The Ghost of Banyan Boulevard

By Stephen C. Hill

Book Two. The Ghost of Banyan Boulevard by Stephen C. Hill
We’re on the run with 2.2 million dollars of the Mob’s money and they want their money returned.
How do you completely disappear or in covert intelligence terms, “become black?"
Is there a way for me to contact Charlie Savage and express my regret?
Will Thomas Edison’s Ghost machine, help me contact recently deceased friend?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephen C. Hill
• Release date: Feb 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9780986009242

Stephen C. Hill

Born in Atlanta, Georgia. Graduate of Georgia State University. Divorced. Lives in Sarasota, Florida.

Book preview

Prologue

My name is Bill Hendrix and I’m on the run with 2.2 million dollars of the Mob’s

money and they want their money returned.

Angel Hopewell is with me and we are afraid for our lives.

How do we completely disappear or in covert intelligence terms, become black?

Is there a way for me to contact Charlie Savage and express my deep regret?

Will Thomas Edison’s Ghost Machine, help me to connect with my friend?

The tale of The Ghost of Banyan Boulevard begins in a rented Hotel room on Lake Lanier in the Gold Crown Hotel, outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

Chapter One

Lets’ go shopping, Angela announces, on the afternoon of the Police

Commissioner telling the world that Charlie Savage was dead.

We both need some new clothes and I want to go to the best mall I can find.

She began tapping the iPad to locate malls in Atlanta that was almost 70 miles

away.

"Bill, you’re from Atlanta, I need some new clothes! Where can I buy some very

snazzy looking clothes?"

"And you need some clothes too. I’m tired of seeing you wear that Hawaiian shirt

and then your same three polo shirts".

In Atlanta, you have plenty of choices, Phipps Plaza, Lenox Square, and one mall

that is reasonably close is the Mall Of Georgia, I said.

I did not want to go shopping but, I complied.

Mall of Georgia was only 38 or 40 miles away right down Interstate I-85 and they

have all the stores that have cool clothes, I explained.

Great Honey Bunny, Let’s go shopping! She was almost giddy.

Oh, Angela, I don’t know, I’m not feeling like doing much of anything since

Charlie died.

Oh come on, shopping will make you feel better. She checked her hair and

looked in the mirror.

Shopping is the rallying cry for most women when their lives aren’t much fun and

they need therapy or an uplift to change their dour mood.

Something about the aisles of products and goods and finding items on sale gives

them a lift, although when they return, they tend to say they are bushed.

I always wonder if let’s go shopping was the equivalent of the Golf Days for

the guys, when they say their playing golf but, instead their playing pillow talk

with a prostitute.

I think women are more loyal than men when it comes to illicit affairs.

The difference may be that a woman likes the foreplay, whereas a man is ready to

have sex once his little head has been aroused, and it doesn’t take much to become

ready.

As she was flitting around the room, I reached for her hand and pulled her toward

me.

She fell lightly across my torso and I pulled her nightshirt up to reveal her

sumptuous breasts.

She turned her head toward me and I kissed her deeply and with a sudden passion.

I had bottled up my feelings and shed many tears but, feeling her breast, her skin

and the perfume from her body excited me.

Oh no, not now, not until we go shopping! She protested.

"We’ll get down to business when we get back, but I need some things from the

mall!" She was resolute.

As she stood up and in the sunlight from high noon, she was dazzling.

Her blonde hair flowed down her back and her breasts were tight against her

Loyola of New York nightshirt.

She was Godiva, Katherine Heigl and Aphrodite all rolled into one beautiful body.

It wasn’t surprising she could command $10,000 an hour from those high rolling

johns in their Armani suits, just to look at her.

Are you a Loyola fan?

"No, this was my ex husbands favorite shirt and I wear it on occasion. I really need

to get rid of it, as she tugged on the shirt at the sleeve.

What college team is your favorite Bill?

I said the Georgia Bulldogs and she responded with Go you hairy dogs!

We both laughed, when I added, Hunker down you hairy dogs!

That’s where I went to school. I didn’t graduate from there. I partied too much and didn’t study.

Good school, it’s about 40 miles from here!

Maybe we could visit there? She prompted.

Yeah that could be a fun trip! They have some great music coming out of Athens,

Georgia.

