The River to Glory Land

by Janie DeVos

  “Hey,” Scott said, and I turned around. His sunglasses were pushed on top of his head, and he looked tired – as tired as I did. “You get any sleep?” he said, obviously thinking the same thing I was.

  “A little,” I replied. “You get everything straightened out?”

  “Yeah. Come on, I’ll tell you while we’re walking. We need to go.” Scott gently touched my arm to get me moving in the right direction. “Some ship, isn’t she?” he said as he looked around at the swimming pool area. I told him a little about what I’d seen of the ship, but our conversation was forced, and far quieter than it had been just twelve hours before.

  We took the elevator several decks up to the primary deck, and then walked along the promenade to the gangway and exited the ship. As soon as we were back on the dock, I saw Scott’s seaplane off to the left, tied to one of several pilings intended for aircraft. Looking at Scott’s plane, I realized that it was very close to the spot where we’d been swimming the night before, but I couldn’t think about that. I had too many other things to worry about.

  We were finally out of earshot of the many people touring the ship, and I turned to him. “So, what held us up this morning?”

  “There were only thirty cases of scotch on Gertrude’s boat. She had plenty of everything else, but not a lot of scotch in this load. I had to round up thirty more this morning,” he explained.

  “Did you get it?” I anxiously asked. We needed to be on our way. I had to work this afternoon, and Scott had a charter flight scheduled. Fortunately, it wasn’t until 4:00 p.m., and it was just to Bimini.

  Scott nodded. “Yeah, I got it. The Syracuse came in this morning, and Bob Reuters sold me what we needed, hams not cases. We’re good to go.”

  “Thank God,” I said. It had been a long twenty-four hours and I was ready to get home. I wanted nothing more than to be finished with the whole business. However, our work wouldn’t be done once we were back on U.S. soil. We still had to unload the liquor at the lighthouse, and then get it to Chick somehow. Hopefully, Scott had figured out a fairly quick and easy way of making that happen.

  Five minutes later, we were picking up speed as we raced along the shoreline, then Scott pulled the nose up and the pontoons lifted cleanly off the aqua-colored surface. With water streaming off, we rose higher and then banked off to the left until we’d made a full circle. Looking down at the beach, the wharf and downtown Nassau as they shrank away, I thought about the thousands of dollars that had likely changed hands in just the short amount of time it had taken us to fly away from the tiny spec of land. There was no doubt about it; Nassau was the rapidly beating heart of the Caribbean liquor trade. Though it was a world unto itself; one that was frenzied and untamable in its non-stop moneymaking, I couldn’t help but feel as if a small part of me had been left behind on the bustling streets, and on one darkened beach. As the land finally faded from view, I was left with a feeling of sadness. There was no denying that something had been ignited, but just as quickly doused out in a matter of twenty-four hours. And a little voice inside of me whispered that I didn’t want that fire to go out, nor the man who had started it to fly away.

  Chapter 32

  A Welcoming Committee

  “Okay, Lily, this is how it’s going to play out.”

  We had just reached our cruising speed of about ninety knots at an altitude of nine thousand feet and were out over open water, so there was nothing left to do but keep the plane heading west and talk about how we’d get the liquor to Chick. I needed to get something off my chest first.

  “Before we get involved in that discussion, do you mind if I say something about last night?” I dove right in.

  “Be my guest,” Scott replied.

  “First of all, I’m sorry I slapped you, but—”

  “Do you always start an apology with ‘I’m sorry, but…’?” he asked, glancing over at me.

  “No, but—”

  “See! There you go again!” he laughed, but then he took on a more somber tone. “Look, I said some things I shouldn’t have said, and did some things I probably shouldn’t have done either, but I think the Witch’s Tears might have had something to do with that. That drink is dangerous,” he finished softly, as if to himself. “I need to talk to Mama about that.

