The Rum Runner Page 8

  Chapter Eight

  The afternoon sun was strong, and Hank rolled up the blue sleeves on his work shirt. The gentle rocking motion of the deck and the lapping of water against the hull of the boat soothed him. This was home. This was where he belonged. Not at the club, dancing with a tall lady cop as the orchestra played. Not dealing with murdering pirates.

  He couldn’t get the evening out of his mind, though. And it wasn’t the pirate that was the focus of his attention.

  He hoped some hard work would settle him. He found the paintbrush and white paint in the storage cupboard. He’d paint those steps today. It needed to be done, and it was easier to do when no one else was around and tempted to go up and down them. He approached the top set of steps, paint pail in hand, and realized that first they needed to be washed. Didn’t do any good to paint dirty steps. Back down to the working deck for a bucket and scrub brush.

  Why had he let Douglas convince him to go to the club last night? He had only wanted to relax and do crossword puzzles. He’d been promised possible information about what had happened to Tomas. And true, he had gotten that information, but not at the club. Instead he’d danced. Danced with a very attractive woman who he pretty much had to stay clear of if he knew what was good for him. Unless he could be sure she was the kind of cop who would turn a blind eye in exchange for having her palm greased, and he didn’t think she was, then there was only trouble if he cultivated a relationship.

  He splashed soapy water on the steps and set to scrubbing.

  Why couldn’t he get her out of his mind? Her eyes were so dark and piercing. Her whole body one of angles instead of curves, yet she had moved so gracefully to the music.

  The steps scrubbed, he now had to wait for them to dry before he could paint them. It wouldn’t take long in the sun. He scrubbed the second set of steps while he waited. There was always something to do on a boat. He’d known that from the earliest days with his father. He’d given the crew the weekend off, though, and some of the chores would be easier with multiple people, checking and fixing the nets, for one. And Smitty was the most mechanically minded. He’d wait for him to check out the pinging in the engine.

  Back to the top stairs. Painting was methodical and rather calming. There was an immediate satisfaction to seeing the newly gleaming stairs take shape. Unfortunately, it was also so soothing that it let his mind wander. How did Vincent Salerno know that he was a rum runner? Had Tomas mentioned him? He couldn’t believe he would have sold him out like that, but maybe it was under duress. Tomas, somehow, had gotten involved with Salerno and ended up dead. He did not want the same thing to happen to him. He might not have a lot to lose, but he’d still rather spend his days on the sea as opposed to in a box six feet underground.

  He was sure Tomas, if able to give an opinion, would rather be on his boat as well.

  The boat. What was Irene going to do with that boat? Maybe he could get his father to buy it, to make it part of their fleet. But he needed to know what had happened to Tomas. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to stay in touch with that lady cop. She’d have access to information he couldn’t get otherwise.

  It wasn’t using her. Was it? Did it matter? She’d probably use him if it meant enhancing her career.

  “Uncle Hank?” The little boy voice came from the gangplank below him. “You here?”

  “Right here, Ernst.” He stood up so the boy could see him. Both brothers were there, looking around them expectantly. “What can I do for you?”

  “Can we sweep the deck for a nickel?”

  “Sweep the deck you say?” His heart broke for these fatherless boys and yet swelled with pride that they were trying to earn money.

  “Yes, please.”

  “You know you don’t sweep a boat’s deck. You swab it.”

  “Swab?” They looked slightly uncertain.

  He made his way down to the working deck.

  “That’s right. You pour water on it and swish it all around with a mop. Can you do that?”

  “Yes, sir,” Ernst said, clearly the spokesman of the duo.

  “Okay. You do a good job and I’ll give you a quarter each. How does that sound?”

  Their eyes grew wide as the promised quarter. “A whole quarter? For each of us? Why, that’s half a dollar!”

  Good to know they were still teaching math in the schools.

  He got them set up, while trying to think of other simple jobs he could pay them to do on the boat. It wasn’t much, but it would do something toward helping Irene out. He finished painting the stairs and was putting the paint away when his brother called, “Ahoy,” from the gangway.

