Bonefish Blues

by Steven Becker

  She followed him past several work stations to a glass-fronted office. Even the big dogs got no privacy here.

  He went to the desk and hit several keys on his computer. “Come around here and watch this.”

  She moved around the desk and watched the screen. The dancing fish made her smile, but only until she saw the banner on the bottom of the screen. “Yeah?”

  “It’s Flamingo Key. This thing got on YouTube yesterday, and now it’s gone viral. There’s almost 1.2 million hits now.”

  Her breath caught and she tried to remain calm, “Okay, but what’s that got to do with us?”

  “I went to pull the file, you know, just out of curiosity about where this kid might have got this, and it’s not there.” He looked at her, waiting, “You were the last one to check it out. Twice this week.”

  She looked up at the ceiling, and then down at her hands as she told him about the inquiries from the scarfaced man and then Will. “It must still be at my desk,” she got up, “Gimme a few. I’ll be right back.”

  Without waiting for a response she took off out of his office. It took all the willpower she had not to run out of the building, but she controlled herself. At her desk she moved some files around while she thought. There was no way she could have told him where the file was. That at the least would have landed a black mark on her record and possibly cost her job. But now, caught in a lie, she told the clerk at the next desk that she was going to lunch, got up and went for the door. She had to think.

  Despite the early afternoon heat, she walked. She went out 99th Street and crossed US 1, then left on the Heritage trail, a bike and jogging path that ran parallel with the highway. The shade of the trees should have cooled her, but by now she was sweating. Will had intrigued her, maybe more than that, she admitted to herself. There might be some boyfriend potential there. She just hoped the action on their first date was not a window into his life. It didn’t seem that way.

  Checking her watch she realized that half her lunch was gone and she turned around. Still no text back from Will, but she knew he had a charter and might be out of range. It wasn’t lost on her that she was becoming protective, making excuses in her mind for him already. Now she just had to figure a way to stall her boss for a couple of hours and get the file back.

  A long line waiting for help greeted her when she entered the air conditioned office twenty minutes later. She made a quick detour to the ladies room to freshen up and then went for her desk. Usually dreading this kind of line, she was thankful today. Waiting made the customers cranky and they usually took out their frustrations about the permit process and burdensome regulations on her. But today it was the perfect excuse to dodge her boss.

  ***

  Will’s boat turned the corner into the basin, the two anglers aboard talking loudly and toasting with their beers. Will looked toward the seawall and saw Cody’s Grady-White. His heart went still and he looked anxiously around, hoping Cody had finished early and was on his usual barstool next door. When he was sure no one was there, he steered toward his slip and saw Matt pedaling hard down the driveway. Matt must have seen him because he hopped off his bike and ran to the dock. The boy stood waiting as the boat coasted to a stop and he tossed Will the dock lines.

  “I’ve got some fish to clean if you want to make a few bucks. My boys here did pretty well on the snapper,” Will called.

  Matt shook his head, his face pale. “I really need to talk to you first. Give me a minute and I’ll help you out.”

  Will turned toward the two men. “Why don’t you guys go up and have a few beers at the bar across the street? I’ll bring your fillets over as soon as I clean up. We can settle up then.” He watched the men walk away. When they were out of earshot, he went to Matt. “What’s up?” He didn’t really want an answer after the revelations about the Braken clan in the last day. As much as he liked Matt, he was still a Braken. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

  “That scarfaced dude … he’s got Mom.” Matt was almost in tears.

  “Slow down and tell me what happened.” Will moved toward the boy, hoping to calm him.

  Matt paced back and forth, clearly upset, as he told the story.

  “You think this is all about a YouTube video? Why didn’t you just take it down?”

  “I thought she was overreacting. You know, like mothers do. I had no idea —”

  “He hasn’t called you?”

  Matt looked at his phone and shook his head. “Nothing.”

