C James

Lisa and Joel's visit to the guesthouse, brief though it was, sure spilled the beans to B&G. The good news is that no matter what, it's likely that the guesthouse bugs won't be much further use. Wasn't it nice of Bridget to wish Lisa and Joel a white Christmas?

"So Be It" is up. It's chapter number is AUD68, as dictated by the unwavering and undeniable strictures of Australian Mathematics. Enjoy, and BTW, to all who are here in the U.S, Happy Thanksgiving.

Chapter 101: So Be It Aboard Kookaburra, it was early Tuesday morning, not long after sunup, when Shane, who was sleeping lightly, felt Trevor begin to stir. Trevor felt Shane’s arms around him as consciousness returned, and instinctively snuggled closer, feeling safe and secure in Shane’s embrace. Sometimes, when a person awakes from a dream, the dream does not fade all at once, the disjointed reality of the dream lingering on for a few moments as wakefulness ends. Trevor’s mind began

I forgot to announce the title of the next chapter! It's "So Be It". The chapter number will be, per Australian Maths, AUD68.

Thanks! Look at the bright side; even though Circumnavigation isn't complete quite yet, at least with me as the author you know with absolute certainty that you don't have to worry about a cliffhanger happening, because there are none. Thanks! Yep, she can be sneaky, especially if she thinks its in a good cause.

Not all the police are dirty; we only know of George, so far. Manipulative? Um, I gotta admit that one. Yep, Trevor and his friends have in many ways been pawns. If they can get together and compare notes, they may learn much.

Thanks! But, I've taken to numbering the chapters using Australian math now, which converted #99 to #66, in order to evade admitting that I am a verbose blabbermouth who cannot count.

Okay, first, let's take a look at the marina in Ft. Pierce. This link should bring it up in google maps. In it, you can see just one big catamaran, and it's the southeasternmost boat moored in the marina. In the initial chapters of the book I described Atlantis as being moored there, though on the north rather than the south side of that pier. Dirk is mentioned as owning some of the boat docks, though not all of the ones in the marina (there are a lot). I envision (yes, Marty, I'm taking artistic license here) that the Chandlery is about where we see the icon for Whitecar Marine Services. The adjoining piers in that spot are slip moorings, where Atlantis could not fit. They are for monohull boats. The place we see the big catamaran moored isn't adjoining the chandlery or that likely parcel. You know what's really irksome? See the north side of the marina; it's Florida A1, crossing the Indian River. I drove across it not long before starting this story and thus right past the marina. I have wished many times I had stopped for a look around and to take some pictures. And yep, if Bridget and George learn that Ares is still around, they might have elevated stress levels for a while. Marty, I'm about done here myself. My lack of understanding and knowledge of correct police procedures, as you say, would be apt ONLY if I had maintained that Fowler and Grundig acted in total accordance with their rules and procedures. I have said Fowler cut Trevor a break, albeit a small one, by not arresting him. Under the circumstances, I consider such a break well justified; Trevor had arrived after a horrific ordeal at sea, and in such bad shape that they wanted to put him in hospital. I maintain that under such circumstances he'd get some leeway. True, he moved his gun to avoid it being seen, but while we know that, Fowler does not?. Gonzalez: Yes, I consider him honest. Did he break the law regarding Joel's car? Let's assume he did. He was doing it in the pursuit of justice, a thing in which he deeply believes. I have the same right to voice my opinions in this forum as you do Marty, and my opinion of Gonzalez is that he's an honest, clean cop who serves the cause of Justice. I see no contradiction because he may have broken a law or procedure. Honesty and the law are not, in my opinion, always the same thing, and a hell of a lot of dishonesty has taken place under color of law. Now, as for Gonzalez's involvement with bugging Joel's car. Here's what Gonzalez said to Henry about that in 85; Your claim above is he entered into a criminal conspiracy with Henry when he permitted the bugging of Joel';s car. I believe you were also saying something about crashing and burning? Now as for the IRS: They are IMHO the most draconian institutions in American government, and they commit grave abuses, but not in every case. What they apparently, according to Dirk, had Dirk cold on was the loan application forms, which is not a tax matter. They had no legal grounds to seize anything of his, so they didn't. They had a minor possible charge (very minor, once the loan was paid off) and then they put things on hold because they thought Dirk was going down for murder one. Like any agency, they have limited manpower and thus aren't inclined to waste it. Plus, on the tax side, an anonymous tip is not enough to do much with, especially when it names Rachel, not Dirk. If you think I'm wrong on this, show me a precidentiary case or a legal citation proving it (not merely that it has occured at some point, but is the usual practice), and I'll happily admit any error on my part. Do I make mistakes? Oh hell yes, I do. And when I do and am made aware of it (an actual mistake), I usually proclaim it and not try to hide it. That does not, however, mean I won't argue when I consider the facts to be on my side.

