Secrets of the Treasure King

by Terry Ambrose

  “Not quite yet,” Adam said. “Previously, you told us you’d gone to see your niece in San Ladron the night Captain Carroll was killed. Is that right?”

  “Yes,” Shelley said cautiously.

  “Do you regret your choice of alibis, Mr. Shelley?” Adam asked.

  “What? Why would I regret telling you the truth?”

  “Because your alibi can’t be verified. Whereas those of…say, Mr. Silverstein, Longstreet, and Redmond, all conveniently match up.”

  Shelley dabbed at his forehead with a napkin. “What are you implying, Chief?”

  “I might be wondering about those alibis. It’s always possible they compared notes…or that you weren’t where you said you were. For instance, I’ve spoken to the only rental car agency with an office here and they tell me you didn’t rent a car that day. How exactly did you drive to San Ladron without a car?”

  “I…um…didn’t. I was supposed to, but the rental car office was closed when I got there.”

  “You told me you rented that car in the afternoon,” Rick said.

  “Which means you lied about your alibi.” Adam looked down at his notepad. He spoke as he wrote. “Obstruction…perjury…”

  Shelley’s eyes widened. He shook his head quickly and stammered, “Carroll…suckered us, man. He took my life savings. That was money I was gonna use to open a restaurant. That’s all true. The alibi was stupid. And those other guys? I don’t know if they were together or not. My guess is they weren’t because they were all comparing stories. That’s the truth.”

  “Then where were you between six and nine?” Adam asked.

  “I was on the navigation deck trying to hack the GPS again until about seven-thirty.” Shelley sighed. “I couldn’t figure it out, so I went to my cabin and felt sorry for myself for the rest of the night.”

  While Adam made a note, Rick asked, “Did anyone see you?”

  “No. I saw Isaac at one point, but I ducked down and I doubt if he saw me. He was wandering around on the main deck.”

  Rick pulled out his phone and brought up the photos from Christopher Jenks. He turned his phone around and showed Shelley the shot of Silverstein, Longstreet, and Redmond huddling on the tail end of The Treasure King. According to the timestamp on the photo, it had been taken after the announcement of Captain Carroll’s death. In the background, Heather Sanna was busy polishing the metal railing.

  “Is that what this is all about?”

  “Yeah. We’d just heard the captain was dead. Ed called the meeting with those two and said they needed an alibi. They all agreed to say they were together.”

  “But you’re not in this photo, Mr. Shelley,” Rick said. “How do you know about it?”

  Shelley pointed at the photo. “Because Matthew told me the whole story. You can ask Heather, too. She probably overheard them talking.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  Rick

  IT WAS AFTER four by the time Rick made it to the market. He’d already placed his order at Crusty Buns so all he had to do was grab the fresh fruit and a few staples. He didn’t feel much like cooking for one, but had to eat. To make things easy, tonight’s menu would be grilled salmon paired with a veggie he could also grill. Simple. Easy cleanup. And boring—mostly because he already missed Alex and Marquetta despite a house filled with guests who were counting on him.

  He was checking out the asparagus when he spotted Heather Sanna approaching. Her basket contained only two items—a carton of milk and a half dozen eggs. He watched as she picked up a couple of apples, weighed them, and grimaced when she looked at the price. She consulted her list, then put the apples in her cart. She looked up at the aisle signs hanging from the ceiling. Rick approached, gave her a friendly smile and a wave.

  “Looking for something in particular?" He made a show of looking up at the aisle markers as he waited for her to answer.

  "Cookies." She threw up her hands. "I’m having sugar withdrawal."

  "Two aisles over. There’s also Crusty Buns. They can satisfy any sweet tooth."

  “I need cheap. I can’t afford to be spending money at bakeries and restaurants.”

  “I get it—living on a budget. I wish my daughter understood a budget. She doesn’t yet understand how hard it is to make money.” Rick watched as Heather fidgeted.

  “I should get the rest of this done,” she said.

  “Sure. But before you go, I have a question. If you don’t mind?”

