Sails Job by Charles Dougherty

Author:Charles Dougherty [Dougherty, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-09-20T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

"I'm guessing they've gone to their meeting at that resort?" Noah Johnson's voice came from the speaker of Paul's iPhone, which was sitting on the saloon table. Diamantista II was anchored in Parham Sound, a few hundred meters from the resort where Paul had dropped the Lewises off a few minutes earlier.

"Yes," Paul said. "You got that from their emails?"

"I read them last night, and the time looked about right. Besides, I didn't think you'd have me on the speakerphone if they were on the boat with you."

"How did you know we weren't ashore?" Connie asked.

"I'm looking at your location from the GPS in your phone. You're about three quarters of a mile west of an island in Parham Sound. That's the island with the resort. I figured if you weren't on the boat, the phone would be too wet to work."

"That's creepy," Connie said.

"It's a fact of life. There's not much privacy if you want modern conveniences like cellphones. Have you picked up anything from them since we spoke last?"

"Nothing specific," Paul said, "but Connie had an interesting conversation with Kathy late yesterday."

"Tell me about it, Connie."

"It almost felt like a job interview," Connie said, and filled him in on their chat.

"Interesting," Johnson said, when she finished. "It sounds like she's grooming you."

"Grooming?" Connie asked.

"Gathering information and laying the groundwork to set you up for something," Paul said. "I hadn't thought about it that way, but you're right, Noah."

"What would she be setting me up for?"

"Maybe it was a job interview, of sorts," Johnson said. "They told you earlier the purpose of their trip was to scout locations for a conference to recruit or train some sales people, right?"

"Yes."

"The questions she asked you sounded like prescreening for a sales job."

"I didn't think of that at the time. She was pretty smooth," Connie said, "but I see what you mean."

"Do I detect an increased level of suspicion on your part, Noah?" Paul asked.

"Damn, you're good. What tipped you?"

"Context, and the tone of your voice. Anything you can share?"

"Maybe so. You two gave me the information that led to my heightened curiosity."

"When we talked from St. Martin, you mean?"

"Yes. Remember, Connie, what you said about her time in London?"

"You mean my thinking that she'd gotten her doctorate awfully quickly?"

"Exactly. Turns out you were right."

"I was right?"

"She wasn't there long enough to get a doctorate. In fact, as best we can tell, she wasn't there at all."

"Aha!" Connie said. "I knew something was off about her."

"Easy, Connie," Paul said. "She's not the first person to falsify academic credentials. That doesn't make her a criminal."

"No," Johnson said. "You're right, Paul. But when we discovered that her husband didn't go to Harvard either, it piqued my interest."

"I see," Paul said. "That would do it. So, who are they?"

"We don't know, yet. They just appeared in Florida about three years ago. We're still backtracking their identities, but it looks like they're manufactured."

"You mean, they could be anybody? Crooks, killers?" Connie said.

Paul scribbled, "Back off, 'Maria Constanza Velasquez,'” on his notepad and stuck it in front of her.

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