Til There Was U

by Dianne Castell

  Shiny eyes glowed in the dark, Max lying on the ground. “What’s up, boy?” Effie petted him, her hand suddenly sticky with . . . She held it up in the faint moonlight slicing through the tree. “Blood.” She hissed, “Those sons of bitches shot our Max.”

  Chapter 17

  Thelma whispered, “Suddenly I’m not feeling all that weak. Those assholes are after my babe, shot Max and tracked mud all over my carpets. Fact is, I’m feeling pissed as hell.”

  Effie bent down and scooped her arms under Max and grunted as she lifted him. “You’re okay, boy.”

  She stood, got a better grip and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Walking fast, she followed Thelma to the road. “Keep to the side and tiptoe.”

  “And just how am I supposed to tiptoe on gravel?”

  Frogs did their nightly serenade, and the river gently lapped the shore as Effie followed Thelma to the first bend, a dim overhead light illuminating the road. Effie thought of better times, and at the moment there were a ton of them, but kissing Ryan at this very spot got top pick. What a kiss. What a guy.

  Max whimpered, and she told him to think about steak bones and chasing balls. A crescent moon reflected off the water, stars twinkled. A few lights here and there lit the dock, and three tows bobbed gently at their moorings.

  Thelma said, “So far so good. The perpetrators don’t even know we’re here.”

  Effie stared. “Perpetrators?”

  “Always wanted to use that word. Doubt if I’ll ever get a better chance.”

  “I hope not. I’d so much rather be at Slim’s ruining my arteries.” They headed for the office boat when Bonnie let out an ear-piercing bellow that rivaled any barge horn. Thelma stopped dead. “Oh, sweet Jesus. Not now, little bit.”

  Bonnie bellowed again, and Thelma turned to Effie, who said, “Maybe they didn’t hear?”

  “Honey, folks in New Orleans heard. Those guys know we’re down here. The phone’s too far away, and by the time help comes we—”

  “The boats.” Effie nodded to the Mississippi Miss next to her.

  “Hide there?” Thelma’s wide eyes shone against the darkness. “Too obvious.”

  “Hide on the water.” Gauging the swells, Effie carefully stepped from the dock onto the deck and put Max down, then helped Thelma as she cradled a howling Bonnie. Effie said, “I’ll take the baby. You cast off the lines and get us out of here.”

  Thelma stepped onto the deck. “Come again?”

  “You can’t steer this boat with a baby in your arms, so I’ll stay down here and—”

  “Wait a minute!” Thelma gave one big wag of her head and said over another ear-piercing yell, “What makes you think I can run a tow?” Her eyes rounded to the size of a full moon.

  Effie pointed at her. “The fact that you’ve lived with the O’Fallons for most of your life. Surely you’ve—”

  “Cooked and cleaned and kept house and minded babies. I hate heights, and I’m not too fond of water, if you must know. Didn’t Ryan show you something when you were running the other day?” Thelma gave her a cocky look. “Probably showed you plenty, none of it doing us any good now.”

  “I live in a condo, drive a Volvo. The only big machinery I operate is an automatic elevator.”

  “Someone’s on the gravel road. There’s a fishing boat behind the office at the far end. We could try that.”

  Bonnie let out another yell. “We’ll never make it.”

  Effie jumped back to the dock, threw off the lines, then headed for the steps, not bothering to be quiet. What was the use in that with bellowing Bonnie on board? Effie’s lungs threatened to explode when she got to the wheel-house and opened the door. Least that’s what she wanted to do. Locked! “No!” She banged her head against the glass door.

  She spotted a cone from a flashlight on the bend in the road, and voices trailed her way. Thelma yelled, “Hurry up.”

  “What do you think I’m doing? Where the hell did Ryan hide that damn key? How’d I wind up on a towboat on the Mississippi with bad guys after me? I’m a damn architect!”

  She felt over the doorway, and her fingers connected with a key. Shaking, she jammed it into the lock, turned and wrenched open the door. She flipped on the lights and looked at the control panel. Oh, Lordy! Why had it looked so much simpler when Ryan was here?

  She pushed down the black button, and the engines powered to life, the familiar rumbling gyrating clear into her bones. Thank God. “Now, which stick-thingy works the back of the boat, the front, and gets us the hell out of here?”

