Dead in the Water (12 page)

I smiled, thinking I'd caught him off guard and almost napping. I was wrong. In the few seconds it took me to get out of my car and approach him, he'd moved out of the chickee and was walking toward me. His lids still hooded his black eyes, but when he got close I noted they were sharp as a raptor's.

“
I guess your boyfriend left early. And you got lonely and came to see me. Should I be flattered? Had your coffee yet?”

Before I could decide which comment I wanted to address, he moved away from the chickee and headed down the path to his house, gesturing with a lazy sweep of his hand that I should follow. “Grandfather's been up for hours. He figured you might show up looking for something.”

He did?

The smell of coffee welcomed me into the house. Sammy pulled out a chair for me at the table.

“
When I drove past the Hardy brothers' place, it was closed. I guess they're still in jail,” I said.

I sipped my coffee. For having been made in an old enamel pot, it was surprisingly good, the flavor deep and full. The world's most experienced coffee barista couldn't have improved on it.

“
Don't stir the grounds. Let them settle. An eggshell keeps it clear.” Grandfather Egret slipped a fried egg out of the pan onto a plate and handed it to me.

“
No, really. I don't eat breakfast.”

“
If you're going to stake out a varmint's nest, you need to keep your stomach from growling or they'll hear you and run off.” Grandpa gave forth a throaty chuckle.

“
I'm hoping the, er, varmints won't be home.” I ate the egg with gusto.

“
If you're saying we should be careful, I know that, Grandpa. I'm always careful. You raised me to be.” Sammy stood and offered me his hand.

“
We haven't agreed upon your fee.”

Both men exchanged looks.

“
Never mind. Whatever you charge is fine. With me.”

“
Because you've got money, right?” Sammy glanced at his grandfather and then back at me. “Smoke signals. Indian telegraph.”

“
I'm not that stupid. How did you find out about the will?”

“
Voices came in on the wind last night.” Grandpa gave me a sly look. However they found out, it was clear they wanted to keep their sources to themselves.

“
Speaking of wind, it's sure kicked up since sunrise.” We were in Sammy's airboat speeding down the Rim Canal toward the Hardy's Swamp Tours.

Sammy looked at the whirling clouds overhead. “Let's get this done fast. Weather's coming in. There's a tropical storm brewing in the gulf.”

“
Will that be a problem?”

“
Not if we beat it back, but it can get treacherous on the water if the wind starts shifting around on us.”

Sammy roared past the Hardy landing, then made a sharp turn. The boat slipped sideways in the water, and we headed back the way we'd come. “I just wanted to come in with these reeds as cover in case someone was around the place. I don't think you're going to find anything, Eve.”

“
Maybe not, but I can't believe the Hardy brothers were at Uncle Winston's funeral to pay their respects. It wasn't mere curiosity that made them search through the condo. They were looking for something, and I don't mean the silver and crystal. They were looking for the same thing I was.”

“
And that would be?”

“
Winston's money or some of it. He was carrying two satchels. One he certainly left on land when he got out of the boat in the swamp. The other had to be somewhere on the boat or near the landing. Or someone took it. Perhaps Darlene secreted it in that huge purse of hers.”

“
Fits.”

“
It does?”

“
Sure. The Hardy brothers took over their airboat operation about a year ago. From what I've seen, they know little about the swamp and aren't interested in learning. They seem like displaced city boys to me.”

“
Why do you say that? What have you seen?”

“
Nothing much, except they like to go out in the airboat at night. I thought they might be poaching gators, but I've watched them. They come back with an empty boat, no sign of hunting. I know most of the people around here who buy alligators and the Hardys aren't selling to them.” Sammy pulled up to the landing.

“
So if they aren't hunting alligators, what are they hunting?”

“
People.”

“
What?”

“
They're in the transportation business.”

Sammy knew more than he was telling me, but I couldn't get it out of him. He'd said all he wanted to. His suspicions about the Hardys, as unclear as they might be to me, fit with my assumption that the brothers were doing something illegal—and that included knowing about Winston's work as a bag man.

We tied up Sammy's airboat and began our search. Nothing turned up in the Hardy's boat. I didn't expect it to, but I thought perhaps we might uncover at least a clue to where Winston's other satchel went. We carefully scoured the area around the dock and up into the field we'd walked through that day, but turned up only a few lizards and one black snake. I was beginning to feel foolish. Frida and her team had to have covered the area days ago.

The wind whipped around us and gained in intensity as we searched the grassy area. The gusts were so strong they took my breath away.

“
How do you feel about breaking and entering?” I asked.

Sammy shrugged and walked toward the produce stand. He leaned hard against the back door, then shoved his entire body against it. The door banged inward.

“
Door's open. How about that,” he said.

It was clear the Hardy brothers hadn't been here in several days. The smell of overripe strawberries, rotting peaches and onions past their prime was all-pervasive. In their glass cages, the baby alligators looked at us expectantly, as if hoping to be fed. I opened the top of the aquarium and looked around for their food.

“
What do alligators eat?”

“
Other alligators.” Sammy grinned at the look of shock on my face. “Fish, turtles, birds, sometimes people.”

I snatched my hand back from the cage.

A shadow fell over the tank.

“
These guys aren't ready for a diet of sassy Yankee gal and Indian yet. But there are plenty of hungry big ones in the swamp.” Captain Hardy stood in the doorway with that revolver in his hand.

Beside him stood Digby, sneering but unarmed. Despite his angry squirrel demeanor and short stature, I wasn't going to underestimate him. He had stringy muscles, and being the smaller of the brothers might make him meaner.

