LC 04 - Skeleton Crew (46 page)

She walked despite the pain. If she stopped and rested, she
wouldn't be able to get back up. Her side began to throb. Cracked
ribs. She stopped walking, dropped the gold bar, and felt her rib
cage. Sore, but she didn't think there was a break. Her side was
black and blue. She picked up the gold bar and continued up the
beach. It was heavy; she should have picked up something else.
The thin strip of sand was getting wider. Ahead she heard voices
and saw the dock. She was too tired and sore to yell. She walked.

"She was supposed to be on the archaeology barge." It was
John.

"She wasn't. I think she stayed to help. I'm not sure." That was
Trey.

"We'll, uh, send divers out to the dam, and-" Lewis didn't finish.

"She helped with the screen, I'm sure." That was Steven.

"Well, why the hell wasn't someone counting heads? That's
why we had a plan." John again.

Ramirez was standing with them, looking out to sea, as were
Bobbie and Harper, and the two new security guards. No one was
looking up the beach. She supposed she had better tell them she
was alive. She tried to speak and it came out in a squeak. She
cleared her throat.

"Guys. Guys."

They hadn't heard. She walked closer to the dock.

"Guys," she shouted.

They all looked at her for a moment as if she were a ghost.

"Lindsay?" said Trey.

My God, she thought. They don't recognize me.

"Yes."

"Lindsay!" John jumped from the dock and ran toward her.

The others followed. He put his arms around her and lifted her
off the ground.

"I was afraid, afraid-"

"I'm not," she groaned.

He put her down.

"Lindsay," said Lewis, "you look awful. Your face."

"I feel awful. I've just had the worst night of my life."

"Why did you stay out there?" Lewis insisted. "You've had us
worried sick."

"Oh, I don't know, Lewis. I guess I just thought, well, this is a
once in a lifetime experience, I think I'll ride out the hurricane in a
cofferdam in the middle of the ocean."

"I think we need to get Lindsay to the hospital," said Ramirez.

"One thing," said Lindsay. "Lewis, this is going to make you
very happy. Just remember, you owe me big time."

She handed him the gold bar she had been holding to her chest.

"What is this?"

"Just what it looks like. You think you can have it arrested, or
whatever?"

"Where did you find it?" asked Trey.

"It was on the ship I rode in on."

"What?" asked Trey.

They all looked at her as if she were crazy. But there was the
gold bar. They couldn't argue with that.

"Lindsay," exclaimed Harper, "your arm. We need to get her to
the hospital."

John picked her up in his arms.

"It's a splinter from the ship," she said.

"Are you serious? You know where the wreck is?" asked Lewis.
"You can find it so we can start excavation?"

"You don't need to. She sort of excavated herself."

"What?"

"It's down the beach a couple of miles. I told you, I rode it
ashore. Me and-well, never mind. That's how I got the splinter
in my arm. It's part of the deck. You had better get someone out
there to guard it. But I'll have to tell you. You will be tested
severely. There's treasure spilling out all over the place and there's probably a trail of it from wherever it was to the shore."

"You're not joking?" asked Lewis.

"I don't have that kind of sense of humor. No. I'm not joking.
Better get out there before Jones or somebody finds it." Lindsay
laid her head on John's shoulder.

"Lindsay," asked Ramirez. "What happened? Just tell me
quickly."

"Someone must have hit me on the head and covered me with
plastic under the stairway. When I woke up, all the trains had left
the station."

"Oh, God," said Bobbie.

"I really don't feel well," Lindsay said.

"You have to save the splinter," said Lindsay. "It's an artifact.
Proof, of a sort."

The doctor looked up at John who stood with her as she sat on
the examining table in the emergency room.

"She's an archaeologist. They're peculiar."

A nurse shooed John out to the waiting room while the doctor
examined Lindsay. They sent her to X-ray before they removed the
splinter. It seemed like hours before she found herself tucked
safely in bed. Were it not for the mild concussion, she could have
left. But she didn't complain. A night without her bed wafting back
and forth or worrying about a prowler wasn't so bad.

The mirror brought another horror. She had insisted on showering and washing her hair. When she finished, she looked at herself for the first time. The whole left side of her face was bruised
like her side. She did look awful. Both eyes were black. Her arm
hurt. She probably shouldn't have gotten it wet, they hadn't bandaged it. Her entire rib cage ached. For that matter, all of her muscles hurt. There was blood in her urine. The doctor told her that
her kidneys had taken a hit, but they would heal in a few days. All
in all, she was lucky, which John told her before he left to check the
dam. Bobbie and Harper came bearing flowers.

"You sure scared everybody," said Bobbie. "John was beside
himself."

"Trey was tearing his hair out when it was discovered you were
missing. He had forgotten you stayed."

"He was busy and I wasn't assigned to the skeleton crew. I just
couldn't leave with the rest."

"Sentimental?" suggested Harper.

"I was worried about John. The dam means so much to him."

"You're an idiot," said Harper.

"Tell me what happened with you guys," Lindsay asked.

"We went inland to a school basement. Not much to it. The others were at another school-that's why no one knew you were
missing. They thought you were with us and we thought you were
with them. It was this morning before anyone knew you weren't
there."

"What happened with the hurricane?"

"Wasn't one. It veered out to sea and headed north where it was
downgraded to a tropical storm again. We were lucky. We only got
some of the effects of it," said Harper.

"Then the dam should be all right?"

"Would you quit worrying about that damn dam? It's probably
better off than you are," said Harper. "We were all worried."

"Someone wasn't," Lindsay said.

"I know," said Harper. "That's scary. Can you tell us what happened?"

