Swimming With the Dead (25 page)

The manager had gone back six months without finding any record of a repair done out at the
Chikuzen
.

“Are your records accurate?” Dunn asked.  “Is it possible the paperwork was misplaced or misfiled?”

“Not a chance,” he said, clearly insulted.

“So much for coincidence,” I said to Dunn as we rode back to my hotel.

“Yes.  Looks like Harry’s got something to hide.  Question is what?  I’ll check around, let you know.”

I didn’t like the idea of Acuff running around out there.  If he’d been responsible for my faulty equipment and for Reardon’s attack on me, he’d be determined to get it right next time.

Chapter 24

I called Mack when I got back to my room.  Damned if I was going to sit around twiddling my thumbs while Dunn tracked down leads on Acuff.  Mack should have something by now.

“Hey, Sampson,” Mack said as he chewed on some cholesterol-filled tidbit.

“Hi, Mack.  Anything else on the break-in at Duvall’s office?”

“Nothing since we talked last,” he said. “Did come across some interesting stuff on this Stepanopolis you asked me about.  He was in the States for a while.  He was being investigated for a mob hit in L.A. when he dropped out of sight.  Turns out he was connected to a guy named Skip Driscoll.  Driscoll was heavily involved in the drug trade and prostitution in L.A.”

I could hear Mack shuffling through paper and chewing. “That was ten years ago.  No record of Stepanopolis since.  Guess he got lost in the islands just long enough to get himself killed stealing eleven million dollars’ worth of jewels.”

“How did he and Driscoll get hooked up?” I asked.

“Let’s see.  Okay, here it is.  Seems Driscoll and Stepanopolis were related.  Wives were sisters name of Maynard, Lorraine and Sandy Maynard.”

“Maynard?” I said. “Anything at all about the sisters?”

“Looks like Stepanopolis and his wife disappeared together,” Mack said.  “Guess the sister is serving time.  Caught in a big drug bust.  Driscoll was killed.”

“Any kids?”

“Driscoll didn’t have kids.  Looks like Stepanopolis had one son, Ralph Stepanopolis.”

“Christ,” I said.  “I’ll call you back.”

“He’s out,” Lorna informed me when I called Dunn’s office.  “Had business over on the other side of the island near Cane Garden Bay.  Said he’d be talking to some people about Harry Acuff while he was over there.  Said to tell you he would call you if he found anything important.  He’ll be back in the office early in the morning, by seven o’clock at the latest.  He’s got to catch up on all the paperwork that’s scattered all over his desk.”

“Would you ask him to call me if you talk to him?”

“Sure will,” she said, and hung up.

I planned to spend the rest of the day keeping an eye on Maynard.  He had to be involved in Michael Duvall’s death, he and Acuff.  Maynard had to be Stepanopolis’s son.  He’d probably taken his mother’s maiden name to avoid any association with his father.

But there wasn’t anything Dunn could do.  No real proof.  Just because Maynard was the son of the
Chikuzen
foreman, the man who got away with millions in jewelry in a Saint Martin robbery, did not mean Maynard was a murderer.  Right.  Those jewels had to be hidden on the
Chikuzen,
and Maynard knew it.

Michael Duvall had stumbled across the robbery when he’d decided to do some background research on the
Chikuzen
, because of the dead fish he’d found there.  He’d been spending a lot of time out at the wreck, trying to figure out what had killed the fish.  He’d probably run into Maynard and Acuff out there searching for the jewels, queried them about what they were doing.  That’s what Maynard had meant when he’d said Michael was always sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong.  Even before Michael went to Saint Martin, Maynard would have been concerned that Michael was suspicious of their activity.

When Michael talked with the Wilsons, he’d recognized something in that photo that tied Demitri Stepanopolis to Ralph Maynard.  That’s when he’d made the connection to the jewelry heist.  He’d stolen the diagram from Vanderpool’s office and dived the
Chikuzen
the next morning.  But why had he gone out there alone?  I had trouble believing he was after the jewels for himself.  He just didn’t fit the profile.  His phone records showed he’d called Dunn that morning.  Maybe he intended to let Dunn know what he’d discovered.  Why hadn’t he left a message?  And how had Maynard and Acuff known he’d found that diagram and would be out there diving the site?

Outside the hotel, I found Robert parked in his usual spot at the curb.

