Fallen Pride (Jesse McDermitt Series) by Wayne Stinnett Read Free Book Online Page A

ago, we had as done as much on it as we could, while waiting for the generator and pumps to be delivered and I had helped him dig the holes for the piers and pour the concrete footings for their house.
    Since then, he’d built the raised floor, framed the walls, built the trusses, decked the roof and looked to be in the process of hanging the exterior siding. Opening the door Charlie proudly said, “Come on in.”
    We stepped inside and she flipped a switch next to the door and an overhead light came on. “The generator came in two days ago,” Trent said. “I poured a mounting pad on the east side of the pier among the banyan trees. It’s mounted about eight feet off the ground. Between here and the bunkhouses, I built a small shed among the gumbo limbos. That’s where the batteries are. The main house is still on solar and wind with its own batteries, but the bunkhouses, this house, and the pumps will run off of 30 deep cycle 12 volt marine batteries. The generator will come on automatically if the voltage drops below 11 volts, but you can’t hear it unless you’re real close to it.”
    “Damn, you have been busy,” Rusty said. “I didn’t see any wires, though.”
    “Everything’s underground, in two inch PVC conduit.”
    “You missed your true calling, Trent,” I said as I looked more closely at the details of the structure.
    “Thanks, Jesse. I really don’t know much about carpentry, though. I just looked at what you’d done on the bunkhouses and did about the same. Should have it livable in another week. So long as the storms hold off.”
    It wasn’t a big house. I guessed it to be about the size of the bunkhouses, maybe 30 feet square. The front faced the interior of the island and consisted of a single room, with plumbing for a small kitchen at one side. To the rear were two small bedrooms and plumbing for a head between them. I could see that he’d framed two large openings at the back of the bedrooms and walked toward the one on the left.
    “A deck?” I asked. “With French doors?” They looked out over a beautiful view of the only real beach on the island, with coconut palms on both sides and the sandbar just beyond it. The decking was already complete with full width steps down to the sand. There were four rustic looking, handmade rockers already there, two of them very small.
    “Yeah,” Charlie said. “The view at sunset is beautiful.”
    “Looks real homey,” Rusty said.
    “It certainly is,” she sighed.
    I looked at Trent and said, “I’m glad y’all like it here. Miss the open ocean much?”
    “Not a bit. Truth is I’d been thinking ‘bout getting off the blue for several years.”
    “How’s the aquaculture system coming?”
    “Just waiting on the pumps. I finished plumbing the tanks last week, just after you left. Pumps are supposed to arrive at the Rusty Anchor tomorrow. I’ll pick them up tomorrow evening, when we make a run into town for groceries.”
    “Looks like you have a handle on everything. We need to get back in the air if we’re going to make North Carolina by dark. Anything you need?”
    “Well, I wanted to finish the roofing, but there’s not enough corrugated tin left.”
    “Order what you need from Home Depot and tell them to deliver it to the Anchor. I already added you to my account there. While you’re there, Charlie can pick out fixtures and appliances for the head and galley.” Turning to Charlie I added, “And think big. Remember, there’ll be times when we’ll need to feed a lot of people here. The grill works for cooking some things, but a big oven for baking would be great. And don’t let him get chintzy on things. A nice big tub, water heater, the whole bit. The new water maker will be delivered here by barge in a week. After that, no more water rationing.”
    “A hot bath,” she said smiling and then kissed me on the cheek. “You sure know how to spoil a lady.”
    “We’ll be back tomorrow, but I’ll probably stay on Marathon