Miz Scarlet and the Acrimonious Attorney

by Sara M. Barton

  “No, I’m an old-fashioned guy. My bow has no electronics on board. But that doesn’t mean I’m not a force to contend with in a fight. Some people say I’ve got laser vision.” He gave me a quick wink.

  “Hey, Ken’s got another bite,” someone called out. We rushed over to see what he’d hooked. “Oh, that’s a big yellowtail snapper. Nice! Reel it in easy.”

  Eventually I left them to their fishing and made my way up to the bridge for a further peek at Johnny Zee’s party. Squinting into the binoculars, I saw an older man sitting in the fishing chair in the stern, moving his rod this way and that way as he wound the spool of fishing line. About twenty feet away from him, thrashing in the water, was a large sailfish fighting hard to get loose. That must be Johnny Zee, I decided. He looked a bit older than the images I had seen on the Internet, but I recognized the resemblance.

  “Is everything okay, ma’am?” asked an unfamiliar male voice behind me.

  I jumped, startled by the unexpected appearance of one of the Mudder’s Promise crew members. “Oh, yes. I’m just trying to see how the other fishing teams are doing.”

  “Can I get you something to drink? I have soda, ice tea, and water. Or would you prefer a cocktail?”

  “A diet soda would be great.”

  He was back in less than a minute with a cold can of cola wrapped in a napkin. “We’ve got a buffet lunch set up in the lounge downstairs. Help yourself.”

  “Thanks, I will.” I popped the top, took a long swig, and picked up the binoculars again. I hadn’t missed much. The older man was still trying to land that sailfish as the gathered crowd cheered him on. On his head was a Miami Dolphins cap, barely concealing the long, gray hair. A nubile brunette clung to his side like a remora on a shark. That definitely had to be Johnny Zee.

  A furtive movement on the bow of Siren of the Seas caught my eye. A young man in a blue shirt and brown pants leaned over the side and adjusted something. What was it? I fiddled with the focus on the binoculars, trying to get a better look. Was it the anchor?

  “Having fun up here?” Gandy joined me on the bridge.

  “I am.” I pointed at the man on the bow. “What do you suppose he is trying to do?”

  “Do you mind if I take a look?”

  “Not at all.” I handed him the binoculars.

  “He’s trying to draw the fish in with some chum,” Gandy told me.

  “I thought most tournaments forbid chumming.”

  “They do, even this one. But that never stopped Johnny Zee and his team.”

  “You’re telling me that he’s cheating at his own fishing tournament?”

  “That I am. He’s the epitome of ‘underhanded’. While everyone else is following the rules, he’s breaking them.”

  “What a cheese weasel!”

  Two small shadows raced through the water, headed for Siren of the Seas, as the man pulled up a bag of some sort, threw something into it, and dropped it back into the water. “There’s the evidence, Scarlet. Thanks for letting me use your binoculars. Enjoy the show.”

  “Oh, I will.”

  Kenny came up to see me fifteen minutes later. “How’s it going?”

  “It’s been fairly quiet over there. There were two other boats that tied up briefly to Johnny’s yacht, but the guests didn’t stay very long. There was a man from the crew who put some chum in the water. Gandy saw it too.”

  “Well, cheating is to be expected, given the players. Are you hungry yet?”

  “I am. Let’s eat.”

  Chewy and Gandy stayed on the deck to cast their lines while we ate. Ronny, the young crewman, checked on us a couple of times, but otherwise left us alone in the lounge.

  “You know, Johnny Zee’s yacht hasn’t gone anywhere in all the hours we’ve been here, Scarlet.” Kenny took a bite of his chicken salad wrap and raised the binoculars.

  “Oh, that’s true. They’re right where they anchored hours ago. Mudder’s Promise has moved, though. We’ve traveled a hundred and eighty degrees by my reckoning. Is that because the captain is looking for the best areas to fish in?”

  “That’s the normal procedure during the fishing tournaments. So, why isn’t Johnny Zee’s captain doing that? We both know the answer to that, don’t we? He doesn’t need to chase the fish if he’s using chum.”

  “But what I don’t understand, Kenny, is why other people don’t notice that bag hanging off the side.”

