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In the kitchen, he poured two cups of coffee, then hesitated where he stood, tension gripping his abdomen in a hard spasm.
What the hell had gone so wrong between them? He’d never met anyone like her. He loved everything about her, from her eyes to her toes, the sound of her voice, her passion when she spoke about dolphins, teaching, the sea, and the way she looked when they made love, the way she moved, touched him, the smell of her, sight, sound, taste…
He’d never fallen out of love with her. When he’d received the divorce papers, he’d been stunned. She hadn’t said a word. But it was what she had wanted, so, bitterly, silently, he had given it to her.
He started, putting the coffeepot back as she stumbled into the kitchen, casting him a venomous gaze and reaching for the coffee he had poured for her. She took a seat on one of the counter bar stools, arched an eyebrow to him and poured cereal into a bowl and added milk.
“All right, let’s get to it. What was my relationship with Danny Fuller supposed to have been? Did I have a thing going with the old guy or something?”
“Don’t be flippant.”
“I don’t know what the hell else you want me to be. Of all the stuff you’ve come up with since you’ve been here, this is the most ridiculous. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“All right, I’ll tell you. Alicia Farr spent all the time she could with Danny Fuller during his last days at the hospital. And in their conversations, two things kept coming up, dolphins—and your name.”
She stared at him. He couldn’t believe she had been hiding anything, not the way she was looking at him.
She shook her head at last. “Danny Fuller came here, yes. I liked him. He really liked dolphins, and you know me, I like anyone who likes my dolphins. Sometimes we talked casually in the Tiki Hut. He told me about some of his adventures, but if there was something he wanted to do but never attempted, I swear to you, I don’t have the faintest idea what it was.”
“Did he ever mention a ship called the Anne Marie to you?”
Staring at him, she gave it a moment’s thought, then shook her head slowly. “No. He never mentioned it, and I never heard any stories about a ship named the Anne Marie from anyone else.”
David lowered his head. Too bad. It would have helped if Alex had known something.
He gazed up at her again thoughtfully. Either she really didn’t know anything or she had added acting to her repertoire of talents. Which might be the case. He had just about forced his presence here. And last night…
Well, according to her, it had been the situation, nothing more. Too many days spent on an island.
“So?” she said. “Is that all you wanted? Is that why you were so insistent on ‘protecting’ me? If so, honest to God, I can’t help you.”
“No. You’re in danger. If two corpses haven’t proven it to you, nothing will.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Forget that. You, apparently, have heard about a ship called the Anne Marie.”
“Yes.”
“Well?”
“She was an English ship that went down in the dying days of the pirate era, in 1715. Records have her sinking off the coast of South Carolina. But the story of her sinking was told by a pirate named Billy Thornton—a pirate who apparently expected a reprieve and didn’t get one. As he was about to be hanged, he shouted out, ‘She didn’t really—’”
“She didn’t really what?” Alex demanded.
“Well, people have mused that he was about to say she didn’t really go down anywhere near South Carolina. You see, before he was caught, he claimed to have seen the ship go down in a storm that ravaged the Eastern Seaboard, but some historians believe he attacked the ship himself.”
“He couldn’t have attacked the ship alone,” Alex pointed out.
“Some legends suggest that since he was off the Florida coast, it would have been easy for him to go ashore, and kill his own men with the intent of going back himself for the treasure.”
“And what was the treasure?” Alex demanded.
“There are full records in the English archives somewhere,” he said, “but basically, tons of gold buillion, and a cache of precious gems that would be worth millions today.”
Alex shook her head. “I don’t understand. There must be hundreds of ships with treasures that sank in the Atlantic and are still out there to be found. Why would people kill over this one?”
“Most people wouldn’t kill over any treasure. But the bounty to be found on this particular ship would be just about priceless.”
“Did Alicia think she knew where to find the Anne Marie? If so, she should have announced an expedition and gathered people around her. No matter what, she’d have to go by the laws of salvage.”
