The Ghost from the Sea (6 page)

D
anielle sat
in the parking lot of the Frederickport Museum. Ever since MacDonald had suggested that Walt might have been responsible for murdering those people, she wondered what Ben from the museum had told the chief.

When she returned to Marlow House after leaving the beach, Danielle didn't mention anything to Walt about what the police had discovered after examining the skeletal remains removed from the Eva Aphrodite. She couldn't believe Walt was responsible for murdering those people—which also meant she didn't believe he knew they had been murdered.

Before sharing with Walt what she had learned at the beach, she wanted to find out what Ben had told MacDonald. It wasn't as if she didn't trust Walt, but he had already withheld information about the Eva Aphrodite, and she wondered why.

Getting out of her Ford Flex, Danielle slammed the car door shut and made her way to the front door of the museum. On route there, she remotely locked her car, and then dropped her key into the front pocket of her purse. Pushing her way through the front doorway of the museum, she was greeted by a familiar docent, Millie Samson.

“I was hoping to find Ben here,” Danielle said after saying hello and following Millie into the museum gift shop.

“Sorry, Ben won't be in today.”

“Drat. Do you know if he's at home?” Danielle asked.

Millie shook her head. “I doubt it. He mentioned something yesterday about going to Portland.”

Danielle let out a disappointed sigh and leaned against the counter.

“Maybe I could help you with something?”

“I just wanted to ask Ben about that boat that washed up over on our side of town.”

“Oh, the Eva Aphrodite!” Millie said excitedly.

“Have you seen it yet?” Danielle asked.

“Yes, I stopped by on the way here this morning. So exciting. I can't imagine where it's been all this time.”

“So you knew about the boat? I mean, before it washed up on shore?”

“Why certainly!” Millie frowned, as if Danielle had asked a silly question.

“I sort of got the impression no one at the museum would remember the Eva Aphrodite.”

“Where did you get that notion?” Millie asked. Before Danielle could answer, Millie said with a snide smirk, “Oh I know, Marie Nichols.”

“Excuse me?” Danielle feigned ignorance. The last thing she wanted to do was get in the middle of whatever issue Marie had with the museum and its board of directors.

“Marie is a friend of mine, but she likes to remind everyone how hers is the oldest family in Frederickport. Which isn't true, of course. Ben's family has been here a long time too. Not sure as long as the Hemmings, but almost.”

“I'm not really sure what that has to do with the Eva Aphrodite.”

“Well, Marie likes to imagine she has the inside scoop on all that went on back then—you know, since her family used to live across the street from Marlow House. But she was a baby when Walt Marlow killed himself and—”

“Walt Marlow was murdered,” Danielle corrected.

“Oh, that's right. I know you believe that, but I'm not really convinced.”

Danielle frowned. “Are you serious? I thought we all went over that. The old autopsy reports. What Emma Jackson told us. Certainly you aren't telling visitors to the museum Walt Marlow killed himself.”

“I think our visitors should be given all the information.”

“Given all what information?”

Millie reached over and patted Danielle's hand. “Don't look so vexed dear. Walt Marlow has been dead for a hundred years—”

“Ninety years,” Danielle corrected.

“Okay, ninety years. All I'm saying, I don't think he'll really care what we say at this point.”

“Maybe he won't, but I will,” Danielle snapped. “And as a member of the historical society, I assumed the museum gave out factual information.”

“Certainly we do! I didn't mean to imply we make up stories. I'm just saying we feel it's important to give our visitors all the information.”

“Which is?”

“That for the last hundred—I mean ninety years—it was believed Walt Marlow hung himself in the attic of Marlow House. Yet, some people seem to believe that he may have been murdered by his brother-in-law.”

“I think it's a little more than some people believe. I'd say it's been proven.”

Millie shook her head. “I don't know how you can say that, Danielle. Perhaps you should attend a few of our meetings—after all, you are a member. A few months ago, we had the most interesting debate about Walt Marlow's death and most of those in attendance disagreed with your assertion.”

“They're wrong.” Danielle could feel her blood pressure rising.

“It all makes for an interesting debate, and really dear, you should be more willing to listen to opposing views.”

Danielle suddenly regretted coming to the museum. She felt a headache coming on.

“As for the Eva Aphrodite, a few of us were discussing that just last month. Ben has been digging into our archives, when he came across some information about Walt Marlow's yacht, and how it supposedly went down in a storm.”

“Supposedly? According to Marie's father, there was a terrible storm that night.”

“True. But I guess there's more to the story than a bad storm. The passenger list, for example, included one of the wealthiest men in Portland. And his wife—according to rumors, Walt Marlow's mistress.”

Danielle stared at Millie, dazed. “Are you suggesting Walt was having an affair with a married woman?”

“Not just any married woman. But I don't have all the details. Ben is the one who's been doing the research.”

