"Oh! Thank you," the girl said, jumping to her feet and wrapping Dani in a hug. "Thank you, thank you."
Dani extricated herself from the hug and said, "No promises, Cynthia. Like I said, it depends on how we come out. We need to get this sorted out in a hurry if we're going to get back to Bequia and pick up your father this evening. Otherwise, he's probably going to have to know."
"So you think you can fix this with the cops?"
"I grew up in the islands; I have lots of friends in different places. That's how I got tipped off last night."
"I thought you were American. How'd you come to grow up down here?"
"Well," Dani said, "the short version is that my mother's American and my father's French. From Martinique, originally, but he lives in Paris now. When I was a little younger than you are, they split up. I ended up farmed out to some of my father's friends and relatives down here in the summers. He was still living in Martinique then, but he traveled all the time on business."
"That's so cool," Cynthia said, her face bright. "Did you spend — "
Her question was interrupted by the ringing of the satellite phone.
"Excuse me," Dani said, as she picked up the phone and looked at the screen.
"Hi, Phillip," she said.
****
Festus forced his face into a calm mask; he wouldn't reveal his anxiety to the Dragon Lady. Her dwarf bodyguard, Li Wong, had picked Festus up from the bar where he spent his idle time. Wong was a sneaky bastard. Festus hadn't known he was there until Wong nudged his elbow, making him spill beer down the front of his shirt.
He had jumped to his feet, ready for a brawl, and looked down to see the little shit grinning up at him, a straight razor poised against the inside of Festus's thigh. He had seen Wong kill a man that way once, the victim bleeding out, dying almost before he knew the dwarf had cut his artery.
"What?" Festus had growled.
Wong folded the razor and gestured with his head for Festus to follow him. Now Wong was behind him as Festus sat in front of the Dragon Lady's desk. Festus wasn't sure which made him more nervous: the woman's reptilian gaze, or the dwarf's silent presence, looming close but out of sight.
"You are an embarrassment," the woman said.
Festus waited, silent.
"Are you not going to attempt some explanation?" she asked, hissing as she emphasized 'some,' the sibilance reinforcing her snake-like image.
"What you want me to 'splain, ma'am?"
"You wasted my time, and the time of my minions."
"I'm sorry, ma'am. I don't know what 'minions' is."
"The police officers who are in my pay, you buffoon."
"Ma'am, I still don't know how I've upset you." He flinched as he felt the icy edge of the razor come to rest, touching the crease where his right ear met the side of his head.
She shifted her gaze, looking over his shoulder, and smiled as she shook her head. "Not yet, little one. But soon, perhaps. I think not his ear, though. Maybe something more personal, something that won't be visible in public."
He felt the razor lift and heard a snort of laughter from Wong. "I just passed along what I saw," Festus said.
"You really don't know, do you?" She shook her head again, her face a smooth mask. "I won't let Wong cut you until you understand how you have failed. Tell him, Wong."
"There was no such yacht," Wong said, his voice a high-pitched snarl in Festus's ear. Those were the first words Wong had spoken during the entire encounter.
"But I saw it, ma'am. I followed the girl on the ferry after I — "
Pain exploded in his head and he fell from the chair, rolling onto his side as the dwarf kicked him again and again. Before he lost consciousness, he wondered how the little devil had kicked him in the head while he was sitting in the chair. Could the bastard fly?
****
"Take him away," Chen said, smiling at the pleasure on Wong's scrunched-up face as he panted from his exertion. "But keep him alive. Find out who told him about the girl. Take that person as well. Keep them separated, and don't mess them up. We may need to use them before this is over."
Li Wong nodded and began to drag the heavier man from her office.
"And Wong?"
He stopped and turned to face her, bowing slightly and waiting.
"Come back when you are finished. I want you."
She smiled at his effort to suppress his grin until he was out of her office. She always wanted him after she saw him hurt someone; it never failed to excite her.
