Cam Derringer Box Set

by Mac Fortner

  I drove back down to old town and had to park in a pay lot. Some days it would have been better just to use my bicycle. That was what most of the locals did.

  I walked to Schooners to talk to Dave. I thought I would show him the picture of Jenny and see if she was the girl Jack left with.

  Sammy was behind the bar today. He was another interesting character.

  Sammy had a long, white and slightly yellow beard. His head was as bald as a billiard ball. He wore a patch over his right eye, but one time I could have sworn it was over his left, and he had a peg leg.

  He had a parrot on his left shoulder, tethered with a piece of twine. The parrot’s name was Pirate. He also had a patch over his eye. One night he got excited and broke loose from Sammy and flew right into a ladies head, falling into her pitcher of Margarita’s.

  It was obvious he couldn’t see where he was going. Sammy pulled him out of the pitcher and gave him mouth to mouth, right there on the table.

  The bird’s good eye had seemed to wander a little ever since.

  “Hey, Sammy, Pirate. How you guys doing?”

  “Fine,” Sammy said.

  “Awwk, fine” Pirate said in his shrill imitating voice.

  It was like talking to Charlie McCarthy.

  “Is Dave around?” I asked.

  “No, we haven’t heard from him for a couple of days.”

  “Is that unusual?”

  “Nah, sometimes he gets a little too high and takes his skiff out and fishes for a few days. He always comes back sooner or later.”

  “Awwk, sooner or later,” Pirate said.

  I showed Sammy the picture of Jenny. “Have you seen this girl around here?”

  Sammy leaned in for a closer look then pulled his patch up and stared with both eyes.

  “No, but if I do, would you like for me to take her home for safe keeping?” he said and laughed.

  Pirate laughed too.

  “No, that’s okay. Will you tell Dave to call me at this number when he gets back?” I said as I pulled my card out of my wallet.

  “Okey-dokey,” Sammy said.

  “Awwk, Okey-dokey,” Pirate said.

  I walked back out on the docks and took another look for the forty-two-foot Sea Ray. It wasn’t there. There was a beautiful forty-foot Baha in the slip the Sea Ray had occupied earlier. It was a transient slip, so that could be anyone’s boat. I made a note of the numbers anyway.

  There wasn’t much more I could do. Just hang around and wait. It made me think that New York might not be that bad of an idea after all.

  Chapter 28

  I decided, instead of just wasting the day, I would go by Susan Crane’s house and see if anything new could be learned.

  Her windows were open, and the curtains were softly fluttering in the cooling breeze that had picked up during the day. It looked as though we might get a little rain and possibly a cool-down.

  I would have thought, after being attacked in her house, she would have it locked down like Fort Knox unless she knew her attackers.

  I knocked on her door. No answer. I knocked again. No answer.

  I went to the window on the front porch, stuck my head in and called her name.

  “Susan? Mrs. Crane?”

  Still no answer.

  I looked in again; no sign of foul play. I’d half expected to see her lying on the floor.

  I removed a business card from my wallet, held it to the frame of the front door, and eased the door closed on it. She would have to see it when she returned and would know I’d stopped by.

  What now? I walked to my car and stood there.

  New York? Yeah, maybe.

  I returned to my boat, showered, fixed a Wild Turkey and sat on the patio, staring out at the water again.

  I’m wasting my life. I wanted to call Chad and tell him I was coming but I had already told myself I needed until tomorrow to decide. “Use a little discipline,” I told myself.

  ~*~

  I arrived at Jenny’s house at seven on the dot. Her windows were also open. The evening had cooled down nicely, and the humidity was low.

  Jenny answered the door in a short one-piece dress with a big blue paisley print on it.

  “You look very stunning tonight, in a hippy kind of way,” I said, smiling at her.

  “And you also, in an island kind of way.”

  I had on wrinkled cargo shorts, a tie-dye t-shirt, and flip-flops.

  “You said casual.”

  “Yes, I did. Get in here,” she said, took my hand and pulled me through the door.

  She closed it behind me and pushed me back against it as she pressed her body to mine and kissed me hard on the mouth.

  Our breathing got heavier, and we started pulling at each other’s clothes. She raised her arms, and I pulled her dress off over her head. I was pleased and excited to see she wore nothing under it.

  I kicked off my flip-flops, and she tugged at my shorts until they were gone, then tossed them across the room somewhere. My shirt was pulled off over my head and likewise thrown, this time out the window.

  We both turned and looked at it, lying out there on the porch.

  We then looked at each other and started laughing uncontrollably, falling to our knees, holding our stomachs. We ended up lying together with our arms around each other. Once we felt our bodies together, we quit laughing and went back into a frenzy of passion.

  An hour later, we were sitting on the floor, sipping on wine and munching on bread and cheese.

  “Wow, that was fun,” I said. “It’s been a while.”

  “Well, you didn’t forget anything,” Jenny said. “You’re a wild man.”

  “At least I didn’t throw your clothes out the window,” I said and started laughing again.

  We laughed on and off every few minutes whenever we thought about it.

  Still naked, we leaned against the wall and cuddled while we drank our wine.

