Free Flush by Carl Hiaasen Page B

lighter.

    When she pulled the trigger, a bright blue flame flared from the barrel.

    It looks pretty bad, though, huh? Bad enough to scare anybody tries to give me trouble,
    Shelly said.
    For more than an hour we’d been heading down the highway, obviously to nowhere in particular. Shelly kept saying she had more to tell me, but then she’d get worked up about Lice Peeking and what a
    total zero
    he was, and how she must be a fool to care about him. Afterward she’d cry and sniffle for a while, but just when I thought she had a grip on herself it would start all over again.
    We were all the way to Sugarloaf Key before she turned the Jeep around and grumbled,
    Where the heck was I goin’?
    On the way back she pulled into the parking lot on the Marathon end of the old Seven Mile Bridge. The place was full of tourists who were tinkering with their cameras, getting ready to shoot pictures of the sunset. It was too cloudy for a green flash, and besides, I was too distracted to stand there and look for it.

    What makes you think Lice is … you know …

    Dead? Number one, he hasn’t called up beggin’ to come home,
    Shelly said,
    which is totally not like him. Number two, none of his local party pals have heard from him, not a peep. Number three was that ugly bald gorilla who came to the trailer that night, and number four was the blood in my car.

    Again she pointed at the stain on the dashboard. I tried not to stare at it. Shelly being so worried made me worried, too.

    But who would kill him? And what’s it got to do with my dad?
    I asked.
    She sighed impatiently.
    Noah, you got any idea how much money Dusty Muleman makes off the Coral Queen?

    No, ma’am.

    Between fifteen and twenty grand just from the casino tables,
    she said.
    Subtract the food for the customers, the pay for the crew, and he’s still clearin’ ten thousand, minimum, every night.

    Dollars?
    I couldn’t believe it.

    Gambling is a mega-huge business, kid, because the world is crawlin’ with suckers,
    Shelly said.
    Don’t forget that Lice had a big mouth. Suppose he blabbed to somebody that he was gonna help your daddy, and suppose Dusty found out. He’d have a cow if he thought the feds were gonna rush in and shut down the Coral Queen.How far do you figure he’d go to stop that from happenin’? You’re a smart boy, Noah, think about it.

    I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to believe that Dusty Muleman had murdered Lice Peeking, all because my father had made a deal with Lice to get his testimony.
    She said,
    Don’t worry, I’m still gonna keep my promise. I’m gonna help you clear your daddy’s name.

    But why?

    Maybe ‘cause it’s the right thing to do. Or maybe ‘cause now I’ve got a dog in this fight.

    You want to nail Dusty, too.

    If he hurt my man, you bet I do,
    Shelly said.
    If he harmed one hair on that lazy, worthless, lice-covered head …

    She was either tougher than I’d thought, or crazier than I’d thought.

    It’s way too dangerous,
    I told her.
    Forget about it.

    Too late.

    She stuck the gun-shaped cigarette lighter in the waist of her jeans and got out of the Jeep. She was still limping slightly from kicking the toilet bowl, but apparently her foot wasn’t broken. I followed her onto the old bridge, where we leaned against the warped railing and looked down at the green-blue water ripping through the pilings. The sun was halfway gone, and all around us the cameras were clicking.

    What else did you want to tell me?
    I asked Shelly.

    This morning I went to see Dusty.

    Alone? That’s nuts!

    Noah, I used to live with the man. We were engaged to be married, for God’s sake,
    she said.
    Anyhow, I asked could I have back my old bartending job on the Coral Queen.I gave a big sob story about Lice bailin’ out on me, and how I was hurtin’ for money.

    The breeze delivered a whiff of Shelly’s tangerine perfume, which actually smelled pretty nice. I noticed she was wearing only two silver