"What happened?" Rick asked. He and Scotty fell in step with the old captain and walked toward his shack.
"Tom Tyler's hearing has been set for Saturday morning."
Scotty frowned. "Today is Wednesday. That doesn't give us much time."
"I know it don't. But unless we find some answers right fast, Tom will lose his license sure as shooting. And that's not all. He'll find himself charged by the insurance company with deliberately running the Sea Belle on the reef."
Rick found a comfortable seat in the captain's shack and stretched out his legs. "Let's hold a council of war. If we're going to do anything, we'd better have a plan of action." He told Cap'n Mike of their suspicion that the Kelsos and Brad Marbek might be engaged in smuggling and waited for the old man's reaction.
Cap'n Mike rubbed his chin reflectively. "Now! It could be that you boys have something there. It could just be!"
"But what would they be smuggling?" Scotty demanded.
"Shucks. I could make you a list a mile long. Most people think it's only worth while to smuggle things like drugs or aliens, but I tell you many a tidy sum has been made by smuggling things just to escape paying duty on them."
"Suppose they are smuggling," Rick pointed out. "How do we prove it?"
"Catch 'em red-handed," Scotty said. "Red-handed instead of redheaded."