LC 04 - Skeleton Crew (42 page)

"Rather intoxicating, isn't it?" she asked.

"Too much so." Trey called Carolyn and told her about the
found artifacts, omitting mention of the cross and Jeff. "She said to
put a seawater-soaked cloth on them and get them to her. I fear
some of them are already ruined. Look, I'm going to take this
myself."

"What are you going to do about the cross?" asked Lindsay.

"Give it to Lewis-" he began.

Lindsay interrupted. "What about Boote? It was stolen from his
house."

"It's an artifact," Trey said emphatically.

"His lawyer, and he will get one, will tell you that you don't
know for sure where it came from. And you don't. I have to tell
you, I think he'll have a good claim on it."

"Damn. I don't want this kind of problem."

"You've got it anyway."

"Jeff has a lot to answer for," Trey said.

"I wonder where Keith found it?" Lindsay commented. "That
might help Nate with his program. What do you think of it?"

"The program? I was skeptical at first. What Nate described in
his prospectus was virtually a simulation of the ocean, or at least a
part of it. Do you know how many variables are involved?"
Lindsay said she did. "The ocean is a very intricate ecosystem, and
we've only begun to understand how all the parts interact. But he's
only dealing with the variables that contribute to motion. That
helped me to be more enthusiastic. What do you think?"

"Same thing. But he has a lot of data on currents and he's had
some successes with mapping artifacts from the Estrella back to
her."

Trey stood up. "I'll take the cross to Lewis and we'll figure
something out." He grinned at Lindsay. "I'll tell him you're our
conscience."

"Thanks, he'll love that."

Later in the day they received word that Jeff was in fair condition. Lindsay was correct, he had overdosed on prescription tranquilizers.

When Lindsay arrived back at the lab, everything was in an
uproar. The first thing she witnessed was Lewis and Trey ganging
up on Harper in Lewis's office.

"What were you thinking?" Trey was asking.

"I was thinking about doing what I've been doing all alongtranslating night and day, copying and delivering the translations
to the staff. It's what I'm getting paid to do. If you wanted me to
use my powers of clairvoyance, I charge a lot extra for that! How
was I to know you were keeping some big secret?"

"Surely," said Lewis, "you could have used some judgment."

"Judgment? Judgment? You want to talk about judgment?
What about hiring one disinterested retired guy who only cares
about model trains to guard the whole island!"

Lindsay stood with her arms folded; Bobbie stood beside her
frowning. "Guys," Lindsay interrupted.

"Have you read the diary?" Lewis asked with irritation. "It tells
all about the silver galleon-Harper handed out copies and now
everyone knows about it."

"Yes. The cat's out of the bag. Why didn't you let Harper in on
the secret?"

"How were we to know that there was a connection between
the two ships?" Trey asked.

"The same way Harper was to-what did you call it, Lewisuse her judgment?"

"So, you're on her side?" Lewis asked. "Is this a male versus
female thing?"

"No, it's an acting like an adult and being reasonable thing.
Lewis, Harper has done an outstanding job here. What's wrong
with the two of you?"

Trey closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with his fingers. "I
know. I'm sorry, Harper," he said. From the look on Harper's face,
that wasn't going to be nearly enough.

"Lindsay's right," said Lewis. "You were just a target we had in
sight. Everybody else is out of reach."

"Has anything else happened?" asked Lindsay.

"Jeff is going to be arrested for attacking Boote and stealing the
cross. Agent Ramirez is coming to take possession of it. Jeff is also
being questioned about the murders."

"Arrest him? I don't think they have enough evidence. Are you
sure?"

"The cross was found in his possession," Trey said.

"No," said Lindsay. "It was found in his room. There's a difference. They would need to have some corroborative evidence in
order for the DA to charge him."

"Maybe they've found something." Trey shrugged.

"I don't believe it," Bobbie said. "I've been working with Jeff,
and I just can't see it."

Lewis's phone rang and he picked it up, listened a moment,
then cursed. "Can you get hold of the picture?" he said. Pause.
"Well try. And fax it to me." He slammed the receiver down. "Son
of a bitch. It looks like the diary thing is academic anyway."