Wildone!! It is philosophically almost impossible to prove a negative, so the best I can do is point out that there are no cliffhangers in Circumnavigation! Can you point to even one chapter that has a cliffhanger? Who? Me? He's had some nasty shocks... two attempts on his life, and then to top it off his long-dead mother stopping by for a surprise visit. How much more can he endure? That's a very good question. I am very hopeful that we can avoid any further skipped weeks in this story. True, that's one way to read it. Trevor does not know about Basingstoke, so Trevor isn't worried about him. Absolutly true!!! I never do... if you look back at any of the bad things that have happened to Trevor, none of them have been me. The bomb on Atlanits was done by Bridget and George, not me. Same with the pirates. Basingstoke is indeed the most dangerous character that we know of.

Without proof, they can't move against property. They can file a tax lien at the touch of a button, but unless they can then prove their case, it's voided. (it does, however, remain on the record forever). Could they force an inspection, etc, yes. We do not know exactly what Bridget gave the IRS. Would they have done some checking before contacting the accountant? I think you are likely right. You are, however, assuming that Rachel had employees on the illegal charters. You're also assuming that the Jones Act forbids any sort of charters. It does not. It forbids carrying of passengers in the case of waiver-less foreign built boat, which includes the kind of charters we saw Trevor do. What it does not preclude is bare-bones charters, which is basically someone renting the boat (the owner would not be going along, nor any crew). That would be a legal business use, and would be income Rachel could report on a schedule C for Ocean Star Charters. I'm not saying she did or didn't (you'll need to wait for the conversation between Rachel and Gonzalez for that and some other info) but she surely could have. I honestly can't recall whether or not Trevor referred to docking fees at his home marina as part of his expenses. He may very well not know who actually owns the dock (and his father was obviously keeping quiet on anything financial), and also we don't know if that dock was one owned by Dirk; there are a lot in that marina, and the regular boat slip docks could not take Atlantis; she's far too wide to fit in a slip. She was tied up on a straight dock. Also, ownership does not mean you're the one collecting rents. The land-based equivalent is an apartment building; it is likely to be run by a management agency, instead of the owner directly.

I'll post the table here; BTW, What I do to post images is display them in the gallery (follow your link, the click once) then right click on the image, select "copy image to clipboard", then return to the post, click on the image button, and past in the link. My point was that the IRS investigation into Rachel and Dirk commenced, even by your own reckoning, in Dec 1994. That's based on Dirk's statement of ABOUT 12 years ago. My own notes say he was rounding up and it was just a few months later (summer, 2005) and I one of the reasons I had him say "about" was because I didn't think he'd remember exactly off the top of his head, but, I didn't say that in the story, so let's use your own date, Dec 1994. She set sail from Florida for Australia in May, 1997. I count that as being approximately two and a half years. You said several years and cited that as one of the things you found implausible. The definition (I believe it to be a common and accurate one) I use for "several" is "Three or more". Your log of events is superb work, and I truly wish I had been so meticulous in my outline, which lacked dates in many places. That lead me to spending lots of time looking for references, as well as making some glaring errors, such as 8 day weeks and the like. I have learned from this, and will absolutely do so for my next novel, instead of trying to keep so much of it in my head. Yes, she operated Ocean Star Charters, sort of. It was an entity she set up while trying to make the charters legal (including while petitioning for a Jones Act waiver) but many of her charters were, perforce, under the table and off the books. After there were two boats, were they being operated? Yes, but there is no mention of how. Dirk mentions hiring a couple to run Atlantis, but that's after Rachel left. For anything more on this, you'll have to wait until the conversation between Rachel and Gonzalez. However, you raise an interesting point, so even if we hypothetically assume the existence of crew for one of the boats prior to Rachel's departure, you seem to be assuming that they would be honest in any interview. It also requires the assumption that the IRS knew of them and could find them. If they were being paid under the table, they could not be honest (even if the IRS found them) without implicating themselves for concealing income.

