Smugglers 1: Nikki

by Gerald McCallum

  After coffee she went to the hardware store. When she got back to the dock she went down to meet a new boat that came in for a month. It was a really nice power Catamaran. The 46 footer arrived with two strong young men on board, Brian and Brett. They had just come from Key West and were going to take the Inside to Miami. They would stay a week or more and would let her know by the end of the week. They flirted with Nikki and any other woman they met on the dock, so she figured that they must both be straight. They invited her down for drinks later, but she declined for that night.

  Nikki went to see Mark and then went to her office. Mark was about fortyish, weighed around two hundred pounds and was in good shape. He was also good looking and tan. She spent the night going over the 100 footer in her mind. Had she missed something? A space, a groove, or a hiding spot? After three or four drinks she went to bed. In the morning she got on the 100 footer again. She went through the entire boat again. She’d inspected every inch of the boat, and she had not missed anything. The money was not on the boat. Bill had put it somewhere else. If the cops found a bank safe deposit box with the money she had a chance to sue for it. Other than that she didn’t have a clue as to where it was, but she knew Bill, and he would not share it with Cynthia.

  She had twenty six hundred dollars in cash and less than seven grand in her checking account. The electric bill and garbage bill of about four thousand would be there any day. She was caught up with the bills but she wanted the four million.

  Brett from the new Cat came into the office and said his circuit breaker kept blowing. Nikki and Brett went to find Mark. Mark got a new fifty amp breaker and some tools and followed them to Brett’s pedestal. After shutting off the power, Mark changed out the fifty amp breaker. He said that sometimes the breakers just got tired from being turned off and on all the time. When Mark turned the power back on it ran fine. Brett thanked him and kept flirting with Nikki the entire time they were together.

  Later, Jerry and Loretta came down to meet the new neighbors, Brian and Brett. Nikki returned to her office. The folks from the Sea Cactus took a tour of the Power Cat and then had Brian and Brett on the Sea Cactus for a tour and drinks. Brian and Brett had been out to sea for about two years and had been most places. They had all the toys on board the Cat, sail boards, dive gear, and more. They had spent an entire year in the Bahamas. Nikki went back to the Sea Cactus for drinks and to look at the fine tan, thin young men.

  Brett started to flirt with her as soon as she got aboard. Brian divided his attention between the three of them, Jerry, Loretta and Nikki. Nikki couldn’t help but wonder why Brian and Brett were coming on to all of them or was it just her imagination. Jerry broke out some beef kabobs and put them on the grill. The day was sunny and nice and they ate and drank until about eleven that night. Then Nikki said she was not on vacation and had to work tomorrow. Brett offered to walk her home. When they got to her office Brett went inside and kissed Nikki. She knew that if they started now, they would end up in her bed, so she told Brett, some other time, not tonight. Brett left and Nikki went to bed.

  Then next morning Nikki was on the dock by nine, she noticed that one of the boats that stayed there year round had a hell of a lean. She went back to her office to get the extra keys and find Mark. When she found him they went back to the boat. As she went down the stairs her feet didn’t get wet. Mark found the trouble. The line from the air conditioner going outside was plugged up; the pan under the air unit had overflowed. The bilge pump was shot, so Mark had to fix that, too. Both went to work. She told Mark to keep track of his hours so she could bill Roy and Judy, the couple in New York who owned the 40-foot Regal.

  The couple renting Dave’s apartment showed up and had the rest of the money, which was twenty-two hundred dollars. She gave them the keys so they could start making trips with their stuff. Rita, who would be renting Mercedes’ apartment, would be there today or tomorrow with twenty-two hundred dollars most likely in ones, fives and tens. All of her apartments were totally furnished to the max, including new eight-inch memory foam mattresses.

  Nikki went down to see how Mark was doing. He had replaced the bilge pump and was blowing out the air conditioner tubes with a shop vac. He would be done in an hour or so. She went down the dock and went to work on other things. At around 5:00 p.m., Brett and Brian were on the back of the Sea Cactus with Jerry and Loretta having drinks and they asked her to come aboard. She said she would after she showered and ate, and Brett, flirting again, said he would take half of that action. Nikki just laughed and told them she would see them in less than an hour.

