There would be ample time for him to enjoy himself at Chelmsford's expense while they were en route to St. Vincent. The Dragon Lady had left him plenty of leeway in dealing with their former associate. Her only requirement was that he be found dead in Bequia, with the requisite maiming that would make his death a warning to others.
Wong had been with Marissa Chen for a long time; he had worked for her father in Hong Kong for years before she took over the family business. He found her much more fun to work with than her father had been. Only part of that was due to her penchant for kinky sex.
She had a better head for business than her father, and a better appreciation of the value of periodically making an example of some hapless member of her organization. Wong had become her weapon of choice when she had discovered his talents. For his part, he was devoted to her because she let him live out his darker fantasies, often with her participation.
He had been a bit surprised that she didn't want to be part of this evening's activities. He would miss watching her exercise her skills with Chelmsford, but her absence freed him to do those things that she forbade him to do in her presence. He had not yet learned how she discovered his deepest depravities, but it amused him that she liked for him to tell her about the things he did, so long as she didn't have to watch.
He felt the boat shift as the two men bundled Chelmsford into the cockpit. He stayed in the cabin until the boat accelerated to cruising speed. He knew then that they were in the ocean, and that no one would hear Chelmsford. He opened the door and found himself face to face with his victim, who began to scream as soon as he saw Wong.
****
"More coffee, anyone?" Liz asked, coming up the companionway ladder with a thermal carafe.
Dani and their guests were finishing breakfast at the fold-away table in the cockpit and watching the early morning activity in Admiralty Bay.
"Yes, please," Ed said, holding his mug out toward her.
"No, thanks," Cynthia said.
"I'll get some once we're underway," Dani said. "Ed and Cynthia want to see the Tobago Cays."
"Great," Liz said. "Are we leaving soon?"
"May as well," Ed said, taking a sip of his coffee.
"I'll just — " Dani was interrupted as a small, local boat drew alongside.
"Good morning, Vengeance."
"Morning, John," Liz said. "Do you have any of that banana bread today?"
"Still hot, Liz," the man said, holding up a loaf in a plastic bag. "How many you want?"
"Oh, give us four," Liz said, noticing that the inside of the bag was beaded with moisture from the warm bread. "We're going down to the Cays for a while. Might as well stock up."
"You hear the news?" he asked, as Liz pressed some bills into his hand.
She shook her head. "What's happening?"
"Willis was goin' out for lobster early this mornin'. Found a body in the park. Turns out it's a p'liceman."
"Oh," Liz said.
"Yes. The man who was in charge of the drug squad."
"What happened to him?" Dani asked, standing up and moving toward the spot where John held on to Vengeance.
He shook his head. "Bad, ver' bad." He looked down at the water for a moment. "You know 'bout the loup garou?"
Dani nodded.
"I don' believe in loup garou, me," he said. "But tha's what mos' people t'ink got him. He t'roat all torn and bloody. Bite marks all over he — he not wearin' no clothes, see." He shook his head. "Awful."
"Could it have been dogs?" Liz asked.
"Dogs?" he asked. "I don' t'ink so. No dogs on Bequia like that. I s'pose some dogs mebbe do that to a man, but not the dogs we got here, I don' t'ink. Good that you leave. No tellin' wha's goin' on here, but I t'ink it was the drug people did it. He tongue was taken, see. They do that, means they t'ink he tellin' stuff to people he shouldn't tell."
"Was he taking money from the drug dealers?" Dani asked.
"I don' know. Mus' not speak ill of the dead, but he was one rich man. Mos' only one way p'lice get rich." He nodded his head. "I bes' go to the other yachts while the bread still warm. You folks enjoy the Tobago Cays. Be safe down there. Loup garou don' s'pose to go where no animals, I t'ink." He bent down and started his outboard engine, waving as he made his way to the next boat in the anchorage.
"Loup garou?" Cynthia asked. "Like a werewolf?"
"That's what loup garou means," Ed said. "I'm surprised they'd have a superstition like that down here. There aren't any wolves here, are there?"