  “What’s the question?”

  “Chief Cunningham and I were wondering if you overheard a conversation between Ed Silverstein, Isaac Longstreet, and Matthew Redmond that took place on the tail end of The Treasure King.”

  She sighed and looked away. While waiting for her to process whatever was going on in her mind, Rick noticed her gripping the handrail of her shopping cart.

  “I don’t know what those three were thinking. Actually, I know what Isaac and Matthew were thinking—don’t mess with Ed. None of them, with the possible exception of Christopher, want to cross him.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Ed can be very…forceful. He’s a strong personality.”

  “Did he challenge Captain Carroll?”

  “Ed seemed to enjoy seeing how far he could push Morris.”

  “Meaning?” Rick insisted.

  “Morris was tired of Ed. I don’t think he would have tolerated him much more.”

  “What would Captain Carroll have done? The man was a paying passenger.”

  “Morris had his ways. There’s no telling how he’d have handled it, but he could be very vindictive.”

  Rick raised his eyebrows—wasn’t that exactly what they’d seen during the confrontation at the Crooked Mast? “Were there conflicts between Ed and the captain?”

  “Always under the surface. It was never overt, but it was there.” Heather shrugged. “I suppose you’re wondering if Ed would have killed Morris. I really don’t know.”

  “Actually, that wasn’t my next question. What I’d really like to know is why Ed and the others felt they needed to coordinate their alibis.”

  “I don’t know. Ed likes to cover his bases.”

  “Personality clashes don’t require an alibi. And, it’s a long leap from two guys not getting along to murder. What would have been his motive?”

  “I wouldn’t know.” She looked at Rick and smiled. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be finding out?”

  “It is.” Rick stared back at her. “And that’s why we have so many questions. We’re looking for holes in stories. Like the one about Will Shelley hacking the boat’s GPS.”

  Heather’s smile fell. She cleared her throat, turned away, and said, “I really must be going. Gavin and I are eating light until we can somehow get cash. The store won’t give us credit because Morris never bothered to set anything up. If you’ll excuse me. I need to find those cookies.”

  She pushed her cart forward, and Rick watched her leave. There were still so many questions unanswered. As far as Rick was concerned, Ed Silverstein’s name had come up a little too often. Standing between the Gala apples and the Fujis, Rick dialed Adam’s cell.

  When Adam answered, Rick said, “I’m at the market and I just ran into Heather Sanna. I was asking her a few questions. She confirmed that Silverstein, Longstreet, and Redmond coordinated their alibis. According to her, Silverstein was the mastermind, the other two just went along so they wouldn’t cross him. Which has me wanting to take a closer look at Silverstein. The other thing is when I mentioned Will Shelley and how he tried to hack the GPS, she bolted. From the look on her face, I hit a chord.”

  “You want to talk to her again? Officially? We’d better do it quick. By tomorrow morning, I’m probably going to have to let them leave. After that happens…”

  “I know. But there’s something we’re missing. These people are either protecting the killer or covering up something about The Treasure King—something big. We need access to that boat.”

  “I cou
ld haul them all in for questioning and we can play hardball,” Adam said.

  “The way these clowns have been lying, I don’t know how much good that would do.”

  “Well, to get access we need something concrete for the DA. Why don’t you come over and join Traci and me for dinner? We can kick around some ideas. Maybe we’ll come up with something brilliant.”

  Rick picked up one of the Gala apples. He weighed it in his hand. It felt solid, unlike anything they had on Carroll’s killer. “Tell you what. Why don’t you both come to the B&B? I was just going to grill some salmon. I could throw a couple more filets on and we can set up the telescope.”

  Adam paused. Grunted. “Are you crazy? It’s way too overcast for stargazing.”

  “I wasn’t planning on pointing it at the sky. From our back patio, you can see The Treasure King. We could keep watch. Because their alibis are breaking down, I’m betting something’s going to happen soon.”

  “Traci might not want to be sitting out there freezing while we take turns on your telescope.”

