An Offer You Can't Refuse: A Miami Mafia Crime Thriller

by Sal Bianchi

  For something like a yacht party, something flashier might actually be better. Especially if I was going to be sneaking in, my chances of getting inside were much higher if I looked like I belonged there. With that in mind, I pulled on a tightly fitted shirt and a pair of dark jeans.

  Once I finished changing, I moved to the bathroom to fix my hair. It was getting a little too long now. Long enough that it almost covered my eyes if I didn’t brush it back. I’d honestly just been too lazy to go get it cut lately. After a few minutes of wondering what to do with it, I decided to just throw some gel in it and leave it mostly as it was. It would look too formal if I tried to slick it back or something, and leaving it like this made me look younger, which would also increase my chances of sneaking onboard.

  Once that was done, I spent the next couple of hours investigating the case I’d put on hold earlier in the week. The client was a young woman who was attempting to find her birth mother. Adoption records tended to be pretty tightly sealed, so it was going to be a difficult case to solve, but I was determined to get a resolution for her.

  It surprised me when the alarm I’d set on my phone went off. I’d been so engrossed in my work that I hadn’t realized how quickly time had passed. Now it was finally time to head out of the docks to meet Jase. I shut down my computer and turned out all the lights before heading out. Once I was sure that the doors were locked up tight, I turned around to head to my car.

  The Fontainebleu was a fancy resort hotel located in Miami Beach. The hotel itself was so close to the water that wealthy guests could pay for a room that directly overlooked the ocean, and it even had its own private marina and dock. It was unsurprising, considering the kind of wealthy clientele that the hotel must get, that the port where Ian’s boat was docked was filled with dozens of yachts.

  Jase and I had agreed to meet in the resort parking lot before heading down to the yacht. Our plan, if we did get stopped, was to claim that we were guests of the resort who had just stumbled upon the party by coincidence.

  I spotted the sleek black SDCT car as soon as I pulled into the parking lot and quickly parked my own car in the spot next to it. As I opened the door to get out of the car, I glanced down at my phone. It was a little after seven-thirty, which meant we only had half an hour until the yacht departed.

  “Hey, you ready?” Jase asked as he climbed out of his car.

  “Bro, you still look like a cop,” I frowned as I looked at him. He was wearing a black, long-sleeve button-down shirt and a pair of light khaki pants.

  “What?” He scoffed indignantly. “I look nice.”

  “Yeah, if you’re going to church,” I muttered. “Unbutton two more buttons on your shirt and roll up your sleeves.”

  He did as I advised, but the result still wasn’t great. It just wasn’t his style, and anyone could tell that from how uncomfortable he looked.

  “I look dumb,” he grumbled.

  “Yeah, kinda,” I teased. “Just smile and do what you do when you’re talking to girls at the bar.”

  He grumbled something under his breath as he turned to head to the yacht, and I snickered at his expense.

  I stifled my laughter as we made it to the dock. I could immediately tell which boat the party was on. It was lit up like a firework, and even from the edge of the dock, I could hear the sounds of music and yelling from onboard.

  “Let me do the talking,” I whispered to Jase as we got closer to the boat. I was thinking up answers for whatever questions we might get hit with. Of course, plan A was to just walk on board and hope that no one said anything to us. If we managed to do that, then I wouldn’t have to worry about sweet-talking my way past anyone.

  “Um, excuse me,” a nasally, high-pitched voice called just as we were about to walk onto the boat. Oh well, so much for just waltzing in.

  “Oh, hi.” I smiled at the young woman who had stopped us. She had short brown hair pulled into a high ponytail and was wearing a full face of makeup. It was especially dark and heavy around her eyes, which were a pretty shade of hazel. She was also wearing an incredibly skimpy bikini.

  “Do you have an invitation?” she asked haughtily, as though she already knew the answer was no and was just itching for a reason to turn us away. The girl beside her turned to look at us as she spoke.

  “Oh, yeah, of course,” I replied as I made a show of checking my pockets. “Oh, shoot. I think we must have left them back in the room. Isn’t that right, Jase?”

  The entire time I was speaking, I made sure to maintain eye contact and keep my smile plastered over my face.

  “Really?” the girl snickered as she raised a hand to her lips before looking me up and down.

  I kept myself calm even as I rejoiced internally. I had her hooked.

  “All right, you got me,” I sighed dramatically as I broke eye contact and looked down bashfully at the ground before peering back up at her. “We don’t have invitations. We didn’t even know there was a party, actually. We just happened to be on the dock, and when we saw these two gorgeous girls standing on this yacht, I knew I just had to climb on board and ask what their names were.”

  “Oh, is that right?” She giggled before turning to look at her friend. She brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she turned to look back at me. “So you guys are guests at the resort?”

  “Yeah,” I smiled. “We’re in Florida on business. We thought it might be fun to rent one of the yachts and throw a party, so we came down to check them out. I guess someone beat us to the punch, though, huh?”

  “Yeah,” she replied. “But if you guys wanted to hang out for a minute, that would be cool.”

  “Really?” I asked. “You sure you won’t get in trouble?”

