Bluewater Bullion: The Seventh Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers Book 7)
Page 26
Liz felt Vengeance shift. She braced herself in a corner of the galley, her Kindle in hand, reading. She glanced at the telltale compass mounted in the bulkhead over the galley sink and saw that Dani had changed their course. Realizing that Dani must have finished her phone call, she put the Kindle in a drawer under the chart table. She filled two mugs with steaming tea and set them on a tray with some cookies.
"I didn't hear any screaming," she said, putting the tray on the cockpit seat where Dani could reach it. Liz came up into the cockpit and settled herself with the tray between them.
Dani smiled as she picked up the tea. She held it under her nose, inhaling the fragrance. After a moment, she took a sip and looked over at Liz. "It went as well as could be expected, I guess. I got her to tell me what was going on, anyway."
"So, are you going back?"
Dani laughed. "No, of course not. I'm pretty sure she didn't get that, but I didn't force the issue. It wouldn't have done any good, anyway. Once I got her talking about something besides the return of the prodigal daughter, I couldn't shut her up."
"Well, at least she knows you listened. That must count for something."
"Yes, I suppose," Dani said, taking another sip of tea. "Something, but I'm not sure what. At least I found out what started all this. Rollie was siphoning money from one of their key client's accounts to support his coke habit, and the client caught him in an audit."
"Uh-oh," Liz said. "Is somebody going to jail?"
"Well, not yet, but that's where the urgency is coming from. The client was one that I brought in and managed for a couple of years, and they're willing to let Rollie's thievery slide on the condition that I come back and take over the account. The bank's already made good on their loss."
"I see," Liz said, breaking off part of a cookie and nibbling at the crumbs.
"It gets even worse. Will and Jason knew what Rollie was doing and helped hide it, until the audit exposed the problem. Of course, the client doesn't know that."
"I wondered what you meant when you told Will that you hoped the SEC put them all behind bars," Liz said.
"I was just being a bitch, then. I had no idea they might be in that kind of trouble. I'm not surprised, though."
"No?"
"No. Jason — Will's nephew — my ex-fiancé — he and Rollie shared a fondness for snorting coke. I'm sure they were in this together."
"And she wants you to marry this guy, still?"
"They have a whole different perspective on things. Everybody in their circle — at least the young ones — does coke. It's part of that whole New York financial scene. One more reason I couldn't stay."
Dani was quiet for a long time, dipping a cookie in her tea and eating it in small bites. She looked at Liz and shook her head.
"So how did you leave it with her?" Liz asked.
"She thinks I'm catching a flight tomorrow morning. I didn't see any point in arguing with her. She'll figure it out when I don't show up."
"Won't she go ballistic?" Liz asked.
"She's ballistic all the time, Liz."
"But she'll — "
"I'll block her emails, and we'll just use caller i.d. to screen the calls. She'll get the idea after a while."
****
"SHIT!" The curse came immediately after a resounding crash from below deck. "Fucking rag-baggers!"
Dani looked at Liz, a question on her face. Liz got up and scurried below to see what was wrong. Dani could hear Carlotta's heated reply to Liz's question, but she couldn't make out what either woman said. She concentrated on steering for the seas, which had become rambunctious. They no longer enjoyed the partial protection afforded by the island of St. John.
Carlotta climbed into the cockpit, a scowl on her face as she rubbed her hip. Liz followed a moment later.
"Are you okay?" she asked Carlotta.
"Yes, damn it! No thanks to this piece-of-shit boat. Are the stabilizers on?"
"We don't have stabilizers," Dani said, taking in the look of caution that Liz directed her way.
"Why not? This is supposed to be a 'luxury charter yacht,' according to your website." Carlotta's face was red under her flawless olive skin.
"Powerboats have stabilizers," Dani said. "Otherwise, they roll like pigs in a sea like this. The sails serve to stabilize us."
"This piece of crap is like a wild horse. I can't believe you get away with such a poorly equipped boat."
"This patch of rough water will pass soon," Liz said. "In another mile or two, we'll be out of the shallow water around the islands. Once we hit the drop-off, things will calm down. Sorry you got hurt; we should have warned you. I didn't know you were awake down there."
"Awake? I got rolled out of the damned bed! This sucks."
"I'm sorry," Liz said, watching the storm clouds building on Dani's face. "I should have rigged a lee-cloth for you."
