"On what? A serial abductor of barmaids? s.h.i.t, Max. It's a target-rich environment down here, but you're talking about sick. That's not some s.e.x crime of opportunity. Some s.e.x a.s.sault wants that, cruise the beach late at night. h.e.l.l, go after the chicks at the dance clubs, drop some Rohypnol in their drinks and voila! Happens all the time."

I took another drink. He was right. I let him go on.

"s.h.i.t, these girls behind the bar are smart, Max. They got the a.s.sholes trying to play them every night and they can see 'em coming a mile away. I don't see them falling for some crazy f.u.c.k."

"So why don't you tell that to Richards? Help her out. Get her off your a.s.s?" I said.

"No, no, no, Maxey boy. You must know that one. You wouldn't be here. What, you got a P.I. ticket and worked a case with her before? She pulled my Philly file and made a connection and sent you on a confidential informant mission?"

I stayed silent.

"No way," he said. "She's a man-eater. She wants somebody's b.a.l.l.s on the wall and I'm not handing her mine."

He sat back then against the wall. Shania Twain was singing high and hard. O'Shea raised his hand to signal someone, then held his thumb and forefinger two inches apart and tipped the small, imaginary gla.s.s twice. I wasn't sure whether to push him or leave him. If I was going to feel guilty afterward, so be it. He hadn't blinked yet.

"Richards says you dated two women who are now missing, not a trace," I said. "What was the saying in the academy, Colin? Twice is a coincidence, three times is a felony?"

The bartender left her busy station and came and set down two shot gla.s.ses of honey-colored liquor and fresh beers. It was the first table service I'd seen in the place. She put her fingertips on O'Shea's shoulder before walking away.

"Look, Max. I date a lot of women. I go to a lot of bars. h.e.l.l, I dated Tracy a few times," he said, tipping his head to the bartender as she left. "And there she is, in the flesh."

"Yeah, how about Amy Strausshiem?" I said and the name made him turn his face away. He sipped at one of the whiskeys.

"So Amy's one that your new friend Richards is looking for. Who else?" he said.

I didn't answer and just shook my head. Even if Richards had given me the other names, you don't give information to suspects. Besides, it wasn't my case, I kept telling myself. All I did was agree to talk with the guy. O'Shea seemed to accept the silence.

"I heard Amy's mother was in town," he said and I almost believed the sound of sympathy in his voice. "I went out with her. Nice girl. Smart. But she was too much of a challenge for me if you know what I mean."

"No," I said. "Tell me what you mean."

"She liked excitement. Liked to get her adrenaline up, which is fine to a degree, but Amy was walking a wire. I don't need that challenge, Max," he said, finishing the shot and winking at me. "I don't date women for the challenge."

O'Shea had a reputation as a ladies' man back in the day. The dark curly hair and the smooth talk. But I remembered a time at McLaughlin's, a cop bar in Philly, when three of us watched him try to work a woman at the jukebox. No one warned him it was another cop's girl and when the guy got back from the men's room an antic.i.p.ated confrontation went flat in a hurry when O'Shea tucked tail and slunk away.

"You ever date my ex-wife back home, Colin?" I said, surprising myself, but suddenly wanting to know. The question made him laugh.

"Christ, Max. Everybody dated your ex-wife," he said and then watched my face.

"Look, only time that woman took a break was the months she was married to you, Max. But once that conquest was done, she kept right on mowin' through 'em."

I tried to keep my face straight, just stared at the booze sitting in the tiny gla.s.s in front of me.

"Is that an answer, Colin?"

"OK. Yeah, I went out with Meagan. The girl was like a dominatrix without the whip, man. G.o.dd.a.m.n control freak. Everything was about her. First sign of weakness-Bam!

"You know that television show, Highlander Highlander?, tough guy with the sword who lops some other guy's head off and then sucks the guy's power in to make himself stronger? That's your ex, Max. No way. I bailed quick on that one."

I was shaking my head, watching the ripple my own movement set up in the amber whiskey. Maybe I let a wry grin of my own move the corner of my mouth, remembering.

"Hey, Maker's Mark," O'Shea said, signaling the shot. "Have some good stuff with me, Max." But I was thinking and didn't respond.

"Hey," he said again. "I'm serious."

I left O'Shea at the table with the gla.s.s still full. I shook his hand, told him to stay out of trouble in a half jovial way, and made my way outside. On the sidewalk I took several deep breaths of night air to get the stink of cigarette out of my nose and looked up to find the moon. It was nowhere in sight and the city lights obscured even the brightest stars. I looked at my watch, almost eleven, and weighed the effort it would take to get back out to my river shack. The world seemed infinitely more complicated now than when I'd started my day.