  “OK, slow it down. He wants the video down and you want your mom back safe. You’ve watched enough TV to know how this is going to play out. First he’ll get somewhere safe, then he’ll contact you. We just have to make something work so you can take down the video as he releases her.” Matt was still pacing, turning his back so Will couldn’t see his face, “Maybe we ought to stay together. There’s nothing we can do until he calls.” He went back to the boat and pulled the fish box out from underneath the leaning post. With a grunt, he lifted it on the dock. “Let’s clean these real quick and maybe he’ll have called by then. We can figure out an exchange scenario while we do it.”

  Matt went for the cooler and opened the lid. “Damn nice fish, Will. What’s up with you taking so many?”

  “Got some money problems I’ve got to sort out. Come on.” They each grabbed a handle and headed for the cleaning table. Once there, they worked in silence, “Slow down Matt, destroying the meat is not going to get her back.” He was filled with as much anxiety as Matt, but tried to work slowly and methodically as they filleted and bagged the catch.

  Matt checked his phone again while Will hosed down the table. Just as they were about to walk away, Cody pulled into the lot. “Crap, let me grab something off the boat and let’s get out of here,” Will said. He ran toward the boat, hopped onto the deck, and retrieved Sheryl’s bag from the compartment. He slung it over his shoulder and ran back toward Matt. Too late, Cody was standing there eyeing the catch.

  “What’s this, then? You been on my spot?”

  “Wouldn’t go near that place. I got my own numbers.”

  Cody turned to Matt. “Hear that? Fly fishing dude’s got his own numbers.” He turned to Will, and eyed Sheryl’s bag. “Nice bag. Listen, catch and release boy, we gotta talk about last night. I maybe had a few beers and a rowdy charter. Didn’t mean you no harm.”

  “Sure, Cody,” Will said as he tried to move past him. “No harm, no foul.” He grabbed the fish off the table and went to his truck, relieved that Cody had been so easy. His concern for Matt had his Cody radar offline; he didn’t realize it had been too easy. He started to walk toward the bar, fillets in a bucket at his side, ready to hand them over and collect for the charter.

  Chapter 14

  Nicole was balled up in the corner of Braken’s office. Her top was off and bra torn. Pagliano leered over her, the look in his eyes clearly threatening more if she did not comply. She knew what he wanted — there was only one thing left. Matt had already responded that he would take the video down and they had both watched as the video disappeared from YouTube. She had turned to leave, her freedom on the other side of the office door, but he stopped her.

  “I got no assurance that he won’t post it again after he knows you’re safe. See, back in the day, there were real pictures with negatives. Once you had those, it was money in the bank. These days, with the Internet this and that, you never know. I think me and you are gonna spend some time together.”

  That’s when the assault started. She searched for safety, finding it temporarily in the corner, crammed in the space with the couch on one side and bookcase on the other. He seemed satisfied for the moment, talking on his phone, assuring someone that everything was under control.

  The feeling she had was that everything being under control was her never seeing Matt again.

  That realization steeled her. The only escape would be through the door. The office was a second-story space with parking below. At least a twelve-foot fall fr
om the window, if she could even make it out. Who knew when the windows had last been opened, Braken was an air conditioning fiend. The door was at least twenty feet across the room. He’d catch her before she got there. Her only hope was to stay where she was and pray for a miracle. Unfortunately, she had been here before. Cody had been a mean drunk, and abused her several times before she finally left him. Pagliano had been around Braken long enough for her to know that people disappeared if they met his displeasure. If she were going to die there was no way she was going easily.

  “Get out of that hole, would ya? I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “Yeah, right. I’m good here.” She squeezed her knees to her chest.

  He went towards her and grabbed her hair; the only part of her he could get at. She screamed as he yanked it and pulled her to her feet. He slapped her once and was in the middle of his windup when the door opened.

  “What the hell’s going on in here?” Braken stood in the doorway.

  “Get me away from this maniac!” Nicole screamed. “Matt took down the video like he wanted. He promised to let me go, and now look!” She held her head up so he could see the bruises already forming. She watched him waver; face red, seersucker pants shimmering as his legs shook.

