Pearl Cove (6 page)

They only wear that for the shows put on by the big Japanese pearl growers for tourists
and government officials, he said. The amas of old wore nothing but a G-string. They
wanted to slide like fish through the water while they dove for shell.

Must have been chilly.

In Japanese waters, it was damned cold, Archer agreed. But they worked hour after hour
anyway. They kept up their energy by taking breaks to grill and eat whatever they found on
the sea floor during their dives. And they gave a haunting, whistling cry when they
surfaced after a long dive....

Though he spoke to Hannah, his eyes were on Tom Nakamori, who was walking down the path to
the pearling sheds. One more name to give Kyle to run through his computer. The Japanese
man might be nearly sixty, with joints that screamed each one of his years as a diver, but
he was plenty strong enough to slam an oyster shell between Lens ribs. Especially if he
whacked him over the head with a board first.

Any other players I should know about?

Archer asked, turning back to Hannah.

What do you mean?

Flynn and Nakamori both have the strength and the access to murder Len. Who else benefited?

She closed her eyes and fought a sharp battle with her stomach. I dont see how either
Christian or Tom benefited from Lens death. If Pearl Cove goes under, they both lose their
jobs.

Jobs arent hard to find along this coast, especially for experienced pearl men. And unless
he was badly mistaken, the young Aussie had more than one job in any case. Archer turned
away from the verandah and watched Hannah with eyes that showed only a ghost of green and
no blue at all. Who else?

Ian Chang wants to buy Pearl Cove. Or seventy-five percent of it, anyway. He wasnt here
during the cyclone, so he can hardly be a suspect, but he does know about the special
pearls. I dont know how. Maybe Len told him.

Secrets are hard to keep, especially one like that. Even Len couldnt have done it year
after year after year, Archer added absently. He was running through his mental file
marked Chang. Nothing that came back was good news. Maybe Ian belonged to a different
branch of the Changs. Maybe... but somehow Archer didnt think he would be lucky on this
one. Not the good kind of lucky.

This past year was the worst, Hannah said. Len told me he was certain someone had stolen
some of the experimental oysters just before we started harvesting.

Archer shrugged. If Len hadnt been so damned clever playing off one group against another,
he would have been stolen blind years ago. Ian Chang, for instance. Would that be Sam
Changs Number One Son? The Changs of Chang Enterprises International? The Changs who own a
hefty slice of the Pacific Rim pearl trade and are looking to acquire more?

She looked at Archer warily, sensing the intensity beneath his neutral voice. Ians father
is called Sam and is a businessman. Otherwise, you seem to know more about the Changs than
I do.

What do you know about Ian Chang? Archer asked.

He works for the family business, has interests from mainland China to New Zealand, and
single-handedly helped Australia pry the pearling industrys technology away from the
Japanese monopoly. From what Christian has said, Ian with Australias help is now working
on ending Japans pearl soles monopoly.

Married? he asked, surprising Hannah.

Yes. Five children. And if gossip can be believed, a mistress. Several, actually.

Sounds like Sams Number One Son, Archer said dryly. How much did Chang offer for Pearl
Cove?

The Changs would assume all debts and rebuild the farm operation. Millions, I assume. She
closed her eyes for an instant. The thought of how much Len had allowed Pearl Cove to
slide into

debt did nothing to settle her nerves. Yes. Millions.

Did you turn Chang down?

For Pearl Cove?

It didnt take Archer a heartbeat to figure out what other offer Chang might have made.
Pearl Cove and anything else he might have put on the table.

I turned down all of his offers.

Why?

The calm question startled Hannah. Because Pearl Cove isnt mine to sell.

And the rest?

Ian is married. End of discussion.

But not for him.

His problem, not mine.

Im not married, Hannah. Before she could manage a response, Archer asked another question.
Did you tell Chang* you had a partner?

She nodded.

And? Archer asked.

He didnt like it. Said it changed everything. She paused, gave a mental shrug, and decided
it would be interesting to see Archers response. Ian thinks you killed Len.

