The Rum Runner

by Christine Marciniak

  “Oh, darling, he most certainly is. Or at least was. But right now, in this moment, I’ve got no cause to arrest him.”

  And she thumped back down to earth. Maybe she could quit her job as Trudy suggested. She could be a rum runner’s wife. Might not be such a bad gig. She could have all her fill of the medicinal brandy she wanted.

  Who was she kidding? She could never do that. She swallowed a lump in her throat and gazed at Hank again. At least he wasn’t going to be arrested today.

  “I want to talk to Jiggy.”

  “He’s already under arrest,” Sal reminded her.

  “Understood.”

  “Don’t shoot him again.” There was a twinkle in Sal’s eye as he gave her this warning.

  “No promises,” she said and enjoyed the shocked look that came over Sal’s face.

  Jiggy was still on the working deck, propped up against a locker, his arm bandaged, his face pale.

  Alice stood above him, enjoying the advantage his disadvantage gave her. He glared at her and she glared right back. Finally, she said. “That was for Tomas Nagy and my father.”

  Jiggy didn’t seem surprised.

  “You’re a lot like him.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “Take it however you want, but it nearly got you killed.”

  “I could say the same for you.”

  Jiggy chuckled at that. “Sean would be proud.”

  “Why’d you have him killed?”

  Jiggy winked. “You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you can figure it out.”

  And he wasn’t dumb either, Alice acknowledged. He wasn’t going to come right out and admit to arranging for her father’s murder, though it wasn’t too hard to read between the lines.

  “I guess he got in your way.”

  Jiggy touched his nose with his uninjured hand. “Like I said, you’re a smart girl.”

  Hank and Sal joined them.

  “We need to get Douglas to the hospital.” Hank glanced at Jiggy. “And I guess him, too.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” Sal said. “I can take them in my runabout.”

  “That won’t work. Neither of them could navigate the ladder. No, we’ll head in now and get them to shore.”

  It was arranged that the Mary B would head straight to port, while George Evans took Sal’s boat in and Hank’s first mate, Smitty, brought in Jiggy’s boat. Alice and Sal joined Hank in the bridge while he navigated toward home.

  “So,” Hank said to Sal, “you were trying to undermine Jiggy this whole time?”

  “It would have worked, too. Eventually. Although, thanks to Alice’s steady hand, we got him a bit sooner.”

  “How did you know he was going to be here?”

  “I’ve got informers around town.”

  Now Hank looked at Alice, and she was afraid she could get lost in those eyes. “And how did you get involved?”

  “I was employing a little good old-fashioned police work and trying to figure out the connection between Sal here and Jiggy.”

  Hank raised an eyebrow.

  “I told you Jiggy was dangerous.”

  She grinned back at him. “And I told you I could take care of myself.”

  ****

  Traveling at full speed, directly back to the marina, it didn’t take long before they were docked. Alice wanted a chance to talk to Hank, to spend time alone with him, to kiss him again. But that opportunity didn’t present itself.

  Hank had used his two-way radio to call the marina, so when they got in, not only was the chief there with his police car, but there were two ambulances as well. Alice disembarked as soon as the crew put out the gangplank.

  “What did you get yourself involved in, Grady?” the chief asked with a shake of his head.

  “We’ve arrested the key figure in the rum running in this area. The man who called for the murders of Tomas Nagy and of my father.”

  As she was speaking, Salerno escorted Jiggy off the boat.

  “This the man?” The chief asked, with a jerk of his finger toward the injured man.

  “Yes, Jiggy Malone.”

  The chief shook his head sadly. “Alistair Malone, your mother will be turning over in her grave to see what you’ve come to.”

  “Alistair?” Alice repeated, disbelieving. She never would have gotten that from Jiggy.

  “You know him?” Salerno asked.

  “Knew his parents.” The chief introduced himself to Salerno. “Take him down to the hospital. Grady and I will meet you there and you can brief me.”

