LC 04 - Skeleton Crew (34 page)

"Could it be a joke?" Harper asked. "Maybe one of the crew
here doesn't like you asking questions."

"Sick joke," Trey said, "but you have a point."

"This seems awfully wicked for a joke," said Lindsay.

"Where did they get that ghastly picture?" Harper asked.

"The Web, most likely," Trey answered. "You can get the most
sublime and the most depraved our society has to offer on the
Web."

When he finished his beer, Trey armed himself with blankets
and a pillow and headed for the laboratory downstairs. Carrying
one of Harper's chairs, John took up a post amid shadows in a corner of the hallway.

Lindsay, in a nightshirt, with legs tucked under her, sat on the
sofa with a mug of hot chocolate that Harper had made. Harper sat
on the other end sipping hers.

"How you feeling?" Harper asked.

"I'm fine, really. It was probably only a sick joke, just as you
said. So tell me about you and Trey."

"I like Trey. He wants me to come to UGA. They have an opening in Romance languages."

"You're at Chicago now?"

Harper nodded. "It's a temporary teaching position."

"It sounds serious between you two."

Harper took a sip of cocoa and smiled into the cup, dipped her
finger into the chocolate and put it in her mouth. "Well, I suppose
so." She looked up at Lindsay. "If it weren't for the murder and
mayhem, this place would be paradise. So tell me about you and
John. He seems very fond of you, and this archaeology thing
doesn't seem to be getting in the way."

"I think that's because our relationship-romance-is new.
When the newness wears off, the archaeology will become very
important."

"Do you analyze everything? Seize the moment."

Harper's apartment was over the reception area of the research
lab. The breakfast table window was exactly over the front door.
When they suddenly heard the door slam and running footfalls on
the wooden walkway, Lindsay and Harper jumped up and looked
out the window in time to see someone disappear into the wooded
area bordering the alligator pond, with Trey in pursuit and Dale
Delosier, the security guard, bringing up the rear. They ran to the
hallway to tell John, but he apparently had heard the commotion
and was running down the stairs three at a time.

Lindsay slipped on her jeans and sandals, and Harper threw on
a robe. The two of them ran down the stairs to the front door. John,
Dale, and Trey were back by that time.

"What happened?" Lindsay asked.

Trey was breathing hard.

"I slept in the corner on one of the couches, and I heard someone brush by a chair near the artifact table. I jumped up and yelled
and they switched off their flashlight and sprinted for the door. I
lost them in the bush out there. It was pitch black."

"They can't get far out there," Dale said.

"If it's someone who knows the island, they can," Trey said.

"Did you see anyone come in?" Lindsay asked Delosier.

"No. Whoever it was was real quiet."

More likely you were real absorbed in your model trains,
thought Lindsay.

"Did you get any kind of look at them?" John asked Trey.

"No. I should have had a light on in the lab. He, or she, was
dressed head to foot in black. I'm going to make a trek to the
ranger station and have it out," Trey said.

"Let me go," John said. He reached and took a flashlight from
the security guard's belt. "I'll bring it back."

He was gone before Trey could protest. Lindsay thought it was
probably a good idea. The mood Trey was in, he might make
things worse.

Trey turned to Dale Delosier. "You didn't hear or see anyone?"

"Not until you all came running out the door."

A retort teetered on Trey's lips-Lindsay could see it on his
face, but he only turned to her and Harper. "Let's wait inside for
John."

They sat in the break room, Trey with a mug of coffee he
wasn't drinking. Delosier went to check the warehouse.

"You think it was one of the biology people?" Lindsay asked
Trey.

"Yes, I do. I don't know what they were up to, but who else?"

"It could've been Jones's people. It could've been someone
from the barge, as much as we don't want to think that it was. Or,
it could be some friend of Keith Teal who knows the island."

"I suppose you're right. I guess it was a good idea for John to
go. I'd have accused them point-blank, and that would've made
things much worse, I'm sure."

John came through the door and sat down beside Lindsay. "I
went to the ranger station and told them we had a prowler. I
asked them if they were all right and if they had heard anything.
I don't think they were fooled by my concern for their safety, but
they didn't get mad, either."

