“You must pay for this!” The manager waved the severed strap at me. “It is your boat, you must pay!”
“Don’t wave that thing at me. I’ve seen it already.”
“Jess! What do these men want?” Anna yelled, still backing toward the seawall.
“It is not my bloody boat!” I exploded. “Anna, turn around, you’re going to fall in. Everybody else just leave me the hell alone!”
I spun around and found myself face to face with the westerner. “Stop right now. You’ll be okay if you just keep quiet and hold still.” He spoke calmly and clearly with an American accent. His little folding bike lay abandoned on the tarmac. “These people are playing you for a fool. Losing your temper is not going to help you any. You’re on their turf.” He held up his hands and said something in Turkish then turned back to me. “I’m Tom, by the way.”
TWENTY-FIVE
Tom shouted something in Turkish at the suits hounding Anna. They stopped and turned in surprise. With the cavalry on the scene, the crowd lost interest. Anna hadn’t moved.
“Well, don’t just stand there. Come on over and say hello. I don’t bite.” Tom called out.
She approached with caution. “What happened here? Is something wrong with Shadow? ” Tom left Anna’s query hanging, turned and told me to tell the marina manager everything I could about the incident.
“We need to find Harvey. I don’t remember his last name. I hired him to do a survey on that yacht. This is Anna. She and I left the marina and came back to this craziness! I don’t know whose fault this is, but I’m getting the flack.”
“Well, it’s not this guy’s fault” Tom indicated the manager, “And he has a bigger problem than you do with the travel lift out of service.”
“This man, you say, ‘Harvey,’ I never have seen before. He is not authorized to do work in the marina. These brothers I also do not know.” Turkish was exchanged and the manager went on in English. “They are not mechanics. They are laborers. This man, Harvey, he pays them to work for him.”
Tom turned to me. “Who on Earth is Harvey? Did you hire him?”
“Yeah, for a pre-sale inspection; a survey, I guess. If it turns out okay, I’m buying this boat.”
“Un-huh, conditional survey then. So you don’t own the boat, but you hired some guy who damaged marina property. The way I see it, the buck stops with you. You should have checked with the marina to see if Harvey was authorized to work here. By the way, I didn’t catch your name.” Tom held out his right hand.
“Jess Ducat. I’m from Canada trying…”
“Mighty pleased to meet you.” We shook, then Tom turned to the manager. “This is Jess and Anna. I am Tom, and we are friends.”
“Hey, I need the marina’s permission to let someone work on my boat? That’s nuts.”
“You must check! You can’t take your mechanic to a garage. Why to a boat yard?” The manager argued.
“Yeah, he’s right. And, I don’t mean to meddle, but you look like you don’t know a whole lot about buying a boat.”
“Why should I, and isn’t that what boat brokers are for?”
“You have a broker?”
“Of course, and why not? I’m not buying it off the street. Some kid, his name’s Erdem, and his uncle owns that brokerage over there.” I pointed at Omar’s building.
The manager went white and swallowed hard. “This is Omar’s boat?” He raised both his hands, made an announcement in Turkish, and what was left of the crowd broke up with groans and hand gestures. Suddenly, all was right with the world.
Tom and the manager wanted to know all about Harvey. I described the boat he lived on and with astonishing speed, cell phones flew from pockets. Omar’s Yacht Sales was the group’s next stop. Walking beside me, Anna whispered in Russian, “I do not trust the American.”
I shrugged. Typical Russian attitude; everyone is guilty of something and out to get you.
Erdem intercepted us before we reached Omar’s. I’d never seen anyone so nervous. His sweat-free record — and, I’d say, his dress shirt — was ruined. He stammered out something like being on his way to Harvey’s gulet to fetch him. Then, “Oh yes, I am to inform you that my uncle Omar, he is upstairs… expecting you.”
“That’s right where we’re headed, son.” Tom tried for a friendly pat on Erdem’s shoulder but managed to miss.
“Ah, a, a… Upstairs… In his office.” Erdem bolted for Harvey’s boat.
Omar was calm and jovial. He and the manager behaved like best buddies. Tea was called for while a deal was hammered out that worked in everyone’s favor. Before Erdem got back with Harvey in tow, Omar had agreed to repair the travel lift and seek reimbursement from Harvey. All problems were solved. The marina manager was ecstatic.
Omar reasoned that since I had nothing in writing from Harvey, and that it had been Harvey who had arranged the haul out and then damaged marina property, Harvey was ultimately responsible. I noticed how Erdem, the broker after all, hadn’t been mentioned. I envied him his family’s loyalty.
Harvey was spitting mad. Over his shouted protests, Omar calmly reminded him that, “As a professional working legally in all respects, your professional organization will likely offer assistance.”
Harvey closed in on Omar, narrowing his eyes, and clenching his fists. Omar didn’t move, didn’t blink, but cracked the faintest hint of a smile that stopped Harvey dead. It was like a mime hitting an invisible wall. Harvey backed off. Then he asked me if I had the money for the survey.
“Uh yeah, sure. Not on me, but I can get it. You mean now?”
“More tea? Miss Jess, you will pay for the survey when you get the report and are completely happy with it and not a minute sooner. My nephew will see to that. Now is not the time for you to pay anyone.” Omar sought agreement from Harvey with a look.
Harvey nodded. “You’ll have that survey report tomorrow afternoon.”
The boat wasn’t going anywhere until someone got back from Istanbul with parts for the travel lift. It put Anna and me right back at the apartment-hotel. The owner, all too happy to oblige, gave us our old suite. We were probably his only guests.
I called Sinem to postpone our first sailing lesson. She was amazed by what happened and wanted to see for herself. She liked the idea meeting to talk about the kind of sailing Anna was planning to do, and to go over the parts of the boat that can’t be seen when it is in the water.
Shadow dangled in the crippled travel lift where Anna and I’d seen it the day before. In the meantime, the area had been cordoned off with highway cones and yellow tape. Sinem oohed and aahed at the severed strap. “Absolutely insane. Somebody did that? Thought I’d seen everything.”
I told her about the confrontation the day before and the laborers Harvey had employed.
“Never heard of him or his guys. Maybe he knows his stuff and is a good surveyor. If he is, you might hire him to tell you what equipment you’ll need to sail this boat to Florida.”
“You think I don’t know what the boat needs to get us to Halifax?” I was taken aback. “And it’s Halifax, not Florida. You know, a city in Canada?”
“I know where it is, but you can’t sail to Halifax from here.” Sinem countered. “Not with the currents and wind against you. You do know that, right?”