Bluewater Enigma_Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series

by Charles Dougherty

  "She's a high-end escort, a rich man's companion for hire, we think. No record; she's clean as far as we can tell. Lives in a two-million-dollar-plus condo that's owned by a corporation. Company name leads to a dead end. She supposedly has a trust fund; no living relatives."

  "Sounds interesting," Dani said. "Anybody else with her?"

  "You mean besides the politician?" Luke asked.

  "Yes," Dani said.

  "No, not as best anybody knows. He's her one and only at the moment. The question is, how can he afford her?"

  "No way to know, huh?" Dani asked.

  "No, but whoever's paying the bills, it's not him. Someone's spending a lot of money to set him up. That's about it, unless you've got something for me."

  "We'll have to get back to you," Liz said. "We don't have anything urgent. You said you'd talked to Phillip."

  "Right. I'm current up through early this morning," Luke said.

  "Then you know as much as we do. Thanks for the update. We'll be in touch," Dani said.

  "G'bye, you two. Be careful," Luke said.

  "We always are," Liz said, as she disconnected the call. She put the phone away.

  "Phillip's notion of rattling SpecCorp has been fermenting in the back of my mind," Dani said.

  "Uh-oh. Is something bubbling up to the surface?" Liz asked.

  "Yes. Ever since we talked to him last night, I've been toying with the idea of confronting Beverly."

  "I'm not surprised."

  "You're not?"

  "No," Liz said. "I think she's gotten into something she doesn't understand."

  "Why do you think that?"

  "I've been replaying everything that's happened. I believe she's following instructions: I don't think she's in control of this."

  "Okay," Dani said, "but do you have anything concrete to support that?"

  "I peeked at her phone when I went below just now. I happened to see it on the shelf beside their bed when I secured the door to their cabin; it wasn't latched shut or hooked open — just swinging with the boat's motion. I went forward to hook it, and the phone was right there."

  "It's not passcode protected?" Dani asked.

  "It is, but you know how sometimes they show text messages on the lock screen if you don't clear them?"

  "Yes."

  "Well, I turned it on, and there were two messages."

  "Don't keep me in suspense."

  "Early this morning, she sent a text to 'Berto.' It said, 'Dinner last night uneventful. Further instructions?' Then, just before she came up here a few minutes ago, Berto replied. He said, 'Make the most of your time in the islands. No further instructions; just get good video.' That's it. I guess she cleared the notifications last night, or something. I couldn't go further because of the passcode."

  "That's consistent with the idea that she's part of the blackmail scheme, but you're right. She's not the one in charge, based on those two messages. We need to find out who Berto is," Dani said.

  "How are we going to get her to tell us?" Liz asked.

  "I don't know. We can't beat it out of her. Not unless we can separate her from Harry." Dani cut her eyes to the side and gave Liz a long look. "We know he likes you."

  "No, Dani," Liz said. "I don't like that idea."

  "You're just being narrow-minded. He's not that bad."

  "Yes, he is, but that's only one of the reasons. I don't think that approach will work."

  "Why not?"

  "Think about the Norris guy that Sharktooth questioned," Liz said.

  "What about him?"

  "He didn't know who was paying SpecCorp."

  "So?"

  "Whoever's behind this wouldn't go to the trouble of using an outfit like SpecCorp just to let some high-end escort know their identity. Berto has to be another dead end, whoever he is."

  "Good point. If you're right, all we'd do by leaning on her is drive them farther underground."

  "That's where I come out. Besides, I think Harry's more interested in you today. I've told you before to ditch that shirt. It's two sizes too small for you. Couldn't you feel his eyes crawling over your — "

  "Watch it, Chirac. I've got the urge to hurt somebody. Don't tempt me."

  "Suck it up, Berger. Channel that energy into figuring out how we can con Beverly into coming over to our side."

  "Do you think we can do that?" Dani asked.

  "Maybe."

  "How?"

  "I'm still thinking about that. Why don't you mull it over? I need to go below for a minute or two. Do you want anything?"

  "No, but what are you up to?"

