LC 04 - Skeleton Crew (28 page)

Lindsay looked down at the sheet Delosier had given her. "It
says here on your schedule that you're at the warehouse at two in
the morning."

He looked puzzled.

"That's when Dr. Latham reported an intruder," Lindsay
explained.

"Dr. Latham? I thought it was Dr. Marcus ...

"Dr. Harper Latham is the woman who reported someone trying to get into her apartment. She called Dr. Marcus. Since you
were at the warehouse at the time, is it possible you didn't see or
hear anyone at the house on the second floor trying to get into Dr.
Latham's room?"

A deep wrinkle appeared in the center of Delosier's forehead.
"Of course, that's a possibility."

"Besides Dr. Marcus, who else have you seen coming around at
night?"

He thought a minute. "I'm usually pretty good with names and
make it a point to know everyone. Let's see. Mike Altman, he's one
of the biologists. I've seen him there occasionally. Nate Hampton,
he's a diver. He comes over sometimes. The guy that works with
metals, Korey, and the woman he works with are often down in the
basement late. They both have apartments upstairs. And I've seen
some woman with red hair occasionally. I believe she's one of the
biology people, or maybe a diver. There's a boy, Isaac Jones, who
works past six sometimes in the warehouse, but he's never around
late. And I've seen this guy, John West, I believe his name is, at the
warehouse. He looks a lot like an Indian."

"He is an Indian."

"Really? You don't say. What does he do here?"

"He owns the construction company that built the cofferdam. He and his crew maintain it. Were any of the people you just
named here the night Hardy Denton was killed?"

"No, it was a quiet night."

"Think back. Are you sure?"

Delosier thought a moment. "No, I don't remember anyone
here then."

Lindsay decided that, however well-meaning Dale Delosier
was as a person, as a witness and perhaps as a security guard he
was useless. Both she and Mike Altman were in the lab that
evening.

"These people you mentioned. Why were they here in the middle of the night?"

"Most of them were working. Dr. Lewis and Dr. Marcus gave
me a list of people who work here. If they are supposed to be here,
I don't bother with them too much. The West fellow was here picking up a package that came over on the ferry with me. Dr. Marcus
told me to put it in the warehouse, and he'd tell West to pick it up."

"Have you seen anyone you don't know?" asked Lindsay.

"I'm sure Agent Ramirez showed you photographs of Hardy
Denton and Keith Teal. Have you seen either of them anywhere?"

"No, never have."

"Have you heard any strange or unusual rumors?"

He shook his head. "I don't talk to people much when I'm
working. Usually there's nobody around to talk to, except the
weathermen. Sometimes we have a cup of coffee together."

"Thank you for talking with me, Mr. Delosier."

"I can't imagine who killed that fellow-or the other one. No
one I've met here seems like they'd do something like that. I think
it was someone who came by boat to the other side of the island. I
would have noticed any strange boats at the dock."

Lindsay left him with his reading, and she went to the weather
room. William Kuzniak was there poring over a satellite map.
Lindsay could only see the top of his bald head.

"I hope the good weather's holding out," Lindsay said.

He looked up and smiled. "Hi. So far it is, but we're in hurricane season."

"I guess you weather people have to be here around the clock?"

"Pretty much. It wouldn't do to have a storm sneak up on you
guys."

"Who was on duty last Tuesday evening and early Wednesday
morning?" Lindsay looked at the printout of the map. It looked
Greek to her.

"Ah, the night of the murder. I can't believe it. I feel like I'm in
a bad film noir. I was on duty. Ramirez talked to me. Suspicious
fellow."

"It's his job to be suspicious. What were you able to tell him?"

William looked at her over his glasses.

"Lewis asked me to follow up on things," said Lindsay.

"I have a hard time believing that something like that was
going on while I was here. This room is fairly soundproof, being in
the middle of the building the way it is. I didn't hear a thing. I had
coffee with the old guy-the security guard, if you can call him
that. As near as I can figure, he reads about trains while he's here
and goes off to check the other building when he feels like he has
to stretch his legs." Kuzniak stopped to look at something on his
computer. "Ramirez asked me my whereabouts between three and
four o'clock that morning, if that gives you any information."

