"Wow! So what happened?" Mary asked.
"I sent my best man to St. Vincent to kill Dimitrovsky for O'Hanlon. But boys will be boys."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, he picked up a sleazy little girl before he left Puerto Rico and took her with him on his sailboat. Midlife crisis, I guess. But this is where it gets complicated. You still interested?"
"You bet. Keep going," Mary said.
"By then, Frankie changed sides on us — again. He was working for that new guy, the one trying to take over from O'Hanlon. But Henry and I didn't know that. You with me?"
"Yes."
"So it turns out that Dimitrovsky was working for the new guy, too. The new guy, he — "
"Do you know his name?" Mary asked.
"Who?"
"The new guy."
"Oh. No, I don't. I think Henry does, but he hasn't told me yet. Why?"
"Never mind," Mary said. "Go ahead."
"Where was I?" Nora asked.
"Frankie and Dimitrovsky both worked for the new guy."
"Oh, right. And the new guy found out we put out a kill order for Dimitrovsky. Maybe from Frankie, I don't know." Nora looked around, confused and frowning.
"It's okay," Mary said, shooting a little more of her drugs into Nora's left arm. Nora was wedged in the seat at the chart table, kept in a semi-erect position by the cushions Mary stuffed around her. Her left arm was held securely in place on the table with duct tape. A small syringe was taped to her forearm, the needle embedded in her vein and the plunger exposed.
"The new guy found out about your kill order," Mary said. "Then what?"
"He told Frankie to stop my guy from killing Dimitrovsky. But I told you, he's the best. He slipped past Frankie's people and carried out his mission. And then we got another surprise."
"What's that?"
"My guy, I told you he picked up a girl? You remember?"
"Yes. Midlife crisis," Mary said.
Nora laughed, a strange dopey laugh, and then continued. "That girl. It's the strangest thing. He asked us to get a new passport for her after they left St. Vincent. At first, we thought he was just covering his tracks with customs and immigration, changing their identities. He's good at that. But anyway, that's when we realized she wasn't just any little tramp. She was the whore that stole the files from the Daileys.
"Frankie's people let her slip through their hands twice. Once in Puerto Rico and once in the Grenadines when they were trying to stop my guy. They thought she was just a little tart he picked up."
Maybe it was that woman-to-woman thing or maybe it was the drugs, but I was amazed at how Mary established and maintained rapport with Nora. Also, I admit to being both amused and impressed by Mary's calm demeanor as Nora disparaged her repeatedly.
I reminded myself that Nora didn't realize that the solicitous young woman who hung on Nora's every word was the little slut she kept ranting about. Nor did Nora appear to be aware of my presence while Mary questioned her.
"What happened once you found the whore?" Mary asked.
"Well, Frankie planned to use O'Hanlon to catch her and get the files back. That was an easy sale; O'Hanlon was desperate for the files. When Frankie's people couldn't find my guy on his boat in Bequia — that's part of St. Vincent — they put a tracker on the boat. So it was easy to follow them to Martinique. Frankie and O'Hanlon and a bunch of O'Hanlon's people beat them there. O'Hanlon and his muscle were on Frankie's big yacht when they got there."
"When who got there?" Mary asked.
"My guy and the girl. They were on a sailboat."
"Right," Mary said. "Okay. Then what happened?"
"We don't know exactly, but we think my guy figured out somebody was after him and trapped them. Killed every damn one."
"Really?" Mary asked. "All by himself?"
"Yes. Unless maybe Frankie killed some of them. I know for a fact that my guy killed Frankie and one other one."
"For a fact?" Mary asked.
"Yes. He told me himself."
"But not the others?"
"No. I think he did, though. Probably to create a diversion, so the girl could get away."
"So she got away?"
"Yes. We lost her for a while."
"What about your guy?"
"He got away, too. I gave him another mission, so I could track him down. Met up with him in St. Martin, finally. He was in touch with the girl, but we don't know where she was. Maybe they were both in Florida for a while, but we're not sure about anything until she showed up on his boat in Puerto Rico a few days ago."
