“No. It wasn’t planned. But I think you know that already.” Shelley flashed a quick, forced smile. “I can’t really say anything else. We’re all covered by an NDA on the boat.”
“Excuse me?” Rick blurted.
“You know, a nondisclosure agreement. Keeps us from saying anything about what happens during the trip.”
“I know what an NDA is,” Rick said. “I didn’t realize The Treasure King was on a secret mission.”
Shelley cocked his head to one side and grimaced. “Seemed overkill to me, too. But, there is—was—a lot at stake. I don’t know what will happen now.” He edged toward the back of the store where Dennis stood next to the register. “I should probably pay for my shirt.”
Rick slipped in front of Shelley to block his way. “What does your NDA cover?”
“Operations of the boat, the dive, location, anything associated with finding the treasure.”
“It doesn’t cover people?”
“People? Oh, you mean who might have had motive to kill Captain Carroll? No, that kind of stuff isn’t covered. In fact, since the captain is now dead, I don’t even know if the agreement is still valid.” Shelley looked around as though he were searching for an alternate path.
“We can go this way,” Rick said and inched toward the back of the store. He stopped, turned, and asked, “So…who didn’t like the captain?”
Shelley smirked, the weathered lines on his face forming a disquieting landscape. “Nobody liked him. Feel free to confirm it. A few of them are in Crusty Buns. At least, they were when I left.”
“I heard Captain Caroll claimed he had a map showing the exact location of the San Manuel. Do you think that’s true?” Rick wedged himself between two racks of clothing, one containing women’s tops, the other filled with shorts.
“Sorry, buddy, but that’s definitely a taboo subject. Until I get some sort of clarification on the status, I can’t talk about anything along those lines. But I will tell you this, you might want to look into Heather. Something’s not right about her whole relationship with Carroll.”
“Meaning?” Rick stopped and regarded the other man.
“She was supposed to be Carroll’s girlfriend. But from what I could see, she didn’t act much like one. Didn’t look like she enjoyed being around him or anything. I know they had…relations at least one night. But the rest of the time? It was like she couldn’t stand the man. She called him a toad once right to his face.”
“What happened?” Rick asked.
“It looked like Carroll was going to throw her overboard, so I stepped in and calmed him down.”
“It was that serious? Do you really think he’d have done that?”
“The man had a mean streak. He irritated everybody. I was the one who had to smooth things over with the others. Somehow, I became the de facto peacemaker. Maybe it’s because I’m the only one who’d stand up to him.”
Rick eyed Shelley. Though he was older, he was well-muscled and lean. “I could see where you might be intimidating.”
Shelley laughed. “Only looks that way, man. I was a line cook. Never been in a fight or anything. All my working out was in butchering slabs of meat.”
“So you were used to lifting a lot of dead weight?”
“Let me tell you, whenever they needed someone to pull a slab off the hook in the freezer, I was the guy.” He clicked his chin upwards. “Hey, I have to get checked out.”
“No problem,” Rick said. “One last question. How much can you bench?”
“I don’t know.” Shelley scrunched up his face. “Maybe three hundred? Why?”
“Just curious. That’s all.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Rick
RICK LEFT OCEAN Surf and headed straight to Crusty Buns. Located only a few blocks away, he hoped he could make it to the bakery before the treasure hunters left. He speed-walked up Main Street, noticing along the way that the jewelry store on the other side of the street was open. Of course they were open now. He was busy. No matter how much he wanted to cross over, pick out a ring, and propose to Marquetta, that was going to have to wait.
Crusty Buns was on the southwest corner of Whale Avenue and Main Street. Like so many other businesses in downtown Seaside Cove, it operated out of an old house. A single story bungalow with bright green paint and rust trim, Rick felt it was a classic definition of the word gaudy. But then, that was much of Seaside Cove. Old homes. Bright colors. Friendly people. He’d learned quickly that Crusty Buns was filled with those. Thanks to Angus and Mary O’Donnell’s baking prowess, it was a hopping place, favored by both locals and tourists.