  “I’ve got that covered. I’ll set up the portable heater on the patio. It will be toasty out there, and she can even take a turn spying if she wants to.”

  They agreed that dinner would be at six. Rick bought more asparagus and grabbed a half dozen small red potatoes. The B&B was quiet when he arrived. The Carstons sat in the living room talking with Mr. West and Mrs. King. Rick waved as he passed, but Stephen Carston motioned for Rick to join them. Each couple sat on one of the couches, and the older pair were holding hands. Rick felt a small flush of satisfaction that the B&B had helped them find each other. He’d have to tell Alex and Marquetta about this when they returned.

  “It looks like you all are getting along quite nicely,” Rick said.

  “We’re having a lovely time.” Mrs. King snuck a quick peek at Mr. West.

  “We’ve decided to double date for dinner,” Stephen said. “We’ve been to the Crooked Mast every night and were thinking of trying your other restaurant, the Rusty Nail. Any thoughts on that one?”

  “It’s a good place,” Rick said. “Did you see our attractions display? They’ve got a coupon for free appetizers with the purchase of an entree.”

  Winnie held up one of the coupons. She flashed him a smile. “Already got one. That’s what gave us the idea. It’s pricier than the Crooked Mast, but their menu looks very nice.”

  “It’s excellent,” Rick said as he hoisted his bag of groceries. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do in the kitchen. I’ve invited some friends over.”

  Adam and Traci arrived at exactly six. Rick put the potatoes on the grill. He’d blanched and seasoned the asparagus and had it on a foil tray with some lemon juice and butter. After opening a bottle of wine, he started the potatoes. Half an hour later, he put on the salmon. Four minutes after starting the salmon, he flipped the filets and put the asparagus over the third burner. While he kept watch on the grill, Adam and Traci took turns peering at The Treasure King through the telescope.

  “So what exactly are we looking for?” Traci asked.

  Adam stood behind her, massaging her shoulders with both hands. “Something suspicious.”

  “Well, Mr. Smarty Pants, does it seem odd to you that they would be taking out the trash in the dark?”

  Rick looked up from the grill, but Adam already had his eye glued to the telescope. “Rick? You know that break we were needing? We might have just found it.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  Alex

  DADDY’S EXPRESSION WHEN he sees me and Marquetta step out onto the back patio almost makes me laugh. He looks super confused.

  “What are you doing here?” All of a sudden, he rushes forward and picks me up. He gives me a big hug, then looks at Marquetta. “What happened?”

  Marquetta looks at the table. “Rick, could you pour me some wine?”

  “Already done,” Traci says as she hands Marquetta a glass.

  “The road was closed.” Marquetta shudders, then says thanks and takes a sip.

  “What are you not telling us?” Daddy asks.

  “We almost drove off the road, but Marquetta saved us.”

  Marquetta takes another sip from her glass. “I wasn’t paying close enough attention to my driving.”

  I totally don’t want Marquetta to take the blame for what happened. It was my fault ‘cause I was distracting her, but we already agreed not to give anyone the details. “It was a sharp turn, Daddy.”

  “Anyway, when I saw the roadblock, I panicked and we spun out.”

  “Roadblock?” Chief Cunningham asks. “They don’t close that road unless…were they doing rescue operations?”

  “Yes. They were trying to get to a car that had driven off the road ahead of us. Frightening. We could have joined them. Can we talk about something else? I’m still shaking. I don’t want to think about it.”

  “Sure. Have a seat here by the heater.” My dad pulls a chair into the space where it’s nice and cozy.

  “What’s going on out here?” Marquetta asks.

  “I ran into Heather Sanna at the market. The conversation raised more questions, so I decided to set up a surveillance of The Treasure King. I figured I could have Adam and Traci over for dinner and we could kick around a few ideas.” Daddy looks at me. “Don’t get your hopes up, kiddo. We haven’t come up with anything other than the trash being taken out.”

  “Oh my God,” Marquetta says. “With everything that’s happened this afternoon, I forgot to tell you about our trip to Crusty Buns.”

