The Great Paddleboard Race (George Bailey Detectve Series Book 3) Read online

  I didn’t know if we’d be able to see anything, but I didn’t want Sharon taking the risk of trying to sell lemonade to Mad Mike. We thought he must either be staying on the boat or in someone’s house on the island.

  “Why don’t we stake out Sullivan’s house first.” I said. He skippered Crocodile during the race, maybe he’s hiding Mad Mike at his house.”

  “Yeah, I can’t imagine the guy is just bobbing around all day on that boat, but do you know where Sullivan lives?”

  “I already looked him up in the phone book. He’s on La Mesa drive next door to Henry Lido’s house.’

  “Oh yeah, that yellow house.”

  “Yeah – maybe we could just ask Henry to keep an eye out for us – I think his bedroom sides to the place.”

  “What will we tell Henry?”

  “I don’t know, maybe something really strange – like the truth.”

  “Oh right—great idea master detective --- Henry, we think there’s a murderer that’s hiding out exactly ten feet from where you sleep every night. Would you mind confirming that for us? Oh and by the way, there’s a nice reward for whoever captures the guy. If Henry Lido thought there was a ten-dollar reward he’d track Mad Mike to Siberia.

  “OK—OK, I see your point, but where can we stake the place out from?”

  “How about the empty lot across the street with all the eucalyptus trees.”

  “Yeah we could climb up in one and just sit there all night.”

  “Oh Boy.” Walt said.

  “What are you boys planning now?” Sharon asked.

  I told her about our stakeout plans and my original idea to include Henry.

  “You know I think it would be great if we could get a picture of Mad Dog to show Officer Keyes. Henry Lido could help with the picture.”

  “Sharon, I don’t know how we could do that. I think if we can get a close enough look to confirm that it’s him – he’ll believe us.”

  “But I’m sure it’s him.” Walt said.

  “Walt, if I go to Officer Keyes and say Walter Jenkins said he saw Mad Dog again – I don’t think it will work. Besides, except for that one day, none of us have seen him again.”

  “Well if you guys spot someone from across the street in the dark, you’re not going to be able to tell if it’s him or not. That’s why I think you’ll need to involve Henry Lido. He lives right next door. We could probably stake him out from Henry’s room and take a picture of him.”

  ”Mrs. Lido isn’t going to like that.”

  “She works all day at the chamber office.”

  “How could we ever take a picture during the day. We all work.”

  “Well I’m self employed you know. I could always take a day off and just hide there.”

  “In Henry Lido’s bedroom,” Walt said, “I don’t know if that’s such a great idea. What if Henry’s mom came home? What would she think if some girl was in her son’s bedroom?”

  “Gee Walter, I don’t know, what do you think she’d think?” Sharon winked at me.

  24.

  Sharon was right, it made sense to include Henry Lido in our investigation. Henry was a hustler and a gambler, but I knew from working with him collecting bottles that he was also an honest guy. He could have easily cheated some of the younger kids who worked for him but he always paid all of us who collected bottles. Our case involved gambling which none of us knew anything about. One of the suspects lived next door to Henry. No one could stake him out easier -- besides the idea of sitting up late at night in an ant infested eucalyptus tree was not my idea of having a good time.

  Walt was reluctant at first, but the more we talked about sitting up late in the tree –the more he decided it was OK.

  “What’s the split going to be on the reward?” Walt said.

  “Huh? We don’t even know if we’ll get a reward Walt. Maybe it wasn’t Mad Mike and all we’ll be able to figure out is how Jellyfish cheated. There’s no reward for that – ‘cept maybe Cuda will buy us a hamburger or something.

  “Well, I’ll want a cheeseburger with fries.” Walt said.

  “If Mad Mike is involved we’ll have a better chance of catching him with Henry. I’ll take 1/4th of something rather than 1/3rd of nothing.”

  “Me too,” said Sharon.

  I ran up to the golf course after work the next day and invited Henry to meet with us in the garage after work. We were waiting for him when he walked up through the alley.

  “So this is where the famous detectives hang out huh?” Most of the kids at school knew about the money we’d made from the reward on our first case. New bikes were pretty rare during the Depression and each of us had one. Henry eyed our bikes as he walked in the garage.

  I started in after Henry sat down on a chair we’d brought in from the patio.

  “Henry, we are working on a case and we need your help. We think it involves gambling and we know one of the suspects lives next door to you.”

  “That jerk Sullivan, I’d love to see him locked up forever. He’s always drunk and loud. He cussed out my mom one time when she asked if he could be a little quieter.”

  Henry’s mom was real skinny. She always reminded me of Olive Oyl. She was also a very nice lady and lived with Henry in the smallest house on Hamilton Island. It must have taken a lot of courage for her to ask Sullivan to be quiet.

  “You might get a chance to pay him back.” I said.

  “I already did a little.”

  “How?”

  “Sullivan’s got one of those mail slots in his door. One night when he was gone I when around and collected most of the dog turds on Hamilton Island. Then I just made a late night deposit at Sullivan’s. He woke me up when he got home. His language was almost as bad as Walt’s when he lost that bet last year.”

