A waiter came to get my order, but I handed him the menu and jumped off the stool. Exhaustion, rum, and bad news blurred my vision, but what I had to do next was clear.
Dreaded, but clear.
THE ROOM SMELLED OF coconut and a fruity fragrance. Crystal was dressed in her husband’s pajamas and sitting at the desk, the contents of John’s briefcase piled in front of her. My heart sank further.
A cot was folded in the corner of the room.
She offered a weak smile when I entered but must have seen something in my face, because hers kind of fell apart.
“What’s wrong, Buck?”
“I got a call,” I said. “From Special Agent Booth.”
She was on her feet and in front of me in a blur.
“John?” Her eyes were filling. She knew.
“They found a body—”
Her legs buckled—I lunged and caught her as she fell.
“It hasn’t been identified yet—Crystal? Don’t give up yet.”
She dropped her head on my shoulder. Tears sprang from her eyes, and her body was wracked with convulsions as I held her. She cried, hard, and clenched the flesh on my back so tight I winced though I didn’t pull away. “I couldn’t—wouldn’t—believe this could happen.”
“We don’t know for sure yet—”
“How did he die?”
My neck was soaked from her tears. I couldn’t help inhaling the fragrance of her freshly washed hair but felt like a creep for noticing.
“The person they found was shot.”
This set her off again, wailing, sobbing, shaking. I held on to her as best I could, but gravity was winning out.
“They found him—someone— in the waters near Tortola,” I said. “We’ll go there first thing in the morning to make the identification.”
It was as if her legs turned to jelly. All her will, even to stand, was gone. I held her up, swung her slowly around, and lowered her onto the bed. Other than trembling with grief she didn’t move when I laid her down.
“Try to sleep now. We’ll deal with everything tomorrow.” I paused. “And don’t give up yet.”
She didn’t respond.
I moved the pillows together, pulled down the comforter and sheet, gently lifted her into the center of the bed, tucked the covers around her. She rolled over and clutched one of the pillows in a tight embrace.
“I’m so, so sorry. Good night, Crystal.”
“You’re not leaving? Buck?” She reached up toward me.
“No, I’ll stay.”
I turned off the bedside light, and if it weren’t for the open curtain there’d have been no light at all. I sat in the semi-darkness for an hour, my plan to return to the Beast to sleep no longer appropriate. I opened the cot between the other side of the bed and the sliding door out to the balcony. Crystal, thank God, had succumbed to exhaustion. Her head was on the pillow facing me—her eyes were closed, she wasn’t crying or quivering, and her breathing was steady. I hoped she’d sleep straight through the night, because tomorrow would likely be hell.
Once I drew the drapes, the room was pitch black. I slid my shirt over my head, dropped my shorts, and crawled into the cot. It had been a grueling two days before I had to watch a woman I cared for reduced to a catatonic heap of grief. I wasn’t under the covers five minutes before I was as dead to the world as my roommate.
I DREAMT OF THE jail in Roadtown. Bramble was there, goading me, then he morphed into a guy with dreadlocks who had brass knuckles, only it wasn’t Brass Knuckles, it was—
I sat up halfway, an arm raised to defend, or fight.
“What—”
“It’s me.”
Crystal?
She’d crawled onto my cot.
“Hold me, John,” she said.
I felt her skin against mine. She had no clothes on—
“Crystal,” I said. “It’s me, Buck—”
She placed her hand over my mouth.
“Hold me…please. Just hold me.”
What the—oh, God, no…
I turned onto my side. Our bare chests came together. Crystal buried her head in my neck. Her warm body squirmed in even closer. I tried to lie still, but my mind spun. Maybe she was dreaming, delirious—she’d called me John.
But she was kissing my neck now, and my body started to respond as she worked her way up toward my mouth.
She wanted to make love—to her husband?
I was ready—my body felt as if every fold of skin had pulled taut, I was so ready. I ran my hands up her bare back, pulling her toward me—
What the hell are you doing?