The two bistro tables on the sidewalk in front of the store were occupied, one by Stephen and Winnie Carston. Stephen waved to Rick, then motioned for him to come closer.
“Enjoying the local fare?” Rick asked as he approached.
“I am going to miss this little town,” Stephen said.
“My waistline won’t.” Winnie laughed, but immediately took a bite of a miniature muffin Rick recognized.
“Those blueberry muffins are Marquetta’s favorite,” Rick said. “Mine, too, for that matter. Alex likes the chocolate chip.”
“Smart girl,” Stephen said. “I just polished off one of those myself. Would you like to join us?”
“Sorry, but I have business inside.” Rick said a quick goodbye and went through the open front door.
Inside, the sandwich blackboard gave the daily specials along with Mary’s quote of the day, which was “Enjoy the sweet things in life.” Judging by the crowd at the long table for ten, which was often shared by locals wanting to exchange gossip, there were plenty of customers following the sandwich board’s advice. Most of the smaller tables were filled, some with individuals, others with small groups of two to four people.
It always amazed Rick how a bakery did so much business at three in the afternoon, but Crusty Buns was that way most days. Rick scanned the crowd in search of the men from The Treasure King. Before he finished his search, he heard the sweet lilt of Mary O’Donnell’s brogue behind him.
“Looking for someone in particular?”
He turned around to greet Mary. “I didn’t realize you were behind me, but maybe you can help. I’m looking for a couple of the passengers from The Treasure King. Someone told me they were here.”
“Aye, that they are. In the back corner.” Mary stuck her hands into the pockets of her green Crusty Buns apron and pulled out a small order pad. “Can I bring you something? A blueberry muffin, perhaps?”
“You know those are my favorite, but I need to make this quick. Another time?”
“We’ll look forward to seeing you. Be sure to bring Marquetta and your lovely daughter.”
“I will,” Rick said as he inched away. “I’d better catch these guys before they leave.”
“So far they haven’t been in a rush. Maybe you can hurry them along.” Mary winked as she returned the order pad to the pocket of her apron. “I need to turn their table.”
Rick headed toward the back corner where Mary had pointed. Ed Silverstein sat with two other men that Rick didn’t recognize. Silverstein had been with four others at dinner, but these two hadn’t been among them. One of the men eyed Rick as he approached the table. The man had short-cropped brown hair, blue eyes, and a trim build. He leaned sideways and made a quiet comment to the man on his right. He got a nod in return, then Silverstein looked over his shoulder at Rick, who now stood almost directly behind him.
“Excuse me, gentlemen,” Rick said. “I wonder if I might be able to speak to the three of you for a few minutes.”
“Who might you be?” Silverstein asked.
Rick introduced himself, told them he was investigating the death of Captain Carroll, and asked if he might take a few minutes of their time for some questions. Ed Silverstein shook Rick’s hand, pointed to the man on his left, then the one on his right.
“Eli England, Christopher Jenks,” said Silverstein. “They’re busi
ness partners. Eli’s a narrow weaver, and Christopher is the QC guy.”
“You’re in an interesting industry,” Rick said to England. “I did a story on narrow weavers once for a newspaper in New York. Quite the history.”
The man’s eyebrows went up and he looked at Jenks. “Can you imagine that? Someone who’s actually heard about narrow weaving. When my grandfather ran the business, it was primarily just tapes and ribbons and that sort of thing. We’re now expanding into everything from braids to webbings to tie downs and tubular products. We’re total high tech these days. And still nobody knows who we are.”
“Watch out, Rick,” said Silverstein. “If you get Eli talking about his business you’ll be here all afternoon.”
England sneered at Silverstein. “I’m justifiably proud of my business. Everything I’ve done for it.” He looked sideways at Jenks. “Right, Chris?”
Jenks, who was holding up his phone to capture a photo, spoke absently. “Sure thing, Eli. Sure thing.”
