Black Jack Point (14 page)

‘Stoney did have a friend who came along on the Yucatán trip, a guy he knew from Florida. Allen Eck, I think his name was.
Yeah. Looked like a professor. Comes across as very cool. But, Jesus, what an asshole. We were taking a tour of Merida, a
small town down there. The tour guide was telling about Laffite history, but got a couple of really minor details wrong. I
mean, most people would never know. Allen told him he was wrong, very quietly, and the guide firmly said, no, he was right.
Maybe just thinking Allen’s some dumb tourist. I’ll never forget the look Allen gave him, just beyond cold, like this poor
stupid guide wasn’t worth a roach’s ass. But he didn’t say anything more. Next day, they find the tour guide in an alleyway.
Both arms broken, face a solid bruise, nose broken. Guy wouldn’t say who attacked him – either he didn’t see or he was too
scared.’ Jason shook his head. ‘I know it’s crazy, but I kept thinking maybe Allen beat up that man.’

Stoney tossed all night, like he slept on rocks, lying on a blanket in front of the big French doors leading to the dock.
He’d switched all the lights on along the dock, waiting. No boats came out of the night. Alex got comfortable at the dinner
table, gun in front of him, reading a thick book on seventeenth-century Asian piracy he’d found on Stoney’s shelves, making
noises of agreement and disapproval as he scanned the pages.

Finally he’d fallen asleep. He awoke once to hear Alex talking quietly on a cell phone. He heard Alex say, ‘Fine. I agree.’
Then nothing more but the sound of Alex clicking off his phone. He played possum, felt Alex’s gaze go along his back. Stoney
didn’t go to sleep again for a while, but the whiskey he’d drunk earlier caught up with him and he drifted off.

He awoke at seven, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, his back a solid ache. Along the dock the lights still gleamed.
No boat, no Danny, dead or alive. He got up, went into the kitchen. No Alex.

He should have felt relief. He knew Alex wanted to kill him last night. Wanted to burn his face. Instead he felt panic at
Alex’s absence. Where the hell was he? And if Danny or his gang showed up while Alex was gone …

He went to the phone. No messages. He called the satellite phone system on
Jupiter.
No answer. He turned on the television, watched the Friday morning local news. No reports of a millionaire’s brother kidnapped
at sea, nothing on a missing boat or Ben and Claudia’s bodies washing ashore.

He heard the front door open, hurried to the foyer, saw Alex coming in, closing the door behind him.

‘Where the hell have you been?’

‘They show?’

‘No. Where were you?’

‘Attending to some business.’ Alex dusted his hands. ‘You can cook, right? Eggs. Bacon. Black coffee. I need some protein.’

‘What business, Alex?’

Alex’s mood seemed ominously good. He patted Stoney’s cheek. ‘They may not be coming. Danny and his friends must have lost
their nerve. Or maybe Danny killed his buddies.’

‘Or he killed Ben,’ Stoney said. ‘He’s got nothing to bargain with, except an accusation against me that won’t hold up.’

Alex went into the kitchen, washed his hands. ‘This girlfriend of Ben’s. The cop?’

‘Yes.’

‘Maybe she took them all out.’

‘She’s one person. And a woman.’

‘A gun and the knowledge and will to use it are a great equalizer. Call your boat again.’

‘I already tried. There wasn’t an answer.’

‘Danny Laffite, he has a boat? Presumably they had a boat to board
Jupiter
with.’

‘Yes.’

‘You remember the name?’

‘Miss Catherine.
After Catherine Villars.’

Alex rolled his eyes. ‘Start hailing that boat on the radio. Maybe they’re trying to figure out how to trick us. Maybe they’re
playing it safe. Maybe they didn’t want to come in at night.’ He gave a wicked smile. ‘Maybe they found the Eye hidden on
your boat and they’ve sailed off
to China.’ The smile – wry, like he didn’t care – stayed in place. It made Stoney’s stomach sink.

‘I got an extra marine radio in my office, high-end, long-range.’

‘Let’s see if anyone wants to talk to us,’ Alex said.

Claudia awoke slowly because waking meant pain. Hard, throbbing pain that pulsed in her head like a heartbeat, each
pu-pump
a double shot of eye-clenching agony. The pain roared hard enough for her first cogent thought to be:
Don’t move, because your brains will leak out your ears.

She opened her eyes. Coldness – from air-conditioning – prickled her skin. Morning light, soft in color but a slap against
her eyes. A slow awareness of the rest of her body – not welcome, everything hurt – crept along her nerves. She was tied again,
hands behind her this time, wrists raw, foot a dull ache. A coppery, sour taste made her want to spit out her tongue. Bed
sheets – smelling unwashed and of suntan lotion – lay greasy against her skin.

Tied up and tucked into bed.

‘Danny?’ Claudia called weakly. ‘Danny?’

The door cracked open, light hit her eyes like a fist.