They nurture a creative atmosphere and the city is famous as an incubator for

creativity.

REM started there as did the B-52’s and also the band, Widespread Panic.

Zac Brown started in Oconee County and the Drive by Truckers and Blackberry

Smoke all hail from the same area.

The talent must be in the water, I asserted as I finished the last sip, of my third cup

of coffee.

Thinking about being in school pointed out some things that I felt I needed to

remind her of, when she was out and about.

She says she was going to get a quick shower and that I should do the same.

While she is bathing, I was going down a mental list of how to appear in public,

use of credit cards, social media and the phone.

And when you’re out in public, Angel, you need to always wear dark sunglasses.

Why?

I heard her protest over the sound of the shower.

Talking over the shower was impossible and I decided to wait until we were in the

SUV.

She hopped out of the shower and said it was my turn.

When I passed her she touched my little head and said, Now if you’re a good boy,

I’ll let you some fun in my honey hole, you cute little bear. She squeezed my little

head and laughed out loud, when my little head responded to her touch.

No, no, no, not now, I told you, after we finish shopping!

She was having shopping fever.

Chapter Two

She was anxious to get to the mall; I told her I needed to make three stops, before

we headed to shopping nirvana.

We walked to the front desk and amongst the other guests checking in and out, I

extended our stay for three additional weeks.

I had used my alter ego name of William T. Williams when I secured the room,

while I was in Bay St. Louis.

I paid cash for the extension and asked for a receipt.

While I finalized our rental room agreement, Angel wandered into the souvenir

shop and picked up one of those sights to see in Gainesville, Georgia brochures.

Oh look, as she walked up to me at the Hotel desk, "we can visit the chicken

processing plants", she grinned.

I placed two fingers on my nose and said no thank you, they stink!

It doesn’t sound like much fun, seeing chickens getting their heads cut off, plucked

of all their feathers and then gutted of their intestines.

Not my idea of having fun.

And it reminds me of what the MOB might do, should they find us!

Oh really, she said, You have no idea!

I knew she was more knowledgeable than I was and asked her to elaborate.

W continued to talk as we walked to our SUV.

Bill, first, you have to stop being a pussy!

"You need to calm down and relax.

I can understand your nervousness because you likely have never seen that much

money, in your life.

If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t seen that much cash, either!"

It is what it is Bill, where we were yesterday is different today.

I said I was only trying to protect us from certain death, mine in particular.

"Oh, I agree, we shouldn’t let our guard down.

I don’t believe the Chicken Kitchen crowd is going to chase us.

Belle and the Police Commissioner know we have the records and I’m sure Belle

has told the Baby Blue’s posse that we have enough evidence to put all of them

in jail, for a very long time".

"On the other hand, Baby Blue’s Boss, Antonio Moschetti, out of Detroit,

Michigan is a cold blooded killer and is not afraid to sacrifice some of his solders,

to get his money returned.

He can always recruit new low level criminals looking to make good money".

She pressed on by adding, some of his folks, both men and women, see being a

part of a mob crew as a ‘Badge of Honor’.

For them to be able to say they have connections does create fear in the public eye.

And lowlife crooks are always looking to compensate their weak egos with a shot

of pride.

I laughed to hide my fear saying, Thank you Professor!

She wasn’t finished with my education of Mob 101 and gave me a sideways

glance, which I interpreted as a sign to stop talking.

I seem to remember working for him, when I was with the agency.

I was in a drug fog then, so the details of my participation are unclear.

I think, no, actually I’m certain, that we have Moschetti’s money!

And he has dispatched his henchmen to search for us.

It’s probably a good bet that it was Moschetti’s men tried to pop the trunk on the

limo.

"So relax Honey Bunny, we have covered our tracks and now, we’re rich, so let’s

enjoy ourselves".

Easy for her to say, one because she was already rich and two, I would be the one they would torture.

Walking out the door into the noon sunshine felt good.

I opened the door of the Expedition for Angel, she got in and I walked around the

rear of our car, to open my door.

Closing my door, I made a mental note to mail my Atlanta landlord more

money, to keep my stuff safe, until I could move to a new place.

On the windshield, I saw a folded piece of paper, underneath the windshield wiper.

I got out of the SUV again and pulled the note out from underneath the wiper.