  When she went back to the Sea Cactus she had a vodka low ball in her hand as she boarded. Jerry, who was pouring shots said, “We’re all telling jokes and if everyone doesn’t think it’s funny you have to do a shot. In fact, you must do one now to catch up.”

  “The last time I did shots, I kept having a recurring dream during the night that we took off all my clothes. In the morning when I talked to the other five people on board they all said I was the only one on board who was completely nude and all my clothes were still on board. That meant I walked to the office nude, too,” Nikki said. They all laughed but Nikki took a shot anyhow.

  It was Jerry’s turn to tell a joke. “My eighty-year-old mother, who loves me, told me I can’t get married anymore, I can’t afford it. She also said that she has figured me out and why I had been married three times. She said, you’re gay, you’re a lesbian!

  They all laughed and Loretta laughed so hard it made her drink come out of her nose. So Jerry didn’t have to do a shot. They kept playing and drinking until they were all dizzy. About ten or eleven o’clock Brett and Nikki excused themselves to leave for Nikki’s apartment. Brian said he felt like a fifth wheel and Loretta told him he could stay with them. They said that they would see to it that he wasn’t lonely.

  When Nikki and Brett got to Nikki’s apartment and went inside, Brett locked the door; they started kissing and tearing at each other’s clothes until they were both naked. Nikki pulled him into her bedroom and pushed him onto the mattress. She fell on top of him, straddling him. He pushed his hips upward, the action bringing his penis against her belly. He was hard and pulsing. She bent down to kiss him, pulling his lower lip inside her mouth. His hands found her breasts which he caressed until her nipples were round and hard.

  “I want you, Nikki, now!”

  Nikki reached into her night table for a condom which she tore open and slid onto his throbbing member.

  “Now,” he said, guiding his penis between her thighs where she was hot, wet and ready for him.

  She met his thrusts with the same eagerness he had for her and soon they were crying out their satisfaction.

  Later Nikki got up to get them some water. While she was up, she looked out her kitchen window. There was no one on the back of the Sea Cactus or the Cat and neither boat had lights on. They either went to bed or were in the master stateroom. She went back to the bedroom and gave Brett his water. She asked if he would mind, then held out a cigarette, lit it and said, “There was no one on the back of the Sea Cactus and no lights on in the boat. What do you think happened after we left?”

  “I think the three of them went downstairs. What do you think?” Brett replied.

  “I got the same vibe from all three of them. Good for Brian!” Nikki said and smoked her cigarette.

  They both had some water and then fell asleep in one another’s arms. When they woke up it was after 10:00 in the morning. Nikki jumped up to look out the window to see how the dock was. Brett took his coffee and went to his Cat. Nikki knew there was no long term relationship here, but Brett sure looked and felt good. She would enjoy him while he was here, but she knew she would not see or hear from him once he left the dock.

  Nikki went out on the dock in an hour and saw Brian come off of the Sea Cactus. She gave him the okay sign. With a big smile on his face, he gave her the same sign back and asked her how she and Brett had done, then walked back to the Cat. />
  Nikki went back on board the 100 footer to see if she had missed anything. She spent about an hour on the boat but couldn’t come up with anything else. She must go to town and see Cynthia under the guise of her boat, and then she could ask her questions about Bill and where he was on the boat the last couple of days. Nikki went to her office and called the Chief of Police to tell him she had to see Cynthia about her boat. Then she asked him if they found any safe deposit boxes under Bill’s name.

  She had an appointment to see Cynthia tomorrow morning for one hour. She finished work and begged off partying at the Sea Cactus with Brian and Brett. Oh, to be twenty-five again!, Nikki thought to herself. As it was, she was under the weather from the Jäger shots. She needed a beer and needed to go to sleep.

