Castle Cay (25 page)

“Hey! Listen to
this
, you guys...”

She began to read:

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston
Field Office, has just released information on a stunning,
multiple-location drug bust carried out on Tuesday, September 25th.
The late night raids resulted in the disruption of a major drug
pipeline into the Massachusetts area, particularly in the city of
Boston. Although there were simultaneous raids in Southern
California and Utah, by far the biggest prize in this long-term
investigation was taking down the distribution conspiracy in Boston
and its suburbs. In this area alone, the Massachusetts State Police
and the FBI arrested 32 individuals, and 18 separate search
warrants were executed.

“U.S. Attorney Campbell Burns said, ‘The
Boston area has been plagued with this deadly drug ring for several
years. This successful operation is the joint result of the
cooperation between the Drug Enforcement Administration, the local
and state police, and the FBI.

‘We owe all of these men our gratitude, but
we are especially grateful to FBI

Special Agent Richard Lynch, who was killed
in the line of duty.
Also, our wishes for a full recovery go out
to FBI Special Agent Sherman Dixon, who was wounded in this
operation.”

Joe’s face fell as she read the line.

“
Ah, no
,” he said. “Sherm wouldn’t
have gotten involved in this if it wasn’t for me! I have to call
him. Let me see that, please, Julie.”

He took the paper from her, turned the page
and took over reading.

“It says the drug ring was ‘orchestrated by
the Tambini crime family’ and that ‘many of them were arrested,
including Silvio Tambini and his son, Guido Tambini’. According to
this, they recovered a big stash of ‘drugs, firearms and cash’,
too. It says, ‘the charges, if upheld, can carry anywhere from ten
years to life in prison’.”

Joe paused, scanning for more
information.

“Shit…listen to this,” he said.

“All the federal grand jury indictments were
served,
except
for one related to money laundering, which
charged Avram Solomon, a Boston businessman, under RICO, the
‘Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act’.”

“Except? What does that mean?”

“It means they didn’t find him, Merlin. It
means he got away.”

* * * * *

“
O
w-w!”

Joe heard the howl through the cell phone.
“What is it, Sherm?” You okay?”

“Yeah. It’s my nurse, Jenna. She’s killing
me, pulling this damn dressing off my leg.”

Joe could almost see the scene in Sherm’s
room at the Mass General Hospital. He could imagine the look of
incredulous surprise on the nurse’s face when she realized that the
giant in the bed was actually a big baby.

When it came to Sherman, stoicism hadn’t come
with size. Joe flashed-back on their football years and had to
cover the phone to muffle his laughter.

Their conversation turned serious again as
soon as the nurse left the room. Sherman finished telling Joe about
the raid on the drug lab in Waltham.

“I never saw so much blood come from one guy,
Joe. I was right behind him. He got one in the neck and the blood
was just
pumping
out…

“Anyhow, Next thing I knew I was in the back
of an ambulance.

“My Kevlar vest took two hits...bruised the
hell out of my chest...but I’m not complaining about
that
.
Thank the Lord for it! It was the one that went through my thigh
that landed me in the hospital. It nicked an artery, and I lost a
lot of blood. It’s getting better, though. I’m doing good.”

“Have you talked to Sondra and the
girls?”

“Yeah. I told them not to bother coming up
here. I’m going home tomorrow.”

“That’s great news. Hey, look, buddy. I’m
sorry I got you mixed up in all this...sorry you got hurt.”

“Joe. Forget it. It’s my job. And being in on
that bust is going to look real good in my file.”

“All right, man, as long as you’re okay.
Thanks for everything you did, Sherm. I’m glad you’re going home.
Julie and I are headed home today, too.”

“I read what happened down there in Key West,
with that Susan Dwyer. How’s Julie doing?”

“Julie’s great, Sherm. She’s an amazing
woman, stronger now than she was before. She’s made her peace with
Marc Solomon’s death,” said Joe, “although we were both
disappointed to hear that Avram Solomon slipped through the net up
there.”

