Lindsay flipped through the catalog. It wasn't all of model trains. It had airplanes and ships, too. She stopped and looked at a picture and pointed it out to Delosier. "That's our ship-or one like it."
"What?"
"The one we are excavating. All the timbers we are hauling into the warehouse belong to a ship that looked like this."
He picked up the catalog and looked at the photograph of the model galleon. "Well, what about that. It's a pretty thing. If you want, I'll copy this page and an order form."
"Thanks. That would be nice. What time do you get off?"
"What? Oh, six in the morning. I take the ferry back. I live in Darien."
"Did you hear anything strange that evening?"
He smiled. "I've been hearing strange things ever since I set foot on this island. It sometimes sounds like a jungle out there. But in answer to your question, I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. If I had, I would have checked on it."
"Can you give me the times you were here and the times you checked the warehouse?"
He nodded and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "I gave this information to the FBI agent."
Lindsay unfolded the paper. It was his schedule. She noted the times he said he was away from the warehouse. She had no doubt that this was the schedule he made for himself and a schedule he planned to follow, and probably thought he did. But this wasn't a demanding job. He probably made a few rounds and settled down to read. She believed that someone as absorbed in a hobby as he appeared to be probably became so engrossed in reading and planning his model railroad landscape that he frequently lost track of time. She doubted this was a reliable schedule of his movements on the evening Hardy Denton died.
"Do you know everyone who works here by sight?"
"Pretty much. Not many folks come around at night."
"Who does?"
"Let's see." He put a hand to his chin. "A meteorologist is always working in the weather room. I reckon they have to watch it twenty-four hours a day. Dr. Marcus is sometimes here. There's a woman who lives upstairs who called him a couple of times. Said she thought someone was trying to break into her apartment, but I didn't see anyone on the premises. I think she just wanted Dr. Marcus's company."
Lindsay looked down at the sheet Delosier had given her. "It says here on your schedule that you're at the warehouse at two in the morning."
He looked puzzled.
"That's when Dr. Latham reported an intruder," Lindsay explained.
"Dr. Latham? I thought it was Dr. Marcus ...
"Dr. Harper Latham is the woman who reported someone trying to get into her apartment. She called Dr. Marcus. Since you were at the warehouse at the time, is it possible you didn't see or hear anyone at the house on the second floor trying to get into Dr. Latham's room?"
A deep wrinkle appeared in the center of Delosier's forehead. "Of course, that's a possibility."
"Besides Dr. Marcus, who else have you seen coming around at night?"
He thought a minute. "I'm usually pretty good with names and make it a point to know everyone. Let's see. Mike Altman, he's one of the biologists. I've seen him there occasionally. Nate Hampton, he's a diver. He comes over sometimes. The guy that works with metals, Korey, and the woman he works with are often down in the basement late. They both have apartments upstairs. And I've seen some woman with red hair occasionally. I believe she's one of the biology people, or maybe a diver. There's a boy, Isaac Jones, who works past six sometimes in the warehouse, but he's never around late. And I've seen this guy, John West, I believe his name is, at the warehouse. He looks a lot like an Indian."
"He is an Indian."
"Really? You don't say. What does he do here?"
"He owns the construction company that built the cofferdam. He and his crew maintain it. Were any of the people you just named here the night Hardy Denton was killed?"
"No, it was a quiet night."
"Think back. Are you sure?"
Delosier thought a moment. "No, I don't remember anyone here then."
Lindsay decided that, however well-meaning Dale Delosier was as a person, as a witness and perhaps as a security guard he was useless. Both she and Mike Altman were in the lab that evening.
"These people you mentioned. Why were they here in the middle of the night?"
"Most of them were working. Dr. Lewis and Dr. Marcus gave me a list of people who work here. If they are supposed to be here, I don't bother with them too much. The West fellow was here picking up a package that came over on the ferry with me. Dr. Marcus told me to put it in the warehouse, and he'd tell West to pick it up."
