by Fred Galvin
“Yes, it’s from Roje for sure. I used to call Ronika ‘Rika’ when she was little until she insisted I stop. Roje teased her endlessly. No one knows that except us, and now you.”
I winked. “I’ll store that away for another time. TOWARD GCI, what does that mean?”
Delyse thought for a moment then lit up. “GCI! Grand Cayman Island! He’s on his way to Grand Cayman Island!”
I looked again at the location screen. “Or at least toward it. Yes, if you extend a line out from here through his location, he hits Grand Cayman Island. That looks like it could be their destination.”
“Dan, what do we do now? Do we go after Ronika? We have to get her out of there.”
I pulled her close to me. She was breathing heavily, obviously agitated. What parent wouldn’t be? Her daughter was being held against her will as leverage to force her son to cooperate with an unstable individual in some illegal activity. She wanted to free her daughter as soon as possible. I knew better than to knee-jerk react and go in with guns blazing. I had seen the grisly results of guns-blazing attempts at rescues and usually someone ended up dead. We could not take the chance of Ronnie being that someone. I held her tightly.
“We will but we have to plan our steps carefully to ensure her safety. Roje’s text also said he has location sharing activated on his phone. We should be able to track where he is, or at least where his phone is, to within a few minutes. Let’s check right now.”
“Yes, yes of course. I had totally forgotten about that. I’m so preoccupied with Ronika …”
I brought her to a small couch in the office used for clients and sat her down. She opened the location sharing screen and kept expanding until an orange circle with R in it displayed surrounded by blue Caribbean Sea. “There he is! He’s west-northwest of us 27.3 miles away.”
“You said that you believe Vernon Whyte is the more stable between him and Gillian. Why is that?”
“Well, any time I heard about something they had done, it seemed it was always Gillian’s name that was mentioned.” She paused. “Gabi would have more information.”
“Good. Please call her now and hand me the phone.”
Delyse called Gabi, told her I wanted to speak with her, and handed me the phone. “Hi Gabi. I believe you said earlier that you wanted some detective training. Is that still the case?”
“Oh yes, Dan, absolutely. The last thing Roje told me to do was learn everything I could about the Whyte brothers and to follow your instructions. Do you have news on Ronika and Roje?”
“Yes we do. Now I’m going to ask you an important question. I need you to consider your answer carefully and be totally candid with me.”
“Of course, go ahead.”
“Do you have any problem working this case alone with me, no involvement with the Montego Bay Police Department, your employer? I will not ask you to lie to them, nor will I ask you to do anything illegal, just not to involve them, at least initially. This will be strictly on your own time, and it could be quite dangerous. If you agree, you’ll have to see it through. When it’s over, you can tell them as much as you wish to and I’ll support you.”
Gabi didn’t hesitate. “I have no problem at all. In fact I’ve been hoping I would be hearing from you and I do have some personal time coming. What do you want me to do?”
“Good. How quickly can you meet Delyse and me here at the charter office? Come in your personal car and bring what you have on the brothers.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
After the call, Delyse looked at me with a little girl expression that said, And me? How about me? What can I do to help? “You, my lady, will help us formulate the plan. I will need you to be Ronnie for me.”
“Be Ronika? What do you mean?”
“Whenever your daughter and I came up with a plan on a case, we both would step back and put sanity-checks on every theory, every planned move. Our understanding was always never to pull any punches and if we saw a hole or a step that wouldn’t work, we’d speak up. We called it forest and trees. Now I know you’re not a professional investigator and in a way that’s good. You can apply your judgements without bias. Can you do that?”
“Just watch me.” Gone was the little girl.
“One more thing. I won’t be able to allow you to accompany us in the field. This is a nasty business and I will not have you put at risk.”
She fixed those burning black eyes on me and I could swear I could feel their heat. I immediately knew it would be hopeless to try to enforce that idea. “Just try to stop me.”
I knew I was toast and that it would be useless to insist. I smiled. “Somehow I knew you were going to say that. But you will follow my instructions to the letter. Agreed?”
With an evil grin, “Agreed.”