“What kind of research?” Danielle asked.

“I know he went through the old newspapers—the ones we have from that period, when the Eva Aphrodite went down. And then he has the diary that was donated a few months back.”

“What diary?”

“It was from an estate sale in Portland,” Millie explained. “When they were going through the items to sell, they came across a diary written by a Frederickport resident, from the 1920s. They donated it to the museum, and Ben's been reading it, cross referencing the information.”

“This diary—that's where this information is coming from, about Walt Marlow and a married woman?”

Marie nodded. “He managed to verify much of the information by old newspaper articles. Did you know at the time the Eva Aphrodite disappeared, Walt Marlow's business partner took off with a fortune?”

“Fortune?” Danielle remembered what Walt had said about Jack's theft, yet she didn't consider a couple thousand dollars a fortune.

“Yes. The two ran a moonshine operation. In fact, we plan to devote an entire section of the museum to Walt Marlow's dark past.”

“Dark past?” Danielle frowned.

“He was a bit like a pirate, don't you think? It will be wonderful for the museum. Such a colorful attraction!”

“Not sure I see Walt Marlow as some sort of pirate. And according to Marie, Walt's partner did take off with some money, but hardly a fortune. From what I understand, it was about a couple thousand dollars. I imagine back then it might have been considered a fortune, but not now.”

“Is that what Marie told you?” Millie chuckled. “I guess she doesn't know as much about Marlow History as she thinks.”

No, Marie didn't tell me that—Walt Marlow did.
“Why do you assume it was a fortune?”

“Because it was all gold coins.”

“Gold coins? From what I understand about Walt's illicit venture, he ferried people out to the party boats during prohibition. I can't see what that has to do with some treasure of gold coins.”

“Dear, back in Walt Marlow's day, our currency included gold coins. Real gold. Until 1933, when we went off the gold standard and the government recalled all the gold, and it was melted down. Admission to Walt Marlow's party boats was paid in gold coin—and the money his partner stole would be worth millions today.”

“Millions?”

Marie nodded. “Of course, that money was spent years ago, and I imagine, recalled with the rest of the gold in 1933. So it would only be worth millions if still intact—and it isn't.”

“What else do you know about the Eva Aphrodite?”

“Probably no more than you do, since you obviously talked to Marie. Although, I doubt Marie knows about Walt Marlow's mistress, unless her father told her. Which I suppose is possible. But if you want details, you'll have to talk to Ben. He's the one who's been reading the diary, cross-referencing events mentioned with old newspaper articles. Of course, you could look at the old newspapers yourself.”

“Are there many missing issues from that time period?” Danielle remembered how the newspaper office had burned down years before, destroying all their past issues. The only pre-fire editions in Frederickport were old issues donated to the museum by past subscribers.

“I'm pretty sure we have most of them. Here, let's go see.”

Danielle followed Millie to the back of the museum, where the old newspapers were kept chronologically, bound in large binders. Danielle sat at the table while Millie explained what years she needed to research. Before Danielle opened the first book, a new visitor arrived at the museum, calling Millie back to the entrance, and leaving Danielle alone to skim through the old newspapers.

Midway through the first binder, she found a front-page article on the missing Eva Aphrodite. The article included photographs of the missing passengers, along with a group shot of the crew. Danielle couldn't help but wonder which one of these women was supposedly Walt's mistress. The notion that he would have an affair with a married woman troubled her. She couldn't help but think of how hurt she had been when she discovered her own husband had been unfaithful. Danielle told herself not to be judgmental.

She flipped through the pages of the newspapers. As she got to the end of that year, she found it curious that even three months after the boat went missing, the newspaper ran articles speculating on the possibility those on board were still alive—somewhere. After all, the boat was never found. Yet it was found now, and according to Chief MacDonald, those on board had died long ago, each shot in the head.

She turned back several pages, coming to another article on the missing boat, along with a large photograph of three of the women who, according to the story, had been on the Eva Aphrodite when it went missing. Danielle had seen their pictures in several of the other articles, yet this was the first one where all three women were in the same photograph—smiling happily into the camera's lens, unaware that in just a few weeks, their young lives would meet such tragedy. The photograph was apparently taken at a charity event just a month prior to the fateful voyage.

Danielle stared at the image; each woman was dressed in her best finery. Silently, Danielle ran a fingertip over the picture, wondering what it had been like for the women—had their spirits lingered on the boat after they were killed or had they quickly moved on.

Taking a deep breath, Danielle stood up and took her iPhone out of her purse. Turning on the desk lamp, she positioned the open book to maximize the lighting. Tapping the camera app on her phone, she looked through the iPhone and snapped a picture, capturing the image of the three women. After checking the results, she turned the page and took another picture—and then another.