"How did you find them there, in Puerto Rico?"
"I don't know. The new guy told us where they were. Jessie and I are on our way to meet them in Guadeloupe."
Nora clearly didn't remember her arrival in the Saintes. I wondered if that resulted from the roofies I shot her up with, or whether it was caused by whatever drug Mary was using.
"Now, who's Jessie?" Mary asked.
"Another one of my people. She's as good as Finn. Maybe better; nobody expects a woman to be a professional killer."
"And who's Finn?" Mary asked, elbowing me in the ribs.
"My guy. I'm finally going to get him in the sack after all these years. Find out what I've been missing." Nora had a vacuous grin on her face as she said that.
"What about the girl, the whore?"
"Oh, once we get the files from her, she's dead meat. Little bitch. Good riddance. She's been sleeping with Finn all this time, and all I could do was dream about him."
"Well, I guess your dream will come true. Think you'll have a happily ever after with Finn?"
"Nah. They never measure up to the fantasies; you know how that goes."
"Sounds like fun anyway, though," Mary said. "You going to let him down easy? Or break his heart?"
"Oh, honey! I'm like a praying mantis. In my line of work, I have to make sure they can't kiss and tell. I'll be his last conquest, then he's off to meet the Devil."
"Well, I'll bet he dies with a smile on his face."
"Oh, he will."
Mary grasped the syringe and injected a little more of its contents into Nora's arm, watching as she nodded off.
"She's out, now. I can bring her back if we need to. Anything else you can think of to ask her?"
"No. I think you wrung her dry. I've never seen anybody do that so well. Not your first time, for sure."
"No. I told you I had things in my past I didn't want to talk about yet. That's one. Okay?"
"Sure. What were you using?"
Mary laughed at that. "I found the drugs in the bag I took from Jessie. Well-hidden, but they were even labeled with dosages. They were probably planning to use them on you. Or me. I'm not sure what they were — the labels just illustrated the functions. One with a question mark, and the other with a thumbs-down symbol."
Mary untaped the syringe from Nora's arm and injected the contents of a second syringe into her vein.
"She's done. By the time we get her on deck, she'll be gone, I imagine. I gave her way more of the thumbs-down shot than the label called for. Bitch. She pissed me off. Let's clean up the boat. I'm starving."
39
I figured Aaron could tell us all we needed to know about Nora's boss, now that we knew his name and title. Henry Jacobs was on my shit list now. I wasn't sure how Mary felt about him yet.
We were both hungry; we missed lunch, and then we spent a couple of hours debriefing Nora. I was looking forward to comparing notes with Mary while we ate.
With Nora out of the way, Mary volunteered to cook. I could tell from the aroma wafting up into the cockpit that dinner was about ready. Sure enough, in a few minutes she appeared in the companionway with two steaming bowls of saltfish curry.
"Hungry?" she asked, handing me a bowl.
"Famished. Thanks."
"My pleasure. You know I was just teasing you, right? Back there at the ferry dock when I got on your case about groping Nora?"
I gave her
what I meant to be a lascivious grin. "Can't fool me. Your jealousy was showing."
"Wiseass. I'll show you a thing or two. But not right now. Let's eat."
"Okay," I said. "Right before you came ashore I saw the ferry captain and two other men scurry below with a first aid kit. I'm guessing they were going to clean up after your hit."
"Probably. There wasn't much to clean up, though. Jessie went into the women's head just before we docked. I followed her in. Nobody else was there, and I stuck her when she was coming out of the stall. Pushed her back in, arranged the body — artistically, I might add — locked the stall, and crawled under the door. It was an ugly hit, but quick. I've never used potassium chloride before this."
"Yeah, it gets the job done. But you're right. It's not fun to see somebody die that way. You can tell it's not painless."
"Guess that's why they add the anesthetic and muscle relaxant when they execute people by lethal injection," Mary said.
