Wilmington, NC 05 - Murder On The ICW

spotted us and were in the water swimming toward us. And off to the Wilmington shore, a man dove off a Coast Guard vessel and began paddling toward us too. Agent Scott Randolph.
    Jon, Cam and Agent Randolph got Melanie and me safely aboard the Hot Momma. Blankets were wrapped around us and hot coffee from a thermos poured into us.
    We all stared at the sport deck of the Crystal Lynne where no one remained standing. A shrill toot and boats parted, allowing the Coast Guard vessel to bear down on the Crystal Lynne.

    32

    Christmas Eve

    "Your tree is beautiful," Crystal said.
    "It's nice to have only one to decorate and water," I said. "Two years ago when this house was on the Candlelight Tour, I had five of them. Five! How are you feeling, Crystal? I notice you're speaking almost normally."
    "They took the wires out of my jaw last week. What a relief. It's nice to be able to talk again," she replied.
    "I'd never be able to keep my mouth shut for almost a month," Melanie said with a grin.
    "You are so good to let me live with you in your beautifully redecorated house while I'm sorting things out, Melanie," Crystal said.
    We were gathered in my red library. Jon was mixing and serving Cosmopolitan Martinis blended with vodka, Cointreau, lime juice, and cranberry juice.
    Binkie took a sip and laughed, "This is a potent drink, Jon. I just might be seeing two Santas tonight."
    "Well, we're not driving," Aunt Ruby said.
    She and Binkie were spending Christmas with me, and then Melanie and I with Jon and Cam were going with them to Savannah for New Years. One evening when I got home from work there had been a message on my answering machine from Nick saying he hoped I was well and that he wished me a merry Christmas. Now Nick has my cell phone number so apparently he really didn't want to speak directly to me but merely wanted to wish me well. At least, that was how I was taking it and I was happy to realize that hearing his voice did not cause me to feel any pangs of unrequited love.
    Binkie said, "We are so grateful you and Melanie escaped unharmed from David Boleyn. The man was a psychopath. When I think of what might have happened if you hadn't kept your head, Ashley, well . . . thank God you are all right. I'd like to hear the details of his crimes."
    "I think I'll let Scott tell you just what David Boleyn was up to," I replied.
    Agent Scott Randolph was in Wilmington visiting a friend and had called. When I invited him to our little Christmas Eve party he seemed happy to accept. The last time I had seen him had been Thanksgiving weekend. He has assured me that it was not he who had followed me into Airlie Gardens and attacked me. "He was Boleyn with a phony badge, hoping to silence you because you had seen the boxes."
    Now he explained, "David Boleyn was using his yacht and his contacts and knowledge of how the tobacco industry worked to receive cigarettes stolen from warehouses in southern states and smuggle them to northern and western states where the taxes were highest. The crime is called butt legging. Once there, the cigarettes were sold through illegal channels for less than the market rate but still high enough to yield a large profit for the smugglers and the middlemen."
    "But David wasn't in it for the money," Crystal said. "David had made millions on his own. He didn't need money from smuggling cigarettes. He was doing it because he detested the federal government and the way they taxed cigarettes and how hard they were trying to put the tobacco companies out of business."
    Aunt Ruby said to Crystal sympathetically, "But your husband did kill Joey Fielding and Mickey Ballantine. And Ali Shariff . Isn't that so?"
    Crystal nodded and seemed to be ashamed that she had been married to such a man.
    "We can only guess at his motives," Scott said, "even though there has been a full investigation. Joey Fielding had been working with David Boleyn, providing his restaurant as a place for the trucks to deliver cartons of contraband cigarettes during the dead of night. The cartons were then loaded onto Boleyn's yacht which was tied up at the restaurant's boat dock."
    Melanie gasped. "I saw one of those trucks. I thought it was a food delivery truck."
    Scott continued, "That's what Fielding wanted everyone to think and they did and that's why the plan worked."
    "How was Mickey Ballantine involved?" Cam asked.
    "Again we can't be certain, but we think that Ballantine was helping in some way and that he wanted more money --