by Mac Fortner
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Chapter 4
The next day was Sunday so Diane, Kailey and I, went to church. Jack was waiting for us, saving our seats. Diane smiled and took the seat next to him.
The sermon was short and to the point. Don’t sin, believe in God and love thy neighbor. I also prayed that whatever became of Jack and Diane would be the best for both of them.
Afterward, we went to a steakhouse on the northern side of the key.
We ate and talked about nothing important. This had become our M.O. on Sunday since Kailey started insisting we attend church. It was the best thing that ever happened to us. Having a morning filled with bliss was nice.
“I hate to bring this up but,” Diane said, “did anyone notice the man at the corner table?”
“The one with only one arm? I saw him when we entered.” I said.
“Yeah,” she said.
“Can you snap a picture with your phone without getting caught?” I said.
“I already have one,” Kailey said.
“Good work,” Jack said. “Send it to me, and I’ll check him out.”
The man sat quietly eating his steak. As far as I could see, he didn’t even notice us. He was dressed in typical tourist clothes. Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and buckle up sandals.
We left the steakhouse and went to old town for a drink. We walked along the sidewalk looking into bars trying to find one that wasn’t packed. When a ship is in, the town swells by around thirty-five-hundred.
We passed a specialty shop, and a copy of Ocean Life Magazine caught my attention. I picked it up to show the rest the article about me.
I thumbed through the pages but couldn’t find the article. As a matter of fact, I didn't find much of anything.
“That’s a template,” Jack said. “You take it inside, and they’ll print anything in it you want them too.”
“Really?” I said. “I’ve never heard of that.”
“It’s a tourist thing. Some of them like to have an article describing them as Jimmy Buffett’s songwriter or maybe a pirate who stole a treasure on the island, things like that.”
“Then the magazine that Tracy showed me was a hoax,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Jack said.
“What’s going on Cam?” Diane said. “Someone is going to a lot of trouble just to mess with you.”
We sat in The Bull, close to the sidewalk and watched the tourists as we drank our Pina coladas. I tried to make sense out of the recent events, but couldn't come up with any reason Tracy and Sam Alexander–or whoever they were, would both contact me.
Kailey and Diane both grabbed their heads at the same time and screamed.
“What?” I said.
“Brain freeze,” they both managed to say.
The downside of a good drink. We’ve tried every trick for drinking frozen drinks but the brain freeze still sneaks its way in on occasion.
We finished our drinks. I excused myself telling them I would walk back home. I had some thinking to do. I got no argument from them, but Kailey looked a little disappointed. We always spent our Sundays lying on the back deck fishing and cuddling.
“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I told her.
She kissed me, said, “Tootles,” and went with the others.
I walked down Duval Street dodging tourists. It was as bad as walking through Manhattan except the people were more laid- back here.
I stopped to look in a window and catch a glimpse of anyone in my wake that might be following me.
That’s when I saw the same one armed man from the steakhouse. I think he’s following me, but how could he have known I would be at the steakhouse. He was already there when we entered. I felt as though I should talk to him anyway, but what would I say.
I decided to give him more rope, and maybe he would hang himself.
Two blocks later I turned again. He was gone, but I saw another man with a prosthetic arm and his other arm around a beautiful young girl. What the hell. Behind him was a man with a prosthetic leg. Then I noticed that the whole group, maybe seven or eight, each had some kind of prosthetics. It must be a group from the ship. The first man, who I thought was following me, stopped and said something to the group, and they all crossed the street and disappeared into Margaritaville.
Tracy knew they were on the boat and it would be impossible for me to find her husband who she claimed only has one arm.
I was starting to believe that she was a pathological liar. Maybe the first man I found at my gate was her husband, Sam. Or maybe one of these men really was her husband. I decided to give it a shot. What did I have to lose?
I entered Margaritaville and saw the group sitting at a large table. When I approached their table, they stopped what they were doing and looked at me, waiting for me to speak.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but do any of you know a gentleman named Samuel Alexander?” I said.
They all looked at one another and then back at me. One of the men asked, “Why do you think we would know him?”
“Supposedly, he was on the ship, and he has a prosthetic arm. I thought he might be traveling with you,” I said, trying to not sound as if I was stereotyping.
“No,” he said, “he’s not with us, and if he were on the ship, we would know.”
“Thank you,” I said, “You’ve been most helpful.”
I stopped at the hostess desk and told them to give the table a round of drinks on me. I handed my card to the young lady. She swiped it at the bar and returned it to me.
My cell phone rang as I was leaving the restaurant. It was Sheriff Reynolds.
“Cam,” he said, “Can you stop by my office today? I want to go over something with you.”
“Not a problem. If you’re there now, I’ll come by on my way home.”
“Great,” he said.
He seems to be a competent Sheriff. I’ve only met him a few times since he took over the sheriff’s job.