“Afternoon,” he said.  “Where you be wantin’ to go?  You finally be ready for a tour of the islands?  I knows dis place like da back a my hand.  I take ya ta Sage Mountain, da botanic gardens, shoppin’ downtown, maybe the Bomba Shack?  That be one rockin’ place.  ’Specially during the full-moon party.  Guy walks around dar sellin’ psilocybin mushrooms, servin’ psilocybin tea in the parkin’ lot.  Course, I be thinkin’ dat tea be made a mostly of mushrooms dat come right off da supermarket shelf!”

He was disappointed when I told him I couldn’t do the tour, but captivated by the idea of a stakeout.  Nothing like getting an innocent cabdriver involved.  But what the hell.  Robert had a car and was available.  He got right into the spirit of the thing, finding a place to park where we could see the door to Maynard’s office and still be discrete.  We sat for an hour, listening to reggae.

At five, Maynard came out and locked the door.  We followed him to a little bungalow, where he parked in the dirt drive and went in.  Lights went on.

“Diz here detectin’ kind a borin’, ain’t it,” Robert said several hours later.  “We gonna sit out here all night?”

“Let’s give it till midnight, then call it,” I said.

An hour later we were harmonizing with Jimmy Cliff, “You can get it if you really want, try and try, try and try, try and try.”  We were trying to stay awake when a car pulled up.  It was Harry Acuff in the blue Honda with the broken headlight.

He got out, stumbled to Maynard’s door, and knocked.  Maynard was settled in, wearing a robe when he opened the door.

I headed across the lawn for a closer look, trying to move quickly and stay out of sight.  The night was warm and scented with blossoms.  Crickets chirped in the brush, and I could hear music down the street from one of the roadside shacks that were called bars.

I found an open window that was right above a tangle of bushes loaded with flowers.  It was also loaded with thorns.  I was definitely not dressed for the occasion, still in shorts and a tank top.  By the time I’d maneuvered to a spot under the window, I was covered in scratches and the bugs were attacking.  Desperate, I swatted at one.

“What the hell was that?” Maynard said, moving to the open window.  He gazed out, his hands perched on the sill just inches from my head.  It seemed like he stood there forever.  He was so close I could smell his aftershave—Brute.  Figured.

“You’re too nervous,” Acuff said as a bird flew out from beneath the bush.

“Yeah, well, I’ve got reason to be.”  Maynard moved away from the window.  “What the hell were you thinking, bringing Reardon in on this?  Just luck you were able to pull Sampson into the water before he told her everything.  Damned amazing that you got the diagram off of him before you pushed him over that cliff.  Did you bring it?”

“I got it in a safe place, Juunioorr,” Acuff said, dragging out the
Junior
in long, mocking syllables.  “Kind of considering it my insurance policy.”

“Cut with the Junior crap.  You should have found that diagram after you killed Duvall.  You searched his boat.  Why the hell didn’t you find it then?”

“Who woulda thought he’d stash it in the damned boat cushion?” Acuff said.

“Well, if you had thought, we’d of had those jewels a month ago.  We wouldn’t have followed those damned boxes to Denver and for nothin’.  Wouldn’t have Sampson breathing down our necks now.  Couldn’t even run her down in the street.  And trying to scare her off with that damn stunt diving with her and Constantine just made her more suspicious.  Now she’s got Dunn checking you out, too.  You didn’t drink so damn much, you’d be able to think straight.  It’s been one screw-up after another with you.  Leavin’ Duvall’s body right in the ship, for chrissake.”

“I tole you.  No way I’m dragging a body out of the water and inta my boat,” Acuff said.  “No telling who would a spotted me.  ’Sides, I didn’t leave no evidence.  After I threw that net over him, alls I had to do was wait.  Think it was a stroke of genius, prying that compressor loose and pushing it down on him.  Looked just like an accident.  Everybody knew he was spending a lot of time out there.  No reason to suspect anything ’cepting he was diving and got careless.”

“Well, Sampson’s been back asking me questions,” Maynard was saying.  “Knows Duvall was snooping around down at Saint Martin.  Knows about Demitri.  Won’t be long she’ll be puttin’ two and two together.  We’ve got to finish this first thing in the morning.

“Did you get the boat fixed?”

“Yeah, she’s ready.  I worked on it all day.  Was just finishing up when Sampson and Dunn showed up to give me grief.”