  "I'm going to email Sharktooth. I want him to send me those video clips. I'm thinking we can get Harry liquored up and leave him aboard while we take her snorkeling, once we get to the Cays. It'll give us a chance to get her by herself. The video might come in handy. We'll talk about it some more when I get back."

  Montalba was doodling on a yellow legal pad. He'd drawn a circle in the middle of a page and written "Velasquez" in it. Lines radiated from it like the spokes of a wheel, each ending in another circle. He had entered every name that he could link to Velasquez, including key members of the congressman's staff, senior party officials, his wife Miranda, Beverly Lennox, and Velasquez's parents.

  He'd searched the internet, pairing every name with Horatio Velasquez to see if the two names together produced a hit. After reading the articles that surfaced for each search, he'd scratched through all the names except Miranda's. He turned back to the computer on his credenza and typed in her maiden name, Miranda Bridget McGuire.

  In the online newspaper archives, he found an announcement of her engagement to Velasquez. He scanned the article, jotting down the names of her parents and her two siblings. She had a brother two years her senior and another who was three years younger.

  He decided to start with her father, Michael Francis McGuire. The first hit was an obituary from the year after her wedding. Besides being active in his church, McGuire had been a prime mover in the state Republican Party, though he'd never run for office. He was survived by his wife, Mary Rose Ryan McGuire, and three children, Michael Francis McGuire, Jr., Miranda Bridget McGuire Velasquez, and Patrick Ryan McGuire.

  Moving to the next article, Montalba learned that Michael Sr. had been indicted by a federal grand jury under the direction of a Democrat State's Attorney on multiple charges related to gambling, loan sharking, money laundering, and income tax evasion.

  "Big Mike" McGuire, as he was known, had been arrested and promptly released on bail. Pretrial maneuvering had consumed several months, and eventually the charges had been dismissed on technicalities. Big Mike had been celebrating with his cronies at a Miami steak house that was a notorious mob hangout when he'd been stricken with a fatal heart attack.

  Montalba moved on to Mike Jr., known in the community as "Little Mike." Little Mike was active in commercial real estate development and also owned a number of night clubs in South Florida. From the pictures of him at various ribbon cuttings and social events to benefit Catholic charities, Montalba could see that he was a big man, tall and physically imposing in spite of his nickname.

  Searching for Patrick McGuire revealed that he was a partner in a prestigious law firm in Tallahassee, as well as a lobbyist for several national agricultural organizations. Montalba drew a line through Patrick's name.

  He tapped his pen against the legal pad as he looked over his scribbles. After 30 seconds, he leaned forward and drew several heavy circles around Little Mike McGuire's name. He opened the center drawer of his desk and took out a cheap prepaid cellphone. Pressing one of the number keys, he heard the tones from the speed-dial buffer.

  He raised the phone to his ear in time to hear the answer. Recognizing the man's voice, Montalba said, "Get me everything you can find on Little Mike McGuire. I'm in a hurry."

  "No sweat. We got a lot on him already. Gimme a few hours to get some updates. That okay?"

  "Perfect," Montalba said.

 
"We're going snorkeling here?" Beverly asked, looking around and frowning as Dani brought the dinghy to a stop. They were several hundred yards from where Vengeance lay at anchor in the Tobago Cays. The reef was visible under the clear water, a hundred yards farther to the east.

  "Not quite," Liz said. "We wanted to chat with you in private. We'll pick up one of those moorings on the fringing reef in a minute." She pointed to where a couple of empty dinghies bobbed at a mooring buoy. "That's one of the prime snorkeling spots."

  "Chat about what?" Beverly asked, her frown growing deeper.

  "Just among us girls," Dani said.

  Liz had been feeding Harry rum punch for the duration of their sail from Bequia. They had left him snoring in a hammock under the foredeck awning.

  Beverly picked at a fingernail and looked around. The other boats in the anchorage were even farther away than Vengeance.

  "You got Harry drunk on purpose." She glared at Liz.

  "He could have said no any time he wanted," Liz said, an innocent smile on her face.

  "No, he couldn't, and you know it. He's a sucker for string bikinis, and I know you saw how he was looking at you."

