by Eric Douglas
Chapter 3
As soon as Andrea Perez and Jackson Pauley arrived back at the dock, Andrea took off again, heading straight for city hall. They had just discovered that the planned location for the new artificial reef, the USS Destroyer Beauregard, was not a barren patch of sand after all, but actually a living carpet of coral reef. She wanted answers.
She now knew for sure that something was going on with the artificial reef project and the preparations for the sinking. There was no reason to sink the ship right there when there were plenty of other places where it could go. Someone was either asleep at the wheel or up to no good.
Andrea’s car nearly slid to a stop in front of city hall, where she jumped out and barged into the city offices. She hadn’t stopped to change or shower. She was in a t-shirt and shorts, with her long raven-black hair tucked up under a ball cap. Andrea was looking for Glenn Downing, the man who was organizing the project to sink the ship.
Andrea didn’t even bother to speak to the receptionist at the front desk. Instead, she slipped past the counter and headed straight for Downing’s office. The middle-aged woman attempted to stop her, but wasn’t successful.
“Mr. Downing. We need to talk. I was just diving on the site where you are planning to sink the ship. Have you even been out there?” she shouted. “It’s a complete coral reef. It isn’t in the greatest shape, but it’s a reef.”
“Who do you think you are barging in here like this?” Downing reacted, ignoring her shouted question. “You have no right to come in here like this. Get out of here. Mrs. Charles, call the police,” Downing said looking past Andrea to the receptionist. Downing wasn’t physically intimidated by the petite Latina so he didn’t pay attention to what she was saying. A decision he would eventually come to regret.
“Mr. Downing, you can call the police if you want. I’m sure they’ll want to talk to you when I explain to them that you’re breaking a series of federal environmental laws with what you’re planning to do,” Andrea said as she stood toe-to-toe with the larger man. Federal and state laws protect most of the reefs around the Florida Keys in one way or another. If nothing else were deemed applicable, Andrea was willing to see him charged with littering to the largest degree for dropping a ship directly on top of a reef.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Downing replied, attempting to back-pedal a bit. “You must’ve gone to the wrong place. We aren’t planning to sink the Beauregard on top of a reef. You’re obviously mistaken.”
“I’m not mistaken. I’m very confident of what I saw,” Andrea retorted.
“And I repeat. You must be mistaken. The company we hired to work on this project is the best available. They come with the best credentials and references,” Downing explained, trying to be reasonable. “These men have come in and set up everything. They’ve guided us through the entire process, and helped us to understand how to work through the myriad federal regulations and ordinances.”
“So, what you’re telling me is that they’ve done everything for you. You’re just the community organizer. You don’t actually know what they’re doing out there. You trust them,” Andrea shouted again, in utter disbelief, her hot temper getting the best of her. “They may have these impeccable references, but did you actually check them out?”
“Yes, they’re doing all the work setting up the ship. We’ve trusted them to take care of it all,” Downing explained. “They take care of everything.”
“You know other places have used mostly volunteer labor to do exactly what you’re paying this company to do for you.”
“True, but most of those places have had problems with delays and run-ins with federal regulators. We didn’t want to deal with that,” Downing said. “But we’re planning to use some last-second volunteer help to get things ready. We’re getting community involvement.”
As Downing said that, two uniformed police officers walked through the door. They hadn’t been too far away – in a small town, they rarely are – and when Mrs. Charles called to say that a crazy woman had stormed into city hall, they had reacted quickly.
Not seeing a violent confrontation, they walked up instead of trying to tackle Andrea.
“Mr. Downing. Mrs. Charles called us to say there was a disturbance. Do you need our assistance?” the first officer said while the second one stopped 10 feet away, preparing to react if things got messy.
Andrea was the first to answer. “There’s no problem from me, officer. I was just leaving.”
“I agree, officer. This has just been a misunderstanding. This woman will be leaving. I’m sorry to disturb you gentlemen,” Downing said.
“Just what are you going to do about what I told you?” Andrea asked as she began to leave the office.