  “See that approaching motorboat? Watch what happens when the skipper tries to tie up.”

  We waited for the sleek black-and-white thirty-footer to reach Siren of the Seas. Just before it did, the stern of the yacht seemed to drift to the right.

  “Someone is making sure no one gets a close look at the chum bag!”

  “That’s right.”

  We spent the next half hour watching guests come and go from Johnny Zee’s fishing boat. Again and again, the boat swung about as visitors approached. It was no accident. But was it definite proof that cheating took place? “It’s too bad we can’t get close enough to that chum bag to get some video.”

  “That’s not our responsibility, honey.”

  “I know, but it goes to motive for Philip Grimshaw’s murder, doesn’t it?”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you passed the Florida bar, babe. Are you planning to prosecute this case?”

  “Kenny!” I gave him the stink eye.

  “Scarlet!”

  “Are you just going to let them get away with cheating?”

  “I am. That’s because I’m working on a different case. I’m looking for a killer, not a scoundrel.”

  “But if the cases are intertwined....”

  My pleas fell on deaf ears. There was no way Kenny was going to let me get anywhere near that yacht.

  “And don’t even think about taking the dinghy over there on your own. I’ve already told you that my heart can’t take the thought of losing you.”

  “Okay, fine! But shouldn’t you at least tell someone about the cheating?”

  “Scarlet, Johnny Zee is sponsoring the event. If he wants to cheat during his own contest and perpetrate a fraud on his competitors, it’s on him. Now, if it were an officially sanctioned tournament that was independently monitored, that would be a different matter. I’d send him up the river in a heartbeat.”

  “How so?” I demanded, still fuming at the prospect of those cheaters getting away with their chumming.

  “I’d tip off the tournament officials, so they could catch Zee in the act,” he told me in that ever so matter-of-fact, dispassionate voice he used whenever a case was solved.

  “But....” I was about to argue when that little voice inside my head warned me that I was missing something important. I stared at him for several moments, perplexed.

  Whoa, is this case solved? Is that what he’s trying to tell me, knowing he can’t share the information officially? Rats! I hate it when he plays his cards this close to the vest. There’s something going on, but I have no way of knowing what that might be. I won’t find out until everyone else does.

  “Well, I think I’ll get back out there and do my best to hook another winner.” he told me, a genial smile playing upon his lips as he stood at the doorway. “Time’s a-wasting.”

  Wait a minute. Was that reference to hooking another winner just a slip of the tongue or did it mean something? When I asked him, Kenny just shrugged. He had no intention of giving me any more hints.

  “Are you coming, Scarlet?”

  “Yes, but I think I’ll use the head first,” I replied as I stood up. I needed a minute or two to sort myself out. “I won’t be long.”

  After spending so many hours observing Siren of the Seas through binoculars, I was surprised to see the rest of the flotilla on the other side of Mudder’s Promise. Pressing my nose close to the port hole, I counted a catamaran, a trimaran, two cabin cruisers, and a handful of smaller boats in our immediate vicinity. One of them, a runabout, was a mere thirty yards away from the bow of our bo
at.

  “It must be Johnny Zee’s chum that’s attracting the crowd. They’re just following the scent of success.”

  Out on the deck, Kenny gave a loud whoop of delight. A moment later, there was a crescendo of oohs and ahs as other people joined in.

  “What did I miss?”

  Eager to see what all the fuss was about, I hurried through the lounge and stepped out onto the deck, just as a long, dark sword slashed through a wave on the starboard side. It was attached to a monster sailfish. “Good Lord, that thing is enormous!”

  “Take your time, Ken. Don’t rush it. Give him some line and let him tire himself out,” said Van, the first mate. “Howie, get the chair ready for him.”

  “I will, boss.”

  “Boy, that’s a beautiful fish,” Gandy gushed, clearly enamored of the beast on Kenny’s line. “It should put us in the running for a prize.”

  Twenty feet away, everyone gathered around Kenny as he engaged in battle with a worthy foe. I was about to join them when I caught a flash of color out of the corner of my eye. I sensed that there was someone in the lounge. Startled, I whirled around and came face to face with the man with one brown eye and one green eye.

