Sea Red, Sea Blue

by Jean James

  “Katherine, I’m glad you called. It’s a wonder you got me at all. I’m making my last trip and left my phone in my purse. I heard it just as I got in my car. Sorry I haven’t called, but we’ve been super busy. We just moved back to our house. You should see it.”

  “I’m so glad, Laura. You’ll have to send me some pictures. So you’re totally moved?”

  “Yes, finally home. How are you doing? Did you move onto your boat, yet?”

  “Yes, and I have loads of news, but it’ll have to wait. I called to see if you had learned anything more about Jack Evans and to warn you to be very careful regarding that. The situation involves more than I realized, and I don’t want to put you at risk. If you’ve done any checking, please don’t let anyone—not anyone—know about it.”

  “Sounds exciting. I’m afraid I haven’t learned anything. I got so busy with moving that it slipped my mind, but I have a couple of friends who work at the bank and I’ll see what I can learn. I’ll be super discreet, I promise. Any information in particular that you need to know?”

  “Yes, I need to know when Jack Evans went to work at the bank,” Katherine said with lowered voice. “That and anything else you can find out about him, but remember that it could put you in danger—serious danger—if certain people knew you were searching for information on him. You’d have to get the information offhand—very offhand.”

  “Don’t worry Kay. You know me. I can get information subtly when I try. I’ll take no chances. It’ll be fun to play private detective.”

  Katherine felt better after her phone call. She didn’t feel so alone, and Laura had acted more like her old self—the friend she had known before the bank problem.

  At least, Laura’s house is fixed, and they can’t take it back now.

  A quick look out the door told her she was still alone. She took advantage of the opportunity and turned on the bilge pump. While that ran, she rechecked the gas gauge and found it unchanged from when she came in last time. That should serve as final proof that it worked correctly, and the logbook supported the conclusion. She need to find out why it registered too high on one occasion and too low another, and she needed explanations for some of the other irregularities she had discovered. There might be viable reasons for some of them, but not all.

  Although those oddities proved that someone had boarded the boat, maybe even ran it, she needed to know who and how. She never gave her keys to anyone, except on that first trip when she gave them to Billy. The only consistency to the strange happenings was Johnny’s presence on the boat during the Marco condo trips.

  She packed a briefcase with a few necessities, including a flashlight, cell phone, and her purse. That left her with just one item to carry into the office that night. She changed to fresh clothes, locked the cabin, and left.

  On the other side of Naples, she found an inconspicuous parking place to relax for a while and review the situation. With her head leaned back against the headrest, she went over everything she had learned so far. She knew that Johnny Amano had committed a crime, probably murder, and probably in Naples. Afterward, he had gone to Chicago to work in a bank as Jack Evans, and there he had gotten involved in a scam, probably with Laura’s insurance money, his own trivial deal for personal gain.

  And he tried to run over me because I had caused him trouble, and might cause more trouble if I stayed alive.

  Besides those facts, she had developed many viable, but vague conjectures. Some big boss in Chicago, someone over Buzzy and Johnny, gave the orders. Lloyd might be involved. Lee seemed caught up in it. Businesses might be involved—the bank in Chicago, Lloyd’s and Buzzy’s real estate offices, and maybe the eleven Marine World stores.

  If she could fit everything together, she could take it to the police. Who would have dreamed that Laura’s bank trouble could land her in something so heinous?

  Katherine rested and waited for darkness. She tried to plan future actions, but soon realized the futility of working out any strategy. She had only the night hours ahead to find something that would show her what to do next. If she found nothing, she would try again the next night.

  Impatient to start, she drove past both houses. Buzzy was at home, but Johnny’s car and Lee’s car were both gone. Risk or no risk, she must start—every minute counted. She parked in the same place as the night before and made a cautious, roundabout trek to the office. After a brief pause in the bushes beside the dumpster, she hastily entered through the back.

