Martin Billings Caribbean Crime Thrillers by Ed Teja

Author:Ed Teja [Teja, Ed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Float Street Publishing
Published: 2021-07-22T22:00:00+00:00

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The entire trip back to the marina I had to endure an irritating, self-satisfied smile that Rudy wore with great satisfaction, if not actual pleasure. I wasn't sure if it was the fact that George was gone and would plague him no more, or that he had been correct in saying the trip was for nothing.

Either way, it made for a long trip back to Puerto La Cruz.

Finally, he pulled the boat in alongside the fuel dock in the marina. When we tied up, I climbed out and paid him for his work.

Even though the size of my tip turned his smirk into a friendly (okay, friendlier) grin, it probably also reinforced his conviction of the stupidity of gringos. I didn't care about that as much as staying on his good side. I might need his help again sometime. He was a good boatman and knew the waters as well as Pierre had suggested.

When he left, I stood to watch him roar out past the expensive motor launches stored in the marina, indifferent to the way his wake reared up under them, rocking them violently in their rented slips.

I looked up at the nearly transparent blue sky, inhaled the salty air and decided to walk the short distance from the marina to the downtown offices of Mr. James Wong and the possibly late Mr. Clyde Walker, masters of import and export services.

I had plenty of time. James was having Consuela keep the office open during its normal hours. Until things were settled with Walker, she was forwarding everything to him—phone calls, faxes—all of it.

He would deal with whatever wheeling and dealing, schmoozing and wining and dining were needed to keep the business happening. Besides, with Walker more seriously in absentia, I would need a base of operations that was slightly better than my sleazy hotel.

James wasn't just keeping up pretenses, though. In his business, staffs were small and meetings erratic. He should be able to pull off the charade that things were normal. No one would notice anything at all funny going on for quite some time unless they insisted on talking to Walker directly. Even those people could be stalled by telling them he was on vacation or a business trip.

Most people would either settle for dealing directly with James or just go to a competitor. The good part was that with everything passing through his hands, he had a better chance of finding out where he stood, what problems he might have on the horizon.

The invigorating walk raised my spirits considerably. It was one of those gorgeous Venezuelan afternoons that make you wonder why everyone doesn't live here; of course, at the same time, you are glad they don't. It would destroy the ambiance.

Puerto La Cruz is seldom crowded, and that is one of its joys. Strolling down the sidewalks at a leisurely pace with the thermometer just teasing 75 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale is a delight.

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