CHAPTER THREE
Most of Fisher Island that wasn’t occupied by opulent residences and high-end high-rise apartment buildings was taken up by the nine-hole Links golf course.So, it was a testament to the Carltons’ wealth that their property occupied a full six of the islands roughly two hundred acres.
Most of that property consisted of a "garden."Marcus used air quotes in his mind because to him, a garden contained a nice green walkway with a few well-tended bushes and organized pots of pretty flowers with the occasional bee or songbird for company.The mess he walked through on his way to meet Yesenia Lopez was nothing so calming or picturesque.Squat baobab trees, thirty feet tall but with swollen trunks that looked like they belonged to much more massive trees, were crowded by dozens of different species of flowers, most of them supersized like the trunks of the trees.The majority had bright red petals that shone with nectar.A pungent odor wafted from many of these flowers, like fruit mixed with dead animal if both were left to rot for a few weeks.Thick vines climbed the baobabs, forming a canopy of green that extended in between branches, covering much of the walking path Marcus was navigating.
The flowers and vines were pungent enough that no bees wanted anything to do with them, but they were coated with at least eight different species of wasp.None of the wasps actually stung Marcus, but several of them buzzed warningly around him.
The mosquitoes showed no such restraint.He slapped three of them dead before he left the back porch of the house.
Yep.Same old Miami.
His phone buzzed.When he saw the number, he sighed.Wonderful.My day’s about to get worse.
He answered, which was a mistake, but one he didn’t think about until it was too late.“Hey, Cheryl.Can I call you back?I’m working right now.”
Cheryl sighed.“Really?The first time I actually talk to you in three months, and you brush me off?”
He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.“Is it urgent?”
“No, not at all.I’m only trying to save our marriage.Nothing that would matter toyou.”
She hung up, which spared him the pain of admitting that he had already moved on from that marriage and was trying to moveforwardwith his new relationship.
Gonna have to do that at some point.
Yeah.Like three months ago, when he accepted Kate's invitation for a date.Definitely no later than one month ago, when he had his tongue in Kate's mouth and his hand moving somewhere it would have arrived if Kate hadn't pulled away.
He sighed again.“Christ, I hate this shit.
Once more, he was spared the pain of confronting his personal life when he reached the pool house and entered to find a small, slightly built woman in her late twenties flanked by two burly Dade County Sheriff’s officers.Sunlight streamed through the glass wall that faced the ocean beyond.The officers weren’t talking to her, and from the slightly frustrated expressions they wore, it was clear they hadn’t learned anything of use.
Time for Marcus to give it a shot.He flashed his badge and asked, “Can you guys give us a minute?”
The officers shared the age-old look locals gave each other when the feds came snooping, but they offered no protest, and they were polite enough as they wished Miss Lopez farewell and left the shed.
Yesenia was sitting on a small concrete bench carved to look like a section of a Greek colonnade.For some reason, all rich people were either obsessed with plain gray futuristic boxes or callbacks to cultures that had died millennia ago.
Marcus sat on the bench nest to her, a respectful distance away.He offered Yesenia a smile.“Special Agent Marcus Reid.I’m very sorry for your loss.”
He expected a thready, noncommittal reply.Instead, he got a scoff and a somewhat defiant, “Ididn’t lose anything.Except my job, I guess.”
He raised an eyebrow.“I take it you and the Carltons didn’t have a great relationship.”
She shrugged.“They were all right.They paid me well and on time, and they didn’t try to force me to do anything.”
That was an interesting response.“Force you to do anything like what?”
She shrugged again.“You know.Sex stuff.”
Marcus noted the rigid posture of her shoulders and the tightness at the corner of her eyes.She was afraid.It didn’t seem like the fear a killer might show, though, and anyway, Rivera said she had an alibi.This fear looked more like a general dread, the sort a woman might have if she worked for a freaky couple whose idea of boundaries was a little more permeable than most people’s.
“What did they do?”
She shrugged a third time, apparently a defense mechanism for her.She frowned and looked up at him.“Hey, the cops confirmed my alibi already.I’m not a suspect.”
“No, but you discovered the body, and you were close with the Carltons.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” she replied.