“Yes. But she was afraid, I think, of letting out what she knew. Afraid that someone would beat her to it.”
“Why would Danny Fuller have hidden whatever information he had for so many years? If he knew something, why wouldn’t he have gone after it himself?”
“I wondered about that myself. Maybe he just found out. It’s my assumption that Alicia learned something from Danny Fuller about where the Anne Marie went down. She intended to set up an expedition, and that’s why she wanted to meet me here. But she must have talked to other people, as well. And I think someone she brought in on her secret decided that they wanted the secret—and the treasure—for themselves.”
“The thing is,” David said, hoping he was making an impact on her, “someone is willing to kill for that treasure. And I don’t think this person wants the government involved in any way. If he—or she—thinks he can bring up a fortune without the authorities getting wind of it, then I’m assuming whatever information Danny Fuller had, suggested the vessel went down in shallow waters, and that the tides and sand have obscured her. You know, kind of like time itself playing a joke, hiding her in plain sight.”
“So…you believe Seth Granger was involved—invited here to meet Alicia, too, and that he didn’t just drown, but was killed?” Alex asked.
“It’s a possibility,” he said. “A probability,” he amended.
“How? He was in the bar with everyone else. And he’d clearly been drinking too much. And if someone did kill Alicia, and it was her body that I found…how in the hell did it just disappear?”
“Obviously it was moved.”
“Have you talked to Sheriff Thompson about this?”
“Not directly. I haven’t had a chance. I had Dane call him, though, and give him all the information he acquired when I asked him to check into things.”
“Great,” Alex murmured. “Do you have any idea who this person is?”
“Someone with an interest in the sea and salvage. I thought at first that it might have been Seth, but now…apparently not.”
“Who else might Alicia have invited here?” Alex asked. “Or who else might have gotten wind of what was going on?”
“Well, Seth was rich—he could have provided the funding she would need for the expedition. She invited me for my expertise. I’m not sure who else she might have invited.”
“So who might have found out something?”
“Your boss, for one.”
“Jay? But he isn’t an expert salvage diver. As far as I know, he’s competent enough on a boat, but he doesn’t have the kind of money you’d need for an expedition like this and…” She paused and shrugged. “I see. You think he’d like to have that kind of money. And he would love to be respected for a discovery of that kind.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe it. Not Jay.”
“There’s Hank Adamson,” David said.
She stared at him incredulously. “He’s a reporter.”
“And he’s very conveniently here right now.”
“I think you’re reaching,” she said.
“Maybe.”
“Is there anyone else on your list of suspects?” she asked.
“Just one.”
“Who?”
He hesitated before answering. “Your ex–navy SEAL,” he told her quietly.
She rose, pushing her cereal bowl away. “I have to go to work,” she said curtly, turning her back on him.
He went after her, catching her arm, turning her around to face him. “Please, Alex. Honestly, I’m not trying to run your life, much less ruin it, but for now…just until we get to the bottom of this, don’t be alone with anyone, okay?”
“Except for you?” she asked, and her tone was dry.
“Except for me, yes,” he said flatly.
She tried to pull away.
“Alex, please?”
“I have to go to work, David,” she said, staring at his fingers where they wrapped around her arm. She met his eyes as he let her go and added bitterly, “You really don’t have anything to worry about. Last night might have been…unintended, but still, I’d never switch around between men with that kind of speed. I like John, yes. I admire him, and I certainly enjoy his company. But I have a few things to settle with myself before…Under the circumstances—let’s see, those being that we’re not legally divorced and we may have two murders on our hands—I’ll be taking my time getting to know anyone. Will that do?”
He hated the way her eyes were sharp and cold as they touched his. But she had given him the answer he needed from her. He nodded. She turned and headed for the bedroom, and a few minutes later, wearing the simple outfit she wore to work with the dolphins, she came back out, heading straight for the door.
