Smugglers 1: Nikki (12 page)

The phone rang; it was Brett. “Nikki, how about going out to dinner tonight?”

“That would be nice, but I’d better not leave my houseboat tonight. You can come down for a drink if you want.”

“Just give me fifteen minutes to shower and change.”

“Oh, Brett, do you have a gun? I need to have one in the house just in case,” Nikki said.

“I have a big clip 9 mm. I’ll bring it when I come down.”

By the time Nikki showered and changed, Brett arrived with the 9 mm and gave it to Nikki.

“I’ll buy one tomorrow,” she said. “What happened to Brian and the people from the Sea Cactus?”

“Well, Brian is with Cynthia, and Jerry and Loretta are staying in. I guess I’ll stay here if you invite me,” replied Brett.

“Consider yourself invited. What about a drink and some dinner?”

“I’d like both,” he responded.

Nikki and Brett spent the night at her apartment. After he showed her how to work the gun, they had a few drinks and dinner, then went to bed and made love for hours, then awoke when the morning light came through the windows.

The night had been uneventful as far as the house boat and leaks went. The crawl space was drying up nicely. In two or three days it would be completely dry, that is, if James didn’t put more holes in the hull. Nikki went back to bed for a romp with Brett for twenty minutes or so then got up and made coffee. She looked out on the dock where all was quiet, so she enjoyed her coffee with Brett at the table.

She lit a cigarette, and Brett just looked at her and said, “you know I can taste that cigarette.”

“That ain’t all you taste,” she said. They both laughed.

“I plan on quitting in a month or two. How about you? Are you going to quit, too?” Nikki said jokingly.

They laughed again, and Brett kissed her as she started to make breakfast for them both. When they finished their meal, Nikki stepped outside, waving to Brett as he left for his Cat.

He walked past James but had no exchange with him. Brian was still not on the Cat.

Nikki saw Mark sitting with Don on the back of the fifty-seven footer and joined them. She asked if they’d both to do her a favor — if they heard that Crazy James was getting packed up or was in town getting provisions for leaving, would they let her know. Both agreed.

It was Sunday so everyone was relaxing and drinking. They were all out in the sun. The music was on, the sky was cloudless, and the water was blue.

The canal was full of boats coming and going. Brett had a twelve-foot inflatable with a forty-horse power short-shaft two-stroke. It was really fast. In fact, it was too fast. He convinced Nikki to get some lotion and get in.

He had a cooler full of beer, and they took off for the Sand Bar at Holiday Isle. When they arrived, they found at least four thousand boats had the same idea; eighty percent of them were on the north side and most of the people were drunk.

About thirty percent of the women had their tops down around their waists in case the cops showed up. The cops patrolled the canal like lions looking for gazelles in Africa.

Brett pulled into the mix and shut off the motor to drift in the middle. He anchored the boat and jumped into the knee-deep water, and so did Nikki.

They walked barefoot in the water from one end to the other. Music blared from boats and every twenty feet or so, Nikki greeted people she knew. She and Brett stopped to talk and had more beers.

They got back in the boat, pushed out and Brett started the motor. They went into Holiday Isle to the shops and a bar or two. It was spring break and all the places were crowded. Nikki told Brett that one time, she and Bill made the mistake of taking a room right over the Big Bar during a spring break. The music had been too loud and the college boys were high on testosterone and God knew what else.

She and Brett went on to see Big Dick and the Extenders at Lorelei’s Bar and Grill. Big Dick was the biggest man anybody had ever seen. He had been playing Chicago Blues at Lorelei’s every Sunday for years. They stayed until about 10:00 at night, then put the lights on the inflatable, and left for the marina.

When they got back and tied up at the Cat, Brian was with Cynthia again, and Jerry and Loretta were down in their boat. Nikki stayed on the Cat and went to Brett’s room. It was much roomier than she’d imagined, but Brett’s bedroom was small for a two bedroom fifty-footer. Brett opened a bottle of white wine and filled two glasses. They were ripe for lovemaking and made the most of the night.

Nikki woke up and went home at around six in the morning. On the way, she saw James sitting on the back of his Sea Ray in the dark and in the nude, smoking a cigarette. Neither of them said anything. They just stared at each other as she passed.

When she got home, she looked in the hatch at the hull. All was dry, so James hadn’t done anything while she was gone over night. She went to bed to get a couple of hours of sleep before Monday morning came.

She got up around 10:00, put coffee on, showered, and then dressed in her shorts and top, ready for another week of work. She saw Don and Mark on the back of Don’s boat talking about the dock. One of the couples from New York came in late Sunday night and were on their boat. The other couple was coming in tonight. They always traveled together on vacation for a week or two.

Nikki did not see James. He would probably sleep until one or two o’clock. She surveyed the dock and boats. Everything seemed to be okay, so she went back to her office to catch up on the mail and books. The phone rang; it was someone in inquiring about the ad she had run for an apartment for rent. All of the rentals were full, so she took the name and number for later.

Nikki decided it was time she thought about a place to hide the money when she retrieved it from the Sea Ray. She looked around and decided to go across the street to the Bird Sanctuary where she would dig a hole to bury the bags until it would be safe to move them again. She took a shovel and made sure that no one saw her go across the street and back into the woods.

She started to dig but had to move because of all the roots. She found another spot and started to dig, but the hole filled with water about six inches down. She moved again and the same thing happened. She moved again and again but the holes always filled with water. The water table must be still saturated from the hurricane.

She threw the shovel down and walked out into the parking lot. Then it came to her. Glenn’s old car was still there. It was his work car, as he called it, and she had the keys. She went to the office to get them and then went to the car where she opened the trunk. Except for a spare tire and a pair of jumper cables, it was empty. “Okay,” she said to herself, “this is it.” She closed the trunk and went back to her office.

