The Death Box(88)
I grabbed the phone and dialed Roy. Perhaps it was adrenalin or maybe being loosed from the bonds of blindered earth, but as it rang I felt a moment of pure triumph, the sense of pulling victory from thin air, of fulfilling my heart’s every desire in law enforcement.
It wouldn’t last.
44
Without knocking, Orzibel entered Amili’s office, crossed to her desk and stood beside her. Amili was making calculations with a pad and pencil. Orzibel plucked the pencil from her fingers.
“Forget Kazankis’s numbers, Amili. Tonight we start making our own.”
Amili closed the pad and set it atop the ever-present laptop. She gave Orzibel a questioning eyebrow. “This deal with Chalk, Orlando? I am truly to receive twenty-five thousand dollars?”
“Ah, the money has your interest now?”
“I have never lost interest in money. Otherwise, how should I find myself in this place?”
“You’ve been here one year now, correct? A very prosperous year for a girl from the Honduran countryside? But we shall prosper tenfold in this next year, Amili Zelaya.” He winked. “In the business and in the bed.”
“Is Chalk coming here to the club, Orlando? Is there risk?”
Orzibel waved it away. “Risk is slight and to be shared. I am to pick up a Lincoln Town Car rented by Mr Chalk. Chaku will follow me to Marathon Key where Chaku will enter a certain bar. Mr Chalk will arrive by cab. When Chaku enters, Mr Chalk will exit, and check his merchandise. If satisfied, he will leave the blessed money and return to Key West in the Lincoln with a shiny new toy in the trunk.”
Amili closed her eyes. “Toy.”
Orzibel grinned. “Who knows, Amili Zelaya. Perhaps Leala Rosales will capture Chalk’s heart, just as you captured the heart of El Jefé.”
“Kazankis has no heart, Orlando. He has only desires. In his own way he is as sick as Chalk, just more sane.”
“Sometimes you make no sense, little whore.”
“I am to be your partner and you call me whore?”
“Amili … I make a joke. We can joke now, can we not? We have enjoyed one other to the fullest. And we will continue to do so, correct, my little … lady? Lovers and partners.”
Amili nodded toward the hall where Guzman sat. “You have no trust in your partner? I continue to be guarded.”
Orzibel moved behind Amili, his hands stroking her shoulders. “Only until little Leala has been delivered. You have not been yourself in matters of Leala Rosales. Fighting my wishes to discipline the mother, wanting to send Leala home when she is worth much money.” He lowered his head to whisper in her ear. “Did you recognize something in Leala, Amili … this girl delivered a year after you arrived? Do you see something I cannot?”
Amili sighed and shook her head. “Your mind is too busy, Orlando. You make me more than I am.”
“So you have no feelings for the girl? No similitud?”
“I saw only a danger, that’s all.”
Orzibel’s fingers slipped beneath Amili’s chin and turned her face to his. “Prove it then, Amili Zelaya. Prepare Leala for her journey tonight. Can you do that?”
Amili shrugged as if asked to paint a door. “Of course. She is an investment.”
Orzibel grinned. “Ah … here’s our true Amili Zelaya again. Maker of contracts, seller of flesh. Bookkeeper of souls.”
Taunts. All true. Amili spun away and stood. “Enough for now, Orlando. Do you have the clothing?”
“Let’s go and decorate Leala Rosales. She has a big date awaiting.”
The pair stopped at Orzibel’s office where several pink dresses lay on his couch. “I keep several sizes for Mr Chalk. They will get used.”
Amili picked the size she knew would fit Rosales and they went to the depths of the nightclub, through the sturdy gate and down the shadowed hall to a locked room. “Are you to follow my every step, Orlando? Or do you have more important tasks?”
“I will tell Chaku we are preparing to leave. Guzman!” He motioned the gangster to continue watching and strode away. Amili paused at Leala’s door, pushed it open. The girl was sitting on the bed, her eyes lost. Amili knew the look: the girl had given up hope.
“I warned you to behave, Leala Rosales,” Amili said. “This is not my fault.”
“How do you do this thing that you do?” Leala said quietly. “How do you look at yourself?”
“Shut up! Put on these clothes. Now.”
Amili threw the clothes in Leala’s face. Pink dress and shoes, white panties. With Guzman at her back, she set the red scarf carefully on the bed. “Put the clothes on. The scarf must be last. Keep it nice.”