It was a handwritten note, in sloppy penmanship and it said, "Come to the marina

for your boat!"

I showed the note to Angela and headed to the marina which was already on my ‘to

do" list for today

The sun in Georgia, in fact the weather in Georgia is very different.

In Georgia, the humidity is absolutely ridiculous.

You always feel like you are taking a shower with your clothes on during the late

spring, summer and fall.

Pulling past the remaining RV’s and campers from the past weekend’s Bass

Masters Fishing Tournament, I saw the mechanics two-story shed and parked in

the designated spaces for service.

She and I both got out of the SUV and I opened the office door.

A sign on the door said its cold inside "and they weren’t kidding.

It felt to me like we were entering a frozen tundra igloo.

We were welcomed by a young girl who introduced herself as the daughter of the

owner.

My name is Brittany and how can I help you? She smiled.

Yes Brittany, I’m Bill Hendricks and I brought in a 25 foot Grady White Sailfish

on Thursday.

The man who I spoke to said the fee was $20.00 a day to park it in the boat yard

and I gave him $100.00.

I asked him to check her out and see if she is ready to get out on the water?

"Oh that was my Father Bert, he owns this place, and I just work here, while I’m in

school!"

Yes, here you are, as she typed on the computer.

Bert Summerville walks into the office and says hello

"Howdy, I’m Bert, that’s a nice boat you have there!

Grady Whites are rare around these parts; did you tow her up from Louisiana?"

Yes we did, as Angela spoke up.

"You wanted us to look the boat over and see if she was sea worthy or lake worthy

as the case may be"…he laughed at his little joke.

"Oh she checked out mechanically and all the hydraulics looked to be in good

working order, but you wouldn’t have gotten very far". Bert cautioned!

"Looks like someone wanted this boat to sink and did a very good job to disguise

the missing fittings and seals!" Bert’s voice expressed disbelief.

I’m thinking of the swamp, hungry alligators and Big Z, but Angela is incredulous

that her friend might have meant her harm

Bert continues, "Whoever did this was an expert at sinking boats, probably had

military training".

Oh, why is that. Angel asked?

The entire group of through the hull fittings in the keel, were attached with

Elmer’s Glue", Bert noted!

You mean the boat would sink once she got out in the water? Angel was

surprised.

Bert replied, "Yes ma’am, you’d probably be taking on water from the time you

put the boat in the water, and within 10 minutes of having gotten underway and

into deep water, she would sink.

"There was some white tape placed over where the through hull plugs are located

and there is only a white film and I did not see any prescribed marine sealant.

The white film was glue and that glue was water soluble.

The lack of correct water tight sealant probably would have gone unnoticed by a

regular boat mechanic".

"My Daddy gets plenty of expensive boats here, some of which are insurance

scams, so he checks very carefully for all the through hull plugs, sea cocks and all

that stuff", witnessed Brittany.

"Oh yeah, we have folks who hit a rough spot financially and decide to sink their

boat for the insurance money", as Bert was shaking his head.

"The investigators visit here about once a month to ask about this boat or that boat

and my Daddy has helped break several cases", Brittany said proudly.

"We once had a Donzi speed boat that somehow blew up on the lake, when the

engines were off, and it was being towed back to shore.

The insurance man said it was rigged to blow up with explosives.

Lake Lanier is very deep, almost 200 feet in some places and it has a thick silt

bottom, so bringing the boat back to the surface is cost prohibitive.

The insurance company pays off the policy and the owners feigning misery walk

off with a nice check".

How long has our boat been this way, Angela’s voice seemed to quiver slightly?

"From what I could tell the boat has been in dry-dock for quite a while and hasn’t

been in the water, within the last few years, Bert confirmed.

"Big Z would never want to hurt me.

He bought my boat back in a government auction", Angela pined.

Government boat auction eh, Bert evidently had heard about this situation

before.

Drug boat picked up in the Gulf, I guess. Bert eyed Angela and must have

thought she was clean.

"Removing the plugs is the government’s way of letting you know they are still in charge.

I also removed the satellite tracking devise from the under the bow, which was

inset in the hull.

It’s inactive; the batteries are only good for a year or so".

So many traffickers buy a boat at the auctions and then try and transport drugs,

while the tracking device is still active, not realizing they can be seen on radar".

