Casey's Slip

by Richard L. Wren

  The last thing for you to be aware of is the second half of the promise that was made to you. You were given a choice: cooperate with our request to the letter, or suffer the consequences we discussed. If we have to release the information – which is to say, if you don’t – then you will be signing your own sentence.

  Smitty paused for several seconds for people to digest it. “I like it,” he said, then asked if anyone thought it should be changed in any way.

  “About the one week deadline,” Gus asked. “I’ve got a question about that. We’re demanding that he does it when the TV camera’s rolling. How often do they do that? What do we do if they don’t televise within the one week window you’ve given him?”

  “Okay, we need to find that out first,” Smitty said, nodding. “I’ve seen the Senate in action on the tube a few times channel-surfin’, but I haven’t a clue how often they do it. Is it always televised? Little George, can one of your guys find out?”

  “Should be a snap. If we have a television guide around here anywhere, it should be in there.”

  It only took a moment for Little George to find it.

  “Here it is. It’s called Live From Your Capitol and it’s on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from two to six on PBS. It doesn’t usually get much of an audience unless something major happens. I think this would be major, major. Every TV station and newspaper in the nation would snap it up.”

  “So it’s only twice a week? Maybe we should say two weeks?”

  .Reluctantly, Smitty agreed to the change. “Type it up and get it delivered to his office.”

  Josie was cryptic. “Done!”

  We all thought that was it, the end was in sight. We would be exonerated and Smitty and I could thumb our noses at his detective nemeses.

  CHAPTER 77

  “Let’s go home,” Smitty said. “There’s nothing we can do here except keep an eye on Goldberg and wait.”

  “We can keep an eye on him if you want,” Little George offered.

  “Thanks, but no,” Smitty said. “I want two or three of my guys to stick around and take turns watching him 24/7. Like I said, I don’t really trust him. I want my guys to keep tabs on him.”

  He picked four of our guys to stay and arranged for them to take over our hotel rooms.

  “And guys, you can watch him in shifts. Two of you on him 24/7, got it?”

  Little George stopped us before we could leave. “Smitty, something you should know. Your sniper? You don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

  “What happened?”

  “It turned out he was local. He was a tough case, wouldn’t admit to anything. But as soon as he found out what was going down with the senator, he decided to leave town for a while. We kind of helped him come to that conclusion. Anyway, he’s gone.”

  Back home, Smitty had Josie drop me off at my place. He told me to take my time getting caught up with my business, but he wanted to see me the next day at his home. Josie told me to call her, that she’d come get me. I spent the rest of the day reading Latitude 38, having tea and scones with my landlady and apologizing to her.

  Next morning I had nothing to do. Normally I’d hop on my bike and visit a lot of the local marinas and the local boating store to BS with the locals and check out the bulletin boards for jobs. I was up and ready to call Josie by seven, but thought better of calling that early. Grabbed my cell phone and went to a nearby coffee shop, thinking I’d read a newspaper and call sometime after eight.

  Maybe I wasn’t the only one with time on their hands. Shortly after seven my cell phone rang. It was Josie.

  “Aren’t you up yet? I’ve been waiting for your call for the last hour or so. Dad’s got something important for you to do and he wants you to get on it right away.”

  “He wants me to murder somebody?”

  “Don’t be silly. He’s got something serious for you to do. Something you’ll really like. Besides, I need you up here. Can I come and get you now?”

  “Sure,” I said. “I’m ready. I’m out having breakfast already. So what’s the big job he’s got for me? Give me a hint.”

  “Nope, I promised Daddy I wouldn’t tell. Get into some decent clothes. I’ll be there before you know it.”

  I dashed back to my rooms. I wasn’t sure what she meant by decent clothes. She knew all my new clothes were up there. I didn’t have anything fancy, so I ended up jumping into clean khakis, a shirt and a light jacket, plus boat shoes. I hoped she came in a car, not her cycle. I certainly wasn’t dressed for a motorcycle ride, but I figured she knew that.

