The Cursed (19 page)

Don just shook his head. “He knew what he was doing down there, but other than that...no, nothing. Sorry.”

“I wish we could help you somehow,” Lottie said. She looked at her husband miserably. “We felt guilty enough when we thought she drowned accidentally. But now that you’re saying she was killed...”

“We don’t know anything for sure. We’re just investigating right now,” Dallas reminded them. It was a lie, of course. But the authorities weren’t giving out any information at the moment. “No matter what happened, if she was determined to go off on her own, there wasn’t anything you could do.”

“We keep telling ourselves that,” Don said. “But she’s still dead, and we were the ones supposed to be keeping an eye on her.”

“Why were you asking about that man?” Lottie asked.

“Someone else mentioned him, and I haven’t found him yet. That’s all,” Dallas said.

“Is there anything else?” Don asked. “Because I think I need a drink. I’ve been having a lot of them since this happened.”

Dallas produced one of his cards. “No. Thank you for your time. But if you think of anything—anything at all—call me, please.”

“Of course,” Lottie assured him.

He nodded and headed to the parking lot.

He hadn’t gone more than a dozen steps before Lottie came rushing after him. “Agent Samson!”

He stopped, waiting for her. She rushed up to him a little breathlessly. “I
did
think of something.”

“What is it?”

“That man—the one my husband described?”

“Yes?”

“I remember seeing him, too. We’d been in the water about ten minutes. We were all pretty much in a group, following the divemaster, you know?”

Dallas nodded.

“When I turned back to look at a school of barracuda, I saw him. He was close to us—really close.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes. He was close enough that I could see his eyes. And I remember now—they were blue. Really blue! He has to be the man you just described.”

“Thank you. But you don’t know where he came from? What boat?”

“No. I assume from one of the other dive boats.”

“Of course.”

“If I see him again—you know, if I run into him on the island—I’ll tell him you’re looking for him.”

“No! No, please. If you see him, keep your distance. Call me or call 911 right away. But whatever you do, don’t even let him know you’ve noticed him.”

“Oh! Are you saying he—that he might...?”

“I’m not saying anything. It’s just better if I talk to him fresh, without him thinking about why and maybe embellishing his story because he thinks that’s what I want.”

“Oh. Then no, of course not. But I will call you. Immediately. I promise.”

“Thank you,” he told her. “What I would like to have you do is work with a police artist to do a sketch of him. Would you mind doing that for me?”

“Not at all.”

“I’ll set it up,” Dallas promised.

She nodded. “This is so awful. But if someone did kill Yerby...well, then it won’t be my fault anymore. Maybe I’ll be able to live with myself.” She looked back to where her husband was waiting for her and turned back to Dallas bleakly. “And maybe Don will stop drinking so much,” she said. “He can’t help it, you know. It’s terrible to think you caused someone’s death.”

“You didn’t, I promise you,” he said.

“Logically? I know that. But emotionally...”

She gave him a smile with no humor in it and promised to work with the police artist as soon as he set it up.

* * *

They were watching an old horror movie in the back room. Hannah’s phone rang just as a Godzilla-like creature stomped on a used car lot.

She jumped up and checked the caller ID; it was Dallas again. He told her he was coming up the front walk and asked her to come let him in.

“Got to go open the door for Dallas,” she said.

“Want me to pause the movie?” Kelsey asked.

“No, that’s all right,” Hannah assured her. She hurried to the front and took the time to peer out through the glass before opening the door. She looked at Dallas anxiously. He offered her a smile but seemed preoccupied.

How quickly they forget, she mocked herself.

But that was on the far side of absurd. They were trying to solve a series of murders. Whether they did or didn’t sleep with each other was not the most important thing at the moment.

“Valeriya still here?” he asked.

“Someone is here? I can go home?” Valeriya asked, hurrying through the house to reach them.

“Don’t you want to see the end of the movie?” Hannah asked her politely.

“No, that’s okay. I know the story. The monster will die in the end. But thank you. Thank you for keeping me here and worrying about me,” Valeriya said, then looked at Dallas. “I’ve seen you,” she said softly. “I saw you in the alley when—when the dead man was there.”