John Thedford might still be out there. And one of us—more likely, both of us—would be regretting this tomorrow, whether he was or not.
I pulled her in tight. She tried to move her arms around me, but my gentle yet firm embrace pinned her arms. I slipped my hips slightly away so she couldn’t feel my response.
“Buck—”
“Let me hold you, Crystal. Just hold you.”
My whisper was met with a brief struggle. She whimpered, but I was doing everything possible to keep this delicate wall I had erected—ugh, bad word—to just focus on holding her, nothing else. After a minute, she melted in my arms. Her warm flesh, firm yet buttery soft, pressed against mine. It would be so easy to give her what she wanted—but not like this.
After a while her breathing slowed to a rhythmic pace. She was asleep, her head nestled on my shoulder, but my heart continued to pound like a snare drum.
I lay awake for an hour while she clung to me, and gradually I was able to roll over onto my side without waking her. She had used my name, so she wasn’t delirious. She spooned me, and as I drifted toward sleep my mind zigged and zagged through scenes sparked by the heat of our bodies pressed together. Finally, all thought eased to a deep blackness and I slept more fitfully than I had all week.
A PINK LIGHT IN my eyes brought me into the morning. My eyelids fluttered and I realized my face was inches away from a gap in the blackout curtains, the rising sun shining bright on my head. I had no idea of the time—
Memories of last night jolted me into full consciousness. I rolled slowly toward the center of the cot and felt nothing but springs pressing up through the cheap mattress.
Crystal was gone.
I sat up. She wasn’t in her bed.
On my feet, I found the bathroom door open and the room dark.
I noticed the sliding door ajar. I pulled my shirt and shorts on, pushed my fingers through my hair, and slid the door wide.
“Good morning.” Crystal offered a contrite smile.
“Did you get some rest?” I said.
She nodded her head slowly. Her feet were propped up on the railing and she was sitting back, staring into the blue sky and crowded harbor beyond the beach.
“Sorry for last night,” she said.
“Don’t be sorry. I hope—”
“I know it was foolish, but at the time it’s what my heart, and hell, my body wanted me to do.”
I smiled. “Yeah, well, my heart and body were right there with you.”
Her lips bent into a brief smile.
“Let’s forget it, all right?” she said.
There was no embarrassment in her eyes, and I realized all over again what a complicated woman she was, flaws and all.
We discussed the logistics of the day. She didn’t think there was any way to cancel the show at this point, given that all the television crews and talent were already on Jost Van Dyke. She had no intention of going there herself but asked if I could help her assistant, Scarlet, handle the situation after we went to Roadtown to meet the authorities and identify John.
“If it’s him,” I said. “They’re not certain, remember.”
I sent a text to Ray and Lenny and asked them to meet us on the beach at Cruz Bay so I could fill them in on what had happened and devise a plan to handle the post-concert departures.
I found a cab outside of Reception. When our eyes me
t, I could see the sadness, the emptiness I’d never seen in her before. From all she’d described, her relationship with John had been happy, and they’d changed their lives to pursue a shared dream.
The morning sun was bright, but the air was still cool. We rode in silence, seated close to each other.
We wound down toward the water, went around the square, and pulled up in front of the ferry dock. I paid the driver and we got out and walked toward the beach. The Beast remained at anchor amidst the American Watersports fleet, but Billy Hartman was nowhere in sight. Neither was any security.
“Buck, over here!”
I glanced up to the restaurant above the seawall and spied Ray and Lenny seated at a table. Crystal stopped in her tracks.
“I’ll wait here, okay?”
Ray was wearing the same outfit as the night before, and Lenny’s eyes were puffy slits. So much for not being hungover today. Lenny’s gaze was fixed on Crystal.
“Why’d you wake us up so early?” Ray said.
Lenny nodded toward the beach. “Why’s Crystal blue?”
I glanced from Ray to Lenny.
“The police found a man’s body with half his head blown off. They think it’s her husband.”