‘You’re awake,’ Danny said. ‘You worried me. You wouldn’t wake up before.’

‘What … what happened? I hurt …’

‘You’ll be fine.’ A pause. ‘It’s good you didn’t die, because then how could you help me?’

He sat by her on the bed, put a moist cloth dispenser next to her head, plucked a cloth free, gently wiped her face and her
hands. ‘Moist towelettes help you stay clean. You should wash each day,’ he said, as if by rote. It sounded like a rule mentioned
in a hospital, a mantra of nurses.

His tone was a little different today. She didn’t like it.

She stayed still while he wiped her face, cleaning her skin and hair of dried extinguisher foam and her own spittle and blood.
He brought her a glass of cold water. The water tasted bitter, but her mouth craved the wetness. He held her head up gently
and she gulped the glass dry.

‘Good girl,’ he said.

‘Untie me.’

‘No.’

‘You … you hit me.’ Her mouth tasted like it was crammed full of wool.

‘Just a little love tap,’ he said. ‘You’ll be okay.’ His jaunty confidence made her skin crawl. He smiled, shook a finger
in her face she wanted to bite to the bone. ‘Remember, we’re going to Stoney’s house.’

‘Ben …’

‘I wouldn’t worry about him anymore. They’re gone.’

‘Gone where?’

‘Sailed off. I’m certainly not looking for them now. He must’ve heard the gunshot, decided to take off. Zack – the redhead
– he’s basically a coward without Gar around. Probably dump Ben in the Gulf, ditch the boat close to shore, find a rock to
hide under. Less likely he’d go to Stoney’s house, cut a separate deal. But you just never know about people, do you?’

‘You’re a smart guy, Danny,’ she managed to say. ‘But you know the police are looking for me and Ben by now. And I need medical
attention.’ She put the edge of a whine in her voice. ‘Please, you hit me hard in the head. I’m sick.’

‘How about some delicious Aspergum? I have regular and cherry flavors.’

‘I might have a fractured skull, for God’s sake.’

‘You’re blinking okay,’ Danny said. He frowned. ‘Gar called you
Officer.
Why?’

She stared at him. ‘I’ve no idea.’

‘I think you’re a cop, Claudia.’

‘You think a lot of things, Danny, more than most people.’

He laughed. ‘I suppose I do.’ He ran a thumb along her lip. ‘I wish we could be friends. Don’t have a lot of those.’ He sounded
regretful.

‘We can be. Untie me.’

‘No. You’ll nap for a while. I put a little of my meds into your water. I don’t need ‘em no more. I’m feeling awesome. I want
you calm till we get to Stoney’s house. I didn’t want to go at night. I want to see clear. And let’s say he’s gotten his brother
back from Zack. The brother being there, he’ll make Stoney trade for you. Stoney wouldn’t give a shit about you on his own.
If he hasn’t gotten Ben back, then I tell him I’ve got Ben with you, down below. See?’ He smiled at his own cleverness.

She closed her eyes.

‘Because I’m gonna call him when we get in close to shore. Tell him he’s got to meet us out on the dock with the Devil’s Eye
and the journal.’

Claudia was silent.

‘Then I’m gonna shoot him from the boat, make his head go boom like a ol’ melon. Like Gar’s did. Then I’m getting my stuff,
’cause he’ll have it there at his house. I figured his house is big, he’ll want the treasure where he can see it, know it’s
okay,’ Danny said with a smile. Touching his fingers to her throat, taking the measure of her breath, savoring the moment.
Flush with success at having bested Gar. She saw suddenly that Danny probably hadn’t had a lot of success in his life.

‘If he doesn’t have this emerald there, you’re screwed.’

‘Okay. I’ll shoot after he gives it to me or tells me where it is.’

‘The journal,’ she said. ‘Tell me again what it looks like, Danny. Maybe I saw it at Stoney’s.’

Danny studied her for a moment, touched her jaw – which ached still – with tenderness. Then he went to the cabinet in the
stateroom’s corner, unlocked it with a key from around his neck. From a drawer he pulled a piece of paper, bleary with photocopy
streaks. He held the paper above her face.

She wriggled into position where she could see the page, written in the flowing scrawl that passed for nineteenth-century
penmanship. Sorting the words was a struggle:

In late May 1820 a small force led by the schooner Lynx chased Laffite’s little fleet (being two schooners and a brigantine)
down the Texas coast. Feeling ran high that Laffite might simply move south onto other Texas islands and re-establish his
pirating base. Captain Madison was ordered to ignore the safe passage that Commodore Patterson issued to Laffite, which made
me uneasy. Our word in the Navy should matter. But in Vera Cruz Madison received reports of a Spanish ship, the Santa Barbara,
carrying a trove of gold and jewels. SB vanished in the Western gulf – in fair weather – in the weeks before Laffite abandoned
his privateering, and I suspect the government thought him involved. I fear no one informed Mr Laffite of this change in the
government’s attitude.