  With only a flashlight for illumination, she started in the main room and kept watch through the windows as she worked. If a car showed up, she could exit before anyone came in. She would save the rooms with doors until after midnight when there was less chance of an unwelcome caller.

  She found nothing noteworthy in any of the associates’ desks and figured that only Buzzy and Johnny were involved. At midnight, she closed herself in the file room and studied all the accessible papers. Six files contained papers on recent purchases by Buzzy. She quickly copied them. With a paper clip and a small pocketknife, she worked on the locked files. After fifteen minutes of fruitless labor, she gave it up as a waste of time.

  In Buzzy’s office, she copied most of the messages on his desk. One message from Lloyd had a recent date. Most of the others seemed unimportant, but she copied them for future reference. She noted the bank clipping had disappeared. In his wastebasket, she found more messages and put those in her briefcase.

  His desk clock told her it was going on three o’clock. She hadn’t checked maps and plats yet, hadn’t gotten into the locked files, and hadn’t even checked behind the refrigerator for a safe of some sort. The regular office safe was in Buzzy’s office, and she had searched, unsuccessfully, for its combination. With a sinking feeling, she realized she would have to come back and work another full night. She hadn’t collected any information she could take to the police.

  Discouraged, she moved into the kitchen and examined the refrigerator with the aid of her flashlight. It fit snugly between cabinets, but she could probably pull it out if she had enough time and wanted to take the risk. Not only was the kitchen visible through the back door, but someone might come in when she had it out in the middle of the room. She should have attempted that job earlier, though she had no safecracking abilities if she did find a safe behind it.

  She stashed everything in her briefcase and turned off the flashlight. It seemed she got nowhere except wearier, and full of unanswered questions. If she didn’t find anything tomorrow, what could she do? Had Lee told Buzzy? Would Lee do something to her? And what about work on Monday? She couldn’t dare show up, and she couldn’t dare not show up.

  From the back door of the office the streets looked deserted—no cars or people in sight. She rested her tired forehead against the doorframe for a minute before silently sliding out. She had just locked it and set the alarm when an arm clamped round her shoulders and a hand came over her mouth.

  14

  Katherine gave a muffled scream in spite of the hand. She fought wildly, broke free, and leapt away from her adversary, only to have him catch her by the foot and send her to a hard landing on the ground beside the waste receptacle.

  She kicked her way free again and ran a few yards before her pursuer tripped her and sent her sprawling. When she landed face down in the dirty sand, her arm struck a broken piece of board that had escaped the dumpster.

  Desperately she grabbed the wood and rolled to her back. Even in the darkness, she could make out her assailant’s outline. She swung the board across his face, and when he groaned, she brought it down again—on his head. From her awkward position on the ground, she couldn’t put the force into it that she needed. She heard his second groan of pain, but she hadn’t stopped him, and before she could squirm away, he was on top of her. She screamed and fought him.

  He tore the piece of wood from her hands and threw it aside, where it made a metallic thump as it connected with the side of the dumpster.

  She twisted sidewa
ys and grabbed the briefcase. With both hands wielding it, she brought it down on his head and swiftly followed that with a handful of sand in his face. She had almost managed to roll free when he caught her wrist and pinned it to the ground above her head. With her free hand, she tried to swing the briefcase at him again. He caught that wrist, too, and pinned it with the other one above her head, while he placed his free hand over her mouth so she couldn’t scream again. He outweighed her, and her struggles failed to dislodge him.

  They both breathed audibly, and she could hear the thump of his heart.

  “Hush…hush…I won’t hurt you.” It was Lee’s voice, not Johnny’s. When he took his hand from her mouth, she screamed again.

  “Shh. I’m not going to hurt you, I won’t hurt you,” he repeated and pressed his hand against her cheek.

  She couldn’t stop the tears. “You have hurt me.” She struggled to break free.

  “I’m sorry, but I need whatever you have in that briefcase.” He released her hands, but continued to pin her down.

