The Bouncing Buns Gentleman's Club

Chapter 14

Boats appearing to sit low in the water next to a fixed pier wouldn't normally be a concern. They rose and fell with the tide while the pier remained stationary. The problem was that hers was a floating pier; the pier and the boats rose and fell with the tides together. Something was very wrong. The closer they got, the more obvious it became. The normal waterline of the boat was under water.

Beverly screamed almost hysterically, "Tom, my boat is sinking!"

Breaking into a run, they reached the boat within a matter of seconds and were able to take a closer look. The boat was sitting about six inches below its waterline, which meant there was a lot of boat below the water that shouldn't be there. Water was gushing from the bilge pump outlets in the side of the hull at what Beverly thought must be their maximum capacity. Apparently, hundreds of gallons of water had already entered the boat and the pumps were not keeping up.

"I can't understand what could be wrong," she said in desperation. "Dan told me he would shut off the dock water supply before he moved his boat. The only other thing it could be is a hole in the hull or a broken valve that regulates cooling water coming in from the outside. I don't know anything else that could've caused this. We have to find where the water is coming in and fix it quickly or the boat's going to sink! The bilge pumps won't keep working forever. In fact, they're losing ground now."

Where could Dan be? Surely he noticed this as well. Maybe he's in there trying to fix it, Beverly thought with more hope than confidence.

They both raced for the boarding ladder and climbed aboard to be greeted by the sound of straining bilge pumps and gushing water. Beverly headed for the engine room located below the forward salon, just aft of the galley. The hatch was open. She was sure Dan was down there and would be doing whatever he could.

Before she was able to get close enough to look in, Beverly felt Tom's hand on her shoulder. He had noticed a dark substance on one side of the hatch opening and the adjacent floor.

Whispering in her ear, Tom said, "Beverly, I want you to go outside and call the police."

It was then she noticed Tom had his 40 caliber drawn and cradled in both hands. At the sight, she began to tremble and asked, "What do you see, Tom?"

In a somewhat muffled tone, Tom said "Please Beverly, just go call the police as quickly as possible."

The potential gravity of the situation finally hit Beverly as she turned and ran out; leaving Tom to face whatever danger awaited him in the engine room. As soon as she was safely out of the way, he very carefully and deliberately began to approach the hatch, gun extended ahead of him. As he got closer, his fears were confirmed. It became all too apparent that what he had seen was blood, so much of it that it had smeared a small area of the deck and ran down into the hatch, coating the edge and disappearing below.

Tom wondered if the perpetrator was still in the boat as he approached the opening. He finally got close enough to look down into the engine room, half expecting a bullet to give him an unwanted part in his hair. Nothing yet, closer, closer, then he saw it; a man's body was lying face down in the water with what appeared to be blood around his head. It had been diluted by the surrounding seawater, staining it a rose-like tint.

Although dim and flickering, some lights were still working in spite of all the water. Avoiding the blood, Tom knelt down to get a better look, gun still extended and ready. All he could see was the body, two enormous engines, and water gushing from what appeared to be the end of a cut hose attached to a valve in the hull. If the perp was still there, he had to be behind one of the engines or somewhere else on the boat.