Smugglers 1: Nikki (11 page)

When Nikki and Brett got to Nikki’s apartment and went inside, Brett locked the door; they started kissing and tearing at each other’s clothes until they were both naked. Nikki pulled him into her bedroom and pushed him onto the mattress. She fell on top of him, straddling him. He pushed his hips upward, the action bringing his penis against her belly. He was hard and pulsing. She bent down to kiss him, pulling his lower lip inside her mouth. His hands found her breasts which he caressed until her nipples were round and hard.

“I want you, Nikki, now!”

Nikki reached into her night table for a condom which she tore open and slid onto his throbbing member.

“Now,”  he said, guiding his penis between her thighs where she was hot, wet and ready for him.

She met his thrusts with the same eagerness he had for her and soon they were crying out their satisfaction.

Later Nikki got up to get them some water. While she was up, she looked out her kitchen window. There was no one on the back of the Sea Cactus or the Cat and neither boat had lights on. They either went to bed or were in the master stateroom. She went back to the bedroom and gave Brett his water. She asked if he would mind, then held out a cigarette, lit it and said, “There was no one on the back of the Sea Cactus and no lights on in the boat. What do you think happened after we left?”

“I think the three of them went downstairs. What do you think?” Brett replied.

“I got the same vibe from all three of them. Good for Brian!” Nikki said and smoked her cigarette.

They both had some water and then fell asleep in one another’s arms. When they woke up it was after 10:00 in the morning. Nikki jumped up to look out the window to see how the dock was. Brett took his coffee and went to his Cat. Nikki knew there was no long term relationship here, but Brett sure looked and felt good. She would enjoy him while he was here, but she knew she would not see or hear from him once he left the dock.

Nikki went out on the dock in an hour and saw Brian come off of the Sea Cactus. She gave him the okay sign. With a big smile on his face, he gave her the same sign back and asked her how she and Brett had done, then walked back to the Cat.

Nikki went back on board the 100 footer to see if she had missed anything. She spent about an hour on the boat but couldn’t come up with anything else. She must go to town and see Cynthia under the guise of her boat, and then she could ask her questions about Bill and where he was on the boat the last couple of days. Nikki went to her office and called the Chief of Police to tell him she had to see Cynthia about her boat. Then she asked him if they found any safe deposit boxes under Bill’s name.

She had an appointment to see Cynthia tomorrow morning for one hour. She finished work and begged off partying at the Sea Cactus with Brian and Brett. Oh, to be twenty-five again!, Nikki thought to herself. As it was, she was under the weather from the Jäger shots. She needed a beer and needed to go to sleep.

About two or three o’clock in the morning, she was awakened by noise on the dock. She went outside with a flash light and found a dozen people on one side of the dock.  There in the water, nude again, was the diver Captain James. He was drunk and swimming around the other boats. She yelled to him to get his bare ass out of the water now. She told Mark, “Get that asshole out of the water.”

Mark, Brian and Brett went from boat to boat, all the time yelling at Captain James to get on his boat. This took much longer than last time. When he finally got out of the water and back on his boat Nikki whispered to Mark, “When he gets up tomorrow, I’m making him leave the dock. He’s upsetting the people that live here all year, and I’ve seen his bare ass once too often.”

Nikki got up the next morning, showered, and got dressed to go into town. The visiting hours at the jail were from 10:00 a.m. till 12:00 noon, Monday through Friday. She arrived 15 minutes early and went to see the Chief. After some small talk about renting Dave and Mercedes’ old apartments and the story about Captain James, she asked the Chief again about Bill and any money he may have hidden away from their divorce. The Chief said he had checked all the banks and Bill’s name didn’t show up. Then he took her in to see Cynthia.

Cynthia looked like shit! She looked like she was sixty-five or seventy years old in the standard orange jump suit. With her hair pulled back and no makeup on, the scars from her plastic surgeries were clearly visible. First, she complained about getting up at 6:00 for breakfast and the five minute showers every other day. Little did she know if she got sent to jail for murder, she would get a shower once a week and get in touch with her female or male side. After that, they talked about the dock and what was going on there.

