Page 78 of Troubles in Paradise
The boat is in good condition and the seller is motivated; he’s leaving the Virgin Islands altogether at the beginning of June. Huck advises Irene to make an offer of forty thousand.
“I don’t have forty to spend,” she says.
“How about we split it?” Huck says. “Add it to the fleet. It needs work, which I can do myself. And then once you get your captain’s license, we can run two boats, theMississippiand theAngler Cupcake.God knows we have enough business.”
Morethan enough, Irene thinks, with a growing number of women-only charters. All it took was a few complimentary trips. The first of these was for Baker’s school-mom friends Swan, Bonny, and Paula. The three of them took pictures with the fish they caught and posted them on Facebook and Instagram. Next, Huck and Irene invited Joanie’s mom, Julie Judge, and her three sisters out on the boat, andtheyall posted pictures. And finally, they had a paying charter for a young woman named Gretchen Gingerman who came with her mother. It turned out that Gretchen had met Cash on her previous visit to St. John, a trip that had gone badly, and it was only because of Cash that Gretchen gave the island another try, with a different travel partner.
Gretchen’s post brought in a flurry of business, including a bachelorette party. Six beautiful young women, five in matching pink T-shirts and one in a white T-shirt and a short white veil, all in great spirits thanks to a thermos filled with cosmo punch and a playlist of Lizzo and Billie Eilish. They caught a couple of small wahoo, which elicited high-pitched shrieks, and they took fifty million pictures, including one with Irene. All of the girls loved Irene, she was “such a beast,” and when they were older they were going to do something “sick” like move to the Virgin Islands to work on a fishing boat.
The bachelorette party tipped extremely well but when the women got off the boat, Huck turned to Irene and said, “I can’t wait for you to get your captain’s license so I never have to do that again.”
It all sounds rosy on the Huck-and-Irene front—until the story that united them rears its ugly head. Todd Croft is brought up on four charges of first-degree murder thanks to the evidence that Marilyn Monroe presented. (In addition to the three murders we all suspected he was behind, we learned Todd had also killed Oscar Cobb.Sure enough, once Marilyn Monroe had voiced her suspicions, traces of Oscar’s blood were found all over the stern ofBluebeard.) SomehowTodd’s lawyer cuts a deal. Todd pleads guilty to one charge of second-degree murderand three charges of manslaughter and pays fines of nearly four hundred million dollars. He’s sentenced to twenty-two years in federal prison. With good behavior, he could be out in eighteen.
Both Huck and Irene are aghast. Four lives violently snatched away, and the guy gets only twenty-two years? It’s the money, Irene thinks. The territory wanted Todd’s money. Either that or he agreed to talk to the Feds about some of his clients—which may end up getting him killed.
“I’ll tell you who will be waiting for him the day he gets out,” Huck says. “Me.”
Irene squeezes Huck’s hand. The estates can sue for reparations in a civil case. Natalie Key is asking for two million dollars on behalf of Russ and ten million on behalf of Rosie. Stephen Thompson has a brother who lives in London, but the brother won’t sue because he wants “nothing to do with the whole sordid mess.”
Huck and Irene have decided not to even think about the possibility of that money. Instead, they focus on their daily blessings. Irene receives boxes filled with her clothes—most of which she’d forgotten she owned—as well as her books and kitchen implements. When she pulls her food processor out of the box, she says, “The cooking in this house is about to improve.”
“How can you improve on perfectly grilled fish?” Huck asks. “How can you improve on Candi’s barbecue?”
Another blessing: Agent Vasco’s job on St. John is finished. She goes back to Puerto Rico.
Adios,Irene thinks.
Swan Seeley tells Baker what happened between her and Duncan Huntley, and Baker nearly drives out to the East End to give the guy the thrashing he deserves. When Baker tells Ayers the story, she mentions that Dunk routinely waits for Tilda across the street from La Tapa after service. Baker can jump out of the shadows and scare him to death.
But then fate intervenes and Baker bumps into Dunk at Pine Peace Market. Duncan is buying vape pods and Baker is buying pizza-flavored Pringles for Floyd and Ben and Jerry’s Red Velvet Cake ice cream for himself. When Dunk sees Baker, he gives him a little bro-nod but it’s clear he can’t really place him. He’s not important enough for Duncan to remember, Baker supposes. He stands behind Dunk in line, glaring at the back of his neck. Duncan seems shorter than he did when Baker met him on the plane, and he’s downright scrawny. What does Tilda see in this guy? Is it just the money?
Dunk leaves the store and Baker sets his chips and ice cream down and says to Nestor, the cashier, “I’ll be right back.” He follows Dunk out and catches him as he pulls open the driver’s-side door of a forest-green G-wagon.
“Hey,” Baker says. “Duncan? Dunk?”
Dunk turns. “G’day.”
“It’s Baker. Baker Steele? My little boy and I met you on the flight from Houston. You gave me a ride over here on your boat?”
“Ah, yeah?” Dunk says, though it’s not clear he remembers who Baker is. “How ya doin’, mate?”
Baker reaches out his hand, and when Dunk takes it, Baker squeezes as hard as he can and holds on a little longer than he should. “I’m good. Real good. Except for a couple of things.”
“Sorry, mate, wish I could shoot the shit but I’m in kind of a hurry.”
Dunk makes a move to get into his car but Baker reaches over Dunk’s head and slams the driver’s-side door shut, then leans against the car, arms folded across his chest. He has six inches and at least sixty pounds on Dunk. Baker hasn’t been in a fight since high school, and even then, he mostly scrapped with Cash. He’s thirty-one years old, the father of one with another one on the way. He never thought he’d find himself trying to physically intimidate someone. But that’s exactly what he’s going to do right now.
“First off,” Baker says, “you moved in on Tilda when she was dating my brother, Cash.”
“Cash is yourbrother?” Dunk says. He laughs nervously. “I didn’t make the connection, mate, I’m sorry.”
“But you did know Cash and Tilda were together,” Baker says. “When you and Tilda went away, you knew she had a boyfriend. You haddinnerwith him.”
“Right, but I wasn’t sure how serious it was,” Dunk says. “She told me they’d known each other only a few weeks. And she said that Cash moved in with her because he had nowhere else to go.” Dunk fiddles with the packet of vape pods in his hands. He’s trying to pop one out. “Your father was part of that whole Ascension thing? That’s some nefarious shit, mate.”
Baker snatches the pods out of Dunk’s hands and tosses them beyond the truck. He whips the vape pen out of Duncan’s shirt pocket and tosses that too.
“Nefarious?”Baker says. “Are yousmart,Dunk? No, not terribly. Because the next thing you did that pissed me off was you insulted my friend Swan Seeley, told her you hired her only because she was hot—”
