Cracked to Death (19 page)

Chapter 32

 

Savannah turned off her cell phone alarm as quickly as she could to avoid waking Mrs. Blake. She had sent the Rosenberg twins home and had taken over the watch for the night. Mrs. Webberly had promised to take in Rooney, so she had covered that worry. The nursing staff had brought her bedding to use with the visitor's chair, which could be converted into a bed. It was uncomfortable, but it was better than trying to sit and sleep.

Mrs. Blake woke up twice in the night but didn't panic and tear her way out of the oxygen tent. Plus, her breathing seemed easier. The nurses felt this was a good sign.

After folding her chair bed back into its daytime configuration, Savannah folded the sheets and blankets into a neat package and placed them in the closet. She was convinced at least another night at the hospital would be in the cards.

She told the head nurse to expect Rachel and Faith at any minute, then picked Edward up at his condo. It was five o'clock on the dot.

“I grabbed us some scones from Queen's Head.” Edward handed one to Savannah after he had settled into the Mini. “I've also got a thermos of coffee.”

“Thanks. This seems like the kind of morning when even my coffee needs coffee.”

“Funny. Any word on Amanda?”

“I called Lindsey last night, and they had held Amanda in custody. If she hadn't fled, I think she would have been able to come back to the hospital.”

They drove slowly by Captain Collins's small concrete-block house, which was not far from Park Street but was definitely in a small working-class neighborhood. There was no one around. There were several cars parked in his driveway, but his truck was gone from the carport.

“I think we'll park on the next block and walk down the alleyway. It's our best chance at looking around without the neighbors finding out and telling him,” Savannah said.

“Is this wise?” Edward looked sideways at her. “No one walks in America. We'll stick out like tourists.”

“Good point. Let's see what I can find.”

She circled a few blocks and happened upon a nearby neighborhood park. “This will do. We can be early morning walkers, and then we'll veer off to get a good look at Captain Collins's place.”

After making a show of power walking around the small park, they arrived at the back of the house. Savannah walked into the screened-in lanai in the back and opened the back door.

“This is just plain wrong. No one leaves their house unlocked these days,” she said.

“Look at this.” Edward pointed to the metal doorjamb. “It's been bent by something, like a screwdriver. Someone has broken into his house.”

“Do you think they're still in there?”

“I don't think so. Listen. It's too quiet.”

“Lucky for us and Amanda, as well.”

The back door opened directly into a kitchen that hadn't been updated since the house was built in the 1950s. A terrazzo floor, popcorn ceilings, painted kitchen cabinets over square-tile countertops with ancient grouting screaming for a good cleaning. Coffee cups were sitting in the sink, but all was reasonably neat. The living room was open to the kitchen and was furnished with a sectional, a side chair, and a large flat-screen television mounted on the far wall.

“Nothing much here.” Savannah put her hands on her hips. “We need to find something to help Amanda.”

“Let's see what's in the bedrooms. It looks like there are only two.”

They walked down the hall and peeked into a small bathroom with mint-green fixtures.

“Ugh,” grunted Savannah. “If he keeps all this original, this will be worth something in about twenty more years.”

The bedroom facing the street was obviously used by Captain Collins. There was a bed with only one bedside table, which held a lamp and a tall stack of books. The only other furniture in the room was a chest of drawers.

“Nothing here. One last room, and then we're done.” Edward opened the door to the second bedroom. “Ha! Here's where he's cleaning them.”

The open door revealed three tables set along the perimeter of the small bedroom, with a chair in front of each table. All were stacked with uncleaned blue bottles on the right, and a towel sat in the center, surrounded by brushes, scrubbing pads, and cleaning liquids. The left side was obviously reserved for the cleaned bottles, but there weren't any.

“No wonder they're out getting more bottles today,” said Savannah as she picked up one of the uncleaned bottles. “These are originals—not the copies. I wish I knew what it means. There's what? Only seven bottles ready for cleaning?” She pulled out her cell and began taking pictures of everything in the room.

Edward moved over to another table, which was set up for packaging. There was a flat stack of boxes ready to be assembled, along with a small roll of bubble wrap. Pens, labels, and two kinds of packing tape were lined up, ready to use.

Savannah stood beside him and snapped a few pictures of that table, as well.

“Hey, we'd better get out of here.” He looked at his watch. “It looks like people should be coming in to work on these last few bottles and then to start on the ones they bring up today.”

“Right,” said Savannah. “One last picture.” She took a wide shot of the entire room.

They had reached the back door when they heard a key unlocking the front door. They ran like deer but froze in their tracks at the sound of a pump-action shotgun racking and a loud “Stop right where you are!”

Edward and Savannah instinctively raised their hands.

“Turn around slowly.”

They carefully faced a very large shotgun barrel that was being pointed at them by Captain Collins.

“What's going on? What are you doing in my house?”

“Sorry. We tried to call, but there was no answer,” said Savannah. She swallowed hard to calm her shaky voice. “The door was already busted open, and we thought you might be hurt. We wanted only to talk to you about Martin and his salvage dives.”

“You two are messing around in something you don't understand. It can get you killed.” He waved the shotgun alternately between the two of them. “Martin has already paid the price for being too curious. Is that what you want, as well?”

Edward slowly lowered one hand and grabbed Savannah by the upper arm. “No! We don't want to bother you at all. Now that we see you're fine, we'll just be getting along. No worries at all, mate.”

They watched as Captain Collins lowered the shotgun and waved them away with his other hand.

They scooted out the door like the scared rabbits they were.

Back in the Mini, they put some distance between themselves and the captain's house before pulling into a drugstore parking lot. Edward poured good strong coffee into the cup of the thermos and handed it over to Savannah.