"Have you seen anyone you don't know?" asked Lindsay.
"I'm sure Agent Ramirez showed you photographs of Hardy Denton and Keith Teal. Have you seen either of them anywhere?"
"No, never have."
"Have you heard any strange or unusual rumors?"
He shook his head. "I don't talk to people much when I'm working. Usually there's nobody around to talk to, except the weathermen. Sometimes we have a cup of coffee together."
"Thank you for talking with me, Mr. Delosier."
"I can't imagine who killed that fellow-or the other one. No one I've met here seems like they'd do something like that. I think it was someone who came by boat to the other side of the island. I would have noticed any strange boats at the dock."
Lindsay left him with his reading, and she went to the weather room. William Kuzniak was there poring over a satellite map. Lindsay could only see the top of his bald head.
"I hope the good weather's holding out," Lindsay said.
He looked up and smiled. "Hi. So far it is, but we're in hurricane season."
"I guess you weather people have to be here around the clock?"
"Pretty much. It wouldn't do to have a storm sneak up on you guys."
"Who was on duty last Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning?" Lindsay looked at the printout of the map. It looked Greek to her.
"Ah, the night of the murder. I can't believe it. I feel like I'm in a bad film noir. I was on duty. Ramirez talked to me. Suspicious fellow."
"It's his job to be suspicious. What were you able to tell him?"
William looked at her over his glasses.
"Lewis asked me to follow up on things," said Lindsay.
"I have a hard time believing that something like that was going on while I was here. This room is fairly soundproof, being in the middle of the building the way it is. I didn't hear a thing. I had coffee with the old guy-the security guard, if you can call him that. As near as I can figure, he reads about trains while he's here and goes off to check the other building when he feels like he has to stretch his legs." Kuzniak stopped to look at something on his computer. "Ramirez asked me my whereabouts between three and four o'clock that morning, if that gives you any information."
"It does." Lindsay had guessed between four and five. "And I suppose you gave him an alibi?"
William laughed. "At least I can die now knowing that in my lifetime I had to have an alibi. Actually, yes and no. I was here most of the time. I had coffee with Dale at 3:00 A.M. I didn't stay long. He gets to talking about model trains and he'll go on all night. I talked to my girlfriend on the phone at four-thirty. She's in Atlanta. She gets up at that time to get ready for work. Anyone who works in Atlanta is out of their mind. But I had plenty of time in between to go down to the warehouse, off the guy, and return without anyone being the wiser."
"Did you hear anything when you were on break?"
"Nothing but the wonders of a digital train system."
"Harper thought she had a prowler a couple of nights ... actually I don't know when, but it was before I got here ..."
"Yeah, Terry told me about it. Trey came over. We told Harper she could call on us. Her suite is in the back of the house here and is kind of isolated. It's separated by a hallway from the rest of us, and we didn't know one another as well then."
"Have any ideas?"
"
I personally think it was one of the bio people trying to scare her. They come over here at night to work some. Can't blame them. They were here first, but some of them act like big babies sometimes."
"How many biologists are there? I've sort of met four."
"That's all. Mike and Tessa Altman. They're the worst. The other two, Gretchen Wheeler and James Choi, are both very nice but have to walk a fine line with Mike and Tessa. There were more working here, but they left. I assume they'll be back when we leave."
"And you, Terry, Korey, Isaac, Carolyn, and Harper are the ones staying here at the lab?"
"That's right. We stay in the rooms upstairs. Terry and I room together. Carolyn has her own room and Korey and Isaac share the other suite. It's pretty nice really."
"Have you heard any strange or interesting rumors while you've been here?"
"About what?"
"Anything."
"The sea monster at Darien."
"Thanks for the info."
"Sure. You know, I'd like Lewis to hire some more security around here. Nate said he was going to seriously suggest to Lewis that he get at least two-one to watch this place and one to watch the warehouse. It is rather unsettling to be working here at night thinking one of us might be a murderer, or worse yet, a victim."
