Rum Runner

by Tricia Leedom

  “I could really use your expertise,” Jimmy was saying. “Albatross is involved with this.”

  April tensed, remembering the man who called her father’s cell assuming he was talking to someone named Albatross.

  “That’s unfortunate,” Jonas said, and then his next words were too low to hear until he said, “What’s your first stop?”

  “Jamaica. I have reason to believe Thompson was there a week ago. Figure it’s a good place to start as any.”

  Who the heck was Albatross? April slipped her phone out of her purse and Googled the name. Wikipedia turned up two definitions. Skipping the one about the bird, she selected the second definition.

  Albatross is the pseudonym used by the elusive international arms dealers responsible for providing guns and ammunitions to numerous guerrilla groups and terrorist cells throughout the world. Wanted by the CIA, INTERPOL, MI5, and several other counter-terrorism organizations, Albatross—

  She stopped reading. Why would her father be taking calls for an international arms dealer? She must have misheard the man on the phone, because how insane would that be?

  April filled the bucket with water before she grabbed the mop off the hook. When she opened the door, the shop was empty. Jimmy was outside talking to Sophie and Jonas was gone. Her chest swelled with disappointment. She left the bucket and came into the room, dragging the mop behind her.

  When she spotted the fresh bottle of Coke sitting open on the counter, the cap beside it, she smiled.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Adrenaline still pumped through Sophie’s veins as she sat on the front step of Fat Cat Charters waiting for Jimmy. She shouldn’t have run from the police again, but she simply couldn’t risk being arrested for the second time in as many days. Safe now, she petted the company’s namesake, the fat orange tabby Jimmy had introduced as Dorito. The cat bumped Sophie’s shin demanding attention until she reached down to scratch the cat with a hand that trembled.

  She missed her cat, Romeo. She missed home. Well, if she were being completely honest, she missed certain aspects of home. Not everything.

  When Jimmy reemerged from the shop a short while later, he was carrying a black duffel bag. He dropped it beside her and slipped on a pair of aviator sunglasses. Looking at her through the mirrored lenses, he said, “I’ll be right back. I have to talk to the kid.”

  The teenage boy cleaning the deck of the charter boat turned when Jimmy approached. With his new haircut and clean-shaven face, Jimmy had never looked more like a Navy SEAL. He stood with his hands on his narrow hips, his khaki-colored cargo shorts riding low. His matching cotton T-shirt clinging to his perfect torso.

  She moistened her parched lips.

  The cat let out a mew.

  “What?” she said to the beast. “A girl can look, can’t she?”

  Dorito flopped onto his side purring.

  The charter boat occupied the same slot The Salty Lizard had been in two nights before.

  “Where’s your other boat?” Sophie asked when she left the cat to join Jimmy beside the Sea Esta.

  “Back home in the Stock Island Marina.”

  “Home? You live in a marina?”

  “I live on the boat. Don’t look so skeptical, Duchess. The Salty Lizard might be modest, but she’s got everything I need. Come meet Damian Rios, my employee.”

  “Hello,” she said to the teenage boy who was polishing the chrome railing. “My name’s Sophie. And I’m not a duchess.”

  The boy’s luminous brown eyes glittered. “Nice to meet you, Sophie. If you’re not a duchess, you should be.”

  Sophie grinned at the boy’s cheek. He was destined to be a heartbreaker one day, if he wasn’t already.

  “That’s enough outta you, Don Juan,” Jimmy said. “Get back to work. I’ll check in with you in a couple of days.” He took Sophie’s elbow and guided her back to the motorbike.

  “What’s the matter with you?” She removed her arm from his grasp.

  “Nothing. Why?” He flipped the kickstand up and moved the bike closer to the building.

  “I don’t know. You just seem a bit grumpy all of a sudden.”

  “I’m getting itchy. We need to get moving.”