  Much sooner than I expected I heard Josie honk her horn and rushed downstairs.

  “How the hell’d you get here so fast?”

  “That wasn’t so fast,” she laughed. “I’ve done it faster.”

  I looked to see if she was kidding me and got a big wink for my trouble.

  “Actually, I got lucky,” she admitted. “I was already in the car when I called you, so I just took off. And then, more luck, I caught every green light on the way. I didn’t have to stop once. Anyway, I’m here. You’re here. Let’s get going. Oh, yeah, Daddy said for you to bring your latest sailing magazine.Latitude something?”

  “Latitude 38? Why does he want that?”

  “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him yourself.” She didn’t look like she didn’t know.

  On the way I tried to trick her into telling me what Smitty’s big secret was, but she outsmarted me every time. She asked me if any jobs had turned up for me while we were in Sacramento and I had to tell her no.

  Her response surprised me. “Good!” she said, but wouldn’t elaborate, just a, “Wait till we get home!”

  A short time later we were there and I went in, wondering what kind of cuckoo idea he was going to lay on me this time.

  “Casey, everything okay? You all rested up and ready to go to work?”

  “Uuuuuh, I guess so?”

  “Josie, grab him and wait for me in the dining room. Does he know what we’re talking about?”

  “Not a word, Dad!”

  “Okay, I’ll be there in a sec.”

  “C’mon you, I’ll get us some coffee.”

  I followed Josie into the dining room and dropped myself in a chair, wondering what in the hell I was getting into now.

  Smitty and the coffee arrived at the same time. His first question caught me entirely off guard. I’d been mentally preparing myself for a whole list of nasty options, but nothing remotely like what he wanted to talk about.

  “Have you been down to see my boat since the explosion and fire?”

  I had to admit I hadn’t.

  “What’d you think of her condition that night?”

  “Jeez, I don’t know, Smitty. She was still floating, which is a good thing. But her whole topside was either burnt or blasted into the stratosphere in the explosion.”

  “A couple of the guys have been down there and they’re telling me she’s still afloat, that she looked better now than she did that night. They said she’s a horrible mess, but the mess is almost all above the water line. They think she could be salvaged and rebuilt. What do you think?”

  “The truth? I think she should have been hauled right away. I doubt it’d be worth your while to rebuild. I can go down and look at her but I really don’t expect much.”

  “Okay, that’s what I want you to do. She wasn’t insured, so I can’t just go out and buy a new one. If she’s salvageable that’s what I want to do.”

  I nodded.

  “So here’s my proposition. I’ll pay you five hundred bucks to do a complete survey and see what you think. If you need to have her hauled, I’ll pay for that too. Take a week and see what you can find out. If you think she can be saved, I’ll give you five hundred a week to oversee the job. What d’ya think? Oh, wait. Before you answer, there’s one more thing. I’ve got a two-year-old Toyota pickup you can have. You’ll need wheels to get around in and pick stuff up with. So…what d’ya think?”

 
I was shocked. We’d gradually come to trust each other sort of. But I’d had no inkling that he might trust me this much. It was an exciting offer, but go to work for an outlaw gang chief? On the other hand there was Josie.

  CHAPTER 78

  I looked at Josie. She was beaming.

  Rebuild a 40 foot yacht? I wasn’t sure I was up to that.

  “Smitty, you know I’ve got a lot of experience with sailing, but I’ve never built a boat. It sounds exciting and I really want to do it, but are you sure I’m the right guy?”

  “Casey, lad. You’ve got common sense, a lot of boat experience and I trust you. We can buy the expertise we need, so don’t worry about that. Say yes!”

  I hemmed and hawed, even though I knew I was going to jump at his offer.

  He threw in a cincher. “Look, I’m gonna do it anyway and I’d rather spend the money on you than a bunch of strangers at the boat yard. Okay?”

