“She uses the information in her classroom. She said that she finds where the ships come from and then teaches the kids about geography when they find the countries on their maps.”
Callan leaned back, rubbing his chin, shaking his head slightly. “I’m just not connecting the dots here, Lance. I still don’t see a connection.”
“To be honest, I don’t either,” he admitted. “But when the news picked up on the little article about Jade, declaring she was the one who found George’s body, that’s when someone ran her off the road and then trashed her place. There’s got to be a thread that ties together George, something he had, and someone thinking that Jade’s got it or saw something.”
“But she claims he gave her nothing…well, other than a flounder,” Ginny quipped.
“Just because he didn’t give her anything, doesn’t mean he didn’t have something to give,” he argued.
Mitch agreed with him, “He’s right. If someone was after something George had, then they only have to have a suspicion of where it might be to go after it. After trashing his place, they must have tried her place.”
He looked at Callan, asking, “What do those ships contain? Or more to the point, what could they be smuggling in?”
“Smuggling? Hell, could be just about anything contraband. But, if you want specifics, it could be human trafficking, money, drugs, diamonds, guns, weapons, hell, even fish.”
Eyebrows raised, he repeated, “Fish?”
Chuckling, Callan said, “I know you might not realize it, but there’s a huge market for contraband fish. They call them Aquatic Cocaine.”
“Fuckin’ hell,” Sam moaned, scrubbing his hand over his face as he leaned heavily back in his chair, “now I know it’s time to retire.”
“So, you want to tell us what the hell Aquatic Cocaine is?” Lance prodded, his curiosity at war with his frustration.
“There’s more than one type of fish that can bring in big money, but the Totoaba is worth the most. The bladder of this large fish can be worth thirty thousand dollars.”
Stunned, they all stared at Callan, but Lance’s mind raced with possibilities. “Keep going,” he encouraged.
“The ships containing the illegal fish can come from Mexico, Hong Kong, China, Russia, or Thailand. It’s hard for us to catch the smugglers, especially since these huge ships don’t have to contain much to be profitable. And honestly, it doesn’t have to be the whole ship involved. Could be just a few men on board.”
“Just someone on board who has the fish or the fish bladders and can sell them—” Grant began.
“But you told us that sailors from other countries can’t leave the ship even when they are in port,” Ginny reminded.
“Yeah, but if a boat made contact at night and the ship’s alarms were disabled, then a deal could be struck. And the local dealer could make enough cash to add fifty thousand dollars to their bank account,” he surmised.
“You think that Jade may have seen something or someone thinks she did, and that’s why they’re after her?” Burt asked him.
“I still say that doesn’t make sense,” Ginny refuted. “Even if George was dealing in smuggling, he didn’t give her anything. She’d have known if she had a huge fish bladder instead of a flounder!”
“I agree, but I still think that George was involved in something with the cargo ships in the harbor, but what he was after or given, I don’t know,” he argued.
“We searched his place and came up with nothing,” Burt reminded, “but then, if he was getting something illegal, he probably didn’t want it at his house.”
Pulling out his phone, Lance dialed Jade. “Hey,” he greeted, concern in his voice. “The girls still with you? Good. Listen, sweetheart, I need you to check something for me and I’ll explain later. Did you cook the fish you last bought from George?” Listening to her answer, he confirmed, “It’s still in the freezer? I need you to unwrap it and tell me if it’s the flounder you bought.” After she responded, he said, “Really? You’re sure? Okay, thanks. I’ll see you this afternoon.”
Disconnecting, he explained, “What’s in her freezer is really a flounder filet, but…” capturing their attention, “she said the original brown wrapper that he had placed it in had been taken off and re-wrapped in a different way. Which means someone—”
“Thinks George gave her something,” Grant jumped in, leaning forward.
“And that tells us that George did have something he probably needed to get rid of,” Callan finished.
