Crystal Blue (Buck Reilly Adventure Series Book 3) by John Cunningham (novels for beginners txt) 📕

“But—”

Click.

Damn!

The taxi circled around the block and fell in behind a few other trucks, then stopped. I leapt from the back, handed the man a ten, and kept going. I checked my watch. It was nearly 6:00 p.m., I still had some things to do here, and now I needed to be at Frenchman’s Reef by 8:00.

On the dock, I watched the ferry get smaller as it motored out of the harbor—I’d just missed it. The schedule on the wall showed one more crossing to St. Thomas tonight: 7:30.

No way I could make it to the hotel by 8:00.

Damn.

I jumped from the pier to the sand. At the far end of the beach was the Beach Bar from which Diego’s goons had so rudely extracted me. But in the middle of the beach was American Watersports, and the crowded harbor made me guess all their boats had returned from their charters for the night. I pulled off my boat shoes and hurried over the sand toward the path next to their sign. I started down the alley—

“We’re closed,” a voice shouted from above me.

I glanced back and noticed a man drinking from a bottle of Carib beer, making eye contact with me from the adjacent patio bar.

“You the manager?”

He shook his head and let out a loud burp. “Owner. Want to rent a boat for tomorrow?”

I walked back out to the beach and found stairs that led into the bar. The owner was a guy about my age with a deepwater tan, shoulder-length dirty-blond hair, and a beer gut that told me this was a nightly routine if not an all-day one. I held out my hand.

“Buck Reilly. I’m with the Adoption AID people who chartered—”

“Hell, I been wondering if anyone else was gonna show up.” He smiled. “We been holding the Powerplay for you, along with the Cigarette.” He squinted at me. “The hell happened to your jaw there, Buck? Got a nice purple bruise—”

“Tripped on a lizard.” I rubbed my palm down my tender jawbone.

Out in the harbor was a black cigarette speedboat with twin in-board engines on the back. Not very subtle, but it was certainly fast and would connect with a certain crowd.

“Things have been a little messed up,” I said.

“No shit. Heard about that actor—and what about Thedford? He turn up yet?”

“No, he hasn’t. Are you Billy?”

“The one and only,” he said.

So far, so good. “Thedford came by here, right?”

“Stopped in the other night after he got here, before the party down the beach. Told me we’d be heading over to check arrangements on Tortola and Peter Island the next day—that’d be yesterday—and then a few other places today. Then he disappeared.”

It felt like a hamster wheel was turning in my stomach. This was only the second person I’d met that had seen John Thedford here on St. John—not counting Diego Francis, but the jury was still out on him.

“Was anyone with him, or was there anything strange you saw that might—”

“Nah, man, wish there was. Already told the cops, but he came in alone, maybe had a little buzz, jolly as hell. Nice guy and boy was he excited. Who could blame him? All these big shots coming here for his show. Hell, I was pretty fired up too.”

“So he didn’t tell you anything—”

“No, sorry—Buck, right? He split for the Westin but came back later to the party at the Beach Bar, which was the last time—” He set the empty beer on the bar. I noticed the bartender raise her eyebrow. Cute blond.

“Two Caribs, please?” I turned back to Billy. “You were saying, last time what?”

“Last time anyone saw him, except for me.”

I waited. It wasn’t easy, but Billy was not a man to be rushed.

“Pretty sure I saw him get on board a red Cigarette, right out here on the beach.”

“Pretty sure?”

“Well, I’d been here a few hours, but yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what I saw.”

I flashed back to Officer Deaver of the Park Police. He hadn’t mentioned it was a red boat.

“You called the cops?”

“Nah, they were going door to door asking if anyone had seen him.” He smiled at the waitress. “Right, Sunny?”

She gave him a quick smile, which caused Manny to chuckle. He didn’t notice her roll her eyes when she turned away.

“So they found you here and you told them he left on a red boat?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t entirely sure. It had been a long day and all.”

“You never said if he was with anyone,” I said.

“Well, there was at least one other person in the boat…”

“A woman?”

He shrugged. “Someone behind the wheel, that’s all I recall.”

I checked my watch. 6:45. Shit!

“You gotta be somewhere?”

The bartender put the two beers down and smiled at me. She had the beginnings of dreadlocks and wore a snug Red Sox tank top. I gave her a twenty.

“As a matter of fact, I need to get to Frenchman’s Reef within the hour.” The next part was dicey, since Billy was half in the bag. “Can you run me over in that Cigarette?”

Billy laughed and lit a Marlboro Light.

“You don’t want me running a boat right now.” He smiled. “But I can see if Jeremy’s around, he’s the one was gonna captain for Thedford.”

After a draw on the cigarette and a deep pull on the beer, Billy un-holstered his cell phone and turned towards the water, and then after a couple minutes turned back to me with a smile on his face, the phone still pressed to his ear.

“Good. Get here quick.” He winked at me.

I checked my watch. 6:50.

“Jeremy’s on his way—”

“I’m right here,” came a voice from behind me.

I turned to see a tall guy in his mid-twenties with a to-go cup in his hand and a smile on his face.

“I was next door at the Mojito,” he said.

What a life these boys have…

“The boat’s paid for,” Billy said, “so take the man where he wants to go.”

“Buck Reilly,” I said. “Frenchman’s Reef, St.