  Thunder rumbled in the distance and Sophie’s head came up in surprise. The sun was shining brightly in a cloudless azure sky. Yet the breeze was kicking up and the air pressure was close. Another loud rumble brought her head around. Off toward the west, a row of candy green palm trees stood out in stark relief against a gunmetal gray sky. A flash of lighting accompanied another rumble of thunder. But where they stood, the world was sunny and cheerful and blissfully unaware of the fast-approaching storm.

  “It’s raining over there, but not here. How is that possible?”

  April came out of the shop with her mobile glued to her ear. She gave a friendly wave, and Sophie waved back.

  Jimmy took in the sky through his sunglass lenses. “It’s a microburst. Hopefully, it will change directions or dissipate before it gets here.”

  “When it rains in England, the sky clouds up as far as the eye can see and it rains all day. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

  “Welcome to the tropics. Come on. Let’s go inside. I need to call the captain and find out why the hell he ain’t here yet.”

  Just then, an innocuous brown sedan peeled into the parking lot spraying gravel. A strange whirring noise came from its motor as if the vehicle were screaming for help. The driver stopped in the middle of the lot without bothering to find a proper parking space.

  “Fuck,” Jimmy said. “Not now.”

  Sophie looked at him quizzically.

  He removed his sunglasses and hooked them into his shirt collar.

  “You didn’t mention the captain was a woman.”

  Jimmy crossed his arms and faced the sedan as an elderly woman got out. “He’s not. That’s your grandmother.”

  “My what?”

  “Your grandmother.”

  Sophie’s stared at the short, stocky old woman with a mixture of curiosity and shock. She walked with a limp as she hobbled forward.

  She stopped three feet away from Sophie and said, “He tell you who I am?”

  “Just now. I didn’t know. Are you really—” She punched out a breath and tried again. “Is it true? Are you my grandmother?”

  “Edith Thompson. You take after your mother.”

  “Thank you.”

  “It wasn’t a compliment.”

  Sophie gasped and blinked at the odd little woman.

  “Does she have the map?” Edith Thompson asked Jimmy.

  “Now’s not a good time,” he replied.

  “She’s trying to leave town with something that belongs to me. I can’t think of a better time.”

  Sophie looked back and forth between the pair and realized two things. Not only had Jimmy spoken to her grandmother recently, he hadn’t bothered to mention he had.

  Thunder rumbled so loudly the earth trembled.

  “You didn’t think it was worth mentioning to me my grandmother lives in town or that she was looking for me?”

  “She wasn’t looking for you, Duchess. She was—”

  “You know how badly I wanted to meet my father. To know him in any way that I could. How could you withhold something like this from me?” She hated that her eyes filled up and her throat choked with tears, but she couldn’t help herself.

  “Why are you so hot to meet my Mitch after all these years anyhow?” Edith tone was biting.

  “Easy, Granny,” Jimmy cut in. “I’ve never seen the Duchess so beside herself. Guess meeting you meant more to her than I realized. I’m sorry, Duchess.”

  Sophie shot him what she hoped was a blistering look before she went to her grandmother, offering her hand. “My name is Sophie. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  The old woman didn’t accept the handshake. Her cross expression didn’t change as her pale blue rheumy eyes scanned Sophie’s face. “You’ve got my son
’s smile. Same hair, too.”

  The grudgingly made comparison warmed Sophie. She touched her hair, cherishing the new information. “What color are his eyes?”

  “Hazel.”

  “My mum has brown eyes.”

  “You get those green eyes of yours from your granddaddy.”

  Sophie felt a rush of genuine pleasure. “Can I meet him, too?”

  Edith’s frown deepened. “Can’t. He’s dead. That map you have belonged to him. My son risked his life in order to bring it home where it belongs, just so his daddy can finally rest in peace.”

  Sophie touched the medallion. She’d gotten so used to wearing it she’d all but forgotten it dangled from the chain around her neck. “The map belonged to my grandfather?”

  “Yes. Mitch told me he sent it to you to keep it safe until he could bring it home. Ask Panama if you don’t believe me.”

  “I believe you.” Sophie reached up and removed the chain from her neck.