"A what-cloth?"
"Lee-cloth. It's a piece of canvas, stretched from the outer edge of the berth to the cabin overhead. It keeps you from rolling out of the berth when the motion's erratic."
"Erratic! That's an understatement. It's like inside a washing machine."
Dani stood up behind the helm and disengaged the autopilot. "Hey, Liz, stand by to come about."
Liz took in the slack in the lazy jib sheets and moved to the winches that held the working sheets, a puzzled look on her face. "What's wrong?" she asked, turning to look at Dani.
"Nothing. I just don't want to listen to this all the way to Antigua."
"What are you doing now?" Carlotta asked.
"Taking you back to Redhook."
"You can't do that. You got a month's deposit and a three-week guarantee."
Dani reached into the locker beside her and extracted the satellite phone. As she waited for it to power up, Liz asked, "Who are you calling?"
"Elaine. I'm going to find out where to wire the refund. Then I'll call the bank. I agree with Carlotta about one thing."
"What's that?" Carlotta asked.
"This sucks," Dani replied.
"But it's smoothing out already," Carlotta said.
"Not the sea," Dani said. "I was talking about the company."
"Wait!" Carlotta sobbed. "I'm just upset, I'm ... " She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders heaved as she collapsed onto the cockpit seat, weeping.
Liz sat down beside her and put an arm around her shoulders, comforting her as she would a child. She caught Dani's eye and glared at her, shaking her head as she patted Carlotta on the back. After a moment, Carlotta said, "Could you help me below?"
"Sure," Liz said, getting to her feet and helping Carlotta up.
"And do that cloth thing? Whatever it was you said?" Carlotta asked. "I want to take a sleeping pill."
****
Carlotta rummaged through her duffle bag looking for her pills while Liz rigged the lee-cloth.
"I'm not sure I need that, now. The sea's flattened out, just like you said it would," Carlotta said. "I'm sorry I upset Dani so."
"Lee-cloths are a good idea anytime we're offshore," Liz said. "And you didn't upset Dani; she was already wound up. I apologize for her outburst. She's preoccupied with family problems right now; she's not usually this prickly. She just had a big argument with her mother on the phone while you were napping."
"Oh. Now I really feel bad; family problems are tough. I should know. What's wrong? Is someone in poor health or something?"
"Well, not exactly," Liz temporized. "Her mother's trying to manipulate her into marrying someone she doesn't like. She wants Dani to give up Vengeance and come back to the family business."
"That's too bad," Carlotta said. "I can relate; I have a family problem myself."
"You do?" Liz asked.
"Yes. Sounds like the same kind of thing. My father's got someone picked out for me to marry. Do your parents meddle in your life, Liz?"
"No. Most of the time, I envy people whose parents are still around. Mine are both dead."
; "Oh. I'm sorry. You just seemed about my age, so I assumed ... "
"No need to apologize. My mother died when I was little. I don't even remember her. My father brought me up, but he died a few years ago. I miss him, but I'm okay."
"Too bad about Dani's family, anyhow," Carlotta said.
"Well, it's just her mother. Her parents got divorced when she was little. Her father's a wonderful guy; he and his wife treat me like a daughter. They're warm, loving people, so Dani's not without some support. She shouldn't have lashed out at you the way she did."
"It's understandable. I was being a spoiled little bitch. I should apologize to her."
"Not now; let her cool down. Besides, you need to get settled before your medicine kicks in."
"You're right. At least, tell her I'm sorry I was such a shit, and I'll try to sort it out with her later. I'm starting to feel drowsy already," Carlotta said, crawling around the lee-cloth and stretching out on the berth. "G'night, Liz, and thanks."
This concludes the excerpt from Bluewater Rendezvous. To continue reading, please click here to purchase a copy of Bluewater Rendezvous.
A Note to the Reader
Thank you for reading Bluewater Bullion, the seventh book in the Bluewater Thriller series. I hope that you enjoyed it. If so, please leave a brief review on Amazon. Reviews are of great benefit to independent authors like me; they help me more than you can imagine. They are a primary means to help new readers find my work. A few sentences can help others find the pleasure that I hope you found in this book, as well as keeping my spirits up as I work on the next one. If you would like to be notified by email when I release a new book or have a sale or giveaway, please click here to subscribe to my email list. I promise not to use the list for anything else; I dislike spam as much as you do.
