Meeting at Rosa Linda Constable Mayfield turned the ignition in the pickup and as the engine pulsed into life, the vehicle speakers filled the cab with the stream from his favourite radio station which played music 55 minutes out of every hour. A popular, guitar led track was on air from the duo of Popcaan and Beres Hammond and he murmured the refrain as he drove from the station parking lot to the Mammee Bay public docks. “All I know is God is holy,1 Protect your life, it’s your one and only. Evil people will kill you slowly.” The pickup slowly reversed down the ramp until the trailer that was attached it became submerged in the seawater and the boat that was on the trailer floated, without rocking. Breeze was a few hours away and it was still early for water traffic to stir up waves. The full blaze of the morning sun had not yet surmounted the bulk of the modest mountain range that framed the shore and kept the overnight chill in the air. Every now and then a slim wisp of fog escaped from the thickly wooded valleys that emptied cold and sparkling streams along the coastline of Mammee parish. Inspector of Police Milford was proud of his team. The service boat that was assigned to the Ocho Man station had undergone its first bow to stern routine maintenance and was in good order to continue supporting law enforcement in surveillance, monitoring and search and rescue along 70Km of coastline running from St Basil parish in the east through the town of Ocho Man and to Cascade River, which was the border of Mammee Parish and where their jurisdiction ended. There were larger police areas on the island of Jamaica, but outside of Kingston and Montego Bay, Ocho Man had the busiest and most diverse boating activity. He glanced at his wind-up watch, a discontinued Swiss made piece that was handed down to him when he graduated from the police academy a few years before and it read 6:55AM; he also wore a smartwatch, which he used for everything else but checking the time. Milford had set launch time for 7 and the crew were on time. The vessel was as spotless inside as it was outside, and the low hum of the twin outboard engines was thrilling. Their police boat was among the smarter vessels that were now in motion beyond the bay and within the Mammee bight. Among the many bays and ports in the bight, Ocho Man had prestige because it accommodated mega cruise ships, but almost every bay was exploited for economic activity. East Bay and the smaller scoops of bays going east had sandy shores that were protected by a great reef, so were used as fishing beaches, bathing beaches, swimming training and water sports. Ocho Man bay and the bays to the west were deeper and were used as docking facilities, including the cruise ship port. Some marinas catered to sports fishing boats and pleasure cruisers, and others had boats that did the kinds of sea work that involved grease, chemicals and heavy machinery. The Ocho Man police station was three miles away from the coast within a valley along the main road going inland and did not have berthing access at any of the many piers. The first arrangement was to use 1 Beres Hammond and Popcaan “God is Love” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRw2gNWuo2I
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