  “Okay. Yes. You got a deal! How about if Josie and I take a run down there right now?”

  “That’s my man!”

  He handed me five hundred dollars cash, and said, “You’re hired! Oh, and by the way, Casey, you’re pickup’s waitin’ for you in the garage.”

  Talk about confidence in your own plans.

  In the garage, just like Smitty said, was a blue two door Toyota pickup. It’d be perfect for boat work.

  “Surprised?”

  “Overwhelmed! Where’d he get the pick up? Does he own it? What if I’d said no?”

  “He’s had a guy cleaning it up at the shop for the past week, and it’s already registered in your name.”

  “Did you know about all this?”

  “Not until this morning. Can you imagine? Dad can really keep a secret!” She added, “We have to talk!”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “I want to work with you, on the boat and stuff! And besides, like the old song says, ‘I’ve grown accustomed to your face.’”

  “You really mean it? Me too! The accustomed to your face thing. It’ll be much easier with two of us.”

  “Next, where are you going to stay? I’m moving back to my house.”

  “I’d planned on going back to my digs. It’s pretty handy to the boat.”

  “So is my place!”

  “Is that an invitation?”

  “Maybe. Let’s think about it.”

  Wow, suddenly, out of the blue, I’ve got myself a job, a vehicle, a business partner, and maybe a move-in girlfriend! I’m really flying!

  My first impression was pretty demoralizing. TheJezebel was lying just as she had been immediately after the fire. Smitty’s neighbor’s boat was gone. The boat wasn’t insured and no one wanted it, so the yardmaster had it towed away and destroyed.

  Josie took one look at theJezebel and threw her hands up. She couldn’t see any hope of restoring it. I wasn’t so sure. Smitty’s gang had pumped a lot of water out of her, but I hoped that most of the water had come from the fire hoses. She’d been sitting there for over a week and was still afloat. Should be a fairly good sign the hull was intact.

  “Josie,” I said, maybe she can be saved. We need to clear all the burnt crap off the topside so I can get in, and then probably put her on the hard and get a good look at the hull.”

  “On the hard?”

  “Yeah, get her outta the water.”

  “How do you do that?”

  “Good question. There’s a hoist here. I’m not sure it’s big enough to handle her though. Tell you what, let’s find out.”

  We walked up to the dock master’s office. When we told him what we were thinking of doing, he assured us that the hoist had lifted boats bigger than Smitty’s– but that he didn’t have insurance any more and was reluctant to let us use it. After some friendly talk and a cup of coffee, he decided that if Smitty’d sign a release, he’d let him use it.

  “One obstacle down. Josie identified– and solved– another one: she said she was positive a bunch of the guys would happily come down and help us clean off the top of the boat. I pointed out that she didn’t know how big a job that’d be. It wasn’t just the fire-damaged cabin. The masts, the spars and all the rigging had to be carted away too. On top of that, I had to figure a way to tow the hull over to the lift.

  First thing, though, we had to get the mess off the deck. Josie made two calls and, within an hour, a half dozen bikers were lined up, ready to come right down and get started. I had to delay them.

  Port authorities are real strict about working on boats in the water. We had to figure out a place to put all the burnt wood. Walking up and down the two docks, trying to think of a place to put all that stuff, I noticed an old World War II landing craft in one of the berths – the ones with the hinged front that dropped down so the troops could disembark.

  It took all morning, but we finally located the owner and he agreed, for a price, to let us use it to as a floating dumpster. We had to promise him to clean it up and restore it to its original condition after we were done with it. Which was kind of a joke. It was in pretty lousy condition.

  Once that was set, I told Josie we could go ahead and have the guys come down that afternoon. “In the meantime, if I can get hold of some good bolt cutters, we can start cutting the mast and back stays away. However, I donot want you on the boat – or the dock even – when I do that,” I told her. “Some of those stays may be under tension and whip around when I cut them.”

