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.The door at the end of the bar opened and a gust of cold air blew in around Neville Pinder and two other Ocean Towing captains.Pinder was in the middle of a story.Despite the bar’s noise, his voice rose above the interior volume.“And then she said, ‘I’ve never seen anything that size in my fuckin’ life.’ ” The two guys in the matching green shirts roared their approval.“Gimme three Kaliks,” Pinder shouted over the tops of the heads of the folks at the bar.The bartender on that side jumped to bring him the three Bahamian beers, and all the heads that had turned to watch his entrance, returned to their former conversations.What’s wrong with this world, I asked myself as I sipped my beer.Everybody was looking for the deal, the scam, the few quick bucks.It was one thing to pretend you were eating at a restaurant in order to score free parking; it was something totally different to kill a man to preserve your cushy deal.And yet that was what Catalina insisted someone had done, and the only one making lots of money that I could see at this point was Neville Pinder.I watched him at the bar, where he had now brought several other patrons into his group and was regaling them all with stories told at a volume that was, like the rest of him, big and rude.“Hi, skipper, you’re watching my fellow islander.” Quentin had come up behind me and settled on the empty stool.I couldn’t figure out how I hadn’t seen him come in, and I noticed that he sure did get around well without a car.“Hey, Quentin.That guy’s got nothing in common with you.Can I buy you a beer?”“No beer, thank you.But I would like an orange juice.”“Sure,” I said, lifting my hand to signal to Pete.When he made it to our end of the bar, I introduced him to Quentin.“Pete, this is the guy who crewed for me coming up from Key West.He’s from down-island, Dominica.” The two men shook hands.“He’s a hell of a good crewman and he’s looking for work around here.Keep your ear to the ground for me, okay?”“Will do,” Pete said.He gave me a little mock salute, then poured Quentin his juice.I tapped my bottle to Quentin’s glass.“Here’s to us both finding work we love.”After he drank, Quentin said, “I saw you watching him.” He inclined his head toward Pinder.“Yeah, it seems to be the Neville Pinder Show.”“I was starting to tell you that story I heard from Brian this afternoon, about the boat accident that caused that meeting today.”“Oh yeah, what did he say?”“Brian works for Ocean Towing in Hillsboro and he got a call to go out and pull off a seventy-five-foot motor yacht that grounded just south of the harbor entrance.”“Sure, if people try to cut the corner going into Hillsboro from the south, they’ll be aground in a heartbeat.”“Yeah, that must be the place.Brian said the weather wasn’t bad and it was a soft bottom.He got a phone call on his cell from Ocean Towing.His towboat was already offshore on another job.He said it took about an hour to tow the boat off, but his boss filed it as a salvage operation.”“You’re kidding.”He shook his head, and his dreads swung around his face.“The owner paid the salvage claim, then filed with his insurance company.”“I’ll bet they went through the roof when they found it had just been a soft grounding with no damage.”“Apparently so.”“What’s the name of the boat?”“NautiBoy—it’s spelled—”“Yeah, I got it.I’ve seen that one a few times.Do you know where the boat is now?”“He said it’s docked at a small marina just inside Hillsboro.”“I think I might go over there tomorrow and talk to the captain.See if he noticed anything peculiar about his instruments like Nestor did.”“You have an idea about these groundings?”“An idea, yeah, but I don’t really know if it’s even scientifically possible.”“What are you thinking?”“I don’t know much about electronics, but the thing is, most of these boats that have gone aground have been relying on their GPS for navigation.It’s possible that there’s a certain unit that’s malfunctioning in all these boats.But I’m wondering about something else—if such a thing is possible.I’m thinking about how much money a salver could make if he could make a boat’s nav systems go haywire when he wanted them to.”“That is a very interesting question.”“Isn’t it?”“You have been very good to me.If there is anything more I can do for you, I would like to help.”“Just keep your ears open and let me know if you hear anything that doesn’t sound quite right.You’ve got an interview with Pinder tomorrow, right?”“Yes.”“Well, start there.I don’t mean for you to specifically ask any questions, just listen.And be careful.I’d especially like to know if there was any connection to Ocean Towing before these boats wrecked.If anyone from Ocean Towing went on board for any reason.”He smiled and raised his glass to me.“I can do that.”“I have one more favor to ask, too.”“What is that?”“I liked working with you, Quentin.Wednesday morning I’m supposed to tow a forty-three-foot sailboat for an out-of-state owner.Boat’s name is Wild Matilda.I’m just taking it upriver for the annual haul-out.My usual crew guy can’t make it.He’s taking a class.Do you think you could give me a hand?”“No problem.”I told him where and when to meet me.Quentin then finished off the last of his drink and said good night.Watching him head for the door, I caught Neville Pinder staring at me from the other side of the room.When our eyes met, he nodded at me, and then turned back to the thirty-something woman with eye-popping cleavage who had cozied up to him at the bar.She sat on a stool, her brown legs crossed and her elbows resting on the bar behind her.He leaned in and whispered something in her ear, and when she laughed, her whole torso bounced.Did he have it in him to kill? Being a jerk and a loudmouth doesn’t necessarily mean you have what it takes to bash a man’s skull in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]