If you haven't read the other Bluewater Thrillers, please take a look at them. If you enjoyed this book, you'll enjoy them as well. I write another series of sailing thrillers: The Connie Barrera Thrillers. Connie had a key role in Deception in Savannah, my first book. I enjoyed writing about her so much that I wrote her into the Bluewater Thrillers. She plays prominent parts in both Bluewater Ice and Bluewater Betrayal. The Connie Barrera Thrillers are a spin-off from the Bluewater Thrillers, and feature some of the same characters. Dani and Liz taught Connie to sail, and they introduced her to Paul Russo, her first mate and soon-to-be husband.
In September of 2016, I released Sails Job – A Connie Barrera Thriller, the sixth in the series. Now I've turned my attention back to Dani and Liz for their twelfth Bluewater Thrillers adventure. You'll find progress reports and more information on my web page at www.clrdougherty.com. Be sure to click on the link to my blog posts; it's in the column on the right side of the web page. Dani has begun to blog about what's on her mind, and Liz and Connie are demanding equal time, so you can see what they're up to while I'm writing.
A list of my other books is on the last page; just click on a title or go to my website for more information. If you’d like to know when my next book is released, visit my author’s page on Amazon and click the "Stay Up to Date" link near the upper left-hand corner. I welcome email correspondence about books, boats and sailing. My address is clrd@clrdougherty.com. If you'd like personal updates, drop me a line at that address and let me know. Thanks again for your support.
About C.L.R. Dougherty
Charles Dougherty wrote quite a bit of fiction before publishing Deception in Savannah, his first novel. Most of his earlier fiction works took the form of business plans, written to secure funding for projects and startup ventures during his corporate and consulting work, but he put all that behind him when he wrote Deception in Savannah, a tongue-in-cheek crime novel.
Since Deception in Savannah was published, he has written a number of other books. The Bluewater Thrillers are set in the yachting world of the Caribbean and chronicle the adventures of two young women running a luxury charter yacht in a rough-and-tumble environment. The Connie Barrera Thrillers are also set in the Caribbean and feature some of the same characters from a slightly more romantic perspective. Besides the Bluewater Thrillers and the Connie Barrera Thrillers, he wrote The Redemption of Becky Jones, a psycho-thriller, and The Lost Tourist Franchise, a short story about one of the characters from Deception in Savannah.
He has also written two non-fiction books. Life's a Ditch is the story of how he and his wife moved aboard their sailboat, Play Actor, and their adventures along the east coast of the U.S. Dungda de Islan' relates their experiences while cruising the Caribbean.
He resides with his wife aboard Play Actor, sailing wherever their fancy and the trade winds take them.
Other Books by C.L.R. Dougherty
Fiction:
Bluewater Killer
Bluewater Vengeance
Bluewater Voodoo
Bluewater Ice
Bluewater Betrayal
Bluewater Stalker
Bluewater Bullion
Bluewater Rendezvous
Bluewater Ganja
Bluewater Jailbird
Bluewater Drone
Bluewater Thrillers Boxed Set; Books 1-3
Love for Sail - a Connie Barrera Thriller
Sailor's Delight – a Connie Barrera Thriller
A Blast to Sail – a Connie Barrera Thriller
Storm Sail - a Connie Barrera Thriller
Running Under Sail - a Connie Barrera Thriller
Sails Job - a Connie Barrera Thriller
From Deception to Betrayal - an Introduction to Connie Barrera: a boxed set
Deception in Savannah
The Redemption of Becky Jones
Short Story:
The Lost Tourist Franchise
Non-fiction:
Dungda de Islan'
Life’s a Ditch
For more information, please visit:
http://www.clrdougherty.com/
or
http://amazon.com/author/clrdougherty
Table of Contents
Bluewater Bullion
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbuda
Antigua
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
Read an excerpt from Bluewater Rendezvous, the next book in the series, beginning on the next page ...
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
A Note to the Reader
About C.L.R. Dougherty
Other Books by C.L.R. Dougherty
Table of Contents
Title Page
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbuda
Antigua
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
Read an excerpt from Bluewater Rendezvous, the next book in the series, beginning on the next page ...
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
A Note to the Reader
About C.L.R. Dougherty
Other Books by C.L.R. Dougherty