Read BENNINGTON P.I. “BONITA” for Free Online

contacts in Congress will be a big help in all of this, which is another reason I wanted you involved.”
     
    I opened my mouth wanting to ask more questions, but Walt held up a trembling right hand to cut me off.
     
    “No more questions Frank.  Tomorrow – I’ll have all the details ready for you tomorrow.  Until then, I have a bottle of Malbec I’ve been keeping around for a few years.  Told it’s some good stuff.  You wanna help me drink it down?”
     
    My shoulders offered up a small shrug.  Walt wanted some company, was excited about a new case, and the whole thing might lead to some decent cash coming my way.  Why the hell not?
     
    “Sure Walt, I’ve never been one to pass up a free drink or three.”
     
    Walt pointed to the bow of the boat.
     
    “The galley’s down a couple steps that way.  You’ll see the bottle on the table and a bottle opener.  Glasses are above the fridge.”
     
    I moved the short distance to the boat’s small kitchen area, finding the bottle, bottle opener, and two glasses just as Walt had described.  By the time I was back in the main salon, he was placing an album onto the record player.
     
    “I always celebrate the start of a case, and the conclusion of a case with a little wine and music Frank.  Hope you don’t mind my keeping with tradition.”
     
    Music filled the inside the boat as I poured a small amount of wine into each of the two glasses, noting the deep red color of the Malbec, and appreciating its rich, chocolate and plum scent.
     
    Walt turned to me while pointing down at the record player with one hand and holding up an album cover with the other, his wheezy voice struggling to rise above the sound of the music.
     
    “One of my favorites!  Sinatra!  A song called Bonita. He recorded it with Tom Jobim in the late 60’s. I used to dance to this one with a woman I dated almost forty years ago.  She gave me the album as a gift and I’ve kept it ever since.  It might be the most valuable thing I own!  Very rare!  Whenever I feel lost, Bonita seems to help me find my way back to myself.”
     
    Though I was a Sinatra fan, I didn’t recognize the song.  My attention though was focused on the wine – it was damn good.
     
    For the next hour, Walt and I shared both the wine and some stories.  He talked of old cases, while I talked of my former political work.  During that relatively brief time, I found myself increasingly intrigued and charmed by the longtime private investigator, and he in turn, openly expressed his appreciation for my allowing him the simple pleasure of someone to talk to.
     
    His isolation was something I understood all too well.  Our lives were not filled with obligations of family, or friends, but rather layer upon layer of memories and experience.  There was a certain liberation in the lack of personal obligation to others, but also a deep and sometimes painful loneliness. 
     
    That afternoon, Walt’s pain was lessened just a bit by my being there, and I in turn remained hopeful of my pending involvement in what could prove a very significant and lucrative case, each of us taking and offering something from, and to, the other man.  As I stood on the dock looking back at Walt’s Chris Craft, I could hear the sound of Bonita being played once again.
     
    The day’s former light had grown murky, the impending night’s darkness creeping closer.
     
     
    7.
     
     
    Waking up to a gun pointed at your face isn’t something I’d recommend.  And yet, that’s exactly how my morning started the day after my meeting with Walt.
     
    “Don’t move asshole.”
     
    Now in the movies or TV shows, you see the private investigator looking back smugly at whoever is pointing a gun at them.
     
    That’s bullshit.
     
    Don’t care who you are, you find yourself staring back at the barrel of a weapon, it tightens the old sphincter up real quick.  I don’t pretend I’m something I’m not, namely a guy who’s tougher than a