Ten Thousand Islands (21 page)

I was surprised that Bauerstock already knew exactly who I was. “Dr. Ford, it’s my understanding that Frank
Rossi’s son was under extreme duress when he spoke to you. Coercion so … well, let’s be frank. Methods so brutal that there’s been some talk of charging you with assault, perhaps even attempted murder. The boy’s in the hospital, you know. Ruptured spleen.” He paused for a moment, letting it sit there. “Personally, I think it would be unfortunate if law enforcement gets involved. We’re all reasonable people with similar goals. We all want to protect the history of this great state. I’d prefer to drop the whole matter. Under the circumstances, Dr. Ford, don’t you think it’s possible that you misunderstood what the young man said?”

“I didn’t misunderstand him, Mr. Bauerstock. The kid said you’d been robbing sites for years.”

“Marion!” Nora’s voice was surprisingly sharp. “Mr. Bauerstock is trying to help. Let’s not argue with him.”

“Thank you very much, Dr. Chung. Theodore has already spoken to me of your intellect and your professionalism—”

Ted was laughing, showing himself to be an eager peacemaker. “I told you about her eyes, too, dad. They’re amber, the color of a cat’s eyes.”

Nora blushed, pleased by the compliment, but Ivan Bauerstock clearly didn’t see the humor. “Theodore, if I might continue? Along with the written apology, I will also deed over fifteen acres of Cayo de Marco for the museum’s ongoing archaeological studies. Finally, this afternoon, I told our attorneys to begin the legal groundwork to establish a scholarship fund in the name of Dorothy Copeland. She was a delightful young woman and deserves to be remembered for the contributions she made to archaeology. Would that please you, Mrs. Copeland?”

Della was dabbing at her eyes. “I think it’s wonderful,
Mr. Bauerstock, and I think your son is wonderful. If there’s anything I can do to help you or your family, please just let me know.”

The fixed, formal smile appeared on his face once more. “As a matter of fact, there is, Della. Make sure that son of mine goes straight to our boat and shoves off for Marco. I don’t like the way those storms are shaping up out there in the Caribbean. And get him all the Key Largo votes you can. We
need
Theodore Bauerstock in the Senate.”

“May I speak to you privately, Dr. Ford?” Ted Bauerstock was talking, being respectful and very serious. It got me another sharp look from Nora—why was I such a troublemaker?—and an abstracted, drunken shrug from Tomlinson.

As Bauerstock and I stood to leave the tiki bar, Conch Jerry, who hadn’t spoken a word all evening, said to him, “How’d you get that cut on your hand?”

Bauerstock stopped, momentarily surprised. “This?” I hadn’t noticed the flesh-colored surgical tape angling from the palm of his left hand to his wrist. “I’m a klutz, that’s how I got it. Slipped and fell on the dock yesterday. Almost went into the water.” His expression said,
I’m a dope.

Conch Jerry said, “Really?” then got up and walked away, carrying his beer.

Now Bauerstock and I were standing side by side at the marina basin, close enough to
No Más
that I could smell the incense that Tomlinson was burning below, patchouli, his favorite. Bauerstock was looking past his yacht toward Ronrico Key. The island was glazed with gold in the sunset light.

In a low voice, he said, “May I speak to you confidentially, Dr. Ford?”

“Please don’t. Not if it concerns any of my friends.”

He chuckled, resigned but amused. “You really are a straight shooter, aren’t you? And you don’t believe my father.”

“No. No, I don’t believe your father.”

“Would you be surprised if I told you that I don’t believe him either?”

I turned to look at him. “If you’re trying to get my attention, you’ve succeeded.”

“My father is the most ruthless person I’ve ever met. He’s built his great financial empire on the bodies of men who chose ethics over survival. I don’t mean that he’s actually murdered anyone—not that I’d put it past him. But he’s only interested in people who can help him, people he can use or manipulate.”

I said, “Why are you telling me this?”

“The truth? It’s got to be confidential.”

“As long as it concerns just you or your father, fine. The only caveat is Tomlinson. We tend to bounce things off one another. But privately.”

