You owe me, p.8
You Owe Me, page 8
‘Has Billy Ray gone missing before?’
‘Yeah, well missing’s maybe an exaggeration, he’d disappear sometimes, but only for a few days, maybe a week. And usually, that was ‘cos he’d met some broad and fell in love - again. This time’s different though ain’t it? Been a while now according to Joe.’
‘How close were you to Billy Ray and Jerry?’
‘Not that close, but we diving guys in this neck of the woods, most of us know each other.’
‘Describe Billy Ray to me. Anything, good or bad. What was he like as a friend, you know, reliable, honest, a liar, ambitious, loud, you know what I mean?’
‘Yeah, I get ya. Well, Billy Ray was a happy dude. Dependable? hmm, I’d say generally yeah, but would he steal my girl if he could? Yes, he would. Honest, I guess he was, at least as honest as the average guy, though he could spin a good yarn. You know, good at embroidery as my granny used to say. And yes he was, sorry, he is, ambitious, wants the lot. He’s pretty confident and a likeable guy. Not sure if I can tell you any more than that.’
‘Joe said Frankie lived with his parents in Naples some of the time, but that he stayed in a place in Fort Lauderdale, but he didn’t know the address.’
’Sounds about right for Billy Ray. He moved around, depended on where the work was. He lived on his boat mostly, but I know he had an arrangement with some old girlfriend in Fort Lauderdale, where he stayed sometimes. And his buddy Jerry, he had a place on a trailer park. Billy Ray would crash there as well from time to time.’
‘So what did Billy Ray do for a living, to make money?’ Max laughed.
‘Anything to do with boats. He’d clean ‘em, you know dive underneath, clean off the barnacles all that sort of stuff. Big demand for that beginning of the season. He’d do some repairs, engines, hull repairs if they weren’t too damaged. Like I said, most anything to do with boats. And he knew his stuff.’
‘What does he look like? Joe gave me a description, showed me some old photos but...’
‘Hang on,’ said Max and flicked on his cell phone. ‘Give me your cell number.’ Frankie couldn’t remember it, so he handed his cell over to Max who scrolled through a menu then tapped the number into his own phone, clicked and gave Frankie’s cell back to him. ‘Just look on your images man, and you’ll see a couple of recent pictures of Billy Ray. Here,’ said Max and showed Frankie where to look.
Billy Ray had a similar build to his uncle, not tall but broad and muscular. He had dark hair, suntanned completion, deep set eyes and looked fit. He was smiling, had a beer in his right hand, Charlie under his left arm and was leaning against the Mustang. Max pointed at the picture and continued.
‘We’re all crazy. Divers - fairy tale seekers of sunken treasure. Maybe our moms and dads read us too many stories about shipwrecks and pirates. I did some diving for wrecks with Billy Ray off the Cuban coast a few years ago. That’s where I got to know him and Jerry. We kept in touch, and they’d come around for a beer and a catch-up now and then. Billy Ray was always dreaming of the big one. We all were I guess, but Billy Ray, well he was more intense somehow, determined. Said he was going to make his fortune before he was too old to enjoy it. And he meant it.’
‘How realistic is this searching for treasure, sunken Spanish galleons and all that stuff?’ asked Frankie, ‘I mean it sounds like a lot of fun, but is there any serious prospect of finding treasure?’
‘Yeah man. I read somewhere there are about six million shipwrecks on the ocean floor around the world. And around here there are hundreds of shipwrecks, maybe thousands, mostly Spanish, and still lots of them undiscovered. Most of them were carrying valuable cargo, including gold and silver back to Spain. I know some guys in Florida who’ve made fortunes, some officially declared, and lots of finds undeclared, but I never said that.’ He winked and laughed then continued. ‘Look up the shipwreck stats on Google man, you’ll be surprised.’
‘I had no idea it was such a serious thing. Don’t you have to give stuff you find back?’ Max laughed again. ‘What, why is that funny?’ said Frankie.
‘Not so much funny, just so many answers.’