  “Duchess, you think that’s a good idea?”

  She ignored Jimmy and handed the medallion to her grandmother. “The map is inside of this. I’m sorry my father couldn’t be the one to give it to you.”

  When Edith popped the secret lock on the medallion and removed the map from its hiding spot, Sophie was even more certain of her decision to let it go.

  “I didn’t expect you to hand it over so easily,” Edith said.

  “I have no right to keep it. It belongs to you.”

  “But it’s a treasure map.”

  “As intriguing as that sounds, it’s not what I came here for. Although I will admit, I’ll miss the medallion. It’s the only thing I’ve ever had of my father’s.”

  “You really did come here just to meet him?”

  Sophie’s throat tightened. “Yes, but I’m so glad I got the chance to meet you. My mum’s parents died when I was young. I barely remember them.”

  “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

  The question caught Sophie off guard. Did she? She hadn’t considered siblings. “Not from my mother’s side. Does my father have other children?”

  “No. He never remarried. Your mother ruined him for that.”

  “She told me the entire story. About how my father missed being a SEAL.”

  “That’s true enough, but he was willing to give up his dreams for the both of you.”

  “Then why did he leave before I was born?”

  “Panama told me you believe that crap.” She shoved a small Ziploc bag at Sophie. “I dug those up and brought them as proof.”

  Sophie popped the zip-lock and removed three photographs. The old-fashioned Polaroids were slightly faded with age. The first image was of a young, happy bride and groom. The tall man had long, straight chocolate brown hair and a thick handlebar mustache. The woman was short and slender with blonde hair and brown eyes. Sophie recognized her mother immediately. She was very young in the photograph, probably not more than nineteen or twenty and the man, her husband, couldn’t have been more than a couple of years older.

  “They were married,” she breathed and the realization twisted her stomach. “All of these years my mum led me to believe he—” She looked at her grandmother. “But he never came to see me. Not once. Not for birthdays or graduations. Not when I spent a week in hospital after…” Sophie pressed her lips together and shook her head, not wanting to go there right now.

  She sniffled and swiped at her tears before flipping to the next picture. It was of a man—her father—cradling a sleeping infant against his bare chest. “That’s me.”

  “He loved you so much it nearly destroyed him when she took you away,” Edith said. “He called you his little Ladybug.”

  Jimmy moved to Sophie’s side and slid his arm around her. The firm weight of it at her back gave her comfort she hadn’t realized she needed. He absently rubbed her shoulder as he looked at the pictures with her.

  The last photograph was as shocking as the first. Taken on her second birthday, she knew because the image showed a brown-haired toddler blowing out a candle shaped like the number two. Sophie’s mother and father stood behind her chair, the joy on their faces eerily frozen in time. She’d never seen her mum look so animated. Or so happy. The proof was there, the moment memorialized with dye and chemicals for all eternity, or at least until the Polaroid deteriorated. Proof Sophie once had a family. A real family.

  Perhaps all these years, she hadn’t been longing for the family she never had, but mourning the one she had lost. Not longing for a father, but missing the one her lying, deceitful mother had stolen her from when she was a very small child.

  “Your mother left him two months after that picture was taken. Blindsided the hell out of him.”

  “Why didn’t he fight her? Why didn’t he fight for me?” She swiped her tears away angrily.

  “That’s something you’ll have to ask him.”

  “But how can I? I don’t know where he is. This is the first time I—” Her breath hitched. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen his face that I can recall.” She studied the photograph, racking her brain for a glimmer of a memory from that day. “I wish I could remember.”

  “It’s all right, Duchess.”

  April finished her call and joined the group. “Why are you upset?”

  Sophie brushed a tear away and showed her the birthday picture.

  “OMG, is that you? You were so cute! Is that your mom and dad?”

  Dorito bumped against April’s leg, begging for attention.

  “Yes.” Sophie nodded and smiled through the ache in her chest. So many lies. So much time lost. It was too much to process.