  “I’ve got these two as well,” Salerno said, as a couple of Hank’s crewmen escorted Jiggy’s helpers off the boat. “Can you hold them for me until I can get someone down here to pick them up?”

  “Fine. We’ll bring them to the station and then meet you at the hospital.” He supervised the loading of the men into the back of the car. “Come on, Grady. No time to waste.”

  She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to talk to Hank, but he was helping his brother into the other ambulance and had no time for her now. She got in the passenger side of the police car and the chief drove across the causeway into town and to the police station.

  Once they entrusted the prisoners to McGrath for the night, they were back in the car on the way to the hospital in Perth Amboy.

  “Might as well tell me everything,” the chief said.

  So she did, filling him in on where her research had led her and to the real identity of the mysterious Vince Salerno.

  “Good work, Grady,” Murphy said with an approving glance in her direction. “I suppose after this you’ll want to get out on the beat more often?”

  “I would like to, yes, sir.”

  “Well, get that Nagy lady into my office so I can see if I approve of her.”

  “Yes, sir. Monday morning.” She wanted to hug herself and cheer. She was finally getting what she wanted.

  “We only wanted to protect you, you know. On account of your father.”

  “I know.” It was rather sweet of them, if a bit stifling.

  “But I suppose you proved you can take care of yourself.”

  She grinned. And don’t you forget it. But she was smart enough to keep that comment to herself.

  At the hospital, Sal met them in the lobby.

  “Jiggy’s in surgery, so I don’t suppose he’ll go anywhere for the next hour or so. Let’s get some coffee.”

  Seated in the cafeteria, at a white-topped wooden table, with burnt coffee in thick white cups, Salerno told the chief basically the same story Alice had already told, with a few extra details Alice hadn’t known about, like the smugglers he’d already managed to buy out, and the extent of Jiggy’s network in town.

  “He had something on nearly everyone and wasn’t afraid to use it,” Sal said. “I’m still not sure how many people he had working for him, but we’ll find out. In the meantime”—he gestured toward Alice with his coffee cup—“be careful. I don’t know how many of his people did his bidding because they felt they had no choice and will be glad to be free of him and which ones will be angry that their boss has been caught.”

  “I can take care of myself,” she reminded them.

  “I’ve no doubt,” Sal answered, but the chief didn’t look so sure.

  He looked at the clock on the wall and finished the last of his coffee. “Let me take you home, Grady, and I don’t want to see you again until Monday. Rest and relax. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir, Chief.” She gave him a mock salute. She would have liked to find out how Douglas was doing, but the chief seemed in a rush, so she hurried after him.

  “Lay low for the rest of weekend,” he said as he pulled up in front of her house. “I want to get a feel for how much of a threat this network of Malone’s is.”

  “I’m not afraid,” she said.

  “You shot their boss. Maybe you should be afraid.”

  There was a place for bravado and a place for caution. Caution might be called for here. “R
elaxing day at home it is,” she assured him and went inside.

  Mama and Marty were in the sitting room with the Victrola playing. Marty was curled up on the davenport with a novel and Mama was embroidering ladybugs on a handkerchief.

  “Where have you been?” Mama asked, the worry evident in her voice. “You never even made it home for dinner.”

  That reminded her that she hadn’t managed to get an evening meal, only some fruit juice, medicinal brandy, and coffee. She should be hungry, but she wasn’t. Instead she was thinking how she was going to tell Marty what had happened to Douglas tonight. At least his injury didn’t appear to be life threatening.

  “I thought maybe you went over to the Nagys’,” Marty said, looking up from her book. “But Irene said she hadn’t seen you. Her typing is coming along really well, though!”

  That was good. Murphy would be happy to hear it.

  Now they were both looking at her, expectantly, and she didn’t even know where to begin.

  “I, um, was working on a case,” she said. “Things got a little out of hand, but we arrested the man who ordered Daddy’s murder.”