“Always taking pictures, this guy. The good news is his passion has helped me build the brand.”
“Sounds like a good partnership,” Rick said. “I’d love to hear about your company, but I need to focus on my investigation right now. I only have a little time. I need to ask all of you where you were between six and nine last night. How about if I start with you, Eli?”
“Chris and I were on a conference call with a customer in Hong Kong. It was morning there. This is a big deal. Could be a million a year in business.”
Rick made a note. England and Jenks on conference call with Hong Kong. England - blowhard. Jenks - quiet. Phone records? He looked up at Silverstein. “And you, Mr. Silverstein?”
“I was on The Treasure King with Isaac and Matthew. We were playing poker.”
“Who won?” Rick asked.
“Not me,” Silverstein said. “I’m diabetic and my blood sugar had dropped.”
Almost involuntarily, Rick glanced down at Silverstein’s plate, which contained only a few crumbs.
“I know,” he said. “But it was a bran muffin. I can sneak one of those now and again. Have you talked to any of the others?”
“Will Shelley. He’s the one who told me you were here.”
“Got no use for that one,” Silverstein said. “Makes himself out to be some big problem solver, but all he does is create trouble.”
Rick caught the sudden change in Silverstein’s demeanor—his sharper tone, the harder edge of his jawline. There was obviously no love lost between him and Shelley. He didn’t want to stoke the fires of animosity, but discord might work to his advantage. “He sounded sincere enough to me,” Rick said innocently.
Silverstein waved his hand dismissively. “That’s all bogus. Right, Eli?”
“He tried to mellow things out after Heather got all in a snit. But it was a powder keg there for a few days.”
“What exactly was she so worked up about?” Rick asked.
Both England and Silverstein looked at each other and laughed as though they were sharing a secret.
“Captain Carroll had himself a little extracurricular activity onshore in Long Beach. Heather found out about it and really dug into him. Things have been tense between the two of them ever since.” Silverstein laughed again. “Of course, that didn’t stop them from scratching the itch the first night out.”
Jenks shook his head at Silverstein’s comment and huffed. “She said she filed a complaint in Long Beach. Sexual harassment. Seems pretty weird to me. Saying a guy is harassing you on one hand and then turning around and sleeping with him a few days later.”
“That girl’s not right, I’m telling you,” Silverstein said. “She’s the one who got her nose out of joint, then she asked Will to mediate. They’d gotten kind of friendly, so he agreed.”
“Exactly how friendly were they?” Rick asked.
England inched forward to insert himself into the conversation. “Let’s not go making more out of this than there is. Will liked to talk about his niece in San Ladron and how she’d just had her first baby. Most of us could have cared less, but Heather seemed interested, so that gave him a license to go on about it with her. I sure never saw anything more serious. Right, Chris?” He looked sideways at Jenks.
“That’s right. All innocent.” Jenks sneered at Silverstein. “Ed just likes to make trouble.”
Silverstein cleared his throat and moved his head from side-to-side. “I ain’t saying she was trying to play house with the guy, but she did encourage him. I think she was trying to put the screws to the captain.”
“Are you saying you think she wanted to make him jealous?” Rick asked.
“More than that.” Silverstein thumped himself on the chest with his thumb. “I say she wanted the good captain to feel the threat of physical pain.”
“Did Will assault him?”
“He didn’t have to. Carroll was a jerk, but he knew Will could do some serious damage if he got ticked off. After that, Carroll was in a foul mood.”
Rick recalled the apparent tension between Heather Sanna and Captain Carroll at dinner. How quickly she’d left when he got out of hand. And how quickly he’d gotten into the argument with Joe Gray. “If those two weren’t getting along, why was she even at dinner with him last night?”
“You’d have to ask her that, my friend,” said Silverstein. “I got no idea what her motives are.”
