Bone Island 03 - Ghost Moon (19 page)

“Yes. But you haven’t heard the rest.” She flipped open the second book. “Herr Hubert Eichorn. She pointed to the picture of a man in a distinguished pose before a
fireplace. “He was never in the German military. He was a ‘consultant.’ He was a consultant on how to most quickly and efficiently kill people—he was a chemist. He had left the bunker long before Hitler’s last days, and he knew he had to get out of Germany. He left the country disguised as a priest—carrying the reliquary.”

“All right, so that’s how it left Germany,” Kelsey said. “I’m still—”

“Ahem!” Jaden said. “Here!” She flipped a page in the book. They saw a picture of a brilliant-cut but unset diamond. It was an old picture, and the caption beneath it announced that it had been taken in 1942. “The reliquary is worth ten to twenty thousand dollars. This diamond—called the Koln diamond, a gift from a prince to his princess at the time of Joan’s death, is worth a million or more.”

“They make diamonds worth that much?” Avery said.

“Perfect clarity, perfect hue…nearly ten carats. A size that fit perfectly into the reliquary,” Jaden said.

Kelsey sat back, staring at her. “Jaden, you’re telling me that this diamond was in the casket?”

Jaden shook her head. “That’s the point. The diamond isn’t in this reliquary.”

“So it was taken?” Liam asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” Jaden said.

“And why not?” Kelsey asked.

“Because this reliquary is a fake!” Jaden announced, sitting back, flushed and triumphant.

“What?” Liam, Kelsey and Avery asked simultaneously.

Jaden reached into her bag again, producing a little gold ball. “This is your gold ball, Kelsey, or the gold ball from the reliquary. It’s really perfect. The workmanship is incredible. It’s worth ten to twenty thousand, so it seems that a thief should have taken it. But it’s nothing next to the diamond. I don’t know who made this, or why, but our tests have dated it back to the early twentieth century. So, the thief must have figured out that Cutter didn’t have the real reliquary, and so he left it.”

Kelsey stared at her blankly. “That doesn’t make sense. If you were a thief—why not at least take something that was worth twenty thousand dollars or so?”

“I don’t know that,” Jaden said. She fell silent as their drinks were delivered. “I can only tell you what I discovered. There was no sign of bone or ash in the little gold ball.”

“So what was in it?” Liam asked.

Jaden grimaced and produced her last object from her bag. It was a little swastika on a gold pin. “Worth something, I imagine, even if distasteful,” she said.

“None of it makes any sense,” Kelsey said.

“Actually, it does. It makes perfect sense,” Liam said.

They all looked at him. He didn’t explain right away. “Hey, Jaden, I saw that you and Ted visited the rare-book room at the library recently,” he said, sipping his iced tea.

They both looked at him blankly, and then at each other. “Recently, and always,” Ted said. “How do you think we do research? Online, yes, but we have to look
at rare books for the pieces we’re asked to restore. Why?”

“Just think back for a minute, did you ever take out a book called
Key West, Satanism, Peter Edwards and the Abel and Aleister Crowley Connection
?” Liam asked.

It seemed as if the entire table was looking at him as if he had lost his mind.

“I’ve never even heard of such a book,” Jaden said.

“Someone has. It’s missing from the library,” he said.

“And you’re accusing us—of stealing a book?” Ted asked, sitting back.

“No, I was asking if you happened to have it,” Liam said. He noted that Bartholomew was sitting at an empty table near them, studying the reactions everyone had to his questions and comments.

“I have never taken a rare book from the library, and I don’t even know why I would want the one you’re talking about,” Jaden said. “Nor would I know why you would want it, Liam!”

He didn’t rise to the bait. He leaned back casually himself. “I’m interested in the book because it supposedly has a reference to Cutter’s book,
In Defense from Dark Magick,
” he said.

“Where did you even hear about it?” Ted asked.

“Oh, some old-timers mentioned it. Apparently, there was a connection to Crowley and his interest in dark arts.”

“Aleister Crowley was in Key West?” Jaden asked, still confused.

“No. A supposed relative. I was just asking because
your names were on the list of people who had been in the rare-book room. It wasn’t an accusation,” Liam said.

They both still appeared to be confused. “Well, you had best ask the rest of the people on the list,” Jaden said. “I didn’t take it. And if Ted has slipped it out for any reason—which he wouldn’t have!—he’d tell you straight away.”

“Hey! I didn’t take the book,” Ted protested.

“Of course not, dear,” Jaden said, squeezing his hand.

“Who else was on the list?” Kelsey asked him.

“Mary Egans—” Liam began.