Ray winced and Lenny’s eyes bulged to capacity. I filled them in on the details and told them to get to Jost Van Dyke. One way or another, today would be the day when everything came together. Or went to hell.
They followed me down the steps and took turns hugging Crystal. No words were spoken. None would help.
She and I walked to the end of the beach. The Beast was anchored seventy feet off shore, just past the American Watersports fleet. As we trudged out into the water I realized the plane was askew in the surf. The starboard wing hung lower. My stomach dropped. In an amphibian, that was often a sign it had sprung a leak. And if that were the case, we might not be doing anything other than baling her out. Crap!
When I arrived at the hatch, the air froze in my lungs.
The lock had been tampered with. Fucking Billy Hartman!
I glanced back at Crystal. She was oblivious, wading toward me, her mind far away. Had the Beast been booby-trapped? Maybe a hole punched through the floor? I popped the hatch—
“About fucking time you showed up.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Get in here and crank this bitch up, I got places to be.”
Boom-Boom was in the starboard rear seat with a shotgun pointed at my head.
“What’s wrong, Buck?” Crystal had stopped ten feet behind me.
“Who’s that?” Boom-Boom said.
I still hadn’t found my voice.
He leaned out, the gun still pointed at me.
“Got a lady friend with you, huh, brudda? Good for you.” He waved the gun. “Come on honey, let’s get on this old piece-a-shit so your boyfriend can get me outta here.”
Crystal stared at him, her mouth wide open.
“Leave her alone, Boom-Boom. I’ll take you wherever you want to go, but she’s got enough problems—”
“Problems? You don’t know shit about problems—and man, was I wrong about you. You just a broke loser who ain’t connected to shit. This group that rolled into the islands is heavy, man. My people been disappearing left and right. My whole organization’s gone to shit.”
Crystal’s face shifted from surprised to wild-eyed as she slogged toward us as fast as the thigh-deep water allowed.
“Did you kill my husband?”
“Whazzat she saying?” Boom-Boom’s brow furrowed. “Kill who?”
Crystal had nearly reached us.
“Did you kill my husband!”
I grabbed her around the waist as she tried to push past me.
“Crystal! Stop—”
“You better calm her ass down, Reilly, or I’ll pop her right here and now.”
I tried to hold her, but Lord, she was strong.
“That son-of-a-bitch killed John!”
“What the fuck!” Boom-Boom eased back inside the plane, the weapon pointed straight at us. “I ain’t killed shit, least not yet, but you better shut your damn mouth or that’s gonna change.”
“Crystal, stop, please! If he wanted to hurt us, he’d have already done it.” I held her in a bear hug. “Listen to me, he’s a drug smuggler. He doesn’t care about adoption!”
She finally stopped struggling. We were both soaked from wrestling in the surf.
“Was a smuggler,” he said. “But I got one last run to make, ‘cause they took all my cash.”
Crystal collapsed in my arms.
“Give me a hand, Boom-Boom,” I said.
I lifted her toward the plane, he reached out and grabbed her beneath the armpits to haul her inside. She was nearly dead weight. I helped push her up into the hatch, where he laid her down in the rear seat. I pulled myself aboard. The gun was resting against the cabin wall, and he must have read my mind because he snatched it up.
“We’re on our way to identify her husband’s body,” I said.
“You lied to me, Reilly. Said you could hook me up with those assholes.”
“I told you I’d help you if you came up with anything that helped me find John Thedford. Alive.”
“That’s one of the reasons I’m here, brudda.” He nodded toward Crystal. “If there’s a reward, then I got some intel for you.”
I knelt down and fastened Crystal’s seatbelt.
“I said alive, Boom-Boom.”
“But even if he’s dead, well, wouldn’t you like to catch the motherfuckas who killed him?”
Crystal’s eyes suddenly cleared and she sat up straight.
“Damn right.”
Boom-Boom smiled. “Thought so.”