‘I’m in no rush. I think I’d like to understand what it’s all about if I’m going to have a chance to find Billy Ray. So if you have the time?’
‘Okay well depends on the age and what kind of ship. Might be something more recent than an old Spanish ship, so some outfit, or country might still own the rights to whatever’s on it, especially if it’s considered salvage, then you might have to give it back. If you declare the find that is?’ Frankie smiled and nodded. ‘Then if you do find a really old shipwreck with valuable stuff on it, you can report it, make a claim, but then the authorities know and depending on where it is, you might have to pay something. If you find a wreck in international waters, you’re probably in the clear, but that depends again if it’s considered salvage or not. It’s complex.’
‘I had no idea it was such a serious business, or potentially so rewarding.’
‘You going to go get yourself some scuba diving lessons now?’ Max asked, smiling.
‘Not me Max, a landlubber if ever there was one. But thanks for the information, really fascinating.’ The pancakes and coffee came. They ate, and Charlie had some scraps. The waitress brought out a bowl of water for Charlie, and he noisily lapped away at it.
‘When was the last time you saw Billy Ray?’ asked Frankie
‘Not sure of the exact date, don’t really live that kinda life, but I’d say about a couple of weeks before he went missing, somewhere around then anyway. I got a call from his mom asking if I’d seen him recently and that she hadn’t been able to contact him for a while. Billy Ray was a bit of a mommy’s guy in some ways and usually called her every few days or so if he could, so it was unusual, not unheard of, but... ‘
‘And what was his demeanour the last time you spoke to him?’
‘Demeanour?’
‘Mood, was he normal, happy, depressed, what?’
Oh, right. No, excited I’d say. Said he was on his way, might be on his way, something like that.’
‘On is way? What does that mean?’ asked Frankie.
‘To making it big, big find maybe, something good anyway.’
‘Did you believe him?’
‘No reason not to. I mean like I say, he was like the rest of us, a dreamer, but he wouldn’t make things up just to impress, least I don’t think so. But I guess you never knew with Billy Ray. Sounded genuine. Said he had a backer too, or maybe a few?’
‘Backer, how d’you mean?’
‘Well it’s all very well locating a wreck, maybe even one that looks as if it might have valuable cargo, gold, silver, artefacts, whatever, but then you have to get the stuff out, Get it to shore. Get it to somewhere safe, preferably without anyone else finding out. And that takes money. Sometimes you can be lucky and you can bring the stuff out yourself. It happens, but usually, you need specialist equipment.’
‘And how much money would you need, to get stuff out I mean?’
‘Oh brother, how long’s a piece of string? Depends on the wreck, the location, the potential, the kit you need. And not just that, it might take a while to organise, and you got to live in the meantime. So some people sell shares, get investors on board rather than just backers.’
‘So it wasn’t just Joe who’d backed Billy Ray?’
‘I don’t know anything about that. I know his uncle Joe loaned Billy Ray a boat from time to time, but I didn’t know about anything else.’ For the first time, something in Max’s body language didn’t seem quite right. Frankie decided to leave it. He needed to keep Max talking. He could come back to that question another time.
‘And have you seen anything of his friend Jerry?’
‘Nope, the last time I saw him was with Billy Ray, the time I told you about.’
‘You wouldn’t have Billy Ray’s old girlfriend’s address or anything would you, the girl he sometimes stays with?’
‘Fraid not. Her name’s Deanne I think. I met her, but I don’t know where she lives.’
‘And the trailer park where Jerry lives?’
‘Yep, been there, Windy something. Nope, Breezy Hill, yeah, Breezy Hill RV park, nice place.’
CHAPTER14
PRESENT
FLORIDA 28 MARCH 2017
Frankie insisted on paying the bill, and they walked back to Max’s workshop chatting about sports cars. They shook hands and Frankie and Charlie got back into the Mustang. Frankie got the notebook out and looked for the number of the Fort Pierce Police Department Joe had provided. He tapped in the number and waited.
‘Fort Pierce Police Department how may I direct your call?’