There's more to learn about Bridget's operations... Trevor faces a very formidable foe, one he's not yet aware of.

Thanks! The Florida side is fast changing, and this much delayed move by Gonzalez to get Lisa and Joel out of their love shack should keep Trevor a bit safer -were it not for the tracker on Kookaburra. :-) Joel is a favorite of mine as well.

Ahh, but all I'm really saying there is that the definition of "up" varies from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere, so therefor, one is inverted relative to the other. And, am I not doing Australia a favor by publicizing the existence of Australian math? Left hanging? But but but... there are no cliffhangers in Circumnavigation!! And LoL, yeah, Joel sure was shocked by that particular "punishment". Nah, I'll stick to Australian math... gotta keep it real. Very true! I have often said that goats cannot count, and that's one thing I've yet to be argued with about. I never saw the last (or any other, save for a few miniutes here and there) Sienfeld episode, so I can't comment there, but I did looked it up just now, so here's Wikipedia's page. Umm, they were prosecuted for failing a duty to rescue? There isn't one under US law outside of special circumstances, so they can't be. And a requirement for bystanders to aid the victim during an armed carjacking? But... the design of the characters in Circumnavigation to be, shall we say, morally mixed to varying degrees, was intentional, and has many reasons, some of which we've not yet seen.

I think you have it wrong on a couple of details. Rachel did not know she was under investigation and keep up the illegal activities. It's mentioned that the first warning they had was when the IRS paid a visit to their accountant. I don't recall exactly what Dirk said, but it was within a year or two of Rachel leaving Florida. So, it's not as if they knew all along (Rachel's illegal activities began with the first charter on Ares, well before Trevor was born). The IRS investigation began with Bridget's tip-off to the IRS, so did not run for the length of time you indicate. Also, all we know that Rachel did illegally during the time she knew of the investigation was that final charter, and then the stuff involving her leaving Florida. Legally, Dirk did not need to justify the existence of the funds used to pay off the loan. He already had proof that he had a potential source of funds: the inheritance mentioned. Remember, in that era especially, though to a large degree even now, you were only obligated to report taxable income, not the amount of your holdings. It was then, as it is now, quite legal to keep private the amount of your holdings (excluding recently some things, such as IRA accounts, where you have to disclose the amount). A bank account will have the amount often disclosed to the IRS, but not always even now, and it's totally legal to keep, say, a huge pile of cash in a safe and not report the amlount. The IRS need not know that Dirk's inheritance was gone. Also, even if he could not prove the providence of the funds, it is up to the IRS to show that the source is illegally untaxed. In the case against Capone, they had witnesses and other evidence. Here's a link to the original IRS case summary. The investigation into Rachel basically ended with her "death", because they had no irrefutable proof of the tax crimes plus the tip had named Rachel, not Dirk. They also were motivated by the fact that Dirk was now the subject of a murder investigation (for Rachel's death). It was Rachel they were after, and they thought she was dead. Could they have gone after Dirk alone? Sure, but only for the original matter of filing false loan applications as a co-signator, which is a rather hollow charge after the loan has been paid off in full. It's also not something the IRS would normally do except to put pressure on a tax suspect (as they were doing to Rachel). As for Dirk, they could not prove that he knew what Rachel was doing, let alone that he was involved. The thrust of their case "died" with Rachel. Where do they have a prosecutable case against Dirk once Rachel is "dead"? Conspiricy between husband and wife is darn hard to prove in most cases (due to the inability to compel testimony) but with one 'dead' and no witnesses to any conspiricy, where is their provable case? They can't actually do much without a provable case. I think it's highly likley they kept a close eye on Dirk, looking for any further evidence, but the suspected operations perforce ended with Rachel's "death". And, as a hypothetical; could Dirk justify the existance of the funds used? Sure he could; he owns two buisnesses; the chandlery, plus some income property (nearby stores and the docks) which would need to be on seperate Schedule C's. All he'd have to do was inflate the profit figures, pay a bit of income tax, and bingo, the money is then seen as profit and leitimate and can then be used to pay off the loan. This would not actually be illegal asside from the illegal source (which would make it money laundering, if they could prove the source); there's no law against overstating your profits by failing to list deductions and thus paying more in tax. Lisa and Joel leaving early (assumign they do) should have some interesting ramifications for all concerned. Plus, Lisa and Joel now know that Dirk and Jim are a couple... and Lisa wants to tell Trevor that little detail in person.