"It does." Lindsay had guessed between four and five. "And I
suppose you gave him an alibi?"

William laughed. "At least I can die now knowing that in my
lifetime I had to have an alibi. Actually, yes and no. I was here most
of the time. I had coffee with Dale at 3:00 A.M. I didn't stay long. He
gets to talking about model trains and he'll go on all night. I talked
to my girlfriend on the phone at four-thirty. She's in Atlanta. She
gets up at that time to get ready for work. Anyone who works in
Atlanta is out of their mind. But I had plenty of time in between to
go down to the warehouse, off the guy, and return without anyone
being the wiser."

"Did you hear anything when you were on break?"

"Nothing but the wonders of a digital train system."

"Harper thought she had a prowler a couple of nights ... actually I don't know when, but it was before I got here ..."

"Yeah, Terry told me about it. Trey came over. We told Harper
she could call on us. Her suite is in the back of the house here and
is kind of isolated. It's separated by a hallway from the rest of us,
and we didn't know one another as well then."

"Have any ideas?"

"I personally think it was one of the bio people trying to scare
her. They come over here at night to work some. Can't blame them. They were here first, but some of them act like big babies sometimes."

"How many biologists are there? I've sort of met four."

"That's all. Mike and Tessa Altman. They're the worst. The
other two, Gretchen Wheeler and James Choi, are both very nice
but have to walk a fine line with Mike and Tessa. There were more
working here, but they left. I assume they'll be back when we
leave."

"And you, Terry, Korey, Isaac, Carolyn, and Harper are the ones
staying here at the lab?"

"That's right. We stay in the rooms upstairs. Terry and I room
together. Carolyn has her own room and Korey and Isaac share the
other suite. It's pretty nice really."

"Have you heard any strange or interesting rumors while
you've been here?"

"About what?"

"Anything."

"The sea monster at Darien."

"Thanks for the info."

"Sure. You know, I'd like Lewis to hire some more security
around here. Nate said he was going to seriously suggest to Lewis
that he get at least two-one to watch this place and one to watch
the warehouse. It is rather unsettling to be working here at night
thinking one of us might be a murderer, or worse yet, a victim."

"I'll mention it to him. By the way, I hardly ever see the rangers.
How many of them are there?"

"There are usually about three, I think. They're all staying at
Cumberland Island now that the biology people are staying at the
ranger station. They come once a day and check on the place."

"Do you know if Lewis is on the barge or in his office?"

"I believe he's in there." William motioned with his head
toward the door.

Lindsay walked to the back of the room, knocked, and entered
when she heard his muffled "come in." He was hanging up the
phone when she opened the door.

"Hi, Lindsay. Making progress on the Denton investigation?"

"No one saw or heard anything. I need to find out why Denton
was on the island. I have a plan for that. I would like-"

A knock on the door stopped Lindsay in mid-sentence.

"It's West, Lewis. Is Lindsay here?"

"Come on in, West. We need to talk." John came in and pulled
up a chair beside Lindsay.

"I'm hiring two extra security guards," Lewis said. "I'm going
to ask Korey and Isaac to live on the barge and give them their
room. Have you found more divers?"

John nodded. "They'll be here in a couple of days. I have room
on my barge for them."

"Good. That should take care of the security. You were about to
say something, Lindsay?"

"I'd like to talk with Evangeline Jones on her ship."

"You think that's wise?"

"No," John answered before Lindsay could say anything. "But
I was thinking, if we take a few boats out and have a presence in
the water, it should be safe."

Lindsay looked over at John, pleased that he agreed to the point
of making a plan.

"That sounds fine then. I have no problem. You think you can
get her to tell you anything?"

"I think that she'll want information from me as much as I want
some from her. I may learn something from the questions she
asks."

"Go for it then. I hope you find that she is the murderer. That'll
get rid of two problems at once."