"I'll mention it to him. By the way, I hardly ever see the rangers. How many of them are there?"
"There are usually about three, I think. They're all staying at Cumberland Island now that the biology people are staying at the ranger station. They come once a day and check on the place."
"Do you know if Lewis is on the barge or in his office?"
"I believe he's in there." William motioned with his head toward the door.
Lindsay walked to the back of the room, knocked, and entered when she heard his muffled "come in." He was hanging up the phone when she opened the door.
"Hi, Lindsay. Making progress on the Denton investigation?"
"No one saw or heard anything. I need to find out why Denton was on the island. I have a plan for that. I would like-"
A knock on the door stopped Lindsay in mid-sentence.
"It's West, Lewis. Is Lindsay here?"
"Come on in, West. We need to talk." John came in and pulled up a chair beside Lindsay.
"I'm hiring two extra security guards," Lewis said. "I'm going to ask Korey and Isaac to live on the barge and give them their room. Have you found more divers?"
John nodded. "They'll be here in a couple of days. I have room on my barge for them."
"Good. That should take care of the security. You were about to say something, Lindsay?"
"I'd like to talk with Evangeline Jones on her ship."
"You think that's wise?"
"No," John answered before Lindsay could say anything. "But I was thinking, if we take a few boats out and have a presence in the water, it should be safe."
Lindsay looked over at John, pleased that he agreed to the point of making a plan.
"That sounds fine then. I have no problem. You think you can get her to tell you anything?"
"I think that she'll want information from me as much as I want some from her. I may learn something from the questions she asks."
"Go for it then. I hope you find that she is the murderer. That'll get rid of two problems at once."
Lindsay stood and put her hand in her pocket. "Don't expect her to confess anything tomorrow. Now, I have something for you. Hold out your hand."
Lewis raised his eyebrows and did what he was told. Lindsay took out the coins and dropped them into his palm. Lewis sat up straight, as if his chair had an electric charge.
"Where did you find these?"
"On the beach."
"Do you know which ship they're from?"
Lindsay sat down again and gave him a how-would-I-knowthat look. "I believe they're from the Estrella, simply because it's directly across from the island at the point I found them, but-" She shrugged.
Lewis rubbed the coins and weighed them in his hands just as John had done. He looked up and caught Lindsay smiling at him and looked sheepish.
"Powerful, aren't they?" she said.
"Sure are. Can you imagine a shipful?"
"Barely."
"Did you mark the spot where you found them?"
"Sure. I drew an arrow in the sand and put an X on the spot." For a moment she thought Lewis believed her. "I paced out the distance in a straight line to the vegetation and built a carne."
"Has Trey seen them?"
"No, I just found them."
"Don't mention them to anyone," said Lewis.
"I won't."
"I'll have to tell Trey, of course, and Nate. He can plug the information into his program."
"How's that coming?" asked Lindsay.
Lewis's gesture was between a nod and a shrug. "He's finetuning the variables. It could be an amazing program. It has possibilities far beyond finding shipwrecks. I can see him taking it to the level of simulating parts of the ocean if he can get enough good data, but there are big gaps at the moment. He's tried some test runs with the Estrella's artifacts that were strewn about during the wreck. Since we know where the Estrella is, it was a good test, and he has had a fair amount of success. I've got him transferring to Georgia next fall."
"So if he plugs in the location where I discovered the coins and it leads back to the Estrella, then we can be virtually certain that these came from our ship."
"The Estrella, yes."
"Do you really have hopes of finding the other ship?" asked Lindsay.
"Of course. I'm already planning the museum that will house the two of them on campus."
"You're kidding."
"No. I'm already having people look at property on River Road."
"Lewis, you're scary."
Lindsay could hear Lewis laugh even after she shut the door to his office.