  She flipped on all the switch-marked lights, and a floodlight came on. Least she could see the dock if she screwed up big time and plowed into it.

  She shoved the long bronze stick left, pushed the chrome handle forward that added power and prayed she didn’t mow over the other tows tied up and probably take down half of Memphis along the way. “Hope everyone’s got their insurance paid up.”

  Flashlights played against the docks as men ran toward the Mississippi Miss.

  “Oh, shit! Oh, shit!” She gave the engines more power and steered out into the river, leaving the dock and the bad guys behind. If her heart beat any faster, it would pop right out of her chest, and if there was a Mississippi goddess, she just smiled on Effie, until the monitor on the console started to beep. Beeping monitors were never good, on land or sea. At least on land she could call the IT department.

  A black blip meaning boat ahead showed on the screen. The beeping grew louder; it was headed her way. She picked up the mike contraption that looked like a fat cell phone, pressed the button on the side and yelled, “Help! Somebody out there on the river. Help! Oh, I think I’m supposed to say Mayday. Uh, yeah. Mayday, whatever the hell that means, this is the Mississippi Miss and I’m Effie Wilson and I’ve just pulled out from O’Fallon’s Landing with Thelma and baby Bonnie and a wounded dog that some creeps shot and who are now chasing after us. I don’t know how to steer this boat, so you all out there in radio land will have to steer around me. And if someone can call Ryan O’Fallon at Slim’s and tell him to get his butt out here right now, I would really appreciate it. Dammit, where is that man when I need him? Just ignore that last part.”

  She let go of the mike, and it came to life with, “Uh, Mississippi Miss, this is the Jenny O. What the hell’s going on over there?”

  Effie pressed the button. “I’ve got Rory O’Fallon’s baby on board, and some men, least I think they’re men, that’s kind of sexist, isn’t it?” She was clearly losing her mind. “Some people are trying to get Bonnie because they’re after Mimi, that’s Bonnie’s mother, and they think if they get the baby, Mimi will show up to get her back and they can grab her, for what reason none of us knows. What if they get a boat and come after me?”

  “Mississippi Miss, this is Jenny O. I’m not sure what in blue-blazes you just said, but it sounds like you got more troubles than a dog’s got fleas, so I’m thinking you should hide out.”

  “Uh, this is a really big boat, Jenny O; and all I see is a bunch of open water.”

  “Kill all your lights and cut your engines. There’s only a spit of a moon, and you’ll fade into the night, least for a while. The other tows can spot you on their radar, and I’ll put out the word you got problems. You just sit tight now, you hear. Whoever’s after you will lose you in the dark, and we’ll get someone to help. It takes two miles to stop the Jenny, and I’ll be long past you to do any good.”

  Effie shut down everything, casting the tow in total darkness, the only sound the approaching Jenny some ways off and to her left. Was that the port or starboard? And why in the world didn’t they just call it right and left in the first place?

  An eerie quiet hung over the Miss as it swayed with river swells and flowed south with the current. Quietly she backed down the stairs, letting her body move with the boat so as not to fall. When she got to the bottom Thelma said, “Why are we stopping? You were doing real great. I w
as impressed all to pieces.”

  “How’s Max?”

  Thelma grinned, her teeth white against the darkness. “Used my bra to stop the bleeding. Nothing like a full-figured cup size and a lot of spandex to do the job right. Why’d you turn out all the lights?”

  “No one can see us. Not that the bad guys could come after us anyway unless they find the runabout.”

  “I was feeling pretty good ‘til you threw in the runabout. What if Bonnie yells again?” Thelma kissed the baby’s forehead. “This one’s like a homing device.”

  “Take her into the deck cabin. That will muffle the sound a little. I’ll stay out here and keep a lookout.”

  “You should have a weapon.”

  Effie unsnapped an orange buoy ring from the side of the deck cabin, and Thelma said, “You’re supposed to incapacitate evildoers, honey. Not save them.”

  Effie measured the weight in her hands. “It’s solid and heavy. I’ll hide behind that big coil of line.” She nodded to the thick rope she’d measured when out here with Ryan. “If they come on board, wham.” She made a swinging motion with the buoy. “I’ll get them right in the gut and over they’ll go into the river. Ta-da!”

  “I think you’ve been reading too much Huck Finn.”