  “Okay,” my dad says. “You got a snack.”

  “No, Daddy, we overheard the treasure hunters talking and they lied about their alibis.”

  “To be more specific,” Marquetta says, “Ed Silverstein got very upset with Matthew Redmond because he’s having second thoughts about what they told you.”

  “I definitely want to bring Redmond in for a little chat,” Chief Cunningham says.

  I step closer to the telescope. “Can I see?”

  “Sure,” my dad says.

  It’s a long ways to The Treasure King from here, but the telescope makes it easy to see what’s happening. I adjust the eyepiece to fix the focus. That makes everything super sharp. I can see everything on the boat like I’m right there. I check out the whole thing. All I see is the lady crew member on deck. There’s nobody else around.

  There are footsteps behind me. It’s my dad, and he’s standing there looking over my shoulder. “Did you get it focused?”

  “Uh huh.” I swivel the telescope so I can see the big trash bins. Seaside Cove only has one trash pickup each week, and that’s tomorrow. Anything that’s in the trash tonight will be picked up in the morning and will be gone forever. “Who took the trash out? Was it the lady crew member?”

  “I don’t know,” Daddy says. “Traci, who took out the trash?”

  Traci gets up and comes to where we’re standing. “It was Heather. Why?”

  I aim the telescope at the boat again. There she is. She’s tying down the cover on the lifeboat. “Because when we were watching the boat, we saw her put three plastic bags in the lifeboat. And now she’s doing something in that same spot.”

  “But she only took out one bag,” Traci says.

  “What color was it?” I ask.

  “Black.”

  “Let me see.” Daddy leans down and adjusts the eyepiece. “Alex, how big were these bags?”

  “They’re like the kind we use for the kitchen.”

  “Were they white?”

  “For sure. And small.”

  My dad looks at Chief Cunningham and rubs the back of his neck. “Maybe she combined her bags from the rest of the boat with whatever was in that lifeboat?”

  I can feel my eyes getting real big. “That’s it! That’s how she got rid of what she was hiding!”

  My dad looks at Chief Cunningham. He comes to join us and takes a turn looking through the telescope. It looks like he’s going back and
forth between the boat and the trash bins.

  He stands up and huffs as he looks at me. “Huh, nice work, munchkin.” Next, he looks at my dad. “Rick, I don’t know about you, but I have a sudden itch to do a little dumpster diving.”

  “Yeah,” my dad says. “Me, too.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  Rick

  RICK HELD THE electric lantern high while Adam lined up plastic bags in front of the dumpster. They were standing at the end of the marina parking lot furthest from the B&B. In truth, the lot was barely big enough to have what could be considered a far end, and the dumpsters were seldom full by trash day.

  A gust of wind coming off the cove sent chills through Rick’s spine. “This is pretty cold work, Mr. Police Chief. And this lantern’s getting heavy.”

  Adam chuckled as he lined up another bag. “Well, Assistant, that’s why you’re holding the light and I’m the one down here.”

  They’d both changed into old clothes, donned heavier jackets, and nitrile gloves. Rick had mentally prepared himself for the stench of garbage, but there were enough gusts coming off the bay to prevent any foul odors from lingering. He shifted his grip on the lantern.

  “Hey, Assistant, keep the beam down here. Not on the sky.”

  “Adam, you don’t pay me enough to take this kind of abuse.”

  “I don’t pay you at all.” Adam snickered. “But you get a fancy title.”

  Rick rolled his eyes, but aimed his lantern at the lineup of plastic garbage bags Adam had organized on the asphalt. There were now twelve bags ranging in size from small ones like those used in a kitchen to some large enough to accommodate yard waste. He gestured at the three largest. They looked the same as the ones the B&B used for yard cleanup. “You could fit a body in one of those.”

  “Now you’re sounding like Nancy Drew. I’m pretty sure those are from the Ugly Worm. Jennifer’s been throwing away a lot of stuff because of her remodel.”

  Rick wrinkled his nose. “I wish you’d stop that.”

  “Stop what?”