Before Crockett had clocked out the night before, he'd mentioned to Tubbs something about coming over early the next morning. Something he wanted to talk to Rico about that he didn't feel too confident about giving voice to within their headquarters, no matter how secure the place was supposed to be. And so here was Tubbs, early in the morning, still not quite awake but driving out to the marina in his car, wondering what could possibly be on Crockett's mind so hard and heavy, when he pulled up and took note of the fact that Crockett's car was nowhere to be seen. He didn't get it.
A bad feeling suddenly hit Tubbs and he decided he'd better check it out. He had his gun ready and cautiously made his way onto the boat, and worked his way down the stairs below deck. As he started down the stairs, he was able to hear somebody talking, but the further down he got, he realized it wasn't Crockett's voice. It sounded younger, more…more feminine, not by much though.
"Sonny?" he quietly called out as he entered the kitchen.
No, not Crockett. It was that kid from last night. Before Tubbs could even think to wonder what in the hell she was doing here, he watched in awe and stupor as she took a sandwich off a tall pile of them on a plate and tossed one to Elvis, who caught it in one snap and all but swallowed it.
"A sandwich for you," she said, "Potato chips for me." She stuck her hand in a crumpled bag and took out a few chips and ate them, before grabbing another sandwich and flinging it to Elvis. "Another sandwich for you," she said, and picked up a pack of Crockett's smokes from off the table, "A cigarette for me." She found a lighter and lit it and inhaled like a pro, and blew out a smoke ring. Then she picked up another sandwich and Frisbee tossed it to Elvis and told him, "Another sandwich for you," she went over to the fridge, opened the small freezer door above and said, "And an ice cream bar for me." She turned back to the alligator and said to him, "I don't know about you, Elvis, but this is the best breakfast I've had in a long time."
Tubbs would've sworn he was dreaming, or on Candid Camera or something. "Excuse me," he spoke up loud enough to get her attention.
She spun around like a flash. "Hey," she said, "You're that other cop from last night."
"You might say that," Rico said as he stepped further into the small room, "And you are?"
"Robin Barnett," she said.
"Oh right," he replied, "And what exactly are you doing here?"
She shrugged, "Beats the hell out of me, your friend brought me here last night, and he was gone when I woke up."
For some reason, Tubbs was getting the funny feeling that this was a joke he wasn't in on. "Would you mind running that by me again, a little slower this time?"
Robin huffed in an annoyed manner and said, "Crockett found out my parents were out of town, and he said he was bringing me back here for the night and that he'd take me back home in the morning, but when I woke up he was already gone and he ain't been back since. So I've been getting better acquainted with his pet, now you tell me something, I don't care if we're in Florida or not, who in the hell keeps an alligator for a pet?"
Tubbs couldn't resist a good chuckle, "That's a good question, I'm waiting for the answer myself."
"I mean," she continued, "I know what they say about you should never feed alligators, but he is a pet, isn't he? And that makes it different, so it has to be safe, right?"
"I guess," Tubbs said.
Robin shrugged again and told him, "I don't have any idea what the hell alligators eat, so I've just been giving him some peanut butter sandwiches, he seems to like those alright."
Her comment was so out there and unsuspected, Tubbs found himself doubled over snorting momentarily.
"All I know is Crockett said to make myself at home so that's what I'm doing until he gets back," she told him.
Tubbs straightened up and composed himself and noted, "I hope Crockett gets back soon, otherwise you two are going to eat him out of boat and home in one day at this rate."
Robin was less amused, "It doesn't make any sense, he said he'd take me back first thing in the morning and that was over an hour ago, where would he have gone?"
"Yeah, good question," Tubbs nodded, "He told me to meet him here early before we went to work."
"So now what do we do?" Robin asked him.
Tubbs almost asked her, 'We?', but instead he said to her, "I'm just going to go on a limb and guess Sonny didn't get this overnight okayed with Castillo." Robin shook her head. "Uh huh, that's what I thought."
