CHAPTER 77
Westmoreland, Jamaica Friday, October 29, 2021
THE PORT OF SAVANNA-LA-MAR WAS A THIRTY-MINUTE DRIVE FROM Negril. Avery sat in the front seat as Walt drove the Land Cruiser toward the ocean. A week earlier Walt had accepted receipt of the sailboat at the small marina there. The slip had been rented for a month, paid in full and in advance. It only took three days to spin through the checklist of repairs the boat needed after making the long journey from Sister Bay. Over the last three days they stocked the vessel with nonperishable food, water, and everything else someone might need to spend weeks on the water.
Christopher’s goal was to disappear for a year to make sure no one was looking for him. By then they would be certain that his escape had, indeed, been flawless. The only worry was that their father, facing the rest of his life in jail, might mention to the feds that he believed his son was still alive. Neither Christopher nor Avery believed that their father knew the truth. Still, it was safest for Christopher to take to the sea while their father was prosecuted. There was no telling the extremes he might go to to lessen his sentence. That his own daughter had betrayed him and turned him over to the feds was surely a bitter pill Garth Montgomery would not swallow easily. But it had been part of the long game Avery concocted the moment her father’s postcard arrived in the mail. The final details had come together with Walt’s help. The best way, Walt had told her, to make sure the eyes of the FBI were off the airports, borders, and ports was to divert the agency’s attention. And the apprehension of one of their highest targets was the best way to do it.
In a year, when the coast was clear, the plan was for Christopher to return to Jamaica and start his new life. His job at Hampden Estates distillery would be waiting for him, and there were worse ways to spend time as a free man. Holed up in a cabin in Sister Bay, Wisconsin, working at Connie Clarkson’s sailing camp had been a temporary arrangement that had run far past its course of practicality. Here in Jamaica, Christopher Montgomery—aka Aaron Holland—could truly be free.
Avery stared through the windshield as Walt pulled into the marina’s parking lot. The masts of other sailboats poked into the sky, but she recognized Christopher’s boat immediately. Avery led the way with Walt and Christopher following. She walked down the dock and stopped when she came to the stern of the boat. The name was printed in cursive, and Avery was thrilled with how it turned out. Connie had done a spectacular job.
She felt Christopher’s arm wrap around her shoulder.
“I’ve told you before, but I just want to make sure you know how grateful I am for everything you’ve done,” he said.
“I know.”
“I’ll pay you back somehow.”
“No you won’t.”
He smiled. “Probably not.”
“But when things calm down, you can show me the Caribbean on this gorgeous boat.”
“Deal.”
“You think you’ll be okay?”
He nodded and continued to stare at the boat. “I’ll be fine. Is it hard to get used to a new name?”
“Depends on why you changed it.”
“To find freedom.”
“Then it’s easy. You’re Aaron Holland from now on. You live on a sailboat and sail the Caribbean. Every few months you come back to Jamaica to work at a rum distillery. There are worse things than that.”
“I’m worried about the money. I don’t feel right taking it from you.”
“It’s already done,” Avery said. “Too late to worry now.”
Her contract from HAP News had been finalized earlier in the fall. It named Avery as the host of American Events for the next five years. Dwight Corey had negotiated tirelessly and Mosley Germaine and David Hillary had signed off on the final details of the contract that would pay Avery $3 million a year for five years. Even at that number, Avery argued that she was undervalued. The show’s most recent numbers had proven she was correct. The Victoria Ford special, which spanned three episodes, had brought the second highest ratings in American Events history. That Avery’s investigative reporting, and the new evidence she unearthed, had spurred the re-opening of the Cameron Young investigation only added notoriety to her already powerful name. Cameron Young was back in the news, and serious questions were being raised about who had killed him. The evidence that had once so clearly pointed at Victoria Ford was now being questioned. The idea that the blood and the urine had so clearly been manipulated and planted came under immense scrutiny. The Innocence Project had even gotten involved, promising to continue the crusade to prove Victoria Ford’s innocence.
The American Events special had not named names as to who might have planted the evidence, because to do so was a liability the network was not prepared to take. And it had never been Avery’s goal to solve the case. She’d made just two promises. The first was to Emma Kind that Avery would do her best to show the world that Victoria was innocent. The second was to Natalie Ratcliff that, in exchange for Natalie’s help, Avery would stay silent on the truth about Victoria’s disappearance. She had made good on both.
The Victoria Ford special was topped in the ratings only by Avery’s exposé on her father, the Thief of Manhattan. The two-part series covered the life of Claire Montgomery, aka Avery Mason, and detailed how Avery had worked with the FBI to track her father down and bring him to justice. During the negotiations on how Avery would deliver her father, she had insisted that the federal agents wear cameras and microphones. The body cam footage from the SWAT team as they crashed through the front door of the isolated, lonely cabin in the mountains of Lake Placid was something not to be missed. And no one did. Twenty-two million viewers tuned in to watch the episode. For Avery, the episode was cathartic on many fronts.
In the end, despite her mild protests, Avery knew the contract from HAP News provided everything she had asked for, and more. Dwight structured the deal to be front-loaded, and it paid Avery a signing bonus of $3 million. She did two things with the bonus. First, she opened an account at Cainvest Bank and Trust on Grand Cayman in the name of Aaron Holland, with a starting balance of $100,000. It would be enough for Christopher to start his new life. The second thing Avery did was pay for the sailboat. She sent the cashier’s check certified, overnight, and knew it would arrive later today.
Avery looked around the marina. “Better get going, big brother.”
There were no surveillance cameras here and Avery knew no one in the government was interested in her whereabouts any longer—Walt had made sure of that before allowing her to come to Jamaica. Her fame, however, drew the odd paparazzi, and the last thing Avery needed were photos of her and her dead brother showing up in the tabloids. She wasn’t too concerned. This port was off the beaten path and far from the touristy areas of the island. Still, even with no one paying attention to the three Americans standing on the dock, Avery knew if they waited much longer one of them might back out of the plan. They had come too far to get cold feet now.
Christopher nodded. He turned to Walt.
“Thanks for all your help.”
“Sure thing,” Walt said. “You know where I live if you need anything.”
Christopher turned to Avery. She felt him kiss her forehead. He didn’t say anything more. There was nothing left to say. Instead, he climbed onto his new vessel. Avery untied the lines as the engine rumbled to life.
“Stay safe,” she said.
Ten minutes later, Claire-Voyance II was motoring out of the marina. Once it was in the open water, Avery saw the main sail climb the mast and fill with air. The front sail followed and the boat heeled slightly to the left as it took on an eastern tack and headed into the morning sun.
“So,” Walt said. “How long are you staying?”
“I’m off for a week.”
“Then what?”
“You tell me,” Avery said.
Walt took her hand as they walked along the dock. “I was thinking I should start spending some more time in the States.”
Avery looked at him with slivered eyes. “I thought you hated New York.”
“I do. I was thinking California is more my style.”