Deadly Dunes by E. Michael Helms

Author:E. Michael Helms
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: florida
Publisher: Epicenter Press

Chapter 11

Bonnie Youngblood was waiting on a bench near the southeast corner of McKenzie Park, a large square of land shaded by sprawling live oaks a block off Harrison Avenue, near its termination at the city marina. It was only a short walk to Panama Joe’s. I’d almost balked when she suggested we meet there Monday morning at nine. Considering what happened to my previous client, I found the park a little too close for comfort.

To make matters worse, as I approached I noticed she was drinking a cup of coffee with Panama Joe’s logo printed on it. If she was eating one of their croissants, I was going to turn around and get the hell out of there.

“Mac?” she said when I was within earshot. We had dispensed with formalities during yesterday’s phone call.

I offered a hand. Her grip was firm. “Nice to meet you, Bonnie.” She wore jeans and a desert camouflage T-shirt with Army Strong! printed in gold and black across the front. I pointed at the opposite end of the large wood and concrete bench. “Mind if I sit?”

Bonnie was late twenties, early thirties, with natural dark-blonde hair cut along the jaw line. Her toned body indicated regular exercise. You could call her attractive except for the dark circles under her eyes and an overall drawn and tired expression weighing on her face. I also noticed a faint bruise under her left eye that makeup had failed to conceal.

She didn’t waste any time getting down to business. “My husband’s cheating on me again.”

“Again?”

She nodded and sipped her coffee. “I met Ray at Fort Jackson, in South Carolina. I was a mechanic with the 187th Ordnance Battalion. Ray was a drill sergeant. I’d recently returned from Iraq and been welcomed home with divorce papers from my first husband. I suppose as a civilian my ex got tired of being both Dad and Mom to our son while Mommy was away playing soldier.”

“That’s tough. I can relate. The same thing happened to me during my last deployment with the Marines. At least our kids were about ready to leave the nest at the time.”

I was trying to connect with the client like the book says all good PIs should do, but Bonnie acted like she hadn’t heard me. She set the cup on the bench and fumbled in her purse for a pack of Marlboros. Her hands shook a little as she thumbed the lighter and lit up. She took a puff, turned her head and exhaled. “About a week after reporting in, I spent an evening drowning my sorrows at the NCO club. This hunk walked in and sat next to me at the bar. He started talking me up and buying me drinks. I wound up spending the night with him at his apartment off base.”

She must’ve read my face. “Yeah, I know, not the wisest move I ever made.”

“I’m not being judgmental, but were you married at the time?”

She frowned and her eyes narrowed. “No. My ex and I both grew up here.

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