by Lee Hanson
As the Miranda approached, propelled by the surface swells, the huge platform had responded to an ordinary GPS adjustment. The giant rig shifted just enough for the Miranda to scrape past.
Rolly was identified and taken to a Louisiana hospital. The Louisiana State Police announced that he would be returned to Key West in a day or two. As for Miranda, she was shipshape, requiring nothing but paint.
It seemed that Rolly knew seaworthy when he saw it.
* * * * *
Chapter 71
It was the 28th of September, three days later, and Julie sat out on the pool patio at Twelve Gulf Wind Drive across the table from Rolly and Joe. David had prepared a sumptuous “welcome home” breakfast for Rolly to celebrate his safe return. As for her and Joe, they were headed back to Orlando around noon.
It was a perfect day, and Julie was admiring the yacht anchored in the canal. It looked pristine in the sun, at least on the side facing David’s house. It rocked ever so gently now, in sharp contrast to a few days ago.
Julie reflected on the power and the mystery of the sea. It had provided her with an escape and hidden her from a killer.
Julie realized now that the sea had saved her before…all those years ago on Castle Cay. It had been impulsive and foolhardy to dive into that deadly current after Dan, and Julie had barely managed to get herself out of it. But when the adrenalin subsided and her own strength was gone, it was the breakers that held her up and deposited her on the shore.
The other side of the coin.
She sipped her orange juice and glanced over at Joe. He was chatting with Rolly. It struck her how handsome the two men were. Joe was taller, a little more muscular. Julie felt a warm glow in places the sun didn’t reach.
David had gotten up...again...to see if the newspaper had been delivered.
“I just hate it when I can’t read the paper with my coffee in the morning!” he had said, on the way to the front door. “Oh, good…it’s here, everyone!” David called from inside the house.
Joe shook his head at David’s theatrics and smiled at Julie.
David brought the paper out on the patio, and they each helped themselves to their favorite section.
“Anyone else want more coffee?”
“Yes, please,” said Joe.
“Thank you, my dear,” said David. “I’ll have some more, too.”
Julie refilled their cups, and then picked up the front section. There was a headline on page two that read, “DRUG RING BUSTED IN BOSTON”.
“Hey! Listen to this, you guys...”
She began to read:
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Office, has just released information on a stunning, multiple-location drug bust carried out on Tuesday, September 25th. The late night raids resulted in the disruption of a major drug pipeline into the Massachusetts area, particularly in the city of Boston. Although there were simultaneous raids in Southern California and Utah, by far the biggest prize in this long-term investigation was taking down the distribution conspiracy in Boston and its suburbs. In this area alone, the Massachusetts State Police and the FBI arrested 32 individuals, and 18 separate search warrants were executed.
“U.S. Attorney Campbell Burns said, ‘The Boston area has been plagued with this deadly drug ring for several years. This successful operation is the joint result of the cooperation between the Drug Enforcement Administration, the local and state police, and the FBI.
‘We owe all of these men our gratitude, but we are especially grateful to FBI
Special Agent Richard Lynch, who was killed in the line of duty. Also, our wishes for a full recovery go out to FBI Special Agent Sherman Dixon, who was wounded in this operation.”
Joe’s face fell as she read the line.
“Ah, no,” he said. “Sherm wouldn’t have gotten involved in this if it wasn’t for me! I have to call him. Let me see that, please, Julie.”
He took the paper from her, turned the page and took over reading.
“It says the drug ring was ‘orchestrated by the Tambini crime family’ and that ‘many of them were arrested, including Silvio Tambini and his son, Guido Tambini’. According to this, they recovered a big stash of ‘drugs, firearms and cash’, too. It says, ‘the charges, if upheld, can carry anywhere from ten years to life in prison’.”
Joe paused, scanning for more information.
“Shit…listen to this,” he said.
“All the federal grand jury indictments were served, except for one related to money laundering, which charged Avram Solomon, a Boston businessman, under RICO, the ‘Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act’.”
“Except? What does that mean?”
“It means they didn’t find him, Merlin. It means he got away.”
* * * * *
Chapter 72
“Ow-w!”
Joe heard the howl through the cell phone. “What is it, Sherm?” You okay?”
“Yeah. It’s my nurse, Jenna. She’s killing me, pulling this damn dressing off my leg.”
Joe could almost see the scene in Sherm’s room at the Mass General Hospital. He could imagine the look of incredulous surprise on the nurse’s face when she realized that the giant in the bed was actually a big baby.
When it came to Sherman, stoicism hadn’t come with size. Joe flashed-back on their football years and had to cover the phone to muffle his laughter.
Their conversation turned serious again as soon as the nurse left the room. Sherman finished telling Joe about the raid on the drug lab in Waltham.
“I never saw so much blood come from one guy, Joe. I was right behind him. He got one in the neck and the blood was just pumping out…
“Anyhow, Next thing I knew I was in the back of an ambulance.
“My Kevlar vest took two hits...bruised the hell out of my chest...but I’m not complaining about that. Thank the Lord for it! It was the one that went through my thigh that landed me in the hospital. It nicked an artery, and I lost a lot of blood. It’s getting better, though. I’m doing good.”