  “Be right there,” Hank called back.

  “We’re swabbing!” one of the boys said, above the sound of their mop splashing away on the deck. He was fairly certain the deck was getting clean. At the very least the boys were occupied and seemed to be having a good time, and that was worth his fifty cents, if nothing else.

  “Got some new deck hands, I see,” Douglas said as Hank came out from the storeroom. That’s when he saw his brother wasn’t alone but had with him the girl he’d been dancing with the night before. Alice Grady’s sister.

  Hank quickly wiped his hands on his work trousers.

  “They came offering their services. They’re Nagy’s boys.” He looked questioningly at his brother. It wasn’t unheard of for him to visit the boat. It was odd to bring a girl with him.

  “I took Marty out on the runabout,” Douglas explained. “We’re going out to dinner later, but she wanted to see a fishing boat up close. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Hank wasn’t sure that was the most romantic place Douglas could have taken the girl, but what did he know? From all the evidence, Douglas had a much more successful social life than he did.

  “That’s fine. Only thing, I just painted the stairs, so you can’t go far.” He stuck out a hand to the girl, since Douglas clearly wasn’t going to introduce them. “I’m Hank Chapman, nice to meet you.”

  She took his hand in a surprisingly firm handshake. “Marty Grady. You danced with my sister yesterday.”

  “I did,” Hank agreed.

  “She’s a little prickly,” Marty said. “But don’t let that put you off. She’s a real sweetheart inside.”

  He hadn’t thought she was prickly at all. But at the same time, he also hadn’t been thinking of digging any deeper. She’d been a pleasant dance partner, that’s all. Hank wasn’t sure what to respond to that, so he talked about his boat.

  “Not sure what you’re interested in seeing on the boat, but these are the fishing nets over here.” He gestured toward the nets and rigging designed for pulling them through the water and up onto deck again.

  “Hank, come with us to dinner tonight,” Douglas said.

  He actually took a step back in surprise. “Why on earth would you want me on your date?”

  “Not just you,” Douglas explained. “Ask Alice. Marty thinks Alice doesn’t get out enough. It will be fun.”

  He shook his head. “No. No, sorry. I can’t do that. I’ve got things to do here.”

  “You can’t even go up the steps,” Douglas pointed out. “And your deck is spotless.” He gestured toward the Nagy boys, who were now splashing each other with the water from the buckets.

  Hank hurried over to them. He didn’t need them to show up at home filthy. That would just make more work for Irene. He dug two quarters out of his pocket and handed one to each boy. “Great job, boys,” he said. “Come back Monday and I’ll see if I have other jobs for you.”

  “We’ll be here bright and early,” Ernst promised with a grin.

  Hold on. Monday the boys had to be at school. “You’ll be here after school,” Hank said firmly.

  The boys’ shoulders slumped slightly. “Are you sure? We could get more work done if we came early. We could earn more money for Mama.”

  “After school will do just fine.”

  The boys left, and Hank dumped what was left of the water overboard
and put the mops away.

  Douglas was still looking at him expectantly. “So, what about it?”

  Hadn’t he already answered him? Hadn’t he been clear enough when he said “no”?

  “I’m not good company.” He leaned against the wall to the storage room.

  “Alice had a good time with you yesterday.” Marty gave him a beguiling smile.

  Little vixen. He sighed. He didn’t want to argue with the girl.

  “That’s because we were dancing. The music was good.”

  “Alice is a very nice girl.” A slight pout formed on Marty’s red lips.

  “It’s nothing against Alice,” Hank insisted. “I agree, she’s lovely. But I’m not. She doesn’t want to spend time with me. Trust me.”

  “But she does,” Marty contradicted him. “She said she had a good time last night. Didn’t you?”

  Hank sighed and stared at the clouds scudding past.

  Douglas took him by the arm and led him toward the bow of the ship. “I don’t know where you get the idea that you are some sort of social pariah unfit for company, but it’s not true.”