“A high-school teacher,” Jaden said, dismissing the possibility.

Liam shrugged. “Barney Thibault.”

“He’d die before he’d steal a piece of gum!” Ted said.

“I agree,” Liam told him. “Someone named George Penner—I don’t know the name, and neither did the librarian. Jonas—”

“Our Jonas?” Jaden demanded.

“Let him talk, please,” Ted said.

Liam nodded. “Yes, our Jonas. Oh, and Joe Richter.”

“Richter!” Kelsey said.

Liam studied her. “What?”

“I—I’m not sure.” She shook her head and hiked her shoulders. “Richter can’t be guilty of anything. He had free access to Cutter’s place. He was the attorney. He
had the only access, really, for a while. I mean, once you reported Cutter dead.”

There was something more there, Liam thought, but he’d ask her later.

“Then there was someone named Bel Arcowley. Do you know him—or her?” he asked.

Ted and Jaden looked at him solemnly, shaking their heads.

“Why is the book so important?” Kelsey asked.

“I don’t know,” Liam said. “I’d just like to find it.”

“You know, I can do a rare-book search for you tomorrow. There has to be a copy somewhere else,” Jaden said.

“I can do a search,” Liam said.

Jaden sniffed. “Bet I can do a better search than you!”

He smiled. “All right, then. Thanks. Do a search for me, will you?”

She nodded.

Their food arrived. The tension that had gone around the table eased somewhat. He worried that he might be ruining a long running and close friendship.

He had no choice.

Kelsey toyed with the blackened grouper on her plate. She stared at him and asked, “So what do you think is going on?”

He wasn’t sure. Maybe it was best to just state his suspicions.

He shrugged.

He realized that they were all silent, staring at him, including Avery, who was wide-eyed.

“Oh,” he said, and set down his fork. “I have a theory. The thief—or murderer, as he might be—wanted the reliquary. Cutter knew that it was a fake, and that was why he had the shotgun, though, of course, he never used it. When Cutter was dead, the thief did try to take the reliquary, but discovered it was a fake.”

“Still worth money!” Kelsey reminded him.

“But not compared to the real prize,” Liam said. “I’m not sure who did know about it, but I think that Cutter had the fake—and the original. The thief didn’t take the fake because he was determined to find the original. While Cutter sat there, dead but undiscovered, he had a chance to search the house. But then I came when Cutter didn’t pick up the mail. The thief was probably there when the kids broke into the house—and scared them half to death. He was probably there when Gary White and Chris Vargas broke in as well, and went back to work once I had shooed them out. Looking for anything in that house is like looking for a needle in a haystack. He was neat as he searched about, knowing that he was after the real prize. If he gave himself away, how could he get back in to search? Now, however, we have every window bolted and new locks on the doors. And, of course, Kelsey has a cop sleeping with her, as well.”

Avery cleared his throat. “I might not exactly be sleeping with her, but I’m not chopped liver,” he said.

Kelsey stared at Liam in silence. So did Ted and Jaden.

Jaden cleared her throat and spoke at last. “So—you think that this will make whoever it was give up the quest?”

“No, I don’t. I think that Gary died because of something he knew or saw.”

Jaden gasped and shook her head. “No, no…Cutter was old. He might have had a heart attack no matter what. But…you’re saying Gary White was
murdered?
We still have the death penalty in this state for murder!”

“True,” Liam said. “But people have committed murder for a lot less than a million dollars.”

“But…” Ted spoke and broke off, confused. “Cutter Merlin died of a heart attack. He was holding a book, this little reliquary and a shotgun.” He looked at them both. “You have the book, right?”

Kelsey nodded. “In safekeeping?” He lifted his hand, staring at Liam. “
Don’t tell anyone where.
Liam will start accusing of us of stealing another book.”

“I was asking, not accusing,” Liam said. “For all I knew, you might have slipped it out just to borrow it because you needed it for more research, and meant to put it back.”

“Oh, yeah. Jaden and I sit up nights and think about new ways to worship Satan,” Ted said, an edge to his voice.

“It’s on my mind every morning when I wake up, too,” Jaden said.

“Hey,” Liam said. “A man has been murdered. Cutter might have been frightened to death. Give me some slack. I have to ask questions.”

“You’re all old friends. Stop it. Let’s think about it. Where do the books fit in?” Kelsey asked.

“I don’t know. But that’s what we have to find out,” Liam said. “Would you pass the salt, please?”

He sat comfortably in the handsome chair at Cutter Merlin’s desk. Three of them in the house now, and he was still invisible.

What a lovely time.

