Pirate Vishnu (A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery)

by Pandian, Gigi

I fell asleep on the couch again that night, but jolted awake before sunrise. I must have been dreaming, because I woke up with my heart racing.

  My neck was stiff and my hand and elbow still ached, but I needed a run to clear my thoughts. Even without headphones to listen to music, I ran hard.

  As I ran, I remembered the dream I’d had that night. I had been both in India and in San Francisco at the same time, as dreams have the trick of doing. It was raining, but I didn’t feel it. Lane was there, whispering to me. I felt his warm breath on my ear, but I heard no sound. When I turned my head to look at him, Sanjay was there in his place, pulling a monkey out of a top hat. He reached back inside to pull something else out. In the dream, I had a feeling I knew what he was going to pull out of the hat. It was something important. But as soon as I woke up, I couldn’t remember what it was.

  I had the nagging feeling that I was missing something I’d already seen. Was it an illusion, or was there truly something I’d seen that would lead me to that treasure and Steven’s killer? I ran harder, but the thought was still a step ahead of me.

  I turned to head home, keeping up my fast pace instead of slowing down like I usually do at the end of a run. I needed to check something out.

  I took a quick shower and put fresh bandages on my hand and arm before slipping on my heels and heading out the door.

  Since I hadn’t found any evidence that the map’s MP Craft Emporium or The Anchored Enchantress still existed, I was heading to the western edge of Lands End, where the X was drawn. The national park hugs the northwest edge of the city, looking over the Pacific Ocean to the west and the opening of the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge to the north. It’s not a beach, but rather a series of cliffs that drop off sharply to the rocky waters below.

  A strange sensation came over me as I reached my car. I glanced around, but didn’t see anyone aside from a guy walking his dog and a woman in a suit talking on a cell phone. Neither one paid any attention to me. It must have been my nerves.

  As I stepped into my car, I noticed which shoes I was wearing. I’d slipped on three-inch heels after my shower. Since I’m not quite five feet tall, I always automatically wear heels unless I’m going running. But I swore as I realized which heels I was wearing—the pair that Lane had given me in Scotland after I’d lost my shoes.

  The X had been drawn over the water, right next to land. Did that mean the treasure was under the water? Or that it was buried right along the edge of the land? Either way, running shoes instead of heels wouldn’t help me. There was a paved road and parking lot next to the Cliff House. I’d be fine.

  The forest-like park wasn’t a popular spot on the overcast day. The fog hung thick over the coastal waters. I saw only a handful of people as I made my way along the path to the lookout point above the water. I passed a sign saying: CAUTION: Cliff surf area extremely dangerous. People have been swept out from the rocks and drowned.

  I continued on the path, pausing at a lookout point to read a large placard. It named the sunken shipwrecks that lay in the water beneath the cliffs. Most of the ships had their names commemorated, but one was an unnamed ship that must have been far enough off course that it could not be identified. I wondered if any of those ships had ever been attacked by pirates before finding their final resting place off the rocky coastline of San Francisco.

  Waves lapped over jagged rocks below. Now this was a place where I could imagine a buried treasure. Except for the fact that the whole overlook area had been paved over by concrete. Any treasure here would have either been discovered long ago by workmen or buried deep beneath the concrete. Why had Steven been so sure the treasure hadn’t been found?

  I watched the crashing waves below, hypnotized by the rhythmic splashing of the surf. I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the cool morning air wash over me and breathe some sense into me. The waves splashed again. The tide was coming in. If I was going to get a closer look, it was now or never.

  There were no railings along this wide path leading to the overlook. It wouldn’t hurt to step off the path and take a closer look.

  I paused for a moment, looking down at my three-inch heels for the second time that day. Perhaps I should have turned back after all. Then again, I’m skilled at walking in these shoes. It’s a hell of a lot easier to get used to walking in heels than it is to ask strangers for help whenever you need to reach something at the store. And this side of Lands End wasn’t nearly as steep or high as the north side. I stepped off the path.

  The area surrounding the path was grassy, not rocky. My heels sank into the earth and kept me grounded as I walked down the steep hill leading to the rocks. The tide was rising quickly. The spray of the ocean tickled my face.

  Where the land met rock, I thought of Anand’s map. Wouldn’t Anand have drawn a more specific location on the map than an X right next to the coast? Unless he’d drawn an X on the spot where he’d hidden the treasure as well. I sighed to myself. There was no X mark on any of the rocks in front of me.

  As I began to turn around to head back to the path, the heel of my shoe caught in the earth again. I lost my balance. I pushed my heel into the earth to steady myself. It worked, but only for a second.

  The earth gave way beneath me.

  My heart pounded in my throat as my body began to slide toward the rocks below. I knew I should cry out, but my vocal chords refused to work. I threw my arms behind me, desperately hoping to grab hold of some weeds strong enough to hold me.

  Instead of dirt or grass, my arm made contact with something else. A strong hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me back from the edge.

