Then they turned around and walked back, moving over a block to try a new and narrow street where it was more difficult to dodge the swarms of humanity.
Saw a lot of both ordinary and strange people, most of them enjoying themselves, but didn’t see one familiar face.
*
As soon as she arrived in Charlotte Amalie, Hampstead had taken a taxi to Blackbeard’s Castle Resort and checked in. She paid cash in advance for two days and used the name Barbara Manson of New York City. Almost said Mandrell, but that might have been too much of a coincidence.
Once she was in her room, she went to the window and looked down on the harbor and the masses of people moving along the streets. She didn’t feel like fighting the crowds to visit the shops. To the west, she could see three cruise ships, shining white under the sun. Their passengers were coming and going, mostly going, pouring out and fanning out into the city. Below and to her left was the marina packed with watercraft, and she wondered which of the boats belonged to the Chair and if he had arrived yet.
She couldn’t wait to see him.
It was almost four years ago that they had spent a three-day weekend in Vermont, the last of a two-year long affair she had known from the beginning wouldn’t last. He was married, after all, and his job consumed so much of his time.
But now?
Now was different. She had the money, and the power, and the control.
He didn’t really care that he had a wife. That she knew for damned sure.
They would buy a house on one of the islands.
They would travel and see the places he had been, but she had not.
It would be so wonderful.
She couldn’t wait until morning.
*
It was 6:30 in the evening, with the sun about to disappear below the horizon, shining almost directly in his eyes, spectacular hues of red and orange spreading wide, when Sherry saw what he thought might be the right boat coming down the bay. Of course, he’d thought a lot of the boats moving around Long Bay this afternoon were the right ones, but they weren’t.
It wasn’t moving fast, and he didn’t get up from the bench where he’d spent the last four hours. It was located in a small park just behind the east end of the marina. Some people must have thought he was hogging the bench, the way they looked daggers at him. He ignored them and kept his seat.
The pilot of this boat must have talked to the marina office by radio or at least he knew where he was headed. He slowed even further, barely leaving a wake, and made his way around some of the sailboats that were moored to buoys. Easing up to this end of the marina, he swung the bow around, then reversed and started backing slowly into an open spot at one of the finger piers.
Sherry was able to read the name in gold letters outlined in black on the transom: Carmelita.
That’s the one. Man, was this thing sleek. Looked like something out of Star Wars. Swooping lines, blacked out windshield and side windows. There was a control station on top of the deck house with its own roof mounted with antennas galore.
He gathered up his wrinkled newspaper, the sandwich wrapper, and the two empty plastic soda bottles and took them to a trash barrel. Then he walked back north until he could take the sidewalk down to the pier.
There was a security guard there who gave him the eye, checking the beard and the sunglasses and the Raiders ball cap.
“Going to Carmelita. It just pulled in.”
“It? You mean she.”
“What? Oh, yeah. She.”
These guys were so particular. But the guard waved him on, and Sherry walked out to the first intersection in the pier and turned left. He passed three large boats and came to the back of the Chair’s boat. The man was in the back, holding a rope.
“You November?” he asked.
“That’s me.”
“Take this and tie it to that bollard.”
Sherry didn’t know what the hell a bollard was, but he looked at the other boats tied up and figured it out. He pulled the rope snug, wrapped the end around the bollard, and tied a knot.
The man had gone alongside the boat to the front and did the same with a rope up there. When he came back, he said, “Come on aboard.”
Sherry stepped from the pier to the edge of the boat and dropped down to the deck. The stern deck wasn’t very big. There was a big chair bolted to the deck in the middle of it. The Chair turned, climbed three steps, pushed open a glass door, and went inside.
Sherry followed.
Jesus Christ! This was something. Butterscotch colored leather sofas, a big table with another bench seat behind it, a large kitchen area. A narrow hallway leading down into the front of the boat. He could live on something like this.
The guy turned on lights against the darkening night.
“Have a seat. Dexter, now, isn’t it?”
Conrad recognized the voice now. Still didn’t know him as anyone but the Chair. Guy with a lot of money.
“Uh, yes sir.” He slid sideways and sat down on the leather sofa.
“What do you want to drink?”
“Coke, if you have it.”
“I do, but not a beer?”
“Don’t drink alcohol, sir.”
“Good man.”
He went to a refrigerator, got a Coke and a bottle of Dos Equis, then came back and settled on the sofa right-angled to Sherry’s. Handed him the Coke and let Sherry pop the tab.
“How’s your wound?”
Sherry raised his arm, though it was covered by the windbreaker. “Hurts some, but I’ll do okay.”
“We’ll make this quick, Dexter. You checked into a hotel?”
“I am.”
“All right. May is going to meet me here in the morning.”
Hmm. Maybe get to see May for the first time. Better than hearing that deep voice of hers.
“All right.”
