Chapter 30 #2
Mac’s eyes focused back on him, her eyebrows puckering together in confusion. “That’s it?”
“They died within a week. Not a lot of time to spend money.” And when one only had two hundred thousand dollars left over, what else did you get? Who knows if he bought anything before it either? Cash was impossible to track unless you had the serial numbers.
“But why another boat? Why not just keep the one they had?”
Barry shrugged, knowing he didn’t have an easy answer. “I just figured, sell the boat to another fisherman in need and get another.”
Mac shook her head, shooting down his theory. “Fishing boats aren’t super hard to come by. Maybe on this island, but in general, you can get one from any of the islands. Many are handed down from families and businesses sold.”
“Another vendor said this guy never got any fish. Not enough to pay his bills. He was about to lose everything.”
“And suddenly got a million dollars?”
“That’s why I looked into him.”
“And he died a week later.”
Even more suspicious. “Dead men tell no tales,” Barry recited, standing up and taking a seat on the chair next to the desk so he could see her.
“So, whoever paid him off didn’t want the chance this fisherman would rat them out.”
“Yep.”
“Isn’t there a way you can track the money?”
“I can’t. I talked to the boat salesman, and he said it was paid in cash. I can’t track that.”
“The only person in these waters with that kind of money would be Miles.”
That had been Barry’s initial guess. He was the richest man on the island. Rich people went to the Bahamas, not this little island. Nor would they give a small-time fisherman a million dollars only to kill him. “But why do it?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, not following his question.
“Why pay off a broke fisherman just to turn around and kill him? Why care about a fisherman at all?” Miles released a heavy breath. This case was getting more twisted the deeper he got into it. Barry stood up and started pacing. “In my experience, money motivates.”
“Miles is a millionaire,” she stated the obvious.
“Yeah, but like any millionaire, once you acquire it, you’ll do everything to keep it and make more.” And kill anyone in the way of you maintaining it. Miles wouldn’t just throw a million dollars away as if it were spare change.
“That makes sense, but why pay off a bankrupt fisherman then turn around and kill him?”
“I’m not entirely convinced it’s Miles behind it.”
Mac reared back as if slapped. “But the evidence…” she sputtered, throwing her hands up in the air in irritation.
“It started happening when he showed up, yes, we’ve covered this,” he interrupted her before she could go off on her ‘I hate Miles Banks’ rant. “But the yacht owner had a slip of paper in his hand when he died.”
Barry leaned over to the desk and pulled up the image of the ‘M.’
“See, Miles,” Mac said matter of fact.
“Only it doesn’t match any of his insignias.”
Mac slumped back into her chair like a wilting flower under the hot sun before looking up at him, more hopeful. “Maybe he hired someone and this is theirs.” She pointed at the screen.
“But again, why this man?”
“Because he had everything to lose,” Mac inserted. Barry looked at her questionably. “You said he was on the verge of losing his boat. Without income, he couldn’t feed his family.”
“They say he was on his own,” Barry corrected, ending her theory.
“Then feed himself,” she amended, her nostrils flaring open in annoyance at his attention to detail, which only made Barry smile despite the severity of the conversation.
“If that were so, then why sell his boat for a yacht?”
“If he was a bad fisherman, he wouldn’t need that boat anymore.”
“But what would motivate a fisherman to take a large sum like that?” The ones he had met were prideful people. It wouldn’t matter how much money someone was offering them, they likely wouldn’t take it.
“Maybe he saw Miles do something and bribed him to stay quiet?” Mac suggested.
“But saw him do what? Bottom trawling? Or perhaps Miles hired him to do it. But still, why get rid of the sharks in the cove? To what end? What would getting rid of sharks do?” she continued theorizing, more to herself but speaking out loud.
She really did have a detective brain. It was what made her a great researcher, questioning things and working out possible reasons.
“Maybe tourists? People would feel safer in non-shark-infested waters.”
Mac rolled her eyes at the suggestion. “I don’t think it has anything to do with that. Besides, his hotel won’t stay erected long enough to host guests. Plus, there is no easy access to the beach from the hotel. You’d have to go to town. If anything, it hurts this area rather than improve it.”
“How so?”
“The ecosystem. Sharks are vital to it. As apex predators, they keep the species below them in check. They prevent species from overpopulating in some areas. They stop the spread of disease amongst fish and other species. If sharks left, other species would move in and take over. Disease would spread amongst them and pollute the oceans. It would hurt fish markets and fishermen trading.”
“So that takes out that option. And leaves only one other.”
“And what’s that?”
“Maybe it’s all about fishing, and sharks are just a side effect.
” Mac stared at him with a blank expression.
“Fishing is a lucrative business, especially if you catch enough. You can sell to restaurants and hotel chains. Fishermen in the area have been complaining of a decline, even on the north side, forcing them to move on to other waters.” Barry stopped in his pacing to face Mac.
“What if he’s controlling the fishing waters?
Forcing the competition out so he has sole jurisdiction.