  “Don’t remind me.” Walt said.

  I filled Henry in on the whole case, the paddleboard race, marks on the Crocodile, Walt’s Mad Mike sighting – everything. I then offered to cut him in on any potential award on the case and showed him the wanted poster.

  Henry leaped up and studied it closely.

  “I haven’t seen this guy at Sullivan’s but he’s got guys coming in and out of there all the time. Ever since the dog turd episode – I try to avoid him. I know I’ve seen Jellyfish there more than once. What was the reward on that first case?”

  “$1500.”

  “What is it on this one.”

  “Ah ---we’re not sure but Mr. Saterbury was a lot richer than the victim in our first case.” Walt said.

  I wasn’t really comfortable with this discussion. I was more interested in just solving the case and so was Sharon. I knew Walt was motivated by the reward and I absolutely knew Henry would be.

  Henry sat back down on his chair and sort of bowed his head down like he was praying or something. I thought he might have a headache. Walt started to say something, but Henry held his hand up to silence him.

  “I’m thinking,” he said. “ Has anyone staked out Jellyfish Johnson.”

  “No, why?”

  “Jellyfish has always been a loudmouth and a showoff. There are two things about gamblers. The first thing is they always brag about it when they win.”

  “What’s the other thing?” I asked

  “When they lose they never tell you – and all of them lose more than they win.”

  “Even you.” Walt asked.

  “Course not.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on him and see if I can figure anything out,” Walt said, “ I’ll also ask my brother Gus. He knows some of the guys Jellyfish hangs out with.”

  “I’ll check with Butch.” Sharon said.

  “You know maybe they made more money by betting a 1-2 or parlay.”

  “Huh.”

  “You can bet who will finish first and second too. In other words they could bet Jellyfish first and Cuda second or vise versa. That might explain why they had to kill Four Eyes.”

  “Ah ----.”

  “They never counted on
Four Eyes and his fast paddleboard. Remember, the fog was something they couldn’t predict in advance. Maybe they thought they could cheat by towing Jellyfish whenever they could get away with it. He was fast enough to win or finish second with just a little help. Cuda was favored so a Jellyfish/ Cuda parlay would have been a good bet. I’ll check with Ben and see how bad he got hurt on the bets and if anybody bet a parlay. Does anybody have a camera?”

  “I do,” Sharon said, “ I got a Brownie camera for my birthday.”

  “I wonder how I can take a picture without him seeing me?”

  “Does your room have a window shade?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well just cut out a small hole for the lens then turn off the lights in the room and just take the picture that way. Course it’ll have to be in the daytime. “

  “Sounds good to me – our shade’s so old – it probably already has a hole we can use.”

  It was Wednesday night. We all agreed to meet on Friday night and see what we’d learned. Sharon said she’d bring her camera. She thought it was out of film.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll buy the film.” Henry said.

  We weren’t real sure what Henry was talking about on the gambling part, but we knew one thing for sure.

  We had a new associate -- and we were glad we did.

  25.

  It was Saturday, Walt and I took a lunch break out on the pier. Our mom’s had both made us the same lunch -- tuna fish sandwiches with an apple. We usually trade something, but today we both had the exact same thing.

  “Henry was right – Jellyfish has been bragging about how much money he made by betting on himself to win. Gus saw him at the Hurricane bar last night. Jellyfish even said he made some money betting on Cuda to finish second.”

  “Wow – a parlay – just like Henry said.”

  “Yeah,” Walt said crunching his apple, “I’m still not so sure how that works.”

  “Maybe Henry can explain it better tonight.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Sharon got her camera and it still has six pictures left so we’re all set.”

  “What time are we meeting?”

  “Let’s make it around 6:00. I’ll tell Sharon.”

  “You can tell her right now George Bailey – here she comes.”

  I looked down and saw her rowing in. “Why is she rowing?”

  “I don’t know – the engine must have conked out.”

  “What happened?” I yelled.

  “I tried to start it but the rope broke.”

  “That’s easy – I’ll run and get another one at the rental dock.” Walt said

  “Well, if this was my boat – I’d keep a spare one.” Sharon said.

  “Grab an extra one Walt.”

  Walt looked at me funny. I knew he thought I was hen-pecked and everything but Sharon wasn’t too bad. She’d gotten a little more bossy as we went out longer, but I think that’s sort of normal with girls. First they look at you like you’re the smartest guy that ever walked the earth, but after a while they don’t seem to feel that way all the time.

  “Sharon, why don’t we run out by the Crocodile and see if anyone’s on it today?”

  “With your badge on? I don’t think that would be too smart.”

  You might think that’s a little bossy but the problem is --Sharon is more often right than not.

  When Walt got back. I took the new rope and attached it to the motor. It started right up.

  “C’mon Sharon, let’s go.” I said, as I took off my badge. I spoke with a little deeper voice – like I was in charge or something.

  “OK, George Bailey, I’m coming.”

  That worked OK, I thought – maybe I just have to be a little more in charge. I sure think sometimes that it would work for my dad too.

