Orchid Beach
Orchid Beach
Stuart Woods
Orchid Beach
Stuart Woods
This book is for
Carol Nelson and Harry de Polo
Contents
Holly Barker, with the rest of the crowd, was called…
Holly drove across the bridge over the sound at the…
Holly found the municipal building half a block off the…
Two minutes passed before Hurd Wallace made his entrance. Holly…
Holly stopped by the station and took the trash bag…
Holly waited a moment, then got down on her knees…
Holly went through Hank Doherty’s safe and found three hundred…
Holly went back to the station, taking Daisy with her.
Holly lay in a deep sleep, dreaming of nothing in…
Holly stood in front of the little airport terminal building…
Holly picked up some groceries on the way home, avoiding…
Holly was finishing a sandwich at her desk the following…
Holly drove the chief’s car home after work. She stopped…
Holly entered the courtroom and took a seat in the…
Holly followed the two officers into her office and closed…
Holly drove south on A1A and slowed at the spot…
The car was a Toyota Camry, late eighties, before the…
Holly started to change out of her uniform. “I’ve got…
Holly slept alone, though Jackson Oxenhandler had made it clear…
Back at her desk, Holly called in Hurd Wallace and…
Holly drove north on A1A, with Daisy in the front…
Holly worked seven days a week for her first two…
Holly set down the drinks, got the Beretta from her…
Holly heard the surf before she opened her eyes. Then…
They showered together, then went for a walk on the…
They drove north on A1A from the center of the…
Holly nearly fell into the trailer, with Daisy snarling, trying…
Holly woke up at nine forty-five and reached for Jackson,…
Holly and Jackson led the way, followed by Ham and…
Palmetto Gardens had only one listed phone number; apparently all…
On Sunday afternoon Holly, Jackson and Ham took Chet Marley’s…
Jackson used a card with a magnetic strip to open…
Jackson set the little airplane down on the sand, cut…
The middle of the following week, Holly had her job…
Holly was sitting at her desk half an hour later…
They were shown to a table overlooking the ocean and…
Holly stood in the entrance hall of the municipal building,…
Holly drove out A1A to Sebastian Inlet, and took a…
Holly started the next day by asking Jane Grey to…
Harry Crisp looked less like an FBI agent than Holly…
Holly had begun going through the departmental personnel files, something…
Holly didn’t have to wait long. When she got back…
Holly worked late on the personnel files, then went home,…
At eleven o’clock the phone on Holly’s desk rang. She…
Holly sat and waited, staring at Mosely. Daisy made the…
Holly went straight to Jackson’s house after work. One of…
The next morning, Holly was back at her desk. She…
After work, Holly drove out to Jackson’s house, with Hurd…
Rita Morales showed up at the service gate to Palmetto…
Holly sat at Jackson’s dining table and listened to Rita’s…
Ham Barker got into bed and turned on the TV,…
Rita turned up on time for work at Palmetto Gardens,…
Harry Crisp looked at his wristwatch, then at the group…
Holly was wakened from a deep sleep by the telephone.
Holly went into the office like a good girl, but…
Holly got changed and fed Daisy. She still had a…
Holly, Daisy, Hurd, Jackson, and Ham all arrived at the…
At two A.M., after nearly eight hours of briefings and…
Harry Crisp jumped out of his seat. “There’s five!” he…
Holly sat in the dining room of the Palmetto Gardens…
Holly waited for Hurd Wallace to arrive and take over…
The evening was growing cool. Holly and Jackson sat on…
H
olly Barker, with the rest of the crowd, was called to her feet as the panel of officers filed into the courtroom. She was a spectator now, no longer a witness, but she wanted to be here for this.
Colonel James Bruno stood at the defense table, ramrod straight, and watched his judges with beady eyes. For the first time since his trial had begun, he was not smiling.
“Seats!” the clerk of the court called out, and all sat.
The brigadier general, who was president of the court, cleared his throat. “The following three verdicts have been reached unanimously,” the general said. “As to the first charge, sexual harassment, we have reached a verdict of not guilty.”
Holly’s stomach shrank into a knot. She locked her knees so that they would not buckle. She knew what could only come next.
“As to the second charge, attempted rape, we have
reached a verdict of not guilty,” the general said. “And as to the third charge, conduct unbecoming an officer, we have reached a verdict of not guilty.”
“Yes!” screamed a woman in the front row.
Holly recognized her as Colonel Bruno’s wife. It was the first time she had appeared in court.
“Colonel Bruno,” the general said, “you are restored to duty. This court is adjourned.”
Holly made her way slowly through the crowd, ignoring the reporters who were demanding her reaction to the verdict. On her way she came abreast of the young blond lieutenant who had been the other complainant in the case. Holly found her hand and squeezed. The woman was in tears.
The cold outside air struck like a slap, reviving her, and she saw her father’s car at the curb. She got in beside him.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He was dressed in his master sergeant’s uniform and wore the green beret of the special forces.
“You knew, didn’t you?” she asked.
Hamilton Barker nodded. “It was in the cards,” he said. “It was Bruno’s word against yours. He’s a West Pointer, and so were most of the court. They weren’t going to destroy his career.”
“They’ve destroyed mine,” Holly said. She could see the gold oak leaf on her left shoulder out of the corner of her eye.
“You can request a transfer, and they can’t deny it,” her father said.
“Come on, Ham. They’d never let me forget it. I’d end up in some unit commanded by a classmate of Bruno’s, and I’d be repeatedly passed over for promotion on some pretext or other.”
Her father said nothing.
“I could get a job on a police force somewhere,” she said.
“Funny you should mention that,” her father replied.
They sat in a steak house near the base, the ruins of their dinner before them. The talk had been of army, Vietnam and army, and Holly had done all the listening.
She liked Ham’s friend and old comrade-in-arms, Chet Marley; he was smaller and skinnier than Ham, but he had the same wiry toughness as her father, the same crow’s-feet around the eyes from squinting into the distance. And he seemed very smart.
“Okay, enough of this old-soldier stuff,” Marley said suddenly. “I’ve got a problem, Holly, and I think you might be the person to help me solve it.”
“Tell me, Chet,” Holly said.
“I’m chief of a twenty-four-man force in Orchid Beach, Florida, and there’s a gaping hole where the number-two man ought to be.”
“Don’t you believe in promoting from within?” Holly asked.
“I believe in the best man for the job,” Marley said. “Or woman,” he added.
“You short of good men?”
“I’m short of experienced men. Most of them are in their twenties. I’ve got one man who’s forty and has experience, but I don’t trust him.”
“Don’t trust him, how?” Holly asked.
“He’s a politician, and I don’t like politicians. He thinks he should have my job, which is okay, I guess, except he’d screw it up if he had it.”
“Why don’t you fire him?”
“He’s never given me any real cause, and he’s connected with some of the city council.”
“That’s bad, I guess,” Holly replied. “I’m no politician, but I can see how that could be difficult to deal with.”
“I’m going to retire next year, and I don’t want him to have my job,” Marley said. “My idea is to bring in an experienced…person, somebody who can take charge and be ready when I go.”
Holly nodded, but said nothing.