"Right. The problem is, those things will show up in a post-mortem."
"But not the potassium chloride, you said."
"Well, it does show up. But it's expected. An elevated potassium level is common in deaths from cardiac arrest. It rises anytime muscles get overworked. That includes the heart muscles."
"I'll remember that for later."
"Later?"
"To make sure I don't wear you out too much."
I chuckled, and we ate in silence for a few minutes.
"What do you think we should do about this Henry Jacobs?" Mary asked, when she finished her bowl of curry.
"Kill him."
"Well, duh! I figured that. How are we going to get to him?"
"I figured we could talk that over with Aaron once we got settled at Isla de Aves."
She nodded. "So are you going to call him? Jacobs? Let him know you accomplished your mission?"
"I've been thinking about that. I haven't decided yet. What do you think?"
"I don't know. That's what you'd do if you were innocent."
I burst out laughing at that.
Mary grinned. "Well, damn it, you know what I mean. Innocent's not the right word."
"No, it sure isn't. But yes, I know what you mean. If I believed everything he told me the other day, I would call in to let him know I took care of his rogue agent for him. And fill him in on what I learned from her, I guess. But he sent her down here to kill me. We both know that."
"He had to at least consider the possibility that you'd turn the tables on her, Finn. He knows your track record."
"Yes, I agree. That's why I might call him; to see what his next move will be. And I want to know more about the woman he sent with Nora before I talk to him. I wasn't supposed to kill her, remember? In his version of the story, she was going to turn Nora over to me and leave. So whatever I decide about Henry Jacobs, I won't call him until after I give Aaron a chance to check up on him and — what was her name, anyway? Besides just Jessie, I mean."
"I don't know. But we've got all their luggage. Hang on." Mary took our empty bowls below and returned with a small gym bag, plus Nora's shoulder bag.
"I didn't see you with the gym bag when you got off the ferry," I said.
"I stuffed it in my backpack after I killed her. Let's see what she was carrying."
"I thought you searched it. You said that's where you got the drugs you used on Nora."
"I went through it quickly once we got back to the boat with Nora. I wanted to make sure there wasn't a tracker or something hidden in it, in case she and Nora had backup."
"That's when you found the drugs?"
"Yes. I still can't believe they only sent those two to kill you. Nora kept saying you were their best."
"Two against one's decent odds," I said. "Even if both of them were female."
"Trying to pick a fight?" Mary asked.
"Just teasing you. You teased me about groping her, but she started that. I'm sure it was planned. She was going to invite me into her room at whatever resort she booked herself into. While she was having her way with me, her pal Jessie would have put me away."
"That was obvious. But Nora just got through telling us you were the best they had. You really think she was that sure of herself with you? You two have a history you haven't told me about?"
"No. No history. But she did lay it on heavy in St. Martin. Then she backed off, teasing me, like."
"You didn't tell me that."
"I thought she was just flirtatious. But now it looks to be part of a longer-term plan to get me to drop my guard."
"More like to drop your pants," Mary said, smirking.
"Maybe so. But like I said, I want to check out this Jessie woman. If she's not really one of their top killers, then there's probably somebody looking for us in the Saintes about now. It's been long enough so Nora or Jessie one would have checked in with somebody."
Mary nodded and unzipped Jessie's gym bag, dumping the contents on the cockpit seat. There were a few clothes: a bikini; fresh shorts and T-shirt; undergarments; a small, zippered bag of toiletries. Mary picked up a paper airline folder holding a passport and return tickets. Opening the passport, she held it so we could both see it.
"Jessica Ellen Kirkman," she said. "That's a good likeness, for a passport picture."
"I see what you mean about her being nondescript," I said.
"Yes. She wasn't remarkable. You could fix her up, and she'd look good, but not good enough to attract attention."
"No weapon," I said, pawing through the contents of her bag.
"She just got off an airplane, Finn."
"But there was plenty of opportunity for her to arm herself between the airport and the ferry terminal."