Did he say why?

If Archer was irritated or surprised by the accusation, nothing showed. Part of the reason
was his short, smooth beard, which concealed small shifts of expression. But most of the
reason nothing showed was the self-control that Hannah found herself wanting to ruffle,
and to hell with all the warnings about still waters and sleeping dogs. The longer she was
with Archer, the more she remembered other things from the past, like the way heat had
rippled through her the first time she saw him. She had been too innocent then to
understand her elemental response to this one man. She wasnt innocent now.

What Ian said to me was that Len finally buggered the wrong man, she said flatly. That you
were as ruthless as they came.

Hes half right. I didnt kill Len.

Yes. She let out a breath she hadnt been aware of holding. And neither did I.

He nodded as though she had said the sun would set later in the day. I know.

How? Do you think Im not capable of murder because Im a woman?

He laughed, but it wasnt a humorous sound. Anyone is capable of murder, given the right
incentive.

Then why are you so certain Im innocent?

Simple. You asked me for help.

She blinked and watched him with eyes darker than indigo. I could have killed Len and then
asked for your help.

Youre not that stupid. You didnt need Chang to tell you that I wasnt a nice guy.

The look in Archers eyes reminded Hannah of the night he had appeared on her doorstep with
Lens beaten, bloody body in his arms. At the time, they had lived on the outskirts of a
dirty village on a hidden bay, a place where men made their living smuggling contraband or
by outright piracy. Archer had fought their way to the potholed dirt strip that passed for
an airport, loaded them aboard a stolen plane, hotwired it, and kicked it into the sullen
tropical sky while fights and fires raged all around and people fled in all directions as
the plane pursued them down the runway.

That night Archer had been everything Chang said he was: utterly ruthless.

Abruptly Hannah was glad that all she was guilty of was failing Len as a wife. The bond
between the two men was frighteningly strong. Archer had stayed with Len through all the
endless rounds of surgery, all the physical and mental agony. Feeding Len, bathing him,
giving him water, holding him like a child while he shrieked through drug-enhanced
nightmares and cursed men who had lied to him, men he wanted to kill, men he had killed.

Until finally Len had turned on Archer, screaming at him for wanting Hannah. The idea had
shocked her, but not as much as the realization that she was drawn to Archer as she had
never been to her husband.

Hannah? What is it?

For a moment she couldnt speak. Ghostly emotion rippled over her skin as she watched
Archers eyes, their bleak shadows and pitiless clarity, as though he was seeing everything
she remembered, everything she had tried to forget.

I was thinking, she managed.

About what?

The time Len screamed at you to leave. It was wrong, she whispered. You never would have
touched me.

No. I never would have. But I wanted to, Hannah. I wanted you until I couldnt breathe.

I... Her voice died. I cant believe... Yet when she looked at Archers eyes now, she
believed. He had felt the same sensual heat that rippled through her unawakened body. I
didnt know.

I made sure of it. But Len knew me. He saw what you were too innocent to see. Archer
glanced down at his watch. If he drove like a maniac, there was enough time. Since
everyone in Western Australia drove like a maniac, he wouldnt stand out. Ill help you
gather our dive gear. I want to look it over and the boat before we use it.

Hannah asked the one question she wasnt afraid to ask, and ignored the one she was very
much afraid of: Do you still want me? Dont you trust Tom?

Havent you figured it out yet? I dont trust anyone.

What about me?

Youre family.

Family, Hannah said slowly, tasting the word. It was more than she had any right to
expect, yet somehow much less than she wanted.

And she hadnt known that until this instant. Ten years ago she had been innocent and
infatuated with a handsome mercenary who was fifteen years older than she was. Yet even
then, Archer had tugged at her senses just by being alive. If she had met him first,
before Len...

You dont feel like family to me, she said.

Give it time.

Time. She laughed abruptly.

Do you keep the diving gear here or on the boat? Archer asked.

I keep it here. Then, before she could think better of it, And I dont feel anything like
your sister.