  About two or three o’clock in the morning, she was awakened by noise on the dock. She went outside with a flash light and found a dozen people on one side of the dock. There in the water, nude again, was the diver Captain James. He was drunk and swimming around the other boats. She yelled to him to get his bare ass out of the water now. She told Mark, “Get that asshole out of the water.”

  Mark, Brian and Brett went from boat to boat, all the time yelling at Captain James to get on his boat. This took much longer than last time. When he finally got out of the water and back on his boat Nikki whispered to Mark, “When he gets up tomorrow, I’m making him leave the dock. He’s upsetting the people that live here all year, and I’ve seen his bare ass once too often.”

  Nikki got up the next morning, showered, and got dressed to go into town. The visiting hours at the jail were from 10:00 a.m. till 12:00 noon, Monday through Friday. She arrived 15 minutes early and went to see the Chief. After some small talk about renting Dave and Mercedes’ old apartments and the story about Captain James, she asked the Chief again about Bill and any money he may have hidden away from their divorce. The Chief said he had checked all the banks and Bill’s name didn’t show up. Then he took her in to see Cynthia.

  Cynthia looked like shit! She looked like she was sixty-five or seventy years old in the standard orange jump suit. With her hair pulled back and no makeup on, the scars from her plastic surgeries were clearly visible. First, she complained about getting up at 6:00 for breakfast and the five minute showers every other day. Little did she know if she got sent to jail for murder, she would get a shower once a week and get in touch with her female or male side. After that, they talked about the dock and what was going on there.

  The talk soon turned to Bill’s death and what Cynthia remembered about the shooting. She told Nikki that her attorney said as drunk as she was and with the bullet holes in the wall and door where Cynthia was, it looked like self-defense. The only problem they had was her statement the day of Bill’s death that Cynthia had given to the cops.

  Her blood showed that she was drunk and her attorney thought he could get that report thrown out. She had hired a big gun out of Miami that cost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to start. Nikki spent a lot of time talking about Bill and what he was doing two or three days before the shooting. Did he dive the boat? Did he work on the engines? Nikki asked Cynthia if she should dive the boat or put new carpet in it. Cynthia told her yes to all. She would see she got a check for everything, plus the rent. Nikki told Cynthia, “The faster you go to court, the faster you get out of here.”

  Cynthia told Nikki that her attorney was going to court on Thursday to get her out on bail because of the claim of self-defense. Nikki said goodbye to the Chief then left for the hardware store ,then the dock.

  When Nikki got back to the dock she went to her apartment to change and make out a prorated check for Captain James. After changing she went to James’ Sea Ray and knocked on the side. Finally he came to the door, and she told him he was leaving by 10:00 the next morning. First he begged to stay, then got mad as hell and called her everything in the book, then he went inside slamming the door to his boat. She found Mark and told him about James and her meeting with the Chief and Cynthia at the police department. Then she went to her office to call a carpet man to come and measure the 100 footer for carpet and pad. She just sat there for a while and thought about Bill and the money and where he could have put it and then got up and walked down the dock to make sure all was well. Jerry, Loretta and Mark were talking when she walked up, and she told them about her meeting at the jail and the new carpet for the 100 footer. All was quiet on the dock that day. Night fell and she thought she would never see the two bags again.

  In the morning while waiting for her coffee to brew she thought about giving up on the money. That morning the carpet man arrived to measure for the carpet and came back with the yardage and some samples and she made a pick. The bill came to a little over six thousand dollars, so she went to town to get this approved by Cynthia first. She didn’t want to get stiffed, which happened far too often. Counting the rent, it came to nine thousand dollars, but not counting the bullet holes in the door and walls. Cynthia told Nikki she would see her attorney in court for bail at 1:00 p.m. and get Nikki a check for the nine grand.

  ‘Good,’ thought Nikki, ‘with Bill gone I get to keep the whole rent. I don’t have to give Bill half, and the marina is out of foreclosure, thanks to Glenn.’