“I don’t know, but I think there’s a chance that Malone, and maybe Galway, is following May.”
Now he sat up straight. Think 300K.
“We still good with what we set up before?” Sherry asked.
“We are, and there’s still a chance for a bonus. At six o’clock in the morning, I want you up there in that little park. Do you know where it is?”
“Yes. I’ve been there most all afternoon.”
“Good. About the same time, I’ll call May and have her come down to the boat. You look out for her, a tall blonde. You’ll know who she is when she comes out to the pier. You watch who’s around her, if someone’s following. If it’s Malone, you take him out.”
“I’m for that.”
“You couldn’t carry a gun in, could you? You want an automatic? I’ve got a couple spare Colt .45’s.”
Conrad held up his hands. “I don’t use guns.”
The man looked at his hands and nodded. “I can see why. Okay. Galway, too, if she’s tagging along. If they don’t show after about ten minutes, you come on down and board the boat. You’ll be going with us.”
“What about my suitcase?”
“Leave it. You can buy new.”
“All right. And if they show up?”
“That time of the morning, there won’t be too many people out. The cruise passengers aren’t off the ships until later. There’ll be a few people around the marina, but chances are no one will notice you, especially if you’re not firing a weapon. Take them out down by the pier, dump them in the water, and then come aboard. We’ll shove off immediately.”
“Malone’s usually got a gun. The woman shot at me, too.”
“Surprise is the key,” the man said.
Well, that was true.
*
After Sherry left, the Chair sat back to review his plan. First of all, he didn’t want Alicia to know where he spent his time when he was in the part of the world. So meeting in Charlotte Amalie was perfect.
Secondly, while she was a whiz with computers, Alicia had never demonstrated much practicality. Hell, she’d been content over the years to ta
ke the ten or fifteen percent he allowed her and be happy with it. He assumed she was happy though she never took vacations or apparently spent much of what she had. He knew she was still enamored with him, but he could not help that. Many women had been.
Third, lacking that practicality, he was certain that she was traveling under her true passport, and that meant others could track her. Galway could find her, so Malone would know, and if nothing else, Malone was persistent as hell. And if Malone and Galway followed her to St. Thomas, all the better. He would prefer to eliminate all of his problems at the same time, and judging by the size of Sherry, that should not be insurmountable.
Fourth, once Alicia was aboard, it wouldn’t be difficult to find out what she had done with the money. And how to get at it.
And fifth, he would soon have to deal with Jim Mears. That would be easier than Mears thought.
He just hoped Malone showed up in the morning.
But what if Malone missed the meeting?
The Chair was not seeing something. What?
He was keeping his home base secret.
“Oh, shit!”
Right there on the transom, under the yacht’s name, was her home port.
He stood up, went down the companionway to the main head and found a large roll of white medical tape in the first aid kit. He took it back up, slipped out to the stern deck, and leaned over the gunwale.
With three strips of tape carefully applied to the white finish of the hull, the home port disappeared.
Chapter Nineteen – Friday, June 28
By 6:00, the Chair was up and showered, had the coffee going, and had climbed to the flying bridge to start the twin Caterpillar engines. He let them idle, recharging battery power he had used last night since he had not hooked into shoreside power or run the auxiliary generator. Plus, they would be ready to go in an instant.
Standing on the bridge, he looked over at the small park, but he could not see Sherry. Pulling his cell phone free of his pocket, he hit the speed dial.
A couple rings, then, ‘Yes, Chair.”
“Are you in place?”
“I am.”
“Can’t see you.”
“That’s the idea. I’m resting behind some shrubs.”
“All right. I’m going to call May.”
He killed that call and speed dialed May.
Only one ring. “I’m here.”
“Where, exactly?”
“Blackbeard’s Castle.”
“Perfect, you’re right next door.”
There were a few people out and about, but not many. Mostly over on the north side, looking for breakfast, no doubt. On one of the sailboats moored out a couple hundred yards, he saw two people in the cockpit drinking coffee.
“All right, May. The boat is the Carmelita. She’s in a slip on the pier closest to the eastern shore. Are you on the western side of the hotel?”
“I can see the marina.”
“I’m waving.”
“Well, ah, oh! I see you!”
“Why don’t you come on over?”
“I’m dressed and ready to go. Do I bring my suitcase?”
“Sure thing, lovely lady.”
*
Malone had been up since five, out on Veterans Road, back and forth, searching for someone, and by now practically anyone would do.
Galway was out looking, also, but they had split up to better cover the area. They had searched last night until after eleven, thinking Hampstead would go out for dinner sometime. Didn’t seem like she was hungry.
About the only people he saw were store and restaurant owners preparing for what they hoped was a big Friday. By six, he had peeked into a dozen restaurants. No Hampstead for breakfast either. Maybe he hadn’t given her enough credit for flying under the radar.
On the hills, the white homes were stark against the green foliage, but not much movement around them either.