"I'd like to know that, too." Agent Ramirez walked into her
room carrying a basket of flowers. Lindsay told her story, from
waking up under the plastic, to passing out somewhere in the
woods.

"That was quite an adventure," said Ramirez. "Do you have
any idea who could have done it?"

"No, not a clue."

"I've posted a guard outside your door."

Harper patted her shoulder and Bobbie gave her a hug. "Get
some sleep," Harper said. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"I slept for hours last night."

"I know this isn't as luxurious as sleeping in a swamp, but
make the best of it," said Harper.

"Tell John he doesn't have to come by this evening. I know he's
busy with the dam."

They left and Lindsay drifted into a comfortable sleep, dreaming of sea serpents and buried treasure and her aunt Maggie
rolling out pie crust and spouting aphorisms. She awoke to the
sight of John sitting in a chair beside her bed.

"Good morning," he said.

"Morning? How's the dam?" she asked.

"The dam's fine. I told you she would stand up to the winds.
I'm pumping the water out now and a crew is putting the roof
back on."

The doctor released Lindsay, with a prescription for antibiotics,
telling her to keep quiet and take aspirin or ibuprofen for pain,
drink plenty of water, and keep an eye out for dizzy spells, nausea,
and blurred vision. John took her to the island, where she would
be staying with Harper.

"We all insist," said John. "The rocking barge is likely to be too
uncomfortable."

Harper had made a bed up for Lindsay. "I can't take your bed,"
Lindsay said.

"Yes, you can. I'm finished translating, and don't need the
perks. We'll all be happier if you're comfortable."

"Well then, thanks."

"There's a debriefing in an hour or so to catch everyone up. If
you feel like it, you might enjoy it. Bobbie's bringing us dinner to
have in my room. Trey, John, and Luke are joining us-that is, if
you feel like a dinner party."

"As long as all of you don't mind looking at my face."

"If you're going to have adventures, you need scars to show for
it. How's your arm?"

"Very sore. But they gave me all kinds of shots."

Lindsay actually got a hug from Lewis as she walked through
the door to the lab.

"You got the ship secured?" she asked.

"The governor sent a detachment of National Guard and asked
the Coast Guard to put a boat in the water off the island. Since the
ship is on national parkland, claim is easier in some respects. The
Guard have offloaded most of the treasure they can safely get to.
They are guarding the rest while we dismantle the ship. Most of
the treasure spilled out into the water, of course. I brought in the
divers to start locating it and the missing timbers."

"How's Jones taking it?"

"Haven't heard from her, or seen her ship, but I think she is still
trying to make a claim based on the bell and a few pieces of wood. I
don't know if she knows that it's washed up onshore, but I'll bet she
does. She may try to say that she found it before the hurricane hit."

"The ship had to be in close to the shore."

"It must have. We were looking farther out all that time. You
know, a sunken ship named the Alatoona washed ashore after a
storm like this thirty or forty years ago on the coast of North
Carolina. It came to an ignoble end. The surf eventually pounded
it to pieces, campers built fires in what remained of its hull, and
now it's gone. This one will have a happier future. It will be displayed next to the Estrella." Lewis grinned from ear to ear.

Everyone greeted Lindsay warmly. Nothing was mentioned
about an attack, but she was sure everyone had heard by now. She
scanned their faces, looking for someone who was disappointed or
uncomfortable. But they all seemed happy to see her.

Ramirez was there in the doorway. She wondered why. She
looked questioningly at him. "Everything all right?" she asked.

"Just keeping an eye out," he said.

"On what?"

"Things." He smiled and patted her shoulder. "I like it here.
Usually I have to travel all over the place looking for the bad guys
and witnesses. This is what's nice about an island. Everyone is in
the same place. I don't have to travel so much."

Lindsay sat down on the couch between Bobbie and John.

"As you know," Lewis addressed the group, "Lindsay, during
her ocean adventure, located what we believe to be the Espada de
Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion. We have been looking for
her all along, but for obvious reasons had to keep it a secret. We
didn't know, however, that the Concepcion was connected in such
an interesting way to the Estrella, as has been revealed to us by the
diary." Lewis gave Harper a nod. "The diary has been a special
and unusual addition to the excavation. Not only do we have a
ship and part of the crew, but an account of the voyage. We think
we may actually have been able to establish the identity of some of
the skeletal remains after being lost over 440 years under the sea."

Lindsay hoped he wasn't going to make a long speech. She
ached from her toes to the top of her head.

"So," said Korey, "we now know this guy Sancho killed Lopez,
and Lopez is our guy with the dented head, and Sancho is our guy
in chains."

"He said he didn't do it," Juliana protested.

"They all say that," Sarah replied.

"Well, sometimes they are telling the truth," commented Jeff,
not without some emotion.

Neither Lewis nor Trey seemed to mind the debriefing degenerating into a discussion about the diary; in fact, they seemed to
welcome it. Someone had tacked up copies of the pictures Lindsay
had drawn of the skeletal remains-four of them. She looked at
each in turn. The last one, the one she had thought was Valerian,
startled her. That face was the one in the dream, or hallucination,
that her mind gave to Bellisaro.

"Who else could have killed him?" Steven asked. "Let's not
make a mystery where there isn't one. It's pretty straightforward."

"Sancho is innocent," said Lindsay, and everyone turned to her.

"You all right, Doc?" asked Nate. "You look like you've been
shot at and missed, and shit at and hit."

When the laughter died, Lindsay smiled at him.

"Thanks for that image of my appearance. I assure you, I feel
much worse than I look. Sancho, whatever misdeeds he committed
on the ship, did not kill Lopez."