Back in Chapter 2 of Circumnavigation, we met Ben, who was in just the one chapter. I received many inquiries about him, and it gave me an idea; write a short story about him, and then distribute it via PM and E-mail as a private "thank-you" to those who were active in the forum or e-mail or PM, etc, regarding feedback or comments. I'd been looking for a way to express my thanks, so this looked like a good fit. The story is a spin-off of Circumnavigation, but I've been told it can be read alone. It's now on my GA site, but I still get an occasional request for it, so I thought I'd post a link here in a thread for it. Ben CJ

I don't recall Dirk ever saying he was innocent of anything except murder? (and as we've seen, he clearly did not murder Bridget's husband or his own wife, so he was, in fact, innocent of those charges). Oh, he also said he was innocent of trying to kill Trevor. And Dirk was indeed framed. And as he admitted, he did the framing for Rachel's murder, and then Bridget and George framed him for Arnold Bellevue and the attempted killing of Trevor.. I'm not saying he's committed no crimes (quite clearly, he has) but I don't recall him saying he's innocent of them (except the ones he clearly is innocent of, above). Even Frank, who would say anything at all, true or not, hasn't, as I recall, claimed innocence for Dirk except for what he's clearly actually innocent of. And as Dirk as said several times over the course of this story, regarding Trevor, "When he learns the truth, he'll hate me, and he'll have every right". That doesn't sound like a man claiming he's absolutely innocent to me.

Author’s Note: Due to substantial portions of this story occurring in Australia, many adaptations have had to be made, including use of the inverted Australian seasonal calendar, the reversed rotation of storms, etc. Therefore, as an accommodation to Australians’ firm and unflappable dedication to upsidedownedness in all things, Circumnavigation will adopt, in addition to the ongoing usage of some Australian language, Australian Maths for the chapter numbering. We will signify this via the AUD symbol, as we do for Australian Dollars. Therefore, we have now reached (with the prior chapter) chapter 66 (99, upside down) and will resume the chapter count at that point. So, without further ado, I now present Circumnavigation Chapter (Australian maths) AUD67. (Or, for our Australian readers: L9pnɐ(sɥʇɐɯ uɐıןɐɹʇsnɐ) ɹǝʇdɐɥɔ uoıʇɐƃıʌɐuɯnɔɹıɔ) Let it never be said that I did not keep my promise to conclude this story before reaching chapter 100. I would also like to thank Australia’s dedicated commitment to being upside down, which has allowed me to evade admitting that I am a long-winded blabbermouth who cannot count. Circumnavigation (Australian Maths) AUD67 Death & Taxes