  “Anyway,” he continued more loudly. “I think you and I just got caught up in the heat of the moment, so to speak. But the islands can do that to you. We both said and did things we wish we hadn’t, but there’s no point in worrying about it, and all the ‘I’m sorry’s and ‘buts’ in the world won’t change anything. So, let’s just leave it at that. We’ll get this load delivered and then we can get back to our own lives. Fair enough?”

  Before I could say anything, Scott moved on.

  “Now, we need to talk about how we’re going to work this with Chick. I didn’t sleep much last night thinking about it and I figure there’s only one way to do it. We’re gonna unload these hams at the lighthouse and then we’ll fly back to my hangar. From there, I’ll drop you off wherever you want me to. Where’s your car?”

  “At the hotel,” I replied. “I always drive in by myself. I’m sorry you have to bother doing that, but when we left for the cruise yesterday morning, I didn’t know I wouldn’t be coming back in the afternoon.”

  “Actually, it works out, ’cause once I drop you off, I’m going right next door to see Chick. He’s going to go get that liquor himself. You and I have put our necks out enough for him. I’ll tell him where the key is for the lighthouse, and then he can work out who he wants to send and when.”

  “You’re not going to go see him!” I was adamant about that. “I can talk to Chick myself. Actually, I’d rather do that. Look, my sister and her not-so-nice crowd got themselves into this mess—one which you and I had to clean up, and getting you involved in smuggling liquor again which you said you wouldn’t do anymore. You’ve compromised yourself enough, and risked far too much as it is. I don’t know anyone else who would have done that for us,” I said honestly. As I said it, the good doctor came to mind. I highly doubted he would have put his neck out the way Scott had, even if he did have the means and contacts to rectify the situation. Neil was a straight-laced man, and other than those few indiscretions involving me, I had never known him to bend the rules, much less break them. “Another thing,” I said, shaking off thoughts of Neil. “We need to figure out a payment plan. I want to pay you back as soon as I can. I have a little money I can give—”

  “Look, let’s not worry about that right now, okay?” Scott said, cutting me off. “That’s not the biggest thing on my mind, not by a long shot. We’ve got to get this deal done, and without anyone else getting hurt, or you and me getting locked up. One of the reasons I want to talk to Chick is because there are just some things that don’t sit right with me.”

  “What’s got you so uneasy?” I asked. “Aside from the obvious.”

  “First of all, I’d like to know where the Doxley boys are, and what they knew beforehand. Maybe they didn’t know anything. Maybe they went to see what was going on at the Key Biscayne house, and saw Olivia lying there and decided to hit the road and never look back. I just don’t know. And the likelihood that Chick will tell me anything is slim to none, but still…He may say something that will help me get a better picture of what all is going on here. For once, maybe Chick will cooperate and answer some questions for me. It would behoove him to, anyway. After all, he’s out a bunch of money.”

  “And so are you right now, and so will I be when all’s said and done,” I reminded him.

  “Look, Lily, I’m not going to go hungry if that money isn’t paid back to me any time soon. I saved some to build a house, but I wasn’t in any real hurry to do it, and I know it’ll get done one way or the other. Things are going pretty well with the business. So much so that I’d like to hire another flyer to help with all the trips I’m scheduling. Folks love f
lying over to the islands; they love going to Cuba to gamble, and the Bahamas for—”

  “Let me guess.” I smiled. “Loretta’s fritters and Mama Minerva’s Witch’s Tears.”

  “You’re a fast learner.” Scott smiled.

  “I guess I had the right teacher.”

  We both grew quiet then. I laid my head against the window and closed my eyes. There was no way of knowing what Scott was thinking as we were lulled into our own private thoughts by the rhythmic droning of the plane, but I was thinking about the fact that Scott could probably teach a woman a whole lot of different things.

  I fell asleep, and remained so until Scott gently shook me awake, telling me we were just several miles out from the lighthouse. “You gotta be on your toes here, Lily. You know what to look for, right?”