  “Well, I’m the one in charge of letting people in.” She shrugged. “So if I say it’s okay, then it’s okay.”

  “Great.” I grinned at her. “Should I wait for you inside, then?”

  “Oh, yeah,” she blushed. “I should finish in, like, twenty minutes. I think we’re setting out a little after eight, so I’ll be free then.”

  “Cool.” I nodded. “Come find me whenever you’re done, then.”

  I put my hand on Jase’s back and steered him inside as the two girls turned to whisper something to each other. Once we were safely inside the yacht, I allowed myself to relax.

  The inside of the yacht looked like a nightclub. The lights were dimmed, and there were lasers and strobe lights flashing colorful lights all over the enclosed space. The entire area was packed with people already dancing to the blaring music despite the fact that the party hadn’t even officially started yet.

  “Should we split up to cover more ground?” I yelled over the noise. The boat was small enough that it probably wouldn’t be too dangerous to split up, and I would prefer to find Ian before the boat disembarked so we wouldn’t be stranded on the lake with him.

  “Sure,” Jase yelled back. I nodded before moving away through the crowd of people. I probably wasn’t going to make much progress on the main floor, which was too chaotic and dark to even look through. I headed over to the narrow staircase at the end of the room and climbed up to the second floor. There were still people up here, but it was much quieter, and much more brightly lit.

  The main bar was up here, so most of the people milling around were chatting and drinking. No one bothered to look up as I casually walked past them and through a doorway at the end of the floor. It opened onto the upper deck, and a sudden gust of sea breeze hit me as I stepped outside. There wasn’t anyone else out here yet, so I made my way quietly around the edge of the deck toward the back of the boat.

  There were doors up here, but the lights were off inside of these rooms. I took a quick look around to make sure no one was around before I tried the first door I came to. To my dismay, it was locked.

  I sighed as I took a step back and considered my options. I could try to pick it, but that might take a while, and by then, we might have set off, or someone else might come out onto t
he upper level. I could also kick it down, but the resulting noise might alert someone.

  After a moment of hesitation, I decided to just risk kicking it down. The music was loud enough that I might not be overheard, and I didn’t want to waste any more time. I took two steps back before throwing my weight forward and kicking at the weakest point of the door, just above the doorknob.

  I cringed as the door made a loud bang when it splintered apart. I stood stock-still and silent, waiting to see if someone would suddenly come rushing toward me. I wasn’t that high above the water, so in the worst-case scenario, I could just jump overboard to avoid being caught.

  I let out a breath of relief when nothing happened, and then quickly rushed inside the room. I had hoped to find a laptop or something that I could snoop through to get information on Ian, but to my disappointment, the small room was mostly bare aside from some fishing equipment.

  I left the room and pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time. There were only a few minutes left until eight. I needed to hurry.

  I tried the next door, and to my shock and delight, it swung open easily.

  “I should have tried this one first,” I grumbled to myself. The other room hadn’t had anything significant in it, so I’d risked getting caught for no reason. This room looked equally bare aside from a small bed shoved to one corner. There was also a mini-fridge tucked against one wall filled with beer and wine, and a small dresser at the end of the bed.

  As I quickly opened the dresser to check for anything important, I wondered if I had any more time to search anywhere else before I had to go find Jase and Ian. My eyes widened with shock as I looked at what was inside the dresser. Several thick packages, tightly wrapped in tape, were nestled snugly into the dresser.

  I snatched my phone out of my pocket and snapped several photos before taking a switchblade from my pocket and tearing into one of the packages. A finely milled, stark white powder began to pour out. I took several more photos before standing back up.

  So, Ian was involved in drug trafficking. By the looks of it, he had a pretty intense operation going on. To be honest, that was completely unrelated to our case, but it would make for some good blackmail material in case Ian decided he didn’t want to cooperate with us.

  I left the room and closed the door behind me before texting the photos to Jase with a message to meet me back on the main floor so that we could find Ian.

  His reply came just a few seconds later.

  I already found him. He’s at the stern.

  Perfect. I tucked my phone back into my pocket and walked toward the rear of the ship. Sure enough, I could see a small group of men gathered at the stern of the yacht. I looked around for Jase. If he knew that Ian was here, he must be close by as well.

  “Over here,” I heard a voice call. I looked down over the railing and found Jase on the lower deck looking up at me. There were more people walking around on the decks now, so he didn’t look out of place standing there.

  “One second,” I called as I climbed over the railing and jumped down to the lower level.

  “Oh my gosh,” one of the random girls standing near Jase gasped as I landed on the lower deck.

  “Sorry.” I smiled apologetically. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “All right, flirt later,” Jase sighed. “We have a suspect to talk to, remember. Where did you find all that cocaine?”

  “In one of the rooms upstairs,” I replied quietly. “I figure that, worst-case scenario, we can bring him in on drug charges as an excuse to question him.”

  “Fine.” Jase nodded. “Let’s go talk to him.”

  The deck was noisier now that people were filtering out of the main party room, and it was getting harder to hear over the chatter of the crowd. I quickly analyzed the scene in front of us as we approached Ian. There was a glass bottle in his hand, and I could tell by his unsteady gait and the flush on his face that he was already drunk. There were four other men in the group, all in various states of inebriation. Five versus two weren’t great odds should things take a violent turn, but Jase and I had the advantage of sobriety.

