'How are the feet?'
'They're healing. I'm glad you could make it.'
'Mr. Skinner's invitation was simply too tempting to turn down.' Her expression was held to the soft hint of a smile, set and faintly suggested like a mischievous siren.
We ate the seafood, washing it down with cool, red wine drunk from thick water glasses. Served in clay pitchers, the wine was sent to Bobby in the barrel by a French winemaker who owned a house on Man-O-War Cay. The cask was called a barrique, and held about fifty-seven gallons. The wine was velvet on the tongue and went well with the food. A good wine to drink during the day, it warmed us, but didn't make us drunk.
Before I knew it, it was time to go to the airport. Taking Kathy over to a corner, I said, 'Look, I realize this is sudden, that we don't know each other well, but I'd like you to come back to Mississippi with us, now, on the airplane. You can finish your vacation on the Gulf of Mexico. I have access to a sailboat, we could sail to the out islands, be alone, and get to know one another.'
'I don't know, this is so unexpected.' The sparkle danced in her bottomless eyes. 'I'd have to go to B.J.'s and pack…I don't know.'
'Skinner will run you down. You can be back in an hour. I'll hold the plane.'
She looked deep into my eyes. 'I don't promise anything, you understand?'
'Sure.'
Karl Strange and his son, Will, volunteered to drive us to the airport. We said our good-byes to Bobby, thanking him for the lunch. Skinner agreed to see that Kathy got to the airport.
We arrived at the small terminal building just as Glossman's plane was landing. Windom was flying. After our greetings and introductions, I asked him if he'd mind stopping through Nassau on the way back. There was some important business that needed taking care of; the room was still rented at the Paradise Island Hotel, Glossman's ten thousand in cash, minus a few hundred, was in the hotel safe, and Gus' car needed to be returned. He said that some changes would have to be made to the flight plan, but it wasn't a problem.
Telling Windom that there would be a slight delay waiting for a third passenger, he frowned, and looked at me. 'Well, I hope it's for a pretty lady.'
Skinner drove up in a taxi a short while later with Kathy. He brought her bags over to the airplane. Windom looked at me and shook his head.
Young Will came up to where Dave and I were standing. 'Mr. Dave, Cop'um Jay. I just want to say there ain't no way to repay you for what you did. I see the light, now. I want to thank you. If you ever down here and need anything, you let me know.'
Dave put an arm around him. 'Forget it, Will. We've all got to learn, and you've had a hell of a lesson. We know you won't let your Pa down. We'll see you on our next trip across.'
The boy had tears in his eyes. I shook his hand, but didn't say anything. It was Dave's show, not mine.
The flight over to Nassau was short. Kathy and I took a cab out to the hotel while everyone else waited at the airport. On the way, we stopped by the market place and Kathy bought two hand-carved teak statues that she said reminded her of us.
At the hotel, I picked up the money, paid for the room, and retrieved Gus' car. Pulling up at the marina, I found Gus a little more than irate. After belittling me for a good sixty seconds, he noticed Kathy standing nearby with a bemused expression.
'Gus, this is Kathy.'
'Ah, hell, lassie, don't pay no attention to an old son of a sea dog like me. I been fussing at this young tar going on twenty years. I was simply worried about him.'
Kathy leaned over and gave him a kiss. He dropped his cigar.
'Come on, Gus, we need a ride to the airport.'
I asked Windom to fly back over Abaco Island. I wanted Kathy to see the whole chain from altitude. During the climb we turned north, passing over Paradise Island and the hotel where Howard Hughes secluded himself for several years in a codeine-induced haze, never seeing the intense beauty around him. Approaching the south end of Abaco the sky was absolutely clear and tinted a light blue so delicate you knew that if one threw a baseball far enough and hard enough it would shatter the sky into tiny hot shards. The combination of colors in the shallow waters around the cays, the blue and purple of the Atlantic Ocean with its sparkling field of diamond-topped waves was breathtaking.
'Jesus,' Kathy murmured softly. It was all she said. It was enough.
Turning back to the west, we were high enough to see all the way north, past Green Turtle Cay, to Walker's Cay, then we could see Grand Bahama Island with the towns of Freeport and West End. Abeam Freeport, the Florida coast was visible.
Over the cabin speaker Windom announced we were currently passing through thirty-five thousand feet enroute to our cruising altitude of forty-one thousand and that our estimated time of arrival at Jackson International Airport was one hour, forty-two minutes and thirty-three seconds. Then he asked that I come up to the cockpit.
The aircraft was one of the new Falcon Fifties which have three engines. It was an airplane I was unfamiliar with and equipped with the latest state of the art flight guidance and controls, much more automated than the aircraft I'd flown on preciously. Windom got up out of the left seat and offered it to me. 'B.W. will give you the fifty cent tour. I'm going back and flirt with that pretty lady.'
We were at cruising altitude crossing the Florida coastline. To the south we could see the keys, all the way to Key West, lying in the blue water like pearls dropped by a child. Having worked a lot out of this area of the world, it brought back memories of flying that I sometimes missed so desperately that it hurt, and others I hope never to experience again. Thanking B.W. for his patience and answers to my many questions, I went back to the cabin.
Landing at the precise time predicted, we all applauded the crew. Taxing around to the Fixed Base Operation, we parked next to the terminal and remained aboard until the Customs agent arrived. It was after hours and we must have interrupted his dinner as he gave us all a hard time. Drugs are transported into the U.S. aboard aircraft, but on board a thirty million dollar corporate jet belonging to one of the most prominent men in the state? Customs is a hard job, I guess.
We retrieved Dave's car and drove to my house. I put Kathy's bags in the guest bedroom, and took a quick shower. Then we went to Dave's home. He'd called Sally from the plane and she had the steaks grilling when we arrived. It was a relaxing evening.
After dinner, Dave offered me a cigar and we walked out back and sat beside the kidney-shaped swimming pool and watched the automatic cleaner sweep along the bottom like some giant worm. Kathy and Sally were finishing up in the kitchen and would join us later.
'It's a terrible thing, what happened on Sanchez's boat.'
'Let's not speak of it again.'
'Agreed.'
'I guess you are wondering what I did with the last ten kilos of cocaine?'
'I'm glad they weren't on board the Falcon when we went through customs.'
'I took it over to Doc's place. He mixed it with cow manure and fertilized his tomatoes. Ironic isn't it?'
'I'd like to see how the tomatoes turn out.'
Dave reached in his jacket pocket, pulled out an envelope, and handed it to me.
'What's this?'
'Fifty thousand in cash. I found a hundred thousand under the cabin sole on board the Sun Dog when I was opening the sea cocks.'
'It's dirty money. I can't take this.'
'It's payment for services rendered to Billingsly Investigations. I'll even write you a receipt if you want to share it with Uncle Sam.'
It was no use arguing.
'Something else on your mind?'
'You read Max Renoir's Will. What was the story on Rene?'
A thick forearm and a wide, knotty hand reached up and slicked back wavy, graying hair, muscles rippled in the hinges of his jaw, his eyes danced all around me. 'I don't remember a thing about that part of the Will.'