Last night, he had stood at the door to her room. He had imagined them together, and he had imagined the time when the cop would be there.

He had to be patient. Well, he’d been patient a very long time. Maybe he had never imagined it would really be this long, but in the end, the prize would make up for it all. Watching them…watching the idiots when they had found the body at last…well, that had been a thrill. Watching them—from the house!—while they had been so certain that their new locks, bolts and wary care could keep him out, was worth his effort.

He heard them coming home, and he quickly rose. It would be no good being found at the desk. That could ruin everything.

He turned away, feeling more powerful than Cutter Merlin, Pete Edwards, Satan himself—or the bastard, Liam Beckett.

He was invisible.

He had committed murder, and he was invisible.

He watched, he waited, he stalked.

And he was invisible.

For a moment, he felt a flash of anger so deep it shook him to the core.

He was invisible, yes.

But he hadn’t found the real reliquary.

He gave himself a shake. He could hear their voices.
Kelsey knew where the real reliquary was, she had to, or she would. He would wait. Patience. So long, and just a little longer, then. And stalking Kelsey… Well, it was fascinating to consider what the end might finally be.

D
espite the discovery of the decomposing body of Gary White, her grandfather’s funeral and Liam’s theory of the events surrounding her, Kelsey woke feeling rested, strong and ready to face anything that came her way. She stretched a hand out over the sheets, found that Liam’s side of the bed was empty and sat up and stretched. She forgot sometimes that he was a cop, high in the city pecking order, with a great deal of responsibility.

She rose and headed to the bathroom to shower, then paused. If he wasn’t in the room, the door was unlocked. She couldn’t get over the need to lock her bedroom door. It was as if a sixth sense kept telling her that she needed to do so.

She obliged.

Last night, Liam had teased her.

“Okay…Avery doesn’t have nightmares and decide to come crawling in, does he?”

They’d both been able to laugh, and she shook her head, and he humored her, as he had all along, and she had locked the door, fallen back into his arms, felt the breathless, heart-pounding emotion of being with him,
and then the glorious, starkly carnal, wild and raw wonder of letting the world go away in his arms, lost in sensation, knowing nothing but the earthly force of their bodies. Surely she slept so well, so beautifully, so peacefully, because she was so replete, and because she was in his arms still, flesh damp and touching his, limbs entangled.

Showered, she unlocked her door and went downstairs. Liam was in the kitchen, dressed and ready for work, coffee cup in his hand as he read the paper.

“No way out, I guess. I tried to control the media, but there’s always going to be sensationalism. Don’t take it to heart,” he told her.

She poured her own coffee and came to stand beside him, reading the headline.

Death Strikes Again at Cursed Merlin Estate.

“Hey,” she said, sighing softly. “At least it’s an estate. I’m so sorry for that poor fellow. Is he going to need help…being buried?”

“Probably.”

“I’d like to take care of it—or Cutter would, more exactly,” she said.

He set his coffee down and pulled her to him. His chin rested against the top of her head, and there was something wonderfully intimate and tender in the gesture. “That’s nice,” he whispered softly. Then he looked at her. “Hey, I just thought about something. Last night, when I was talking about the book that was missing from the rare-book room at the library and mentioned Richter, it seemed there was something you were going to say, but didn’t.”

“Oh, he’d said something about not having seen Cutter for a while, but his secretary told me he’d been out recently. But I still can’t see how Joe Richter could be responsible for anything…or that he would
kill
over anything in Cutter’s house. He did have free rein here.”

“After Cutter was dead,” Liam said.

Kelsey studied him for a minute. “How do you know that the people who registered in the rare-book room might have anything to do with this?”

“I don’t. I have to start somewhere.”

“But you don’t even know all the people.”

“I know the names—I’m going to run traces on the people I don’t know. I don’t have evidence, but I have a really good hunch, and I believe I’m right. Jaden really cast a light on things. A million-dollar diamond can create obsession, and an obsession can create a complicated case.”

“Satanism—and diamonds,” Kelsey said.

“Connected somehow,” he assured her.

He was whispering, and they were close together. Touching. Kelsey started at the sound of Avery’s voice.

“All right, all right, enough already,” Avery said, entering the kitchen. He walked past the two of them, heading for the coffeepot. “So, you know, I have to admit, this is an amazing place. I’m a West Coast boy, but this is pretty cool. You’ve got a dolphin that hangs around by your dock, did you know that? Cool creature. I walked out, and it followed me, watching me. I was talking to it, and it’s as if it listens to me.”

Kelsey turned and leaned back against Liam. His
arms were around her waist, and she set her arms and hands on his, basking in the comfort of the moment.