Danielle spent the next thirty minutes patiently taking pictures of the various articles and photographs on the missing Eva Aphrodite. She was about to close the book when she noticed another article. This one wasn't on the missing boat, but on Walt's missing friend—Jack Winters. Danielle took a moment to read the article, before taking its picture.

I
nstead of going straight home
, Danielle stopped at the police station. She wanted to initiate a conversation with Jack's ghost but knew that would be impossible with someone from the department standing guard by the wreckage. She hoped the chief was ready to go back to the beach and relieve whatever officer he had assigned to the duty.

She had just entered the hallway leading to the inner offices when she spied Joe and Brian, standing a few feet from the closed door of Chief MacDonald's office. They seemed to be deep in conversation.

Joe noticed her first, heading for MacDonald's office. “The chief's on the phone.”

“Well nice to see you too, Joe,” Danielle quipped. She glanced at his partner and said, “Afternoon, Brian.”

“The chief is on the phone,” Brian said.

“Yes, I know. He was talking to me.” Flashing them a parting grin, she opened the chief's door and entered the office, without another comment.

Joe stared at the now closed door. “He didn't say it was Danielle on the phone.”

“No, but he did make it clear he wanted to take the call in private.” Brian chuckled.

“Don't go there. You keep trying to imply there's something going on with those two.”

Brian shrugged. “And if there is, why do you care? I thought you were with Kelly.”

“Doesn't mean Danielle isn't still my friend.”

“You two didn't seem very friendly a moment ago. And if you are friends, why would you be opposed to her being with someone like the chief? I'd think you'd see it as an improvement over Glandon. That guy might have money, but I'm still not convinced he didn't have something to do with that woman's disappearance.”

“I just thought she should know he was on the phone, that's all. How did I know she was the one he was talking to?”

“
S
o what came up
?” Danielle asked the chief as she sat down in a chair facing the desk. “Why'd you have to come back here right away?”

“We found something interesting on the boat. I'd like to get you down to the beach, see what you can find out from your ghost.”

“I said he isn't my ghost.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the chief waived his hand dismissively. “You know what I mean. But I'd love to see what he knows about this.” MacDonald pointed to a metal box sitting on the center of his desk. Danielle then noticed there were two metal boxes, sitting side by side. Next to them was what appeared to be a handkerchief, spread out and draped over something lumpy.

“You found that in the boat?”

“One of them anyway.” He pointed to the other box. “This one is mine. I bought it not long ago at Walmart. The other one, we found in the boat this morning. According to the sticker still affixed to the bottom of the box, it's also from Walmart.”

“Are you saying someone recently put that on the boat?”

The chief nodded.

“What's in it?”

The chief reached for the handkerchief and lifted it from the desk. “This was.”

Danielle's eyes widened. She stood up and took a closer look at the vintage jewelry arranged on the desk. “Is it real?”

“I don't think it's costume jewelry. Joe's giving that jeweler from Astoria a call, to see if he can come appraise this stuff and help us figure out where it may have come from. I have to assume it's stolen. But how it got on that boat, that's the mystery. I didn't notice right away, but there was a little saltwater in the bottom of the box. Makes me think it was submerged for a while, and a little water leaked in. The lid fits tightly, but I wouldn't call it watertight.”

Danielle pulled her iPhone out of her purse. “Do you mind if I take pictures of it?”

“Go ahead, but I'd prefer you keep this between us for right now.”

Danielle gave him a nod, and then proceeded to photograph the jewelry. When she was done, she kept her attention on the phone's screen while she sat back down. She opened her picture app to see how the photographs had turned out.

Danielle stood abruptly, her eyes still on her iPhone as she flipped through the photos stored on the device. “I don't believe this!”

MacDonald frowned. “What?”

She looked up at MacDonald, her heart now racing. “Before I came over here, I went to the museum, to see if Ben was there.”

MacDonald leaned back in his chair and studied Danielle. “You wanted to talk to Ben yourself?”

“Ben wasn't there, so I looked through the old newspapers.”

“And?”

“There was a picture of three women who'd been on the boat when it disappeared. The photograph was taken at some charity event, a few weeks before the Eva Aphrodite went missing. They were all dressed up.”

“I remember seeing that photograph. I looked through the newspapers too.”

“And you don't remember anything…interesting?” Danielle practically smirked.

He leaned forward, studying Danielle's curious expression. “Interesting how?”

“Here, you look again.” Adeptly, Danielle's fingers located the photograph of the three women. She enlarged it and handed the phone to the chief.

Holding the cellphone by its edge, so as not to accidentally touch the screen and close the window, he studied the picture. For a moment, he stared at it wondering what Danielle could possibly be seeing. Letting out a bored sigh, he continued to study the picture, when suddenly he saw what she was talking about.

Abruptly, he stood up, looking from the iPhone in his hand, to the necklaces arranged on his desktop. “No, that's impossible.”

“If nothing else, a bizarre coincidence.”