  Chapter Thirty

  “Kenny!” I screamed, desperate to warn him that I was in danger. But he couldn’t hear me. He was too busy landing that sailfish. “Kenny!”

  The people crowded around Kenny were so enthralled with the action in the ocean that they didn’t notice anything amiss either. My stalker raised his right arm, and when he did, the sun glinted on the knife in his hand. It wasn’t nearly as big as the one he plunged into Philip Grimshaw’s chest, but I was fairly certain it could still do considerable damage. With my heart pounding inside my chest, I backed away from my stalker, afraid to take my eyes off of him. It was time for me to act, but what could I do? I had no weapon, so fighting back seemed foolish. Yelling for help had already proved to be a waste of time.

  That’s when I did the only thing I could think to do to escape the man now only five feet from me. I took a gulp of air and hurled myself over the railing.

  It crossed my mind as I went into the water that I had, once and for all, lost my mind. But one look into those mismatched eyes left me with no doubt about the stranger’s intentions. That man was going to kill me. This is how my life ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper, as I’m skewered by a sailfish or wiped out by a wahoo. I suppose it’s better than getting nailed by some crazed hammerhead shark. Well, at least there’s an upside. The killer didn’t get me.

  “Scarlet!” I heard Kenny frantically calling my name called as I surfaced and began to swim back to Mudder’s Promise. “What the hell are you doing in the water? Are you nuts? Get away from that sailfish! He’ll stab you!”

  “She’s going to get herself killed! Don’t get tangled in the fishing line! Swim away from the sailfish, Scarlet!” hollered Gandy, waving his arms in warning.

  “We’ve got to throw her a line and pull her to safety before a shark shows up!” someone else bellowed.

  Oh, I did not want to hear those words. Twirling in the water, I did a three-sixty and searched the horizon for that dreaded silhouette as the theme from Jaws went pounding through my addled brain.

  “Here, take this!” Kenny thrust his his rod at a deckhand.

  “I’ve got it, sir.”

  Once the deckhand had maneuvered the sailfish to the other side of the stern, Kenny tried to help me. Leaning over the railing, he shouted, “Go around to the bow!”

  “I...I can’t,” I yelled back. “The killer is there!”

  “What?” Chewie put a hand to his ear. “What did you say?”

  “The killer is on the boat!” I waved my arm in the direction of the bow, but it was a complete waste of time. They couldn’t see the furtive figure crouching down there, concealed from view. They had no idea what I meant.

  I started to swim away, desperate to distance myself from both the sailfish and the killer. When I turned back to Mudder’s Promise, my heart sank. The killer was about to climb over the side of the boat, where his runabout was waiting for him.

  “There’s a killer back there!” I screamed again. The man with one brown eye and one green eye glared at me as I pointed in his direction.

  “Maybe she hit her head when she went over the railing,” Chewie told the group. “I thought I heard her say there’s a killer on board.”

  “I’ve got a boat hook, Scarlet,” Van announced. “Swim over to me and take hold of this, so I can pull you in!”

  I did a modified breast stroke on my way back to the boat, frog-kicking with all the grace of a twitterpated six-year-old at her first swim class. I was unnerved by the notion that there might be a shark moving up on me from behind, salivating as he circled my legs like they were his happy hour appetizers. If only Johnny Zee hadn’t used so much chum in the water!

  That’s when something touched my leg unexpectedly. I didn’t wait to find out what it was. I put a burst of speed on and did my Katie Ledecky impression all the way back to Mudder’s Promise. Reaching up, I grasped the metal pole the moment Van offered it. Seconds later, I was lifted over the railing and quickly enveloped in the arms of a man whose heart was beating so fast I thought he would need CPR.

  “Why?” Kenny howled, like a wounded bear. “Why did you jump overboard?”

  “The killer was on the boat and he...he came after me!”

  “What?”

  “She’s right,” said a stranger in an FBI vest, standing in the doorway to the lounge. He calmly walked across the deck and joined us. “We’ve got him in custody, Ken.”

  “Thank God!”

  “What just happened?” I wondered. “Where did you come from?”

