Hurricane Read Online Free Page A

every angle, then weigh it again, hoping the solution would either present itself or the problem would go away.
    The sun started to rise and brought a slight breeze with it.
    Something thudded into the side of the boat.
    “ What was that?” Meiko asked, with a slight shudder.
    “ Don’t know,” Julie said. The image of the dead man from yesterday flashed across her mind.
    Meiko stepped out of the cockpit and looked over the side. “It’s a waterlogged coconut.”
    “ You know what I was thinking?” Julie said as Meiko sat back down beside her.
    “ Yeah,” Meiko said. They had always been close. Like sisters, like twins.
    “ We should have told the police about the body.”
    “ It didn’t seem important after the news about Dad,” Meiko said.
    “ I don’t think they’d see it that way,” Julie said, and as if on cue they looked up to see two uniformed police officers coming down the dock.
    “ I didn’t think anybody in this country worked before breakfast,” Meiko said.
    “ Especially not anyone who works for the government, and certainly not the police,” Julie finished.
    “ Tammy must have told.”
    “ Yeah.”
    They watched as the two black officers walked up the main dock and turned left toward Fallen Angel. They were walking out of step, taking their time.
    “ Looks like they’re coming here.” Meiko took a sip of her coffee.
    “ Yeah.” Julie did the same.
    The policemen squinted into the morning sun. Their uniforms pressed and neat, grey shirts with epaulets, black trousers, black belts, black shoes, black hat brims. One wore sergeant’s strips, the other had no stripes at all. They were tall, thin, angular men, ambling up the dock, enjoying the day, both smiling.
    Their smiles disappeared when they approached the boat and noticed the women watching them. Wiped from their faces and replaced by twin scowls, like children in school, caught sending notes when they were supposed to be studying.
    “ Mrs. Tanaka?” the one with the stripes said.
    “ Yes,” Julie answered.
    “ We have some questions.”
    “ Before coffee?”
    “ We’re on important business.”
    “ I have some sweet rolls,” Julie added and the younger officer looked at his superior expectantly.
    “ Another day,” the sergeant said, and a frown covered the junior man’s face.
    “ Hello, Fallen Angel,” a high, squeaky voice interrupted the policeman.
    Julie turned toward it and saw a comical looking little white man, sweating already, in a short sleeved, white shirt with a dark blue tie. He wiped some moisture from his bald head and looked up at the two women, like a mongrel dog looking for scraps.
    “ Excuse me,” the sergeant said, “we have business here.”
    “ Julie Tanaka?” The little man ignored the policeman.
    Julie nodded.
    “ There’s no nice way to say this. Your boat’s been arrested. You have to leave. I’m to see that you take nothing off but personal possessions.”
    Julie’s eyes narrowed as she took in what the man said.
    “ It’s legal,” the man said, reaching into a briefcase she hadn’t noticed and coming out with a fistful of documents. “You have to surrender the ship’s papers to me and leave the boat. You can have a few minutes to gather your things.”
    “ I just found out that my husband is dead and now you come around here sniffing like a weasel trying to steal what he might have left behind.”
    “ Your husband owed money to Corbeau Yacht Services and he’s not able to repay it.”
    “ They’re vultures, just like their name,” Julie said, “and we don’t owe them any money.”
    “ It’s not our fault if your husband chose to keep you in the dark.”
    “ He didn’t keep me in the dark. Our bills are paid.”
    “ It says here they’re not.”
    “ How long have you known? How long did it take you to go to court and get your judgment?”
    “ I wouldn’t know.”
    “ Longer than twenty-four hours?”
    “ I wouldn’t know,” the little man repeated.
    “