“I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say there are bound to be fireworks if my new deputy and Captain Carroll have any reason at all to get into it. And after Carroll’s last trip here, I can assure you those fireworks will probably happen. If we can make it through the next twenty-four hours, my life will get a whole lot easier.”
“Why? What happens then?”
“The Treasure King goes back to sea.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alex
IT TAKES FOREVER for The Treasure King to move to the outside dock. It’s so slow. Like it’s crawling. Robbie says the pilot is doing a good job, and even though Mr. Gray agrees, he watches super close until the woman on the docks gets the ropes that secure the boat tied down. When that’s all over, Mr. Gray says he’s going back to work.
Uh, no. That can’t happen. I need more background on The Treasure King. I have to ask a question. Super fast. “What would have happened if they made a mistake?” I blurt.
“Duh,” Robbie says. “They could have taken out the whole entire dock.”
Okay, so it was a lame question. But maybe…I give Mr. Gray a big smile.
Mr. Gray stops, looks at me, and chuckles. “Robbie’s right. Docking in a small harbor like this isn’t easy. Not for something the size of The Treasure King. Our harbor is old and even a small mistake while they’re moving a boat with that much mass could easily take out one of the docks.”
I point to the woman who did all the work on the docks. “What’s she doing?”
“Right now she’s double-checking and snugging down all of the lines to make sure the boat doesn’t move.”
“She’s one of the crew members?” Sasha asks.
“Her name’s Heather Sanna,” Mr. Gray says. “She’s not only a crew member, but she’s also the captain’s girlfriend. Although, why a woman would want anything to do with those lowlifes, I don’t know.”
“How come nobody’s helping her?” I ask.
“Because the captain feels like he’s above menial labor and the first mate is busy piloting. All the work falls to her.”
“That sucks.” At the B&B, me and Marquetta and my dad split the work. It doesn’t matter what it is—unless it’s cooking for the guests. In that case, me and Daddy let Marquetta boss us around.
“She’s the only girl?” Sasha asks. “How many others are there on the boat?”
“The Treasure King will bunk up to twelve. There’s a total of nine passengers and crew on this trip. One of the passengers is running around here taking pictures like there’s no tomorrow. Every one of those men only care about the treasure of the San Manuel, so you kids need to stay away from them.”
I look out at the lady who’s now helping a couple of the men off the boat. It totally looks to me like girl power rocks. I wonder if she’d talk to me.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Rick
RICK’S BREATH QUICKENED as he grasped the weathered door handle for the entrance to the Crooked Mast. The old wood, cool and smooth to the touch, felt damp. But that, he suspected, was the result of his own nervousness.
It was five-forty-five p.m. on the dot. The restaurant was probably teeming with patrons here for the early-bird specials. And most of those patrons were locals. The wisdom of Adam’s cautions this morning suddenly felt very weighty. If things went wrong, this dinner could become very awkward.
Rick pulled open the door for Marquetta, waited for her to enter, then followed. Inside, he took her coat. Dressed as she was, in a short gray skirt and white, lacy blouse he’d never seen before, he felt the gravity of this dinner. In a big city, dinner out as a couple would be nothing. In Seaside Cove, it was everything. “Ready for this?” he asked.
Marquetta laughed nervously. Glanced around. “Probably not.”
The aroma of grilling steaks and seafood filled the air. Though rustic by big-city standards, the nautical theme that ran throughout the restaurant—rough-hewn shiplap walls, driftwood and brass accents, along with fishing nets dotted with shells and starfish, evoked a sense of a distant port in the South Seas. In contrast, the vintage china and silverware added a sense of elegance.
Rowdy voices and laughter broke out from deeper inside. “I always tell our guests that the Crooked Mast is both quaint and elegant. It’s not feeling like much of either right now,” Rick said.
Marquetta squeezed Rick’s hand. “They’re not even that busy. Ken must have a big party.”
“I hope Adam was able to get us a table away from all the noise.” Rick scanned the area as they waited for the hostess to greet them. When a girl with glossy dark hair approached with two menus cradled in her arms, he asked, “Fiona? What’s going on?”