“I don’t blame you, he’s a brilliant man. Rhodes scholar, the Sorbonne, threw it all away to pursue his own philosophical interests. You know, of course, that he was involved with a political terrorist group that was responsible for the deaths of at least nine people. Two of them Chicago policemen. Yes … I see by your expression that you do know about your friend Tomlinson.”

I looked at him for a moment, then motioned him away from
No Más
. When we were at the end of the jetty, I said, “That was nearly fifteen years ago. No charges were ever formally brought against him—”

“I wasn’t speaking badly of the man, I admire him—”

“I wasn’t finished, Ted. Let’s drop the gamesmanship. You speak of Tomlinson, but what you’re really telling me is that you have people to do your homework for you. That you have avenues of information not available to the average citizen. You found all this out in, what? a little more than twenty-four hours.”

“This is the computer age. If you carry enough political weight and can press the right buttons, there’s instant information available on everyone. Including you, Dr. Ford.”

He said more with his intonation than his words.

“Don’t believe everything you read in government files.”

“With you, it’s just the opposite. My guess is, your life is more accurately described by the blank pages. By what my staff didn’t find in government computer banks.”

I said, “You still haven’t answered my question. Why are we having this conversation?”

“Did you see the expression on my father’s face when you called him a liar? I’ve seen that expression before. He won’t tolerate that kind of disrespect from anyone. Period. Believe me, you’re on his shit list. You will pay for humiliating him like that.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Dr. Ford, I’m being as sincere as I can be. It’s a warning. My father scares the hell out of me. He should scare you, too. You want a couple of for-instances? You’ve secured a very dubious federal lease on a stilt house off Sanibel with the help of some of your old colleagues. You work for Mote Marine, which depends on state and federal agencies for permits. That expression Della used, ‘He draws a lot of water.’ I liked that. Honestly, Dr. Ford,
my father draws a massive amount of water in Tallahassee and Washington. If you cross him, everything you have is at risk. Your house, your association with Mote, everything. And there is also the very real possibility that he could arrange for your secret past to become public record. Think the international courts would take an interest in prosecuting you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t.”

I said, “We’re being honest? Okay, then tell me this: You think your father could’ve had anything to do with exhuming Dorothy Copeland?”

I thought he’d be offended by the question. He wasn’t. “No. Not directly, anyway. Not that the indecency of it would bother him, but the risk is greater than the potential for gain. That’s how he makes decisions. More likely, it was …” He paused for a moment, waited for one of the locals to check his boat lines, then walk away. “It was probably one of his flunkies. Steal the totem, then sell it to my dad, that was probably the plan. If someone knew he wanted it, they’d try to get it for him. All dad would have to do is mention the thing in casual conversation, and his staff would get the wheels turning. He owns so many people in this state. You have no idea. To an average guy, the totem would be well worth the risk. A year’s salary, dad would pay that without blinking an eye.”

I said, “But why? It can’t be worth one-tenth of that on the market.”

“Actually, you’re wrong, Dr. Ford. Auction it at Sotheby’s or Christies, or—what’s the famous auction house in New Mexico?—auction it at any of those places and it would sell for close to six figures. I just read that pre-Columbian arrowheads in fine condition sell for more
than $1,000 each. In a global economy with the population booming, rare collectibles are far more valuable worldwide than gold. That totem”—he looked frankly at the black briefcase I continued to carry—“is worth a bundle. But see, that’s not the reason my father wants it. It’s not the monetary value.”

“Then what?”

“This is the part that needs to remain confidential. If you repeat it to anyone, I’ll swear you’re lying.”

Once I’d nodded, he continued.

“I know a side of my father that the public will never see or even suspect. He’s obsessive to the point of—how did a psychiatrist once put it to me?—he’s prone to manic fixation, that’s the phrase. The same psychiatrist told me that his obsessions were also key to his success. It’s true of many great men. Most people let up, back off or come to an ethical crossroads their conscience won’t allow them to cross. Not men like my father. Ever. That’s how they get so rich.

“Something else about him, he’s just as obsessive about his ideology. Let’s face it, nearly all of us are superstitious to a degree, but some of his beliefs have become fixated. We used to have this Colombian maid, Bella, who called herself a
bruha
, meaning a Santería witch. She’d laugh like it was a joke, but she meant it. Bella raised me until father sent me away to boarding school. Bella was very beautiful. She was his mistress for years.”