  "He was a little obvious, wasn't he?" Liz asked. "Me, you, Dani, anybody with breasts."

  "I don't think that's — "

  "Save it, Beverly," Liz said, cutting her off.

  Beverly's eyes went round and her mouth dropped open.

  "Why are you doing this?" Dani asked.

  "Doing what? Take me back to the boat, now."

  "We know who you are," Liz said.

  "And who Harry is," Dani said.

  "This isn't any of your business," Beverly said.

  "Oh, I don't agree," Dani said. "Whoever put you up to this stole our boat and installed surveillance equipment without our consent. That violates a number of laws, for starters. I think our being your victims makes it our business."

  "I don't know what you mean," Beverly said, chewing on her lower lip. "I told you I wanted to go back. I — "

  "And then there were the drugs," Liz said.

  "Drugs?"

  "Don't play innocent. You'll piss me off," Dani said. "So far, this is a friendly conversation. It would be better for you if it stayed that way."

  "Are you threatening me?"

  "Do you feel threatened?" Liz asked.

  "Yes, I do,"

  "Good," Dani said. "So do we. I like to keep things in balance."

  "You feel threatened? I don't understand."

  "One more time from the top," Dani said. "You stole our boat and bugged it. Then you planted drugs on it and set us up for a Coast Guard search."

  "I don't know what you mean by any of that. There were no drugs, either," Beverly said. "And why do you say I set you up? I thought it was a random search."

  "Look," Liz said, holding her smartphone so that Beverly could see a picture of the stash that Sandrine's people had found. "Recognize your stateroom?"

  "But they didn't find any drugs," Beverly said, shaking her head. "And I didn't set you up."

  "No, they didn't," Dani said. "We think you set us up because you had us hug the shore for no good reason."

  "But I told you why. And why do you think it was a setup, anyway? The other day you said — "

  "Because," Dani said, "one of the Coast Guard boarding party had pictures on his cellphone. Pictures that showed them where the drugs were. One showed a stash in the same spot as the picture Liz just showed you."

  "So why didn't they find them, then?" Beverly asked, sitting up straight and staring into Dani's eyes.

  "Because when we got the boat back, we gave her a thorough going over. We had a friend in French Customs bring a drug-sniffing dog aboard. That's how we found them," Liz said. "Otherwise, we'd have been in trouble yesterday, thanks to you."

  "What makes you think I had anything to do with any of this?"

  "Who's Berto?" Dani asked.

  Beverly took a deep breath and looked away. "Berto? I don't know any Berto."

  "Shall I?" Liz asked.

  "You may as well," Dani said.

  "What?" Beverly asked, glaring at Dani.

  "We have a little video for you to watch," Liz said. "I'll warn you, it's a bit ugly in places, so feel free to close your eyes for the rough parts if you're squeamish."

  "Wait," Beverly said. "What is it?"

  "Just watch and listen. You'll figure it out. And think about whose side you want to be on," Dani said.

  "Whose side?"

  "You can either be on our side, or theirs," Dani said.

  "Theirs?"

  "Whoever you and Berto and the guy in the video are working for. Play it, Liz."

  Three minutes later, the video ended. Beverly's face was pale and drawn. Dani and Liz let the silence hang until Beverly said, "That was awful. Who did that to him?"

  "It doesn't matter," Liz said. "You heard what he said."

  "But he was all bloody," Beverly said. "What happened to him before he started talking?"

  "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Dani said. "But now you know why we're sure you set us up. You heard what he said about our dinner last night."

  "What is this company, SpecCorp?" Beverly asked. "He said he worked for them."

  Dani and Liz traded looks.

  "You sure you don't know?" Dani asked. "We think you work for them."

  Beverly shook her head, her whole body beginning to tremble. "I don't know," she sobbed. "I've never heard of them. I'm scared," she said, her voice quavering.

  "Not without reason," Dani said. "I'm losing patience with you. Who's Berto? Does he work for SpecCorp?"

  "I ... I don't know," Beverly said. "He had me arrange this trip. All I know is he wants to blackmail Harry. Harry's real name is — "

  "I told you," Dani said. "We know who you both are. Who is Berto?"

