Magic City Read Online Free Page B

mine.”
    â€œSame snook? Oh, give me a break.”
    â€œI was standing right here when she broke it off. Kate and I were fishing together. That fly was one of my first attempts at a ghost streamer.”
    â€œSo that’s what this is about, fixing some youthful error?”
    â€œI saw it a couple of weeks ago, all those leaders dangling. I figured I should clean her up. Been out here every night since. Sort of a project.”
    â€œWell, that’s a first. Thorn getting emotional about a fish.”
    â€œA creature like that, it’s entitled to a decent old age without dragging around a nest of monofilament.”
    â€œMaybe those are her medals. An old warrior, she might be proud of them. Shows ’em off to her snook friends.”
    The snook curved away from the mangroves and made another pass at the finger mullet, checking it over, then once again coasting off.
    â€œYou might be about to add one more hook to the collection.”
    â€œI’m a better fisherman than I was twenty years ago.”
    â€œShe could be a better fish.”
    Thorn stepped out on the dock and towed the bobber closer to a rotting piling. Trying to reassure the fish, make it feel secure with structure nearby.
    A second later the snook reappeared and in a flicker it crashed the bait, then ran so fast that it almost snatched the rod from Thorn’s grip.
    Instead of charging to the mangrove roots like she should’ve done, the fish headed for the mouth of the basin and the flats beyond. But hauling all that heavy line wore her down fast. The drag was set light, reel shrieking as the big fish tore toward open water.
    â€œNot a smart move,” Sugarman said. “For an old warhorse like her.”
    â€œGotten lazy. Cutting corners. She didn’t do that twenty years ago.”
    Thorn tightened the drag, then pumped the rod, reeling on the down stroke. As the hook dug in, the fish broke from the water, jumped high into the rosy evening air, twisting and trying to buck loose. She flopped hard on her side and startled a school of baitfish into a flurry of pirouettes.
    That one jump was all she had.
    As the snook reached the entrance of the basin, Thorn leaned back on the rod and turned her around. The snook made a couple of halfhearted zigzag runs, but as Thorn worked her back toward the dock, it was clear the old girl’s iron will had melted. As he cranked her the last few feet, she was docile.
    â€œGetting old is hell.”
    â€œTell me about it,” Sugar said.
    Thorn hauled the fish to the dock and handed the rod to Sugarman. He knelt and found a safe grip on her lower jaw, then heaved her up onto a wet towel he’d laid out and began to work with his pliers, clipping, prying, snapping the barbed ends off the hooks, curling them free.
    Half a minute later when he was done and the snook’s lip was clear, he lowered the fish back into the water and stroked it back and forth until it recovered and glided forward and was on its way without a backward glance or nod of gratitude. Left behind in the water was a faint cloud of blood.
    â€œSometimes you have to hurt them to fix them.”
    â€œWords to live by,” Sugar said.
    â€œShe’ll be fine in a day or two.”
    â€œYour good deed for the year.” Sugarman knelt to the basin and washed the slime off his hands. “You’re hereby absolved, my son, and are now free to return to your dissolute ways.”
    Thorn watched the satin gloss of the sunset water, gold and pink ripples spreading out in perfect V’s behind the departing snook.
    â€œYou’re right about Miami.”
    â€œWhich part?”
    â€œThat I’m considering a move.”
    Sugarman was silent, staring at the darkening horizon.
    â€œI’m trying it out, is all. An audition. Driving up tonight; Alexandra leaves first thing tomorrow. I’ll give it a week, see how it feels, if I can cope. Maybe stay a little longer after she