The talk soon turned to Bill’s death and what Cynthia remembered about the shooting. She told Nikki that her attorney said  as drunk as she was and with the bullet holes in the wall and door where Cynthia was, it looked like self-defense. The only problem they had was her statement the day of Bill’s death that Cynthia had given to the cops.

Her blood showed that she was drunk and her attorney thought he could get that report thrown out. She had hired a big gun out of Miami that cost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to start. Nikki spent a lot of time talking about Bill and what he was doing two or three days before the shooting. Did he dive the boat? Did he work on the engines? Nikki asked Cynthia if she should dive the boat or put new carpet in it. Cynthia told her yes to all. She would see she got a check for everything, plus the rent. Nikki told Cynthia, “The faster you go to court, the faster you get out of here.”

Cynthia told Nikki that her attorney was going to court on Thursday to get her out on bail because of the claim of self-defense. Nikki said goodbye to the Chief then left for the hardware store ,then the dock.

When Nikki got back to the dock she went to her apartment to change and make out a prorated check for Captain James. After changing she went to James’ Sea Ray and knocked on the side. Finally he came to the door, and she told him he was leaving by 10:00 the next morning. First he begged to stay, then got mad as hell and called her everything in the book, then he went inside slamming the door to his boat. She found Mark and told him about James and her meeting with the Chief and Cynthia at the police department. Then she went to her office to call a carpet man to come and measure the 100 footer for carpet and pad. She just sat there for a while and thought about Bill and the money and where he could have put it and then got up and walked down the dock to make sure all was well. Jerry, Loretta and Mark were talking when she walked up, and she told them about her meeting at the jail and the new carpet for the 100 footer. All was quiet on the dock that day. Night fell and she thought she would never see the two bags again.

In the morning while waiting for her coffee to brew she thought about giving up on the money. That morning the carpet man arrived to measure for the carpet and came back with the yardage and some samples and she made a pick. The bill came to a little over six thousand dollars, so she went to town to get this approved by Cynthia first. She didn’t want to get stiffed, which happened far too often. Counting the rent, it came to nine thousand dollars, but not counting the bullet holes in the door and walls. Cynthia told Nikki she would see her attorney in court for bail at 1:00 p.m. and get Nikki a check for the nine grand.

‘Good,’ thought Nikki, ‘with Bill gone I get to keep the whole rent. I don’t have to give Bill half, and the marina is out of foreclosure, thanks to Glenn.’

Late that afternoon, Cynthia showed up on the dock. She said her attorney got her bail, and her trial wasn’t for four or five months. Nikki asked Cynthia to stay with her until the new carpet was installed. She could have Glenn’s old apartment. This way, Nikki could see if Cynthia knew where Bill might have hidden the money. They made dinner and Nikki asked Cynthia if she wanted vodka.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Cynthia said. “By the way, there’s a case of vodka on my boat in case we run short.” Cynthia downed two low ball drinks of vodka, fast as hell.

“Take it easy, you’re home,” Nikki said. They ate and had one more drink and then went to their separate beds.

In the morning Nikki noticed that the bottle of vodka was gone from the kitchen. Cynthia must have taken it upstairs with her. Nikki made coffee and sat down to plan her day. She would call the carpet man in a little bit and tell him to start as soon as possible. He would be there with the pad that afternoon.

After getting showered and dressed she went out on the dock to see what was going on. She ran into the new couple, Jay and Sally, who had rented Dave’s old apartment. Sally had found a job as a waitress for now. After some small talk she went down to see Mark and open the door to the Broward for the carpet man.

Nikki was at the bitter end of a rope that was going to the dock from a boat, when Mark walked up to Nikki and said, “Here.” He took black electrical tape from a chain on his belt and wrapped the rope tight with the tape over and over again covering about six inches. Then he cut it in half with a thin filet knife that he also had on the back of his belt. Nikki thought that the knife was about a foot long. It had been sharpened so many times by Mark over the years that the blade was thin as a pencil’s lead but as sharp as a razor and only about eight inches long now. Mark took one swipe at the tape covered rope and cut it in half, one inch nylon rope and all. He used that knife every day all day long. She let Mark finish tying up the boat, said thanks, and went down the dock.

