thank you anyway.”
“Need them or not, you have to keep in touch with me, because if you go missing again for more than twenty-four hours I’m sending them in.”
“No worries, Uncle. I’ll stay in touch.”
“When do you expect to leave that place?”
“Today, soon. I’ll call you once I’m organized.”
“Any time. I’ll leave my mobile on.”
(41)
The charter offices all looked about the same, and all of them seemed to offer identical services. So Ava chose the largest one, figuring that had to increase her chances of getting a boat.
“I’m spending the next week of my holiday on St. Thomas, and I thought I’d like to get there by sea,” she said to the weather-beaten little man behind the counter.
“There are cruises you can join,” he said.
“I’d rather go alone.”
“More expensive.”
“I don’t mind.”
“You want a bareboat?”
“A what?”
“You going to sail it? Skipper it yourself?”
“Of course not.”
“So you need a crew?”
“I need someone to sail the boat.”
“One way?”
“Yes.”
“We’d have to charge a two-way fee.”
“That’s okay.”
“You care what kind of boat?”
“What do you mean?”
“You want a sailboat, a motorized boat?”
“I want to get there quickly.”
“A motorboat then.”
“If you say so,” Ava said.
“When do you want to leave?”
“Well, how long is the trip?”
“We’re only going about fifty kilometres, so around two hours.”
“Then I’d like to leave this morning.”
“You need to be more specific.”
“Ten o’clock?”
He opened a ledger that was on the counter. “Sure, but the only thing I’ve got available then is a Bavaria 35. It’s expensive.”
“How much?”
“Round trip, figure six hundred dollars plus a tip for the skipper.”
“Cash okay?”
“Cash works.”
“Perfect. I’ll be back here at ten.”
“I need a name.”
“Lee.”
“And contact information.”
She gave him her cellphone number.
“You’ll need your passport to land on the U.S. side.”
“Not a problem,” she said, reaching into her Chanel bag. “Here’s two hundred dollars as a deposit.”
The hour she had bargained with Robbins was almost up and she didn’t want to call him from outside the apartment. She hustled back, taking a minute near the front door to see if there were any occupied cars lingering nearby, any people idling about. The area seemed clear.
The hour wasn’t quite over when she settled into the kitchen. She used Robbins’s phone to make the call. The Captain answered on the second ring. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you are prompt,” he said.
“I’ve been back and forth with Hong Kong, and the money is being organized as we speak. They tell me they’re expediting it on an urgent basis.”
“What does ‘urgent’ mean?”
“They’re saying it should be in your account by five o’clock this evening. Not in transit, mind you, but physically in your Cayman Islands account. But Captain, you can’t hold me to that; I’m just repeating what I was told. I can tell you, though, that I stressed and re-stressed the importance of its actually happening.”
“All very businesslike.”
“I insisted on having a timeline. I didn’t want to have to give you generalities.”
“I think, Ms. Lee, we are back on common ground.”
“I certainly hope so.”
She waited for him to ask for a copy of the new wire, her reply ready. Instead he moved on. “How is my brother?”
Ava looked at the large, still body lying prone on the floor. He hadn’t moved since she’d cuffed him. “Resting.”
“Will he need medical care?”
“Perhaps, but not until the money is in your account and you’ve given me the green light to leave Road Town.”
“You have things in proper order, I’m glad to hear.”
So much for Jack Robbins, Ava thought again. “I still need to make some plans,” she said. “The flights out of here seem quite busy. There’s one leaving for San Juan tonight at nine o’clock with some seats available. If you don’t mind, on a contingency basis I’d like to reserve a seat on it.”
“I don’t see any harm in that. What’s the flight number?”
“American Airlines 4866, departing at eight fifty-five.”
“Fine.”
“And I’d appreciate it if you could let Mr. Thomas know that those are my plans and arrange for him to have my passport dropped off later today at the apartment.”
“Once the money is in my account, I’ll talk to Thomas.”
“I understand.”
“And you should probably assume you’ll have to pick up your passport at the airport. He isn’t a courier service, you know.”
“No problem.”
“Well, this has been a much better conversation, I must say.”
“For me too.”
“So now you have the rest of the day to kill. Do you have any plans?”
“I have to get out of this apartment for a while. I find that looking at your brother and Seto for hours on end is more than I can handle. I’ll go for a walk, get some lunch. I’ll keep your brother’s phone with me in case you want to contact me.”
“Don’t stray too far.”
“Have no worries,” Ava said.
