A lethal legacy, p.10
A Lethal Legacy, page 10
Kieran could be ready to do just about anything in five minutes—something else that he loved about her.
Finn, Elayne and Margie were at the table when they came down; Danny was helping himself to coffee from the buffet.
Finn rose politely. “Thanks for coming down,” he said.
“Thank you for breakfast—you and Evie and your staff, of course,” Craig said. Kieran had headed over to help herself to coffee as well. He waited for the two of them to come to the table.
“Morning!” Elayne said brightly.
Margie, dull eyed, tried a weak smile.
“Morning,” Kieran said.
Mike made his way to the table, and they went through the greeting ritual again. When they were all seated, Finn turned to Craig.
“Anything new?” he asked hopefully.
“Finn,” Craig told his cousin, his tone as gentle as he could manage, “we’re investigating. Investigating takes time.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Margie said. “He’s dead—the rest just doesn’t matter. Nothing will bring him back. But he does need a decent burial. Or interment. He was the last of his family, but there’s a place for him. Calvary Cemetery, in Queens. He belongs in his family’s vault. He wasn’t sure what he believed, but his family was Catholic.”
“I’m sure his friends will want to pay their respects,” Kieran told her, and Kieran’s voice, of course was very kind and soft. “I’m sure you want to write his obituary and get it to the paper, and make sure there is time for his friends to arrange to be at a service.”
“How do you plan if people are still ripping his body up?” Margie asked with a little sob.
“I’m sure his body will be released soon,” Craig said.
“Do you know what funeral home you’d like to use?” Danny asked. “When you’ve made the arrangements—”
He didn’t finish. Margie sobbed and leaped up from the table, fled the room and raced up the stairs.
They were all silent at the table for a moment.
“I’m sorry. I meant to be helpful,” Danny said.
“It’s not you,” Finn assured him. “It’s... Margie is just having a really hard time with this. I suggested that she leave the island again. She said she isn’t going anywhere until she can see that Frank is given a proper send-off.”
“I’ll speak with the medical examiner. See if they can hurry things along,” Craig told him.
“Have you discovered anything interesting at all?” Elayne asked.
“We’ve confirmed pretty much what we already know—it’s a fascinating island with an incredibly rich history. We’re going exploring again,” Craig said.
“Maybe you’ll find yet another body,” Finn said.
“Finn!” Elayne placed a hand on his. “Finn, those bones were so old...whoever they belonged to—they’ve been gone a long, long time!”
“True.” Finn sighed.
“The anthropologist was thrilled that you found them,” Elayne reminded him dryly. “She believes she’ll find fascinating information through them. It was a creepy discovery!” she said, shuddering. “But good for science.”
“Right. Are you going back to the same area?” Finn asked.
“We plan to follow the tunnels farther,” Craig said.
“Bones!” Danny said. “And a forensic anthropologist. All that happening while we were sitting there with a pile of books,” he added, looking over at his sister.
“But maybe you’ll find another skeleton today,” Elayne said brightly.
“Elayne,” Finn groaned.
“Sorry. But they’re old bones. No matter what, the bones belonged to a man who would have been dead several hundred years,” Elayne told him. She turned to Kieran. “We could go into the city and have a spa day if you like.”
“A spa day sounds incredible,” Kieran said politely. “But I’m going to go with Mike and Craig and Danny.”
“As you wish,” Elayne said. “A creepy old tunnel—or a lovely spa with champagne and all good things.”
“Maybe you could get Margie to go in with you. That might be good for her,” Kieran suggested.
“She won’t leave the island.”
“Finn, maybe a couples’ day for you would be fun,” Mike Dalton suggested, clearing his throat and speaking up. “You’re going to be setting up a resort—with a spa, I’m assuming. It would be a bit of respite—and a bit of research.”
But Finn shook his head. “I’ll be working with the contractor and meeting with the engineers,” he said. Then he turned to Elayne. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, my love. I’ll try to get Margie out to at least sit on the beach with me.”
“There’s a plan,” Danny said.
Evie Summers swept into the dining room, followed by a tall, brawny man in his late forties or early fifties, a big fellow with the kind of mustache and beard that made Craig think of a lumberjack.
“Excuse me, I hope the breakfast buffet is satisfactory?” She frowned. “You haven’t even opened the chafing dishes yet. It’s not good to live on coffee alone!” she chastised.
“We’re going to eat, Evie, I promise,” Finn said.
“You must!” Evie told him. “I wanted your friends to meet Victor, as well.”
“Apologies,” Finn said quickly. “I wasn’t thinking.” He stood. “Craig, Mike, Danny, Kieran—this is Victor Eider. He’s been with me for years. He’s my assistant.”
The man introduced as Victor laughed. “I’m a glorified handyman,” he told them, smiling. “But I do try to assist in all things. If you need something you can’t find, if something isn’t working, if you need any kind of help, please just let me know.”
Kieran thanked him, and her words were echoed by the others.
“I’m going to be working on the pool, if you’re looking for me... Nice to meet you all,” Victor said, and he exited the dining room.