So even if the plugs are resealed, the boat is still a target.

A deliberate government action, I was outraged!

That’s right Mr.…uh…Mr. Hendricks, Bert wasn’t always good at recalling

names and he fumbled his words at times.

"Drug runners like a certain style of boat and fill all the storage, head, cuddy cabin

and all the nooks and crannies with dope, to get it into the United States".

"They track all the boats from the auctions, especially if someone paid cash at the

auction".

He said with authority.

"Once in a while we get a confiscated drug boat here, where they have tried to fly

in the drugs to remote part of the lake, drop the bundle from 200 feet and the boat picks it up; then delivers the dope to the trucks or vans waiting on the shore".

Whew…Angela let out a relieved sigh, I’m glad Big Z wasn’t a part of it!

Is Big Z your mechanic, Bert asks?

"Yeah, he has had the boat for about two years while I was …eh…out of the

country doing some work", Angela admitted.

I interrupted her timely travel excuse with the request to keep the boat at the

marina for say a couple of months.

Bert looks at Brittany and asks, what do we have available.

I have 6 months and a year for a 25’ foot Grady White, Brittany answered

crisply.

"The year round includes monthly maintenance, covered slip, flushing all the

systems in the fall and then getting the boat ready for next spring", she says

methodically.

And we pull it out of the water, when a tornado warning is activated in our area.

We’ll take good care of your boat! She said proudly.

How much for a year, I asked?

I was not really concerned for 6 months, because who knew where we would be in

6 months.

$4800 dollars for a year, answered Brittany.

That will be fine, answered Angela.

Will that be cash or credit card? The young girl continues.

Angela opens her purse and gives Brittany her credit card.

When Brittany extends her arm, I see an outline of a tattoo and ask, what is the

story behind your tattoo?

Oh it’s a skeleton key, which has a special meaning to some people.

My girlfriend and I have matching tats, she beamed!

A skeleton key, what does a skeleton key mean?

I’ve never seen a tattoo like that!

Why is it significant for you and your girlfriend?

I began to feel I was asking too many questions but, something made me continue

fire questions at her.

She looks at me straight in the eye and says We’ve talked to the dead, and then

she goes back about her business of preparing the repair service invoice.

Who owns the boat? Brittany questioned.

And what is the name of the boat and I need to see the title papers.

Both of us!

Then Angel says the, Reckless Conduct, good name isn’t it?

She lightly raps the counter and Brittany and her father seem unmoved.

"If you’re planning on keeping her in our marina slip, she needs to be registered in

Georgia after ninety days", Bert comments.

Unless you have plans on moving her to Florida or somewhere on the coast, where

there is deep water; she draws right at 2’ feet when she’s in the water doesn’t she,

the old man asked?

"I remember that someone once said owning a boat was the best and worst time in

their lives", he continued.

The boat mechanic laughed at his comment.

I excuse myself and go to the glove compartment and find the papers Big Z had

signed over to me.

We hadn’t even gotten out on the water and the boat was already costing us

money, as I quietly grumbled on my way back into the air conditioned office.

I hand the papers to Brittany.

She goes to the Xerox copy machine and copies the registration, gate card, my

driver’s license.

Brittany asks Angel if she wants the repair charges added to the boat slip rental

contract.

I ask how much was the checkup?

Brittany answers "Oh, the service and repair was $540 dollars; $240 for the labor

and the parts were $300"!

Yes, that will be fine, Angela says politely.

Brittany hands Angela the receipt to sign and returns the registration papers to me.

The young college student takes the signed copy and deposits the rental agreement

into her top desk drawer.

She then hands Angel 2 plastic cards saying, "this is your gate key to get down to

your slip, don’t get it wet!

If it gets wet, the local search and rescue team will show up wherever you are to

help with your emergency".

"We’ll try her out this weekend, and Thank you Bert!

Thank you Brittany", as Angel touches my arm and we leave the boat works.

Chapter Three

Once outside and strapping on our seatbelts in the Expedition, I ask Angela if she

still has the card key for the Chicken Kitchen security entrance system.

Yes, why do ask?

I had a thought; suppose the card you have and the one given to me by Olive, I

mean, FBI Agent Stockton, would those cards have a computer chip that gives off

a location?

