Metro Girl (Alex Barnaby 1)

Felicia shook her head. “They have Cubano trouble. Sometimes it can be bad on the island. And what I know are only things whispered. Not from Maria. She never says anything. But I hear from my cousin who hears from her sister, Maria’s mother, rest in peace. I was told there was trouble with Maria’s grandfather. Enrique Raffles. He was a fisherman. He fish from a little town to the west of Havana. Nuevo Cabo. He owned a boat and sometimes he would use the boat for other things. Sometimes a boat would come from Russia and the cargo would be best kept secret. Maria’s grandfather was good at not seeing things, so he would go out to the big boat and let them put things in the hold of the little boat to be taken ashore. He would do this at night, when there was no moon. And he would also bring things from Cuba to the Russian sailors.”

“Maria’s grandfather was a smuggler?” Rosa asked.

“Yes. And he work with another man because the boat was too big for one man. But I don’t know this other man.

“Then one night the men went out to get special cargo, and somehow the little fishing boat ran into a reef and went down. The one man got to shore, but Maria’s grandfather did not.

“Maria’s father, Juan, was fourteen years old when this happened. He took a vow to bury his father and he started diving, looking for the boat. Many people looked for the boat, but no one found it.

“Juan married, and still he kept diving, even when his wife was pregnant. It was the vow to bury his father. And then one night, a month before Maria was born, the police came and took Juan away. He was never seen again. When the relatives came to help with the birth of Maria they found a fresh grave in the little backyard and a cross with E. R. hand carved into it. And everyone knew Juan had found his father.

“Some say there was gold on the boat that night it went down. Gold that belonged to Castro. And that’s why Juan was taken away. Because Castro wanted his gold. And there are other rumors too. Rumors about a very bad weapon. Something new the Russians were sending into Cuba.

“Maria’s mother never remarried. She stayed in the little village, always hoping Juan would return. She died four years ago. That is when Maria escaped the island and illegally sailed her little boat here to Miami.”

“Such a tragic history,” Rosa said. “I had no idea.”

“She was marked by her family history. Like a thumbprint on her forehead. How you say it in this country…destiny? She was called to dive. Like her father. Always looking for the shipwreck.”

FIVE

I took Rosa home and then I took Hooker back to his car. I parked behind the Porsche, and we sat in silence for a couple minutes. Both of us thinking about Maria.

“Fuck,” Hooker finally said on a sigh.

I nodded my head in agreement.

“Your brother is involved in some serious shit,” Hooker said.

“We don’t know for sure.”

“You’re worried.”

“Yeah.”

“Never fear,” Hooker said. “NASCAR Guy is here to help you.”

Hooker was a nice guy, I decided, but he wasn’t James Bond. I needed James Bond.

Hooker looked at me, his eyes hidden behind his dark sunglasses. “Don’t underestimate NASCAR Guy.”

“Does NASCAR Guy have any ideas about where to go from here?”

“Yep. NASCAR Guy thinks we should go to Monty’s. Get a sandwich. Have a beer. Hang out. NASCAR Guy has some other ideas, too, but he’s going to wait until he gets a beer in you before he shares those ideas.”

“Do you want to follow me over?”

“You follow me. We’ll use the garage at my condo. It’ll be impossible to get a parking place at Monty’s at this time of night.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll follow you.”

Now here’s the thing, this wasn’t the first time I’d gotten a middle-of-the-night call from Bill. Usually he was stranded somewhere and needed a ride home. Usually there was a woman involved. Twice he needed me to bail him out of jail. Neither of those incidents was serious. When I couldn’t reach Bill after this latest call I was concerned enough to get on a plane, but truth is, I wasn’t a wreck over it. I’d suspected it was business as usual. I thought I’d find Bill, he

lp him out of a messy situation, and go home. When I discovered his apartment had been ransacked, I was thinking irate husband or boyfriend. When there was a murder at the marina I was trying to convince myself it was a meaningless coincidence. Pukey showing up to kidnap me raised my level of alarm by about two hundred percent.

Now I was thinking Bill had finally done it. Bill had finally managed to get himself involved in something serious. He’d put his nose someplace it absolutely didn’t belong. He’d stolen a boat and gone off with a woman who was diving for God-knows-what.

I had a gnawing ache in my stomach that wasn’t going to be fixed with pizza. I was afraid I might not be able to clean up the mess this time. I was afraid it might be too big and I might be too late.