  “Wait ‘til you see me play poker and smoke cigars.”

  “Oh, sweet Jesus!”

  ———

  Ryan bought one of the River Rat deckhands he knew a beer and showed him the pictures of the guys asking about Mimi down in Memphis. The answer was the same, never seen them before. Least whoever was tracking Mimi hadn’t gotten to the Landing . . . yet.

  Demar sat at the other end of the bar, talking to Sally, but when Ryan looked his way he seemed to be glancing back, as if more interested in what Ryan had to say than Sally.

  Rory parked next to Ryan as Howlin’ Wolf’s “Goin’ Down Slow” purred from the jukebox. Rory took a long drink of his beer and leaned his elbows on the bar. “Well, I’m having squat for luck. Nobody here knows these guys from Adam. You doing any better?”

  Ryan hunched his shoulders. “The same.” He flicked the picture. “But I bet they’re headed here. They’re on to something. When they show up we’ll get them and find out who and why—”

  “Hey,” Sally said as she hurried over to Ryan, her brows arched. “We got a little problem. Dad just got a ship-to-shore call for you from the Jenny O. The Mississippi Miss is in the middle of the channel at marker one sixty-eight, and Effie Wilson’s at the helm along with an injured Max, Thelma and Bonnie. Someone’s after her, and she needs help fast. Holy crap!”

  Ryan exchanged looks with his dad, who slid from his stool and hustled his way past the tables, heading for the door, saying, “Christ-in-a -sidecar, boy. Get a move on.”

  Ryan ran after his dad, not catching up ‘til halfway to the Suburban. They jumped into the car, and Demar suddenly appeared at the passenger side window and poked his head inside. “Hey, we need to talk.”

  “No time,” Rory said as he fired the engine. “We got ourselves a crisis situation.”

  “I’m a cop, working with the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office.” He thrust a silver badge their way. “I’m looking for Mimi; her real name’s Jolie Bains. Whoever’s after your baby might know where she is.”

  Rory scowled at Demar. “You saying my Mimi’s into something bad and you expect me to help you find her? Like hell!” He put the car in gear.

  “I’m saying she’s in a heap of trouble and somebody needs to find her fast.”

  “Damnation!” Rory slammed his hand against the dashboard, then hitched his chin to the back. “Climb in. But if you think my Mimi’s done something illegal, I’m not buying it.”

  Demar took a seat. Rory headed for the dock as Demar added, “All we know is that she worked for River Environs and they’re under investigation for using inferior materials on levees and docks. She contacted the Attorney General’s Office about a year and a half ago saying she suspected wrong-doing. Then suddenly she disappeared.”

  “Well, dangit,” Rory snapped. “That proves straight out she wasn’t involved or she wouldn’t have blown the whistle. The woman’s innocent as the driven snow, I’m telling you, and sticking her neck out to do the right thing proves it.”

  “Could be, but right now a whole passelful of not very nice people are hot on her heels, and that isn’t conducive to a long life. Last night Effie and Thelma and Sally let it slip that Bonnie was yours and Mimi’s, not Ryan’s, and I’m guessing some others picked up on that as well. Whoever they are, they want Mimi bad.”

  Rory swore and skidded into the parking area by the dock. He got out and trotted toward the office, then stopped and peered into the darkness. “Our runabout’s out there on the river. Can tell the hum of that old engine anywhere.”

  Ryan swallowed. “Meaning someone’s gone after the Mississippi Miss.”

  “That’d be my guess.” Rory raked his hair. “Shitfire! And my precious baby girl’s right smack in the middle of this whole mess.”

  Another runabout hummed through the darkness, approaching from downstream, hugging the shore. It glided up to the dock, and Conrad Hastings gave a little salute. “I was at the dry dock working and listening to the radio chatter when I picked up a call from the Mississippi Miss. Called Slim’s, looking for you all, and Sally said you were headed here. Jump in, we gotta go. The girls are out there.”

  Rory grinned. “The girls. Well, I’ll be damned. Whoever thought Conrad Hastings would save the day?” He stepped into the runabout, and Ryan followed, then Demar. Conrad turned the runabout for the river. “Dark as the ace of spades out here. Can’t see a damn thing.”

  Rory rubbed his eyes. “Used to be I could see as good at night as in the day, but no more.”