I climbed into the left seat. Halfway through my pre-flight checklist, Boom-Boom slid into the right seat next to me.
“You ain’t interested in what I got to tell you?”
“You told the Royal Police?”
“I ain’t going to no police station, brudda.” He reached into one of the pockets of his cargo shorts and removed a baggie from which he pulled out a fat blunt. “These murdering bastards is after my ass—hell, I had to take the public ferry to St. John!”
I fired up the engines and the Beast roared to life. I checked the fuel gauges—which were low—and the charges on the batteries, then glanced back at Crystal. Her head was against the seat and she stared ahead with faraway eyes.
Boom-Boom pulled on the spare headset and lit his doobie.
“Slide that window open,” I said. “What’s your information?”
“I heard some Russian dudes grabbed your boy. In fact, they may be the same motherfuckas that destroyed my business.”
“Russians? What about Baldy—”
“They hired Baldy to make the snatch then met him for the trade.”
“Trade?”
He rolled his eyes. “Money for the dude, brudda. Hell you think?”
What the— If it was a Russian cartel that had moved in, it was because of the shipping lanes and all the drug and arms trade passing through here. What would that have to do with adoption? Did Booth know all this? I powered on my phone to text him but after a couple tries realized it was dead—disconnected.
Prick!
“Buckle up, we’re headed out.”
Boom-Boom exhaled a plume of smoke.
“Haven’t told you where we’re going yet.”
“We’re taking the lady to Tortola,” I said.
His smile caught me off guard. I suddenly felt like Little Red Riding Hood.
“Perfect, Brudda. Now wasn’t that easy?”
Something told me nothing about this day would be easy.
THE TENSION INSIDE THE BEAST on the way to Beef Island was so thick it felt as if we were under water. Crystal sat in the back with her eyes closed, Boom-Boom watched my every move. He smelled like week-old sweat, had bags under his eyes, and his normally eight-ball-shaved head had a crown of stubble. For now he was getting what he wanted, but
what would happen after we landed?
He caught me staring at him. “You do anything stupid when we land, what boys I got left’ll find you and your lady friend, and it won’t be pretty. Know what I’m saying, brudda?” He turned the barrel of the shotgun toward me from where it rested between his legs.
I get it, asshole.
The brief flight took us back around Marina Cay. As I focused on the runway beacon at Beef Island, I glanced north toward Guana Island. Diego had been urging me there since yesterday, but with John likely dead, I wasn’t doing anything until we saw his body.
Once Air Traffic Control gave me the go-ahead, I set the Beast down hard, which jarred Boom-Boom and jerked Crystal up straight in her seat.
“Remember what I told you,” Boom-Boom said.
“I really don’t care what you’re doing here,” I said. “Just leave the lady alone.”
“Noble motherfucka, aren’t you?” He smiled again. “And all I’m doing here is picking something up. Then you’re running me to St. Croix.”
I started to respond but bit my tongue.
The Beast settled into an open spot in front of the private aviation terminal. I shut down the power, turned off the batteries, and locked the windows.
“I won’t be long,” Boom-Boom said.
“This may take a while—”
“The lady can go by herself, you need to fly my ass to Christiansted.”
“Not happ—”
“I got somebody waiting.” He glared at me. “If I don’t show, he got his orders, brudda.”
I unbuckled and pushed past Boom-Boom. Crystal’s eyes were full of tears, but she was first out the hatch. Outside, I took both her shoulders in my hands.
“Are you going to be okay?” I said.
“You’re coming with me, right?” Her watery eyes were wide.
I swallowed. “Of course.”
We started toward the terminal.
“Reilly?” Boom-Boom’s voice came from behind me.
I asked Crystal to wait, then jogged the fifty feet back to the plane hoping against hope she could hold it together. I noticed a baggage handler pushing a large covered cart toward the Beast. There was no other plane nearby, so he had to be on the way to mine.
Crystal Blue (Buck Reilly Adventure Series Book 3) Page 17