“There’s nothing to do,” Downing said, with a smug grin.
Andrea walked out under the watchful eye of the officers, but neither made a move to stop her. Andrea drove around for an hour, just debating what her next move should be. This was her first solo investigation for Protect the Reefs and she wanted it to go right. She really didn’t have any proof that Downing or the company preparing the ship planned to do anything wrong, just a lot of innuendo and suggestion. The location wasn’t right for the new artificial reef, but it could be something as simple as a typo in the report. The fact that no one had caught it seemed suspicious, but it was just that, suspicious. She needed to get inside and really see what was going on.
And that was how she found herself back at Jackson’s boat house. She couldn’t get on the Beauregard now, especially after she had let her emotions get the better of her while confronting Downing.
“Hi, Jackson,” she said, putting on her friendliest smile and the sweetest tone in her voice as she walked down the dock beside the boat. She needed his help again.
“Hi, Andrea,” Jackson replied. He was working on the upper deck of his houseboat. Any boat on the water, especially saltwater, requires nearly constant maintenance. For Jackson, the maintenance was a pleasure and a responsibility he took very seriously. “I thought I might see you again, especially after the way you tore out of here earlier.”
“Look, Jackson, I’m not going to beat around the bush on this one. I get the feeling you’re a man who prefers to hear it straight,” she said as she stepped aboard the boat and climbed to the upper deck. She liked this quiet, intense man. He wasn’t much for small talk. He would never be a brilliant conversationalist, but there was depth to him. She could tell. “I need your help again.”
“Like I said, I thought I’d see you again. Tell me what you have in mind,” Jackson said, seriously.
Andrea related her dealings with Downing to Jackson as quickly as she could. She told it as straight as possible and tried her best to keep her personal feelings out of it.
“I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but something smells fishy,” she said as she concluded.
“And you need me to find out what it is,” Jackson said matter-of-factly.
“That’s right. Will you help me?”
“Here’s the deal. I was in the Navy. I actually served on the Beauregard. I’m proud of that and I believe she was, well, is a fine ship. If someone is using her for something wrong, I have problems with that. I also saw the same thing you saw today. I agree, there’s something fishy going on,” Jackson said. “What do you have in mind?”
“Downing said they’re using volunteers for the last couple days-worth of clean-up. I can’t do it. They would be suspicious of me. But you could do it. I just want you to get on board and see what you can see. I’ll be working on some other angles, but I need someone on the inside,” Andrea explained. “And with what you just told me, that you actually served on board, I believe they would be eager to have that string of continuity, so to speak - you know, public relations press releases including phrases like, ‘even former crew members helped to ready her for her new duties’ That’s a great connection. There’s no way they would ever turn you down.”
The Beauregard was a Sumner-class Destroyer built and commissioned at the end of World War II that saw action in Korea, Vietnam and various other places where the Navy and the US government saw fit to project naval power. Destroyers frequently work as part of a group of ships protecting aircraft carriers, but they also work alone or conduct anti-submarine warfare.
Jackson had served on board in the late 1980s and early 1990s, right out of high school. He left the Navy just before the ship was decommissioned. When he did, he went straight to the New York fire academy.
“I think my boss’ll give me a couple days off if I tell him I want to help out with the ship. We’re already planning a bunch of charters to the wreck. It’ll be a big money-maker for us,” Jackson said. “He’ll be happy to support that.”
“Then you’ll do it?” Andrea said excitedly.
“Yeah, I’ll help out on the ship for a couple days. It’ll be good to get on board her again anyway,” Jackson answered.
“Oh, thank you,” Andrea said as she leaped from the chair she was setting in and hugged Jackson’s neck. Suddenly she was embarrassed, and started to pull back. Their faces were close to each other for a moment and she flushed.
“I’m not promising I’ll find anything. I might just do a little work and help these guys sink her so I can dive on her,” Jackson said as he pulled back too, a little embarrassed himself.
“I know, but at least you’re willing to help. That means a lot,” Andrea answered.