Last Chance Harvey, Part 24 (Blogophilia 45.11)

A dry dock isn’t the most romantic place to be dancing with the stars. But after hours nobody cares. He wasn’t due for another couple of hours. She shut off the engine and checked inside her purse. A pack of condoms and the .380 sat placidly next to each other. Protection and…protection. The gun was Biker Dude’s. So was the truck. He didn’t miss them. He won’t miss anything anymore. It was kind of brutal to see him seize like that. But that’s life. The slide made a satisfying click as she cleared the chamber. Corrine smiled and put it back in the pocket.

This was the final play. The grift was always about Waterworld. The guys that owned it killed Harvey. He had found out about the money tango, shifting the drug money from Miami and replacing it with the rent from Georgia. Slick system as long as everyone played their part.

The Goons had asked them to squeeze more money from the slip rentals to give them a little more room to launder money. Her first task was snagging Tom. He was such a good little boy. with those sad, hound dog eyes. Whether out of fear or love, he did what he was told. She would have had Jim on the same line if it hadn’t all gone south.

The bonus of the plan was a place to fence the boats. Bring the unsuspecting inland folks models they hadn’t seen, then wine and dine them so they didn’t ask too many questions. The side hustle pulled an extra thirty grand in six months, money the Goons never found out about. She didn’t know whether Harvey agreed talk when the indictments came down, or if he had found a way to tap the money stream himself. But the Goons didn’t like what they saw. And here she was.

Now the money was used up. She needed this last score to head to Cali. Some place where no one knew her and she could start over.

She pulled the truck into the bushes along the side of the building. Harvey’s voice twittered in her ear. “Take pains…be perfect.” Hah. Look where that got him. Swapping for the Tennessee license plate added extra protection. After she was finished, she covered it with a tarp and piled pine branches across it. Even if the cops found the thing, it would take a while to make the connection. Anything to give a her few hours to get out of Dodge.

Looking over her handywork, she smiled. It was going to be a good night.

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Without knowing where to go, he found Jim and Jerry at the cabin, getting high. It was obvious they had been at it a while. It didn’t take long get a contact buzz. But it didn’t make him relax. Pacing the floor, he told the story of running into her at Froggers and everything else that had happened, including talking to the cops. Jim and Jerry were alternately amazed and angry at being had for so long.

Finally, he talked about the call he got about an hour ago. She wanted to meet him...alone. That wasn’t going to happen. He might be a dumb hillbilly redneck, but he wasn’t born yesterday. Those mysterious ways always led to trouble. The only question was did they want to get the cops involved. Jerry leaned back, smoke cloud rolling across the top of his chair.

“Dude. I admit I’m surprised by two things. One, you, of all people, got laid by her. And two, you managed to keep your mouth shut.”

Tom shook his head and smiled. “It wasn’t for love.”

The giggles started. The sound echoed off the walls and rose from the floor. It took a full two minutes before they were able to catch his breath.

“When’s the meeting?” Jerry asked.

Tom looked at his watch. “8:30 at Haley’s.”

Jim snorted. “She likes out of the way places, doesn’t she?

Jerry piped up. “Remember, we thought she was sleeping with the fishes?”

The laughter stopped. Tom finished the thought.

“If we aren’t careful, we might be.”

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Topic-Elaine E. Chaix

Pic-Tyler Myrth

Pic guesses: Dancing with the stars (in blog), Tango (in blog), tiny dancers, puttin’ on the ritz, dress up, couples, the future.