Beth when she left. I’m willing to bet they’re the same two who are suspected of pirating the missing boats.”
“Here?” Ashley said. “Beth, do you think it might have been them?”
“I don’t know for sure, but it’s starting to sound likely. And, oh yeah. I found a skull on my desk today, but the cop I called seemed to think I was a paranoid lunatic, so if you don’t mind, I’m not speaking officially to any more police today. I think that someone got into my office, then followed me. The official cop couldn’t see that. Okay? Wait! I don’t care if it’s not okay. You lied to me, Ashley. You said you didn’t know him.”
Ashley glanced guiltily at the floor.
“And if he’s not a cop, what the hell is he?” Beth demanded, still angry.
“We don’t have the right—” Jake began.
“Oh, Jake! What do you think Beth is going to do—post it on the Internet?” Ashley demanded impatiently. “He’s not a cop. In fact—”
“Don’t even try to tell me he’s a scuba instructor,” Beth snapped.
“Well, actually,” Jake said, “he is.”
Before Beth could literally scream with aggravation, Ashley spoke, explaining, “He’s with a company that specializes in dive rescues and retrievals, salvage and maritime crimes.”
Beth stared at her friends, perplexed. “Why couldn’t you tell me that?”
“Because we don’t know what he’s doing,” Jake said impatiently. Then he hesitated. “They contract their services to the government. He could be working for the feds or the state. When I see him, I don’t ask. Whatever he’s doing this time, it’s important that people don’t know who he is. He often works undercover. So when he doesn’t tell me what he’s doing, I respect his position and don’t ask. I don’t want to jeopardize his work—or his life.”
Beth stared at him, shaking her head. “Why wouldn’t he tell me? Why wouldn’t he trust me?”
Jake shook his head. “Beth, when you’re undercover, you tell no one. You pray that you don’t run into the people who know you. And if you do, you pray they keep their mouths shut.”
“Who on earth would I say anything to?” Beth protested.
Jake shook his head. “You wouldn’t say anything on purpose, Beth, but what if you accidentally let something slip to Ben? They’ve already threatened Amber.”
“Get someone out there now, Jake,” Beth demanded hotly, then added a soft “Please.”
“All right.”
He went away to arrange it, leaving her with Ashley. Beth still felt angry.
“You could have said something to me,” she insisted.
“Beth, the point is, anyone can inadvertently say something. You just learn to keep your mouth shut.”
“Fine,” Beth said. “Then let’s see what I can tell you. It seems that Sandy and Brad—or whatever their real names are—have been stealing yachts and murdering people. They probably changed their appearances and came here to scout for their next victim. They somehow decided that I had them pegged, probably when they saw me here with you, so they attacked me. They’re out there somewhere, but Keith Henson—if that’s his real name—has decided to go back…somewhere. I hope to find them.”
“There’s already an APB out across the country for them,” Ashley said.
“Well, they were here. Right here, on land,” Beth said. “And there was a skull on the island. Keith was in the clearing right after I discovered it. Did he take it? Did he bring it in somewhere? Did it belong to one of the Monocos?”
Ashley shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Beth shook her head in disgust. “Great detective I would have made. I figured Eduardo Shea must have had something to do with it…someone who was profiting off the dance studios. Or Amanda. I probably just wanted her to be guilty of something.”
She fell silent.
Had Keith Henson been questioning Amanda? Had she misread that whole thing?
Jake reappeared. “Amber will be fine,” he assured Beth.
“Jake, I don’t care what it costs. I’ll pay it. You called people you really trust, right?”
“Beth, I called people I’d trust with my own life, Ashley’s life—my children’s lives,” he assured her. “And they’re friends, doing me favors. You don’t have to worry about it.”
“Yes, I do,” she said firmly. “But the point is, until…Brad and Sandy are brought in, Amber has to be kept safe.”
She felt deflated suddenly. She’d been so angry, so frightened. And now she felt as if she were a balloon that had been suddenly popped.
“Beth, are you all right?” Ashley asked. “You look pale.”
Beth lifted her hands in a shrug. “At least he isn’t a criminal.”
“Keith? No, he isn’t a criminal,” Ashley said.
“Beth, the FBI, the local police, the Coast Guard—everyone is looking for Sandy and Brad. They will be caught,” Jake told her.
She forced a smile and nodded.
Sure.
But when?
That was the question of the hour.
WHEN JAKE AND ASHLEY HAD gone to bed, Beth found that she was still too restless herself to sleep. She went online and looked up the island. To her surprise, there was a great deal written about Calliope Key. Apparently almost everyone since Columbus had put ashore there. Ponce de León had stopped by. The Spanish had claimed it, then the English. Despite its proximity to the Bahamas, it had remained part of Florida after trades between the Spanish and English, the Spanish and the Americans, and the English and the Americans.
When the Spanish had held the island, they had often lain in wait to surprise English ships and lured them onto the reefs. Apparently the welcoming sight of the island, and the sound of the wind on the water and through the trees had beckoned them onward, and thus the name, Calliope Key. Sadly, the islet had been like a siren, enticing men to their deaths.
There had been too many wrecks to count, but as she read, Beth came across one very specific incident. A battle between an English ship and a Spanish ship, the Sea Star and La Doña. Captain Pierce had battled Captain Alonzo Jimenez. All had been lost, including the innocent travelers aboard, seeking to reach Spanish ports in Central and South America.
Beth stared blankly at the screen.
The ghost story, the tale that Keith had told that very first night around their campfire, had been true, or at least based on truth.
She was suddenly