“Hello Cam,” Toby said. “It’s good to see you again.
“You too Sheriff,” I said shaking his hand.
“Toby to you,” he said.
“Toby,” I repeated.
“I’ve got a problem here, and I was told by my deputies that you were the go-to man around here if I wanted a little, let's say discrete help on a project.”
“Maybe,” I said. “What seems to be the problem?”
“I don’t know if you heard, but the ship in port was robbed of fifteen million dollars in gems last night.”
“Twenty million,” I corrected.
Toby looked at his notes.
“Yeah, that’s right,” he said. “I really need to find that thief. My job might depend on it.”
“I understand it happened two miles out at sea. That isn’t your territory. This would be a matter for the coast guard.”
“Normally it would, but I found the submarine we think was used by the thief to escape. It was washed up on our beach and burned. This makes it my problem.”
“How do you think I can help?”
“I’m going on the ship at five o’clock. I would like for you to go with me.” He looked around the room and leaned closer, “You might have some questions I don’t think of. I don’t want to miss anything. You know what I mean?”
“I think I do. You’d like for me to snoop around the boat while you talk to the officials,” I said.
“Something like that.”
“I’ll be glad to help if I can.”
Back home I explained to Kailey that our Sunday ritual would have to be postponed to Monday, but I would see her tonight for drinks in the hot tub.
“That’s okay. Would you like for me to go the boat with you?” she said. “I could be a good distraction.”
I thought about that a minute. Maybe she’s right. She would make a good distraction. I might be able to be more persuasive with her on my arm.
“Yeah,” I said. “That might be a good idea.”
“Really? She said.
“I was just kidding.”
“You mean you don’t want to go?”
“Yes, I do want to, but I didn’t think you would let me.”
“Go put on something sexy. We’ll be leaving in an hour,” I said.
She jumped up excitedly, “Alright.”
Chapter 5
Kailey appeared forty-five minutes later in a short black dress that had an open neckline to her waist. Her spiked heels made her close to six-feet tall.
“I remember that dress,” I said. “Maybe we should just stay here.”
“We’ll party when we get home,” she said seductively.
We met Toby at the ship's gangway. He was waiting with a Chief from the Coast Guard and a representative from the cruise line. We made our introductions and boarded the ship. They were Chief Henson and Purser Jackson.
Chief Henson was a rather short man but wore his Coast Guard uniform well. It looked as though it had been tailored just for him.
Purser Jackson, on the other hand, was tall and thin. He wore shorts and sandals with a Hawaiian shirt.
Kailey's good looks and charm were already distracting the men, including Toby.
They took us to the room first where the gems were being displayed at the time of the robbery. It looked as though a bomb had gone off, and it had.
We went to the room directly below where the jewels had landed after the floor was blown away.
“A bomb team has already gone over the area,” The Chief said, “It seems holes were drilled in the ceiling around the area below the display case. The holes were then filled with plastic explosives, and ‘Boom’ the floor above was blown open. We think the thief then retrieved the jewels and jumped over the side of the ship where a submarine was anchored in waiting. That’s the sub Sheriff Reynolds discovered on the beach.”
I walked around the room looking for anything that might give us a clue as to who might have done this and how. Since a team had already gone over the area, I didn’t really know what to look for.
“Do you have surveillance cameras on the ship?” I asked the Purser.
“Yes we do, but I don’t think I can let you have access to them. We have some very important passengers on this cruise because of the Jewels,” he said.
“They could be very helpful,” I said.
“I don't think they would do you any good. There aren't any cameras in this room,” he said.
“The thief had to enter this room from outside and somehow get a drill and explosives in here,” I said. “Maybe the cameras elsewhere picked something up.”
“Like I said, I don’t think we can do that.”
Kailey stepped closer to the Purser and put her hand on his arm.
“I wish you would reconsider. We aren’t going to publicize them. We just want to help you solve the theft,” she said looking into his eyes.
I knew I was going to get to see the tapes.
Kailey and I sat in a conference room where the tapes were set up for us. We started watching them, fast forwarding through most but not so fast that we couldn’t see anything that might be suspicious.
I didn’t say anything to Kailey, but I was looking for Tracy and the man claiming to be her husband.
There were hundreds of people walking, talking and jogging through the corridors in every room we inspected.
We focused on the display room. There was a crowd in the room at the time of the explosion. Front and center was the man claiming to be Sam Alexander.
“There he is,” Kailey said.
I looked at her, “You were looking for him?”
“Yep, I think he had something to do with it,” she said.
“I agree, but he was in the room when it exploded. He couldn’t have done it.”
“I know,” she said, “but look at him. He was checking out the security and the cameras.”
“Yes, it does look that way,” I agreed.
“I haven’t seen Tracy yet,” she said.
“Me either.”
We backed up the tapes from the time of the explosion. No Tracy, so far. Suddenly she appeared. It was about two hours before the robbery. She was carrying the same large bag she had on our boat.
