Saving Tuna Street

by Nancy Nau Sullivan

  Title Page

  Saving

  Tuna Street

  Nancy Nau Sullivan

  Durham, NC

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2020, Nancy Nau Sullivan

  Saving Tuna Street

  Nancy Nau Sullivan

  www.nancynausullivan.com

  Published 2020, by Light Messages

  www.lightmessages.com

  Durham, NC 27713 USA

  SAN: 920-9298

  Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61153-330-9

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61153-332-3

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2019953319

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 International Copyright Act, without the prior written permission except in brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Contents

  Dedication

  One — Forked

  Two — Turning up the Heat

  Three — Hush, Money

  Four — A Deadly Purpose

  Five — Say It with Murder

  Six — Disaster on the Double

  Seven — Snake in the Van

  Eight — Lost and Sort of Found

  Nine — Just Ask Jack

  Ten — The Burning Bridge

  Eleven — They Stop at Nothing

  Twelve — See How They Run

  Thirteen — Rest in Pieces

  Fourteen — A Shot at the Chief

  Fifteen — Pandora in the House

  Sixteen — Jack Be Quick

  Seventeen — Hot Words, Cold Beer

  Eighteen — Murmurs on the Storm

  Nineteen — Hurricane Party

  Twenty — Digging for Gold

  Twenty-One — Jack Be Very Nimble

  Twenty-Two — The Gulf Is a Hungry Ghost

  Twenty-Three — The Girl with the Black Jewels

  Twenty-Four — Believe in Ghosts

  Twenty-Five — Well, Once Upon a Time…

  Twenty-Six — The Pounding Wave

  Twenty-Seven — A Fern Called Blanche

  Twenty-Eight — Piercing Blue Eyes

  Twenty-Nine — Some Good Advice

  Thirty — The Hard Heart of Listening

  Thirty-One — Oh, Save Us from Hairballs

  Thirty-Two — Sprint to a Finish

  Thirty-Three — Blanche-napped!

  Thirty-Four — Bird on the Fly

  Thirty-Five — Rose to the Rescue

  Thirty-Six — Meanwhile, Back at the Station

  Thirty-Seven — Bringing in the Feds

  Thirty-Eight — A Bad Business

  Thirty-Nine — Undercover Cousin

  Forty — High Time at the High Tide

  Forty-One The Girls Get Ready

  Forty-Two — Garbage Fish

  Forty-Three — The Catch

  Forty-Four — One Big Happy Family

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  If you liked Saving Tuna Street you’ll love these books

  Dedication

  To Charles J. Nau

  dear cousin, my friend

  “In this difficult world of the shore,

  life displays its enormous toughness and vitality…”

  —Rachel Carson, The Edge of the Sea

  One —

  Forked

  Our street. At least for now.

  Blanche dumped a bucket of water down Tuna Street. She watched the ripples sink into the crushed shell and didn’t even glance at the blue waves of the Gulf of Mexico lapping away on the beach. She swung the bucket back and forth furiously.

  A rat skittered up a palm tree. All she could think of was Sergi Langstrom.

  Something just wasn’t right about that guy. He was slick. A Bradley Cooper knockoff without true charm and a carpetbagger, to boot.

  “Let’s get rid of the non-native flora,” he’d told the Island Times. “Let’s beautify paradise!”

  “Really! He wants to beautify beauty?” Blanche yelled into the palm trees.

  She tossed the bucket end over end, and it landed against a stand of shady Australian pines. The tall, long-needled trees were at the top of Langstrom’s hit list of “flora.” She yanked the flimsy t-shirt down over her cut-offs and grabbed her bag off the porch. The door stuttered after her as she took the steps two at a time.

  She had to get to Langstrom.

  I

  Blanche hurried toward town, blinded by the sun slanting through the oleander hedges along Gulf Drive. Parrots squawked overhead in the canopy of treetops. She shaded her eyes and sprinted through the winding streets of the island. Her sandals slapped the road, her heart raced to keep up.