"No," Dani said, "but Voodoo borrows freely, and there's a big French influence, because of Haiti. You can't tell exactly what they mean by loup garou down here. It's loosely an evil spirit that's taken over the body of a person. Sometimes it includes shape shifting, sometimes not. The local version of the loup garou is supposed to prey on children, mostly. I guess the damage to the body is why they think that."
Cynthia shuddered. "Can we go now?"
"Of course," Liz said, gathering up the remains of their breakfast. "Give me a couple of minutes to get stuff put away, Dani, and I'll be back up to raise the anchor."
Chapter 9
"Now that you've taken care of Chelmsford, it's time for you to focus on that girl."
Wong sat at the corner of the Dragon Lady's desk, sipping from a cup of tea. He'd been describing what he had just done to the former chief of the drug squad, watching her as she became aroused while he drew out the most titillating part of the killing.
"Yes," he said.
"Who will you use?" she asked, putting her hands on the desktop, watching his eyes follow her movements.
He thought for a moment. "I think the two men from Trinidad; they want a chance to prove themselves."
"Are you sure they're up to the job?"
"Kidnapping is the national pastime in Trinidad. They've done this before. Besides, I don't think her father's likely to give them much trouble; he didn't figure out what was going on the other night until it was all over. It was just the one woman that surprised Jacobs. She's not very big, and we know to keep an eye on her this time."
"You, of all people, should not underestimate a small person, Wong." The Dragon Lady grinned at the flush that crept up from his neck.
"But she's just a girl," he said.
"Like me?"
"Ah ... " Wong's face paled.
The Dragon Lady laughed at his discomfort. "Well?" She prodded his thigh with the pointed toe of her red, high-heeled pump.
"She got lucky, that's all," he said.
"Like me?" she asked, moving one hand to her breast, teasing him. "Am I going to get lucky? Or are you the one who's going to get lucky, my little devil?"
****
"Rest your hand lightly on the helm," Dani said, watching Cynthia as she steered Vengeance. They were plowing through the moderately rough seas that often formed just south of Bequia, spray flying as the yacht plunged along at almost ten knots on a beam reach in the 15-to-20-knot breeze. "She's balanced; she'll mostly steer herself. You can feel a bit of pressure in the helm from time to time when she changes her angle to the wind. Just think of matching the pressure that you feel; don't think of it as turning the helm, or you'll over-steer."
Cynthia nodded. "This is so cool. How long ago did you learn to sail?"
"Longer ago than I can remember; I grew up sailing with my father."
"So he has a yacht?"
"Oh, he's always had boats. He owns several big charter yachts in the Med; it's a sideline business for him."
"Bigger than Vengeance?"
"Yes. Much bigger. When I was your age, I worked as deck crew on them on my vacations from school."
"Wow! What fun!"
Dani smiled. "Not really. I was the one that got all the scut work. We're talking about boats that had crews of maybe 15 people."
"How many guests, then?" Ed asked. He had just joined them in the cockpit.
"Oh, it varied. Sometimes just one or two, sometimes an extended family." She turned to
face him, taking in his bare, muscular torso. "Careful of the sun," she said. "It will burn you much more quickly down here in the tropics; there's less UV attenuation because of the short path through the atmosphere."
"Just trying to catch up with you; I couldn't help admiring your tan," he said.
Dani noticed Liz looking up through the portlight from the galley, a smirk on her face. "You're doing well with the steering, Cynthia," Dani said, slipping from behind the helm where she had been sitting next to the girl. "Think you can handle her for a couple of minutes?" she asked, standing up and stretching her back.
"Sure, I think so. Why?"
"I need to go below for a minute. I'll be right back. Excuse me, Ed," she said, letting her hand linger on his shoulder as she squeezed by him.
"What's up?" Liz asked, as Dani came below.
"Oh, I just thought I'd work on my tan," Dani said, going into the cabin that they shared and closing the door.
"Whoa," Liz said, grinning, as Dani emerged from the cabin a minute later in a skimpy, black, crocheted string bikini. "Did you buy that from the place in Bequia?"