‘Could I speak to Detective Sharkey please, Detective Pete Sharkey?’
‘And your name is?’
‘Frank Armstrong, it’s about a missing person, a Mr Ballantyne.’
‘Okay, please hold.’ Frankie waited, and the receptionist came back on the line.
Detective Sharkey is very busy right now, could you be a bit more specific about why you want to speak with him?’
‘Yes, the uncle of the missing man has asked me to help him find him, and I really need to talk to Detective Sharkey. I promise I won’t take up much of his time.’
‘Please hold,’ said the receptionist.
‘Sharkey here, how can I help you Mr Armstrong?’ He sounded exasperated. Frankie asked if he could come to meet the detective to talk about Billy Ray.
‘And you are? I mean are you a relative, a PI, what?
‘No, I’m neither, just a family friend. Joe, Billy Ray’s uncle that is, he asked me if I could help out. He’s got his boatyard to run, and he asked me if I could help to find out where Billy Ray might be, so that’s the reason I’m calling. If there’s a problem I can give you Joe’s number and you can check with him.’
‘You a Brit?’
‘Yes, I am. Joe and I met in the war, the Gulf war.’ Frankie thought he noticed a slight change in attitude. Americans had great respect for their military. It seemed that might also apply to him.
‘I’m a very busy man Mr Armstrong, and you’re probably wasting your time and mine coming to see me.’
‘Well, I’d still like to come to see you.’
‘Okay okay, but don’t think I’ll be able to tell you much more than you know already. You know where to find us?’
‘I do thanks.’ Back at the Cove Inn, Frankie had Googled the zip code for the Fort Pierce police headquarters which he now entered into the satnav. The journey took him just over an hour and a half along the I-75 then turning on to Okeechobee Road. At exit 129 the satnav lady instructed him to turn on to Sunrise Boulevard and eventually he arrived at his destination. The Fort Pierce Police Department was a large functional looking two story building set in spacious grounds of neat lawns interspersed with large parking areas.
The receptionist didn’t seem the least bit fazed by Frankie asking if Charlie could accompany him into his meeting with Detective Sharkey.
‘Sign in please, take a seat, and I’ll tell him you’re here.’ Frankie obliged ‘Detective Sharkey, your visitor Mr Armstrong is in reception. Yes, I’ll show him to your office. He does have a canine companion and wanted to know if it’s okay to bring him along? No, a cute little thing. Yes right away.’ She got up, smiled and beckoned Frankie to follow her. They walked down a corridor. She knocked on the door.
‘Come in.’ said Detective Pete Sharkey who remained sitting at his desk writing. Behind him on the wall was a large cartoon picture of him as a shark. Frankie entered the office, and the detective stopped writing. He remained behind his desk and extended his hand to point at the chair opposite. ‘Please sit down Mr Armstrong.’ He noticed Frankie staring at the back wall. ‘Police humour’ said Detective Sharkey, ‘and this is?’
‘Charlie, he’s actually Billy Ray’s dog, the missing Billy Ray. We,.. er became friends and well....’
‘Got a pooch myself. Dogs are much more trustworthy than humans in my experience’ Frankie sat down. Sharkey leaned back in his chair. He looked Italian, thought Frankie, swarthy with slicked back dark hair. Shorter than Frankie but wider, looked as if he enjoyed his food. His office was a compact affair but had room enough for a decent sized desk and two chairs either side, plus some filing cabinets and a small bookcase. Charlie made himself comfortable under the chair. Sunlight streamed through the slats of the window blinds casting shadows across the pale cream walls. A ceiling fan whirred above. ‘You want some coffee, water?’ Sharkey asked.
‘No. I’m fine thanks’ replied Frankie, looking at the small mountain of files on Sharkey’s desk, the detective noticed.
‘See what I mean Mr Armstrong? So what would you like to know?’ Sharkey didn’t try to hide his impatience.
‘Well, first of all, thanks for seeing me. Has there been any progress at all?’ Frankie got the feeling the detective was about to say he had, but stopped and instead of answering the question, came back with one of his own.