  She had no idea what she was going to say to Langstrom. But she had to make it clear that he and his bunch of land-developing goons had to go before they turned the island into another magic king-dumb.

  She’d get her chance soon enough. The meeting was scheduled to start in minutes. The small white clapboard building was within sight, and cars were pulling in.

  She fanned away the humidity that engulfed her like she’d been running in a rain cloud. She caught her breath.

  Realtor Bob Blankenship climbed out of his silver Mercedes just as Blanche bent over, hands on her knees, huffing and puffing. Bob’s polished wing-tips came into view under her nose. She popped up. His shoulders were the size of an offensive tackle’s, but he had the soft brown eyes of a teddy bear.

  “Well. Blanche Murninghan!” She got a whiff of something fresh and citrusy.

  “Bob!” She plucked at her wilted t-shirt. She wished she’d changed into that newis dress. Well, too late now. Her legs were rubbery, her mind worrying over the details of the upcoming meeting.

  “You’re looking winded!” He laughed and took her arm as they headed toward the Santa Maria Town Hall.

  “Winded. Don’t I wish that were it.”

  He shook his head, but he was smiling. “We’ll get him. Never knew you to back down.”

  Bob had just shaved and a nick blossomed below one round dimple in his smile. All white teeth and rosy cheeks. The October afternoon hovered at ninety, but he didn’t look it, his silk suit pressed, shirt crisp. He stopped. “Blanche, you got your notebook? You writing this one up?”

  “Not this time.” She shot him a look. “What are we gonna tell him?”

  “To get outta here.” He sighed.

  “We need more than that.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  It might help if she exposed Langstrom’s devastating plans in the Island Times. Help what? She’d tried the news-writing approach. She’d written a series of articles about the drug drops at Conchita Beach, and nada. Nothing. They were still going on. The police chief was pissed. Blanche had stirred up a lot of talk and trouble. Chief Duncan had told her to lay off and let the authorities work on it. Or else.

  Her editor, Clint Wilkinson, had started in: “Now, Blanche…”

  She’d stormed out of the newspaper office, leaving a befuddled boss, and headed for the Gulf to cool off. It worked, for a bit, but now she was dealing with one huge writer’s block. She’d put her part-time journalism career on hold, consumed with thoughts of Langstrom and his plans. The developer whores were taking over Santa Maria Island.

  It stung, like she�
�d stepped in a thousand sand burrs. Writing them up in the Island Times was not going to get rid of them any time soon.

  Bob pointed one finger in the air. “We need to keep after them …”

  High heels clicked across the parking lot. Bob’s partner, Liza Kramer, hurried toward them in jeweled sandals, her tanned legs glowing. She wore a pink angora shell with a white leather skirt and looked like a freshly decorated cake. She was smiling, of course. Blanche’s frustration fizzled. If anyone could lighten the mood, or at least level it, it was Liza.

  “You’re glowing, girl!” She gave Blanche a big hug.

  “Burning is more like it.” Blanche’s face was red hot, her hair stuck to her forehead.

  “You will say something in that the meeting, won’t you?”

  “Well, I plan to. If I don’t kill the guy first.” Blanche bent one leg, then the other, loosening up from her toes to the knot that twisted in her stomach. “Got anything new, Liza?”

  “Lots of new regs.” Liza looked sweet as a cupcake but her brain was prime cut. She held on lightly to Bob’s fingers. “I found more on permitting in the coastal zones. There’re even more restrictions than we’d figured.”

  “They’ll get those permits over my dead body! Just not gonna happen. They’re dreamin’.” He smiled at her, squeezed her hand. “Liza, once again, you’re on top of it.”

  “Where I like to be!” She bumped him, and his arm encircled her waist.

  “Oh, jeez. I’m glad you’re so cheery.” Blanche forgot her worries for about a second, and then the quaking in her stomach started up again. She wiped the palms of her hands on the back of her shorts. “I don’t know. Those people have loads of cash. They’ll try to buy their way in.”