Liam said, “Dolphins are incredible creatures. I have a friend at one of the facilities just a few islands up, over the Seven-Mile Bridge. They’ve done amazing research with them. They can count, they know colors and they definitely have personalities. This one may have escaped captivity. I’ll make a few calls.”

“And lock him back up?” Avery asked.

“If he was born in a facility, his life will best be spent in his—or her—home. You didn’t check out the sex, did you?” Liam asked.

“I wouldn’t know how to check out the sex,” Avery said.

“When a male decides to show himself, you know,” Liam said, chuckling. He let go of Kelsey. “I have to go in—I need to do a lot of interviews and try to trace Gary White’s movements. I have officers working on it, but…I need to be out there. Your assignments until I return are to find the shotgun, read the book and search for a little golden reliquary worth a million bucks. Got it?”

Kelsey nodded, smiling at him. “And lock the doors, be careful if we go outside—”

“The crime-scene people were just wrapping up when I walked down to the little beach and dock area,” Avery said.

“I’ll check with them before I leave,” Liam said. “Careful with going out the back entry, too. Keep an eye on any open door.”

“I’ll be watching out for Kelsey,” Avery told him, his tone fierce. He heard the sound of his own voice
and tried to lighten the tone. “Hey, what do I animate if she doesn’t draw? And she’s so damned good for my ego. Our superhero is based on my extraordinary good looks.”

“Has his ego, too,” Kelsey said lightly.

Liam smiled at her, kissed her lips and said softly, “Stay safe, watch yourself, watch the doors, stay with Avery.”

“You trust Avery?” she teased.

Liam looked across the kitchen at Avery. “I do.” He grimaced. “I ran a background check. Avery has no ties to Key West. He was at Hollywood High years ago, has two unpaid parking tickets and is otherwise an upstanding citizen.”

“You did a background on me?” Avery said incredulously. He laughed. “Good man!”

Kelsey was surprised to see that Liam gave pause. “I need someone to trust completely,” he said.

He headed toward the living room. “Come on—lock me out.”

Kelsey followed him. He was a few steps ahead of her. Morning’s light was pouring in, and the house did look like a fascinating museum-home, with dusted antiques and curiosities here and there. It felt like the home she had always known and loved, unique but warm.

And then…

She thought she saw someone standing by the front door. Waiting. But…

He was just an outline in the air, and he wasn’t real, he was certainly part of her imagination.

He was leaning against the wall there, thumbs hooked
into the low pockets of the period coat he was wearing. He had on a hat. A tricornered pirate hat.

He was dark and strikingly handsome, and not really there….

She blinked. The apparition faded. But then she heard Liam whisper, “Yes, stay, thank you.”

“What?” she asked.

He turned back, looking at her. “Hmm?”

“You just spoke. You said, ‘Yes, stay, thank you.’”

“Must be muttering to myself. Sorry.” He walked back to her, taking her shoulders. “Be careful, do you hear me? Please be careful. If my theory is right…”

“Someone has a great deal at stake. I promise I’ll be careful.”

“Kelsey, I almost forgot. Where’s the box with that magic trick? You wanted it dusted for prints. I’ll take it into the station, let them look into it there. I can’t promise you much—there may be a number of prints on it. Or just yours.”

She hurried to the crate and produced the box with the motor and the jumping black shadow cloths. He kissed her lips lightly and headed to the door again. She followed him and locked him out. When she had done so, she leaned against the door for a minute. Oddly, she felt as if she weren’t alone. She moved her hands through the air as if she could feel an unknown entity, but she couldn’t.

She didn’t feel the fear that she sometimes did, the fear that made her lock the door to her room at night.

But she still didn’t feel as if she was alone. She had
seen something. Or she had almost seen it. She couldn’t quite touch it.

She had things to do. She gave herself a mental shake.

But then she paused again.

When her mother had died, she had wanted so badly to believe in ghosts. She had wanted to be able to see her, feel her, just tell her one last time how much she had loved her, what a good mother she had been, what a brilliant and kind woman. At least, with her father, she had been there at the end. He had known her heart, known how much he was loved.

Of course, her mother had known, as well. But her life had been cut so short.

“Mom?” she whispered aloud. “Cutter?”

The empty room gave her no answer. She walked back into the kitchen to find Avery. She had a lot to do, and, eventually, she was going to have to get back to work.

Outside, Liam cursed himself. Bartholomew wasn’t next to him, since he was going to stay at the house to watch over Kelsey, so he couldn’t curse the ghost for making him look like a fool again. No choice but to curse himself.

He saw Yolanda Egert, a pretty young civilian in the crime-scene unit, packing up her box.

