Chapter 21
Northeast coastline and islands, Puerto Rico
James was glad to see the Fajardo coastline coming up quickly, signaling an end to the uncomfortable discussion he had been drawn into with Mark and Eli. Even though what they were having to do was for a horrible reason, it really was good to be out with his boys doing something together.
Luis Blanca had expertly navigated the boat along the Fajardo coastline and assisted them in questioning a few locals who had boat docks between the edge of Fajardo and the big marina where the Culebra and Vieques ferries launched. They flagged down some boaters, among them a few fishermen and some chartered pleasure craft with local guides not unlike the Grady’s current crew. None had any knowledge of a Norte Americano teenager who may have stowed away or asked for a lift.
There was, however, a concerning trend of the people they talked to discussing something in grave tones with Luis in Spanish. Luis seemed to be blowing it off most of the time, and when they asked, he told him these were just superstitious people, talking about the mystique of El Pliegue, kind of like it was the Puerto Rican “Bermuda Triangle”.
Luis came alongside a chartered fishing yacht with a small group of American tourists and a crew of four locals. When James began explaining to the tourists that they were looking for Joseph, the men said they had only been out today and directed them to ask the crewmen directly. Luis obliged to help by way of translating and the initial inquiry.
“Ask if he has seen or heard about a teenager who may have been picked up by another boat,” James instructed after Luis had begun talking with the yacht’s captain. Luis began to ask in Spanish, but the captain stopped him and responded directly to James in English.
“No, sir, we have not seen this boy. We were out here yesterday on another tour. Who was this boy with?”
“He was with his brothers,” James nodded towards Mark and Eli, “and a few dozen others on a diving tour at El Pliegue yesterday.”
“There are many tours with diving near El Pliegue. We saw them yesterday. But we did not see anyone who was left alone. There were some men, in a raft, you know, with a motor?”
“A Zodiac?” Luis suggested.
“Si, a Zodiac, near some buoys at the edge of El Pliegue. If your son was lost, they most likely picked him up. It was a small boat and they would notice a boy alone in the water.” The captain of the yacht turned to Luis and said, “you know about El Pliegue, right?”
Luis responded with a dark look. “Yes, we know,” he said, hoping the captain would get the hint and not begin talking about the mythology of the place. He didn’t want the Gradys to get any more worried than they already were.
“So you know, many things go into El Pliegue and are never found. Just last year a customer dropped a three hundred dollar Penn rod just off the bow when we were fishing the edge of El Pliegue, and we watched as it vanished before our eyes. We hear of divers losing a fin or their camera all the time. They always say, they just vanish. That is not a good place to be.”
Here it was again. The story, “El Pliegue is the Bermuda Triangle of Puerto Rico,” sure sounded like bunk. But here they were, looking for a missing boy. It was like some cheesy paperback or sci-fi TV program. It just rubbed James’s rational mind the wrong way.
Luis thanked the yacht captain for his time and pushed off. James asked him to go straight for El Pliegue. The search along these tiny islands was less likely to bear fruit. He wanted to see this ‘crease’ up close. As they skipped over the waves, James’ phone rang. It was Melissa. “Hey,” James answered.
“Any luck?” she asked. “Did anyone out there see Joseph?”
“Not so far. We are headed to ‘the crease’ now to get a closer look, start from the start.” he did not want to tell her about the Twilight Zone story he’d suspected the locals were feeding Luis.
“Well, the FBI are here at the Vieques police station. They want you to come back here. You and the boys.”
“We’ll be back after we check everything out here.”
“They are insistent. They say you have to come back right now. They say they will send a helicopter to get you if you don’t come on your own.”
“Wow. Why do they need us there so bad?”
“They want to take your statement and won’t really get started looking for Joey until they do. I guess I can see their point.”
“Alright. Well we’ll turn around and come back. It’ll be at least forty-five minutes until we can be there. See if they will cool their jets that long.”
“That will have to do. And James,” Melissa began to plead, “be careful. Don’t let Mark and Eli out of your sight.”
“Okay. I won’t.” James hung up the phone, and then addressed Mark and Eli. “That was your mother. She said the FBI needs us to come back to give a statement.”
“Well, we have a lot to check out first,” Eli said. “Can’t it wait?”
“Your mom says it can’t. But I’m not going back until we look at El Pliegue ourselves, and make sure Joseph is not hanging on a buoy.”
The boys both smiled. Within a minute Luis pulled the boat to a stop and announced, “We’re here. El Pliegue.”
They trolled around El Pliegue and saw dive boats coming in but didn’t bother to wait for them. It would be different tourists and they already spoke with the dive operators. Mark noticed the four buoys spread out at the far end, nearest the tiny island, and when James looked in that direction, he saw a Zodiac floating nearby one of them with two men aboard. “Let’s go talk to those guys before they head back,” James said to Luis. They sped off in the direction of the Zodiac. As they pulled up, James noticed that the two men appeared to be American mainlanders.
“Hey guys,” James shouted to them, “mind if we come alongside?”
Aaron and Carl looked at each other, What are these guys doing here? they were both thinking. “Sure!” Carl shouted back. Luis steered their boat up to the starboard side of the Zodiac.
“Hi. My name is James Grady. We were wondering if you guys were out here yesterday.”
Aaron didn’t know if he should respond. Carl gave him a shrug. What could it hurt? They were right out in the middle of the water for all to see. “Sure. We were out here yesterday checking our equipment,” Aaron said.
“Great,” James replied. “Maybe you saw a young man, seventeen years old, about five-eleven, light brown hair? He would have been here with the diving tour yesterday.” James leaned his head in the direction of the arriving dive boats.
“Well, we saw a bunch of people diving but I don’t think I noticed anyone in particular. Carl?”
“I don't think so,” Carl confirmed.
“Well, he may have been separated from the group. Thought he may have asked for a ride back. Or maybe he hooked up on one of your buoys here, and you might have noticed him hanging on?”
“We didn’t see anyone around the buoys. Sorry.”
“So, what are you guys doing with these buoys anyway?” Mark interjected.
“Oh, just some GPS tests. Routine stuff,” Aaron said.
“You work there, on the island?” Eli asked, pointing towards Isla Roca.
“Yeah,” Carl replied, thinking this might be getting too personal.
“What kind of work are you doing on the island?” Eli asked with a note of suspicion.
“Well, we, uh. We…” Carl began. He was grateful when James cut in to rescue him, noticing his obvious discomfort with Eli's probing questions. No need to spook their source.
“Well, if you do find a stowaway or think of anything you may have noticed, will you call over to the Vieques police department? We would appreciate any help you can give finding our son,” James said diplomatically.
“Sure thing. And good luck finding him,” Aaron said. Carl and Aaron both turned away from the Gradys and Luis, signaling the conversation was over. Luis started the engine and puttered parallel to all of the buoys as James and his sons studied them, looking for signs of
someone hanging on. There were no such signs, but they did notice solar panels on top of the buoys, with wires leading to small hard plastic boxes that seemed to be bolted to each buoy. Some piece of electrical equipment must be in each box, he thought. They said GPS tests. Survey equipment? Who knows. Could be anything. He needed to do more research.
Once they were clear of the buoys James told Luis to take them back to Vieques, assuring him he’d be paid for the whole day as promised. Luis pushed the throttles up and they were off. James gave the tiny island a close look as they passed by it, wondering what it really was they were doing there.