Chapter 100: Death & Taxes Twice, they nearly came to blows. Frank Tittle, in an obnoxious, self-righteous tone, was presumptuously lecturing the State Attorney on points of law. The State Attorney, for his part, was furious on many levels. Mike Gonzalez and Henry Wesson mainly sat by the side, letting the two attorneys verbally duke it out. Gonzalez was furious; he’d been sandbagged by Frank Tittle and he knew it. Frank, in high dudgeon, pointed out yet another legal citation: “I refe

Trevor, via Joel, he the solution to his money problems suddenly show up on his doorstep. He was in dire need of money, so what did he decide to do? Work for it. Now, as for Greek law, I'll mention that the Greek government was, at the time, in flagrant and fraudulent violation of said Greek laws. I'll explain in my reply lower down. And for Martin, the issues you raised are moot; he was not involved with Rachel's arrival or the immediate coverup. So, he did nothing illegal. It doesn't matter if he later knew; he was under no legal onus to report any crimes. Were crimes committed (such as a forged registration)? Yes, but not by Martin. It doesn't matter if he knows; he's not breaking the law by not reporting it. For the australian mathematics issue... Forgive me, MArty, but ti sounds to me as if you just don't understand Australian Math. I'll be posting more about that subject in the thread for the coming chapter, Death & Taxes, in a few miniutes. Marty, early in the thread, said he was laooking for lawbreakers, not just dishonesty, so that makes this even easier. Lisa asked permission, and was refused, regarding the chandlery. That's not illegal. Twain is one of my favorites. And the national government of Greece was also, at that time, in massive violation of the laws of Greece and the EU, and attempting to cover it up by fraud. They are treaty bound (a condition of EU entry) to have deficits no higher than 3% of GDP, and total debet no greater than 60% of GDP. They have never even come close to abiding by the law, and went further by attempting to hide their financial condition through massive accounting fraud. So, it's hard to blame Trevor for breaking the laws of a government that is itself a criminal on a massive scale. Well, from my point of view, the #1 goal for me in writing is to keep it 100% cliffhanger free, but a close second is to try to keep my characters realistic. That means that sometimes, just like any other person, they'll do things that are controversial. No one is 100% good or bad, because the world in which we live is one of shades of grey, not absolutes. Trevor is his mother's son. She liked to push the limits, sometimes too far. So in some ways does Trevor, and this is one of them. He's also hinted, early on, at Rachel's infleunce, such as quoting her "it's not illegal if you don't get caught". Trevor is showing some traits from his mother, as he does from his father. Good or bad traits they may be, but in my experiance, children usually do pick up some traits from their parents. What they do with them in the long run is up to them.

But... you DID say that I don't say it often enough, and should say it more.... And I agree with you!! Who? Me? But... I am innocent!!