That afternoon the carpet man was there to put down the pad on Cynthia’s boat. The day was almost over so she went in to see Cynthia and make some tuna sandwiches. It was almost two and Cynthia was not up yet so she left hers wrapped up. As she was making the sandwiches, she got a butcher knife out of the block. As she was cutting the bread she had a flash of Mark’s knife and the two bag lines and how they were cut side by side and with one stroke; or was she crazy? She would have to wait until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. to make sure no one could see her enter the water to check out the bag lines. About 1:30 she went into the water with an underwater flashlight and went right to where the bag lines were. They were held together and cut with one stroke, not sawed through.

She was back in her apartment drying off and thinking  that it couldn’t be Mark! He had been there for years and just didn’t seem the type.

The next morning the carpet truck showed up and three men went down to measure the patterns. She saw Don, Mark and Jerry having coffee on the back of Don’s boat so she went up and sat down with them to have coffee and talk, keeping an eye on Mark to see if he had any tells in his voice or actions toward Nikki. She could not see anything in his mannerisms that were any different, so she left and went to work. A weekender was leaving this morning so she wanted to be there to help. So was Mark, of course. He was always there whenever she needed him.

CHAPTER 13

After they were done seeing the weekender off, Nikki said to Mark, “You know, I don’t know anything about you. Are you married or have you ever been? You’ve been here about ten years working for ten dollars an hour and a free slip, and you have more talent than that. Why are you here? You could make a lot more money someplace else and have a regular life.”

“If I had a regular job, I would have to move off my boat and away from here, and I couldn’t have free Cuban coffee every morning with Don on the back of his boat. More importantly, then I wouldn’t see you,” he said. Then he smiled and walked away.

They were done and Nikki went to the Broward to see how the new carpet install was coming. She had picked a bone-white plush with palm trees. It was a good nylon so it would clean up well. After some talk with the carpet installers she went to her office.

As she walked in, the radio came alive. “Harbor Marina, this is Tina and Randy on the fifty foot Gulfstar. Do you have a slip for us?” they inquired.

“Yes. For how long?” asked Nikki.

“About two weeks,” they replied.

“Okay. Come in. When will you be here?” she responded.

“Okay. We’ll see you in about an hour,” they said.

Nikki sat at her desk and thought to herself that James was supposed to pull out by 10:00 a.m. She had pro-rated the check she gave to him by days. When she went to tell Mark about the fifty foot Gulfstar coming in, she would see if James was moving out. She heard a horn. The boat was early. She got up and ran down the dock to get Mark and meet the Gulfstar which was already coming down the canal.

Nikki and Mark got on each side of the slip and waited to receive the ropes and pull the boat in. She tried not to take sail boats, but she needed the money. Sail boaters, also known as blow boaters, always caused trouble with the power boaters, known as stink pots, and they sometimes stole toilet paper and light bulbs from the public showers. It seemed that every time a sailboat left the dock, the public shower was empty. It didn’t matter if it was a five thousand dollar sail boat or a five million dollar sail boat, the public shower was always empty.

After tying the boat up and introducing herself and Mark, Nikki headed back to her office. She didn’t see any movement on James’ boat, so she stopped and knocked on the side. There was no answer and it was already 11:30. She went to her office and decided to try again around noon. There was no answer then, either.

Cynthia was up early and came down to see Nikki. “I’ll be moving back to my boat as soon as the carpet guys are done. I want to thank you for all you’ve done, letting me stay here and all the dinners.”

“Don’t worry about it. I was glad to have the company. Let’s go down and see how the carpet is coming,” stated Nikki.

They left and walked down to the 100-footer. When they got aboard, they found out that the work would be done in less than an hour. Cynthia decided to stay on board and see them finish. Nikki left.

On the way back she stopped at James’ boat. She could hear his TV going, so she started knocking on the side of his boat. She knocked and knocked and finally after five minutes, James came to the door. “What do you want?” he growled.

“I gave you the pro-rated check until the end of the month, and you were supposed to be gone by 10:00 this morning!” she responded.

“Oh! Thank you for the check. My attorney said the note you gave me is not legal, so screw you, Nikki! I have thirty days from the date you served me with a legal notice, and if I want to drag it out, I can for maybe four or five months,” James said.

