The Curse Keepers Collection (92 page)

“Payment for what?”

“Come on, Ellie. Once I figured out who you were, it didn’t take much digging to put two and two together. Your mother was known for her expertise on Elizabethan and Jacobean antiques. And your father”—he leaned forward—“he was an expert in all things about the colonies.
Of course
Dailey would find you. Most people see his looks and charm and dismiss his cunningness, and he definitely uses that to his advantage. The question is how long did he string you along before you realized what he
really
wanted?”

Was there any truth to his question? Had Collin given any thought to who I was besides the fact that I was the other Keeper? I was desperate to know more about the Ricardo deal, particularly now, which meant I had to give this guy something to keep him talking. I gave him a bitter smile. “It was a carrot. He gave it to me to get me intrigued.”

A real smile lit up his face. “And did it?”

I lifted my eyebrows. “What do
you
think? You said it yourself—he has the looks and the charm.” I lowered my chin. “Let’s just say he used every trick he had to get me involved.”

“Did he tell you where it was?”

I held my breath. Did Collin actually have it? “No. He just gave me the watches to appraise. He never mentioned where anything else was.” Was I doing the right thing? I had no idea how Collin was really involved in the Ricardo deal. For all I knew, I was screwing him over. But I had to survive this encounter, and throwing Collin under the bus was the only way I saw that happening. I’d deal with the fallout later.

“Did he plan to take you to the collection?”

I hesitated, not sure of what the right answer would be. “We never got that far.”

His eyes narrowed. “Marino was never certain whether Dailey had it or not. He claimed he didn’t, but we all know that every other word out of his mouth is a lie, so we’ve been watching him and biding our time. Marino had begun to believe Dailey really didn’t have any part in the theft.” He grinned. “Until you showed up with those candlesticks. So many alarms went off in that one visit.”

My heart sped up. “So you think Collin
does
have it?”

“That or he knows where it is. Doesn’t this watch he gave you prove it?” He sat back a bit and I let out my breath. “Marino thinks that map he loves so much might have a clue about where the collection is hidden. Did you ever see anything on the map that might support that?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I barely saw it. I’ve been trying to get the map myself.”

He perked up. “You’ve been trying to get the map? Do you still have access to Collin?”

Oh, crap.
“I see him around.”

His jaw tightened as he gripped the arm of the chair with his left hand, his right still holding the gun steady. “Are you or are you not still working with Collin Dailey?” His eyebrows lifted ominously. “Think carefully about your answer.”

Shit. What should I say? Both yes and no seemed fraught with danger. If I said no, then he’d probably take me to Marino, and I
really
didn’t want to go there. If I said yes, he might kill me because of my association alone. Neither sounded like a good option. God, I hoped I was making the right choice. “Neither.”

“What
the fuck
does that mean?”

“I’m a middle-of-the-road kind of girl and I’m not big on commitment. Collin comes to me every now and then to ask me a question about antiquities. Sometimes I answer, sometimes I don’t.” I gave him a wicked smile, trying to keep my chin from quivering with fear.

He stood. “I think we need to make a trip to Buxton.”

Wrong answer. I stood and scooted around the arm of the sofa. “I’m sorry. I already have plans today.”

He pointed the gun in my direction as he leaned over and closed the lid to the box. “Change them.”

He was going to take Daddy’s watches and I really needed them now. How could I get out of this situation alive and
with
the watches? “Wait. There’s one more.” My words came out shaky. I had to get myself together to make this work.

His head lifted. “One more what? Watch?”

“Yes.”

“How do I know you’re not lying?”

I pointed to the box. “If you look closely, there’s an impression of the third watch in the case.”

He lifted the lid and leaned closer. “I’ll be damned.” He looked up, his eyes hard. “Where is it?”

I forced myself to take slow, steady breaths. “I hid it. In case Collin ever tried to take them back. Insurance.”

“Smart girl.”

“If you give me some time, I can try to get Collin to tell me where the rest of the collection is.”