She turned back and said, “Don’t forget to lock up when you leave.” A slight frown creased her forehead.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. Just don’t forget to lock up before you leave. My keys are by the door. Please make sure you pick them up.”
She walked out, and he felt as if an icy blast passed by.
Alex’s actual degree had been in psychology, with a minor in marine sciences. But as far as her work went, she had learned more from an old trainer when she had interned in the center of the state. He had pointed out to her that the same theories that worked with people also worked with animals. Most animals, like most people, responded best to a reward system.
With dolphins, a reward didn’t have to be fish. Like people, they craved affection.
Take Shania. She accepted fish and certainly had a healthy appetite. But she also seemed to know that her vets and the workers here had given her life back to her. The best reward for her came from free swims with the people she loved, mainly Alex and Gil. That morning, after feeding her charges with Gil, Alex entered the lagoon with them, one at a time, for a play period.
At eight, an hour before the first swim was due to begin, there was still no sign of Laurie Smith. Concerned, she called Laurie’s cottage, then her cell phone, and received only her voice mail. Worried then, she called Jay.
“I don’t know where Laurie is,” she told him. “She isn’t here, and she isn’t answering her phone.”
“Give her fifteen minutes, then we’ll start a search. She’s been talking about taking a few days to visit her family in St. Augustine, but I can’t believe she’d just leave without asking for the time. Unless…she’s just walking out on us,” Jay said over the phone.
“She loves her job. She wouldn’t just walk out,” Alex told him.
“I’ll send someone around to her cottage,” Jay promised. “By the way, we may be evacuating our guests and the majority of our personnel soon.”
“Evacuating?” she said, stunned.
“Don’t you ever watch television?”
“Sorry, I just haven’t seen the news lately,” she murmured.
“That storm stalled. The forecasters still believe she’s heading for the Carolinas, but at the moment she’s standing her ground. She’s still not a monster storm, and this place is equipped with an emergency generator, but we can’t keep the whole place running if we lose electricity and water. We’ll move everyone inland for a few days if the storm doesn’t take the swing she’s supposed to by tomorrow. Along with most of the staff.”
Alex hesitated. “I’m not leaving,” she said, and added a hopeful, “Am I?”
She heard his sigh. “No, Alex, if it’s your choice, you get to stay.”
“Thanks.”
“You know a lot of people would want to be out of here in the blink of an eye,” he cautioned.
“This place has weathered a few storms already. The storm room is perfectly safe.”
“I knew you wouldn’t leave your dolphins unless someone dragged you off,” Jay said. “All right, let me go. I’ll get someone out to check on Laurie.”
“Thanks.”
Alex returned to the main platform area, where all guests met before breaking into two parties, no more than eight swimmers in each lagoon. Guests began to trickle in to get flippers and masks, and she and Gil started to handing them out. She was somewhat surprised to see that Hank Adamson had joined the swim again—she’d gotten the impression that he was doing each of the resort’s activities just once so he could give an assessment of it.
He shrugged sheepishly when she smiled at him. “I actually like this a lot,” he told her.
“I’m glad.”
“Getting close to the dolphins…well, it’s a whole new experience for me. Their eyes are fascinating. It’s almost as if they’re amused by us. They’re kind of like…wet puppy dogs, I guess.”
“Much bigger and more powerful when they choose to be,” she said.
“Your dolphin swim is the best program here,” he told her.
“Thanks.”
That day, she let Gil give the introductory speech. In the middle of it, she saw Laurie Smith at last, hurrying to the platform.
A sense of relief swept over her. She realized that, deep in her heart, she had been secretly fearing, that Laurie had disappeared—that she, too, would float up somewhere in the water as a corpse.
She frowned at Laurie, but Laurie looked chagrined enough already. And Alex wasn’t about to question her here.
“You’re all right?” she asked Laurie briefly as her friend came up next to her.
Laurie nodded, but the look she gave Alex was strange.
“What’s wrong?” Alex demanded.