  Mama dropped her embroidery to her lap. “What are you talking about?”

  Alice perched on the edge of the davenport, next to Marty, and told them everything she could. When she got to the part about Douglas being shot, Marty was ready to call a cab and head to the hospital immediately.

  “It can wait until tomorrow, dear,” Mama said. “Visiting hours are going to be over by now anyway.” She turned to Alice, her brow wrinkled with concern. “Would you like me to draw you a bath?”

  Alice let out a happy sigh. “That would be heavenly! Thank you.”

  “What about Hank?” Marty asked when Mama had gone upstairs. “Is he a rum runner?”

  “He had no contraband on his boat. But he did have secret compartments built into his storage holds, so I think so.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  The hundred-dollar question.

  “Why do I have to do anything?”

  “Because you love him,” Marty answered.

  Yes, she did. And that made this even worse, because she really didn’t know what she was going to do about it.

  In the morning, after church, she went with Marty on the bus to Perth Amboy so she could visit Douglas. She hoped this didn’t go against the chief’s directive to lay low. All the way there she thought about what she would say to Hank when she saw him.

  Should she tell him she didn’t mind if he was a smuggler and she’d promise not to arrest him, even though it meant throwing out all her ethical standards? Should she ask him to give it up? Was it right to ask someone to make a change like that?

  In the end, it didn’t matter. They walked into Douglas’s hospital room, where he lay with his leg swathed in bandages, and Hank wasn’t there. Marty rushed to the side of the white cast-iron bed, and Douglas opened his arms to her and embraced her. Alice started to back out of the room to give them privacy, but Douglas stopped her.

  “I need to thank you. You saved my life.”

  “I wish I could have been faster. Then you wouldn’t have been shot at all.”

  “Well, I know one thing. Hank can have the adventure. I plan on sticking with my desk job.”

  “Will Hank be by later?” Alice asked, hating the eagerness in her voice, hating that she was asking at all. She should be stronger than this, right?

  Douglas shook his head. “He went back out last night. They were already provisioned, and he said it would be a waste to not finish the trip.”

  Her mind went immediately to rum row. Would he make that trip after all? But he had no buyer. Jiggy was arrested and Sal turned out to be the Feds. But surely there were plenty of people willing to buy illegal booze.

  “Will he…?” she started to say, and Douglas seemed to divine her meaning.

  “No. He says he’s through with that.”

  That was good, anyway. But her heart hurt. He’d gone out again without even a word to her. She thought that last night he had been glad to see her. He had certainly kissed her ardently enough, but maybe she’d read more into it than she should have.

  “He’ll be back in about ten days,” Douglas said. “And he wants to see you. I know he does.”

  She could only hope that was true.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The days at sea had never dragged like this before. Always he’d felt the time moved too quickly and he would do anything to prolong the time on the water. Now he wanted nothing but to finish filling the hold and get the boat, and himself, back to land.

  When they’d first gone back out to sea, after making sure Douglas was taken care of, he’d called his crew together.

  “I won’t be making any more runs out to rum row. If you guys want to crew for other guys who are still making the run, then you are free to do so.”

  “We’ll stay,” Smitty said, with a glance around to the other members of the crew. “Besides, no one has a buyer now that Jiggy’s been arrested.”

  “It’s because of the lady cop, isn’t it?” Slim asked, a wicked grin on his face.

  “No.” Hank stopped himself. Why deny it? “Yes, it is.”

  “You got it bad for her,” Mack said with a shake of his shaggy head.

  “She’s a damn good shot, though,” Smitty admitted.

  There was general consensus around the crew that this was true.

  “Not bad-looking, either,” Slim added.

  No, she wasn’t. In fact, as far as he was concerned, she was beautiful, but this was not something he wanted to discuss with his crew.

  “Okay, that’s enough of that. We’ve got work to do.”