"What's your point?" Mary asked.
"Still worrying about whether there was a third person. Maybe somebody already on the ground in the Saintes. All they would have needed was a local contact to give them a weapon. It's odd that she had the drugs and nothing else. Was she wearing any jewelry?"
"A plain-looking, heavy gold-chain necklace. Probably worth a good bit. And a heavy ring on her right hand."
"Ah," I said. "The chain would make a garrote. Probably gold-plated high-tensile steel, and I would bet the ring was loaded with something. It probably had a retracted needle. You've never seen one of those?"
Mary shook her head. "No. Not my style. I'm not into gimmicks. Anyhow, I always thought that was just spy movie stuff."
"Yeah," I said. "But there really are such things. They date back to the Middle Ages, at least. I wouldn't be surprised if she and Nora had some help waiting in the wings, though. Aaron can probably find out."
"Does it matter at this point?"
"It could. You can't be too careful dealing with people like these. They have almost unlimited resources."
Mary scooped the things back into Jessie's bag. Unzipping Nora's shoulder bag, she dumped out its contents. Nora wasn't carrying anything interesting, other than her passport. This one was in the name of Nora Anne Lewis.
"I wonder what her real name was," Mary said.
I shrugged. "Probably nobody but Henry Jacobs knows. I don't think I'll ask him, though."
"It's early yet," Mary said. "Think you can reach Aaron tonight?"
"It's worth a try."
I took Nora and Jessie's passports below and came back up with my laptop and the hotspot.
"While I fire this stuff up, why don't you get a few heavy sinkers out of the fishing tackle box and weight those bags? No need in hanging onto them."
40
Before I called Aaron, I checked our blind email drop. That was just as well, because I found a new phone number for Aaron. There was more to his message, but I figured it was no longer as critical as he thought it was. It was from almost 24 hours earlier. A lot happened since then.
Call me at the number in the subject line ASAP. You're in trouble again.
"In trouble again," Mary said, poking me in the ribs as she read over my shoulder. "He knows you, doesn't he
?"
"He does."
I shut down the laptop and got my Wi-Fi-only iPhone connected to the hot spot. Keying in his new number, I soon heard his gruff answer.
"Yeah?"
"Sorry for the delayed response. Things have been crazy. You say I'm in trouble again?"
"Yeah. Our friend Nora's headed your way with a warrant for your execution. You somewhere around Guadeloupe? Word is, she's bringing help. But I don't know who."
"Jessica Ellen Kirkman," I said.
"Who's that?"
"The help Nora brought. I want you to see what you can find out about her. I'll leave a photo of her passport in the email drop for you. And yes, I was in Guadeloupe."
"Did they catch you?"
"Yes, they did."
"Sounds like it didn't go the way Nora planned, then." Aaron chuckled.
"I don't know. Maybe they were tired of living. Anyhow, they won't bother us again. I would like the background on Jessica, though. Jessie, Nora called her. Said she was one of the best. Maybe even better than me."
"I guess Nora was wrong about that," Aaron said.
"I don't know. I didn't get to meet Jessie before she died."
"What happened? You still hiding behind your lady friend's skirts?"
"When I can, you bet."
"Did she save your ass from Nora, too?"
"Nora was so excited to see me she swooned in my arms. But Mary did help me make her comfortable. Oh, and on a serious note, Nora gave us the name and title of her boss. Thought we might want to let him know what happened to her."
"You gonna make me beg?"
"Just ask nicely."
"Please?" Aaron asked, dragging it out.
I gave him the details, but I wasn't ready for his response.
"Holy shit, Finn!"
"Don't tell me you know the guy," I said.
"Hardly. But you don't need to worry about him. He's history. Dead, dead and gone."
"Really? I talked to him the day before yesterday."
"You would have been one of the last, then. He was one of those people who didn't exist as far as DOD was concerned. There won't be any news releases about this, but it's pretty friggin' scary."
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