  As I scrambled up and found my footing, the fingers around my arm held tight, not allowing me to fall. Before I turned around, I knew who was holding onto me. It wasn’t a stranger pulling me back from the ledge.

  It was Lane.

  Chapter 20

  “I wish,” Lane said, “that you would at least wear proper shoes if you’re going to insist on rooting around at the edge of a cliff.”

  He let go of my arm only once he was sure I was standing on stable ground, several feet from the edge. Several large pebbles were lodged in my shoes, but I didn’t care.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “You dump me, you clear out of your apartment, but now you’re following me?”

  “Inspector Valdez called me.”

  If I didn’t know him, I’d have sworn his voice was calm. Even distant. But I knew him well. He was forcing himself to act the opposite of what he felt. He was full of some barely controlled emotion and was about to burst.

  “Sorry he had to trouble you for an alibi,” I snapped. “I know you don’t want anything to do with me.”

  “You don’t understand,” Lane said. “You don’t know what’s happened.”

  “Then why don’t you tell me?”

  “Jaya, I…”

  The fog swirled around us as he broke off. I kicked off my shoes to get rid of the pebbles that had lodged inside when I slipped, while I waited for him to say more. But he didn’t go on.

  “What?” I said. “What’s so hard to say?”

  “I was worried,” he said, a look of deep sadness sweeping over his face, “that someone from my past had found you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I hoped—I wanted so badly to have put my old life behind me.”

  “Oh my God,” I said, starting to shiver in the cold fog. “You had something to do with this! That’s why you acted strangely when I came to see you, and why you’re leaving!”

  I thought about the treasure we had found in Scotland. Lane had been alone with it for a short time before anyone else saw it. I hadn’t wanted to think he’d taken any of the jewels. But I’d wondered. As he said, it was hard to leave an old life behind.

  “That’s not what I meant, Jones.”


  “You didn’t used to be this cryptic,” I said.

  Though part of my brain told me I was being irrational, I felt completely safe as I stood at the edge of Lands End with Lane. I had no doubt that I could trust him completely with my life. I didn’t believe he would harm me, or that he could have been the person who killed Steven. As for stealing a treasure? That was another story. Since Lane wasn’t opening up to me, what was I supposed to think?

  “The details don’t matter,” Lane said.

  “They matter to me,” I snapped.

  “What’s important is that you’re better off without me—and you’re better off forgetting about this treasure.”

  “This is me,” I said. “You can cut out the chivalry.”

  Lane smiled, and for a moment it looked like he was going to lean forward to hug me or kiss me. But he didn’t do either.

  “When we got back from Scotland,” he began, “I knew I wouldn’t be able to work with my advisor anymore.”

  “I get that’s why you’re on leave. But moving out of your apartment so quickly?”

  “My past caught up with me, Jones,” Lane said. A pained expression passed over his face. “He found me.”

  “Who found you?”

  Lane closed his eyes, as if the memory pained him. “He’s not someone you’d want to know.”

  “You told me you never used violence when you stole things.”

  “I didn’t lie to you about that,” Lane said, his eyes snapping open. “Please don’t think I would do that. But some of the people I associated with at the time didn’t have the same code of conduct.”

  “He found you because of the picture Fiona took of you,” I said. “She gave it to the press.” I knew I hated that woman.

  Lane nodded slowly, a look of resignation on his face.

  “Are you in trouble?” I asked.

  “I wasn’t sure at first,” Lane said. “One of my past associates wanted me to do something for him. I’m good at disappearing, though. I’m not worried about myself. It’s you I’m concerned about. I thought he might have gone to you because of me. If that ever happened—” He broke off.

  “You thought if he knew you were in a relationship with me that he could use it against you?”

  “I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you, Jones. Especially if it was because of me.”

  “But this map and murder have nothing to do with him.”

  “It looks that way,” he said. “I got away before he could tell me what he wanted from me. But it’s only a matter of time before—”

  “So you’re okay?” I asked. “You’re not in danger from this guy right now?”

  “I’m fine, but you—”

  I cut him off by slapping him.

  “What was that for?” he asked.

  “If you have to ask, then you’re a lot less intelligent than I gave you credit for.”

  “You’re right,” he said, rubbing his jaw. “I deserved that.”

  “You should have told me.”

  “I thought it would be easier for both of us,” he said.

  “You mean easier for you.” I had the worst luck with men. Why did they do one thing when they felt another? “You could tell yourself you were making a sacrifice by breaking my—never mind. There are more important things to talk about. Like why you’re following me.”

  “After Inspector Valdez talked to me, I got worried. I went to your house, and I saw a guy outside looking for you.”

  “A guy?”

  “Indian guy in his late twenties.”

  “Oh, that’s just Sanjay. You don’t need to worry about him.”

  “Sanjay?” he asked.

  “My best friend. The guy I called a few times while we were in Scotland. Nothing to worry about.”