"Yes. Years ago."
"What are you — "
"Stow it, Liz," Dani said, spraying herself with sunblock from an aerosol can and mounting the companionway ladder.
Liz stifled a laugh as she turned away, hiding her grin. She'd never known Dani to wear a bathing suit except to swim, and then she favored tank suits.
****
"Anybody want some juice or coffee?" Liz called from the galley as she looked out the portlight into the cockpit.
"I'll take some juice, thanks," Cynthia said. "I think Dad and Dani probably just want us to leave them alone."
"Oh?" Liz said, as she brought two glasses of cold passion fruit juice up to the cockpit.
"Yeah. He's disgusting. Tell her not to encourage him; he's bad enough without her leading him on."
"Leading him on?" Liz asked, handing Cynthia a glass and taking a seat beside her. "Where'd they go?"
"Behind that little sail up front. The staysail, I think Dani called it."
Liz rose to a crouch so that she could see under the sail. Dani was stretched out on the foredeck, facedown, sunning herself. Liz giggled when she saw that the tie was undone on Dani's top. She watched with interest as Dani handed Ed a tube of sunblock. As he began to rub it into her back, Liz said, "I can't believe it. She really is leading him on."
"Well, maybe she just doesn't know his type," Cynthia said, "but she's playing into his hands — no pun intended."
"Or vice versa," Liz said, a grin spreading across her face.
"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked.
"She put on sunscreen before she came on deck."
"Oh," Cynthia said, a fleeting look of disappointment on her face. "She didn't seem like that type."
"She's not," Liz said. "I don't know what's going on, but she just came back from a long weekend in Brazil with the only guy who's ever held her interest."
"Did he dump her, or something?" Cynthia asked.
"I don't know. She never talks about her love life. Except for the guy in Brazil, she's brushed off every man I've ever seen make a move on her — until now."
"Well, this isn't likely to end well for her," Cynthia said. "I really like her, too. Any chance you can intervene?"
"I told her what you said last night. That's the best I can do; she's likely to punch me out if I say any more."
Cynthia shook her head and took a sip of juice. "Well, I'll ask him for some father-daughter time tomorrow. You said there's some good snorkeling on the reef in the Tobago Cays?"
"The best," Liz said.
"I'll ask him to take me, just the two of us. I'll tell him I need some advice about a boy; that'll get him, for sure. Then you can at least maybe get her to talk to you about this before she gets hurt."
"Sounds good to me," Liz said. "You hungry for lunch yet?"
"Getting there. That's a good excuse to break up their little tête-à-tête, huh?"
"We'll see," Liz said.
Chapter 10
"You seem to know a lot about Voodoo, Dani," Cynthia said, as they were eating dinner. They had been discussing the bread vendor's mention of the loup garou.
"Not a lot," Dani said, "but you can't grow up in the islands without learning something about it."
"Did you know people who believed in it?" Ed asked.
Dani studied his face for a moment before she said, "Yes. I have a distant cousin in Martinique who's a mambo, a high priestess."
"That's really cool," Cynthia said. "Did you ever go to, like, any of the ceremonies, or anything?"
"No," Dani said, with a smile, "but we had some charter guests once, academics, who were studying Voodoo."
"That seems odd," Ed said. "What kind of academics would study Voodoo?"
"Cultural anthropologists," Liz said. "And they knew all about Dani's cousin. She's actually one of the foremost practitioners of Voodoo."
"No offense, Dani," Ed said, "but I always thought Voodoo was bogus, like witchcraft, or something."
"I'm not offended, but it's no more bogus than any other religion. I'm not a believer, but I respect the people who are. At least, I respect the ones who are sincere. It's a force for good, like most religions."
"I thought the islands were predominantly Christian," he said.
"Voodoo isn't at odds with Christianity," Liz said, "at least from the Voodoo perspective. Some Christians see it differently."
They were quiet for a moment, addressing themselves to the curried fish that Liz had served. Cynthia broke the silence.