  “I hate to bring this up now, but I wanted to talk to you about something tonight,” I said.

  “You’re breaking up with me.”

  “No, not that.”

  “You want to move in with me.”

  “No.”

  “Okay, I give up.”

  I told her about the call I’d got from Chad.

  She sat quietly for a moment until saying, “You’d be a fool not to take him up on it.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought until a few minutes ago.”

  “Don’t let that change your mind. It was fun, but we’re talking about your life here. Who knows how long I’ll be around, and I love New York. I’ll go there once in a while and throw your clothes out the window.”

  We laughed again, then moved the party to the bedroom for a repeat performance.

  At her front door, we kissed goodnight.

  “I’ll think on it tonight and in the morning,” I said.

  “My opinion would be, go for it,” she said. “It’s the chance of a lifetime.”

  I kissed her again and stepped onto the porch, where I picked up my shirt and pulled it on. We laughed again.

  ~*~

  It was eleven thirty when I returned home. The gate squeaked as I opened it. Stacy appeared.

  “Home awful late, Cam. Big night?” she said, teasingly.

  “Yeah, pretty big.”

  “Got time for a drink?”

  “Why not,” and I stepped onto her boat.

  “Have a seat,” she said, “I’ll be right back.”

  She popped a beer and mixed a Wild Turkey for me. She set them down on the table, pulled her chair closer to mine and sat down with me.

  “So, tell me about your big night,” she said.

  So I did. I told her about Chad, and I told her about Jenny.

  “Wow, that was a big night.”

  “Yeah, I just hope I don’t have regrets about either decision.”

  “Regrets? You were laid and reinstated. What’s to regret?”

  “Your right, Stacy. What the hell.
I’m going for it.”

  I leaned over and kissed her. “I’m going to miss you, though.”

  “Are you going to sell your boat?” she asked.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Then we’ll see each other again.”

  “Yes, we will,” I said.

  I finished my drink and kissed Stacy again. “Thanks for being a friend,” I told her.

  “Thank you. I always felt safe with you here.”

  I walked down to my boat. I was too fired up to sleep, so I made another drink and sat on the patio.

  I raised my glass to the ocean and said, “To moving on. Right or wrong, I have to do something.”

  I then raised it again. “To you, Malinda. I will never stop searching. I love you.”

  Chapter 29

  Special agent, Manny Sanchez of the FBI, got a phone call from the Miami DEA unit’s Chief Investigator, Roger Powell.

  “I’ve got something here that might interest you,” Powell said.

  “Give it to me.”

  “What do I get?”

  “Depends on what you’ve got.”

  “News on the boat ring, but I want what you’ve got on the Bartley case.”

  “Okay,” Sanchez said.

  “We busted a drug mule last night,” Powell told him. “Found him floating around in a twelve-foot johnboat. He had fifty pounds of coke with him. He wants to make a deal. Said he saw a man tied to a concrete block and tossed over the side of a boat. He has the name of the boat.”

  “What was the name?”

  “COUNT ME INN.”

  “Well then, I guess you know what happened to Bartley,” Sanchez said. “That was his boat.”

  “Yeah, I guessed so. Any leads on that case?”

  “Only the one you just gave me.”

  ~*~

  Sanchez called his field agent in Key West and relayed the message.

  “Just as you said,” Sanchez said.

  “You want me to bring him in,” the agent said.

  “No, not yet. There are bigger fish to fry.”

  “I’m working on it.”

  “Watch your back.”

  Chapter 30

  The next morning, I called New York.

  “Chad, its Cam. The offer still on the table?”

  “Yeah, but are you sure?” Chad asked.

  “I’ll come for a week and try it on. If it doesn’t fit, no harm no foul.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “I’ll see you Monday then,” and I hung up.

  ~*~

  I called Diane and told her first. She sounded excited for me. I then called Jenny.

  “I decided to give it a try,” I told her.

  “That’s great, Cam. Just think of the possibilities.”

  “I have. I think it’s time to move on.”

  “See ya tonight?”

  “Sure.”

  ~*~

  Jenny got a call from the boss. “I need you to do something for me.”

  “Okay, what do you need?”

  “There’s a boat I want you to meet at the marina tonight. I have a package for you to deliver to them. Come over here about four o’clock and pick it up. Meet them at five. They’ll be in slip twenty-six, next to your boat.”

  “I can do that. I’ll see you then.”

  ~*~

  I spent the day going through my wardrobe. I used to dress quite fine, but now it looked as though everything I owned was wrinkled and worn. I still had a couple of very nice suits and wondered what the style was in New York now. No matter how nice they were, they wouldn’t look good if they were out of style.

  I flipped on the TV and surfed through the channels until I found a world news station.

  I looked at the anchors and at the men’s styles when they panned to the stories on the street.

  I didn’t really see much difference in the suits they had on compared to mine. I guess I could wait until I got there. I would buy a few new ties, but my suits would do for a couple of days.

  I called Diane and asked her to meet me at Schooners for a drink around four-thirty. I wanted to see if Dave was back to work yet.

  At four, I left home and rode my bicycle to the docks. I was able to lock it to the fence behind the bar and enter through the back. I got a table that offered a good view so we could enjoy the entertainment. The sign said that Daddy Grey was playing here today.