“It’s the dudes from The Treasure King.” She sighed, a look of disgust on her face, then smiled politely. “They’re super rowdy. And they’re not happy about being in town.” She lowered her voice and let her gaze bounce between Rick and Marquetta.
A sudden tightness seized Rick’s throat, then he realized Marquetta had tightened her grip.
“Are you two, like, together now?”
Rick stole a quick look at Marquetta.
“We’re just casual,” she said.
Rick smiled at Fiona, then added, “We’re meeting Adam and Traci.”
“Cool,” Fiona said. “They’re back here. Follow me.”
When Fiona was out of hearing range, Rick whispered in Marquetta’s ear, “I’ll bet you five bucks she’s texting all her friends about us in about two minutes.”
“I’m not taking that bet. Fiona’s a nice girl; her mother’s the terrible gossip. I don’t think we’d make the Seaside Cove High rumor mill, anyway. You’re too old for that crowd.”
“Ouch. Wait. I’m too old?”
“You heard me.” Marquetta flashed Rick a quick smile, then stopped at a table where Joe and Angela Gray were seated.
Fiona waited at the end of the table where Adam Cunningham and Traci Peterson sat next to each other. She cradled the leather-bound menus in her arms and smiled politely. Rick signaled that it would be fine to let them seat themselves. Fiona placed the menus in front of their seats and quickly retreated to her hostess station, where he fully expected her to launch rumors about the ‘new couple’ in town.
Across the room, a table filled with five men he didn’t recognize were talking loudly and complaining about being stuck in port. Rick tried to block out the rambunctious table as he turned his attention to the conversation going on between Joe, Angela, and Marquetta.
“They’ve been like that since we got here,” Joe said.
“What’s up?” Rick asked.
“I was asking about the rowdies over there.” Marquetta cut a glance across the restaurant. “Joe says they’re the ones from The Treasure King.”
“I thought so,” Rick said. “If things get out of hand, we have an in with the police chief. Meanwhile, I guess we’ll have to tough it out.”
“At least Captain Carroll’s not here. Given how much they’ve had to drink, I don’t know what would happen.” Joe paused. “Enough about them. The kids got a bit of a show today. They were down at the docks and witnessed firsthand the long process of navigating a large boat in a small harbor.”
“Alex couldn’t stop talking about it,” Marquetta said.
Rick patted Joe’s shoulder and chuckled. “She said you faced down a real-life pirate.”
“She did not!” Marquetta rolled her eyes. “All she said was there was a problem with where the captain wanted to dock, and that you straightened him out. She did not call him a pirate.”
Joe picked up his wine glass and raised it. “Might as well call him what he is. The man’s hoodwinked these jokers, and I think they’re starting to realize it. You get that much dissatisfaction in a confined space and there’s going to be trouble.”
To Rick’s relief, the server approached with an armload of plates. “It looks like your dinner’s arriving and we’re just another table down. Stop by and see us before you leav
e.” He put his hand at Marquetta’s back and eased her away.
“You ended that quick,” she whispered.
“You know Joe. Once he gets going, he doesn’t stop until he runs out of gas.”
They exchanged hugs with Adam and Traci. Before Marquetta could reach for it, Rick pulled out her chair.
“You’ve got him trained well,” Adam said.
“What’s the buzz at the Bee’s Knees?” Rick asked.
Traci wrinkled her nose and gave him a mock sneer. “Good grief. That is so old.” She pointed at the bottle of Chardonnay on the table. “If Rick’s telling bad jokes, we’re going to need another.”
“We may need it just to deal with the noise,” Rick followed Adam’s gaze as he cut his eyes to the table of five men.
“I haven’t talked to any of them yet, but I know their names. The little guy with the Hollywood hair?”
“You mean the blond tips?”
“Yup. That’s Matthew Redmond. I don’t know much about him, but the one next to him on his right is Isaac Longstreet. He’s a bartender from LA and is expecting to make it big on this trip. He seems to think he’ll be able to retire when this is all over.”