“Good Lord, are you going to make your plates, or do you need me to do it for you?” Evie asked.
“No, no, we can do it, Evie,” Finn promised. And they all stood, as if they were children who had properly been scolded and were now going to behave.
Craig saw Kieran looking at him, slightly amused. He gave her a shrug and a smile in return.
They could at least start off the day with a good breakfast.
While they ate, Kieran made a point of turning the conversation away from the island, old bones and Frank’s death. She asked Finn about the Bahamas, told him about her own experiences enjoying those tropical islands and asked about his work there.
Finn enthusiastically talked about opening resorts. “I swear, I don’t do things for the rich and famous. I love creating something that’s an affordable fantasy. Sure, we have things that may appeal to the bigger budget, but the real thrill is giving something special to those who might not be able to afford the high-priced places. I remember my mom...”
His voice trailed for a minute.
Craig decided to take the high road. “Your mom thought vacations were needed most by those who worked the hardest. She would be thrilled with what you’re doing.”
Finn cast him an appreciative smile. “I’m going to name it after her,” he said softly.
After they finished eating and cleared up, Mike led Kieran, Craig and Danny back to the storage shed. Mike again insisted they have rope and picks and other paraphernalia. Kieran packed them bottles of water and a handful of snacks.
Then they headed out over the cliffs. When they reached the shrub-covered opening to the cave and tunnel, Craig hesitated.
“It’s a drop,” he told Kieran.
She looked at him, arching a brow. “And what would make you think I’ve suddenly become terribly uncoordinated?”
“What would make him think that you had suddenly become coordinated at all?” Danny teased.
She socked him in the arm.
“No cause for violence!” Mike said.
Craig groaned aloud. “I’ll go first. Give me the lanterns. Kieran, I’ll catch you. Danny—I’ll catch you, too.”
They were all quickly down; with four of them wielding high-powered flashlights, they were able to illuminate a good section of the cave’s entry. Still, the tunnel before them stretched out into darkness, with small shafts that led off in many directions.
“Wow!” Danny said.
“Where was the skeleton discovered?” Kieran asked.
“A few feet down, there, on the boulder. The skull had fallen, but the way that the man had been set up—as if sitting guard—the rest of the bones didn’t crumble,” Craig told her. “We called in right away. Egan found our anthropologist and she came out with a representative from the medical examiner’s office. Authority over the bones was given to the anthropologist.”
“Did you all dig around in the area?” Danny asked.
“No,” Craig said.
“We didn’t get very far,” Mike said. “Once we found the remains...we had to call it in.”
“Don’t you think we should go farther?” Craig asked.
“You have the maps, right?” Danny asked. “The third in the series that I gave you is a supposed pirate map—made by a Captain Nathaniel Argus. He found bodies and, in his log, swears that he and his crew did not kill those that they found. I wonder if your bones might well prove to be those of the dead pirates he found. Argus believes that he and his men survived the island because they sought the treasure and left quickly. They did not explore all the tunnels—he didn’t like it. Gut feeling—he wanted him and his men off the island as quickly as possible. He believed it was a cursed place.”
“So—he left one of the dead men to guard the entrance?” Kieran asked.
“So it seems,” said Danny dramatically.
“I think we need to go farther,” Craig told them.
“Why don’t you and Danny go ahead?” Kieran asked him. “I’d love to look here. Mike can stay with me. If you don’t mind, Mike?”
“I’m here to explore as directed,” Mike assured her. She smiled.
It was good that Kieran and his partner got along so well, Craig thought. He was a lucky man.
But he was anxious to move forward, and it seemed that Danny was equally ready to see what lay ahead.
“All right—just watch out. None of us knows what is really going on here,” he said.
He and Danny started walking down the tunnel, raising their lanterns high to see to each side. He’d given Danny the map he’d requested.
“Stop, hey, just a second. There should be a shaft off to our left,” Danny said.
Craig stopped, raising his light. It seemed that there had been some kind of a rockfall—the wall there wasn’t sheer as it had been.
“Closed over now, so it looks,” Craig said. But then, perhaps because of the way he’d discovered the entry the day before, he dropped down.
“Danny.”
“Yeah?”
“There’s an opening. The only way through, though, would be to get flat and crawl through it.”
“Maybe the entry was always this way.” Danny sounded excited. “Maybe that’s where the pirates hid their gold.”
“I don’t know, Danny. This map was made by the survivors. According to what you read, the pirate captain hated the island and wanted to get off it as quickly as possible. Why would he have hidden treasure instead of taking it?”
“Ah, come on, Craig! It’s a mysterious tunnel!”
He grinned. Danny was right. How did you ignore a mysterious tunnel?
“All right, Danny, but we need to let Kieran and Mike know what we found. We’ll start back to tell them—”
“Hey!”
The yell came from the entrance.
Craig hurried back, Danny on his heels.
He stopped, seeing Mike on the path ahead of him.
“Is everything all right?” he called.