Mitch, his sharp eyes moving around the table, said, “We focused in on the possibility of illegal fish, because George was a fisherman. But the reality is that his involvement could have been simply because he had a boat. Therefore, if he were involved in moving stolen goods, it could have been drugs or any of the other things Callan mentioned. We still need to work the problem.”
“Think Jade would mind if you got her phone and we looked at the ships she was identifying right before George was found? I could cross-reference them with the information I can gather from the ships’ GPS and Harbor Masters,” Callan requested.
“No problem. And I’d like to talk to some of the other local fishermen,” he agreed. “See if Skip, the Carsons, or the Taylors can tell us anything, before George’s funeral tomorrow.”
Just then, Callan’s phone vibrated. Taking the call, his lips tightened as he listened before disconnecting. Looking at the others, he declared, “George’s boat has been found. Scuttled in an inlet in the county, north of Baytown.
Mitch nodded sharply and said, “I’ll get Colt to let us work the scene with his deputies. Lance, you can talk to the fishermen later. I want you with us, gathering evidence at George’s boat.”
Jade stood, the flounder still in her hands, as Jillian came up behind her.
“Was that Lance?”
Nodding, she said, “Yeah, and he asked me the strangest thing. He wanted to know if the flounder George gave me was truly a flounder. So, I checked and it is.”
“So, what’s got you spooked?” Katelyn asked.
“When George handed this to me, it was carefully wrapped in the brown paper, with a strip of masking tape holding it together. But, when I just pulled it out of the freezer to unwrap it, the tape was undone and the wrapping paper looks like it was removed and then folded back around the fish in a different way. Not folded the same way George had it.”
“That’s weird,” Jillian said, staring at the wrapping paper, now flat on the counter with the filet of flounder laying on top.”
She started to throw the fish away, not wanting to eat something that whoever had been in her apartment had touched, but hesitated. “I know this sounds crazy, but I’m putting this back into the freezer just in case Lance needs to look at it later.”
“I wonder what on earth they’re uncovering about George,” Katelyn pondered aloud. “I can’t imagine the flounder business being very clandestine.”
Unable to hold back a giggle, she and Jillian both laughed, Katelyn joining in. Sobering, she said, “I feel so bad laughing under the circumstances…it must be my nerves.”
“Hey, am I missing the party?” Belle asked, walking through the door. “Gareth was just finishing, so he let me in.”
“Come on in,” she invited. “We’ve about got the place put back together, although I won’t be spending the nights here for a while. I still have the creeps about people being in my space…well, and I also don’t have a bed.”
Before the women could respond, Gareth appeared in the doorway. “Hey, ladies,” he greeted. “Jade, let me walk you through the security system.”
Allowing him to assist her down the stairs, she quickly learned how it worked and her new codes. Scooping her up in his arms for the ascent, they heard a deep throat clearing behind them.
“You wanna tell me what you’re doing with my girl in your arms?”
Gareth turned around and grinned. “Your girl? Well, seeing how my own girl is upstairs, I guess I won’t p
retend that Jade is mine,” he joked.
Lance returned his grin and walked forward, his arms out, taking Jade from him, Gareth settling her into his embrace.
“I was just showing her the new system,” Gareth greeted. “It’s good security, but I hope like hell she won’t need it.”
Nodding, he and Jade both agreed. Heading back up the stairs, he looked around at her cleaned apartment, sans sofa and bed. Thanking the others, they said goodbye before she showed him the new system.
“I’m glad it’s in, but I still want you with me even when you get a new bed. Or if you’re here, I want to be here with you,” he said.
“Because you think I’m unsafe?” she asked, peering up at him, her eyes wide.
“As a precaution, sweetheart,” he said, then leaned in for a kiss before adding, “but mostly because I want you next to me when I sleep and next to me when I wake.”
Grinning, she agreed, “That sounds perfect.”
Pulling up to the harbor, Lance looked over at Jade. “Hope you don’t mind, but while you’re buying some fish, I’ll talk to the Carsons and Taylors.”