We fired on Laffite’s ships south of Matagorda Bay, but he turned into the maze of bays and shoals, guarded by the thin strips
of barrier islands, and we could not give chase without running aground. We caught him coming out of St Leo Bay the next
morning. There was scant loot on his ship, some silks, Madeira, a few handfuls of coins at most – little enough for the great
pirate. His crude, stupid men were hungry, and beaten. There was no sign of the Spanish treasure. Offers of immunity from
prosecution won the crew over. We escorted Laffite’s ship to Vera Cruz; I do not know what happened to him afterwards. We
were all sworn – and paid in bonus – not to discuss this operation since it had disregarded a legal safe passage, and the
navy wanted no embarrassment. I left Lynx in New Orleans, and tragically Lynx and all her hands were soon lost in a storm,
on a cruise to Jamaica to fight piracy in the Caribbean. So I alone remain to give witness, but I cannot bear to dishonor
Captain Madison’s memory by confessing what the Navy did in public. Here I can write my thoughts without fear. For those who
recall Laffite’s heroic service to New Orleans – and to America – during our late War with the British, it seems particularly
scandalous and unfair to have broken a promise, even one made to a pirate.

Ample discussion followed that Laffite had buried his booty along the coastline where he had evaded the task force and one
of the younger pirates spoke of a nighttime expedition at Widows’ Point in St Leo Bay, where only Laffite, out of four men,
returned. But this fellow Jack was both simple and a hopeless drunkard whose story changed with the level of rum in the bottle.
I think that the idea makes an excellent story and my grandchildren enjoy it so at their bedtime. I record it here simply
as a matter of interest.

‘Who wrote this?’ Claudia stared at Danny as he lowered the paper from her face.

‘John B. Fanning, ship’s surgeon aboard
Lynx.
He wrote this journal years later. I guess his descendants found it in a family trunk and they put it up on an on-line auction
site, simply mentioning it talked about Laffite and navy operations in the 1820s. They had no idea of its value. So I bought
it. Widows’ Point, see. That’s what they call Black Jack Point now.’

Black Jack Point. Where those two old people had been murdered. David’s case.

He didn’t say anything for a minute, not looking at her, putting the copy back into the cabinet, locking it up. ‘You should
understand why this is all mine. By inheritance. My last name is Laffite. Daniel Villars Laffite.’

Claudia watched him. Finally she said, ‘You’re descended from Jean Laffite?’ She tried not to laugh.

‘And Catherine Villars, his great love. So that money, that hidden gold, it’s mine. Mine.’ His voice fell to a whispering
mumble. He was used, she saw, to talking to himself, telling himself what he wanted to hear. ‘No. One. Else’s. I got the best
claim on it imaginable.’

She gathered herself, tried to stay calm. At first she thought his grudge against Stoney was a battle between one treasure
hunter versus another. But this. Jesus.

‘You don’t believe me,’ Danny said, a low rumble in his voice.

‘Sure I do,’ she said. ‘Why wouldn’t I?’

‘People laugh at me. Not much longer though. Not much longer.’ His voice rose, spittle flying from his lips, hitting her cheek.

She didn’t move, didn’t react, put a gentle, calm smile on her face. ‘Danny, it was sweet of you to share your meds with me.
Really. But maybe you should take them again. Just because you want to be at your best when—’

He leaned down and slapped her, hard. She stared past his shoulder. He rubbed her cheek, his fingertips smelling of the moist
towelettes. ‘No. No more of those. Keep me from being me.’

The radio beeped. She heard its call through a little speaker in the cabin. A hail for
Miss Catherine.
Maybe Stoney’s voice? Hard to tell. Danny rushed out of the cabin without giving her another look. She heard his feet pound
on the stairs.

She had to get loose, fight him, there had to be a way. The stateroom was dark now, with the door closed and the shades lowered,
thin slices of light lying in lines on the bed, but she inched over. A bedside table stood on each side of the narrow bed.
With her hands tied behind her, she pried open one drawer with her fingers, rolled around to see what was inside. A pair of
reading glasses, stubby blue pencils, a notepad. She eased the drawer shut with her foot, wriggled to the other side of the
bed, and slowly forced the other table drawer open. She rolled again. Inside lay a pack of gum. A ballpoint pen, missing its
cap. A scattering of pennies, dimes, and quarters. A set of nail clippers.

Clippers.

She turned her back to the drawer, easing around, and carefully leaned backward, her fingers wiggling, trying to close around
the little plastic case of the clippers. Her fingertips brushed the dimes, the foil of the gum pack. Her fingernails tapped
the plastic … and she leaned back too far, her exhausted muscles in her back and arms cramping. She fell off the bed, the
drawer smacking hard against her neck and shoulder. She hit the thin carpet hard, teeth jarring together, one of her fingers
jamming and she cried out in pain.