  Ryan made his way to the bow and studied the darkness, shapes suddenly forming as his vision acclimated the same way it had years ago when he ran tows. Once a river man, always a river man. “Mississippi Miss is dead in the water, to port, about three hundred yards out. Whoever is in our runabout overshot, but looks like they’re doubling back and heading right for the Miss. They won’t overshoot this time. There’s another tow closing in on the Miss. Line hauler to port.”

  Rory said, “Sounds like the Jenny O. Should pass close. Hells bells,” Rory bellowed.

  Conrad opened the runabout engine full throttle, sending the little boat skimming precariously over the surface in the direction Ryan pointed. The hull thumped against the swells. With luck they wouldn’t hit a piece of drift and flip like Thelma turning flapjacks on a hot griddle.

  “See anyone on the Miss?” Rory asked, his tone laced with worry.

  “Too dark for that.” Ryan could barely get the words out around the fear lodging like a softball in his throat. Effie was smart but no match for these thugs. “Our runabout’s pulled up to the Miss’s stern, Conrad. Give her the gas! I think someone’s getting out. Fuck!”

  “I’m closer to the bow,” Conrad said. “I’m heading there.” He slid next to the shallow deck and killed the engine as Ryan tossed a line around a cleat, securing the runabout to the tow. Two men walked down the side of the deck toward the stern as Rory leaped on board, followed by Conrad, who got a ring buoy in the gut along with a, “Take that, you bastard.”

  What the... “Effie?”

  Conrad grunted, stumbled and fell back into the water with a splash, and the men stopped in their tracks. Demar hopped on board the Miss and drew a gun, pointing it their way. “Police! Freeze!”

  “Fuck you!” someone said. Then the two men jumped into the water. Ryan pulled off his shoes and followed. Not to save them, but to retrieve Conrad, who was gasping for air. The buoy had nearly drowned the man, and Thelma would be none too happy if that happened, no matter how many times she’d shot at him herself.

  Ryan swam as Demar yelled, “Where the hell did they go?”

  Ryan dove and snagged Conrad’s shirt and held on ‘til they broke the surface. “Hey, I go
t you, man. Take a deep breath, okay,” Ryan said while treading water.

  “What.. . What happened?”

  “An overanxious architect.” Ryan held on to Conrad and swam for the tug. From the corner of his eyes, he watched the two figures hoist themselves into their boat at the stern and head off into the dark river as Demar ran up the deck, yelling, “We got to get ‘em. They’re getting away. We got to find out what they’re up to.”

  Rory said, “They’re heading into the wake of that line hauler. That’s a piss-poor place to be in a runabout in the middle of the night. Rollers get ten feet and more. They’ll be lucky to survive.”

  Effie bent down and snagged Conrad’s arm. “I thought you were a bad guy.”

  “Reformed,” Conrad said as Rory helped her pull him on deck. Gasping, he flopped over on his back like a landed fish. Effie reached out her hand to Ryan. He took it, their grip holding tight, gazes fusing across the darkness as she said, “What took you so long to get here?”

  Rory took Ryan’s other hand and helped Effie hoist him on board. “Hell, woman,” Ryan said as he stood, dripping water onto the deck. He swiped his face. “We came as fast as we damn well could. Why’d you take the Miss out into the river in the first place?”

  She put her hands to her hips. “Because swimming across it didn’t seem like a real great idea.”

  Thelma came out of the cabin, Bonnie in her arms. “What’s all the commotion?” She looked from Rory to Demar to Ryan, then the deck. “Who’s that?”

  “Conrad,” Rory offered. “Brought us here in his boat to save you. He had a little dunking in the river, but he’ll be okay.”

  Thelma handed Bonnie to Rory and headed for Conrad. She knelt down beside him. “Are you all right?” She smoothed back his hair.

  Even in the darkness, Ryan could see Conrad’s broad grin as he said, “Fit as a fiddle, sugar, now that I know you’re safe. You had me real worried.”

  Rory bounced Bonnie in his arms, making her giggle. Then he kissed her on the cheek. He knelt down beside Max. “Seems everyone’s okay.” He nodded to Ryan. “Why don’t you bring this tow home where it belongs? We need to be getting Max to the vet. Thelma’s got him all trussed up like a Christmas turkey in her brassiere, and I think the poor animal’s suffering terrible from basic male humiliation.”