  “Yes…yes, I’m ready,” I replied, sitting up straighter in my seat, and rubbing my hands over my face to clear the fog from my half-asleep brain. “Why’d you let me sleep so long? You had nothing to do other than stare down at the ocean.”

  “I was fine,” he chuckled. “I’m used to it. I let you sleep because you obviously needed it and I want you to be sharp-eyed once we get there. I need to know if something doesn’t look right. It’s always a little dangerous returning to the scene of the crime.” This wasn’t Scott’s first time at the ball, and he was familiar with how things worked, and how quickly they could go wrong.

  He gradually lowered the nose of the plane, bringing us down as we flew closer to the island. “I’m going to make a couple of passes around the lighthouse and let you to take a real good look before I set her down in the lagoon, just like we did yesterday.”

  We began our final approach, and because it was early afternoon, and the sun was high overhead, I was able to scan the island’s southeastern shoreline easily, then the southern side. Suddenly, I noticed odd colors and angled lines that stood out in glaring contrast to the natural shades and abstract shapes that I knew so well. Even though they were partially obscured by the thick tree canopy, I knew they didn’t belong there.

  “Scott! Pull up! Don’t land, pull up! Something’s wrong!” Without the slightest hesitation, he pulled back firmly on the control stick and efficiently worked the rudders at his feet as he lifted the right aileron on the wing in order to bank off to the left as sharply as he could while still keeping the plane under control.

  “What was it? What’d you see?” he asked, cutting off to the south.

  “People,” I said anxiously. “I could see cars parked under the trees. It looked like a lot of them.”

  “Which side?” Scott asked as he banked back to the right, heading us back in a northerly direction again but staying well south of Key Biscayne.

  “On both the southeast and southern sides of the island. But I bet they’re on the western side, too, near the lagoon.”

  “I guarantee the border patrol is among that little welcoming committee,” Scott said, scowling. “But how did they know?” he asked. “How the hell did they know?” he repeated softly, as if posing the question to himself.

  “Lily”—he looked over at me—“did Olivia ever say what the guys who beat her up looked like? Did she describe ’em at all?”

  “She just said there were several of them, but didn’t say what they looked like. Why?”

  “I’m just trying to put together some missing pieces, that’s all.”

  We banked off to the northeast then leveled off, heading due north.

  “Where’re we going?” I had no idea what our Plan B was.

  “To the Everglades,” Scott replied. “We need to get rid of this liquor. There’s an old abandoned Seminole village there. They left about twenty years ago.”

  “I know it well.” I smiled.

  “How’s that?” Scott asked, glancing over at me.

  In the distance, I could see variations of light green and dark green as the sawgrass marshes of the Everglades came into view.

  “My mother taught the Seminole children out there before she married Daddy. The tribe moved to Immokalee when the government started the dredging, but the engineers ran into budget problems. So, after a couple of canals were dug, the project was stopped and the village was left as it was. When I was a kid, my family would go out there every now and then to fish. The place has always been pretty special to Mama.”

  “Well,” Scott said as he pushed the control stick forward, lowering our altitude, “consider it a homecoming of sorts. We’re gonna hide this liquor there until I can figure out what our next move should be.”

  Chapter 33

  Destiny’s Plate Glass Window

  The wind whipped our hair in frenzied tendrils as we sped over the bay via the County Causeway in Scott’s navy 1927 Aston Martin convertible sports car. It was obvious that the man liked speed on the ground as much as he did in the air. I wasn’t complaining; the afternoon was hot and the rush of wind felt good, especially after unloading the sixty hams of scotch in an old meat cache in the Seminole village. The heat of mid-day, on top of the heavy humidity was bad enough to make me wonder if we’d somehow stepped into the vestibule of hell. Then, when I nearly stepped on a water moccasin inside the chickee that had once belonged to Chief Paroh Monday, I was quite sure we had.