Her gaze dropped to the BPD logo on his long-sleeved shirt and sucked in her lips. Shifting her eyes back to his, she nodded slowly.
He noted the specter of sadness in her eyes, turning them a darker green. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
Swallowing deeply, she looked out the front window at the harbor. “It’s strange being here, knowing I’ll never see George again.” Sighing, she added, “And I know you’re not just here with me, but here as an officer. And that’s a good thing…but also a reminder of what’s happened.” Turning back to hold his gaze, she asked, “Why would anyone want to hurt that sweet, old man?”
“I don’t know…but I promise to find out,” he replied, reaching his hand out to cup her face.
After he assisted her down from his vehicle, they walked toward the boats. Stopping suddenly, she placed her hand on his arm, capturing his attention. Twisting his head, he looked down at her, his brows lowered in concern.
“I haven’t bought fish here since all of this happened. I’m not sure I’m ready,” she confessed. “You go on and I’ll just sit on the bench over there and take in the view of the harbor.”
Nodding, he watched her move over to one of the wooden benches on the harbor, overlooking the many docks where a few sailboats were moored. Turning his attention toward the Carson’s boat, he headed that way.
Richard nodded as he climbed aboard, his gaze dropping to his shirt. “Howdy, Officer. How can I help you?”
Shaking the older man’s hand, he replied, “I’m Lance Greene, a detective with the Baytown Police. I’d like to talk to you about George, if you don’t mind.”
“Damn shame,” he said, pushing his cap up as he shook his head. “Known George for a long time.”
Rick walked up as well and with quick introductions, he agreed with his dad. “Hell, Dad and George have been fishing this bay for my whole life. I remember going out with him a few times as a teenager. Dad always said it was good to get a feel for different boats and ways of doing things.”
“I was wondering if you could shed any light on his business for me?” he asked, noting the look shared between father and son at his question.
Richard jerked his head toward a couple of benches built into the side of the boat and they moved over to sit. Sighing heavily, he began, “Fishin’s a hard living. Up early, home late. Long hours in rough weather. Gotta know the territory, the environment, the business. It’s not just fishin’, you gotta deal with the mechanics of the boat…hell, repairs alone will drive you batty. To stay competitive, you gotta stay up on the marketing. We’ve even got a website now thanks to Rick’s wife.” Chuckling, he added, “Sometimes I wonder if I’m getting too old but, then, it’s the only life I know.”
“And George?” he prompted. “Would you say he was up on everything?”
Richard looked at his son before shifting his gaze back to him. “Hate to talk poorly of the dead…and fuck, I can’t believe that George is dead. But, to be honest, George was old school. Nothing wrong with that, but he was feeling the pinch. His boat needed repairs. Instead of gaining new contracts, he tended to just keep the ones he had.”
“George changed after his wife died,” Rick added. “His son’s in jail for drugs and when his wife died, I got the feeling George thought life had kicked him.”
“Did he change any of his habits lately? Or in the last year or so?”
“Habits?” Richard asked, the lines in his face deepening.
“Fishing habits…or personality changes? Anything that seemed out of the ordinary for him?” he explained.
Knuckling his cap back further on his head, Richard heaved a deep sigh. “He missed a few more days fishing than he used to. In this business, if we don’t fish, we don’t earn. But, for the last year, he’d skip a day a week. I just figured he might be ready to hang it up. You know, he must have had some savings over the years, but I had offered a time or two, that if he got ready to give it up full time and wanted to work for us occasionally, I’d let him.”
“Work for the competition?” he asked.
“Hell, Officer, we might be competitors in the sense of us both fishing in the same area, but this ain’t exactly a big harbor. Me and George weren’t no hard-ass competitors. My business was growing and his wasn’t. I had a son to help and George didn’t. He’d hire a couple of guys occasionally, but never seemed to keep ‘em very long. I knew he couldn’t keep going forever and thought that maybe he’d like to just fish and not be worried about the business end of things.”