“You wouldn’t try this bullshit if Bill was here. He’d pull you out by your ears!” replied Nikki.

“Don’t talk to me about Bill. He told me a lot, and he saw what you did,” he stated.

“So you’re not leaving until I get the Chief?” she asked.

“Not on your life! Are you done with your empty threats? Screw you and goodbye,” he yelled and went inside.

Nikki went back to her office and called her attorney. She told him to make up an eviction notice and mark it hand deliver, which she would do. She told him she would pick it up that afternoon around two. Nikki drove into town to pick up the notice, then drove back to the dock and banged on the side of James’s boat. He came to the door, but he wouldn’t take the eviction notice from Nikki so she threw it at him and said, “you’re served.”

“No, I’m not served. You didn’t hand it to me,” he exclaimed.

“You don’t have to take it, asshole! You’re served, and it is 4:17 p.m., ask your attorney. Now I’m going to sue you, or you can escape tonight. Either way you’re screwed,” she replied.

Nikki went down the dock to her office and called her attorney to let him know she served James at 4:17 p.m. Then she made herself a drink and walked down to see Jerry, Loretta, Brian and Brett. On the way, she saw Mark on the back of Don’s boat having a beer with Don, and James was inside his boat.

Nikki was having fun on the back of the Sea Cactus with the four of them when down the dock came Cynthia with a drink in her hand. “Can I join you guys?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Jerry. “We’ll move our chairs around so you can have a piece of the table.”

It was around 8 p.m. or so when they all went to town for dinner. Cynthia was drunk by then, and she was all over Brian which was fine with everyone especially Brian. During dinner Cynthia kept getting closer and kissing Brian. They got home about midnight, and Brett and Nikki fully expected a second helping of what they had a couple of nights ago. But when they got to Nikki’s boat house, it was leaning to one side badly. She told Brett to get Mark right away, and she went on board.

Nikki opened the hatch in the kitchen closet. She turned on the lights in the bottom of the boat. The sea water was a foot and a half deep.

“Holy shit!” she said out loud to no one. Just then Mark came in and looked in the hatch, too. He ran out to the dock box in front of the four-plex and got an electric submersible pump and fifty feet of hose. He set the pump in the water and ran the hose out the kitchen window. Then he got the other electric pump. He plugged the first pump into her pedestal. He put the second pump in the water and ran the hose out the door and plugged it in, too. They both were pumping full steam out of three-quarter inch hoses.

“I’m going to get my tools and I’ll be back in a minute,” Mark told Nikki. “And the rest of you, get off the boat, it doesn’t need the extra weight.” Mark was back in five minutes and the pumps were ahead of the water coming in, so he lowered himself in the hatch and started crawling through two feet of water looking for the leak.

The bottom of the house boat was 28" x 40" and every four feet in all directions was a three quarter inch plywood wall, a baffle, up from the bottom in all directions. There was a round hole cut about two feet in diameter. This kept the water from running to one end and tipping the boat house over. Every four feet you had to get half way up and crawl through the hole. Mark knew not to forget the tools or cord with pump and plug for patching or he’d have to go all the way back for them.

After three hours, the water went way down. Mark found five holes in the bottom. He drove wooden pegs in them, then he crawled out.

“What did you find,” Nikki asked.

“Five holes in the bottom, but I drove pegs into them,” he replied

“Good. Let me guess. They were all in the north west corner?” she said.

“They were,” Mark confirmed.

“I’ll call the diver,” she stated.

Nikki gave Mark a beer and allowed the rest of her friends back on board. Mark said he would turn off the crawl space lights and disconnect the electricity to the pumps and throw the cords inside. She would be alright for the night and not to worry.

Nikki sat down in the living room and had a drink with everyone. Brett said to the air, “What kind of fish would cause those type of holes?”

“A welder fish,” she said.

“What’s a welder fish?” Brett inquired.

Nikki and Mark broke into laughter, and Mark said, “It’s about five feet-eight inches and weighs around one hundred and fifty pounds.” Mark and Nikki looked at each other. They knew who and what a welder fish was — James on the Sea Ray.

Nikki told everyone she was tired and wanted to get some sleep, so everyone headed home.

