Meredith and Bud Stanley. “Read these and I’ll answer any questions you have.”
She took a few minutes to peruse the printouts. “Do you think this Soupy could have sent a hit team to take out Jim Desmond?”
“It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. Asians put a lot of emphasis on what they call ‘face.’ Soupy’s a big deal in that part of the world. He might very well have figured that the only way to get his mojo back after Jim whipped him was to kill Jim.”
“Mojo?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s mojo?”
“I don’t know. Maybe like machismo.”
“I don’t think so.”
“What do you think mojo is?”
“I don’t really care,” she said. “How can we dig further into Soupy? Maybe find out if he’s the one behind this.”
“The whole idea of me getting involved in this was to find a likely target and file suit. The problem here is that I’d never get jurisdiction over Soupy or his organization. I could never show that he was in this country or was responsible for any acts that took place here. Until you get a court to accept jurisdiction, you can’t do anything with the case.”
“Would it be worth a try?”
“No. Even if we could figure a way to get around the jurisdiction issue, I don’t know how we’d serve Soupy with the lawsuit. Even then, if he simply didn’t respond, the only thing we could do is get a default judgment entered and then we’d have no reason to take depositions to prove the case. The default would work just as if Soupy admitted to all allegations. There’d be no reason to take depositions, and the court wouldn’t let us issue subpoenas. The default wouldn’t produce any evidence and would be meaningless in a criminal court.”
“We need to find out more about this Soupy guy.”
I thought for a minute. “There’s always Jock.”
“Ah, the magic man. Will he do it?”
“He will if I ask nicely. Probably have to buy him a bottle of wine or something.”
“Why don’t you call him?”
“I think I’ll ask him to come for a visit. He hasn’t been here in a couple of months.”
“You sure he’ll come? It’s hot here,” she said. “It’s hot in Houston, too.”
“You’ve got a point.”
“You want to go to Pattigeorge’s for a drink?”
“Sure. Is Sam back from vacation?”
“Yeah. Some vacation,” I said. “Where’d he go?”
“St. Armands. Sat around and drank for a week.”
“Wow.”
St. Armands was the next island south connected to Longboat Key by the New Pass Bridge. Sam could take the trolley back and forth so he wouldn’t have to drive. And as he pointed out, the trolley doesn’t make him go through metal detectors to board.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I called Logan and asked if he and Marie wanted to join us at Pattigeorge’s for drinks and dinner. They agreed and were pulling into the parking lot just as we arrived. Marie was a blonde in her late thirties with short hair, sky-blue eyes, long legs, and a slender body.
Logan Hamilton was my best friend on the island. He stood five feet eight, weighed about one sixty, and was beginning to lose his hair. What was left was mostly gray. He had retired early from the financial services industry after making a lot of money. He moved to the key about the same time I did, and we became fast friends. I think the fact that both of us had served in Vietnam was the initial attraction. Logan had been an infantryman on his first tour and, after flight school, did a second tour as a helicopter pilot.
We went into the restaurant and were greeted by the bartender, Sam Lastinger, an island legend. Sammy knew all his customers and made sure that any newcomer was immediately introduced to all the others at the bar. He was an institution on the island, a man of cheerful verbosity, a friend, confidant, and ladies’ man. He was about forty, a slender, dark-haired guy with a ready grin who seemed to never have a bad day, unless his beloved Florida Gators lost. Women took to him like flies to honey and he always treated them well. He had a lot of ex-lovers who were all still his friends. I never could figure out how he managed that.
The bar was full. We knew everybody there and spent a little time talking before we took our seats at a nearby high-top table. Sam brought our drinks and a menu. We all ordered salads.
Logan looked at J.D. “What’s this I hear about you bringing on a junior