  "You know I'm a ... an — "

  "We know," Liz said. "We know about Velasquez, too. He deserves what he's getting, but we're angry about being caught up in this. We don't care about your background, or that you're helping blackmail Velasquez. That's your business. We do care about who's threatening us, though. We want Berto, and whoever hired him."

  Beverly studied Liz through eyes like slits, not saying anything for almost a full minute. She finally broke the silence. "I think I believe you," she said. "When I got into this, I knew Velasquez was going to get hurt. Like you said, he deserves it. I wasn't expecting anybody else to get in trouble. I thought this was just about politics."

  "And now?"

  "I want out. I have a good life. Maybe most people wouldn't agree, but ... it's what I do. It's like a service industry, you know?"

  Liz nodded.

  "I know I have a sell-by date; I can't trade on my looks forever. I'm saving money, investing it. I want out of this game while I still have a chance at something like a normal life. I thought they were offering me an opportunity to bank enough for that."

  "They?" Dani asked, frowning.

  "Berto?" Liz asked.

  "And this other guy, Manny LaRosa."

  "Who's he?" Liz asked.

  "Well, think of him as my booking agent, kind of."

  Dani and Liz nodded.

  "He set me up with Velasquez, and after that was all going smoothly, he sent me to Berto."

  "In addition to Velasquez?" Liz asked.

  "That's what I thought, too, but it didn't turn out like that. Manny said Berto was the boss, and I should do what he told me. Berto coached me on how to set this all up, and he said I could be his partner, because there would be others like Velasquez. We could teach them to be better people, or something like that, which I knew was bullshit, but hey. It was a better deal than I'd had before, and I saw it as a faster exit strategy. And Berto treated me well, with respect. Plus, he's really handsome and had elegant manners."

  "Berto coached you on setting all of this up?" Dani asked. "What do you mean by 'this?'"

  "The charter, and how to work the surveillance
stuff. I have a thing that wakes up the system when it's time to, uh ... make a recording. But he didn't tell me how the stuff got on your boat. At first, I thought you two were part of it, part of his plan, you know?"

  "And when did you decide we weren't?" Liz asked.

  Beverly frowned for a few seconds, then shook her head. "I don't know, exactly. It wasn't any one thing, you know? In my line of work, you learn pretty fast how to size people up. It's a survival skill. You don't fit with Manny and Berto. You're different. They're … I don't know ... you just know not to trust people like them. The way they act. Like I said, it's no one thing."

  "Then what made you think we were part of their scheme to begin with?" Liz asked.

  "Well, I didn't know you, and Berto was very specific about chartering your boat and not letting the agent substitute another one. And he told me about how the recording stuff was built in. So I thought you had to know about it."

  "That makes sense," Dani said.

  "Yeah," Beverly said, "but then after the Coast Guard thing, I got this text from him about getting you off the boat that evening, like for dinner. That was after you guys told me about the scams the drug peddlers pulled on tourists down here. It got me to thinking, you know?"

  "Thinking?" Liz asked. "About?"

  "About whether I was being stupid. See, I thought it was all pretty simple when Berto put me up to this. We were just going to make some videos of Horry and put the squeeze on him."

  "I'm not getting your point," Liz said.

  "Yeah. Sorry. I'm still trying to make sense out of it myself, but I got a bad feeling. Berto didn't tell me anything about the drugs, and it looks like you're right. He was using me to set you up for that, so he was kind of playing me. I'm wondering why."

  "Why he would play you?"

  "Yeah, exactly. I thought we were in this together, Berto and I. But he set this drug thing up and didn't tell me. Why didn't he tell me? Was he setting me up too, somehow? I mean, I heard the guy on that video just now. They tipped the cops, both times. What if we got busted?"

  Dani shrugged. Liz started to say something, but Dani shook her head.

  "I caught what the guy said in the video, about the cops hitting Horry up for a bribe, but what if they decided to arrest us?" Beverly asked. "Like Horry pissed them off somehow, or wouldn't pay them? Or couldn't? Horry doesn't have any money to speak of; it's all his wife's. We could have been in the shit, you know?"