“Come see what Kieran found.”
Craig frowned, walking back.
He and Mike and the anthropologist and the medical examiner and two other assistants from the mainland had spent several hours looking over that area.
How the hell had Kieran found something?
He moved along and lifted his flashlight. And there was Kieran, her face smudged and dirty, smiling.
“You found the pirate treasure?” he asked her.
“Better,” she said softly.
“Better?”
“Two things,” she told him. “This...”
She raised her hand, and he studied the little piece of trash she had raised.
It was a candy wrapper.
“A historic candy wrapper?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Craig, there were a bunch of rocks that looked to me as if they’d been moved to where they were, specifically. And yet, whoever had set them up didn’t want it to appear that they’d been set there on purpose. I moved the rocks—they were heavy, by the way—and I found this! But, Craig, it means that someone else was here. And if Frank never found this opening, it means that someone was definitely here other than Frank or Finn or someone who had a right to be here!”
“Right,” he said softly.
“Oh, and a few inches down in the dirt under the rocks, I found this!” she said.
She lifted a second, small dirt-encrusted object. The light from his lantern caught on it. It appeared to be nothing more than a small piece of metal.
“Pirate...gold?” he asked.
She shook her head.
Danny answered, “Oh, my God! It’s a bracteate!”
“A what?” Craig asked.
She nodded happily. “A bracteate—a piece of jewelry. At least, I think so. We need to get it cleaned up.”
“What the hell is a bractite—or whatever you said?” Mike asked.
“A medal. Bracteate,” Kieran said. “An ornament or amulet. And if so... Craig, it would mean that John Smith was right. Well, maybe not about the Ark, but it would mean that the Vikings had definitely been here. We’ll have to find an expert, but... Craig, it could mean that some of the legends about this place are real, and if this is here, and if the bones found dated from the pirate days... Craig, it’s just more than likely that someone has been out here, hiding out here, and searching for treasure—someone who is more than willing to kill. Who knows what else we’ll find if we keep going!”
CHAPTER SIX
FROM A VERY exciting start, Kieran thought, it became a long and grueling day that basically yielded nothing else.
Craig and Danny had found a side tunnel. It was intriguing to say the least, but after they had entered the tunnel—lying flat on their backs and rolling to make the entry—they found nothing. Nothing but stretch after stretch of tunnels that led ever deeper into the rock cliffs.
“There have to be more access points to this,” Danny said, as they hit sheer wall at last. “I mean, a tunnel this long, this size...we missed something.”
“Time plays havoc with geography,” Craig reminded Danny.
“Maybe we should have stayed on the main path,” Mike said. “And maybe this is going to take a long time.”
“According to this supposed pirate map I have, there are entrances, but it seems that...that they aren’t here. Maybe the map is no good,” Danny said.
“What about going back to the main tunnel?” Kieran asked. “There are all kinds of smaller ones snaking out of it.”
“It is going to be a long haul,” Craig said. “But our cave expert should arrive tonight. We’ll start again in the morning.”
Mike agreed.
“We did find something—something that might prove to be incredibly important,” Kieran said. “We could show it to John Smith and see what he has to say.”
Craig was silent a moment. “I want to meet Smith. We should get him and his assistant out here. But I don’t think I want to share any of our discoveries with anyone yet. I’m not even telling Finn anything—except on a need-to-know basis. I think I’ll talk to Egan. He’ll know someone who can authenticate your find, Kieran. As for now...”
“I need a shower,” Mike said. “There’s a great shower in the room I have. New-fangled head that has a pulse...just phenomenal.”
“Maybe we should have changed rooms,” Craig murmured. He looked at Kieran.
“We’re fine,” she said, smiling.
“And if you move, I have to move,” Danny said. “I don’t want to be by myself in the attic.”
“Okay, let’s just get back,” Craig said.
Going down into the tunnel had been easy enough, but it took them another forty minutes to climb out. For Kieran, it was okay getting back up out of the opening—Craig just lifted her.
He stayed until the end, giving the others a boost. Then he crawled out himself, emerging completely dredged in cave dust and dirt.
Craig pulled out his phone. He looked over at Mike. “Bracken Silverheels wants to meet off the island first. Finnegan’s, seven thirty—we should have time to make that.”
“We’re going to go back to the city again?” Kieran asked.
“Yeah, I have some Coast Guard friends coming by. You don’t have to come,” Craig told her.
“Oh no, I’ll come,” she said. She was looking at her own phone then.
Jay Harding—the ancient-alien theorist—had gotten back to her. He was extremely eager to meet with her; he was always happy to expound on his realm of knowledge.
“It’s Jay Harding—the alien guy,” she said.
“And?” Craig demanded.
“He’s excited to meet me. I’m going to set it up—” She smiled at Craig. “I’ll meet him at Finnegan’s, too—we’ll get tables far enough away so that you can look as if you’re just getting together with an old FBI buddy. And I’ll be safe in case he’s a weirdo.”
As they walked back around the island to the house, Kieran moved ahead with Danny.