  “He comes to see you early in the morning?” Lane asked. I thought I detected a hint of jealousy in his voice.

  “I don’t have a land line in my apartment,” I said, “and with my cell phone stolen, people have to come see me—”

  “Your phone was stolen?”

  “I thought you talked to Inspector Valdez?”

  “I did,” Lane said, his face dark. “He called about your alibi for this murder. Not about your phone being stolen.”

  “He didn’t tell you my bag was stolen, with the map inside?”

  “No.” His jaw tightened visibly. “He left that out. That’s how you hurt your hand?”

  “It is.”

  Lane swore. Vividly. He was losing control of his emotions, and I could tell he wasn’t happy about it. When we’d been searching for the person we thought killed my ex-boyfriend Rupert, Lane had kept his cool in the most trying situations. He’d gotten involved at first because of the apocryphal treasure related to his South Asian art history research, but he stayed involved because of me.

  “Treasure hunting is a dangerous business,” he said. “What is it you’ve gotten yourself into?”

  “If you’re going to make a one-sided decision to stay out of my life, you don’t have any business knowing.” I felt awful fighting with Lane. But it was his fault.

  He started to reply with something harsh, but the words caught in his throat. He broke off, but his eyes never left mine. A range of emotions crossed over his face before he finally spoke.

  “You’re right,” he said.

  “I am?”

  Instead of answering, he walked a few paces away from me. He looked out at the ocean.

  “You could help me—” I said.

  “I don’t have it in me to argue with you anymore,” he said, a defeated man speaking to the wind, before turning to face me. “Seeing you… All I want to do is take you away with me.”

  “You do?” His words weren’t what I had expected, but at the same time felt oddly natural.

  “Can’t you tell?” he asked.

  “You could have told me.”

  “It wouldn’t be fair to ask you to go with me,” Lane said. “You have a life here.”

  “So do you.”

  “Not any more, Jones. Not anymore.”

  I tried to think of something to say to him, to make him see that he was wrong. But as much as I didn’t want to admit it to either of us, I couldn’t see how he was wrong.

  “I told myself I wasn’t going to see you again,” he said. “But you forced my hand.”

  “By almost falling over the edge? I wouldn’t have fallen too far, you know. I would have gotten a few scratches but been fine.”

  “I know,” he said, smiling a sad smile and running a hand through his hair. “That’s why I know you’ll be fine without me.”

  With that, he turned to walk away. I reached down to slip my shoes back on. When I looked back up, he had already disappeared into the fog.

  By the time I reached the theater to meet Sanjay, my stomach was growling loudly enough to rival the voices of the men shouting at each other on the stage, and I was almost angry enough to join them. At least I no longer looked disreputable, having stopped at home long enough to change.

  I had no idea where he came from, but suddenly Sanjay was standing next to me.

  “I hate it when you do that,” I said. “What’s going on here?” I indicated the men arguing on the stage.

  “Problem with the lights.”

  “Have you eaten breakfast?” I asked.

  “No,” Sanjay said.

  “Then let’s go. But, just so you know, you’re buying. I don’t have my replacement credit card yet.”

  “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I’m fine,” I snapped. “Just fine.”

  We walked down the street to one of the numerous cafés lining the nether regions between SOMA and the Mi
ssion. While I ate a croissant and plenty of bacon, Sanjay drank coffee and listened to me go over the latest I’d learned. I don’t know why, but I felt extremely awkward mentioning Lane, so I left him out of it.

  “You went to the cliffs of Lands End?” Sanjay bellowed. “By yourself?”

  “I know you just came from practicing on stage,” I said, “but you can cut out the theatrics.”

  “I am not being overly dramatic,” Sanjay said through his teeth. “This is a treasure that people have been killed over.”

  “Sanjay—”

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, you know.”

  I rolled my eyes at the stilted dramatics.

  “This isn’t funny!”

  “Sorry,” I said. I’d never seen Sanjay like this before.

  “If you’re not going to back off, then I’m going to help you figure out what’s going on.”

  “Really?”

  “I’ve been thinking about it already,” he said. “You said that there are locations on the map that don’t exist—both the picture of the Chinese fishing nets, and the names of those locations in the center of the city.”

  “That’s right.”

  “What if,” Sanjay said, “it’s a code.” He sat back, looking very pleased with himself.

  “Anand wasn’t a spy.”

  He frowned. “You’ve got a better idea?”

  “Sanjay!” I said. I said it louder than was strictly necessary, but I couldn’t contain my excitement. I did have an idea. “Give me your phone.”

  “What for?” he asked, but handing me his phone all the same.

  “Because you’re brilliant.”

  “I know. But what does that have to do with this?”

  “The map,” I said. “I think you’re onto something, but not in the way that you meant. Not with Anand being a spy, and not with a code in his letters—but something hidden in plain sight.”

  “You’re losing me.”

  “Why would someone need to draw a treasure map?” I said.