  Sammy and Pirate were at the bar again. I didn’t see Dave anywhere.

  Sammy saw me sitting at the table and came over.

  “Hey, Cam,”

  “Hey, Sammy, Hey, Pirate.”

  “Awwk, hey.”

  Sammy said, “I haven’t seen Dave around yet. Seems like we would have heard from him by now.”

  “Yeah, seems that way,” I said. “Well, let me know.”

  “I will.”

  I ordered a Pina Colada. They had the best in the world.

  Diane showed up a few minutes later in shorts and t-shirt. She turned a few of the men’s heads at the bar.

  “Oooh, that looks good,” she said.

  I raised my hand and got the attention of the waitress. I pointed at my drink and held up two fingers.

  “You look lovely, as usual,” I said.

  “I like the way you are complimenting me now that you’re going to leave me,” she said.

  “Just say the word and I won’t.”

  “No way; you’re not going to use me to bail out of this. You’re going.”

  “I told Chad I would give it a try. If it doesn’t feel right, I’ll be back before my fridge can defrost.”

  “Give it time. It’s worth it,” Diane said, patting my hand.

  Our drinks arrived, and we each took a big sip then both grabbed our heads.

  “Brain freeze,” I said.

  “Me too.”

  After about a minute, we were able to talk again.

  “God, that hurts,” she said.

  “Yeah, try holding it in your mouth for a few seconds first before swallowing it. That will warm it up a little.”

  We both took another sip, holding it this time before swallowing.

  “Better,” she said.

  We drank slowly and chatted and talked about the people we saw. It was always fun to try figure out what people did for a living.

  “I think that guy is with the FBI,” Diane said.

  “Yeah, wearing a suit. Dead giveaway.”

  “There’s a ballerina,” I said, looking toward a tall, slim lady.

  “Could be.”

  I then saw Jenny walk by with a large satchel.

  Chapter 31

  “There’s Jenny,” I said to Diane.

  “What’s she doing here?”

  “I don’t know. She’s been looking at boats, but she didn’t say anything about looking at one today.”

  “You wanna yell at her?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Let’s see what she’s doing first.”

  “You’re going to spy on her, eh?”

  “Yeah, but not for the reason you think. She was in a picture Jack took the last time he was down here.”

  “You think she might have something to do with all of this?”

  “Don’t know. Hope not.”

  We watched Jenny turn and walk out on one of the docks. She went to the forty-foot Baha that occupied the slip I was mugged at and stepped onto the boat.

  “Is that her boat?” Diane asked.

  “I don’t know. She hasn’t mentioned having one.”

  As we watched, Jenny came out of its cabin, walked to the next boat and stepped onto it. A Middle-Eastern man greeted her, and they disappeared into the cabin on that boat.

  “I think that man was also in one of the pictures Jack took,” I said.

  ~*~

  Another man was waiting inside. He was middle-eastern also. He was dressed in black slacks, white shirt and was wearing a Rolex. Very expensive looking clothes. He reeked of money.

  “So, you are t
he new courier I was told about,” he said in an Iraqi accent.

  “Yes, my name is Jenny Jacobs,” she said and stuck her hand out.

  He took it in both his and held it there, staring into her eyes.

  “I am Amar Mustafa,” he said, shaking her hand and then releasing it.

  “Asalamu Alaikum ya, Amar,” Jenny said.

  “Wa alaikum assalaam ya, Jenny,” Amar returned.

  “Do you have my package?” he said to her.

  She reached into her satchel.

  A second man reached inside his coat pulled a revolver and pointed it at Jenny.

  “Slowly,” he said.

  She carefully pulled out the package and held it out for Amar to take.

  “Very good,” he said, taking it and setting it on the table.

  He pulled a knife from its holder on the counter and cut the tape holding the package’s wrapper.

  He opened the wrapper and exposed a large stack of hundred- dollar bills.

  Jenny caught her breath. Amar looked up at her.

  “Yes, it does take your breath, doesn’t it?” he said and turned back to the money to count it.

  When he’d finished, he smiled. “Very good. Four-hundred-fifty thousand. It is all here. Would you care for a drink?” he asked Jenny.

  “Yeah, I think I could use one,” she said.

  He opened a cabinet, and a built-in bar appeared. In the lower left-hand corner of the cabinet, Jenny saw an RPK machine gun. That is one big, bad Iraqi weapon. What was Amar up to?

  “Wine, whiskey or beer,” he asked.

  “Beer will do,” Jenny said.

  He handed her a Corona and took one for himself.

  “Kasim, would you like a beer,” he asked the other man.

  “No, sir, thank you,” he said then excused himself and left the cabin.

  “Now, Jenny, tell me about yourself,” Amar said as he led her to the couch and pulled her down next to him.

  This wasn’t Jenny’s first rodeo, but she wanted to learn as much about Amar as she could. She would just have to stop him before it went too far.

  “Well, I’m from New Orleans,” she lied. “I moved to Michigan five years ago. I ran a hedge fund, and now I’m retired. I met Juba a month ago and saw a way to make some big money.”