  Still, there was always the possibility that one or more of them might be armed. Once again, I found myself mentally calculating the distance between the deck and the surface of the water below, in case we had to make a hasty escape.

  “Ian Brooks?” Jase called as we stepped up to the group.

  “Yeah?” Ian turned to look at Jase. The other men barely reacted and carried on their raucous conversation.

  “I’m Agent Park with the SDCT,” Jase replied seriously. “We need to speak to you about Josie Keller.”

  Ian, who had been staring at us with a lazy, alcohol-fueled grin, quickly went white. A few of the men beside him also fell silent as they overheard what Jase said.

  “W-what?” Ian stuttered. “How did you get in here?”

  “Not important,” I interjected as I took a step forward. Ian was a few inches shorter than me, and he immediately stumbled back, the alcohol in his system nearly causing him to fall over entirely. “I’m more interested in hearing about why you seem to be fine partying just two months after your pregnant girlfriend was murdered.”

  “Whoa,” one of the other men slurred as he tried to step between Ian and me. “Hey man, that’s a messed up thing to say. I think you’ve got the wrong guy here.”

  “No, I don’t think I do,” I retorted as I shoved the man away before turning to look back at Ian. “Your friends don’t know? Her pictures were all over your social media, so I’m sure they must know who she is.”

  “Hey, why don’t we go talk somewhere else?” Ian smiled nervously. He glanced back at his friends as he spoke. Obviously, he didn’t want us to talk where they would overhear.

  “Why?” I snapped. “What are you so worried about your friends hearing?”

  Ian tried to brush his way past me, but I shoved him back against the railing of the stern. He was breathing heavily, and his eyes were bloodshot.

  “What are you hiding?” I barked at him. “That was your baby she was pregnant with, and you don’t seem to care about it. Hell, judging by this party you’re throwing, I’d go as far as saying you seem happy about it.”

  “I am happy about it!” Ian roared. “A baby would have ruined my life!”

  His friends, who up ‘til now had been protesting and trying to get me to leave him alone, fell silent at his sudden, intense outburst. Ian must have noticed the looks of shock on his friends’ faces, because he suddenly began to backpedal.

  “I mean, I don’t even know if that kid was mine,” he insisted. “She was sleeping with half the city! We had already broken up way before that, so whatever happened to her has nothing to do with me.”

  “Really?” I asked skeptically. Behind him, I could see his friends muttering among themselves and throwing confused glances his way. “So the name Shane Rutherford doesn’t mean anything to you?”

  Ian stopped fidgeting as soon as I mentioned Shane’s name. He froze entirely, and his face tensed so much that I could see the veins throbbing at his temple.

  “No,” he lied pitifully.

  “Did you hire him to kill her?” I asked him straight out, loudly enough to make sure his friends would overhear. His eyes went wide as he gaped at me. He turned to look at his friends once before looking back at me. Then, without warning, he shoved me hard and sprinted past me toward the front of the boat.

  Unfortunately for him, he was drunk enough that he stumbled almost immediately. One of the girls standing by the edge of the boat screamed as he knocked into her on his way down. I rushed up to him while he was still on the ground and twisted his arms behind his back before he could regain his bearings.

  “Hey!” The same friend from before yelled as he stomped over to where I was restraining Ian. “Get off of him! You can’t detain him without a warrant!”

  I turned my head to shoot Jase a glance. I actually couldn’t detain him under any circumstances, since I wa
sn’t actually a member of law enforcement. Jase needed to be the one to bring him in.

  He glared back at me. He looked angry, but he got the hint and marched up to where I was struggling to keep Ian still on the ground.

  “You’re under arrest for possession and distribution of illegal narcotics,” he stated boldly as he secured Ian’s hands behind his back with a set of handcuffs.

  “What?” Ian barked angrily. “How did you…?”

  He shut his mouth before he could say anything else. I turned around to glare at his friend. Even though he’d looked ready to fight me just a few seconds before, now he was completely docile. His other friends, too, were slowly meandering away and pointedly looking anywhere but at Ian.

  No doubt they were well aware of the drugs and were trying to save themselves from any kind of incrimination by distancing themselves from the situation.

  “You searched my things without permission!” Ian snarled as Jase hauled him to his feet. By now, a crowd had gathered on the deck of the boat to watch the altercation unfold. “You can’t do that! Whatever you found will be inadmissible. Do you have any idea who my father is?”

  “You can tell us all about him after you’ve been booked,” Jase replied, though he was shooting me another apprehensive glare. I followed him as he marched Ian toward the front of the yacht back toward the dock.

  “Call my dad!” Ian screamed as he struggled fruitlessly to break free of Jase’s hold. Someone had finally turned off the music, and the crowd was now swarming toward the front of the boat as they fought to get a glimpse of the commotion. Most of them were holding their phones aloft as they did. There was no doubt in my mind that video footage of this incident would be all over the internet in just a matter of minutes.

  23

  Nick

  “It was a clean search,” I insisted vehemently.