"He make a habit of doing this?" she asked.
"Go behind Castillo's back on things? In a blue moon," Rico answered.
"I mean," Robin started to say.
Rico raised his hand to summon her attention and told her, "I know what you mean and the answer's no, you're the first person I can recall Crockett bringing back here, where he lives."
"Nervy move, wasn't it?" Robin asked him.
Rico found himself nodding, "Yeah, real nervy."
Of course, this would all be good and well if Crocket was here and could actually verify that he'd done what this kid said he'd done. But then again, if not, for the life of him, Tubbs couldn't figure out what or why she was here. That, perhaps was what unnerved him the most about all of this.
"Let's see," Robin said, as if reading his thoughts, "I'm a vice cop living out here on the water with that pet walking piece of luggage over there…where the hell would I be at 6:30 in the morning?"
Where indeed? Tubbs looked to the girl curiously and asked her, "Where do you live?"
"I already told that other cop," she said defiantly.
Tubbs had just shifted into full no-nonsense now and told her, "And now you're gonna tell me."
"I can do better than that," she replied, "I can show you."
Robin grabbed the plate with the remaining sandwiches and heaved the sandwiches off and sent them flying for Elvis to eat.
"Come on," Robin told Tubbs, "Let's get out of here while he's distracted."
Tubbs chuckled and told the girl, "If he wanted to eat you he'd have done it long before now."
"Yeah, but do you want to be the one to explain to Crockett when we find him that you let his pet take himself for a walk?" Robin asked as they headed for the stairs.
"We are not going to find Crockett," he told her as they surfaced on deck, "I'm dropping you off, and then I'm going to find him."
Oh…oh, his head, oh, it hurt too much to even groan. Crockett moved his tongue, which felt thick like old shoe leather, around inside of his mouth and felt his cheek was swollen on the inside and felt like it had a long cut down it or something, must've bitten himself when he was asleep. Asleep? Oohhh, he couldn't even think back that far. All he knew was that his head was killing him now, and that was about all he knew.
What a night…he was never drinking that much again. A minute passed before a realization came to him. Wait a minute. He hadn't had anything to drink last night. Or did he? He didn't remember it. What was last night anyway? And was he sure last night was last night and this wasn't 3 days later? He got his eyes open, and was suddenly sorry he did. Too bright, too bright, his eyeballs were burning from the intense sun overhead. What was going on? What time was it?
Forcing himself over onto his stomach, Crockett opened his eyes again and looked straight down at his wristwatch and saw it was going on 7 in the morning. Damn it, what had happened? He tried to remember. He felt the back of his head and it hurt to touch. Somebody must've worked him over good last night, but he sure couldn't remember any of it now. He hadn't been drunk, he hadn't had anything to drink, this he deduced because his stomach wasn't burning, he couldn't taste anything on the back of his throat, and this did not feel like a typical hangover, this felt more like the hangover of a barroom brawl instead.
Looking down so the sun wasn't blinding him, he was able to see that his hands weren't bloody or cut up, his jacket was only slightly messed up and dirty…damn. A few feet out from him he saw his sunglasses, one black lens shattered and laying in pieces all over the ground.
"$300 pair of sunglasses," he grumbled as he started testing his arms and legs to determine if he could stand up.
Bit by bit Sonny was able to move into a sitting position, and he was able to look around, and while he couldn't off the bat remember where he was, he noticed that his car was still there, about fifty feet away from him, in one piece, and he was still all in one piece, he still had his wallet, he still had his badge on him, so this wasn't a mugging, he wasn't robbed, he wasn't carjacked, what then had happened last night?
"Dammit!" he said to himself as he did suddenly remember he had a houseguest on his boat that was long overdue for a ride home.
He pulled himself together and got to his car, found the keys were still in the damn ignition! This wasn't making any sense, but that would have to wait until he had time to sort it all out.