"Dad, Liz was telling me about the fringing reef out there, earlier." She gestured to the east, where the swells rolled in and broke over the shallow barrier of coral.
"Yes? What about it?"
"Because the Tobago Cays are a marine preserve, the reef is one of the best snorkeling spots in the Caribbean," Liz said. She caught Dani's eye and said, "I thought while Dani and I scraped the barnacles off Vengeance's bottom in the morning, you and Cynthia could take the dinghy over there and scope it out." As Dani started to object at the mention of scraping barnacles, Liz nudged her leg under the table. She'd explain her subterfuge about the imaginary barnacles later.
"Please, Dad?" Cynthia asked. "I need to talk with you about, um ... well, I could use your advice about something personal."
"How can I refuse?" Ed asked, with a grin.
****
"Where are Ed and Cynthia?" Liz asked, rinsing a plate and passing it to Dani to dry.
"Sitting up on the foredeck, looking at the stars," Dani said, wiping the dish and putting it aside. "Why?"
"Just curious. She was hoping for some time alone with him. She wanted to talk with him about boy trouble."
A distant look came over Dani's face. "Boy trouble? Think he's any good at advice to the lovelorn?"
"How would I know? You're the one who's been spending time with him."
Dani put down the dish towel and turned to face Liz. "What do you mean by that?"
"Just an observation."
"He's our guest. I was just keeping him company."
"In a bikini? I've never seen you wear a bikini when there were other people around."
Dani's face flushed and she clenched her teeth. Liz took a step back, alarmed, but then she saw her friend's chin tremble. She stepped forward and put her arms around Dani's wiry shoulders.
She felt Dani relax. "Want to talk?"
Dani nodded and Liz released her. She rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. "Yes, maybe so. I don't have much experience with men."
"What's going on, Dani? You haven't been yourself since you got back from Brazil."
"That whole thing with Ralph," Dani said, "it wasn't what I thought."
"It rarely is, at least in my experience," Liz said. "Want to tell me what happened that upset you so? Sometimes it helps to talk it over with someone."
"I don't know where to start, Liz. I ha
ven't a clue what happened. When he invited me to visit, I thought he wanted to ... well, you know."
"Mm-hmm," Liz said. "And?"
"And I was just ... I felt ... " she shook her head. "I don't even know where to begin."
"Start with getting off the plane in São Paolo, maybe."
"He met me in the arrivals area with a dozen roses," Dani sniffed.
"That's a good start, anyway," Liz said. "What did you do?"
"I thanked him and shook his hand."
"You shook his hand? No hug? Or kiss?"
"We were in public, Liz!"
"I see. Then what?"
"He drove me to his villa. It's huge — in a walled compound with security guards."
"Uh-huh," Liz said. "And?"
"He showed me to my room. Well, a suite, really. I put the flowers in the refrigerator and — "
"The refrigerator? You put them in the refrigerator?"
"What was I supposed to do? I knew they'd wilt if I didn't do something."
"Okay." Liz shrugged. "And then?"
"He said cocktails and dinner would be in an hour, if I wanted to freshen up. I thanked him and said I'd see him then."
"So how did you dress for cocktails and dinner?"
"My little black dress with the strappy sandals you let me borrow, and my pearls."
"Good. And how was dinner?"
"That's when it got really weird. Remember Carlotta Solanó?"
"The woman who killed Angela Cappelletti's father a few months ago in Miami?"
"Right."
"Yes. What about her?" Liz said.
"She was there, dressed like a hooker. She acted like one, too."
"What did she do?"
"Gave me a big hug and one of those kissy things like they do in the movies. Then she held me at arm's length, staring into my eyes, and told me how excited she was that I might join her and Ralph."
"Uh-oh," Liz said, shaking her head. "I think I see where they were going. What happened next?"
"It's not what you think — not what I thought, either. The whole thing was a damned job interview."
"Job interview? They wanted to hire you?"
"Not exactly. They were looking for another partner."
Bluewater Ganja: The Ninth Novel in the Caribbean Mystery and Adventure Series (Bluewater Thrillers Book 9) Page 5