Interestingly, putting a tracker on someone else's vehicle has become a legal gray area. The justice department has taken to arguing that it does not require a warrant or even probable cause for the police to do it, because the information gathered is the same as if a car had followed them, and being out in public they have no right to privacy from what could be observed via non-electronic means. This issue has reached the supreme court, and has yet to be decided. However, for Henry, it means that what he did (placing a tracker, not the trespass) may have been legal, because the same logic applies. Why would it be legal for the police to do it and not him, based on the same legal theory? No law allows the police and not others to do this. BAck in 2006, though, Henry may well have been breaking the law, but the justice department has cleverly opened up the means to take legal stalking to a whole new level, because if they get the ruling they want, it will apply to everyone, due to the legal theory involved (no expectation of privacy on a public road). Totally agreed!! I'll argue over Frank Tittle being liberal (or any other political persuasion - we just don't have any info on that). He's a criminal lawyer, and his job is to say what is needed to help his clients. whether its true or not. What he says has no bearing whatsoever on his own beliefs. And okay, okay, Shane did indeed try to superglue Ned's toolbox shut. Concealing tip money? Remember, he split that 50-50 with Julie, so he's only concealing his half. We don't know what she did with hers. And he did far better than usual on the first charter we saw; he probably nets far less than that, on average. Marty, have you ever found a dollar... maybe some loose change, like a quarter in a parking lot a few times in a year... and then not reported it? Legally, it's the same. And you did say that not reporting taxes wasn't evil. As for the charter in Greece, that broke no US laws, and won't unless he doesn't report it. And, even then, that'd make the voyage largely tax deductible, so the net taxable income would likely be zero. And you're saying you think Gonzalez should have busted Henry for victimizing poor Bridget? Or do you mean George? As I recall, Gonzalez has tried to keep Henry from breaking laws in most cases. Greg is Craig's superior officer, so Craig is obligated to defer to him. Now, speaking of memories (I won't defend mine, I freely admit it's bad) yours seems a tad off for MArtin Blake. Nowhere does it say that RAchel was in contact with him during her arrival or while Ares was being recreated as Ares. Indeed, Rachel said, "Later, when I fell in love with my childhood sweetheart, Martin, someone helped me with the paperwork to change my last name from Smith to Blake." So it looks to me like MArtin wasn't involved in Rachel's arrival or the doctoring of Ares into Kookoburra at all. And, she's registerted, as Kookoburra, in Western Australia, but I don't know of any Australian law that violates, and Martin didn't do it anyway. Now, as for me saying two but listing three, you are forgetting; Martin Blake and Craig Grundig (two of the three) are Australian! Therefore, we need to count them with Australian maths. 1+1+1=3, which is half of 6, but in Australia 6 is upside down so it's a 9, so you subtract one (for Gonzalez, who isn't in Australia) to give you 8, then subreact the 3 (which is half of the six from whence came the 9) to get 5, and then subtract the 3 we started with, and you've got two: Gonzalez, Grundig, and Martin Blake. It's quite simple so long as you bear in mind that, relative to the northern hemisphere, Australia is upside down.

I was hoping someone would notice this aspect. Well done, Marty. Yes. Though to vastly varying degrees, we have almost all major characters, with two possible exceptions, breaking laws. Shane? He stole mainly food, out of dire necessity. Granted, he put himself in that mess partially by his own doing (staking everything on the surf lifesavers competition) but he was coming out of a very bad situation. Trevor? It was illegal for him to leave Florida (he was a minor) against his father's wishes. However, I think it is very understandable that he did, under the circumstances (which included suspecting his father of killing his mother). Did he break gun laws in a few countries by keeping his gun hidden? Yep... and so would I. I would not wish to sail in some of the waters he did unarmed. Here are my two nominees for characters who have not broken the law: Craig Grundig, Martin Blake, and Mike Gonzalez. Me! How fascinating! I'd not heard of that concept before: “Mala in Se, Mala Prohibita.” That makes perfect sense, as a way of understanding legal theory. Thanks for bringing this up!!!!!! And I absolutely agree with your statement: "I personally classify the offense of creating a, “Cliffhanger,” as, “Mala in se.” Cliffhangers are indeed evil, which is why I so steadfastly and forthrightly, with virtious vigor, strive to ensure that none ever occur in my stories.

Lol, that is indeed a cruel thing to do to a kid, but I've seen far worse. Just ask Moon-unit Zappa or Dweezil Zappa, for two that come right to mind (the kids of musician Frank Zappa).

But but but... I never use cliffhangers!! To be honest, there was no such thought in my mind. My original outline called for four chapters, total, between Trevor's first day in Carnarvon and the events in 98. I soon realized it would stretch out a bit, and went with it for character development for Shane, plus setups for what happened in 98 and 99. Looking back, I think I went too far, and before I knew it I had way too many chapters between Trevor's arrival and 98. Part of the problem was I was writing chapter-by-chapter, instead of my preferred method of writing large blocks of text (several chapter's worth) because I was running behind on my posting schedule. I didn't realize it then, but this added to my penchant for verbosity. I resumed my usual method at about chapter 95, but by then I was pretty much locked in to the lead up to 98.