Revolver Hardy approached Sammy, who stood his ground. I expected Sammy to reach out to try and grab the gun, and I guess Hardy thought the same thing. He swung the weapon at Sammy's head. Sammy groaned and fell to the floor, limp.

“
Tie her up and search both of them,” the bigger Hardy brother said.

Digby grabbed a rope out of a storage closet and tied my hands behind my back; then he did the same to Sammy. He poked through our pockets and shook his head when he found nothing.

“
Now how we gonna get him to the boat? He's dead weight,” Digby said.

“
You're going to drag him.”

“
Me? Why not you? He's a big one. I'll handle the gal.”

Hardy gave his smaller brother a look of contempt. “Do it.”

Digby grabbed Sammy's tied hands and began to pull.

“
Not that way, you stupid weasel. Pull him by his legs.”

Big Hardy and I walked out of the building and headed down the path toward the water. Behind us the wind banged the door against the siding.

“
Damn Indian broke my door.” Hardy shooed me ahead of him. I considered running off the path and into the grass, but that would give me no cover, and I was certain he wouldn't hesitate to shoot me. And then do the same to Sammy. Or worse.

He pushed me into the boat and onto the seat, then took his dirty handkerchief out of his back pocket and tied it over my eyes. The odor of Hardy coming from it made me want to retch. Imagining how he had used that handkerchief only made the nausea worse. A few minutes later I felt the boat sink with the weight of Digby and Sammy.

“
You sure took long enough. If this plan is going to work, we need to get out of here. Now. Storm's coming on us. Fast.” Hardy started the engine, and we took off.

The motion of the boat through the water, its slipping from side to side made my stomach churn even more. I was sure I'd throw up all over everything. For a moment that sounded like a good idea, and I wanted to laugh. Ha. He'd have to clean it up. Then I wondered if he'd do that before or after he killed us.

I began counting off seconds by using the one-one hundredths, two-one hundredths approach. It took my mind off my queasiness and our fate.

I lost count after ten minutes, aware that we had turned off the Rim Canal into smaller channels more protected from the wind.
Good
, I thought, then realized we'd never find our way out of this maze of smaller canals.

The boat slowed, and I felt it touch land. A big hand pulled me out of my seat and tossed me onto the shore. I heard both men grunt and then felt something warm next to me. Sammy. The boat engine started up and soon its sound dissipated into silence as it left us. A bull alligator roared somewhere nearby, and the wind gathered in intensity.

“
Sammy? Are you conscious?” I rolled over toward him and placed my face on his shoulder. “Sammy. Wake up.”

I had to get this blindfold off my eyes, but I couldn't do that without help. A guy could die from getting slammed across the side of the head by a pistol, couldn't he? I shoved my face nearer his, hoping to get close enough to feel him breathing. I turned a bit so my mouth was almost on his nose. Did I feel anything like warm breath?

“
If you're trying to kiss me, we Indians like to do it mouth to mouth, not mouth to nose.”

“
You're alive. Thank God.”

“
Takes more than a pistol whipping to do in this hard skull. Not that I don't like this closeness, but I want you to roll onto your side and I'll do the same.”

“
Spooning? Now?”

“
No. Our backs toward each other. I can untie you and then you can get me free. The spooning comes later.”

After several minutes of struggling with the knots, Sammy freed my hands. I pulled off my blindfold and worked on his ropes. It took me more time to free him, but soon we were sitting side by side on the edge of a small canal. Overhead the wind whipped the trees around, toppling dead branches and palm fronds onto the ground. The water at our feet began to rise.

“
We need to move back before we get soaked. Watch the branches.” Sammy took my hand, and we started into the jungle-like growth behind us. I mentally kicked myself for leaving my purse in Sammy's airboat. My cellphone was in it.

I was lost. Only the sun told me what direction was west. Still, I was unafraid because Sammy knew these swamps. He was Miccosukee, after all.

“
Where are we, Sammy?”

“
I have no idea.”

We were lost, hopelessly lost in the swamps.

“
Y
ou're kidding, right?”

He shook his head, then looked upward at the sky. “We need shelter before this storm comes in. I'm worried about hypothermia. I can always build us something to keep most of the rain off us, but not here. There's an animal trail leading off there.” He pointed to a small break in the undergrowth. “We'll follow that. It'll lead us to higher ground.”

“
How do you know that?”

“
This is where they come to the water to drink, then go back up the path to higher ground into that hammock to bed down for the night.”

“
They who?” I thought of a herd of alligators trudging along the trail marked, “Water this way and also food.”

“
Deer. Let's go.”

“
What are we looking for?” I was out of breath from keeping pace with Sammy. For once I'd worn fashionable footwear with lower heels, but his stride was much longer than mine on this rutty trail.

“
My people used to live in these swamps, you know.”

“
So what? You said yourself you're lost.”

“
I said I didn't know where we were. That's different from being lost. You think being lost is hopeless. It's not. This was once our home.”

“
Your home, not mine. So now you're going to call upon your ancestors to rescue us?” I almost believed he could do that.

“
In a manner of speaking.”

“
You said you could make a shelter for us. Out of what?”

“
Vines, palm fronds, small saplings.”

“
With your bare hands?”

“
No. I'd use this.” Sammy stopped for a moment, bent over and extracted the biggest, meanest looking knife out of his boot. Déjà vu Crocodile Dundee. He chuckled as he held it up for me to see. “They searched me, but not very well.”