Free Smugglers 4 - South Beach Heat by Gerald McCallum

he was out, picked up the 38, and went to the stateroom where Cynthia was sleeping or passed out.
    He put the silenced 9 mm in her mouth and said “If you say one word or scream, I will blow out the back of your head. Roll over!” He put plastic wire ties on her hands and feet and duct tape around her head to cover her mouth, then pulled her over, covered her up, and went to get his money from Bill. He tied Bill up in the same fashion then put him in a chair, knowing it would be a while before he would wake up. Glenn knew better than to waste time searching the boat because Bill wouldn’t share the money with anyone, especially Cynthia.
    Bill came around and looked startled and bewildered. Startled at seeing Glenn and bewildered at how he could have let Glenn get the drop on him, Bill started to bitch at Glenn. “What the hell are you doing? You knocked my teeth out!”
    “Shut the hell up, or I’ll shoot you in the knee with your own gun. Now, I’m only going to ask you once, then I’m going to knock out your new teeth,” Glenn said and showed Bill part of the work tools he’d brought with him: a pair of brass knuckles that were dressed on the knuckles with spurs. “This is so I don’t hurt my hands or leave any DNA in case I have to kill you both. Now where’s my fucking  money?” he asked..
    Bill looked at Glenn with legitimate disbelief and asked, “What money?”
    Glenn hit him on the nose with the hand that had the brass knuckles. Bill’s nose was broken and bleeding badly, and the flesh hung loose where the spurs hit.
    “You know, Bill, I have always wondered if this works,” Glenn said and pulled Bill to the floor, and then he went and got a beach towel and a bucket full of water.
    He put the towel in the bucket then over Bill’s face and poured the water from the bucket very, very slowly over Bill’s nose. Bill screamed, kicked and begged and said he didn’t know anything about any money. After about five or ten minutes Glenn gave up. He knew Bill was telling the truth. To make sure they would keep their mouths’ shut, he brought in a can of gasoline from the outboard and poured it on Bill.
    “Don’t burn me! Don’t burn me! I don’t know anything about your money,” Bill begged.
    “Shut the hell up, Bill!” Glenn stood there with a lighter in his hand. “If you or that old bitch say I was here, or you saw me I’ll come back and kill you by setting you both on fire or the boat so you can’t get out.” He threw the empty 38 on the carpet and left.
    After spending several days on his boat with time for thought, he could come to only one conclusion; it must have been Nikki or Nikki and Mercedes. He spent several days checking out the strip bar where Mercedes worked as a dancer. When she didn’t show up he called and was told she had quit about a month ago. He watched the dock with boat binoculars and saw that Nikki and Mercedes were together day and night. He thought, ‘It must be them. They set me up and took my money!’ He got some additional tools and went to stake out the house boat again.
    When it was dark and Mercedes was at Nikki’s place, he went and tried the front door of her house boat. The door was locked so he knocked. When Nikki opened the door, he greeted her with the silenced 9 mm. Needless to say she was shocked. Glenn took Nikki to the kitchen where Mercedes was. He plastic-wired their hands and feet, taped their mouths, and then moved them to the center of the living room floor. He took the tape off of Nikki’s face and said, “I know what you two did, so where’s my damn money?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about! And why did you leave me? I thought we had something together,” replied Nikki.
    Glenn took the tape off of Mercedes, and she said basically the same thing, but she had tells. Her eyes were as big as hub caps. Glenn took a men’s nylon sock and a big bar of soap out of his bag. He put the soap in the sock and tied it down by the soap.