  “What are stays?” And so began Josie’s nautical education.

  “Stays are the heavy wires that support the masts and rigging. The mast’s down, but it’s still fastened to the stays and the rigging.” I pointed to a few examples.

  Borrowing a bolt cutter from a neighboring boat, I set to work on the rigging. The mast was mostly in the water, having fallen sideways over the boat that’d been towed away. The forestay was still attached and taut as a drum, but the rest of the stays were slack and cutting them was no problem.

  The forestay worried me. There was no way to relieve the pressure on it. If I simply cut it with the bolt cutter, I had no idea where that quarter inch thick wiring might end up. Wire that thick under that much tension could snap your head off. Frankly, it scared me. Smitty had given me the name of a rigger nearby, and I decided I’d better ask for help. I gave him a call. He said he’d be right over and thought maybe he could handle the problem.

  The rigger, a guy named Harry, got there in about half an hour, took a long look at the problem and said, “I dunno’. That stay’s tighter’n a drum. I cut that and she’s gonna kick back and kill somebody, sure as shootin’.”

  “That’s why I called you. Smitty said you were the best. How about moving the mast to relieve the pressure?”

  “Thought of that, wouldn’t do no good. That stay’s too rigid.”

  “We gotta do something.”

  “I’m thinkin’. Maybe there is a way. At least it’s worth a try. Run up to my truck and grab my come-along outta the back,” he said, recruiting me to be his helper. “You know what a come-along looks like?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then you’ll know this one when you see it. It’s bright yellow. Looks like a regular come-along on steroids. I’m gonna stay here and clear away some of the sail debris and junk so we can see what we’re doing.”

  It was immediately apparent why Harry sent me to get the come-along. This thing wasverybig andvery heavy. It was an industrial-strength come-along. No– make that the mother of all come-along. I couldn’t see how he could cut the stay without killing someone.

  “Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do,” said Harry. “Clamp these wire clamps on the forestay. Make sure they’re really,reallytight. When they’re on, we’ll attach the chain from the come-along to them, and the other end to the deck plate at the bow. When we’re very,very sure that the connections are secure, we can gradually transfer the load from the forestay to the chain on the come-along.”

  “Got it,” I said. “When the strain’s on the come-along, we cut
the forestay then gradually release the strain on the come-along. Great idea.”

  “If it works. gotta make sure we have plenty of chain to tighten, that stay’s really taut.” Sounded good. We were in good hands. However, what he said next put me back on full alert.

  “Okay. Get everybody off the dock. That damn stay’s thirty feet or more. With the mast on its side like it is, I have no idea where that stay might go if the come-along let’s go. That thing could be a killer.”

  CHAPTER 79

  I helped Harry get everything rigged up, then took Josie and retreated to the head of the dock. Very slowly he took the tension up with his monster come-along. Nothing seemed to be happening for pull after pull. I was afraid he was going to pull the deck plate off the bow. Gradually, oh so gradually, a slight sag in the stay developed. Without hesitation, he grabbed the pair of bolt cutters and cut. The portion of the stay from the masthead was still taught but now it was secured to the come along and Harry could gradually release it. In a short time the head stay was loosened and we were in no danger

  I didn’t find out until later that Harry had never tried this particular maneuver before. But that’s what riggers do. He gave me his card and said to get in touch with him when we got to the point of replacing all the rigging.

  Nothing was worth saving. The stays were cut up with bolt cutters. The mast had to be sawn into pieces using a reciprocal saw. It was all junk now and ended up in the converted landing craft.

  One of the old timer live-aboards sidled up to me and asked a question.

  “Did I hear you’re gonna use the old lift on her?”

  “Yeah, if I can figure a way to get her there.”

  “Fifty bucks and I’ll get her there.”

  “Really? How?”

  He was cagey. “If I tell you, you’ll do it yourself. Give me a handshake on fifty bucks and I’ll tell you how I’ll do it.”