Paul picked up Daniel as usual each Thursday. Daniel chopped and trimmed and raked, making huge piles of debris on the rocky headline which he’d burn some day, but only when the wind was right.
One afternoon I sat on the dock drinking iced tea and watching Daniel do his Zen-like thing with the rake, and I was remembering Dickie.
I really missed that cat!
I left his bowl in the usual spot, but he never came to eat. Every time a bush rustled, I searched for him. I walked the beach, dreading that I’d find his body washed ashore.
Maybe I should adopt a potcake.
I sighed, waved to Daniel and went inside to wash a load of laundry.
When I came out carrying a basket of wet clothes, Dickie lay on the steps next to his empty food bowl, calmly rearranging his stripes with his tongue.
TWENTY-THREE
IN A DANGEROUS NIGHT OPERATION ON SATURDAY, US COASTGUARD OFFICIALS CAPTURED A SUBMARINE STUFFED WITH SIX BALES OF COCAINE WITH A STREET VALUE OF $30 MILLION.A COASTGUARD SPOKESMAN WAS QUOTED AS SAYING A TEAM OF SPECIAL AGENTS WERE DISPATCHED ON SMALL BOATS TO SURPRISE THE SMUGGLERS AFTER A US NAVY AIRPLANE SPOTTED THE SUB IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS ABOUT THIRTY MILES OFF THE COAST OF FT LAUDERDALE.TWO SMUGGLERS WERE ON BOARD THE TWENTY-EIGHT FOOT STEEL AND FIBERGLASS SUB, BUT THE COASTGUARD WAS ABLE TO CAPTURE THE SMUGGLERS BEFORE THEY COULD SCUTTLE THE VESSEL.ARRESTED WERE JEREMY THOMAS, 23, OF PENSACOLA AND ERIC MYERS, 21, OF OCALA. THE US SHIP THAT NABBED THE TRAFFICKERS ARRIVED IN THE PORT OF FT LAUDERDALE TODAY WITH THE DRUG BOAT IN TOW.Florida Sun Sentinel, Sept. 6, 2008, P. B1
TWENTY-FOUR
EL MIRADOR LAND CORPORATION, DEVELOPER OF THE TAMARIND TREE RESORT AND MARINA, AN EXCLUSIVE BAHAMIAN ISLAND RETREAT FOR THE SUPER-RICH, SAID IT FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY AFTER FAILING TO SECURE NEW FINANCING, DEMONSTRATING THAT EVEN THE RICH CANNOT ESCAPE THE COUNTRY’S CURRENT ECONOMIC TROUBLES. SPOKESPERSON GABRIELE MUELLER SAID THE CORPORATION FILED FOR CHAPTER 11 PROTECTION WEDNESDAY IN FEDERAL BANKRUPTCY COURT IN TEXAS. THE MOVE CAME JUST TWO MONTHS AFTER THE RESORT SUFFERED EXTENSIVE DAMAGE IN HURRICANE HELEN WHICH SWEPT THROUGH THE ABACO ISLAND CHAIN IN SEPTEMBER.IN A STATEMENT TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, THE CEO OF EL MIRADOR LAND CORPORATION, RUDOLPH MUELLER, DEVELOPER OF THE TAMARIND TREE RESORT, SAID HE HAD BEEN UNABLE TO SECURE FINANCING ARRANGEMENTS WITH ITS CREDITORS AND BONDHOLDERS. THE COURT FILING SAYS THAT TIGHT CREDIT MARKETS HAD MADE IT DIFFICULT TO RAISE MONEY TO PAY OFF DEBTS AND MAKE NEEDED REPAIRS TO THE RESORT. HE PLANS TO REORGANIZE ITS FINANCES AND EMERGE FROM BANKRUPTCY ‘AS SOON AS POSSIBLE,’ THE STATEMENT SAID.OPENED IN EARLY 2008, THE RESORT HAD BEEN PLANNING AN EXPANSION WHEN THE CREDIT CRISIS HIT WALL STREET. THOSE PLANS, AS WELL AS PLANS TO DEVELOP OTHER LUXURY RESORTS IN SOUTH AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN ARE NOW ON HOLD PENDING RESOLUTION OF EL MIRADOR’S FINANCIAL WOES.The Dallas Morning News, Oct. 16, 2008, P. A1
About the Author
Marcia Talley’s first Hannah Ives novel, Sing It to Her Bones, won the Malice Domestic Grant in 1998 and was nominated for an Agatha Award as Best First Novel of 1999. Unbreathed Memories, the second in the series, appeared in 2000. Both were Featured Alternates of the Mystery Guild. She is also the editor of a collaborative serial novel, Naked Came the Phoenix, where she joins twelve bestselling women authors to pen a tongue-in-cheek mystery about murder in an exclusive health spa. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and collections.
Marcia lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband Barry, a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. When she isn’t writing, she spends her time traveling or sailing. Marcia and her husband recently returned from the Bahamas, where they lived for six months on Troubadour, their thirty-seven-foot sailboat.