  Oh, wasn’t it? Douglas didn’t know the nightmares. He didn’t know what he’d seen. Hank wouldn’t let him know. He would do everything to protect his younger brother from that.

  “You’re just out of practice,” Douglas said, giving his arm an encouraging squeeze. “Come with us. It won’t be so bad, and you’ll see that you are much more fit for company than you give yourself credit for.”

  And if he didn’t go, what would he be doing? Eating at home with his parents. It would be a perfectly acceptable and largely silent dinner, after which his parents would both go into the study with books and he would either do the same, or maybe go to the speakeasy in Perth Amboy and drink until he was just shy of drunk. Or he could spend the evening with Douglas and the two girls, making small talk, and making sure he never said anything wrong, either about smuggling or about the war. There were so many subjects that were off limits. It was much easier to spend a quiet evening at home.

  “I don’t know.” Was he wavering? Why didn’t he say flat out “no” like he’d done before?

  “Listen,” Douglas lowered his voice. “Marty is worried about her sister. She doesn’t think she gets out enough. She thinks she’s turning into an old maid before her time. It would be a service to all of us if you’d ask her to dinner.”

  Oh, for crying out loud.

  So both he and Alice were the token projects of their younger siblings. Maybe it would be a favor to take her out, and then she wouldn’t have to be a pet project at the hands of someone who wouldn’t understand. At least if he went, the two of them would have that much in common.

  “Fine. Fine. I’ll do it.” He sighed heavily. He was a fool, clearly.

  Douglas gave him a hearty clap on the shoulder. “You won’t regret it!”

  “I already do,” he mumbled.

  “Now, go on home and get cleaned up and go over and ask her.”

  Seriously? They weren’t even going to smooth the way by asking her themselves? Fine. He was thirty years old, he could ask a woman to dinner. Even if he didn’t want to. And what was the matter with him, anyway? Was it really so horrible to go out to dinner with a pretty woman? Maybe he shouldn’t treat this as a special kind of torture but as something that could actually be pleasant. It had been nice dancing with her yesterday, and the bit of conversation they’d had with each other had also been nice.

  If he could just forget that she was a lady cop, it might not be so bad after all.

  Douglas and Marty left, and Hank went home and took a long steamy shower and shaved carefully. There was always the chance that Alice could turn him down. Just because Douglas and Marty thought this was a good idea didn’t mean that she would. She might have plans. She might not want to be manipulated into a date just because her younger sister thought it was a good idea. It was also possible that she had put her sister up to it, but he rather doubted it. Either way he had to be prepared for any eventuality.

  He put on his light gray suit pants. He wouldn’t wear the white flannels until after Memorial Day. He wasn’t a stickler for things like that, but if his mother saw him in white before the season was right, she’d make him go and change. Better to save the step. He put on a fresh white shirt, and a light green tie with a dark green vest. His light gray jacket completed the ensemble. He went downstairs to find Douglas waiting for him, also nattily turned out.

  “My two handsome boys,” Mother said, clasping her hands together. He knew she’d like to see him happily settled. She didn’t seem to believe that he could be happy in his boyhood room when he wasn’t on his boat. “You’ll knock those two girls off their feet. Have a wonderful time!”

  Hank gave her a kiss on the cheek and followed his brother outside.

  “So where do the Grady girls live?”

  “Green Street,” Douglas answered. “Right across from Barron Avenue. I’ll drive you over.”

  “We’re not giving Alice much time to get ready.” The misgivings started to come back in full force. This was a really bad idea.

  “She can take all the time she needs,” Douglas said, adjusting his shirt cuff.

  “Where are we going?” Hank thought to ask.

  “Mulberry House.”

  Alarm bells sounded in Hank’s head. True, Mulberry House was a real honest-to-goodness restaurant by the water in Perth Amboy, but there was also a secret bar. He knew the password to get in; he wasn’t sure if Douglas did. There was a lot he didn’t know about Douglas. What he did know was they certainly couldn’t take Alice there. She was a cop. You didn’t take a cop on a date to a speakeasy.