"How about seafood on St. Simons?" John asked. "It's a little late for dinner and a movie, so I thought we could cruise on the ocean-if you aren't spooked."
"Suits me. I'd love it."
"I hope you don't mind, but Luke and Bobbie are going with us."
"No, I don't mind. How did that come about?"
"Luke asked me. I think rather than coming out and asking Bobbie for a date, he's going to present it to her as a group outing."
Chapter 22
TWENTY SHOT GLASSES with oysters, a plate of lemon wedges, and a pitcher of beer sat in front of the four of them. Luke, it seemed, had never had raw oysters. --- - - -- - - - - - -- -
"You take a bite of lemon, then take the shot glass and let the oyster slide down your throat and chase it with a swallow of beer, like this," said Bobbie, illustrating the technique.
Luke gave it a try, nodded his approval and tried another. John chased his with water since he was piloting the boat. "I think it loses something without the beer," he said.
"I tried it with root beer once in high school. It was awful," Lindsay said.
"Yuck, why would you do that?" Bobbie wrinkled her nose and downed an oyster.
By the time all the shot glasses were empty, a feast of seafood arrived on a giant platter set in the middle of the table.
"This looks decadent," said Bobbie, reaching for a crab leg.
"It looks great," said Luke.
"This is the way the sailors on the Estrella ate," Lindsay commented. "Off a communal plate. Only, not so well."
They ate, more than talked, about half the platter's worth. A plate of oysters on the half shell hoisted on the arm of a waitress sailed past and headed for a booth in the far corner. Lindsay followed the tray with her gaze.
"Pearls," she said. "Wasn't Valerian's servant a pearl diver?"
"Who's Valerian?" asked Luke.
Bobbie gave him a short summary of the journal so far.
"Yes, he was," said Bobbie. "What about it?"
"There's a possibility that HSkR2 is Valerian's servant, plus his condition has the look of dysbaric osteonecrosis."
>
"Ouch," said Luke. "But how... ?"
"That's the question," said Lindsay. "But what if he was a pearl diver? Would free diving cause bone necrosis, I wonder?"
"Is this the saturation diving question you asked about earlier?" John asked, and Lindsay nodded. "I wouldn't think he could possibly go deep enough or hold his breath long enough-besides, don't you have to be breathing compressed air at deep pressures to contract that?"
"I believe so," Lindsay said. "It just all seems an interesting coincidence."
"The diary gives no indication that the servant was ill," said Bobbie.
"I know. I'm just speculating."
"I wish Harper would hurry and finish the translation," Bobbie said. "I want to find out what happens."
"The ship sinks," Luke replied.
Bobbie turned to him, brows knitted together and eyes narrowed. "You had to ruin it for me."
"Why don't we get dessert to go and eat out on the ocean?" Luke asked.
"Good idea." John picked up the tab the waitress left at the table. "We can pick up a couple of six-packs of drinks to take along with us."
The four of them, a six-pack each of Coke and Dr. Pepper, two cheesecakes, one chocolate cake, and one pecan pie loaded into the boat.
"Check the engine and the radio," Lindsay ordered.
"I did. They're fine." John kissed her cheek. "We won't get stranded." John piloted the boat out into the silvery moonlit ocean where he stopped and let it drift while they ate their dessert.
In the distance, Lindsay watched the lights of the boats on the water and thought about the men who sailed the Estrella across the water-the men whose bones she had touched. What a thing it was to sail all the way across the ocean with no telephones or radios, nothing but the things they were finding in the wreck. And what a disappointment to have wrecked so close to land. Some had to have survived-the diarist, of course. Who else? Lindsay found herself hoping that Valerian made it. How hard it must have been to be different in a time when differences were little tolerated.
"What do you see out there?" John asked.
"I suppose I was trying to see the Estrella-wondering who survived."
"I think about that, too," Bobbie said. She turned to Luke. "Would you like to read my copy of the journal?"
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