He nodded. “Yes, I saw you there. I’m Agent Dallas Samson,” he told her.

She offered him her small hand. “Valeriya Dimitri.”

Dallas glanced at Hannah. “Shall I see Valeriya home now?”

“Yes, thank you.”

He nodded. “Well then, Valeriya, whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m ready now,” she said.

As she stepped out the front door, he turned to Hannah and said, “Lock it after us. And don’t let anyone in.
Anyone.
”

“Of course.”

Kelsey came up behind her as she locked the door. “I don’t think he’s happy you let her in.”

“Worse,” Hannah said. “I let her clean his room.”

Kelsey shrugged. “Don’t let the attitude get to you. He lost a team member not too long ago. I’m sure that had to leave a mark.”

“Oh? How do you know that?”

“Logan knows about him. He’s been on Adam Harrison’s radar.”

“And that means...?”

“Adam Harrison, our director, is always on the lookout for the right people to join the unit. Sometimes he pulls people from other law enforcement agencies, and sometimes he comes across people who aren’t part of any agency but they just have the right...talent. Dallas Samson has kept his abilities quiet. You know how that goes. Let people know, and they think you’re not sane and certainly shouldn’t be in law enforcement. But Adam just has an instinct.”

“Do you know what happened? With his partner, I mean,” Hannah asked her cousin.

“No, I don’t know the details. Sorry. I just know that he must be hurting from it. We’ve come close a few times, and I don’t know how I’d deal with it if we actually lost someone.”

Hannah nodded. “But...that’s part of the job, isn’t it? You know going in that you’re going to face dangerous situations.”

“Of course. And we go through training to minimize the risk. The toughest part is realizing that no matter how great a shot you are, no matter how strong you are, you’re still vulnerable. That’s the human condition. Dallas knows that, too, but when you lose someone close to you, it just takes time.”

“So there is no safe place, really, not for anyone,” Hannah said.

“No. We just walk into more dangerous situations that offer more opportunities for bad things to happen.”

“I guess life itself is a crapshoot,” Hannah said.

“More or less. Except, in this crapshoot, we’re lucky. We know there’s more than meets the eye.”

“Enough depressing talk. I’ll start some lunch,” Hannah said.

“And I’ll help you.”

They had barely begun when Hannah’s phone rang. Dallas was back at the front door. She hurried to let him in. He still had a distant look about him. She realized she’d only known him a few days; she didn’t really have any idea what made him tick. Being intimate with him hadn’t opened him up as if he were a book.

“We’re making lunch,” she said.

“Food. Good. The couple who were with Yerby when she was killed are working with a police artist. I’ll be taking the sketch to the docks. Logan is up in Miami, and Liam and his men are rounding up Blade, Hammer and Pistol.”

“You know who they are?” Hannah demanded. Something inside her gave a little leap.

Maybe there was hope!

“Yeah. Where’s Kelsey?”

“Kitchen.”

“We’ll join her, then I won’t have to repeat myself.”

Food and iced tea were on the table—cold cuts, cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes and condiments—and Dallas spoke as he put a sandwich together.

“The sketch Katie helped with led to the man who’d been in the bar and then on the ghost tour. He swears he didn’t do any of the killing and that they had no idea Jose was going to be murdered, and we believe him. He gave us the names of the other men in the group. Also, we have his phone. The tech people will trace the call history, but the Wolf changes phones constantly and has a new number each time. After all that, I went to see the couple who were diving with Yerby when she died. They remember seeing a diver who matched the description Yerby gave, so they’re working with an artist on a sketch.”

“It was a good morning, then,” Kelsey said.

“Except,” Dallas said disapprovingly, staring straight at Hannah, “you let someone in after I told you not to.”

“It was Valeriya. Seriously, Dallas, you’ve seen her. She’s just trying to stay in the United States and find the American Dream, and if she doesn’t work, that can’t happen.”

“Do you know how many people have seen the American Dream as a chance to get rich through illegal means?” he asked.

“I’m more afraid
for
Valeriya than I am
of
her,” Hannah told him.