I didn’t dare check but I figured her fingers were crossed. Brat!
~~~
Gabi arrived within ten minutes. Delyse and I brought her up to speed, showing her Roje’s text. “Wonderful. You’re aware Roje’s phone is a sat phone so he will never be out of service range.”
Delyse thumped her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Of course! I totally forgot that. Dan I should have told you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Actually I assumed that to be the case since location sharing showed us he was nearly thirty miles at sea, he was well out of cell range.” Then I put my arm around her and kissed her cheek, which caused Gabi to smile like a girl who just caught her folks smooching.
We looked at her Cheshire Cat grin. We simultaneously said, “What?!”
“You two are cute.”
Delyse actually was a bit embarrassed. She then put an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to her. “Puppies are cute. We’re maturely awesome!”
Gabi just kept smiling.
“I have an idea.” Gabi took her cell out of her jeans pocket (left rear, of course), found a number, and called. After a moment she ended the call. “Just as I thought. I just called the Day-O and got a recording. The Day-O is closed for two weeks while the owners are on vacation. I was wondering how Vernon Whyte could keep Ronika captive without attracting the attention of the work staff and patrons. Then it occurred to me that would not be a problem if it was closed.”
“Very good, Gabi. You have detective potential.”
She beamed. “Thanks! Now what do we do? Wait, a good detective would know what to do. Give me a minute.” She sat down and worked her phone. “I can access our department databases remotely.” A quick look up at me. “We’re not as primitive here as you big-city types may suspect.”
“I never said …” Delyse touched my arm and shook her head in a manner that said It’s okay, just let her do her thing.
After about a minute, Gabi stood and showed me her phone. “Yes! I have the Day-O’s owners’ names and contact numbers.”
Delyse said, “Dan, you said you and Ronika had lunch there and met her friend, a man named Malcolm, right? Can you describe this Malcolm?”
I described Malcolm as I remembered him from that lunch with Ronnie. Then I noticed Delyse and Gabi look at each other. Delyse nodded to Gabi as if to say go ahead.
She worked her phone then turned it to me. “Is this Malcolm?”
The picture was obviously a mug shot. Gabi had her thumb over the name under it. “Yes, that’s him.”
She removed her thumb. “You just described Vernon Whyte.” Gabi tapped some more on her phone. “Shit! There’s no indication of any connections between Vernon and the Day-O. But then, why would there be if he’s using an alias?”
Delyse said, “And I don’t think Ronika has ever come across Vernon Whyte personally, at least that I know of. She’s seen Gillian, but not Vernon. So she would not have made the connection when you two had lunch there.”
I added, “And it’s logical that …” I paused intentionally and peered at Gabi to see if she picked up the queue, She didn’t disappoint.
“… that Vernon, as Malcolm, would know the Day-O wou
ld be closed and empty and would be a good place to take his captive and keep her undisturbed by customers or staff.” She looked at me as would a pupil seeking approval from a teacher.
I nodded. “I think the Montego Bay Police Department has a potential detective. Poor Roje, he’s never going to be able to get away with anything.”
Gabi beamed. “Oh, he can’t get away with anything now!”
We all chuckled then became serious again. Delyse tapped the table. “Gabi, what are the names of the Day-O’s owners? I think I may have met them.”
Gabi checked her phone. “Yes. Daniel and Amelia Campbell.”
“Yes! A few years back I attended a meeting of local business owners in the city. We were discussing a proposed sales tax increase. I remember Amelia Campbell seemed to be the prime voice for the Day-O and was strongly opposed to the increase. Her husband was rather passive. Since I was owner of the Flip Flop Lounge, she and I hit it off as the only female proprietors at the meeting. She told me her husband ran the day-to-day business while she was the brains of the operation. I remember her fondly saying, “Daniel’s a good man but he’s a man. Sometimes he can’t get out of his own way.” I found that amusing. She also thought that it must be hard for me since I had to do both jobs in running the Flip Flop. I liked her but we lost touch and I haven’t communicated with her since.”
