Free Fallen Palm (Jesse McDermitt Series) by Wayne Stinnett Page B

inside, just as the rain started pounding on the roof.
    “Okay,” I said, “we need to come up with some kind of a plan. Let’s check the update on the storm on the TV first. Deuce, do you guys have a place to stay?”
    “Yeah, we have two rooms at the Blue Water Resort, just down the road,” he replied.
    I looked at Rusty, who shook his head. “Might be better to stay here, Deuce,” I said. “When the power goes out, it’s usually the whole island. Plus, if Wilma stays on track, the north side of the island will get it worse.”
    “We have a guest room in the house,” Julie said, looking at Deuce. “We asked Alex to stay with us. Or we can just all stay here in the bar.”
    “Jimmy and I will bunk in the boat,” I said. “It’s plenty safe way up here in the canal. Way better than Dockside. The crew cabin has three bunks. Anyone want dibs on the couch in the salon?”
    “That huge forward berth, for just you?” Alex asked. “Kinda stingy there, ‘friend’. Here’s an idea. How about I bunk with you? The Commander here can take the guest room and Jimmy can bunk in the crew cabin with these nice Sailors and learn to cuss properly.”
    That brought a huge laugh from everyone, but I was too busy looking at Alex. She coyly smiled at me and nodded, saying, “If that’s all right with you, Captain.”
    “Well, um, yeah,” I stammered. Turning to the others, I said, “Okay, so that’s taken care of. What next? Rusty?”
    Rusty was behind the bar and had turned on the TV. The Weather Channel was just coming out of a commercial and Rusty was setting beers on the bar, along with a bottle of ginseng tea for Jimmy. Though he smoked pot, he very rarely drank alcohol. Two local fishermen, Lefty and Diego, looked up at Rusty expectantly. “Drink up, people. Beer’s gonna get hot before long. On the house,” he said looking at the two fishermen. “Julie, you seen Rufus?”
    “He was headed to his cabin a little while ago, want me to get him?” she replied.
    “Yeah, let him know we got some fish to cook up,” he said. “And anything else he has in the ice box. Sorry, Tony, the hogfish is all gone. But, Rufus makes a mean blackened grouper.”
    Julie looked over at Deuce and asked, “Will you come with me, it’s getting dark.”
    Deuce dutifully put down his cold Red Stripe and followed her to the door. I looked at Rusty, who looked after them as they walked outside. He looked back at me and shrugged.
    “Hey, turn that up, Rusty. They’re about to give the update,” I said. Everyone gathered at the bar, watching as the local weather guy came into focus, wearing a yellow slicker, being buffeted by the wind.
    “ This is Shomari Stone, in Marathon, with the update on Hurricane Wilma. As you can see the wind has really started to pick up. Wilma has been upgraded to a category three storm, a major hurricane, with winds clocked near the eye at 120 miles per hour. It has increased forward speed and as of eight o’clock Wilma was centered one hundred miles west southwest of Key West, heading northwest at twenty miles per hour. Hurricane warnings are now up for all of the Florida Keys and southwest Florida. A mandatory evacuation has now been ordered for all of the Lower Key and a tropical storm warning has been issued for the rest of the state. Right now, here in Marathon, we’re about 100 miles from Key West and the winds are coming out of the southwest at 30 miles per hour, with occasional gusts to 40. The rain’s been coming down in sheets, as the outer bands come over the island. If Wilma maintains her current path and speed, it should make landfall somewhere south of Fort Myers in the early morning hours. We expect conditions here in the Middle Keys to worsen throughout the night, but it looks like the Keys may dodge this one. However, we know from past experience that even a glancing blow can have devastating affects. We should expect winds here to reach tropical storm strength in the next couple of