Chapter 23 Summary

Mr. Cardoza, the owner of the Miami Sun calls Cab Mulcahy and tells him to get Skip Wiley's column back because the newspaper should be increasing its circulation because it is the middle of tourist season. He does not give Mulcahy much chance to respond. Soon after Keyes enters his office and breathlessly announces that Wiley left a message on his answering machine that he wants to talk to them both and will call the office. That's when the phone rings with the news that the Nights of December have blown up Ricky Bloodworth.

The bomb blew off Bloodworth's fingertips, scorched his penis, and gave him some burns and temporary deafness. The men's room is all but gone. When Mulcahy and Keyes visit him in his hospital room Bloodworth cannot talk, but refuses to let on in any way that he stole the...