He looked dubious. “You think you can really get him to cooperate?”

I put my hand on my hip. “I’m not like all of Collin’s other sluts. Don’t underestimate me. Give me until next week and I’ll have more information for you.”

“You have until tomorrow night. I’ll be here at eight.”

“My neighbors are extra nosy. Make it eleven.”

“Deal.”

I released my breath, trying not to make it obvious.

He picked up the box and tucked it under his arm.

“Wait! I still need those.”

He paused, his eyebrows raised in anticipation.

Oh, crap. What rational explanation could I come up with? “Collin is expecting them back. He won’t take me to see the entire collection if I don’t have them.”

“This better not be a trick.”

“It’s not. I swear.” I was surely going to hell for all the lies pouring out of my mouth lately, but then again, Okeus had pretty much confirmed I was going there anyway.

He moved toward the front door. “See you tomorrow night, Ellie Lancaster.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled as he walked out the door. “I can’t wait.”

After giving myself a few moments to recover, I grabbed the watches and bandages from the bathroom and headed for my car. When I got back to the inn, David was on the front porch, his full attention focused on his laptop. I parked my car on the street and walked across the yard, the box tucked under my arm.

When I opened the screen door, he looked up in surprise. “You’re back already? Where’s the pizza?”

“Something happened.”

His eyes widened in alarm. He closed his computer and set it to the side. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Just shaken up.” I paused. “Marino’s guy was in my apartment.”

He jumped out of his seat and grabbed my hand. “
What?
”

“He found Daddy’s pocket watches, and he thinks it’s proof that I’m involved with the Ricardo Estate.”

He shook his head, confused. “What watches?”

“Let’s go inside and I’ll show you.”

David picked up his laptop and opened the front door, locking it behind us once we were inside.

“They won’t be back until tomorrow night,” I said when I caught him scanning the street.

“Tell me everything.”

We went into the kitchen and I showed him the watches. I confessed to pawning the third one and told him everything that transpired in my apartment a few minutes earlier.

“Do you think Collin made the same deductions about your parents’ background that Marino did?”

I shook my head with a sigh. “No. He refused to tell me anything about the deal, saying the less I knew the better. He never once tried to get information from me about any of it.”

“Okay. So what do you want to do about tomorrow night?”

I opened the lid to the box. “I don’t know yet. Maybe tell Tom. I want to think about it. But we’re safe for the moment.”

He nodded.

I looked inside and gasped, picking up my favorite watch. “It’s the symbol.” The four-pointed star had always blended into the background of smaller stars, but after seeing it in the window this morning, it was like a neon sign.

I’d had it all along.

David reached for the watch, and I reluctantly handed it to him.

“Daddy used to carry one of two pocket watches every day. When I was little, before Momma died, we’d play a game. Every morning at breakfast, I’d try to guess which one he had in his pocket.”

“Surely he didn’t wear the other watch in this box. It looks like it should be in a museum.”

“No, it was this one and the one I sold. But this one was always my favorite. The other one was prettier, but for some reason I was always drawn to this one.”

A soft smile lifted his mouth. “I guess we know why.”

“I take it you haven’t heard anything yet?”

“No. But I just sent the e-mails out. Let’s give it a little time.”

I nodded. We didn’t
have
time, but pointing that out wouldn’t help anything.

Then it hit me: Myra said Daddy said I’d needed
time
. The watches. He’d given me a clue but I was too stupid to put it together. What else had I missed?

I shook my head. “I forgot to pick up the pizza.”

He leaned over and kissed me. “We’ll figure something else out.” He grabbed my hand and placed the watch in my palm. “But do me a favor: don’t ever consider selling these two pieces unless you are so desperate you have no other option.”

I glanced down at the timepiece, then put it back into the box. “I won’t.”

We made sandwiches for lunch before we searched my old room. After an hour of looking in every nook and cranny, we came up with nothing.

David pulled me into a hug. “Let’s take a break. I’ll check my e-mail, and then we can figure out which room to start on next.”

