He crouched down when he heard another vehicle approaching. He recognized the throaty purr of the Harley before he saw it. Dak pulled up next to the truck, and climbed off his bike after shutting it down.
Devine turned on the video recording feature on his phone and started filming.
Dak said, “Hey, Hal.”
The man turned around, and Devine could see he was in his thirties with a trim beard and glasses. He had on jean overalls and a ski cap pulled down over his ears. Their comingled breaths rose above them in the frigid air.
“I thought you’d be here ahead of me,” said Hal.
“I got tied up.”
“Really? What gal did the tying?”
They both laughed at this comment, and Dak slapped the man on the shoulder.
“How’s it looking in there?” Dak said, inclining his head toward the tubs.
“All systems go. I swear these critters could survive an atom bomb falling on them.”
“Let’s hope one doesn’t hit, don’t think we could survive it,” said Dak with a chuckle.
“How long you reckon?” asked Hal.
“Two days they’ll be here. But we got the shipment to pick up tonight. And the more they grow, the more they weigh. And...” Dak rubbed his thumb and forefinger together.
They locked up the building, climbed into the pickup, and set off.
Devine ran back to his truck and followed.
Chapter 66
As soon as they were on the main road, Devine knew where they were going. The same spot along the shore. He was driving with his lights off, which wasn’t a problem even with the poor visibility. He just followed the taillights ahead of him to see the contours of the road.
The truck pulled off and Devine did the same, albeit a couple of hundred yards short and behind a stand of trees growing near the road.
He flitted along until he reached a good surveillance point in time to watch through his optics as Hal carried large plastic containers toward the water. Dak was hefting some other apparatus that Devine could not really make out.
Devine headed forward and then cut toward the beach. He looked out to the water and, though it was foggy and gloomy, he could see a solitary boat’s running lights slicing through the darkness out on the Gulf of Maine.
Devine crouched along a ledge of rocky shore, took out his optics, and surveyed the field in front of him. Once more, a smaller boat was lowered from the larger boat. It then traveled swiftly toward shore, breached the breakers, and came to a stop bow up in the sand. He could now see that the vessel was actually an RIB, or rigid inflatable boat, much like the kind he had used in the Army. There were two men on board. They jumped off the bow onto the sand, and greeted Dak and Hal with handshakes and backslaps. Then the four of them proceeded to unload the cargo; it was placed in the containers Hal had brought to the beach. Dak bent down and inserted the devices he had brought with him into each container.
Dak handed one of the men an envelope, and they parted ways. Dak and Hal hefted the first container. It must have been heavy, since both men struggled with the weight of it. They reached the truck, loaded it in the back, and then went back twice more to get the other containers. They drove off as the RIB was swiftly making its way back to the larger boat.
Devine had already gotten into his vehicle and was waiting. As they passed him Devine pulled out behind them. They drove straight back to Jocelyn Point, and to the same outbuilding.
They carried the containers into the building and had set down the last one when Devine appeared in the doorway.
“Hey, guys, nice gloomy night for some smuggling.”
Both men whirled around and Hal’s hand went to a pocket on his coat but then he was staring down the barrel of Devine’s Glock. He let his hand drop to his side.
Dak barked, “You’re trespassing, Devine. You have no business or right to be here.”
“I saw a suspicious act take place in a public area, and the fruits of that act are right behind you in those containers.”
“There’s nothing illegal with what we’re doing,” exclaimed Dak.
“As though all legal business is done in the middle of the night on deserted beaches and involving boats coming into shore with a payoff for whatever’s in those containers?” He pointed at one with his Glock’s muzzle. “What is it? Drugs?”
“We’re not drug dealers, for God’s sake,” blurted out a surprised Hal.
“What, then?”
Dak looked at Hal and then back at Devine. “It’s unagi.”
“Come again?”
“Unagi. It’s made from elvers.”
Devine cocked his head. “Elvers? Sounds like something from The Hobbit.”
“We’re buying and selling glass eels,” said Hal. He pointed behind him at dozens of large tubs set up on low tables. Devine could now see that they were all hooked up to aeration equipment. He assumed that was what Dak had been carrying on the beach.
“Is it illegal?” asked Devine.
“Not if you have a license,” said Dak.
“And do you?” asked Devine.
“Um, yeah. I do,” said Dak nervously.
“Bullshit. Then why the middle-of-the-night shipment? Why hide your operation here?”
“Do I need a lawyer?” said Dak.
“I didn’t come up here to bust illegal ‘elvers.’ I came up here to find out who killed your sister. So, did Jenny know about all this?” said Devine, pointing his gun around the room.
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so?” Devine shook his head. Had he been focusing on completely the wrong thing this whole time? He looked at Dak. “Tell me how this all operates. You tell me the truth and I’m not going to come down on you like a ton of bricks. But you lie to me, you’re done and your ass is going to jail. And his, too,” said Devine, indicating Hal, who seemed to be attempting to shrink into the floorboards.
Dak started talking fast. “Elvers are a huge market. The Japanese eat tons of eels. But overfishing depleted the Japanese populations. And there was an earthquake there about a decade or so ago that wiped out most of their aquaculture operations. So they turned elsewhere.”
“To Europe and America,” chimed in Hal, who now also seemed eager to explain things to Devine. “But the European elver population nosedived, and the eel was listed as an endangered species and exports from the EU were banned. So that left us and a few other countries in the Caribbean as the primary sources. And the prices skyrocketed. And that made for a big black market. Then that all came crashing down because the feds and the states stepped in. Most states banned the fishing. Here in Maine they started issuing licenses and imposing quotas and arresting and fining people.”
“Eels don’t breed in captivity,” explained Dak. “So all farm-raised eels have to be first caught in the wild. And there are lots of them in Maine.” He pointed behind him. “It takes up to two years to grow an eel to harvestable size. That’s normally done in an eel fishery.”
“How’d you two hook up?”
“Hal and I were in the Army together. He moved up here from South Carolina and told me about the eels. I researched it and we put a business plan together.”
“Where was the boat tonight coming in from?”
“New Brunswick,” said Dak. “Canada also has a lot of elvers.”
“So are you running an eel fishery?”
“We don’t have a license for that. And who wants to wait two years to get your money?”
“So how do you make your money?” asked Devine.