“Did anybody tell these guys they might not even have legal claim to that treasure?” Marquetta asked.
Adam’s jaw tightened, and he raised his glass. “I doubt if it was in the travel brochure. They all have unreasonable expectations—in my opinion.” He drained the last of the wine in his glass and picked up the bottle. “Baker said she’d cover for me tonight.”
“Good to know,” Rick said.
“The guy who looks like he’s carrying about a hundred extra pounds? That’s…um…Silverstein. Ed. He’s a computer service tech and the loudest of the bunch. The other two—the ones who are just talking to each other—I think their names are England and Shelley.” Adam tilted the neck of the bottle toward Marquetta, asked if she wanted a glass, then poured and did the same for Rick.
While Adam poured, Rick said, “Let’s talk about something other than treasure hunters. Bad jokes aside, how’s business, Traci?”
“March is a swing month. We don’t have any major holidays and the tourist season hasn’t started. Things are slow, but when the tourists get here, business at the Bees Knees will be buzzing.”
“I was not about to go there again,” Rick shot back.
Traci waved away the comment with a quick flip of her hand and a laugh. “I figured I’d nip any urge you might have in the bud.”
“I saw a couple of those new candles you got in this week,” Marquetta said. “We have to get some for the B&B. Their scent is divine.”
“You’re placing an order with her at dinner?” Rick chuckled. “I was trying to avoid talking shop with Adam.”
“Did you have something more important you’d like to talk about?” Marquetta looked directly at Rick, piercing his resistance with her innocent look.
There was no way he could propose in the midst of all this chaos. He wanted to make that moment special and not have to compete with rowdy men only a few tables away. “Nope, nope. Nothing more important. How many candles were you thinking of?”
Fortunately, the entrees for The Treasure King passengers arrived at the same time as the wine Rick ordered. Though the noise in the restaurant faded, there were still plenty of other diners quietly checking them out. He suspected he and Marquetta had become the center of attention the second they walked through the door. So far, he’d been correct. It was one reason they’d put off going out in public together for so long. Rick’s thoughts were interrupted when Adam let out a loud groan.
“Oh, crud. Don’t look now, but Captain Carroll just came in. I think everything’s about to hit the fan.”
CHAPTER NINE
Rick
AT THE TREASURE hunter’s table, it was almost as though time stopped. They all turned their attention to the captain and the woman who walked behind him as they followed Fiona.
“If it isn’t Captain Do Nothing.” The comment came from Ed Silverstein, whose saggy jowls jiggled when he spoke.
“I can’t believe that guy is one of the treasure hunters,” Rick whispered. “He looks like an old sumo wrestler who hasn’t seen the light of day in months. How’s he going to survive any kind of dive?”
“Beats me. Maybe he just came along for the ride.” Adam spoke in low tones. “Baker told me the girlfriend’s name is Heather Sanna. She’s the only woman on the boat.”
Marquetta snickered. “Oooh…lends new meaning to the term first mate.”
Rick planted his elbow on the table, propped his chin on his hand, and regarded her. “Why, Ms. Weiss, I had no idea you could be so catty.”
Marquetta picked up her wine glass; a smile played across her face. “There are many things you don’t know about me, Mr. Atwood.”
Tempted as he was to surprise Marquetta and kiss her in front of everyone, Rick grabbed his glass and raised it in a toast. “Let’s drink to always learning new things.”
“How about we change that to always avoiding trouble?” Adam said. “Looks like Carroll’s had a few and he’s headed straight for Joe Gray.”
A heartbeat later, a booming voice silenced the hum of activity in the restaurant. “Do you know how much trouble you caused me, Gray?”
“So much for Baker covering,” Adam muttered as he pushed back his chair.
“You sent that cop to hassle me because you didn’t like the way I moved my boat? You pompous old goat!”
“The way you moved was fine. It was where you docked initially that was the problem. All I asked Deputy Baker to do was stop by and establish the ground rules in our marina.”