"Who was that?" Trey asked.

"A lawyer who's watching things for us. Damn."

"What?" asked Trey.

"It's that Jones woman," Lewis said. "She's recovered a bell and
is getting a court order to have it arrested."

"For what?" Harper asked. "Pealing without a license?"

"I guess those bells can be dangerous," muttered Bobbie.

"You are going to have to explain that one," Lindsay said.

Lewis raked his hands through his hair. "She's discovered the
wreck of the Concepcion and is in the process of becoming salvor in
possession. In order to lay claim to a wreck, the law requires that
you have an artifact from the wreck and put it in the hands of a
U.S. marshal who issues an arrest warrant for it. It's one of the
peculiarities of treasure salvage."

"Won't it belong to the state?" asked Bobbie.

"Depends on how far out," Lewis answered. "Rights to the
Atocha were given to the salvor. At any rate, the university will
have no claim."

"She still has to meet certain criteria," Trey said. "Look, Harper.
I am really sorry for jumping down your throat."

"I'm going to have a cup of coffee," Harper responded. She
turned and left the office.

"I think I'll join her," Lindsay said.

Lindsay, Bobbie, and Harper sat at a table in the break room listening to the conversations around them. Everyone was talking
about the ghost ship-the golden galleon-the Concepcion.

"You know," Harper said, "I just think the diary is a great story."

"It is," Lindsay agreed. "Trey and Lewis aren't doing too well
under pressure right now."

"So," said Bobbie, "we know the murder victim was Lopezand the murderer was Sancho. That's really interesting."

"The diary explains the injuries to Valerian's servant, Jen,"
Lindsay said, "Perhaps it really was dysbaric osteonecrosis."

"You know," Harper said, "even with the murders, getting
stranded at sea and on land, the threat of hurricane, I was still having a good time."

Lindsay put a hand over hers. "Harper, you will again. They
were wrong and they know it."

"Yeah," Bobbie agreed. "Just tell Trey he was an ass, but you'll
forgive him if he doesn't be one again."

Harper smiled at the two of them, then frowned. "Uh-oh. Here
they come."

Trey and Lewis came and sat down at their table, still looking
glum. "I thought you all would like to see the fax of the artifact
Jones has in her possession," Lewis said.

Lindsay took the fax from Lewis's hand and examined it. Her
lips twitched. She pushed it across the table.

"What do you think, Harper?"

Harper looked at the picture. Bobbie leaned over her
shoulder.

"I think the guys had better go raise some money and bail that
bell out of jail," said Harper.

"I agree," said Bobbie.

"What?" Lewis asked, clearly not understanding.

Lindsay looked at him and Trey in turn. "I don't normally use
strong language to make a point, but I'm going to make an exception with you guys. Get your heads out of your butts and be a little more observant."

She took the picture from Harper and handed it back to them.
They stared at it.

"What?" asked Trey.

"It's Valerian's diving bell. It has his seal on it. It belongs to our
ship-the Estrella. Chances are, Jones found a collection of artifacts
and jumped the gun, thinking she had found the Concepcion. Now
what you have to do is get the digital camera and photograph the
insignia on top of Valerian's trunk and the pages out of the translation that describe Valerian's crest on his ring and the ones that
describe his diving bell and fax those to your lawyer. Tell him that
bell has to be well cared for because it has extremely important his torical significance. It is an artifact from the earliest recorded incident of deep-sea diving off the coast of Georgia, perhaps in the
Western Hemisphere."

The two of them looked dumbfounded for a moment. "You're
right," Trey said. "It is Valerian's crest."

"We've got to get on this right away," Lewis urged. As he and
Trey rose to leave, he turned to Harper. "Look, Harper, I talk to
everyone like that at one time or another." They went off to thwart
Evangeline Jones.

"Was that an apology?" asked Harper.

"I think so," Lindsay replied.

Carolyn came over and sat down with them. She turned to
Lindsay. "Do you think Jeff is guilty? I've had classes with him,
and he just didn't seem like the kind of person who would do any
of this. He's a little odd, but aren't we all?"

"I don't know. People do funny things. What size shoe does he
wear?"

