Bitter Sweets

and other things that bobbed beneath her feet, boats weren’t her favorite things. She was definitely a “landlubber.”

    “Who told you I was here?” he asked, sounding just a tad put-out.

    “Your saleslady said you were gone for a while. My personal assistant found the ‘address.’ “

    “A good agency,” he mumbled. “I’ll have to remember that if I ever need you.”

    She pointed to the name painted on the hull. “ The Big Bust? I don’t think I should ask.”

    “Why not? Everyone else does. Number one: No, I’m more of a leg man, myself. Number two: I went broke after the divorce. She got the house, the cars, the bank accounts, and a face-lift. I got this. But enough about me. Why are you here?”

    “The weather was great and I like the marina. I like boats and all that nautical stuff, so I thought I’d drop by.”

    “You like the marina? Maybe. But I don’t think you’re being completely honest with me.” He grinned at her, watching her wobble on unsteady legs. “You can’t fool an old sailor like me; I can tell. You don’t like boats.”

    “Does it show that much?”

    “Oh, yes. You look like you could get seasick right here in the slip.”

    “That’s highly likely.”

    “So, have a seat, but if you feel like you’re going to barf, do it over the edge.”

    “Thanks.” This wasn’t turning out to be the semiromantic encounter she might have hoped for. She looked around, but there was nothing resembling a chair in sight. “Where?” she asked.

    “There.” He pointed to an unsanded spot near where he had been working. Once she was seated, he tossed her a block of wood covered with sandpaper and pointed to the deck. “Don’t take it personally. I make everyone I know work if they drop by. It keeps me from having a lot of unwanted guests-a built-in hazard when you own a boat.”

    “Yes, I suppose that would take care of the problem,” she admitted gruffly as she began to sand. Not a good day to be wearing a white denim skirt.

    He continued to work at a feverish pace. It occurred to Savannah that this man probably couldn’t stop working and relax if his health and happiness depended on it.

    “Well...” he said, “... did you find Earl?”

    So, he didn’t know, or he didn’t want her to know he knew. As usual, she wasn’t sure which.

    “Yeah, I found him.”

    “Did you deliver my message?”

    “The bit about you not being even with him yet, not by a long shot?”

    “That was it. Don’t tell me, you forgot.”

    “You’re right. I forgot.”

    “We had a deal. See if I help you out again.”

    “You honestly don’t know yet?” she asked, wondering that Dirk hadn’t made it out here already

    “Know what?” His hazel eyes were guarded; a muscle bunched in his jaw.

    “Earl is dead.”

    “Dead?” He dropped his wooden block and sat down hard on the deck. She could have sworn he turned a bit pale beneath his sea tan. “My God,” he said, “are you sure about this?”

    “Very. I saw the body.”

    He covered his face with both hands and a shudder ran through him.

    “Oh, man... this is too weird,” he said. “I mean, you wish a guy dead for so long and then it happens and you...it’s just too strange.”

    She didn’t reply but watched him closely. Although she had informed many people of many terrible things over the years, she had decided long ago that no two reacted in exactly the same way.

    “You wished Earl dead?”

    “Of course I did. That bastard cost me everything 1 had: my business, my life’s savings, my home, even my wife and kids. I wanted him to suffer, big time.”

    He drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly, rocking slowly back and forth. “Did he?” he asked.

    “Did he what?”

    “Did Earl suffer?”

    Unbidden, mental pictures of twisted wire appeared in technicolor across the movie screen in her head. Pictures of thin wire cutting into flesh. “Yes,” she said, “I think it’s pretty safe to say that Earl suffered a lot before he died.”

    “What a surprise. That actually makes me feel worse, not better. I wouldn’t have bet on that a week ago. You never know how you’re going to react to a situation, until you’re in it.”

    “That’s true.”

    Savannah waited for him to collect himself, waited for the obvious question that didn’t seem to be forthcoming.

    “He had it coming, you know,” Alan said, rubbing his eyes as though they stung. “He’s hurt so many people