“There she is,” Kailey said.
“Yeah, I wonder what she keeps in that bag.”
“I would say a drill and plastic explosives,” Kailey said.
I laughed, “Maybe, who knows.”
We did see the group of amputees sitting together at the Captain's table for dinner. I didn’t see anyone other than the ones I’d talked to at Margaritaville.
I went back to Tracy. She left the fourth floor going down the stairs, but she never appeared on the third floor. I checked the second and the first floors. She was nowhere to be found.
“Where did she go?” Kailey said.
“I don’t know. She disappeared on the stairwell.”
I called the Purser on his cell phone and asked him if there were any exits on the stairway between the third and fourth floors.
“Just a mechanical room door, but we keep it locked,” he said.
“Do you have a key to it?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“I’d like to go in there in a few minutes if you don’t mind.”
“Sure,” he said. “I’ll be glad to show the two of you the room. Just give me a call.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Thanks to Kailey again too.
“Cam, it might be a long shot, but let's go to the debarking of the ship on Saturday morning and see if Tracy got off.”
“That’s a good idea, Kailey,” I said.
This girl is a real asset. She’s intelligent and sexy. I think I’m in love.
We watched all the passengers leaving the ship. Each one had to allow their personal bags to be inspected. A few were frisked on top of that.
We finally saw Tracy leaving the ship. Her purse was checked, and she was allowed to exit. Two more passengers left, and then Sam Alexander appeared on the camera. He was frisked lightly and exited the ship.
“It doesn’t look as though they were together,” I said.
“No. I don’t think she even knew he was behind her.”
We left the tapes and made another sweep of the area close to the explosion. The door to the room was charred. Whoever set the explosives off must have exited the room and closed the door until after the bomb went off.
I noticed a rope coiled close to the rail adjacent to the charred door.
“Look at this,” I said. “This rope is still damp for the last five feet.”
There was a loop tied at one end, and the other was the wet end.
“It looks to me like someone threw this rope overboard and maybe used it to climb onto the ship,” I said.
“Yeah, looks possible,” Kailey said.
I checked the railing next to the rope. Looked normal to me. There was a cleat beneath the railing. The ring normally folds down into the casing, but this one was sticking up. I inspected it. There were bits of rope hair on it. I showed Kailey.
“I don’t get it though,” I said. “Why would you come on board after you’ve made your escape?”
We thought on that for a moment.
“So you would appear on camera exiting the ship,” Kailey said.
We had the Purser unlock the maintenance room between the third and fourth floors. It was filled with tools and spare parts, but it was immediately evident that something was amiss. In the corner was a pile of rubble covered by a tarp meant to hide it from view.
I inspected the walls behind the shelves until I found what I was looking for. A hole approximately three-foot square was cut in the drywall.
“Do you have a flashlight?” I asked the Purser.
He punched a button on his cell phone, and a bright light came on.
“I’ve got to upgrade from my flip phone,” I said.
Shining the light through the hole, I could see a ladder, probably from the maintenance room. I shined the light up and saw another hole ha
d been cut in the ceiling above. I crawled through the hole and climbed the ladder. I was in a closet. I reached for the doorknob and opened the door. I was now looking into the room where the explosion had taken place. The ceiling with the gaping hole directly above me.
Chapter 6
Kailey and I returned to the yacht. We fixed some drinks and adjourned to the fantail for some snuggling in our hammock.
“Cam, if you don’t want to work on this case I’ll make sure you never want for anything the rest of your life,” Kailey said resting her head on my shoulder.
“Thank you for that Kailey, but that’s not why I want this case. Now I’m curious about Tracy and Sam. Why are they both coming to me and why are they lying about what they want and who they are?”
“Do you think they had anything to do with the jewel heist?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do.”
“Me too,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean we're right.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just a gut feeling. Maybe because they showed up here and the ships robbery was in my mind at the same time.”
“Maybe,” she said, “and the fact that Tracy seemed to disappear into the maintenance room.”
“If she left the ship by the gangway,” I said. “Then my guess is she grabbed the jewels and jumped over the side where she had a sub waiting. Someone drove it to the beach and burned it, all before anyone even knew the jewels had left the ship.”
“Then once the ship anchored here, she climbed the rope and carried on as usual. You saw her arms. I think she could climb back onboard.”
“So, what has she done with the gems?”
“Probably still has them, if she got them back from whoever was driving that sub. They might be in that big bag she carries around.”
“Should we call the sheriff and tell him what we’re thinking?”
“No, not yet. We don’t have any proof, besides I want to be involved in busting the case,” I said.
“Okay mister tough guy, you be the hero, and I’ll be your sidekick.”
“Deal,” I said.
“Do you want to seal the deal with a kiss?” she cooed.
“Of course I do,” I said leaning over to lock my lips on hers.