Last Chance Harvey (Blogophilia 22.11)
The adventure had been born in a bar, complete with champagne dreams and caviar wishes. It wasn't Aruba or anything, just a two guys in a bass boat skimming towards destiny. Or at least they hoped so. The yellow scuba tanks were strapped below the stern rail for balance. Not a bad choice. Traffic in the main channel was heavy, the chop made everything shake as they made their way toward a cove about a mile from the marina.
The dive target was a 46 foot custom houseboat named Last Chance Harvey. The wreck had ghosts. It had been a showpiece. Two bedrooms with mirrored ceilings below deck and a huge party bar on top. Dark wood rails and fake gold trim. A bit of ostentatious consumption reflecting of money made quickly and not necessarily legally.
The original owner, Harvey Lloyd, deliberately sank it in response to a fraud investigation. Lloyd had been a con artist who hit the big time brokering a three way coke deal with some guys down South, a relationship that seemed to keep on giving. He seemed to have all the money in the world and not enough places to spend it. Why not build a floating palace? Then he could spend his time with his favorite passions, fishing and women.
It wasn't long after the boat was finished the FBI came snooping around. They had gotten wind of the original deal from a bust down on the Southside. As they went on, they uncovered his real scam; buying stolen watercraft, including this boat, with laundered drug money. The con man ignored them for a while. But as heat got closer, he panicked and scuttled the thing in Naked Lady Cove late one night, supposedly with money and drugs aboard. At first, they thought he had gone down with the boat. But about a month later, Lloyd was found in a hotel room in Miami with a bullet in his head. Someone decided to cut their losses.
There had been attempts to salvage Last Chance over the years. But no one knew the exactly where it was. At least six locations had been worked, but nothing could be seen except for dead trees. After the body turned up, the Feds lost interest. Over time, the boat faded from everyone's memory, at least until now.
Jim Herrington listened as his diving buddy, Jerry Holden, told the story at Bullfrogs. Was it an old rumor? Had there been an insurance claim? Jim remembered playing poker on The Last Chance a few times and Lloyd had struck him as a first class liar and cheat. It wouldn't be surprising if Lloyd had spread the story himself to divert attention. Sipping in silence, he smiled when Jerry got to the best part.
About a week ago, he was out at Naked Lady fishing for bass. A boat shaped echo appeared on his on his finder 45 feet down and in the dead center of the cove. He quickly saved the GPS reading and wondered if it was Last Chance. He would need at least help to find out.
With each beer, Jim's excitement grew. He'd worked the cove before. Visibility was usually crap, but the images of the trees petrified by being under water for 50 years had always fascinated him. Yeah, those rough branches could ruin your day. But if they were careful, the worst thing that would happen is they'd get a few hours logged on their certs. By the time last call came, They had a plan and a couple of days to get what they needed.
This was going to fun.
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Topic-Sallon Newlove
Emma Thompson movie: Last Chance Harvey https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1046947/
Pic Guesses: Ghosts (in blog), In the deep, Murky water, Neptune’s vision, watery grave, scuttled (in blog)
This is one of your most convincing efforts yet, and that is saying something. I could see it playing out on a prime time night time network drama, over the course of an hour.
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