  And now, several days later, all he could think about was getting back to her. He should have said something to her before leaving, but he couldn’t talk to her about his feelings in front of Salerno. That guy might not have wanted to arrest him, but he still thought it was better to proceed with caution with the Feds, and he still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was a pirate, despite evidence to the contrary.

  So he’d gone back out to sea without a word. Would she know from their stolen kisses that he wanted more from her? Did she want the same? Did she only fall into his arms because she was in a state of shock over shooting Jiggy? Would she have been as susceptible if the circumstances had been different?

  He looked out at the endless sea keeping him from Alice and sighed. He just wanted to be back with her. Was that too much to ask?

  Finally, the day came when Slim told him the holds were full.

  “We’ve got a little over eight tons. Let’s head in.”

  Hank was never so glad to head west.

  The sun was high overhead when he maneuvered the Mary B in to the dock at Martin’s fishery. The activity and noise were a welcome change from the silence of the sea with only the machinery on board ship to break the monotony. He hurried across the gangway to greet Jack Martin.

  “Got eight tons for you.”

  “Great job, son.” He took his hand in a hearty shake. “Saw your brother earlier. He’s getting around with a cane, and may be a bit gimpy for a while, but he’s taking it all in stride. That was some action you got involved in. Didn’t think scallop fishing was such a dangerous trade.” He cocked one eyebrow at Hank.

  “Life’s a funny thing, isn’t it?” He would admit nothing. That part of his life was behind him, but no point in giving people things to use against him.

  “It is indeed. Come inside and we’ll settle up.”

  Once the money was in his pocket, he helped his crew unload the scallops. The rhythm and familiarity of the action kept him from taking off running to find Alice. Work needed to be done first.

  Finally, the Mary B was in her home dock in Sewaren. He paid his crew and started running through the chores he needed to do on board before he could go look for Alice.

  “Go,” Smitty said to him. “I’ll take care of stuff here. You look like you’re going to ju
mp out of your skin. Go see the girl.” He slapped him on the back. “But maybe shower first.”

  Not a bad idea. He nearly ran down Cliff Road to his parents’ house. “Oh, Hank, you’re home!” Mother called from the sitting room. “I wasn’t expecting you for another day or so.”

  He put the brakes on in order to politely greet his mother. “We had a good run. How’s Doug?”

  “Doing fine. Spending all his time with that delightful young lady, Marty.” His mother gave him a speculative look.

  “I’m going to shower and see if I can have the same kind of luck with her sister.”

  His mother beamed. “By all means, don’t let me keep you!”

  He showered and shaved, splashed some Aqua Velva on his face, slicked back his hair with brilliantine. He put on a fresh pressed shirt and gray flannel pants. He could take her out to dinner. He could take her to Perth Amboy. Heck, he could really splurge and take her to New York City. But first he had to see her. And she had to want to see him.

  He fastened his gold cuff links and buffed his black shoes before putting them on.

  Downstairs, his mother looked him over approvingly.

  “You’ll knock her off her feet.” She gave him a peck on the cheek.

  “Think I could borrow Douglas’s car?”

  “Sure,” Douglas said, coming into the room, leaning on a cane. “I can’t drive it yet.” He patted him on the shoulder. “Good luck.”

  He hoped he wouldn’t need luck.

  The car, just to be contrary, didn’t start the first couple of times he cranked it, but finally he got the motor running, only to have to stop at the railway crossing as a train lumbered past. He rested his head on the steering wheel. This just wasn’t his day.

  He knew Alice often complained about being stuck in the office typing up reports, so as soon as the train cleared the crossing, he headed to the police station. He parked on Main Street and tried not to run into the building. He opened the door to see that the woman typing up reports was not Alice but Irene Nagy.

  She looked up and smiled when she saw him.

  “Hank! I am working woman now! I type up reports for police.”

  Where was Alice? He wanted to see Alice.

  “That’s wonderful, Irene. Good for you!” He couldn’t keep the question in any longer. “Where is Alice?”