  A huge shadow fell over the parking lot as the storm drew nearer.

  “Looks like we’re gonna get hit.” Jimmy gave Sophie a comforting squeeze. “Listen, Edith, if Mitch contacts you, can you tell him to give me a call?”

  “I suppose I can.”

  April picked up Dorito and cradled him like a baby.

  “You’ve got a knack with animals, Sunshine. Dorito would claw my eyeballs out if I ever tried to pick him up like that.”

  “What are you talking about? He’s a sweetheart. Aren’t you, my handsome boy?” She scratched under his chin and his audible purrs sounded like a motorbike on the M25.

  “I was going to ask Sue to look after him while I’m away, but she ain’t much of a cat person. Would you like to take care of him?”

  The girl’s face lit up. “Can I take him home with me?”

  “Sure. If you want. His stuff is in a box in the storage room.”

  “I’ll give you a lift home, April,” Edith said. “It’s going to start raining like a bitch any minute.”

  “Thanks! Wait. What if he gets sick or something? How will I reach you?”

  “Give me your phone. I’ll punch in my number.” Jimmy held out his hand and April gave him her diamond-studded mobile. Sophie realized the stones sparkled like real diamonds because they actually were real diamonds. He punched in the number and then handed the phone back. “That’s my international line. Give the number to Edith in case Mitch calls, okay?”

  “Sure.” She set the cat down and headed for the shop. “Come on, Dorito, let’s get your stuff.” He pranced beside her like she was walking catnip.

  “Hurry up, kid.” Edith started limping toward her car.

  “Wait!” Sophie slipped the Polaroids back into the Ziploc bag and caught up with her. “You’ve forgot your pictures.”

  The old woman frowned at the bag as if it was a bottle of arsenic. “What do I want with those? Keep ’em. And keep this too,” She shoved the medallion, minus the map now, into Sophie’s hand. “I don’t need it.”

  Sophie stared at the items in disbelief. Perhaps beneath that crusty exterior, her grandmother did care for her a little. On impulse, Sophie stepped forward and hugged Edith Thompson. The old woman tolerated the affection for only a moment before she shrugged her off and grumbled something about hating to drive in the rain. />
  “You have no idea what these things mean to me,” Sophie said. “I’m sorry my mother was so cruel to you and your son. I don’t know why she did what she did, but I don’t believe for a tick I was better off not having had the both of you in my life.”

  Edith’s rheumy eyes shifted to Jimmy and then back again. She nodded once before she turned and continued hobbling to her car.

  April came out of the office carrying a small box, Dorito right beside her. She stopped to give Sophie a one-armed hug. “I’m sorry you got arrested because of me, but it was really nice to meet you. I hope you come back for a visit real soon.”

  Edith honked the horn.

  April waved at her and then went around the back of the car to place the box in the boot. She picked up Dorito and slid into the passenger seat, waving good-bye. Her door had barely closed when the car peeled out of the parking lot, tires squealing.

  Sophie slipped the medallion over her head as she watched them go. The moment they were out of sight, she rounded on Jimmy. “How could you do that to me, you bastard?”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Sophie shoved Jimmy’s chest hard, but it had the same result as shoving a brick wall. He didn’t move and she just looked silly trying. However, that didn’t deter her from shouting again, “How could you?”

  “Easy, Duchess. What are you talking about?”

  “You not only knew my grandmother was on this island, but you saw her and didn’t tell me!”

  “I promised your daddy I’d keep you safe. I thought if you knew grandma was in town, you’d insist on seeing her.”

  “Of course I would have.”

  “And if I said no?”

  “Molly would have taken me.”

  “Yeah, and what would you have done if you ran into Winnfield and Vega on your own?”

  Sophie frowned.

  “That’s what I thought.”

  Her head came up as something occurred to her and her eyes filled with tears. “Did you know about my parents too? Did you know my mum lied to me?”

  His jaw tightened and a muscle worked in his cheek. He said quietly, “No, Duchess. I didn’t know.”