He starts on the southeast side which he owns and overfishes it—”
“The sharks won’t come,” Mac finished for him. “So, their disappearance isn’t necessarily him hunting them, but forcing them out of their migration path, forcing them to look for food elsewhere.”
“The shark you found today, was that the only one?”
“No, I actually found quite a few.” Her face tilted up into a smile. “We went further to the west into deeper waters. I was cage-diving, and they were all around me.”
Her face turned into a full grin as if the thought were wonderful when it sounded terrifying to him, being surrounded by sharks with only a metal cage kept their sharp teeth from ripping you apart.
“So, they did move on.”
“Deeper waters, but yeah. They are still somewhat close.”
“There’s only one way to prove it though, and end it, so the sharks can come back.”
“And how’s that?” Mac asked, looking eager to finish solving the case.
“Follow Miles’s money. If he paid someone a million dollars to keep silent, he could be paying off people to overfish.”
“Or this fisherman just took the money and ran. His death could have been to set an example to not double-cross him.”
There was that possibility too. “Anything is possible. Miles would have to be taking out large sums of money to pay these people, and he would be getting a large paycheck back too. There’s also the invoice for the million dollars.”
“Shouldn’t that be proof, the invoice?”
“To paying off one person, but who knows how many are involved? His bank records would have all of the information I need.”
“And how are you going to get a hold of his bank accounts? That thing has to be protected like Fort Knox. Millionaires go out of their way to protect their financial information and have people monitor it.”
Good conundrum, one he didn’t have a solution for—yet. “I don’t know. I have to get close to him or get on his actual computers. I’ve tried everything remote, but he has so many firewalls.”
“So do that download thing you did with the secretary Angie?”
Barry knew Mac was purposely mispronouncing Annabelle’s name due to her jealousy. Though she had nothing to be jealous about. The woman didn’t hold a candle to Mac. No woman did. Not even Emma.
There was a fire in Mac he had never seen in another woman, not even the doc. Emma was always calm and serene. Mac was like a tiger in the jungle. Sweet and relaxed, but one false move, and you were dead.
That thought might deter other men, but not him. He liked that about her. He didn’t like a ‘yes’ woman who just went along with everything. Mac wasn’t afraid to show her emotions or tell him what she was thinking.
She would be a woman who would lead instead of follow. That was the kind of woman he was looking for in a partner. Not that he had plans with Mac beyond the next few days. He was saying just in general; Mac was the kind of woman he could see a future with. Someone who would challenge him.
“I can’t get close enough to him. He’s always surrounded by guards.
” Except for last night, but Barry had been with Annabelle.
Last night would have been a perfect time.
Barry hadn’t even questioned why Miles’s guards were missing last night.
Barry would have figured after the spook the other night, he would have been more heavily guarded, unless they were staying in the shadows.
“Break into the hotel again,” Mac suggested it as if it were as easy as ordering a pizza online.
“Again, the guards. I tried getting into his office before, but I couldn’t.” After the dock incident the other night, they would be even more cagey.
Mac looked thoughtful until she turned back to him with a smile that had his insides tighten in fear. “What if you don’t have to break in?”
“Did I miss something? Is Miles just going to give me access to his accounts because I walk up to him and ask nicely?”
“No, but you said there is construction going on everywhere there.”
“Yeah,” he replied slowly, not following where she was going with this.
“What if there is something in Miles’s office that needs fixing?”
Miles opened his mouth to contradict her but stopped.
Well, hot damn. The woman was not only gorgeous; she was a genius.
He hadn’t even thought of that. The guards would have to let him in to fix something.
“Babe, you’re a genius.” He grabbed both sides of her face and pulled her in for a quick kiss.
“But fix what?” He was handy, but only on small scale stuff.
Mac looked away in thought again. “The internet? Power? A window?” she rattled off different things that could get him in.
The power he had tried before, and it hadn’t allowed him access.
He couldn’t turn the internet off because he would need it to get into his records, plus it wasn’t a guarantee to get him into the office.
But the window. He would have to be inside the room to replace the window.
“The window. We’ll break it, and when he calls for a repair, I’ll be there to fix it. ”
He would have to come up with another disguise, one Annabelle wouldn’t see through since she knew what he looked like. He couldn’t be Sean the repairman again.
“You mean us,” Mac corrected.
“No, me.” He was not letting her get within a hundred feet of Miles again. She’d already been threatened. If Miles found her snooping around the hotel after the threat, he would see her fired.
“But—” Mac started to protest. Barry silenced it with a kiss.
“No buts, I can blend in better than you can. Remember, we agreed on letting the other lead in their strong suits. This is mine.”
“Fine.” Mac hmphed, not looking happy about being left behind.
“I’ll break the window tonight, and tomorrow, when you go out, I’ll fix the window. Tomorrow evening, we’ll meet here, and we’ll go through everything together. Okay, partner?”
“Okay, but I’m coming with you tonight.”