  We turned left off the Causeway, then headed north on Collins Avenue, and Scott slowed the car down to a Sunday driver’s speed. “Lily,” he said, glancing over at me. “I want you to call me in a couple of hours. Hopefully, I’ll have talked to Chick by then, and you might have seen your family, too. I’ll want to know how things are with you, and I’m hoping I’ll have a much better idea as to how we can wrap this mess up. You’ve got my number, right?” I told him that I did. “I want you to do something really important for me before you call, though. I want you to have Olivia describe the men who beat her up and stole the liquor. Also ask her if she saw what kind of boat they were in. Better yet, see if she caught the name of it. Okay?”

  “I’ll call her as soon as I’m done with my dance lessons. Drop me at the back of the hotel, if you don’t mind,” I said. It was nearly 2:00 p.m., and I needed to shower and change, which I could do in one of the hotel rooms that was permanently reserved for our family’s use. I kept several outfits there, and often used it when I needed a break between a double-shift. I had just enough time to get ready before my 3:00 o’clock dance lesson with none other than the foul-smelling millionaire from Rhode Island, Mr. Burton. Trying to keep him from grabbing my derriere while teaching him to tango was about the last thing I felt like doing, but I had to get back to business as usual so as not to raise any eyebrows. Even so, I was tempted to ask Scott if I could keep his pistol for a little while since mine was at home.

  “All right,” Scott said as he pulled into an empty parking space close to the back doors. “Call me later, and get as much information from Olivia as you can. Okay?”

  “I will,” I said as I reached for the door latch. As I started to lift it, I stopped. I knew that I needed to thank him, but those two simple words seemed so inadequate.

  “Scott,” I said, turning away from my car door to look at him. “You’ll never know how grateful I am to you.”

  “Well, I owed you, lady,” Scott said with a soft smile.

  “You owed me? I don’t understand.”

  “You know when you asked me what changed my mind about helping you, and I told you that I was worried you’d get the wrong people to help out?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I nodded, recalling our conversation as we took off for Bimini.

  “Well, that was only part of the reason.” Seeing the quizzical look on my face, he continued.

  “The first time I saw you, I was waiting for the good doctor to sew up my arm after the hurricane blew out my plate glass window, cutting me to smithereens,” he explained. “You came over to the gurney where I was lying and asked me how I was doing. I told you I’
d just about lost my pitching arm, and that I was sure the Tigers would have to find a new closer, to which you replied that they didn’t have much of a team anyway, and that I’d be far better off learning how to play soccer.”

  “I remember that!” I said, recalling that I’d been impressed by his levity, even though I could see in his eyes how badly he was hurting. I also remember that it had taken over a hundred stitches to close up the gash.

  “Just talking to you helped a lot,” Scott continued. “I was really hurting and scared to death, even though I tried not to show it.”

  “I knew you were,” I replied. “Despite your bravery, I could still see the pain and fear in your eyes.”

  “You sat by me until they took me into surgery, and then you were in there holding the lantern while I was sewn up.”

  “Yes.” I nodded my head. “I do remember that now.”

  “Ahhh, but the difference between you and me, lady, is that I never forgot it.”

  Chapter 34

  A Family Affair

  I showered and changed quickly, not lingering under the warm water nearly as long as my tired and sore body would have liked to. Even so, I was nearly ten minutes late for Mr. Burton’s lesson. It went smoothly, as did the one that followed, though the hours dragged on.

  I left the ballroom at 5:30 p.m., intending to do nothing more than go directly to my car and leave. I knew I’d see my parents or grandparents soon, but I needed a little bit of time to myself to think things through, including going over the specifics about the Viceroy of India. I knew I’d be asked a lot of questions about the cruise ship and I wanted to be ready with the answers. Thinking I’d take a drive to buy myself a little more time, I pressed the “Down” button on the elevator and waited as I heard the humming of the car moving through the shaft. Suddenly, someone called my name behind me. Turning, I saw that it was Arlene Lentz, head of housekeeping.