  “Come on Joey,” he pleaded. “The girl did what you wanted. You need to let her go.”

  Pagliano turned and pushed Nicole to the couch. “You talkin’ to me,” It wasn’t a question. “I think a little more respect is in order.”

  “Say something, you spineless coward,” Nicole yelled at Braken as she curled into a ball to protect herself.

  “This one over here.” Pagliano pointed at Nicole, his face red. “She’s trouble. Me and you gonna go take her on a boat ride. Feed some fish, you know.” He was moving around like a cornered animal, ready to attack.

  Braken shied away. “No way. You’ve gone too far this time. I’ve gone along with some of your over-the-top shit in the past but not this time. She is the mother of my grandchild,” he pleaded. “I will —”

  “You will do as I say. She’s right about the spineless coward thing.” He reached down and pulled a small pistol from an ankle holster. “Now, do we have a problem?”

  “No sir, Joey,” Braken slumped and moved towards the door.

  “Go check if anyone is out there. I’ll be a few paces behind you.” He looked at Nicole.“Cause any trouble, anything, and I’ll drop you right here. You’ll never see that boy of yours again.”

  Her blouse retrieved from the floor, she did the best she could to cover herself. Getting shot was not an option. She was going to need to find another way out of this.

  As she crossed the threshold her phone vibrated in her back pocket.

  ***

  Matt barreled into Will nearly knocking him over as he was leaving the bar.

  “He says if I take it down he’ll release my mom!” he yelled although they were practically on top of each other.

  “Hold on,” Will needed to calm him down, “ We’ve got to stay with the plan. If you just take it down he might not keep his end of the deal.”

  “I don’t care. I’m going to do it right now.” His thumbs flew across the screen of his phone.

  “Hold on.” He had to calm the boy down. His cell phone vibrated and he reached in his pocket and withdrew the phone, Need the bag, now! Read the display Bring it to building department.

  Will put the phone back in his pocket and watched over Matt’s shoulder as he opened the YouTube app on his phone and logged in. They leaned against the truck, using it to shade the screen. He watched as Matt deleted the video. “Okay, now text her and let her know.”

  Matt typed in the message and hit send. “Two million hits. Damn.”

  “As long as he releases her, it’s all good. Someone with some influence may have seen it, and will stop them from developing the island.” Suddenly he remembered the text from Sheryl and got in the truck. “Come on. I have to meet someone. Maybe we can pick up your mom on the way.”

  Matt didn’t take his eyes off his phone during the ride to the Building Department. Will felt badly, but was starting to realize how bad Pagliano was - at least a level ten psychopath.

  “Don’t worry Matt, he’ll call,” He tried to reassure him as they pulled into the parking lot of the building department. It was hard to believe just yesterday he had first met Sheryl. “Wait here. As soon as she calls, get me and we’ll go get her.”

  He got through the door just as they were locking up with an urgent plea to see Sheryl. Will took the bag and went inside. Just before he lost sight of the parking lot he looked over his shoulder at Matt, sitting in the passenger seat, oblivious of the heat, head down staring at the phone.

  Two customers remained at Sheryl’s desk when he walked in. He sat in the closest chair and waited, watching her as she worked. The couple finished their business and he almost ran into them in his rush to get to her, “Here you go. Sorry it took so long. I was out with a charter, and didn’t get your text until I got back,” he blurted.

  “Easy. No problem.” She smiled and reached for the bag. “My boss saw that I logged the files out. Now he’s all hot, but this ought to settle him down.” She tapped the bag.

  “Don’t you think we should tell him about what we found? Somebody has to do something.”

  She thought for a moment. “He’s not exactly Mr. Action, but he’ll listen, and maybe know what to do. Alright.”

  Will turned away.

  “Where are you going? I’m not going in there alone.”