He didnt move, but he changed. She could see it, the flare of intensity in him as vivid as
the corona of the sun.

What do you feel like? he asked.

Unease and something more pricked through her. She wanted him with a rushing force that
made her lightheaded. But fear was greater. Just barely. Just enough to bridle her tongue.
Years ago she had learned that sexual hunger led straight to bad judgment, which led
straight to hell on earth.

Now she was learning her own unexpected weakness for this one man.

It terrified her.

I dont know what I feel like, she said distinctly.

Archer watched Hannah for the space of a long breath, saw her fear of him, and accepted
it. He didnt blame her. She was no longer nineteen, with hope in her eyes and excitement
in her smile. She had discovered that life was always unexpected and often cruel. She had
learned to pull back, shut down.

To survive.

He wanted to argue that there was more to life than pain and death, that the Donovan
family would take her in and accept her. Yet he didnt say a word. He had no right to
demand that she step out of her protective shell and share her life, her laughter, her
love. He was the one who had left her to heal a man who couldnt be healed.

But Len could hurt whoever tried to help him. And he had. The fear in her eyes was proof
of it.

Wouldnt life be grand if kindness outlived cruelty? Archer asked with a neutrality that
didnt quite hide the weariness in his soul. But it doesnt.

He turned away, listing what had to be done in his mind. The sooner he found out what had
happened to Len and Pearl Cove, the sooner he would be out of her life. Broome was first
on the list.

So Mad Dog Len had a partner? the cop asked, watching Archer skeptically. The big Yank
with the sweaty dress shirt, faded jeans, and a worn rucksack slung over one shoulder
looked hard and much too controlled for a constables peace of mind.

Archer nodded.

Thats good news for his widow, the cop said, dragging a match across the metal nameplate
that said Dave and lighting a cigarette. No one here will lend her a dollar to rebuild.

Why? Pearl Cove isnt a license to print money, but it looks better than lot of businesses
around Broome.

Hey, Dave, someone called from the back of the hot, humid, tin-roofed cave that passed for
a police station. Your wife is on the other line.

Tell her five, the cop called back. Then his faded green eyes focused on Archer with a
show-me-something-new weariness. You want prosperous, mate? Try Cable Beach outside of
town. Thats where the rich tourists go.

Im not a tourist and you havent answered my question.

Youre not a native, either, or youd know that people around here wouldnt piss on Len
McGarry if he was on fire.

No worries, Archer said neutrally, using a favorite Aussie response. Hes dead. An
accident, Im told.

Too right. Dave blew out a stream of smoke that did nothing to improve the thick, close
air of the station house. McGarry drowned when a cyclone tore open a pearl-sorting shed
and shucked him out of it like an oyster out of its shell.

Was there water in his lungs? He was found floating facedown in six inches of ocean. With
a piece of oyster shell rammed between his ribs. Didnt that strike you as odd? Dave looked
bored. You don

t have many cyclones in Seattle, do you? Ive picked up blokes that had soda straws shoved
through their groin or arteries cut by flying palm leaves. At two hundred and fifty
kilometers per hour, a lot of normal things turn lethal. Bloody hell, a piece of paper
will slit your throat.

I know. The U.S. might be short on cyclones, but were long on hurricanes and tornadoes.

The cop grunted. A bit of oyster shell was the least of McGarrys problems. He looked like
he was run over by a road train. If it hadnt been for his wasted legs, even his wife
wouldnt have recognized the bastard.

Abruptly Archer was glad that Hannah hadnt come to Broome with him. He had left her
teaching English to eager children whose laughter and sparkling black eyes were like a
tonic after all the grim memories of Len. Archer wished he could have stayed. He missed
his nieces innocence and uninhibited smile. But Summer was half a world away, and Lens
body was in the merciless here and now.

If Len had been your brother, would you be investigating his death any differently? Archer
asked.

Thick, blunt fingers rubbed over the cops newly shaved face. He sucked on the cigarette
and exhaled smoke. Id be crying.

Archer almost smiled. So it was just an accident, is that it?