  Maybe it was all the salt water I sucked down during my unexpected dip, but I was baffled. First the killer showed up out of nowhere, and then the FBI materialized. Was this part of a real investigation?

  “Scarlet, say hello to Alex Cushman of the Miami FBI office,” said Kenny. “You already met his colleagues, Frank Gandy and Dave Markham.”

  “You’re both FBI?” I turned to the other two anglers, shocked.

  “We are,” Chewie laughed. “Just about everybody on this boat is, right down to Ronny, the deck hand.”

  “You all set me up?”

  “Not you, Miz Scarlet, the organized crime ring. We needed to lure our killer out of hiding. The only thing that made any sense was to bait our hook with something our shark couldn’t resist. We just never expected you to jump overboard.”

  “I didn’t know you guys were....”

  “Oh, damn! I lost the ring!” Kenny patted his pockets.

  “Where did you lose it?” Chewie asked.

  The ring? Since when did Kenny have an organized crime ring in his pocket?

  “I don’t know. I hope it didn’t go into the water when I leaned over to pull Scarlet out.”

  “The organized crime ring went into the water?” I asked. How was that even possible?

  “Okay, let’s get busy with a search,” Gandy said, dropping to his hands and knees. He crawled along the deck, his nose just a few inches from the impeccably clean surface. Were they looking for the evidence that had been developed?

  “Is it on a USB stick or an SD card?” I was prepared to help them hunt for the missing material.

  “No, no. We’re looking for the ring,” was Kenny’s frazzled reply. “The ring, Scarlet!”

  “What ring?” I demanded again, this time unable to hide my impatience. “Would somebody tell me what is going on?”

  “You had insurance for it, didn’t you, Ken?” Chewie wanted to know.

  “Yes, but I really hate to put in a claim to the insurance company if it’s not necessary. Besides, I wanted to give it to her before we left the Keys.”

  “You bought me a ring?” I tapped Kenny on the shoulder as he crawled along the deck. “You were going to ask me to marry you?”

  “I still plan to, but I have to find tha
t ring first.” He shoved his head under the fishing chair, using his long fingers to feel around for the missing treasure.

  “Do you think the ring went overboard? I’ve got a friend who’s a diver. Let me give him a call and have him join us.” Chewie pulled out his cell phone, ready to summon help.

  “But with the tide and the fish....” Kenny sat back on his heels, looking forlorn. “That ring could be anywhere by now.”

  “It might be worth a shot,” the ever loyal side kick suggested. “The guy’s been diving for years.”

  “Of all the rotten luck....How could we find a killer and lose a diamond ring?” moaned the love of my life. “This trip has been an absolute disaster!”

  Right up until he uttered those words, I was able to hold it together. But the idea that we were somehow cursed by a fate that was both fickle and fiendish pierced my tender heart. It just wasn’t fair. I grabbed the railing and stared down into that turquoise water. How deep was it? I calculated the odds that I could hold my breath for the dive. They weren’t good. I’d only have enough air to touch bottom and come right back up. I’d never be able to scrounge around on the ocean’s floor, looking for something the size of a Cracker Jack prize.

  “Scarlet, don’t!”

  “I want that ring! I have to have that ring!” Desperation seemed to course through my veins, galvanizing me to go for it. Was it worth the risk?

  “I’ll get you another ring!” he promised. “Come on, honey. Be sensible.”

  “It won’t be the same. I want the ring you bought for me! That’s the ring that has all the love in it!”

  The killer’s pervasive evil seemed to have a power even greater than his human hands. It had proven itself to be more resilient than I. My throat tightened as sorrow cut off my supply of oxygen. I sucked in a big gulp of air, but I couldn’t get it down to my lungs.

  “That’s not true. The new ring will be just as nice...maybe even nicer, sweetheart!”

  “No, it won’t!” I sobbed. Burying my head in my hands, I felt my salty tears roll down my cheeks and drop into the ocean below. I stared at the turquoise water, wondering how my heart would withstand this pain. We had been through so much over the last few years. Maybe it was no accident that the ring was lost. Maybe it was an omen, a sign that we were never meant to be a couple. That turquoise water was so perfect, so beautiful. Damn it, we belong here in paradise. And we belong together!