"What did they say?" Trey asked.

"That they heard nothing, nor saw anything."

"Who did you talk with?"

"James Choi came to the door first. He was up working. He said
Gretchen was in bed. Tessa and Mike came to the door when they
heard us talking. None of them were breathing hard, or showed
any indication they had been out. I thought it best not to accuse
anyone."

Harper stood. "Well, I'm going back to my apartment and to
bed."

"Me, too," Lindsay agreed. "I don't think they will be back.
Why don't you two get some sleep?"

"No," Trey said, "that's what they may think and try again."

"I think this is silly," Harper said. "Get what's-his-name, the
security guard, to stay in the lab and keep an eye out."

"Right," said Trey.

"Good night, everyone." Harper and Lindsay went upstairs.
John yelled that he'd be up later.

"What were you saying about this being a paradise if it weren't
for all the murder and mayhem?" Lindsay asked, stripping off her
jeans.

"What do you reckon is going on?" Harper asked.

Lindsay gathered the cups off the breakfast table where she and
Harper had set them down. She thought she caught a fleeting
glimpse of someone in the distance going into the woods. She
looked around the room. "Harper, check and see if you have anything missing."

Harper eyed her. "Why? What's wrong?"

"I thought I saw someone outside. The lab thing could have
been a diversion."

"They couldn't know that we'd go downstairs."

"No, but maybe they were waiting for you to go to sleep, or-I
don't know."

Harper checked her drawers and closet. "I don't have any valuables missing."

"What about the translation?"

"I keep that in a safe. I thought it was silly of Lewis, but he
bought one of those safes that looks like a nightstand. I checked it.
It doesn't look like it was even discovered."

"The computer?" asked Lindsay.

"It has a lock on the keyboard that requires my password to get
into it. Trey is the only one who knows it besides me."

"Does it look like anyone was in here?"

"No."

"Do you keep the original journal here?"

Harper shook her head. "No, it's at the University of Georgia. I
have photocopies. Why would anyone want the journal anyway?"

"Treasure hunters might want to have a look at it." As soon as Lindsay said it, she realized that Harper might not know about the
silver galleon. She decided not to ask. "I'll go down and tell them
what I saw."

She opened the door just as John was raising his hand to knock.

"I was just going to tell you I'll be outside the door."

Lindsay told him about the figure she saw.

"Could it have been the same person?"

"I have no idea. I only got a fleeting glimpse."

"I'll go warn Trey and come back."

"Did either of you ask in the weather room?"

"Trey did. They had the door closed and locked and didn't see
or hear anything."

The morning brought another small calamity. Someone had
broken into the warehouse and opened the chest that was soaking
in the brine tank.

ISAAC HAD FOUND the desecration when he entered the warehouse.
Lindsay, Lewis, and Trey were in the lab discussing the previous
evening's events when Isaac burst in, breathless with the news.

"They drained the tank, broke open the trunk, and spread the
contents out on the floor. It's a mess."

"They what? They what?!" Carolyn had overheard. "Tell me I
didn't hear right."

"I'm sorry," Isaac said.

"What is going on here?" Lewis slammed his notebook down
on the floor.

"We'd better take a look," Trey said.

They met Ramirez on the way out of the building. Lindsay
filled him in on their way down to the warehouse.

Steven Nemo had arrived in the meantime and stood looking
over the disorder. "Do you know what's happened?" His dark
eyes were as angry-looking as Carolyn's blue ones.

"That's what we're here to find out," Lewis replied.

The chest sat open inside the empty tank. The water that had
drained from the opened plug at the base of the tank had made a
dark stain where it had run toward the center of the floor to the
drain. Scattered on the floor were those things the chest was made
to hold: a pile of fabric, a silver goblet and plate, a spoon and knife,
an ivory comb, a filigreed pomander, clay jars, a silver manicure
set, a compass, an astrolabe, a sandglass, brass dividers, and a
large wooden box. Inside it sat an exquisite Chinese lacquered box.
The Chinese box was open, revealing jars, a mortar and pestle, a
knife with an ivory handle, and a pile of gold coins.