“Good.  Meet me at the docks at seven o’clock.  Be there on time, and lay off the sauce.  And bring the fucking diagram.”

“I’ll bring it, but looks like a bunch a nothing on the damned thing.  Don’t see no X marking the spot.  You sure that ol’ dad of yours knew what he was doing?”

“He knew.”

After Harry left, Maynard made a call.  “We’re set for the morning.  No, he didn’t bring the diagram.  Christ, you know there’s no damned way anyone could figure it out, especially Acuff.  I saw the schematic for about a minute when Sampson brought it into my office.  It’s a jumble of notations in a maze of passageways and compartments.  You have to know what to look for.  Once we have five minutes to study it, we’ll find the jewels.  Yes, I know that,” he said, irritated.  “Don’t worry about Acuff.  I’ll do what I need to do.”

God knows who was on the other end of that conversation.  I waited under the window, getting eaten alive until the lights went out.  No more phone conversations.  Robert and I watched the place for a while longer.  Nothing.

I dropped into bed around three in the morning, hoping for a few hours of sleep.  Robert promised to be outside my hotel by six a.m.  We’d be waiting down at the docks before Maynard got there.

At six thirty the next morning, Robert and I were hunkered down in his car guzzling coffee and waiting for Maynard.  We didn’t wait long.  He showed up at the dock, followed by Harry Acuff, beer in hand.  Acuff looked like he had slept in his clothes.

Before I’d left the hotel, I’d called Dunn’s office and left a message on his machine.  I’d asked him to meet me down at the docks with a boat and backup.  I knew where Maynard and Acuff were headed.  Once Dunn arrived, we would go straight to the
Chikuzen
, wait for them to retrieve the jewels, and intercept them when they surfaced.

I called again from a phone booth down the street.  The machine picked up again.  It was past seven.  It seemed Lorna was slacking off.

I asked Robert to stick with the car and keep an eye out for Dunn.  I wanted to get a better look at what we would be up against out at the
Chikuzen
.

I slid out of the car and crept around the back of the marine supply store.  Off on the left side was a rock jetty, made to protect the harbor from waves.  It was basically a pile of rocks about six feet high.  They were covered with barnacles and algae, and I slipped several times.  By the time I had worked my way out to a place from which I could see Maynard’s boat, my shoes were soaked and I’d managed to cut my ankles on the jagged rocks.  This jaunt in paradise was really taking its toll.  Denver had never been this hazardous.

Just the two of them were on the dock.  I could hear Maynard swearing at Acuff as he grabbed a beer can out of his hand and threw it into the water.  Not cool.  Could have at least put it in the trash.

Maynard carried what looked like a Browning 9mm tucked into his pants.  I could see no other weapons.  It was just the two of them.  They were loading their dive gear and tanks into the boat.  Then Acuff started the engine and moved the boat around to the gas pumps, where he began filling it up.

I headed back the way I came, shoes squishing, to wait for Dunn.  When he arrived, we’d wait just long enough before going to the wreck to give Maynard and Acuff time to locate the jewels.

Good plan.  Too bad it never worked out.  I was rounding the corner of the marina store when I caught a blur of green out of the corner of my eye.  An instant later something hard crashed into my skull.

Chapter 25

Black, curious eyes surrounded by white fluff starred down at me.  For the second time in a matter of days, my head felt like it was filled with soggy cotton.  When I moved, the eyes vanished in a flurry of feathers—a seagull.  I was lying in the bottom of a boat on top of a pile of life vests and ropes.  I could hear people arguing nearby.  When I tried to sit up, pain shot from the top of my head all the way into my chest and I puked all over the deck.  This was getting old.  I really had to change careers before my brains turned to scrambled eggs.

“Goddammit!” Maynard yelled. “Acuff, throw some water on the deck.”

“Let’s just shoot the bitch,” Acuff said as he drenched me with a bucket full of salt water.  “Shoulda shot her back at the marina.” 

“You’re just that stupid.  Gunfire would have brought all the yachties in the harbor down on us.”  There was someone else on the boat.  I recognized the voice.

“You two get down there and locate those jewels.  I’ll be having a little conversation with Ms. Sampson.”

As my vision cleared I realized that Dunn probably wasn’t going to make it out here.

“That’s right, Hannah,” the woman said.  “Dunn didn’t get the message.  I did.”