“How did it go?” he asked her.

She stood, shaking her head with disgust. “Nothing. And we searched, and we’re good. I know some folks figure we have to be yokels down here in the islands, but we’re good at our jobs, and better than any
outsider because we know how to search beaches, the water, swamps, marshes, hammocks, you name it. We had divers out. We did a grid out there. There was no sign of anything. No one even left a damned foam cup out there!”

“I didn’t think there would be anything to find,” Liam said. “The killer took his weapon, there’s been rain, so no footprints, and I’m sure whoever did this was extremely clever.”

“You don’t think it was just a fight of some kind?” Egert asked.

“No. Who the hell has a stiletto-type weapon on them when it’s just a fight gone bad?” Liam said. “Someone is trying to get into this house. They want something in it. Gary White saw them and knew who they were, maybe even what they were doing. Or he was killed on purpose just to scare people away. That’s my theory. Anyway, I know you and your group are the best. I’ll see you later, Yolanda.”

“Well, you’re good at what you do, too, Liam. Wish we could give you more.”

“Not your fault. It’s just that a murder weapon is such a good thing to find.”

“I hear you. But the killer was smart. Took it with him.”

He said goodbye to her and headed to his car. The crime-scene tape was all coming down. Liam waved to a few of the other workers, calling in to the station as he did so. He wasn’t going in right away; he had a few stops to make, and he wanted to make sure that his officers were following up on questioning just about everyone
everywhere to find out when Gary White had last been seen.

He headed to Truman and around U.S. 1 on Roosevelt to reach the “new” part of the island and the shopping center where Joe Richter had his offices. Richter’s secretary asked him politely if he had an appointment; Liam offered her his badge.

“Oh. Oh!” the secretary said. “Uh, sure.” Nervously, she pressed a button to announce Liam’s arrival.

Joe Richter came straight out of his office to greet him. “Liam Beckett. How are you? Sad business, yesterday. Poor Kelsey. She comes home to bury her grand father, and a corpse shows up on her property. Sorry—did you know Gary White? Folks say he’s been around, that I must have seen him, but I don’t think that I knew the man.” He pumped Liam’s hand and indicated his office. “Come on in and let me see how I can help you.”

“Thanks,” Liam told him.

Seated across from Richter’s desk, Liam said, “You know, Joe, Gary White was one of the people I caught breaking into the Merlin house after Cutter died.”

“Bad business,” Joe said. “Cutter was such an old coot. Amazing man, but I guess that house has so much in it, it’s just a major temptation.”

“A lot in it, but it’s not always easy to recognize what’s valuable.”

Joe shrugged. “I knew the man’s legal dealings. I don’t know much about his collections. He left all that for his granddaughter to handle.”

“Do you think that Gary White might have been searching for something specific?” Liam asked. “Did
you know of any piece that Cutter had that might be extremely valuable—and easy to slip out without anyone knowing any better?”

Richter lifted his hands. “I know there’s a lot valuable in there. Believe it or not, the damned mummy is extremely valuable. There was a time, when the English first delved heavily into Egyptian archeology, that mummies were a dime a dozen, in many places. I don’t think that Cutter’s mummy was someone incredibly important historically, but I know that the coffin and sarcophagus are considered fine examples of Egyptian art during the reign of Ramses II.”

“A sarcophagus is rather big to slip out,” Liam commented. He sat back comfortably in the chair and tapped his fingers lightly together. He had alienated Ted and Jaden last night, and he’d hoped he’d made it up and explained. Ted and Jaden were longtime friends. He didn’t want to alienate Richter, because he didn’t want the man on the defensive. If he was clean, he might be able to help. If he was dirty, it would be good to have him think that he was getting away with everything.

Which the perpetrator was, at the moment, he reminded himself dryly.

“Well, that’s true.” Richter shook his head. “The damned property is worth a mint. But I guess you can’t walk away with property.”

“That takes a different kind of thief,” Liam said lightly.

Joe Richter drummed his fingers on his desk. “I always think of that big beautiful living room. The heads on the wall, the voodoo altar right there…the mummy…
the Victorian coffin. I guess I’ve always been struck by the larger artifacts. I know he has gargoyles from medieval churches, stained glass, lamps, some kind of Chinese good-luck cats…you name it, Cutter Merlin had it. Crosses, ankhs, relics of all kinds.” He frowned, sitting back. “The ledgers and notes and instructions were all in the house. It was left to Kelsey Donovan as it was when he died. Disposal of the estate is up to her. He might not have seen her in years, but he had no doubt she’d follow all his wishes.”