"Does it belong to the navigator?" whispered Steven, looking at
the astrolabe.

"Look at this!" Carolyn turned to Korey. "Go get me some containers."

"And get your camera," Lindsay told him. "Not the digital one."

Korey trotted off at a fast pace to the lab. Carolyn started
toward the objects, but Lindsay put a hand on her arm.

"Look, there's a long, slender damp spot on the floor and several rectangular ones. Some artifacts were stolen. Let's get a photograph of the floor."

Carolyn turned to Ramirez. "If you find who did this and he's
dead, I'll save you some time. I will have been the murderer. I'm
going to rip their heart out when I find them."

Lindsay surveyed the floor, hoping to find a damp footprint.
She thought maybe she saw the toe of a shoe near the edge of the
water stain, but it looked like whoever it was stayed mostly clear
of the water. Lindsay looked at the chest in the tank. An exclamation must have escaped her lips, for they all looked at her.

"You see something else?" Trey asked.

"Look inside the lid of the chest. Doesn't that say 'Valerian'?
These are Valerian's possessions."

"Valerian's?" Lewis asked.

"Yes, that makes sense," Steven agreed, lowering himself to his
haunches to get a better look at the artifacts. "The chest was found
in the same grid that Lewis found the chess pieces and the skeleton that Lindsay thinks was Valerian's servant."

Trey joined Steven near the floor. "You're right. It fits."

"Who is this Valerian?" Ramirez asked.

"He was a passenger on the Estrella. We've all grown rather
fond of him. He apparently was a free thinker," Lindsay replied.

"Lindsay thinks she may have found him," Steven said.

"What? No," Lewis said. Are you sure?"

"Don't tell me he died in the wreck," Carolyn said.

"I don't know for sure, at all," Lindsay answered. "It was just
that the skull Gina and Juliana found appears to be North
African."

"That's right. Valerian was Moroccan," Lewis said.

"Moroccan and Portuguese," Lindsay corrected him.

Korey arrived carrying armloads of trays and buckets and a
camera. He began snapping pictures at Lindsay's instructions.

"Get me some water out of those tanks." Carolyn pointed to
where the timbers were stored.

"We need to try and get fingerprints before you-" Ramirez
began.

"No," Carolyn disagreed, "these are going into the water before
they deteriorate."

"Look-" he began again.

Lewis stepped in. "Right now the mishandling of artifacts is the
only crime."

"These are irreplaceable," said Lindsay. "We can try and get fingerprints from the outside of the tank, but all these things must
remain wet."

"I'll have to call someone at the Smithsonian and find out how
to conserve the lacquered box," Carolyn said. "I've never dealt
with one before. I can't believe this. So help me-" She placed the
items in the trays and poured salt water over them.

Something nudged the back of Lindsay's mind about the
Chinese box, but she couldn't put her finger on it. That was the
trouble. Everything seemed to be in the back of her mind these
days. Maybe it was something from the diary. She'd have go back
and do some rereading.

Ramirez pulled Lindsay aside. "Can I speak with you about
your call?"

"Yes. A lot of things happened last night. Let's go back up to
Lewis's office."

Trey used Lewis's computer to show Agent Ramirez and Lewis
the surprise message Lindsay had received the evening before.
Sitting at the table, Lindsay could see the screen out of the corner
of her eye, but she couldn't bring herself to look at it again.

"It's very adolescent," Ramirez said.

"It's very sick," Lewis responded.

"And this is the machine?" asked Ramirez, indicating Lindsay's
computer.

Trey nodded.

"I'll have it checked for prints."

"And how are you this morning?" Ramirez asked Lindsay as he
and the others sat down.

"I'm fine. I was shaken and scared last night, but I'm fine now."

"I shouldn't have asked Lindsay to look into things," Lewis
said.

"Perhaps it would be best left to us," Ramirez replied, not taking his eyes off Lindsay.

"I don't like being controlled by murderers," Lindsay objected.

"How about by me?" Ramirez said to her. "Stop investigating!"

"I'm not doing all that much. But I must have gotten close."