  Reluctantly, he followed her as they went deep into the maze of cubicles and offices. They went to the glass-fronted office and Sheryl tapped lightly on the door. The man looked up and signaled for them to enter. He stood and shook Will’s hand. “About time Sheryl’s got a boyfriend. Name’s Adams, Bill Adams.”

  Sheryl looked wounded by his comment. She handed him the file. “Here it is. I think we should tell you that we went out there and had a look around.”

  Will watched as Bill’s head bobbed, more of a tick than a nod as Sheryl spoke. At the point in the story where they saw the tanks, he got the feeling that this was not the guy to be telling this to. His brow was starting to furrow as she spoke and nothing had even happened yet. It was evident from his face and body language that he was the epitome of a mid level bureaucrat. This was not someone who was going to help. He tapped her shoulder and stopped her. Apparently she had the same feeling or read his mind as she quickly stopped.

  “That’s quite a story.” He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

  “Who are you calling?” Sheryl asked.

  He looked sternly at them. “I’m calling the sheriff. You stole a file and trespassed on private property. This could look bad - like you were working for us. No. I have to do this to clear the department. They’ll deal with you, and by the way, you’re fired for stealing the files.”

  She stood. “You piece of crap. I’ll bring you up on sexual harassment charges for all your little innuendoes. Come on,” she muttered, grabbing her bag. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Will followed her out the door, almost at a run. “Where are you parked? What about the police? He said he was going to call the sheriff,” Will said as they reached her car.

  “I don’t know what to do,” she reached for him.

  He hugged her, “The best thing we can do is go to the sheriff and report it ourselves before he calls. The office is five minutes away.”

  Matt was walking towards them, “I haven’t heard anything. Maybe we should go to the police.”

  “That’s what we were just saying,” Will said as he kept an arm around Sheryl’s shoulder and guided her to his truck. The last thing he wanted to do was to lay this mess out in front of an officer, but what else was he going to do.

  Chapter 15

  Pagliano pushed Nicole into the back seat, then got in next to her. She huddled against the door, but he still felt too close. A quick glance at the door handle revealed
that the door was unlocked. She thought about getting out right now, and started to make a move for the handle but he was faster and reached across her, rubbed against her breast as he locked the door.

  “Try anything stupid, and I’ll knock your sweet ass out.” He turned to Braken. “Hit the childproof lock thing. I don’t want to lose her.”

  The automatic locks clicked, sealing her prison. She knew from raising Matt that the windows would not work either. A solid wall on one side and the leering Joey Pagliano on the other. She started to cry.

  Braken pulled onto the road. “Where to?”

  “The marina, you idiot. Find that worthless son of yours. We need his boat.”

  Braken lifted his phone to his ear, waiting for Cody to answer. “He’s not answering. I’ll text him.”

  “We don’t need him. This time of day he’s probably in some bar drinking. Worthless shit. You got another key?” Pagliano was getting impatient.

  “The old man that runs the place probably has one.” Braken said as he turned off US 1.

  With every passing minute Nicole knew her chances of staying alive were slipping away. She desperately sought escape, but with a locked door and Pagliano next to her she would have to wait until they got out of the car before she could do anything. She hoped Will might be around and be able to help, but after his cowardly performance the other night she doubted he would be much help. He had not met her expectations as a protector or provider. Time was getting shorter as Braken pulled into the gravel lot and parked under a shade tree.

  “I’ll stay here with this one.” Pagliano grinned at Nicole. “Go get the key and start up the boat. Send me a text when you’re ready for us.”

  Nicole watched as Braken got out, leaving her alone with Pagliano. As soon as Braken was out of sight he leaned closer and started to fondle her. With nothing to loose she lashed out with an elbow, catching him in the nose. Blood started to trickle down his face.

  “Now, now. Is that any way to treat Uncle Joey?” He slapped her and grabbed her by the chin making her focus on him, “Listen good, because the life of your son is on the line here. You are going to get out of the car and walk nicely to the boat. You are going to get on the boat and sit down. You are not going to start any shit, or your son is dead.”