"She looks at me and kinda smiles a curious smile; you watch too much crime

television!"

"No seriously, if a boat marina has a card key that alerts folks to emergencies, then

I would think the Chicken Kitchen, with all the bells and whistles of the security

world, would have the same kind of locator chip embedded in the plastic".

We pass the boat and I stop for a moment and pull the ladder and the wet-dry

vacuum from the rear compartment of the SUV.

Angela would you please take these 30 packets of money, and fit them underneath

the floor mats and I’ll stash as much as I can, in the cuddy cabin of the boat.

Moving the money made me feel better.

We still hadn’t discussed what we were going to do with all of the money!

I bring the wet vacuum back to the SUV and return it to the backseat.

I felt like we might need a few hundred thousand to keep with us at all times, so I

didn’t stash it all.

As we were diving toward the mall, I asked her to tap the iPad and find the closest

United States Post Office and she said there was one at the mall.

"Ok give me your gate card from the Chicken Kitchen and while you’re shopping

I’ll take care of disappearing and going black!"

And Angel, could you please give me the address to Madison Square Garden in

New York City?

Chapter Four

On this same Monday, Belle is boarding a Delta flight from New Orleans to Los Angeles.

She would rent a car, drive to Malibu and regain ownership of the limo.

She also paid the bail to get Dooley and Little Joe out on bond and to ask what she

could do for her daughter, Sherrie, who was in jail.

Vonda and Belle’s sister were running the restaurant.

Mary Lulu Cannon hardly ever worked in the restaurant, unless it was super

busy or there was an emergency.

Belle asked Lulu to run the restaurant, until she returned.

Lulu knew that Belle’s and Sherrie’s situation was really sad and frightening.

Sherrie had lost her temper and had killed the man she so deeply loved.

Was it self-defense, Lulu asked over the phone and Belle didn’t answer?

Belle had called Lulu from the jail and asked if Lulu would please call Victor

Montenegro.

Belle also instructed her to go to the restaurant on Monday, during the day and

hold down the fort, for the next few weeks.

Belle had spent all of Sunday, finding bondsmen to bail her employees out of jail.

The Chicken Kitchen co-owner said to close down the video poker rooms, and tell

the girls upstairs that the upstairs was closed until further notice.

The girls were to be instructed to clean their rooms and to find another place to

live.

If they were due any money, Belle would pay them upon returning from Los

Angeles.

Lulu didn’t like missing any time at her supervisory position at the National Bank

of New Orleans.

So when Belle called her, upset and in frenzy, Lulu made arrangements with

Vonda, the teenage manager, to cover the early shift lunch patrons and Lulu would

close the restaurant at night.

Lulu Cannon prided herself on being at work and keeping her record clean.

She had good reason to avoid any impropriety, because she was the person who

accepted her sister’s deposit money from the restaurant, video poker room and the

upstairs prostitution operation.

When those deposits were larger than the normal day to day average, she put aside

the money and slowly added the overages to Belle’s restaurant account on days

when the Chicken Kitchen personnel, didn’t stop in to make a deposit.

Or, if there was a huge amount above the average daily take, she deposited the

money in the special account which was set up, almost twenty five years ago, by

her father.

She always retained a 10% commission for her trouble and in case," a little

sometin’-sometin’", popped up or someone was in trouble.

Mary Lulu Massey was the younger sister to Belle Massey.

She was an attractive older, mature woman, who had lost her shape by

replacing physical activity with booze, calorie rich dinners and sweets.

She dressed well, although not too flashy, as to arouse any suspicion as to her

outside of the bank activities.

Lulu had married a local carpenter, who wooed her on the front porch of the old

family home on Boxwood Lane in Metairie.

Samuel Cannon (Sandy) was the brother of Billy Boom Boom Cannon.

Sandy was a fine finish carpenter, but was never quite satisfied and always wanted

to perfect his work.

He was the same way with the women he became intimate with.

He would repeatedly return to his past lovers and try to resurrect their previous

relationship, which wasn’t a healthy situation, for a newly married man.

Sandy Cannon had a famous sibling; Billy Boom Boom Cannon.

Boom Boom Cannon was a very popular and famous football running back and a

National College Athletic Association (NCAA)