****
Cynthia sat in a corner of the cockpit, listening without comment as Dani told Liz about Phillip's conversation with the Chief Superintendent of St. Vincent's police force. When Dani had finished summarizing what he had said, Cynthia cleared her throat. Dani looked her in the eye, smiled, and nodded her head.
"Is this Phillip a lawyer of some kind?" she asked.
Liz grinned as Dani stifled a laugh.
"Sorry, Cynthia," Dani said. "That's a reasonable question, but the idea of Phillip as a lawyer just hit my funny bone. I can't imagine a less likely person as a lawyer."
"That's true," Liz added, "but I can't think of anybody I'd rather have on my side in a confrontation with the police anywhere down here."
Cynthia's brow wrinkled in a puzzled frown.
"He's a former business partner of my father's," Dani said. "He's been down in the islands forever. Before he went in business with Papa, he was some kind of agent for the U.S. government. He was an Army officer, too. He knows everybody in law enforcement and the military in the islands and Central America."
"Quite a few people in South America, too," Liz added.
"He's like my older brother," Dani said. "He's the one that I always went to when I was a kid and needed advice and couldn't ask my parents."
"And he thinks this is going to be okay?" Cynthia asked.
"He got a positive reaction from the Chief Superintendent of St. Vincent's police force; they've known one another for a long time. We'll know more once the Chief has had time to do a little checking. We aren't in the clear just yet, though."
"Is Phillip in St. Vincent?" Cynthia asked.
"He lives in Martinique. If we go there, you'll probably meet him. He often invites our guests to dinner at his house," Dani said.
"His wife's a first-rate French chef," Liz added. "She's from one of the old French families in Martinique, like Dani's father, and they like to entertain."
"So is Martinique, like, a French colony or something?"
"It's actually a department of France," Dani said. "Guadeloupe is, too. They're the biggest and the richest islands in the Eastern Caribbean. The people are French citizens; they speak French and vote in the French elections. Their currency is the euro."
"That's really cool," Cynthia said. "I didn't know that. Are we going to head back to Bequia now?"
"Not just yet. Phillip thought we should hang around out here until he heard back from the Chief. If we get the all-clear, it'll only take us a couple of hours to get back. We've been edging back to the east since sunrise, but I want to stay in international waters for now."
"So what do you think will happen? Are they going to arrest the crooked cop? And Wilbur?"
"It's hard to say. Things like this often don't move in a straight line in this part of the world. St. Vincent's a sovereign nation, but it's not any bigger than a small town in the states. Everybody knows everybody else's business; there are lots of family relationships and confusing political alliances," Liz said.
"Who's Wilbur?" Dani asked.
"Oh. He's the taxi driver I bought the weed from."
"I see," Dani said. "Well, I don't know. I'd be surprised if the police didn't want a statement from you, but we'll just have to wait and see. There's a range of possibilities. The whole problem could just disappear like it never happened, or there could be some kind of major scandal. We'll know more in a little bit. Just hope for the best," Dani said.
Chapter 5
"We have
an appointment with someone from the office of the Chief Superintendent of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force," Dani said, addressing the man behind the counter in Bequia's government building.
The man looked down at a sheet of paper on the counter. "Would you be Ms. Berger?"
"Yes, I am."
"And the other ladies? They are Ms. Chirac and Ms. Savage?"
"That's right," Dani said.
The man stepped to his right and opened a door into the lobby. Motioning for them to come behind the counter, he said, "Follow me, please."
He led them down a short hallway to a closed door marked "Boardroom," and knocked.
"Come in," they heard. The voice was deep and well-modulated.
Their guide opened the door and stepped aside, gesturing for them to enter. A tall, handsome man in his middle years stood behind a massive table, smiling as he studied them. Dani took in the well-tailored, dark blue suit, his blue-black skin tone, and his immaculate grooming as she made room for Liz and Cynthia.
"Please, ladies, be seated. May I offer you refreshments?"
"Nothing for me, thank you," Dani said, realizing from his appearance that this must be the Chief Superintendent. Although she'd never met him, she was relieved by his personal involvement. She knew from Phillip and her father that he was an honest and reasonable man.