"I don't know," Carolyn said. "Maybe we should find out."

"What happened to your hands?" Bobbie asked Carolyn.

"I have no idea. Korey says it looks like poison ivy. It sure itches
like the dickens. But I stay either in the lab or in my apartment just
about all the time. I sometimes go out to look at the alligator and
occasionally go out to dinner, but that's all. I hate the outdoors, so
I don't know how I could have gotten this. I hate it."

"You think you could be developing an allergy to the chemicals?" asked Harper. "You've used them for a long time. That
sometimes happens."

"God, I hope not."

"Can you salvage the artifacts?" asked Lindsay.

"I'm not sure. One was a leather scroll. It's in bad shape. I'm
going to try to flatten it out and get Korey to photograph it. That
may be our best representation of what it is. The other two are
leather bound books. They are in better shape, but I'm not sure
about them, either. That's another thing. Jeff knows better than
this. I just can't see him doing it."

"I'll be right back," Lindsay said. Gina, Juliana, and some of the
others had just come into the room and Lindsay rose to meet them.
"Do any of you know what size shoe Jeff wears?"

"How would we know that?" someone said.

"I'm not sure," Juliana said, "but when we were having lunch one day, I noticed that his feet aren't much bigger than mine. I
wear a size seven. I don't know what that translates to in guy
sizes."

Certainly not eleven or twelve, thought Lindsay. "That's something in his favor. If my calculations are correct, his feet are too
small."

"That'll be good if he has to go to court," Carolyn said.

"No, not really. I couldn't testify for sure that the stain I'm basing the shoe size calculation on was even part of a footprint."

"What?" asked Bobbie and Harper. Lindsay explained her
rather tenuous procedure to them.

"It will give Jeff some comfort, anyway," Bobbie said. "I'm sure
he must be terrified."

"What's the hurricane doing?" Lindsay asked. "Anyone
heard?"

"I went to the weather office to ask," Carolyn said. "William
was on duty. He said something about wind vectors or something.
I didn't know what he was talking about and decided I didn't
want to know."

Debriefing was canceled. Trey and Lewis were busy on the
phone trying to counter Eva Jones's sudden move. John was doing
double duty at the cofferdam. Lindsay, Bobbie, and Harper
decided to visit Jeff in the hospital.

Jeff was awake and already had a visitor. "Hello, Lieutenant
Ramirez," Lindsay said.

"Good to see you. I was just talking to your friend here."

"He thinks I did it, all of it," Jeff said. He looked pale and there
were dark circles under his eyes. "I don't know how those things
got in my room."

"For the record, Agent Ramirez, we believe Jeff," Lindsay said.

"You do?" Jeff responded. He looked more surprised than
elated.

"Why is that?" Ramirez asked.

"Many reasons. Several of the crew know him and say this just
doesn't fit." Lindsay took out the photograph and her calculations. "I'll tell you up front, this is not the hardest of evidence,
but look at this water mark on the floor jutting out from the
larger stain where the tank was drained. It looks like the toe of a
shoe."

"It does somewhat," conceded Ramirez.

"Bones have a consistent size relationship to one another. The
tip of the toe is here, the distal end of the first metatarsal connects
with its corresponding phalanges at this curve here on the medial
side of the footprint. I measured this, taking into account the size
ratio from the photograph to real size. I did this by measuring one
of the artifacts and its image in the photograph. If I know this part
of the foot measurement, then I know the size of the whole foot.
This partial footprint represents about an eleven and a half to size
twelve shoe."

"I wear a size nine," Jeff said.

"This person, I believe, was squatting, looking at the artifacts. I
think that because the entire toe area of the shoe left a mark, like
he had been leaning forward. In running shoes the toe area is elevated slightly when standing and wouldn't leave a print with
something so subtle as a water stain. It's important to note that neither Isaac, who found the open chest, nor Steven, who came in
after him, walked among the artifacts. It was not their feet."

"Interesting, but as you hinted, not completely convincing."

"Add to that the fact that the thief of the cross ran into me at
Boote's house and pushed me down. I'm tall, taller than Jeff. This
guy was about the same height as me. And I had a sense he was
heavier than Jeff."