‘So how did it come about, you helping the family find the missing guy?’ Frankie gave him a potted version of meeting Joe during the Gulf war and the phone call out of the blue. ‘So if you two hadn’t been in touch all that time, how did he know you’d have any experience in finding a missing person?’
‘He didn’t, I mean I don’t.’
‘What do you do Mr Armstrong, for a living I mean?’
‘I’m a partner in a security company.’
‘And does this security company get involved in tracing people?
‘It does, but not my personal speciality. I mean I don’t really have any personal speciality as such. I’m really more of a businessman. We have operatives who do the actual security stuff.’
‘But still, a happy coincidence then, Mr Nelson must be pleased you turned out to be a security expert, even if missing persons isn’t exactly your speciality?’
‘Well I didn’t tell Joe I owned a security company. I thought it might build up his expectations, so I just told him I worked for a security company, meet and greet, drive people around, that sort of thing.’
‘So why did you tell me?’
‘Well I assumed from your initial questions, you’d check up on me, and lying to you wouldn’t be the best thing to do.’
‘You got that right.’ So you asked if there’d been any progress tracing Mr Ballantyne.
‘I did, and have you? Asked Frankie, sensing maybe something had happened.
Well, yes, there have been a couple of developments. But coincidentally, I’ve only been appraised of them since speaking to you on the phone an hour or so ago. So that means, I haven’t had time to fully assess the implications, nor have I had a chance to think about informing your friend Joe Nelson.’ Sharkey stroked his chin before continuing, ‘and as you’re aware, there are two missing men, but we’ve established that Jerry Keenan has no living relatives as far as we can tell, so I guess Joe Nelson becomes the default contact and recipient of information relating to that individual also.’
‘So are you saying you can’t tell me about these developments?’
‘Well it kinda puts me on the spot shall we say. It would be wrong for me to provide this information, at least without informing Joe Nelson first.’
‘Okay, well how about we call Joe now and he can vouch for me, and you can tell us both about these developments.’
‘The problem is, normally I’d take a little more time to assess the implications before informing the relatives. So I really don’t want to do that yet. On the other hand, I don’t want to impede your search for the missing men.’ Sharkey stopped talking, Frankie waited.
‘Okay, Mr Armstrong, I just hope this doesn’t blow back in my face, but the main priority has to be getting these men back safely, if that’s at all possible. So despite our very short acquaintance, I’m going to go with my instinct and tell you what we have, off the record as it were. But, and it’s a big but, you have to keep this to yourself until I decide to make it known to any third party, including Joe Nelson. Can you do that?’
‘Yes, I can.’
Sharkey gave him a hard look, then sighed.
‘Okay, well as a matter of routine, we did the usual description of the two men, an APB on their vehicles and plates and we’ve been monitoring any activity relating to Billy Ray’s debit or credit card transactions. We couldn’t monitor those of Jerry Keenan as we couldn’t get any bank details for him, but Joe Nelson was able to provide details of Billy Ray’s bank account. Using that, a transaction came on our radar. There was a purchase made at a marina some miles north of here, on the 19th March. A place called Melbourne Harbor.’ Frankie had taken his notebook out and made a note of the name of the marina. ‘Maybe if Mr Nelson had informed us sooner.., anyway as soon as we got the information, we sent an officer to investigate, but there was no Billy Ray Ballantyne, or Jerry Keenan nor any boat called Falling Star.’
‘No trace of them being there at all?’
‘There was a boat called Morning Star moored there for one night.’ No great description of the people on board. The office manager seemed to think it was just one guy.’
‘And the other development?’
‘Could be something, could be nothing to do with the missing guys. Bodies turn up drowned in the ocean all the time around here, but a couple of fishermen pulled a body out of the ocean a few days ago. Quite a distance away from the area of Melbourne Harbor but with the sea currents and tides, that really doesn’t mean too much. The location of the find meant a bit of a delay in us being informed.