He was striding toward Blackbeard’s Castle when he called Bobbi.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Just past the Coast Guard Station. You know that big parking lot?”
“Okay. No sightings, huh?”
“Saw a couple tall blonds. Turned out to be male.”
“Talk to you later.”
While he searched the shoreline and the buildings inland, Malone did occasionally glance at the watercraft in the bay. Some of the big power boats were getting underway, probably a day of fishing. A couple sailboats had dropped off their moorings and were also headed west under auxiliary power. There were a couple examples of sailing craft that he would dearly love to try out.
He’d go on by the Blackbeard resort and then turn around and head back toward Bobbi. Further to the south, beyond the resort and opposite the marina, was a major shopping complex, but most of those emporiums wouldn’t be open for quite awhile.
He was just about to turn around when movement caught his eye.
In a green park area.
About half a mile away.
Big guy moving.
Ball cap and beard, but couldn’t tell much else.
Except the way he moved.
Like on a surveillance video.
Barging straight ahead, focused on his target.
He called Bobbi. “Can’t tell for sure, but I think I’ve got Sherry.”
“Shit. He see you?”
“Don’t think so. He’s going down to the marina.”
“I’m coming your way.”
Malone wanted to run to catch up with the man, make certain it was Sherry, but he also didn’t want to attract attention to himself. He wanted to know where Sherry was going.
He continued south, walking easy, tourist out for a morning stroll.
Closing the distance by a hundred yards, he convinced himself it was Sherry. The man crossed to the pier, paused to talk to a security guard, then walked at a half trot out onto the floating dock and turned left at the juncture of another dock.
Malone picked up his pace.
Sherry trotted past several yachts, then turned out onto the finger pier and began releasing lines. Came back and leaped into the stern well of the yacht, caught himself on the arm of the fighting chair.
And then the damned thing was suddenly underway, the stern dipping a little as the power came on.
Malone hadn’t even noticed that someone was on the flying bridge at the wheel.
He broke into a run, but by the time he reached the pier, the power yacht was two hundred yards out, curving around a couple moored boats.
He squinted enough to see the name: Carmelita.
Couldn’t see any home port spelled out.
*
He had been standing on the stern deck when Alicia arrived, dressed alluringly in a low cut light blue sundress, and he helped her aboard, taking her suitcase.
“My God,” she said, “it’s so wonderful to see you.”
“And you, my dear. You look dazzling.”
“I don’t know why. I didn’t sleep well.”
“Come on in,” he told her, placing his hand at the small of her back to guide her up the three steps to the salon door.
Inside the cabin, she didn’t even look around, kept her eyes on him.
Almost panting, he thought. He set her suitcase down next to the entertainment center on the starboard side.
“Alicia, please sit. I’m going to pour you a cup of coffee, and then I have some things to do topside. As soon as we’re underway, we’ll get caught up on everything.”
She smiled at him. “All right. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never been on a boat before.”
“You’ll enjoy it, my dear.”
He poured her the cup and gave it to her, stepped out, pulled the door closed, and climbed the ladder to the bridge. Looking back over the stern, he saw Sherry coming down from the park.
Impatient now, he checked all the instruments and turned on the radios.
When Sherry arrived, he called down, “Release the stern and then the bow lines.�
��
“Yes, sir!”
The minute Sherry was on board, he applied power on both throttles and eased out of the slip. Not too fast, no wake for the other boats.
It took twenty minutes to traverse the bay, picking up a little speed, and turn onto a heading of 190. He added more power as they left the protection of the harbor, the swells running heavier, but at only a couple feet. The twin Caterpillar diesels hummed. He switched on the radar. Fifteen minutes after that, two miles off Frenchman’s Reef, he bled off the power, shifted both engines to neutral, and let the yacht drift. There was other traffic, but it was light, and no craft was within a mile of them.
He didn’t want to get too far away from cell phone towers just yet.
And he was pissed off that Malone hadn’t shown up.
*
Galway caught up with Malone as he made the trip around the marina to the south side where the marina office was located. She was lugging her portfolio with the laptop. Didn’t want to leave it at the hotel.
“Where?” she asked.
“I missed him. He crawled aboard a cruiser, and the damned thing took off. Hard to see now, with all the other craft around, but he’s nearly to the mouth of the bay.”
“So we’ve lost him. Was Hampstead aboard?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see her, but sure as hell, she’s in Charlotte Amalie to meet someone.”
“If she’s on board that boat, she’s now connected to Sherry,” Bobbi said.
They reached the marina office and Malone pushed the door open. A wiry guy in his sixties with thin gray hair was seated at a desk.
“Don’t mean to bother you,” Oak said, “but I thought I saw a guy I know from way back when, and he was just departing. He was aboard a big Hatteras, I think it was.”
“Yah, probably that GT54 that just went out.”
Solid Oak Page 23
