‘‘ A FREAK thing, it was,” Luis offered. “Been ‘round
52 august 2022
WBM
the water all my life and know stuff can happen,
but ain’t never seen nothing like that. What are we
gonna do now?”
“Gotta wait for the Coast Guard. I called to tell
‘em and they want us to sit right here.”
Wilbur had been listening to this exchange and his police
mentality kicked in.
“Think we should notify the man’s next of kin?”
“How we gonna do that? All I know is his name was Roger.” Luis
shook his head.
“So where’s his stuff? Must be some ID or something.”
Wilbur climbed over to the El Conquistador.
“Don’t know that you oughta be messing around with his gear,”
Luis said.
“Well, we have time to kill and I’m a cop. So, unless anyone has a
better idea, I’m going to look.”
None of the men objected and Wilbur
entered the salon.
Luis followed him. “He was staying
in the guest cabin on the port side. I’m
coming with you.”
“No problem. I’m not going to steal
nothing. But that guy looks like someone I
know. You say his name was Roger?”
“Yeah, Roger’s all I know.”
Wilbur knew he had no jurisdiction and
since he was retired he wasn’t technically
even a cop. But he was sure Roger was from Frostville. He might
have been bald and beardless but when Wilbur looked at his face
through his camera, he knew it was him.
He opened some cabinets and pulled out a few drawers. He found
some neatly folded clothes. In the bathroom a passport was stuck in
a shaving kit. He carefully opened it so if there were any fingerprints
they would be preserved.
“I can see he entered Bimini on August 15. Says he’s American,
name of Dan Willis from Danville, Virginia. I thought you said his
name was Roger.”
“Well, that’s all I ever knew him by,” Luis said.
“Curious. It says he was 5-feet-4 and had brown hair. That Roger
guy was over 6 feet and bald. And this picture, don’t look much like
him either.”
Luis was getting upset.
“Look, you may be who you say you are, but this is my boat. So,
let’s go topside and wait for the Coast Guard. Let them sort this
mess out.”
When Luis turned to leave, Wilbur pocketed the passport.
The radio on the Dawn Lee crackled and the captain answered.
The Coast Guard was handing the accident over to the Royal Baha-mas
Defence Force because the signal buoy indicated the boat was
in Bahamian water. The instructions were to wait.
The RBDF mostly patrols Bahamian waters for immigration
fish T A L E S
The three boats
separated. The
Dawn Lee headed
back to Islamorada
in the Florida Keys
with no fish, but
one heck of a tale
to tell.