At six, we got ready to go out. It was pretty simple for both of us. Marilyn pulled on a calf length halter top sundress and a pair of high heeled sandals, and she looked pretty good. My choices were limited, and I decided that in the future I'd be sure to pack at least a sport coat. I pulled on some clean khakis and a long sleeved dress shirt, and then rolled the sleeves up, but not high enough to show the bandage. I didn't even have socks, and it had totally slipped my mind to buy any while we were out and around, so I simply slipped into my deck shoes. They were going to have to take their heroes as they came. I grabbed my cane and we headed out.
The address I got from Finch was only about five minutes away, if that. It was a little north of us, back towards the airport, in what I suspect was an upscale neighborhood. It was certainly very neat and tidy, although it wasn't beachfront. I suspected beachfront property was too valuable for anybody local. Better to live a little inland and use that beachfront to fleece the Yankees. The address seemed correct and there were several cars already in the driveway, so I parked and Marilyn and I headed towards the door.
I knocked on the door and a few moments later, Finch opened the door. He smiled broadly when he saw us. "I'm so glad you could make it.", he said.
"Everyone here has been so pleasant, how could we not.", I replied. "Thank you for inviting us, Mister Finch."
He opened the door wider and ushered us inside. "Please, call me Jonathan."
"Thank you. You already know us as Marilyn and Carl. I'm glad we were able to find you. I'm still getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road."
"Here we think of it as the right side of the road, or more accurately, the correct side of the road."
"I'll probably get used to it just in time to go home and get in an accident back home.", I said with a laugh.
"Maybe I'll have to drive when we get home. You've been doing all the driving here.", commented Marilyn.
"Come in, let me introduce you to a few people."
"I just hope nobody is expecting anything fancy. Marilyn looks good in anything, but I wasn't planning much. I mean, I'm on vacation, right?"
"You have an interesting way of spending your vacations.", commented somebody coming in from the side. I looked over and found Assistant Superintendant Javier coming closer. "What do you do when you are working?", he asked with a smile.
"As little as humanly possible.", I replied. I reached my hand out and shook his. "It's nice to see you again, Assistant Superintendant. Is it still Assistant Superintendant?", I asked with a smile.
Most of the other guests, along with Finch, were dressed relatively informally, with slacks and a dress shirt being the norm for the gentlemen and dresses for the ladies. Javier, however, had his uniform on. "It is still Assistant Superintendant, at least for the moment.", he responded with a smile.
"You are still in uniform?"
"It was a long day. I was still handling details from this weekend."
A third man came up, along with a woman. They were both in their forties, and he had the look of somebody who thought he was important. He also had a big white smile on his dark brown face. He promptly put out his hand, and said, "And you, young man, are the reason for all those details. When you go fishing, you go after the big fish, don't you?"
I shook his hand, and so did Marilyn. "If you ask my wife, Marilyn, she'll tell you my fishing license has been cancelled."
"For good!", chimed in Marilyn.
That got everybody laughing. At that point, Finch announced our presence to the rest of the room, and then introduced everybody. To be perfectly honest, I forgot all of their names almost as soon as I met them, but I was polite. The important looking man who had joked about fishing was the local Member of Parliament for Eleuthera, sort of the equivalent to the local Congressman back home. Jonathan Finch was a member in good standing of the local Big Shots Club. Also present was the Mayor of Governors Harbor, a couple of members of the local town council, a banker, and a couple of other business types. Most of them had their wives with them, and most of them were black, which wasn't surprising, since it is a majority black country. Only the banker and one of the other businessmen were white. Javier was the only man without a wife at his side.
Also present was a face I had seen the other night, though he was alone, also. I eyed him curiously. "We met the other evening, didn't we?"
He nodded and smiled. "You remember! Michael Westcott of the Guardian. My editors want me to do a follow-up piece. How are your injuries?"
I simply smiled at him. "Injuries? What injuries?"
"Are you saying you didn't get half a dozen stitches at the clinic early Saturday morning?"
I smiled and looked over at my wife. "Do you know what he's talking about?"
She gave me a dirty look. "Very funny. Don't make me the bad guy." She turned back to Westcott. "My husband is in fine shape. If he did receive any stitches, they are healing just fine. If he ever pulls a stunt like this again, I'll give him some stitches he won't be laughing about!"
He laughed. "So you aren't happy about this?"
She snorted. "My husband is a brave and heroic man, but there are times I wish he wasn't so brave and heroic. He scared the daylights out of me!"
"So, tell me what really happened that night.", he pushed.
He might have been the local stringer for a very sleepy island, but Mister Westcott knew the questions to ask. "Okay, here's the bottom line. I came out of the bathroom and heard my wife scream. That's when I saw a guy running towards me with her purse, so I stopped him. Then the other two attacked me, so I had to stop them also. One of them had a knife, but he didn't really hurt me."
"Your cane - did you hurt your leg?"
"No, not at all. I injured that last year. Really, if I hadn't heard Marilyn scream, I'd have been happy to just let things be. I'm actually a very peaceful guy. I think you should be talking to Assistant Superintendant Javier. I think he's done the really hard work here."
"How so?" By now the MP and the Mayor were near us and listening in.
"Well, the easy part was stopping them and capturing them. He was able to link them to all these other crimes, including a murder. That's really good police work, and is a lot tougher than just catching a few bad guys. Because of him, they are all going to jail, right?"
"For a very long time!", answered the Member of Parliament. He started pontificating about the wonders of the Bahamian justice system, and I was happy to let him run with it.
Dinner was a number of local seafood dishes and vegetables, all done with some interesting island spices. The cook proved to be Mrs. Wilkes, and when Finch told us this, Marilyn and I both commented that we should have had her cook a meal or two for us. Throughout dinner, we assured everyone of the same talking points from our first interview with the reporters at the clinic - 'These things happen!', 'Everybody has been so nice!', and 'It's been so friendly and peaceful!' It was a little more political than I would have liked, but what can you expect when you are dining with politicians.