I put in some more laundry, fighting my rising frustration. I was beginning to accept the fact that I might never find the rest of Daddy’s notes or that mysterious ring Myra had mentioned. The most pressing issue was figuring out Ahone’s mark. The four-pointed star had turned up twice in the course of a few hours. Could I trust that we’d found it? Enough to permanently put it on my back? When I finished, I found David in the kitchen, sitting at the counter with his computer.

I opened the lid to the box and picked up the starry-sky watch and opened the cover, examining the face. It hadn’t been wound in ages, and the hands were frozen. Clutching it in my hand, I closed my eyes as warm memories of my childhood washed over me. I was a little girl again, sitting at the kitchen table with Daddy as Momma served us breakfast.

“Okay, Elliphant,” Daddy said, running his hand over the pocket of his uniform pants. “Which one today?”

“Um . . . ” I tapped my chin like Daddy sometimes did. “You wore the silver one yesterday. Maybe you wore it again to trick me.”

“You’ll never know until you guess.”

“You picked my favorite. You wore the starry sky.”

Grinning, he pulled it from his pocket, unhooked it from its chain, and put it in my hand.

“I was right!” I bounced in my seat.

“This is
your
watch,” Daddy said. “I’m just holding onto it until you need it.”

Momma scooped scrambled eggs onto my plate, then kissed the top of my head.

Daddy beamed at me, picking up his fork. “As soon as you finish breakfast, you can look for the quarter I hid.”

My eyes flew open. “I know where to look.”

David glanced up from his computer. “You do?”

“Daddy and I used to play a game when I was really little—preschool age. He would hide a quarter and I had to find it. We didn’t do it for very long. Momma said I was too good at finding them and I was getting too much money. I had completely forgotten until a moment ago.”

“So where do we look?”

“Outside.” I jumped off the stool and ran out onto the front porch, David on my heels. “I was little, but Daddy used to say he couldn’t make it too easy. He told me a good archaeologist had to know where to look. That was half the battle.” I knelt in front of the two-foot brick wall that ran along the front of the house. Running my hand over the bricks, I stopped when I found a loose one and gave it a tug. “And the adventure.”

The brick came free in my hand, and I stuck my hand inside. Something was there. My fingers snagged the folded paper and I slid it out, carefully unfolding it in my lap.

The sheet was written in neat handwriting that turned to barely legible chicken scratch at the end. I began to read:

“When Ananias discovered his village and family were gone, he headed south toward Florida to St. Augustine, where he took a French wife.”

I looked up at David in surprise. “There were French in Florida in the late 1500s?”

He nodded. “Virginia Dare may have been the first English child born in the Americas, but a Spanish child was born in this country at least twenty years earlier. If Ananias needed a wife to continue the Dare line, Florida would have been the logical place to look.”

“But this says he took a French wife.”

“There was a colony of French as well. Your Anglican history books tend to neglect such facts.”

“And how do you know this?”

“They had interactions with the Native Americans.”

“Oh.”

He leaned over the paper and continued where I left off:

“Ananias had three children with his second wife, Marie, and three generations of Dares lived in Florida, passing the legend and the curse down to the next Keeper. The history, the symbols and words of protection, how to close the gate, how to send back the gods and spirits if the gate remained open, the feud between the brother gods, and many other things.

“In 1620, Ananias LeBlanc, fourth-generation ancestor of Ananias Dare, felt a pull north. It was an inexplicable feeling, but it caused him great discomfort to ignore it. He took his wife and two children to Jamestown, Virginia. The Curse Keepers resided in Virginia until 1650, when John Williams took his pregnant wife with a group of Virginians to colonize Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. The Curse Keepers and their descendants have resided in North Carolina since, never being able to travel more than fifty to two hundred miles from Roanoke Island.”

“Yes!” I squealed. “I always thought it was agoraphobia. Only mine was worse, depending on the day. I could usually go fifty miles before feeling anxious, but I always felt uneasy about leaving the island.”