"No, thanks," Liz and Cynthia said, in chorus.
"That will be all, Penford," their host said, and their escort left, closing the door.
"Thank you for coming. I'm Rupert Mason, the Chief Superintendent of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force. Ms. Berger, I recognize you; you very much resemble your father, at least as he looked before you were born. It's been too long since I've had the pleasure of his company. Would you other ladies be kind enough to tell me your names?"
Once Liz and Cynthia had introduced themselves, Mason sat down across the conference table from the three of them.
"As you might imagine, this is a somewhat sensitive situation. I'm assuming Phillip Davis has filled you in?"
"Yes," Dani said. "He told us what he knew."
Mason folded his hands on the table and gazed out the window for a moment. "We haven't been able to find the commander of the drug interdiction unit. We had not yet discovered that he was absent when I last spoke with Mr. Davis. He did sign out a patrol boat last night, and the crew took him and two of his men to Bequia. They returned to Kingstown after they were unable to find your yacht. There are some irregularities. To begin with, there was no warrant issued to authorize the boarding and search of your yacht. In fact, there was no paperwork of any kind. He told the crew of the patrol boat that he had a tip from a well-known drug dealer, a man called Festus Jacobs."
He let the silence hang for a moment, staring at Cynthia. "Ms. Savage, do you recognize that name?"
"No. I'm sorry, but I don't."
"You ladies understand that this is all off the record?" Mason asked.
Liz, Dani, and Cynthia nodded.
"Ms. Savage, we know that you were in possession of a sizeable amount of marijuana when you left the ferry yesterday afternoon. That is a very serious offense. You could be sentenced to several years in prison. Do you understand this?"
Cynthia swallowed. "Y-yes," she said.
"And you know that you could have cost Ms. Berger and Ms. Chirac their yacht, and possibly caused them to be sentenced to prison as well?"
"Yes, sir. I thought — "
"Because of my long relationship with Ms. Berger's father and Phillip Davis, I'm taking their word that you made a mistake; that you were misled by this taxi driver, who told you that marijuana was not illegal in our country. I need to hear you say that you've learned your lesson from this unfortunate experience."
"Oh, yes, sir. I definitely have."
"Good. Then there will be no repercussions for any of you, as long as you're willing to cooperate in our investigation."
"Thank you," Dani said.
"Yes, thanks," Cynthia said.
"Did you get the name of the taxi driver, Ms. Savage?"
"Wilbur is his first name. That's all I know."
"We booked the pickup with Joe's Taxi and Tours," Liz added.
"Thank you. That will help."
"Will I have to go to court?" Cynthia asked. "I'm only here for — "
Mason raised a big, manicured hand, interrupting her. "I don't think so. We understand that you're only here for a short visit, and we have ample evidence to proceed against these men without your testimony. However, I have had a statement drawn up for your signature. It's a mere formality, but I need it in my file to support opening an investigation into this matter. I believe it's accurate based on what Mr. Davis told me, but I want you to read it carefully. If there's anything in it that's not correct, please mark it up and initial the changes, and I'll do the same. Ms. Berger and Ms. Chirac, I'll ask that you sign as witnesses to Ms. Savage's signature — not to the accuracy of the contents."
He took an envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket and withdrew a single, typewritten sheet. He passed it to Cynthia, waiting in silence as she read it. When she looked up, he asked, "Did I get it right?"
"Yes, sir," Cynthia said.
He handed her a heavy, gold pen, and she and Dani and Liz signed the statement.
"Thank you, ladies," he said, folding the sheet back into the envelope and returning it and the pen to his inside pocket. "It was a pleasure to meet you, though I regret the circumstances. Ms. Berger, please tell your father hello. I hope that someday we'll meet again; he's a true gentleman."
"Thank you, Mr. Mason. I'll do that."
"Ms. Savage?"
"Yes, sir?"
"You're a lucky young woman. Don't step out of line again; you may not be so fortunate next time you run afoul of the law."
"Y-yes. Thank you, Mr. Mason."