I noticed that Bauerstock stuttered momentarily as he said
mistress
; an emotional stumble that made me think of Jeth Nicholes back at Dinkin’s Bay.

“Bella had a powerful hold on Dad. I think it was through Bella that he began to believe that certain objects
made him stronger. If he wore them or touched them or placed them under his bed. Our estate is on the Indian mounds at Marco. We’ve got more mounds at our ranch east of there in the Everglades. Dad and Bella, most of their … well, let’s just say private encounters occurred on those mounds.” Bauerstock smiled an uneasy, reflective smile that bordered on embarrassment. “I was a kid, but I wasn’t dumb. And I sure as hell wasn’t deaf. The point being, Dad’s manic fixation is with the Indians who lived on those mounds. They controlled Florida for thousands of years. He
wanted
to one day control Florida. He was a poor orphan kid who had to fight for everything, and he wanted to end up on top.

“My dad worked his ass off, but he was also fantastically lucky.
Unbelievably
lucky. Always made just the right connections, always bought and sold at the perfect time. With Bella’s help, he came to believe that certain artifacts taken from those mounds were the source of his good fortune. That much of his power came from them. When I was younger, it was just kind of a hobby. He’d even joke about it, like, ‘Well, I’ve got a new artifact so I should make an extra hundred grand in the negotiation.’ And he
would
. Year after year those things worked for him, until it became an absolute fixation. Tomlinson’s eulogy so exactly described how he feels about the mounds that dad was actually spooked. That’s why we left in such a hurry. As badly as he wanted to see that totem, we couldn’t stay.”

“He doesn’t seem like a man easily spooked.”

“He’s not. Not normally. But wait—I’m not finished. My father’s delusion has gotten to the point where he genuinely believes that he has a spiritual connection with a certain Calusa war chief. I won’t bore you with the
specifics, but their most powerful chief carried that totem. That’s why Dad wants it.”

“A man named Tocayo carried the totem and wore the gold medallion.”

Bauerstock’s expression changed slightly; a look of evaluation. “Yes, I think that’s the name. Tocayo. Look at photographs of my father. You will never see him wear an open-collared shirt. It’s because he always had the gold medallion around his neck.”

“He got it from Frank Rossi?”

“Della told you the story, I guess. The medallion played a role in Rossi and dad’s business relationship, that’s all I know. Another example of dad’s fixation? At the ranch, we have what the Spanish call a
cenote
. A
cenote
is a—”

“I know what a
cenote
is, Ted.”

Florida has many
cenotes
, though they are known by the more popular name of springs: Crystal River, Weekie Wachee, Silver Springs. All are deep water holes formed when the limestone surface collapses over an underground river. Fresh water floats atop a saltwater passageway to the sea. They are very clear and deep, often with sides as sheer as the inside of a volcano.
Cenote
is a Maya word. I’d swam and dived dozens of them in Florida and Central America.

Bauerstock said, “He’s come to believe that our
cenote
has restorative powers. He swims there every single day he can. When he travels, he takes bottles of the water with him. Maybe you already know this, but it’s not legend, it’s fact that Ponce de León came to Florida looking for what he called
El Río de Jordan
in his ship’s log, the River of Life. That was an Indian prophecy he’d heard in Cuba. See the connection?”

Of course I could understand it. I had an uncle who’d once believed in the same thing.

“I can see why someone would convince themselves it’s true,” I said.

“He has. But what I’m getting at is, more than three months ago—the twenty-first of June, I’ll never forget the day—Dad went for his swim, and he lost the medallion. Jesus Christ, to him it was like the end of the world. He hasn’t been the same man since. His world hasn’t been the same since, either.”

I said, “The chain broke?”

“No, he was fanatical about the chain. You can imagine. Somehow the medallion broke. He doesn’t know how. It went fluttering down into deep water with my dad swimming like crazy after it.” Bauerstock laughed softly. “It’s actually kind of pathetic if you try and picture it. No one knows how deep that lake is. He hired a professional cave diver to search. It went on for months, but the diver gave up at three hundred feet. He found some interesting bones from mastodons and giant sloths, but no medallion. Unfortunately, Dad pushed him a little too hard and the diver was killed. Went down and never came back.”