I went down the street to my truck and for some reason noted the deep shadow cast by the intracoastal bridge. I flashed back on Fulton Street where we played summer basketball in South Philly in the shade of the I-95 overpa.s.s as kids and where we would then hang out and smoke stolen cigarettes in that same darkness. Simpler times, I was thinking, when I made the corner and came upon two men breaking into my truck. The sight deeply soured my mood.

The larger of the two was standing at my driver's door, his weight leaning into the panel, his attention on something inside. The other one was up in the truck bed, actually sitting on the far rail, elbows on his knees like he was waiting for something. They were either the laziest car thieves I'd ever seen or weren't car thieves at all. I glanced quickly behind me and then stepped out into the street.

The smaller one saw me first and hissed and nodded to his friend. When the big man turned I saw the baseball bat in his hand and I could feel the adrenaline start to simmer in my blood.

"You guys looking for a ride to the game?" I said.

The big one turned and squared up. The other stayed seated up top and sn.i.g.g.e.red, nonchalant, like it was no big deal, like the chickens.h.i.t backups always did. I wouldn't have to worry about him unless I went down, then he'd come in with the steel-toed boots for the cheap shots.

"They said you got a smart mouth," said the bat man.

I stepped up closer, within ten feet, about the size of a small boxing ring, where I felt more at home in a possible a.s.s-kicking.

"They were right. Maybe you'd like to give me their names, I'll send them my apologies," I said, stepping two feet closer.

"Only message they need is that you're gonna lay off dealing with the cruise ship workers," Bat Man said.

I checked the one up in the truck bed. He was still seated.

"What? You two s.h.i.t-heads make a left at Haymarket Square? Busting unions with a stick?" I said, taking one more step and rolling my weight onto the b.a.l.l.s of my feet. The bigger one choked up on his bat at the "s.h.i.t-head" slur. "I'm impressed with your sense of history, boys."

A frown of stupidity barely flickered across the big man's face while I a.s.sessed his one-handed grip on the middle of the bat. He'd be quicker when he swung it, but the blow wouldn't have nearly the impact. From the corner of my eye I saw the other one stand up. He was looking down, but behind me, and then I heard O'Shea's voice.

"Yo, Max. You forgot your change ole buddy," he said, wading right in. "And boy, it looks like you need it. What, the meter run out, fellas?"

The smaller man fought his cowardice and started to jump down to even the odds but it was dark and he misjudged the distance to the street. When he landed it was on the side of his heeled boot and his ankle went over like a crushed aluminum beer can and he yelped in pain. When Bat Man turned to see his partner go to one knee, I charged him.

I went low, head into the sternum, my elbows out, legs driving. His big body gave for two feet and then slammed to a stop against the door of my truck. Immovable object. I heard him whoof when we hit, but he was solid and didn't go down. I tried to grab a fistful of shirt for leverage and that's when I felt the whip of the bat across my shoulder blades. If he found the back of my head I was done.

My face was still pushing into his chest and when he stretched his arm free for a better aim, I flexed my knees. He must have swung down at the same instant I drove my full six-three up. The top of my head hit something blunt and square that gave in with the crackling sound of someone chewing ice. The bat blow landed low on my back without consequence, but a shard of white pain shot down from my head into my spine. I almost lost consciousness, but there was no almost for Bat Man. He slid down the door of the truck into a heap with me on top of him.

When I blinked my eyes to clear the spinning flecks of light in them I heard the repeating sound of someone kicking a wet sack of leaves and breaking the sticks inside. After too many blows the noise stopped and someone took me under his arm and helped me stand.

"Whooo-wee, Max. Aren't you some trouble, man."

O'Shea was breathing hard, but the other man was curled into a pile, maybe not breathing at all.

"s.h.i.t, man. That was some rock 'n' roll," O'Shea was saying. "I haven't stretched those muscles since I left the street."

I staggered a couple of steps but wobbled and felt the pavement start to tilt.

"Whoa, big guy," O'Shea said and helped me to the curb behind my truck and set me down. The top of my head felt like it grew in pain and size with every pulse of my heart and I was still blinking spots out of my eyes.

"Got some blood coming off that scalp, Max," O'Shea said. "Old Sammy Sosa there get the bat on you?"

"Head-b.u.t.ted him," I said. I reached up and patted the wet hair over the throbbing spot and came away with a dark stain on my fingers. "Guy must have a gla.s.s jaw."

"Yeah, well, you might be right 'cause it's in pieces over there now," O'Shea said, rocking back on his heels and looking. "You didn't learn that at Jimmy O'Hara's boxing gym."