Rick turned in his seat, wondering if Adam, or maybe even the two of them, might have to escort Carroll outside. This was a mismatch if Rick had ever seen one. Carroll had to be about six foot tall and easily weighed in around two hundred. He had a large gut that emphasized his physical size. A brown-eyed brunette stood behind him with her hands on her hips.
The scraping of wood-on-wood pierced the air as all five of the passengers rose at once. Two of them headed for the exit, but the remaining three threaded their way through the tables toward the captain.
“Hey, Carroll,” bellowed Silverstein. “When are we getting out of here? You never told us that old crate of yours was falling apart and would need a port of call.”
Carroll sneered back, then turned away and spoke over his shoulder. “Shut up, Ed. You’re drunk.”
Joe Gray stood, a small stick figure compared to Carroll. Traci grabbed Adam’s arm and urged him to contact Deputy Baker.
“It’s your night off,” she said with emphasis. “Please.”
Rick looked at Adam. “Your call, buddy, but Joe wouldn’t stand a chance against someone who weighs so much more. And you know Joe won’t back down.”
“Sometimes he’s too scrappy for his own good,” Adam said as he stood.
The brunette stole a sideways look at the three remaining passengers, then reached out to grab Carroll’s upper arm. He swiped her hand away, then turned back to Joe. Carroll clenched and unclenched his fists as he edged closer to the smaller man.
Adam cleared his throat and spoke loudly. “Captain Carroll, you need to take a step back. If you have a complaint about what happened today, you should be talking to me. Not Mr. Gray.”
Carroll ignored Joe and focused on Adam. “Well, well. If it isn’t the podunk police chief. What are you going to do, Mr. Police Chief? Arrest me for having a conversation?”
“I might consider arresting you for drunk and disorderly conduct,” Adam said.
“Good idea, Sheriff,” Ed Silverstein said loudly. “Lock him up and give us the keys to the boat.”
“Shut up, Ed, or I’ll throw you off and send you packing.”
“I’ve had it,” said the brunette. “Morris, if you don’t let this go, I’m leaving right now.”
Adam stepped forward and stood nose-to-nose with Silverstein. “It’s Chief
Cunningham, Mr. Silverstein. And if you don’t hightail it out of here right now, I might just lock you up, too.”
Silverstein and the other two men grumbled, but made their way to the exit.
“I’d have to do something disorderly for that charge to stick.” Carroll seemed to ignore Joe completely and focused on Adam.
“I’m out of here.” The woman with Carroll threw up her hands, turned, and marched away.
On her way to the door, she passed a petite woman in a police officer’s uniform. That had to be Deputy Baker, thought Rick.
Joe steadied himself with one hand on his seat back and inserted himself into Carroll’s path. “You’re the one who docked without permission.”
Still seated, Joe’s wife implored him to step away from the argument. “Joe. Please.”
But Joe shook his head and continued. “I warned you when you radioed in, but you didn’t pay attention. I had Deputy Baker pay you a visit to let you know I was serious.”
Carroll waved away Joe’s comment. “Get over yourself, you pipsqueak.”
“That’s enough,” Adam said and moved toward Carroll.
Joe jabbed his finger into the bigger man’s chest. “You’re a pompous, arrogant…”
Carroll bellowed something unintelligible and shoved Joe. Off balance, Joe staggered backwards. Rick reached out to break his fall, but was too late. Joe landed in Rick’s lap. The impact drove Rick sideways into Marquetta. She screamed, the wine glasses toppled, and when Rick checked to see if she was okay, his heart sank.
Her entree, a broiled salmon with glazed carrots, now swam on her plate in a small pool of spilled Chardonnay. He started to apologize, then saw her blouse. It was soaked in wine. As was her skirt. Even the tile underneath her chair had a small pool forming from the wine dripping off the tabletop. Rick groaned and uttered a string of apologies despite Marquetta’s comments that it wasn’t his fault.
Rick’s first impulse was to demand an apology from Carroll, but he couldn’t do that with Joe Gray still stuck in his lap. He watched helplessly as Adam secured Carroll and then turned control over to Baker.
Secrets of the Treasure King Page 4