“How could it be the same jewelry?” he muttered.

“The necklaces those women are wearing in that photograph certainly look exactly like what you found on the boat. Now, if it was just the pearl necklace, well maybe I'd think it was just two similar looking pearl necklaces. But those other two—especially the cameo…” Danielle shook her head in disbelief.

The chief looked again from the phone to the jewelry. After a moment, he handed Danielle back her phone and then sat back down. “Finding their necklaces on that boat would not be unusual—considering that's the last place those women were seen alive. Yet, finding the jewelry stored in a box purchased from Walmart—that makes no sense.”

“What, no Walmart in the 1920s?” Danielle teased. “Maybe Jack can shed a little light on all this.”

MacDonald glanced at his watch. “I can't leave right now.”

Danielle stood up. “Then I guess I'll have to go down to the beach, and see if there's someway I can talk to Jack's spirit without looking insane.”

“Or you can wait for me.”

“What if Jack decides it's time to move on before you can get down there and tell your officer he can leave?”

MacDonald nodded. “Okay. I suppose if another one of my officers thinks you're a little crazy, no harm.”

“Ha, ha. Funny.”

He leaned back in his chair again and looked up at Danielle, who stood before his desk, prepared to leave. “You know, if it wasn't for that metal box, you might have some more jewelry to sell.”

Danielle frowned. “What do you mean?”

“For all intents and purposes, you're Walt Marlow's heir.”

“I was my aunt's heir.”

“And if Renton hadn't been caught embezzling from her estate, it may have never been established that you were her sole heir, except for several specific donations to charity.”

“I still don't see where you're going with this, or what it has to do with the box.”

“Your aunt, through her mother, was Marlow's sole heir. That inheritance was passed to you. Therefore, technically speaking, the Eva Aphrodite belongs to you.”

“Yes I know. You mentioned I might be responsible for hauling it off.”

The chief chuckled. “One might argue anything left on the boat would belong to you. It's not like the boat was discovered on the bottom of the ocean—so not sure how marine salvage laws would apply. Now, had someone else discovered the jewelry, they might be able to claim it under treasure trove laws, which in Oregon are more generous towards trespassers.”

“Trespassers?” Danielle asked.

“Take for example the Missing Thorndike. Had someone like Joanne found the necklace when she was cleaning the house, or even Adam or Bill, when they pulled that stunt and broke in, they may have had a legitimate claim to the necklace under Oregon law.”

Danielle shook her head. “That doesn't seem right.”

“If Ian hadn't uncovered that old will, showing Walt had been the legal owner of the necklace, and since there doesn't seem to be anyone from the Thorndike family still around, it's entirely possible the courts would have awarded the Missing Thorndike to whoever found it. And that could have included Adam and Bill.”

Danielle considered his words for a moment. Finally, she said, “Hmm, interesting. So what about this treasure? Not that I'm staking any claim to it. As it is, I already have a ridiculously expensive necklace sitting in my safety deposit box.”

“Considering what we found it stashed in, I don't believe the jewelry falls under treasure trove laws. My guess, we're looking at stolen property.”

“How did it get on that boat?” she asked.

“I've been thinking about that. I know by the condition of the boat's interior, one would think it had been under water. But I don't think that means sitting on the bottom of the ocean somewhere. That doesn't make sense. A sunken ship doesn't just float to the top and then find its way home after a hundred years.”

“So what happened?”

“Most likely scenario, it was a ghost ship. We know the people on board were murdered, and it didn't go down in the storm. So it could have been floating around on the ocean all these years. I've heard of that happening before. Maybe along the way it settled in some hidden cove and was discovered by modern day pirates, who stashed their loot there. Maybe the tide took it back out to sea, and it eventually ended up here.”

“I noticed a pretty big hole in its stern.”

“Which could have happened when it was beached somewhere, hitting against the rocks. Could also explain the water damage inside, which makes it look like it had been underwater for years.”

“All good theories, but tell me chief, how is it your modern day pirates got ahold of jewelry belonging to the passengers of the Eva Aphrodite?”

The chief considered the question for a moment, and then smiled. “Perhaps these pirates didn't have to look far to find their treasure.”

“What are you suggesting?” Danielle asked.

“Perhaps our ghost ship was tucked away in some hidden cove somewhere, and was discovered by someone who explored the ship—and found the jewelry.”

“And they just left it there?” Danielle asked.

“Maybe they weren't done exploring the ship, and didn't think it was going anywhere. So they stored their found loot in a metal box they brought down to the ship, and intended to remove it later.”

Danielle considered the chief's suggestion. Before responding, she studied the jewelry laid out on the desk. “There is just one problem with that scenario.”

“What's that?”

“Look at that jewelry. It certainly doesn't look as if it's been exposed to the elements for almost a century—and it definitely hasn't been under water."