“Have you talked to Sondra and the girls?”
“Yeah. I told them not to bother coming up here. I’m going home tomorrow.”
“That’s great news. Hey, look, buddy. I’m sorry I got you mixed up in all this...sorry you got hurt.”
“Joe. Forget it. It’s my job. And being in on that bust is going to look real good in my file.”
“All right, man, as long as you’re okay. Thanks for everything you did, Sherm. I’m glad you’re going home. Julie and I are headed home today, too.”
“I read what happened down there in Key West, with that Susan Dwyer. How’s Julie doing?”
“Julie’s great, Sherm. She’s an amazing woman, stronger now than she was before. She’s made her peace with Marc Solomon’s death,” said Joe, “although we were both disappointed to hear that Avram Solomon slipped through the net up there.”
“Yeah, you and a lot of other people, including me,” said Sherm. “The guy just vanished. No cars were missing, so he must have left the dealership on foot. They checked all the cabs, the airlines, nothing. You can’t pull off something like that without planning, Joe. That bastard was ready.”
* * * * *
Chapter 73
“Sherm’s okay,” said Joe, as they boarded the commuter plane to Orlando. “He was lucky; his vest stopped two bullets! Another one nicked a leg artery, but he’s going to be fine. They’re letting him go home tomorrow.”
“That’s great.”
On the short flight home, Joe told Julie about his long friendship with Sherman. For the first time outside of an AA meeting, he talked about how they had both planned to join the Bureau…and how he had messed it up with alcohol.
And Julie, in turn, finally told him all about Dan.
Later, they shared a lingering kiss in Joe’s car outside of Julie’s condo.
“What next, Merlin?”
“A cover story for Luz and Janet?” she said, stepping
out of the car.
Julie watched Joe pull away from the curb, knowing a new chapter in her life had opened. She turned, pulling her carry-on bag behind her, entered her building and went up to her condo.
Everything was as she had left it…and yet it wasn’t. Marc was gone, but Julie felt reconnected to her past and she looked forward to the future. She opened the glass doors to the balcony. The outside air filled the living-room, cool and refreshing. Lake Eola sparkled in the sunshine and the squirrels scampered through the trees.
And then Sol nearly knocked her off the balcony, leaping onto the table.
Julie had momentarily felt like Dorothy, back from Oz.
But Sol sure as hell wasn’t Toto.
* * * * *
Epilogue
“Way to go, Merlin!”
Joe was right again. There were no ghosts on Castle Cay. Julie felt nothing but exhilaration as she reached the top of the ridge. The view of the island, the sea and the ocean liner was spectacular.
She was glad the ship on the horizon wouldn’t be stopping there. Matt Castle had kept his family’s island and built a private resort on it.
Julie thought wistfully of Dan O’Hara and Marc Solomon…especially Marc. It was almost a year since Marc’s murder; a year of inevitabilities, some good things and some surprises.
It’s been said that when one door closes, another opens. When Solomon Chrysler closed its doors, Pete and Joan Soldano bought the Lynn store.
Julie smiled, glad for her two friends.
Her thoughts turned to Tom Connor, Marc’s father. Matt Castle had seen to it that his friend and law partner was given all of his son’s paintings. Tom, in gratitude, had given one each to Julie and Joe, and had chosen for the rest to remain as a permanent exhibit in the expanded Sandpiper Art Gallery in Key West, managed by David Harris.
The best news of all, however, had come just two weeks ago, when they located Avram Solomon, in spite of his new identity. It was all over the news…
It happened during Silvio Tambini’s trial. One of the state’s witnesses, a certain William Bonafacci, also known as “Billy Bones,” was testifying about the order of events leading up to Silvio Tambini’s decision to move the drug lab out of the Waltham warehouse owned by Solomon Chrysler.
“So, Mr. Bonafacci, please tell us, in your own words, exactly what triggered this decision to ‘clear out’ of Waltham.”
“Well, see, we was watchin’ the car...”
“And what car was that?”
“It was a gray Sebring sedan…you know, a new one…on the storage lot. We seen Avram Solomon drive it there and put this bag in the trunk. So we popped it.”
“You ‘popped it’. Do you mean you opened the trunk?”
“Yeah.”
“And what was in the bag?”
“Money, papers. A passport and stuff.”
“And did you report this to Silvio Tambini?”
“Of course!”
“All right, Mr. Bonafacci. You mentioned that there was ‘a passport’ in the bag. Did you see the picture on the passport?”
“Yeah, it was Avram Solomon.”
“For the record, Mr. Bonafacci, do you remember the name on the passport?”
“No. But it wasn’t Houdini…He didn’t get out of the trunk.”
* * * * *
About The Author
Lee Hanson, originally from the Boston area, currently lives in Orlando, Florida with her husband. Castle Cay is her first novel in the Julie O’Hara mystery series.
[email protected]
Table of Contents
Prologue
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
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Epilogue
About The Author