  “They can try all they want,” said Bob. “Like I said, they’ll pay hell getting the OK for their fancy turrets and whatnot. What they’re proposing is a damn theme park. Just won’t fly.” Strong and sure, that was Bob. Blanche always thought that if he hadn’t been a realtor, he would have made a darn good preacher at Palm-a-Soula Baptist Church.

  Blanche held back and looked over the crowd while Liza and Bob disappeared through the doors of the town hall. It was a good group, mostly old-timers who loved the place just the way it was.

  She tried to stay positive, but as the start of the meeting drew closer, the thought of Langstrom’s disastrous plan made her crazy. He was going to destroy all of it: the habitat for migrating parrots and butterflies, the historic old clapboard cottages, the bird sanctuary. Presto! The delicate limestone aquifer that was Florida was quickly succumbing to heaps of pink and turquoise stucco—and slime and overflowing septic systems and industry that didn’t care. The sleepy manatees would be replaced with boats for the rich—zipping about with perturbing speed along the shoreline and in and out of man-made, stagnant canals. The sea grape and mangroves, home to fish and wildlife, would be gone, or at least cut to smithereens for boat docks and for the sake of a better view. She swiped a hand across her glistening forehead. He wants to get rid of the non-natives? He’s not native. We need to get rid of him. She had to make a case and hope her words didn’t come out like a boiling alphabet soup.

  She blinked at the indoor lighting. Bob and Liza stood in the middle of a group of laughing island residents. Well, that’s not surprising. He was their realtor, and he was also their Little League coach at the community center while Liza worked the phones to raise money for the uniforms. Despite the cheer, the room had the curious air of an inquisition with a little cocktail party thrown in. It was definitely set up for confrontation. She could hear it in the low-key buzz.

  The metal folding chairs sat in straight rows on the wide-plank floor—the very floor Blanche had danced upon at age six for ballet lessons. A lot of things had changed in twenty-five years, but not the hall. It was the place of weddings, meetings, plays, and political receptions—some of them contentious gatherings, but nothing like this one. It was now a battlefield.

  Blanche waved at Mayor Pat Strall who lumbered to her seat at a long table. She hunched her shoulders at Blanche and looked peeved. It wasn’t something she’d done, or said. The mayor was generally peeved. Everybody knew she was not in favor of the land development, but opinion on her views had come up iffy. She’d made it clear she was fed up with all the wrangling. Now several council members flitted around, waving papers at each other and at the mayor, who shooed them away.

  Blanche glanced at the side door. Still no Langstrom. She grabbed a chair.

  Becky Sharmette of Island Knitters, Needles, and Knots nudged her arm. “Hear he’s a real looker.” She winked.

  Blanche grimaced.

  “Let me tell ya, it’s all plenty scary.” Becky’s expression went from sunny to gloomy. “If those developers get their way, we’ll have to go. Just can’t afford their houses and those taxes…”

  Blanche was visibly alarmed. “Where would you go?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “And the business?”

  “Kafoompa.” Her fingers shot open. “That development would be one big explosion in our faces. Wish Mayor Pat and that bunch could do something about it.”

  Blanche studied the government officials of Santa Maria Island. An ancient air conditioner rattled above the mayor’s head and dripped onto her limp pancake of a hat. She inched it off her forehead and fanned herself violently with the night’s agenda. She’d told everyone every chance she got that she was ready to throw it in and that she looked forward to assuming her throne (a barstool) at Stinky’s, the immensely popular hamburger shack run by her three daughters. It was time for new blood in town.

  Blanche slumped—and let her imagination shove her into the rabbit hole of daydreams where she often escaped. She was the new mayor. She saw herself sitting on top of a bulldozer, scooping up these developer hairball types and dumping them at the airport, or worse.

