The Cartel

Chapter IX

"Carly, what are you doing out here-and without your phone?" Andrew demanded, waving his own phone at her. "By the way, you'll have a number of missed calls and a few voice mails when finally decide to use the damn thing!" 

Carly sighed, looking out at the shore. She was sitting behind the complex at an empty table. There were three others on the patio, but they were a few yards away and not interested in Andrew or Carly. Even with those three, it was peaceful for the trio was not loud. They were laughing, giving it a cheery essence as Carly watched the waves and birds. She had already seen a pod of dolphins pass. There was a seal somewhere out there who poked its head above the surface sporadically. 

"And what are you doing?" Carly grumbled. 

"What am I doing? I'm-" 

"You're ruining a perfectly good, beautiful scene." 

"What? Carly!" Yampa scolded, and one of the three adults a ways off glanced over. "We don't have time for this." 

"Please, do sit," she stated through clenched teeth in an almost mocking tone. "Maybe we should talk about what we do have time for." 

"God, is this about Scarlet?" 

"What does she have to do with anything?" Carly snapped, leaning forward with a palm pressed to the table. "How are you so blind sometimes? The longer we wait, the more this place grows."  

Andrew sat down across from Carly, blocking half of the shore. His voice softened. "Carly, what is going on? Is this about...the murders? And why in the hell would you leave your phone-" Andrew stopped himself, suddenly alert. 

'Trouble?' Andrew mouthed. 

Carly rolled her eyes, muttering, "And I thought I had gotten out of this crap." She leaned back into her chair, crossing her arms. 

Andrew relaxed. Doubts and regrets were ten times better than trouble and danger. 

"How about a night off?" Andrew asked then lowered his voice so the trio wouldn't overhear, "Don't suppose you've come up with anything new?" 

Carly shook her head. "No, I haven't." 

"Good." Yampa got to his feet. "I'll see you at six-thirty at The Oceania." 

Carly didn't miss a beat to reject him. "You have a girlfriend." 

"Since when?" He winked. "Besides, don't look at it like date, because it's not." 

* * * 

"...I think we've missed something," Carly declared, sitting across the table from Andrew in The Oceania. "The case...it's only dragging on. Nothing has happened for days, other than The Cartel bringing in more...product." 

The Oceania would be a five-star restaurant, if critics outside of the island knew about it. People dressed up to go in. It was a tiny thing, but the population on the isle was also tiny. 

"We've waited months before," Yampa pointed out, though he wasn't in the mood to focus on the case. They'd been working on it for so long now. It felt as though he knew it back to back, but then why was Carly right? The Cartel only seemed to be growing. He knew as well as Carly did that they would have to act soon enough. Why couldn't Kayla be easy to kill? 

"Things have started to loosen up since the interrogations. People are talking and questioning, not so keen on the leader. Once things settle-though I doubt the tension will die down-we can-"  

"You agreed to take the night off." Andrew didn't just want Carly to have a night off; he also wanted one for himself. Now he had an excuse. 

Carly frowned. "There better not be a sexual innuendo in there."