“Ed, why don’t you just give her a break?” England said. “We’ve all had to do things we didn’t want to in our lives. Right, Chris?” He glanced at Jenks, but continued on without waiting for an answer. “Chris doesn’t like to gossip. Ed’s got no problem with that, though. Do you, Ed?”
“Don’t go all high and mighty on me, Eli. You ain’t exactly above the fray. You’ve talked plenty of trash about the others. Besides, what else have we got to do on that boat?”
Jenks rolled his eyes and stared off into space. Rick suspected the man had plenty to say, and jotted a note next to his name about talking to him in private. For now, though, he might as well see what he could get from Silverstein and England. “Things are pretty boring when you’re at sea?”
“This ain’t no cruise ship,” Silverstein grumbled.
“You got that right.” England raised his hand, palm facing Silverstein, and the two exchanged a high five.
“Gentlemen, I’ve heard Captain Carroll has a map showing the exact location of the San Manuel. What do you know about that?”
Silverstein harrumphed. “Carroll tried to keep us all silent with some bogus NDA, but that’s just a bunch of BS. The fact is, we probably know about as much as you. He sold us all on the idea of him having this valuable map, but he never would show it to any of us. Said he would take us there, but he was not about to share the map for fear we’d make a copy and go it alone. That’s what he claimed.”
“Now that he’s dead, we’re out everything we put in,” England complained. “I couldn’t run my business that way.”
The others grumbled their agreement.
“Most of us couldn’t get away with that,” Rick said.
“I’ll see you guys back on the boat.” Jenks stood abruptly and said a quick goodbye to Rick, then wove his way through the tables to the front door.
“Guy’s not a people person,” Silverstein said with a laugh.
The corners of England’s mouth turned down into something resembling a scowl. “Moody cuss. I can’t count the number of times I’ve offended his delicate senses because of something I said.”
Rick turned to see if Jenks had made his exit. He was nowhere in sight. “Eli, you said he was on a conference call with you last night between six and nine?”
“That’s right. The call started about eight, but we spent some time mapping out our strategy beforehand. Maybe an hour. Afterwards, he went back to his room.”
“Well, that should easily put you both in the clear,” Rick said. But, even as he said the words, he wondered if the alibis of both Christopher Jenks and El
i England might be just a little too convenient. He could always ask Adam to get a call log for both men. Rick felt his eyes widen with a sudden realization. He could also answer that question right now. “Eli, who’s phone did you use for the phone call?”
A frown creased England’s forehead. “Excuse me?”
“Did you use your phone or Christopher’s?”
“Mine. Why?”
“Your phone should have a record of the call. If you can show me the call log, I can rule both of you out as suspects right now.”
“No way.”
“I could get a warrant,” Rick lied.
“Then get it. Nobody sees what’s on my phone.”
Silverstein snickered. “What? You got something to hide?”
“Shut up, Ed. You got no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then why don’t you explain it?” Rick asked.
England glowered at Rick, then stood. “You know what? I don’t have to talk to you.” He looked down at Silverstein. “Neither do you, Ed. If you’re smart, you’ll follow me out the door before he tries to pin this thing on you.”
Silverstein pushed back his chair and studied Rick. His head bobbed a few times, then his jaw quirked to one side. “The man’s right. Never did trust small-town cops.” He followed England toward the front door.
Left alone, Rick made a couple of quick notes. England secretive about his alibi. Could he and Jenks have done something together and be covering for each other? Silverstein—confirm alibi with Longstreet and Redmond.
Someone tapped Rick’s shoulder. He looked up to see who was standing over him. “Hi, Mary,” he said.
“Looks like you didn’t make any friends.”
Rick laughed. “I didn’t. Thank goodness that wasn’t my goal. At least I’m starting to get familiar with the players. And I can tell you, they’re living down to my expectations.”
“Aye.” Mary squinted at the front of the store. “They are a strange bunch.”
Rick’s phone beeped. “That’s Marquetta. I’d better take this.”
Mary patted Rick’s shoulder again and winked. “Good idea.”
Secrets of the Treasure King Page 12