I held my eyes closed for a moment and when I opened them a red film faded and my vision started to clear.

"Yeah, and you didn't learn that, either," I said, looking out at the lump in the street. "Is that guy still breathing?"

"s.h.i.t, yeah. He won't be doing it easy for a while, but he's breathing. Whattya think, I'm a killer or something?"

I could not tell if that was a mocking tone in his voice, but I could hear the distant wail of sirens.

"s.h.i.t, somebody called it in, Maxey ole boy. Time to go," O'Shea said.

He got up and looked around for witnesses.

"Easy, Colin. They're a couple of leg breakers who were sent to scare me off a case," I said. I wasn't yet even close to being able to stand.

"Yeah, OK for you, Max. But in the current state of things with your local law, I ain't takin' the chance of a night in lockup. That detective b.i.t.c.h of yours gets me in, I'm stuck for the long ride."

The siren was louder. I thought I could actually feel it on the back of my eyes.

"You gotta get her off me," O'Shea said, backing away. "You know I'm stand-up from the neighborhood, Maxey. Get her off me."

The sound of him trotting away into the night was then overwhelmed by the siren that wouldn't quit and blue lights whirling onto the walls, and I had the sudden urge to wretch.

I was in an office at the Oakland Park P.D., sitting in a metal chair, holding an ice pack to my head. I had refused medical treatment at the scene while paramedics loaded Bat Man and his friend into the ambulance. The big man had been able to walk with help. The other one was put on a stretcher. Neither of them was able to talk so mine was a one-sided explanation: Two guys tried to mug me with a baseball bat. Things got a little crazy.

I showed the officer my license, gave them my keys so they could check out the truck and registration. I repeated my story three times: I had a couple of beers at Archie's. I came out to find two guys trying to break into my truck. I tried to chase them off and they turned on me.

I almost thought I was going to walk away with one of those "We'll be in touch" deals when a shift sergeant by the unlikely name of Dusty Rhodes showed up. He talked with the patrol guys and surveyed the scene.

"How 'bout we take a ride into the station Mr., uh, Freeman," he said, looking at my license. "Let the nurse take a look at that wound and see if maybe your head clears a little."

So now I was stuck in the sergeant's office, my head was somewhat cleared, but my story wasn't gaining any more credibility.

"So you take on both these boys, uh, one with an extensive record of aggravated a.s.sault, battery on a law enforcement officer and attempted manslaughter," Rhodes said, reading from a sheet of printouts, "and the other one with possession with intent to sell narcotics, simple a.s.sault and some d.a.m.n thing here that looks like conspiracy to be an a.s.shole."

He shook his big, block-shaped head.

"And all by your lonesome?"

He was a veteran, a grizzled and old Southern s.h.i.t kicker who didn't like things that stepped out of their logical order. I wasn't going to walk without giving up something. I told him I was an ex- cop from Philadelphia.

"I see," he said. "So this wouldn't have nothin' to do with some drug deal gone squirrelly?"

I told him I was a private investigator and showed him my license.

"I see," he said. "So you maybe worked with someone locally who could speak for your good standing, Mr. Freeman?"

I told him to call Detective Richards with the Broward sheriff's office. He looked at his watch.

"And Sherry is gonna vouch for you?"

"Yes," I said.

"I see."

He left the room and I shifted the ice pack, wondering immediately if I'd suffered brain damage. Then I rationalized. Favor for favor. She wouldn't mind. I looked at my own watch. After two in the morning.

In a few minutes Rhodes came back in with a cell phone in his hand.

"The detective would like to speak with you," he said, but stayed where he was after handing over the phone.

"Yes, Detective," I said.

"Are you OK, Max?"

She sounded legitimately concerned.

"Yeah."

"The sergeant says this mugging was down by Archie's and he's not convinced you were alone."

"Yeah."

"You were meeting with O'Shea?"

"Yeah."

"Did that b.a.s.t.a.r.d have anything to do with this?"

The intense anger in her voice took me aback.

"No. They were breaking into my truck."

"So one guy is still spitting teeth and the other had his ribs kicked in. Doesn't sound like you, Max."

"OK, sure. Maybe we can meet up tomorrow," I said, looking up at Rhodes and trying to look positive.

"Max, if that son of a b.i.t.c.h was setting up another girl..."

"Yeah. He's right here. Thanks. Call me tomorrow, I'll be home," I said and handed the phone back to the sergeant.

He left the room again and when he returned he had copies of my driver's license and P.I. license in his hand and a young patrolman at his side.