  Trouble was, Langstrom was real and not a dream and he was not going back to Chicago. Even if he did, she feared there would be others just like him. He had started something that was going to be pretty darn hard to put a stop to.

  She’d tried to avoid him around town, but it had been difficult. He was everywhere: glad-handing at the coffee shop, talking up the land development. Her own newspaper had followed him around to snag some “color.” Wade! The reporter was worse than sunburn and a rash to boot, and he was hot on Langstrom’s tail. Kissing it.

  She shifted on the chair, curling her fingers around the hard edges. Waiting for Langstrom. He was making her sweat. This was something else she loathed about him. A rivulet ran down the back of her thin shirt. She couldn’t think of her neighbors, or her cabin on Tuna Street—that glorious pile of logs on the most beautiful stretch of white sand in the world—without the blue eyes of Sergi Langstrom looming into her head like a living nightmare.

  One worn Teva flopped up and down from the end of her toe.

  A side door banged open, and Blanche jumped. Both sandals slapped the floor. Langstrom walked into the room.

  The devil in pinpoint blue oxford.

  Two —

  Turning up the Heat

  Smooth and easy, like he owned it. That was Sergi Lackstrom.

  Behind him, a short, fussy fellow darted toward Mayor Pat with a stack of posters. She flinched, then removed her hat and wet strings flopped over her eyes. She was spared the initial shock. Blanche caught her breath. They called it The Plan. Blanche called it hell.

  Langstrom grinned. “Hi, there.” The mayor and council members stared at him, wide-eyed.

  “Really?” Blanche said.

  “Fur-ril.” Barbara Bennett of Coquina Collections tipped forward in her seat. “Dang. Ain’t he the handsome one though,” she said in an Irish whisper. The women nodded. And swooned?

  Blanche couldn’t take her eyes off the posters. But then she did.

  Langstrom had the loose gait of an athlete. Trim and tall. Cleft in his chin. She imagined him swiveling down a ski slope chipping ice into frosty clo
uds, smiling with a mouthful of snowy caps. Well, here he was on their bright sunny island, and he could just go back to freakin’…Switzerland?

  She mumbled, “I guess you could say that he’s not hard to look at. But, I sure hate looking at him.” She wished he were ugly. As it was, his boyish good looks would only convince people to run toward him instead of away from him.

  He hovered in the front row and lifted Janet Capeheart’s fingers like he was asking her to dance. The smile smoothed her cheeks and erased years.

  “What is he doing?” Blanche hissed. Becky poked her arm.

  Rumor had it that Janet’s dress shop would likely be the first to go. What could possibly make her so gleeful? Her quaint cottage business—with hummingbirds feeding in the bougainvillea, a wide deck with rockers—would be replaced with a pseudo-Victorian mansion, complete with wraparound gallery. The thought of all those fake curlicues and gingerbread made Blanche gag.

  Sergi still held Janet’s blue-veined hand. She didn’t seem to be thinking about business. Not with that besotted grin.

  The room was hot but Blanche was cold. She craned her neck to get a better view. He was fawning over the whole front row. He rolled the sleeves of his fine pinpoint shirt and tucked a hand in the pocket of his pressed khakis. He wore shiny loafers with tassels, no socks.

  Blanche gritted her teeth and slumped until she was nearly off the chair.

  Langstrom didn’t look at the long table where Mayor Pat sputtered: “Who’s running for office here?” Blanche could hear her from where she sat.

  The mayor hopped to her feet, the gavel waggling in her hand, a menacing look on her face. She opened her mouth but all eyes were on Sergi. He smiled at her. “Thank you, Your Honor, and board members, for giving us this opportunity.”

  Who is us?

  “We certainly have paradise here, don’t we?”

  We?

  The mayor sat down with a loud whomp.

  “Santa Maria! What a great place!” He fixed them with those ice-blue eyes. “Our beaches, and the sun. And, our great restaurants!” He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Denzel has raved about Banana Cabana!”