"You should be careful for the next few days, until we have these men in custody. I don't think you're in danger, but this is a small country, and they may worry that you can identify them, Ms. Savage."
"We'll keep our guard up," Dani said. "Thanks again, Mr. Mason."
"My pleasure. Please remember to pass on my greetings to your father."
"I certainly will."
"Good day, ladies. Enjoy the rest of your time in St. Vincent and the Grenadines."
****
"Back to the boat?" Liz asked, as they stepped out of the government building into the midday sun. "It's past lunch time."
"How about lunch at Mrs. Walker's?" Dani asked. "My treat. That'll keep you out of the galley, Liz, and then we can crash until time to meet your father, Cynthia."
"Good idea," Liz said.
"Fine with me," Cynthia said. "Is Mrs. Walker's a restaurant?"
Dani smiled, and Liz said, "Among other things. She has a little store that sells groceries and liquor, and a funky little dining room that serves some of the best local dishes I've ever eaten."
"Her late husband was another of my father's associates," Dani said. "When I was little, I used to stay with her a lot while they were working."
"What did your father do?" Cynthia asked, as they walked along the tree-shaded lane that served as Bequia's main street.
"Oh, he's in the import/export business; he trades mostly in heavy machinery. Back when he was starting out, he spent a lot of time courting government officials."
"Hey, Dani!" Sam, the model boat builder, called, interrupting their conversation.
Dani stopped at his folding table, glancing at his wares as she said, "Good morning, Sam. Thanks for the tip last night."
"Everyt'ing good?" he asked.
"Ev'y li'l t'ing gonna be a'right," Dani said, picking up one of his models and turning it in her hands.
"You like it?" he asked, grinning, winking at Liz and Cynthia.
"Yes, I do." She handed the carved, painted model to Liz. "What do you think?"
"It looks like Vengeance," Cynthia said, "but not exactly."
"You got a good eye, missy," Sam said.
"Sam, meet Cynthia Savage," Dani said. "Cynthia and her father are our guests for a while."
"Welcome to Bequia," Sam said.
"Thank you," Cynthia said. "That's a beautiful model."
Sam smiled. "Vengeance is a beautiful yacht. I make some of the details different on the model, 'cause t'ings don' always look right when you make 'em so small, see?"
"Yes, I do see. I'm studying art, and I'm learning about that sort of thing; it's true in drawing and painting, as well. You have to try to capture the effect that the subject has on the eye, rather than just scaling it down."
"Tha's a ver' good way to say it, I t'ink. Liz call it artistic license, mebbe, or perspective. Right, Liz?"
"Right. I didn't know you were an artist, Cynthia."
"Liz paint pictures," Sam said. "They look like photographs, only more real. Make you want to touch t'ings."
"I'd like to see some of your paintings, Liz. That sounds really cool."
"Most of the paintings aboard Vengeance are Liz's," Dani said.
"Do you paint, Cynthia?" Liz asked.
"I'm learning, but I'm not very good."
"Me, too. We all get better with every brush stroke, right, Sam?"
"Yes, but you ver' good, jus' the same."
"Did you bring your stuff, Cynthia?" Liz asked.
"No, just a sketch book."
"Well, if you have the urge, you're welcome to use mine. Just let me know. I'd love to see your work."
"Let's get lunch, you two," Dani said. "If I weren't starving, I'd fall asleep on my feet. I like the model, Sam. Let me know when you're satisfied enough with it to sell it."
"I will, Dani. Soon come. Stay safe; I'm glad t'ings come out okay las' night."
Chapter 6
"Hi, Dad! Over here," Cynthia called, waving, as Ed Savage made his way through the crowd disembarking from the ferry.
"Hello, Cyn," he said, with a curt nod, as his eyes swept over Liz and stopped on Dani.
"Welcome to Bequia, Mr. Savage," Dani said, reaching for his carry-on bag.
"Thanks, I've got it," he said, shifting the bag to his left hand and grasping her extended right hand in his own.
Bluewater Ganja: The Ninth Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers Book 9) Page 3