Something clicked with me. “Gabi, is the number you have in your police records her personal cell or just the Day-O business number?”
Again Gabi looked at her phone. “I have both! What are you proposing?”
“Good. She most likely will have her cell with her on her vacation in case something at the Day-O needs her attention. Delyse, would you be willing to try to contact Amelia? Renew your relationship?”
“Of course. What do you have in mind?”
I looked to Gabi as this was a teachable moment. “Gabi? Any thoughts?”
“Sorry Dan. I don’t know where you’re going with this but I can’t wait to find out.”
I explained my proposal. I wanted to make absolutely sure Delyse was on board with it because her daughter’s well-being, and perhaps her life, could depend on whether or not the plan worked.
“Dan, you’re the professional and I trust you. I know how close you and Ronika are so I know you have her safety in mind. I’m all in and by that you know I mean all in, as in I’m coming with you and I want to be a part in your plan. Yes?”
Those black eyes bore into me. The only possible answer was, “Of course. Okay then, here’s what I’m thinking.”
Chapter 26: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Roje eased the Sea Nymph up to a dock outside a small bungalow. A shingle on the bungalow read:
Welcome to Gun Bay Beach
Grand Cayman Island
The trip there took just over seven hours. The first two-thirds was smooth sailing but the final two and one-half hours were over rolling swells which caused the vessel to pitch and roll significantly. With no shame or remorse, Roje purposely steered the Nymph in such a way as to exaggerate the rolling. Brazenly he eased back on the throttle as the vessel climbed a wave and gunned it full on the way down to exacerbate the effects. Twice Gillian was seasick, much to Roje’s delight. Once he thought about getting close enough to Gillian to “ease” him over the side during a good swell but thought better of it. He still had Ronika’s well-being to consider and didn’t know how Vernon Whyte would react if he couldn’t contact his brother. But Roje was very tempted and would not have hesitated if he thought Ronika was safe. He thought, Hell, I’ve done it before!
Three burly men helped secure the Nymph to the dock and then stood there like sentries, two scanning the surrounding sea and one watching Roje. It was clear all three were armed, indeed they made no effort to conceal their weapons, harnessed in shoulder holsters under their suit coats. Roje was certain he would be gunned down the second he made any type of threatening moves.
A short man chomping on a long cigar walked down the dock. He was flanked by two more goons.
Gillian hopped off the boat like a kid on Christmas morning and trotted toward the cigar-chomping Santa Claus. The two goons immediately stepped between him and the apparent boss. Gillian stopped short. “T-Bone, it’s me, you know, Gillian Whyte. We’re here to pick up the …”
T-Bone’s gravelly voice which was surprisingly loud and strong, cutting him off. His eyes were dead even while they focused on Gillian’s. “I know who yuz are and why yuz are here.” Then to the goons, “It’s okay, men.” As the goons parted, Gillian puffed himself up and held out his hand to T-Bone who ignored it and continued down the dock. “Let’s get started.” He looked out to the dock toward the Sea Nymph and Roje standing on deck with arms folded as he watched this bizarre scene before him. “Is your boat’s captain okay? Is he good for the trip back?”
Gillian nervously glanced back toward Roje who held up a hand and waved in a manner that said, Hello boys, you assholes really crack me up.
“Yeah, sure. He’s fine, no problems with him.” Then he leaned closer to T-Bone, winked, and said conspiratorially, “We’ve got his sister as leverage.”
T-Bone stopped short and turned, Gillian almost bumping into him. “What? Yuz kidnapped his sister? Are yuz fuckin’ nuts?”
Gillian was taken aback, suddenly all his self-confidence gone like a fart in the wind. “Really, it’s okay. We have her at a deserted place no one knows about. My brother’s with her at the Day-O. He works there so he knows the place. Everything’s cool. No problems.”
T-Bone glared at Gillian. “Your brother’s with her, eh? And at the place where he works, eh? You’re both fucking morons.” He snapped his fingers without turning around. “Rico!”