The radio came to life with “Harbor Marina. Come back.”

A forty foot Regal Commodore, ‘My Way,’ was on its way in for two slips; one for them, and one for their friends on the ‘No No II,’ a forty-seven foot Bayliner.

Nikki got Mark, and the boats came in one behind the other but had to take slips on opposite sides of the dock and down from each other. Nikki and Mark tied down the boats, and then let the Captains take over.

Nikki went down the dock to talk to the new people who rented Dave’s old apartment, but they were on their way to work, so she headed over to the two new boats to give them the slip leases. James was on the back of his boat and at first just glared at Nikki, then he gave her the finger. She walked over to the Sea Ray and glared at him.

“Do you want me to call the Chief back? Because if you want to be swarmed by four cops and put in jail after they beat the shit out of you, just keep it up, asshole. Why don’t you just be quiet and live out your time in your slip, jack-off!”

She didn’t wait to see James reaction but continued down the dock to the new boats. She handed them their cards. “When you get done filling out these cards give them back to me with a check for fifty dollars each, per day. If you haven’t decided yet how long you’ll be staying,  just take the number of days you think it will be here times fifty dollars.”

When Nikki turned around she saw James from the Sea Ray coming toward her. Mark saw this, too, so he headed toward Nikki in case there was any trouble. James held up a small tape recorder and pushed the play button. Her voice was on the tape and after playing back Nikki’s statement about the Chief, James said, “This is extortion and my attorney will love this!”

“Recording someone’s conversation in Florida without their knowledge or a wiretap is a felony. So I think you’re attorney will laugh at you, you shithead! Nice try,” Nikki stated.

“Why don’t you just get out of here?” Mark asked James.

James’ face darkened with anger and this time he centered on Mark. “Do you really want to get involved in this? Cause I’ll punch your ticket in right now!”

Mark and James were inches apart. James put his hand on his dive knife, and Mark put his hand on his push blade palm knife in his belt.

Just then Brett and Brian walked up. “Is there some kind of trouble here?” they asked.

“No, the drama is over, right, James?” stated Mark.

“This ain’t over yet,” James replied, but he started to walk off. “And you could have some of this, too,” he warned Brett.

“If it involves Nikki, I’ll be involved from the get-go,” Brett retorted to James’ retreating back.

“You okay?” Mark asked Nikki.

“Yeah,” she replied.

“You better watch yourself, Nikki,” Brett warned. “As long as that jerk is here, don’t leave your houseboat unattended.”

“I’m heading back to work,” Mark told Nikki, “but if you need me, you know where to find me.”

Brett and Brian asked Nikki to come on the Cat for a drink. She passed and said she would see them later; she went to her office where she decided to put her plan into motion before James pulled out. Since it was daylight, and she thought better while driving, she went for a drive.

She ended up in town, where she drove slowly, thinking carefully about her next step. She slowed for a stop sign and caught sight of a palm reader’s office; she had passed by many times before over the years, but never stopped. The sign said “Readings Starting at  Ten Dollars.” She pulled into the tiny gravel parking lot.

The palm reader was a woman in her mid-forties, a bit on the fat side and dressed like a Gypsy. It turned out readings were ten to fifty dollars. Nikki took a twenty dollar reading which was a full deck reading, one card reading, and a crystal ball reading.

Nikki gave the woman the twenty and sat across the table from her. The Gypsy took Nikki’s hands into hers.

“You are in business for yourself,” she said. “The business is full of strife right now.”

Then the Gypsy got out the Tarot cards and Nikki cut the deck. The reader laid them face up on the table and repeated the fact that Nikki was in trouble. “You are in great danger. You must watch yourself,” she said.

Finished with the cards, she pulled the crystal ball to the center of the table. She stared into it for a long while, then looked up at Nikki.

“Someone wishes you harm. Someone close to you, physically. This person will have their wish if you are not on guard at all times.” She folded her hands in front of her. “You may ask one question. What will it be?”

Nikki thought for a long moment. “Will I get to keep what I’ve found?”

The Gypsy’s dark eyes glittered. “You already have!” She slapped her hands on the table, startling Nikki. “Your time is up!” Nikki pushed to her feet, thanked the gypsy and left.

Alone in her car, she lit a cigarette. “What a rip off,’ she said out loud and drove back to the dock.

At least the drive had cleared her mind so she could think of a plan to get the bags off James’ boat. When she got back to the dock, everyone was on the back of the Cat. Nikki asked Brett if he would spend the night at her place, as she didn’t want to be alone on the houseboat.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Brett said, laughing. After a drink they walked to Nikki’s apartment, where Nikki made a second drink for Brett and took out some burgers for dinner.

Brett opened the hatch; the hold was totally dry. Brett asked Nikki where the gun was that he had given her. He would feel better if he knew where it was, and on second thought he would like it by him just in case. They had dinner, watched some TV, and went to bed. Nothing happened that night. All was quiet as far as James went. Brett looked down the hatch one last time before he left.

Nikki went out on the dock. She ran into Tina and Randy from the Gulfstar and asked, “How are you guys getting along? Have you met most of the people on the dock?”

“Yes. We have been having rum drinks with most of them,” they replied.

They continued, “There is something we should tell you. Last night we were all on the dock partying when James from the forty-five foot Sea Ray came down to us real drunk and talked to us for thirty or forty minutes about what a bad person you are. He was drunk and eating a sandwich, but the worst part was, every time he went to take a bite of his sandwich, snot would fall out of his nose onto the bread and then he would take a bite. First the women left because they couldn’t stand it any longer, and then before the men got sick, they left, too. You should have seen that drunk walk to his boat. He was all over the dock. In fact he’s lucky he didn’t fall off the dock on one side or the other.”