Lindsay stood and put her hand in her pocket. "Don't expect
her to confess anything tomorrow. Now, I have something for you.
Hold out your hand."

Lewis raised his eyebrows and did what he was told. Lindsay
took out the coins and dropped them into his palm. Lewis sat up
straight, as if his chair had an electric charge.

"Where did you find these?"

"On the beach."

"Do you know which ship they're from?"

Lindsay sat down again and gave him a how-would-I-knowthat look. "I believe they're from the Estrella, simply because it's
directly across from the island at the point I found them, but-"
She shrugged.

Lewis rubbed the coins and weighed them in his hands just as
John had done. He looked up and caught Lindsay smiling at him
and looked sheepish.

"Powerful, aren't they?" she said.

"Sure are. Can you imagine a shipful?"

"Barely."

"Did you mark the spot where you found them?"

"Sure. I drew an arrow in the sand and put an X on the spot."
For a moment she thought Lewis believed her. "I paced out the distance in a straight line to the vegetation and built a carne."

"Has Trey seen them?"

"No, I just found them."

"Don't mention them to anyone," said Lewis.

"I won't."

"I'll have to tell Trey, of course, and Nate. He can plug the information into his program."

"How's that coming?" asked Lindsay.

Lewis's gesture was between a nod and a shrug. "He's finetuning the variables. It could be an amazing program. It has possibilities far beyond finding shipwrecks. I can see him taking it to the
level of simulating parts of the ocean if he can get enough good
data, but there are big gaps at the moment. He's tried some test
runs with the Estrella's artifacts that were strewn about during the
wreck. Since we know where the Estrella is, it was a good test, and
he has had a fair amount of success. I've got him transferring to
Georgia next fall."

"So if he plugs in the location where I discovered the coins and
it leads back to the Estrella, then we can be virtually certain that
these came from our ship."

"The Estrella, yes."

"Do you really have hopes of finding the other ship?" asked
Lindsay.

"Of course. I'm already planning the museum that will house
the two of them on campus."

"You're kidding."

"No. I'm already having people look at property on River
Road."

"Lewis, you're scary."

Lindsay could hear Lewis laugh even after she shut the door to
his office.

"How about seafood on St. Simons?" John asked. "It's a little
late for dinner and a movie, so I thought we could cruise on the
ocean-if you aren't spooked."

"Suits me. I'd love it."

"I hope you don't mind, but Luke and Bobbie are going with
us."

"No, I don't mind. How did that come about?"

"Luke asked me. I think rather than coming out and asking
Bobbie for a date, he's going to present it to her as a group outing."

TWENTY SHOT GLASSES with oysters, a plate of lemon wedges, and a
pitcher of beer sat in front of the four of them. Luke, it seemed, had
never had raw oysters.
--- - - -- - - - - - -- -

"You take a bite of lemon, then take the shot glass and let the
oyster slide down your throat and chase it with a swallow of beer,
like this," said Bobbie, illustrating the technique.

Luke gave it a try, nodded his approval and tried another. John
chased his with water since he was piloting the boat. "I think it
loses something without the beer," he said.

"I tried it with root beer once in high school. It was awful,"
Lindsay said.

"Yuck, why would you do that?" Bobbie wrinkled her nose and
downed an oyster.

By the time all the shot glasses were empty, a feast of seafood
arrived on a giant platter set in the middle of the table.

"This looks decadent," said Bobbie, reaching for a crab leg.

"It looks great," said Luke.

"This is the way the sailors on the Estrella ate," Lindsay commented. "Off a communal plate. Only, not so well."

They ate, more than talked, about half the platter's worth. A
plate of oysters on the half shell hoisted on the arm of a waitress
sailed past and headed for a booth in the far corner. Lindsay followed the tray with her gaze.

"Pearls," she said. "Wasn't Valerian's servant a pearl diver?"

"Who's Valerian?" asked Luke.

Bobbie gave him a short summary of the journal so far.

"Yes, he was," said Bobbie. "What about it?"

"There's a possibility that HSkR2 is Valerian's servant, plus his
condition has the look of dysbaric osteonecrosis."