  “Never,” she gasped furiously, and grabbed the briefcase handle. She swung it again, but did little damage. “I’ve worked all night. My life depends on it. You’d have to kill me to get it.”

  “I’m not in the habit of killing people. I’m not like—”

  “You’re friends are! Are you any different?” she challenged hotly.

  “Friends? What friends?”

  “Your friends…your colleagues—partners-in-crime—whatever you call them.”

  “Who? Tell me who?”

  “Johnny. And Buzzy,” she gasped. “You fraud. Just try and fool me again.” She struggled to push him away but couldn’t move him.

  “Answer one question,” he demanded sternly. “What were you doing in this office with Johnny and Buzzy that morning, that morning when I caught you in the act? Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

  This is it, she thought, but her fear had evaporated. She felt only righteous indignation—and regret, so much regret.

  “Of course I remember the morning. I was hiding in the garbage barrel in the kitchen,” she said proudly.

  Silence met her bold proclamation, and then Lee’s laughter rocked both of them. Was he demented? If he pulled out a gun to shoot her, it wouldn’t have surprised her. But this?

  “I heard everything they said, and I intend to use it,” she added with vehemence. “You’ll find I’m not so easy to kill, after all. Maybe you should be the one to disappear.”

  While he still laughed, she brought the briefcase down on his head again, but it didn’t stop his laughter, and she still couldn’t move him off of her.

  He gently pushed her hair away from her wet eyes and sandy forehead.

  “We’ll use it—Kate. We will. I’ve just discovered we’re on the same team.”

  She peered up at his face and tried to read his dark glistening eyes, but could find no meaning to his words. Her arms were too dead to raise the briefcase again, but she tried to struggle free.

  “Kate.” he shook her gently, “Listen, Kate. I’m investigating Johnny and Buzzy. I mean to put them in jail. I thought you worked for them.”

  “I do work for them.” She looked up at him confused. “I work at their real estate office.”

  “I don’t mean that kind of work. I thought you might be involved with them criminally. And now I realize that you thought I was one of their cohorts, didn’t you?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “I’m not! Please try to believe me. Let’s go some place private, and I’ll explain everything.” He lifted his weight off her and knelt in the sand. “We’re going to sink their rotten little boat, Kate, you and I, together.”

  Comprehension came slowly. “Boat? It’s not a boat. It’s an ocean liner…an entire fleet.”

  “We’ll sink them all.”

  “I won’t have the strength to sink anything if you keep fighting with me.” She brushed a sandy hand across her eyes.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Kate…but it’s almost as much fun as taking you out to eat.”

  “You broke my briefcase.” She showed him the barely attached handle.

  “You think that’s bad, you should see my head. I think I got the worst of it.” He rose and held out his hand.

  She laughed softly as he helped her to her feet. When he saw what a struggle it was for her to move, he scooped her and the briefcase into his arms and carried both to his Jeep.

  “Where’s your car?” he asked as he set her down to open the Jeep door.

  “Behind the nursery.”

  “I’d better have someone bring it. You’re not—”

  “I can drive,” she said with energy she didn’t feel.

  He drove straight to her car and helped her from the Jeep.

  “Promise you’ll follow me.”

  He stood by her open car door and waited. When no response came, he got the briefcase from his Jeep, put it on the seat beside her, and looked at her questioningly.

  “I’ll follow, but don’t drive fast.” She couldn’t subdue a snicker. “It’ll be nice to follow that Jeep for a change instead of it following me.”

  He grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, Ma’am.”

  At his house they both drove into the garage, and he closed the door behind them.

  He used a small flashlight to find his house key and opened the side door. “Come in. I’ll have the light on in a minute, as soon as I draw the curtains.”

  When he did switch on a lamp, Katherine still stood in the doorway, legs tremulous and briefcase cradled against her chest. She knew how haggard she must look, but couldn’t summon enough strength to move.

