The Montauk Triangle
by
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Chapter One
"A Mr. Pepe Zapposias on the line, sir. Shall I put him through?"
William Garside sensed that a beautiful morning in Manhattan was about to turn sour. He laid the blueprints for the new building next to his desk calendar which read May 24, 1974.
"Sir?"
"Put him on, Celeste."
"You know, Mr. Garside," Zapposias said in a gravely voice, "it's crazy for you and me to get all hung up on what happened in the past. It don't make no sense, now that we'll be workin' together again. I hope we can forget about the Westchester project. Done, finished. You agree, Mr. Garside?"
"I agree that I want this job done right." Garside slid a hand through his thick hair, combed straight back, a touch of gray at the temples. He could picture the Greek's ugly face -- deep set eyes, flat nose, stringy uncombed hair. Twenty years difference in age, light years apart socially, same height, five-feet-nine.
"My feelings exactly, Mr. Garside. We both made mistakes on the Westchester project. So, I gave you a couple loads of cement that wasn't top grade, but then, you used non-union scabs. My boys haven't forgotten that, Mr. Garside, but I told them, look, Mr. Garside is a good man. We give him good cement on this new job and I know he won't use no scabs. That right, Mr. Garside?"
"That's right." I could have avoided this if my banker had taken the second lowest bid. "Now, do you have anything else on your mind?"
"Matter of fact, I do, Mr. Garside. I got a proposition for you, Mr. Garside. I know your fifty-three-foot Hatteras up in Port Washington is for sale, right?"
"Right."
"Well, Mr. Garside, here's my proposition. My boat's still in dry dock and I'm plannin' to sell it, got a buyer all lined up. I want to move up to a yacht like yours. Now, I know your Hatteras is listed for two hundred thou, in nice condition for a used boat, I've been up to see it, and if we can make a deal, I guarantee you get nothin' but the best cement in New York City and you don't have no trouble with the brick layers and no other union. I guarantee, it, Mr. Garside."
"What are you offering?"
"I'll give you a hundred and twenty-five thou for it, cash on the barrel head."
"And you consider that a fair price?"
"Let's just say it's good business. And I'm plannin' on usin' your boat, what do you call it, an excusion boat, you know, take people around Manhattan, out to the Statue of Liberty, that kind of thing. My son, Pieter, is graduatin' from high school this year and he's lookin' forward to workin' on the boat, becomin' the captain when he's old enough. He's real excited about it, Mr. Garside, and I want to please him. You're a father, you can understand. I hear you got a real cute daughter. To show my heart's in the right place, Mr. Garside, she can take her friends out on it any time and so can you, no charge. Now, how can you beat a deal like that?"
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About the Book
The Montauk Triangle is a suspense novel. Nick Redesco's business is torching buildings so his customers can collect the insurance money. In the spring of 1976 his successful operation is in jeopardy when he botches a job for a cement contractor with mafia ties. His life is in danger unless he pays the client the money the insurance company won't pay. His dangerous scheme, a kidnapping, will reap a much larger jackpot if he can overcome friction among his co-conspirators and control a stalwart fishing boat captain and his crew in a story that twists and turns until the very end.
About the Author
The author, a former NewYork City public relations executive, owned pleasure boats for twenty years while living in Darien, CT, on Long Island Sound. His major cruising destinations were the harbors and coves the length and breadth of Long Island Sound, and beyond Long Island as far east as Block Island in the Atlantic Ocean. The novel evolved from the story a boat mechanic told the author about a fisherman who ran out of fuel at sea and radioed the Coast Guard that he was in the Montauk Triangle. The Coast Guard drew a blank until the fisherman explained that his triangle was Montauk, Block Island and Fisher's Island.