Deadly Traffic: A Florida Thriller (Will Harper Mystery Series Book 5) by David Crosby

Author:David Crosby [Crosby, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crosby Stills
Published: 2020-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Early the next morning, I cranked the engines on the WanderLust, the low rumble of the twin diesels disturbing the quiet of the dock. A group of seagulls who’d been scavenging by the fish-cleaning station took to the air at the noise.

“Cast off the lines, would you, Rick?”

“Aye aye, Captain.” Rick grinned as he said it, happy to take to the water.

He stowed the lines and climbed to the flybridge as the big boat cleared the dock and made a turn towards the channel.

I said, “It feels good to head out on the water again. I spend too much time at the dock.”

Rick chuckled. “Can’t argue with you there. The first year you were at the marina I was starting to wonder if this thing even had engines.”

“What can I say, I got caught up with helping Sandy with her marina problems.”

“That’s one way to put it. More like you got caught up with Sandy, period.”

“Hey, now, I helped her before we ever got romantically involved.”

“Calm down, Will, I’m just ragging on you a little. You’re too touchy about your reputation as a lady’s man.”

I was about to snap at him that, “I’m not touchy,” when I realized how stupid that sounded. I laughed instead. “Okay, I suppose I am a little sensitive about the label. It’s not like I go around looking for women to get myself in trouble with.”

“That’s part of the problem, Will. Both women and trouble seem to find you all on their own.”

“Too true. At least right now, while I can avoid the trouble part, since I’m out of the dating pool. A little solitude sounds pretty appealing.”

Rick said, “I know what you mean. When my first wife took off, I couldn’t decide whether to cry or celebrate.”

Rick didn’t talk much about his personal life, and I was surprised by his revelation.

“Did you ever remarry?”

“Yep. Four more times.” He grinned as he said it.

I was shocked. “You’ve been married five times?”

“What can I say, I’m a slow learner. Kind of like someone else on this boat.”

“Hey, I’ve only been married once.”

“Yeah, they don’t stay around long enough for you to marry them.”

Ouch. “I’m not interested in getting married again, Rick.”

“Neither was I. Not one of those five wives did I meet with a plan to get married. They had other ideas.”

“Well, it’s off the table for me. Like I said, no entanglements.” I desperately wanted to change the subject. “How long do you think it will take us to get to Fort Myers?”

“It’s about seventy-five nautical miles, but the ICW has more No Wake Zones than it has manatees. Depending on the traffic we should make it by mid-afternoon.”

“That’s not too bad. At least we can get docked and checked in at the marina well before dark.”

“No problem there. We’ll be at the bar by five.”

We made the turn from the Manatee River towards the ICW in the Anna Maria Sound. It was a fine day to be out on the water.

“Thanks for making the trip with me, Rick.

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.