  “What should we do when we get there?” She asked.

  “I think you should just yell out like you did last time.”

  When we got to the Crocodile no one was on board. There was a towel right in front of the door to the cabin. No one was inside.

  “Maybe I should go on board.” I said.

  “Don’t be silly George Bailey – what if someone is watching us from shore.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll just go around the boat and see if we missed anything last time.” As I circled slowly around the boat I noticed a blue mark – the same color as on the side – up by the bow, right at the waterline.

  “Maybe they just ran in to Four Eyes in the fog.” Sharon said.

  “If they did, --they were sure lucky.”

  “Why?”

  It saved their parlay bet on Cuda and Jellyfish.”

  If they did kill Four Eyes, we’re missing one thing.

  “What’s that?”

  “The gun.”

  Sharon dropped me off at the dinghy dock.

  26.

  The next afternoon, after work, I sat in my room thinking about the case when my Mom peeked in the door.

  “George Bailey, Sharon’s here to see you.”

  Mom looked at me with a funny little grin, like she knew some secret or something. She liked Sharon and was always worried that our detective work would put her in danger. I tried to tell her that Sharon was so smart and cautious that she shouldn’t worry. I could tell Mom didn’t believe it. When I got to the living room I could see Sharon was excited about something. Her eyes were wide and there was a thin bead of sweat on her upper lip.

  “Can we go into the office,” she asked, “I have something to show you.”

  “Sure, I said and we walked through the kitchen towards the garage.

  “I have some lemonade I just made.” Mom said.

  “No thanks Mrs. Bailey – I’m not thirsty,” Sharon said.

  She sure looked thirsty to me.

  I sat down on top of the boat trailer and Sharon just stood above me.

  “I was almost out of cookies,” she said, “that man on the big old sailboat out on the end mooring wanted two dozen, but I only had 15 left, so he took ‘em all. Just before I started to motor back, I looked out at the Crocodile and thought of a great idea.”

  “Uh oh.” I said.

  Sharon looked at me like I just tossed her cat across the street.

  “I decided to go out and go on board the Crocodile to look for clues.”

  “Clues?”

  “Yes, George Bailey, clues, that’s what detectives are supposed to do, you know.

  I could tell that it would be best if I didn’t interrupt her story again.

  “Well, as I was saying, I motored out to the Crocodile and looked around to make sure no one was on board or watching me. I went around by the stern and tied my ---er our-- boat to the swimstep and then went on board.”

  “What if someone was watching from shore?” I said. The words no sooner left my mouth than I wished I could yank em back in and stuff em down my throat.

  “George Bailey, do you think I’m a complete idiot? I looked around as I motored out to make sure no one was around keeping an eye on the boat. There were only a couple of silly golfers up on a hillside. They had those silly golf pants on. One man was really fat. He looked like someone who was carrying a drum.”

  “Probably Mr. Thurson,” I said, “he plays all the time. Henry says it takes forever to play eighteen holes cause Mr. Thurson walks so slow.”

  “The other person was carrying the clubs.”

  “It was probably Henry.” I said.

  “When I got on board, I looked around by the back of the boat. The door to the cabin was locked. I looked around for something to break the lock with ---“

  “Oh my god.”

  “----But I didn’t find anything.”

  I started breathing again.

  “Sharon, I’m sorry, but if you would have broken that lock, they would have known something was up.”

  “I know, I know, that’s why I didn’t do it, but I did manage to find something.

  “What?”

&nb
sp; “This,” she said proudly.

  I looked at the shell casing for a long time.

  “I think it’s time I talked to Officer Keyes,” I said.

  27.

  Officer Keyes looked at the shell casing for a long time.

  “You’ve got Henry Lido involved too?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “George Bailey, I like your stakeout plan. I could go over to Sullivan’s house right now, but if Mad Mike really is involved in this deal, which I doubt, I’d only succeed in scaring everyone. I know Henry can pull off that stake out without getting hurt so let’s go ahead and have him try and get the picture. Just do me one favor.”

  “Sure.”

  I could tell he was mad.

  “I want Sharon to stay the hell away from that damn Crocodile.”

  “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have done that.

  “I appreciate your help, but I absolutely don’t want you kids taking risks. Maybe I can figure some way to board that thing without raising suspicion. I might even have the Coast Guard do a vessel check for me.”

  “How would you do that?”

  “I could always have them say they suspected it was sinking. Those old tuna boats always leak.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh, one other thing George Bailey.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “What time is that meeting Friday night? – If you don’t mind, I’d like to come.”

  “It’s 6:00.”

  “You say that blue color on the hull matches the color on that Carson kid’s paddleboard?”

  “It sure does.”

  “Well, I understand why you guys were reluctant to come to me about the information on Mad Mike after the typing teacher fiasco, but I’m sure glad you did. Something mighty strange happened on the Crocodile and we’re going to have to figure out what it was. I’m sure glad you and your associates are on the case.”

  28.

  “He wants to come to the meeting?” Henry asked.

  “Yeah. He also thought you were a good addition to the team.”