Nikki didn’t wake up until 11:00 the following morning. When she got up the first thing she did was look in the hatch. To her relief, there was only about two inches of water in the hold.

She turned on the coffee, plugged in the pumps, put her long hair in a ponytail and took a quick shower. By the time she got dressed, the pumps had run dry. She poured herself some coffee and called the diver. She got him this time and told him it was kind of an emergency and told him most likely he will have to do it again before long. She went down and told Mark the diver would be coming and asked him to put a white coat hanger through one of the holes as she had to go to town.

Nikki headed to town to see the Chief. He was at the coffee shop for lunch, so Nikki invited him to her booth. When he joined her and started to eat his BLT, Nikki told him the story about James. She spared no details on the nude swimming and the fight over the eviction. Then she told him how he put five holes in her house boat, and when they got home it was only minutes from sinking. It has been a close call, Nikki added.

“You know that no one sells insurance for house boats because they are not technically real estate that have no legal description,” she told the Chief, who said her he’d take care of James personally.

They concluded their visit with coffee before Nikki left for the dock where she spent an hour chatting with various people. When the Chief pulled up, he asked Nikki where James’s slip was. Nikki pointed to the Sea Ray, and the Chief went over and knocked on the side of the boat. When there was no response, he knocked with his ASP. Finally James came to the door, and to Nikki it looked like the Chief was telling him off.

“I warned him,” the Chief said to Nikki on the way out, “that if you call me, or if your house gets struck by lightning, I will be here to see him, and I asked him the name of his attorney. It’s old Carl. I’ll call him when I get back to the office. Nikki, you take care of yourself and call me if you have any trouble with that asshole or if he leaves one minute late.”

Nikki was satisfied with the meeting and went to her office to see if she had any calls while she was outside. When she was in town, she had stopped at the hardware store and bought an outdoor bell for the phone and an outdoor speaker for her ship to shore radio. She would have Mark put them both on the corner of her house boat. She brought these things to Mark, so he could connect them and fix the high water alarm.

“The diver said that someone put the holes in the house boat with a drill,” Mark told her.

Just then she saw James out on the dock, and she hurried to confront him. “James, I know you put those holes in my houseboat! Now, I’ve put a two-thousand gallon bilge pump in all four corners on a twelve volt system and a high water alarm. I’ve been here over ten years, and the Chief and all the cops and attorneys like me. You’re a drunken stranger. So if you want trouble you’ll get more on your plate than you can say grace over. Look at me when I talk to you, you asshole! Look, I said, look at this!” Nikki hit her ass, “Don’t think I won’t use this to beat you! You’re wrong, I will! You’re mine now, shithead!”

“Screw you!” he said before turning and walking to his car. Over his shoulder he said, “I’m going into town to see my attorney!”

“Who? Old Carl? You and two stray dogs must be his only clients this year, you cheap jerk! You should have left when you had the chance!” she yelled.

Mark was out of sight, so she went to see Brett and Brian. She found them shampooing their boat.

“Jesus, Nikki! Don’t ever let me make you mad,” said Brett.

“No, she’d shoot you if you even make her frown,” Brian added.

“Brett, am I going to see you later for drinks?” Nikki asked, laughing.

“Well, of course. What else can I say? I don’t want to make you mad,” Brett chuckled.

It was about 5:00 p.m. when she was done so she made a drink, took a shower, and got dressed. Garth Brooks was playing on the radio. For some reason, she was happy, but why? She had lost the money and was in a fight with that crazy asshole on the Sea Ray and he might try to sink her house boat any night. She thought about what he said about Bill the morning she threw him out. He had said that Bill talked to him a lot, and Bill told him that he had seen what she did. That asshole knew where the bags were!

Nikki looked at the clock. James had been gone about an hour. He’d be back soon, so she hurriedly got the extra key for the Sea Ray and went aboard. When she opened the first hatch, she saw one nylon bag on top of another. She opened the zipper on the top bag. It was full of money.

She wondered if she should take it with her now? No, she had to play it cagey and decided to make a plan, to come back for the money later. She closed the bag and the hatch and left for her office quickly.

Whatever plan she came up with, she knew she would have to fight with crazy James. From her office window, she watched James come home. He went straight the Sea Ray and she didn’t see him again that night.