“Yeah, you and a lot of other people,
including me,” said Sherm. “The guy just vanished. No cars were
missing, so he must have left the dealership on foot. They checked
all the cabs, the airlines, nothing. You can’t pull off something
like that without planning, Joe. That bastard was ready.”

* * * * *

“
S
herm’s okay,” said Joe, as they
boarded the commuter plane to Orlando. “He was lucky; his vest
stopped two bullets! Another one nicked a leg artery, but he’s
going to be fine. They’re letting him go home tomorrow.”

“That’s great.”

On the short flight home, Joe told Julie
about his long friendship with Sherman. For the first time outside
of an AA meeting, he talked about how they had
both
planned
to join the Bureau…and how he had messed it up with alcohol.

And Julie, in turn, finally told him all
about Dan.

Later, they shared a lingering kiss in Joe’s
car outside of Julie’s condo.

“What next, Merlin?”

“A cover story for Luz and Janet?” she said,
stepping out of the car.

Julie watched Joe pull away from the curb,
knowing a new chapter in her life had opened. She turned, pulling
her carry-on bag behind her, entered her building and went up to
her condo.

Everything was as she had left it…and yet it
wasn’t. Marc was gone, but Julie felt reconnected to her past and
she looked forward to the future. She opened the glass doors to the
balcony. The outside air filled the living-room, cool and
refreshing. Lake Eola sparkled in the sunshine and the squirrels
scampered through the trees.

And then Sol nearly knocked her off the
balcony, leaping onto the table.

Julie had momentarily felt like Dorothy, back
from Oz.

But Sol sure as hell wasn’t Toto.

* * * * *

“
W
ay to go, Merlin!”

Joe was right again. There were no ghosts on
Castle Cay. Julie felt nothing but exhilaration as she reached the
top of the ridge. The view of the island, the sea and the ocean
liner was spectacular.

She was glad the ship on the horizon wouldn’t
be stopping there. Matt Castle had kept his family’s island and
built a private resort on it.

Julie thought wistfully of Dan O’Hara and
Marc Solomon…especially Marc. It was almost a year since Marc’s
murder; a year of inevitabilities, some good things and some
surprises.

It’s been said that when one door closes,
another opens. When Solomon Chrysler closed its doors, Pete and
Joan Soldano bought the Lynn store.

Julie smiled, glad for her two friends.

Her thoughts turned to Tom Connor, Marc’s
father. Matt Castle had seen to it that his friend and law partner
was given all of his son’s paintings. Tom, in gratitude, had given
one each to Julie and Joe, and had chosen for the rest to remain as
a permanent exhibit in the expanded Sandpiper Art Gallery in Key
West, managed by David Harris.

The best news of all, however, had come just
two weeks ago, when they located Avram Solomon, in spite of his new
identity. It was all over the news…

It happened during Silvio Tambini’s trial.
One of the state’s witnesses, a certain William Bonafacci, also
known as “Billy Bones,” was testifying about the order of events
leading up to Silvio Tambini’s decision to move the drug lab out of
the Waltham warehouse owned by Solomon Chrysler.

“
So, Mr. Bonafacci, please tell us, in
your own words, exactly what triggered this decision to ‘clear out’
of Waltham.”

“
Well, see, we was watchin’ the
car...”

“
And what car was that?”

“
It was a gray Sebring sedan…you know, a
new one…on the storage lot. We seen Avram Solomon drive it there
and put this bag in the trunk. So we popped it.”

“
You ‘popped it’. Do you mean you opened
the trunk?”

“
Yeah.”

“
And what was in the bag?”

“
Money, papers. A passport and
stuff.”

“
And did you report this to Silvio
Tambini?”

“
Of course!”

“
All right, Mr. Bonafacci. You mentioned
that there was ‘a passport’ in the bag. Did you see the picture on
the passport?”

“
Yeah, it was Avram Solomon.”

“
For the record, Mr. Bonafacci, do you
remember the name on the passport?”

“
No. But it wasn’t Houdini…He didn’t get
out of the trunk.”

* * * * *

Lee Hanson
, originally from the Boston
area, currently lives in Orlando, Florida with her husband.
Castle Cay
is her first novel in the Julie O’Hara mystery
series.

[email protected]