this shit going on under our noses and we didn't know?" Paul asked.
"It seems the dealers did most of their business by the pool or at their condo," Ali said. "How often are you around those places?"
"We never go to the condos unless there's a problem," Paul replied. "The tenants are responsible for cleaning and routine maintenance inside. We have someone who cuts the grass. We call people if a major repair is needed. I probably go through the pool area once or twice a day, but I'm not looking closely."
"Same for me," Lilith added.
"Who is responsible for monitoring the pool area?" Ali asked.
"I'm not sure I'd call it 'monitoring,'" Paul replied, "but we expect the person working the pool bar to tell us if anything is going on. That is the only staff member at the pool continuously."
"Is that bartender usually the blonde we met, Kim?" Ali asked. Paul nodded.
"Don't do anything yet," I said, "but we have some reason to think Kim might be involved."
It was about 11:00 as Ali and I walked back through the pool area towards our room. Kim had the pool bar open. We stopped and ordered beers. That day, Kim was wearing a bight yellow thong. As she walked back down the bar bringing our beers, I saw that the thong was basically transparent, and the Kim shaved her mound. Kim caught me looking. "Like it?" she asked.
"It looks lovely," I said.
"Just cause the State says I can't work nude doesn't mean I can't show off," Kim replied brightly. She paused and then asked, "Did you guys get what you wanted from Tony the other day?"
"We decided not to buy anything," Ali replied.
"Why not?" Kim asked. Her eyes narrowed some.
Ali wrapped her arm around mine. "This is our first trip together," she said. "We didn't want to take anything that might impair performance."
"I get it," Kim responded. "I was a little worried you might be cops."
"We're not cops," I said truthfully.
"Yeah," Kim replied. "I didn't think cops would take their clothes off. Tony should be around today if you change your mind. I'm surprised he's not here already." Kim went off to serve another couple.