“He ever act like he wanted to take you up on the offer?”
“Hard to tell about George,” Richard replied. “He’d hem and haw about, but just kept doing the same things.”
“He and Thomas got all cozy as soon as the restaurant in town changed hands. It didn’t bother me none, ‘cause I knew Thomas would buy from both of us, but they got real chummy.”
He cast his eyes over the vessel and said, “Your boat looks much better than George’s.”
Rick grinned widely as he nodded. “Me and Dad got this one rehauled and then bought the new one as well.”
“Business must be good.”
“We got several new restaurant contracts,” Rick added proudly. “You might have seen some of the trucks that were here earlier. They meet us when we come in almost every day.” Looking over where George’s boat used to be moored, the smile left his face. “But ol’ George just never seemed inclined to fix his up. Or, maybe, he just didn’t have the money.”
“Can you think of anyone who would want to harm him?”
“George?” Richard asked, his eyes wide. “Hell, George never bothered no one and never acted like anyone bothered him either. Can’t imagine anyone would have a grudge against him.”
Rick nodded along with his father. “George never had an enemy, far’s I know.”
Completing his questions, Lance stood and shook hands with both men. “I’ll let you get back to work, but thanks for talking to me. If you think of anything that might help us understand what happened to George, please give us a call.”
As he made his way over to the Taylor’s crab boat, he noted the Harbor Master sitting on the bench with Jade. Reminded that he needed to talk to Skip as well, he hustled over to the next boat.
27
“His biggest problem was that he just got lazy…leastwise, that’s what I thought,” Harold Taylor said, taking off his cap and wiping his brow. “I told George over and over that he needed to keep his boat in better condition, but…well, to be honest, it was my wife that finally got me to understand that after Sylvia died, George just wasn’t the same.”
Shifting his stance slightly, Lance prodded, “The same?”
“Yeah…without his wife or his son, George just seemed to not work as hard, and this isn’t a business you can slack off with and expect to put money in the bank. He’d act like money didn’t
matter to him, but then I’d see him staring at Richard’s new boat like he was jealous. I don’t know…George just seemed to lose his direction.”
He nodded, looking around at Harold’s deckhands, standing around, their hands busy but their attention directed to the conversation about George. “Any of your men have dealings with George?”
Harold turned and looked at his small crew. “Any y’all ever work for George Caday?”
They all shook their heads before returning to their tasks. He turned back to Harold and asked, “Can you think of anything else about him that would help our investigation?”
Shifting on his feet, he replied, “I always liked George. Easy to get along with. He’d have your back if you needed him.” Sighing heavily, he said, “Gonna miss him.”
Back on the dock, Lance walked toward the bench occupied by Jade and Skip. Nodding to the pair, he sat next to Jade, wrapping his arm around her. “You okay?” he whispered.
She turned her sad gaze up to him and nodded. “Yeah. Skip and I were just reminiscing about George. Of course, he knew him for years and I only recently met him, but the harbor just doesn’t seem the same without George’s smile.”
Turning toward Skip, he studied the weather worn face of the Harbor Master. Up close, it was easier to see that he was younger than first expected. His ring finger was bare, but the indentation from a former ring was visible. Shifting his gaze to his face, he asked, “What can you tell me about George?”
Heaving a sigh, Skip replied with a nod out toward the boats, “Probably not as much as the two you’ve been talking to. I’ve been Harbor Master here for about eight years. Came from a much bigger harbor…I worked out of Norfolk for the first part of my career, but after coming here to do some fishing, I fell in love with the place. Decided that I’d rather be the head person at a small harbor than just one of many in a much larger place.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees as he dropped his head, staring at his boots. “Me and George hit it off. He’d let me go out on his boat some and then, when I applied for the position, he backed me all the way. Our wives became friends and they’d come out early in the morning to look for sea glass together.”
Picking Up the Pieces Page 20