Smugglers 4 - South Beach Heat by Gerald McCallum Read Free Book Online

boat, and then went back to Nikki’s office to have a couple of drinks, dinner and make love. After that, they went to sleep.
    It was around 10 the next morning, when Glenn went to the boat and installed the seats and other items, then returned to his apartment to change. He got back in the water and started waxing again. At the end of the day, after seeing several people, he dove to the bottom, and retrieved the dive bag. He brought it up to the center engine and tied it to the prop. He got out, sat on his dock box, and had a beer with Patrick from the fifty-footer.
    A lot of people saw and talked to him about waxing his boat. On Friday morning Glenn went to his boat and started the two outside engines and put the fishing poles in the bimini top. He guided his boat out to open water and when he got to the “Ditch,” he cut the loop around the center prop that held the dive bag which held the tapes, hard drive, muffler and guns. He watched it disappear into 6,000 feet of water. With that done, he took off for the open ocean. He stayed out about two hours then went in and parked.
    At the same time half way down the dock, Nikki was talking to Mark and her ex, Bill. A few minutes later she went down and joined Glenn and said that Mark and Bill told her that while he was out, the two cops had come to the dock looking for him and his boat. “Oh, something about me and Jim, I suppose,” he said nonchalantly as they went into Nikki’s apartment.
    Patrick called to see if they wanted to go to dinner and asked about the other boat that pulled in. They agreed to dinner, and Nikki told him the other boat pulled out this morning and would be back next week some time. Later that evening they went to dinner, drank, and danced until the wee hours.
    When Glenn got up around 9:30 the next morning the two cops were talking to Mercedes. The town cop was there, too. Glenn took a deep breath and his coffee and went down to see what they wanted.
    “You’re Glenn, and you were Jim’s best friend, right? How did he make a living? We checked his bank records and his house. He paid cash for the house fifteen years ago and had over two million in his checking and savings, not to mention other bank accounts and several deposit boxes,” the cop said.
    “I don’t know what he did. He always cried poor mouth around me. I thought his mother left him the house,” Glenn said.
    “How long have you been here, and where do you work?” the cop asked.
    “I’ve been here about four or five years and grew up here in the Keys. My mother and dad were killed in a car wreck on Seven Mile Bridge coming back from Key West one Sunday. My parents left me a hundred grand and the house. When they died I got eight hundred a month for life from the trucker’s insurance company that killed my folks. I can give you copies if you want,” Glenn replied.
    “When was the last time you were at Jim’s house or saw him?” he asked.
    “We went fishing a week or so ago. We used to fish a lot. Mostly shark, catch and release; you know, you two live here.” replied Glenn.
    “The last time you saw Jim was when you went fishing?” repeated the cop.
    “That’s it,” said Glenn.
    “Okay. We’ll get back to you if we need to,” and they left the dock.
    Glenn thought to himself, ‘I think I’m okay.’
    Nikki had been watching from inside. She came out on the dock and walked over to Glenn and Mercedes, greeting both of them.
    “Glenn, what did they want?” asked Nikki.
    “Just when was the last time I saw Jim, that’s all,” he said.
    Glenn found it funny that the three of them were standing on the dock making small talk. He wondered if Nikki knew that Mercedes was screwing Bill, how long that had been going on, and if that had started before Cynthia. He wondered if they had ever had a threesome or thought about it. He told them he had to check his boat and walked off. He had to get out of there or he would break out laughing. All that came out of just the