  “Alice is a cop. You do know that, right?”

  “We’ll stay in the front,” Douglas assured him. “Unless she seems cool with the idea.”

  “No,” Hank said, slapping at his brother’s head, and missing because Douglas had developed pretty good reflexes in that regard. “We don’t try to tempt a cop. Have some sense.”

  “Live a little!” Douglas said as they climbed into his car.

  Hank could easily kill him.

  They drove over the causeway into town and parked in front of the modest two-story house with its wraparound front porch. Marty opened the door before they even rang the bell.

  “I’ll go get Alice.” She hurried off into parts unknown, leaving them standing in the living room, hats in hand.

  From somewhere upstairs they could hear voices, it sounded like Marty was trying to convince Alice to come downstairs. Maybe she wouldn’t even let him ask; then he could go back home, take off the suit, have a quick dinner with his parents, and then go sit on the boat and watch the sky change color as the sun set.

  But soon two sets of footsteps approached. Marty came down first, followed by Alice, who looked lovely in a pale green day dress. She smiled politely at the brothers.

  “Marty said you wanted to see me?” she addressed Hank.

  Hank stood there, hat in hand, Douglas and Marty grinning at them like proud parents. This was ridiculous. He couldn’t play this game. But yet it was unfair to her to not see this through, even if she knew nothing about it.

  “My brother and your sister think it would be a good idea if we accompany them on their date tonight.” He glanced quickly at his brother, who was frowning at his approach. He grinned. Good, he didn’t mind annoying Douglas from time to time. “Apparently,” he went on mischievously, “they don’t think they can be trusted to keep their hands off each other if they don’t have chaperons. Care to help me keep them in line?”

  Alice’s eyebrows shot up, but there was a glint of humor in her eyes. “And that’s the only reason you’re asking me?”

  “Would you go if it were any other reason?”

  “Of course not,” she said. “Let me just go change.”

  She turned and went back upstairs, and Hank felt a certain satisfaction at not letting the younger siblings get their way entirely.


  Chapter Nine

  Alice called down the stairs to her sister in her best sing-song voice. “Help me pick out a dress, won’t you, Marty?” Inside she was seething. How dare they presume to set her up on a date as if she were some lovelorn country cousin? She could hear the excuses they used now. Alice is too caught up in her work, she doesn’t have fun. Alice is becoming an old maid. We only need someone to show Alice a good time and she’s sure to turn into a normal girl.

  And to put her on the spot like that! What was she supposed to do, turn down the man she’d been dancing with just yesterday? She’d look like a fool. She wondered how much arm-twisting they’d had to do to get him to come. Just what she wanted, a forced date. Didn’t Marty realize that going out with someone who doesn’t want to be with you is worse than being alone? A hundred times worse.

  Marty hurried into her room and shut the door quickly behind her.

  “Before you yell at me,” she said, just as Alice opened her mouth to do just that. “Hear me out. Douglas is worried about Hank. He is convinced he’s not good company, because of something that happened during the war. He rarely goes anywhere but his boat. He’s turning into a hermit. We thought you could help him.”

  Marty looked up at her with those big blue eyes and Alice melted just a little. “Are you sure you didn’t try to convince him to take me out in order to help me?”

  Marty shifted her gaze away and hurried to the closet. “Of course not,” she said as she rooted through the dresses hanging there.

  “Liar,” Alice said, but without much oomph. “I’ll go out to dinner with all of you, because I would be very rude to say no at this point, since he’s all dressed and everything, but I’d thank you not to ambush me in the future. I have a very full life. I don’t need your help.”

  “Nonsense.” Marty pulled a dark red dress from the closet. “Your idea of a fun evening is doing the crossword puzzle and listening to the radio.”

  “My goodness!” Alice threw her hands up in frustration. “You make me sound like an old woman. I’m tired when I get home from work. Is there a crime in that?”