He shook his head. “Still,” he said quietly, “no one else comes in here until we solve this.”

Hannah opened her mouth to argue and then didn’t. He made her crazy, coming on like a general and then softening to make his commands sound like requests.

“If you’re going to blame Hannah, you have to blame me, too. I figured that, on top of everything else, there was no reason to send the woman to the poorhouse,” Kelsey said.

“And don’t forget, it’s because of Valeriya, I found the key—for whatever it may be worth,” Hannah said.

“The key...yes, let’s see it,” Dallas said.

Hannah drew the key from her pocket. “It looks really old,” she said as she handed it over.

Dallas took it from her and lifted it up to the light. Hannah studied it from that new angle and drew a sharp breath.

“What?” Dallas asked.

“The insignia on the end—I know what it is,” she said excitedly.

“What?”

“It’s the coat of arms of Duke Ricardo Montoya de la Geraldo.”

“Who?” Kelsey asked.

“Kelsey, come on! You know the legend. Geraldo, as he was called, was the Spanish nobleman who sailed the
Santa Elinora.
The ship whose treasure started this whole mess,” Hannah said.

Dallas studied her. “So,” he said softly, “that could mean the treasure really
is
here.”

Hannah shook her head. “No, the treasure is not in the house. I mean, feel free to look, but workmen have been in here too many times to count over the years. There is no basement, just a foundation that reaches down into the coral. You can’t dig a basement here, because it gets watery as soon as you go down too far, trust me. And we used to play in the attic, so I know there are no secret walls or anything. The missing chest is not in this house.”

“But this might well be the key to it,” Dallas said.

“It could be the key, but would anyone—especially a man like the Wolf—risk so much and kill two people just to find a key when all he’d have to do is break open an old chest to get to the treasure?”

“We’re back to perception,” Dallas said. “The chest may not be here, though I’m not a hundred percent certain of that. But maybe some clue to finding the chest
is
here, along with the key.”

“I’m telling you, this place has been lived in continuously since it was built. It’s been repaired, painted, explored, you name it.”

“What was in the chest?” Dallas asked.

“As far as I know, no one’s really sure. They say gold from South America, and jewels,” Hannah said. “If there was ever a full inventory, I don’t know about it. And I live with ghosts who were around before the treasure was lost, and even they don’t know more than that.”

“There’s got to be someone who knows something,” Dallas said.

“Archives. We could dig around in the city archives, but I think Hannah’s right. If anyone knew, there would be stories about it,” Kelsey said.

Dallas fingered the key. “Still, keep thinking. The Wolf has to know—or think he knows—something. Something that makes him certain the treasure is hidden here, in this house.” He hesitated. “I’ll keep the key with me—if I may.”

Hannah lifted her hands in surrender. “Sure. Why?”

He laughed. “Because no one will expect me to have anything on me. I’m an outsider here, even though I’m from here. Go figure. I need to head down to the station and then the wharf, but I’ll be back in plenty of time for the ghost tour. Logan will be back by eight, and Liam and a few plainclothes officers will join us, as well. I’m afraid you’ll have to forget that sixteen-person limit for tonight.”

“Are you
hoping
something happens?” Hannah asked.

She met his eyes and realized she shouldn’t have been surprised by the flash of heat that filled her. She almost blushed. He was all business right now, and all she could think about was last night.

“So we just stay here until the ghost tour?” she asked.

“Yes, but I’ll be back long before that. See if you can think of anything—anything at all—that might connect the key to something in this house, some kind of clue. It could be something hidden in plain sight. Maybe Melody or Hagen could help,” Dallas said. “The Wolf may be afraid of the curse, but I’m assuming you’re not.”

“You heard Hagen. He was the one who cursed the treasure, and he says the idea of a curse is bunk to begin with,” Hannah said

“A curse
is
bunk—unless, once again, you’re talking perception rather than reality. The Wolf wants the treasure, but he
does
believe in the curse, so he doesn’t want to risk finding the treasure himself. If we could find it for him, well...we might be able to trap him,” Dallas said. “Meanwhile, I’m going to show that sketch around and see what I find out, so yes, you two need to stay here.”