  He carried her to his bed where he managed to pull back the coverings with his fingers as he gently lowered her onto the cool sheets. He removed the briefcase from her grasp and laid it on the bed beside her.

  “My shoes.”

  She tried to sit upright and remove them, but her limbs reacted sluggishly.

  He shoved her back onto the pillow, removed the shoes, and pulled the covers up to her neck. He walked into the adjoining room and dropped down on the sofa.

  They both came startlingly awake a few minutes before nine o’clock that morning, when the briefcase rang.

  Lee rushed into the room, and they both fumbled hopelessly to get Katherine’s cell phone before the caller hung up.

  Katherine finally reached it. “Hello.”

  “Katherine, I was wonderin’ could ya come to dinner today, or do ya have to work after all?” Iris asked.

  “I’m not at the boat, Iris. It doesn’t look like I’ll have the day off, but thank you for thinking of me. I’ll see you in the morning.” Katherine put the phone aside, and they both laughed over their confused rush.

  “Was that the woman I saw you with at church?”

  “Yes, Captain Dale’s wife—a dear friend of mine. Captain Dale is the one who taught me almost everything I know about boats.” With mischief in her voice she added, “Of course I did learn a little in your class.”

  “Yes, I remember the doodles,” he said reproachfully.

  She chuckled and within seconds, she fell back asleep. When she awoke again, it was noon, and someone tormented her face with a cold, wet washcloth. Coming out of the depths of sleep, she suddenly recognized the hazel eyes that laughed down at her.

  “Ugh,” she uttered, and pushed the rag away as she struggled to sit up in bed. “I’m stiff. Umm! Do I smell coffee…and food? I’m starved!”

  “No one comes to my table with a dirty face like yours. And your hair’s full of sand, and your arms and hands and—”

  “I wonder why.” she interrupted with meaningful look. Remorse filled her when she saw the wicked looking wound that traveled across the bridge of his nose and down his cheek. “Y-your…your face.”

  “Your work.” He rubbed his hand across it and grimaced. “I guess I shouldn’t feed you after all.”

  She looked down at her right hand w
here he had crushed the keys into it. What luck—a tiny, bluish-purple bruise remained. She held it out for his sympathy and added mock tears.

  “All right, all right, I give in. You can eat.”

  “I need a shower first, if you don’t mind.” She almost lost her balance when she tried to stand.

  He caught her arm to steady her. “You’d better stay dirty until you get some food in you. By the way, how much sleep have you had lately?”

  “Night before last I had a couple of hours on the front seat of my car.”

  “I thought it might be like that. We have plenty of talking to do, but it will keep. Let’s eat, and I warn you—all I can cook is sea food. These are supposed to be scrambled eggs, and that’s supposed to be toast,” he said and helped her to a seat at the table.

  She tasted a forkful of egg while he watched her with a worried expression.

  “They taste wonderful. Eggs on the half shell.” She smiled and removed a piece of shell. “And the dark brown and yellow color you’ve accomplished—most unusual. You’ll have to tell me how you do that.”

  He looked at her dubiously. “It’s easy. Mine always look like that. I heat the skillet on high for a few minutes and then throw the eggs into the grease. I discovered that if I use a lot of grease, the eggs don’t stick, and I don’t have to clean the skillet. I generally keep a cover for the skillet close by in case they catch fire. If that happens, I get a little more of the brown tone.”

  “I’ll have to try that sometime.” She smiled and took a bite of burnt toast.

  After a meal and each of them taking a shower, they sat back on his sofa to enjoy their coffee.

  Katherine looked at him accusingly. “Why have you been following me?”

  “Because you’re better looking than Buzzy and Johnny.” He grabbed a sofa pillow and held it in front of him as if he expected a new attack.

  “Lee!”

  “OK. I had hoped you’d lead me to some answers.” He tossed the pillow to her.

  “What sort of answers?”