  Late that afternoon, Cynthia showed up on the dock. She said her attorney got her bail, and her trial wasn’t for four or five months. Nikki asked Cynthia to stay with her until the new carpet was installed. She could have Glenn’s old apartment. This way, Nikki could see if Cynthia knew where Bill might have hidden the money. They made dinner and Nikki asked Cynthia if she wanted vodka.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Cynthia said. “By the way, there’s a case of vodka on my boat in case we run short.” Cynthia downed two low ball drinks of vodka, fast as hell.

  “Take it easy, you’re home,” Nikki said. They ate and had one more drink and then went to their separate beds.

  In the morning Nikki noticed that the bottle of vodka was gone from the kitchen. Cynthia must have taken it upstairs with her. Nikki made coffee and sat down to plan her day. She would call the carpet man in a little bit and tell him to start as soon as possible. He would be there with the pad that afternoon.

  After getting showered and dressed she went out on the dock to see what was going on. She ran into the new couple, Jay and Sally, who had rented Dave’s old apartment. Sally had found a job as a waitress for now. After some small talk she went down to see Mark and open the door to the Broward for the carpet man.

  Nikki was at the bitter end of a rope that was going to the dock from a boat, when Mark walked up to Nikki and said, “Here.” He took black electrical tape from a chain on his belt and wrapped the rope tight with the tape over and over again covering about six inches. Then he cut it in half with a thin filet knife that he also had on the back of his belt. Nikki thought that the knife was about a foot long. It had been sharpened so many times by Mark over the years that the blade was thin as a pencil’s lead but as sharp as a razor and only about eight inches long now. Mark took one swipe at the tape covered rope and cut it in half, one inch nylon rope and all. He used that knife every day all day long. She let Mark finish tying up the boat, said thanks, and went down the dock.

  That afternoon the carpet man was there to put down the pad on Cynthia’s boat. The day was almost over so she went in to see Cynthia and make some tuna sandwiches. It was almost two and Cynthia was not up yet so she left hers wrapped up. As she was making the sandwiches, she got a butcher knife out of the block. As she was cutting the bread she had a flash of Mark’s knife and the two bag lines and how they were cut side by side and with one stroke; or was she crazy? She would have to wait until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. to make sure no one could see her enter the water to check out the bag lines. About 1:30 she went into the water with an underwater flashlight and went right to where the bag lines were. They were held together and cut with one stroke, not sawed through.

  She was back in her apartment drying off and thinking that it couldn�
�t be Mark! He had been there for years and just didn’t seem the type.

  The next morning the carpet truck showed up and three men went down to measure the patterns. She saw Don, Mark and Jerry having coffee on the back of Don’s boat so she went up and sat down with them to have coffee and talk, keeping an eye on Mark to see if he had any tells in his voice or actions toward Nikki. She could not see anything in his mannerisms that were any different, so she left and went to work. A weekender was leaving this morning so she wanted to be there to help. So was Mark, of course. He was always there whenever she needed him.

  CHAPTER 13

  After they were done seeing the weekender off, Nikki said to Mark, “You know, I don’t know anything about you. Are you married or have you ever been? You’ve been here about ten years working for ten dollars an hour and a free slip, and you have more talent than that. Why are you here? You could make a lot more money someplace else and have a regular life.”

  “If I had a regular job, I would have to move off my boat and away from here, and I couldn’t have free Cuban coffee every morning with Don on the back of his boat. More importantly, then I wouldn’t see you,” he said. Then he smiled and walked away.

  They were done and Nikki went to the Broward to see how the new carpet install was coming. She had picked a bone-white plush with palm trees. It was a good nylon so it would clean up well. After some talk with the carpet installers she went to her office.

  As she walked in, the radio came alive. “Harbor Marina, this is Tina and Randy on the fifty foot Gulfstar. Do you have a slip for us?” they inquired.

  “Yes. For how long?” asked Nikki.

  “About two weeks,” they replied.

  “Okay. Come in. When will you be here?” she responded.

  “Okay. We’ll see you in about an hour,” they said.