The larger of the two goons sprang forward liked a fetched dog. Here Rico, here boy! Gillian thought his shoulders must have been a yard wide. In a voice that could only come out of a Hollywood casting studio for mobsters of little intelligence and massive brawn Rico said, “Yeah boss?”
“After the transfer I want yuz to hop on that boat and make sure the delivery is made. Do whatever yuz need to do to make sure there are no problems. Get me?”
“Yeah boss. Sure. On the boat. Delivery. No problems. Gotcha.”
Then Rico turned to Gillian and smiled down at him with a smile that chilled Gillian to the depths of his soul. Up to that moment he had thought that he and Vernon were on their way to the big leagues with this job. Rico’s smile changed that to self-doubt that screamed, maybe we’re in the deep end with no life preservers, in way over our heads. Gillian did his best to maintain his position, tenuous as it was.
“T-Bone, that won’t be necessary. Everything’s under control and …”
T-Bone’s eyes were two dead pools of ice blue as they glared through Gillian. “He’s going. End of story. Yuz’ll get paid when yuz unload back in Jamaica. My men will be there waitin’. Get me?”
T-Bone looked up at Rico. “Get movin’. I want that boat loaded and outta here in less than an hour.” He turned and walked up the dock toward the bungalow, cigar smoke training behind him and disbursing with the wind.
Gillian stood there stunned. “But, don’t we get to relax a little? Maybe have a drink to celebrate?”
Over his shoulder T-Bone said, “Get the fuck back on the boat and help my men load the goods. Yuz can relax and celebrate when yuz get there and get paid.”
Gillian was officially nervous now. He no longer had any control of the situation. He wouldn’t even be in control on the boat, not with Rico coming along. He looked at Rico who was just leering down at him like a madman. “Ya heard the boss. Come on, we got work to do.”
~~~
Several more goons materialized. In twos they were carrying heavy wooden crates down the dock to the Sea Nymph where Roje instructed them how to load and secure them so as to keep the boat in balance. While he didn’t know the type of quantity of guns that were in the crates, he estimated each crate’s weight. There were
twelve in all and each had to be positioned such that the port and starboard sides and the bow and stern were equally supporting the total weight. Given the rolling seas, if the center of gravity of the Nymph was even slightly off true, the vessel could easily capsize.
~~~
As the last of the crates were being loaded, T-Bone was suddenly on the dock. He yelled, “Rico,” who moved like an enormous lapdog to his master’s side. T-Bone briefly said something to him and sent him back to the boat. He went directly to Roje who was standing on the bridge.
“The boss wants to know, do yuz need fuel for the trip?” Roje chuckled to himself wondering if T-Bone had given Rico a treat for being such an obedient pet. Who’s a gooood boy? You’re a gooood boy. That’s a gooood boy.
Roje saw this as an opportunity to play fetch with this large and stupid dog. “Go back and tell the boss that I can’t answer his question until I know where we’re going.” Jerking his head in Gillian’s direction, “Numbnuts here hasn’t told me, so how should I know?”
Rico looked from Roje, over his shoulder to the dock, and back. Roje waved him away with, “Go on now. Go.” Rico nodded and took off back to the dock. Roje shook his head. Wow!
Gillian was in the cabin on the phone with Vernon. “That’s good. Keep her tied down and keep your eyes open. I’ll check back later.”
“I want to speak with my sister.”
“She’s fine. Get fueled up and …”
“NOT NEGOTIABLE! Call your brother back and get my sister on the phone NOW or we’re not going anywhere.”
Gillian looked frustrated and deflated. “Look, Roje. I can guarantee …”
Roje stood over him, grabbed him by the shirt, and stood him up. “Look yourself you piece of shit. This is my vessel and you’ll have to kill me if you want to take it over and I can guarantee I won’t go down without a fight.” Gillian’s eyes were wide and he tried to reach for his gun which was tucked into his belt. Roje was ready for that move, and grabbed Gillian’s wrist holding the gun pointing down. “I don’t give two shits about you or any of your mobster buddies out there. Just know that I will not hesitate to kill you and that big goon somehow and anyone else I can take down before they take me down. Now get my sister on the phone!”