Assassins and Liars by Charles Dougherty

Author:Charles Dougherty [Dougherty, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-20T05:00:00+00:00

18

I was sipping a beer at the table in the main cabin, watching Mary Beth — oops! Mary Helen Maloney, she is now — working to commit her new life's history to memory. We were anchored in shallow water on the eastern edge of the coral heads a mile and a half west of the channel between Petit St. Vincent and Petite Martinique.

The water was flat, protected by the reefs and islands in the distance. There was a brisk breeze across the deck, and the nearest boats were over a mile away, anchored within a few hundred yards of Petite Martinique.

We were all alone out here, which was the reason I chose the spot. An unlighted speedboat came by a couple of hours after sunset last night to deliver the package we were expecting.

"Most yachts don't anchor so far out here," the man at the helm said, waving as he passed a few yards from us at idle speed.

"There are lobsters among the coral heads." I gave him a casual wave in return.

At that, he tossed a package onto Island Girl's side deck and went on his way, speeding up as he gained some distance.

"You recognized one another?" Mary asked.

"Prearranged challenge and response phrases," I said, stretching across the cockpit coaming to reach the package. I tore it open and took out the passport, handing it to her as I flipped through the rest of the contents.

"Mary Helen Maloney. Can't shake that Irish ancestry," she said. "Why did they use Mary again? I expected a completely different name."

"Mary's a common enough name. If a first name's at all unusual, it's best to change it. But that can cause trouble. With a name that's common enough not to attract attention, it's better to stay with it. Or something close."

"Why?" she asked.

"It's harder than you think to get accustomed to answering to a different name, especially if you change identities often. Somebody could trip you up by using your old name. Besides, I'm used to calling you Mary, so I won't stumble over using a new name."

"But you've been calling me Mary Beth."

"Yeah, but I called you Mary for almost as long before you told me to call you Mary Beth. Why’d you decide to do that if it was an assumed name to begin with?"

She shrugged. "I had a friend named Mary Beth once. I always liked the sound of it. And it gave you a kind of… I don't know… special name for me? Something nobody else ever called me. Silly, huh?"

I smiled. "Sweet. I'm flattered."

"Good. I meant for you to be. I've gotten attached to you, Finn." She returned the smile. "Are you going to call me Mary? Or Mary Helen?"

"Unless you've got a strong preference, I vote for Mary."

"I don't care, but why Mary, just out of curiosity?"

"It's less distinctive; like I said, the more common an alias is, the safer."

"You've had experience doing this," she said.

I handed her the other papers and the two credit cards that had been in the package.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.