She sipped the brew down to the bottom of the cup and sighed, “Heaven. I feel nearly human.”

Edward smiled. “I definitely prefer you in the human state.” He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss. “Good morning.”

“It's been an awful week, hasn't it? We haven't had a minute alone since . . . since this business with Martin began. I'm sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? This is what we do. We help friends in trouble.”

“I don't feel like we're helping Amanda at the moment. I can't seem to figure out what the bottles have to do with Martin's death. Why are there copies? Who is making copies? What could Martin have discovered to make Captain Collins kill him?”

“It's not coming together, is it?” Edward reached for her cup and refilled it.

“We've never collected the clues in a sensible order. We always have to figure out what all the disjointed facts mean when viewed from the killer's perspective. I've never felt so inept.”

“This isn't helping. What next?”

Savannah gulped down the second cup of coffee. “Right now I don't have a clue how to point Detective Parker to Captain Collins. Although very scary, pointing a shotgun at us will not be enough to clear Amanda.” She drained the cup and handed it back to Edward. “I think I'll take a long run with Rooney. I do my best thinking when we're running. Let's meet at the studio in about an hour. I'll call Jacob and see if he can help us figure out what to do next.”

Chapter 33

 

Savannah stood in front of the corkboard, pinning up a picture of Captain Collins next to the blue bottles. “Let's go back to square one and see if there's anything else we can discover. Let's think about what we've done. Have we exhausted everything?”

Jacob sat straight in his chair. “We haven't found the bottles.”

Savannah bit the corner of her lip. “We've talked to Amanda's lawyer. Is there anything else we can learn?”

“What about researching the ship that carried the bottles?” Edward asked. “Did it reach its port?”

“We don't think it did, but we don't have solid evidence. Jacob, do you think your librarian friend could help with the history of the ship?”

“Yes.”

Savannah pinned up a picture of a period merchant ship. “One of the things it can lead to is a more likely location for the genuine Bristol blue bottles. Then we can have Paul and Julie help us find where Captain Collins is salvaging them.”

“It's frustrating,” Edward said.

“Why don't we all talk to Jacob's librarian.” Savannah grabbed her keys.

They drove down to the main library on Ninth Avenue and got there a few minutes after it opened at noon. Savannah and Edward followed Jacob and Suzy into the mid-century-style building. It had recently been remodeled to return it to its original look after an unfortunate eighties update. It was the first time Savannah had been in the building since she'd used it for high school research papers.

“Oh, wow! This is nice. It looks more fifties than the original fifties,” she noted.

Savannah and Edward followed Jacob and Suzy as they turned left at the first corner and walked into a large room with generously sized worktables surrounded by cases and cabinets with every type, size, and flavor of reference materials. Behind a row of desks sat the librarian. She was a young, fresh-faced hipster who wore her red hair in a topknot decorated with number two yellow pencils. The nameplate in front of her desk read
BETSY KING
.

“Good morning, Jacob.” Ms. King came out from behind her desk to lift up Suzy and give her cuddles. “Good morning, Suzy. Thanks for bringing my favorite patron in this morning. He always brings me a research challenge that makes my day. Who is with you, Jacob?”

Jacob stood taller. “Good morning, Miss Betsy. Miss Betsy, this is Miss Savannah Webb. She owns the glass shop where I work. This is my friend Edward Morris. He owns Queen's Head Pub, and he helps when we investigate cases for the police. We're here to ask more questions about the case of the cracked bottle.”

Savannah and Edward looked at each other. They were impressed with Jacob's longest speech ever.

Jacob beamed at Savannah and then turned back to Betsy. “We have another research task. The blue bottles I asked about earlier this week could have been cargo on a ship leaving Bristol, England, and travelling to America sometime between the years seventeen eighty and eighteen thirty.” He smiled at her. “We need to know the name of any ship captured by Gaspar the Pirate.”

Betsy lit up like a Christmas tree. “Fantastic! I have my notes on the Bristol blue bottles, so I'll expand the search to include known cargo shipments to America that were insured and lost at sea.”

“Yes, ma'am. That is the exact information we need,” Jacob said.

“This will take a little time, however. If you would like to have a little walk around the place, I should have something to report in about thirty minutes.” She looked at her watch. “Be back about twelve thirty.”

Savannah jerked her head back. “Are you sure?”

The librarian nodded. “I have some friends I can contact who will be able to tell me quickly if the records exist. Then it's a matter of getting them to send them to me. Easy!”

“Suzy and I will be looking at the DVDs.”

Savannah watched Jacob lead Suzy into the main stacks in the next large room. She turned to Edward. “I'm so frustrated. Each bit of information leads only to more questions. Nothing is leading to answers.”

“It will.” Edward looked at her. He reached out and took her hand. “We're doing the best we can.”

“It's not good enough. Amanda has been taken in for questioning, and we have only hours before she is charged, then transferred over to the county jail.” She looked at her watch. “They'll probably do it on Monday.”

“Let's walk in the back garden.”

Edward turned, led Savannah back the way they had come, and pulled her outside, and they walked along a winding path that ended up at a lake's edge. A short bench faced the lake, and Edward sat and pulled Savannah down next to him. “Just relax. We're doing everything we can at the moment.”

“I know. I know.” Savannah lifted her feet onto the bench and leaned into Edward's shoulder. They sat there in the shade, a faint breeze rustling the leaves. In a few more minutes, the sound of birds was the only conversation. It felt perfectly natural.

Savannah drifted off and awoke to Edward's jostling.

“It's been a half hour. Let's see what she has found,” he said.

Betsy was standing at the desk, waving at them to come over when Savannah, Edward, and Jacob rounded the corner. Jacob picked up Suzy, and they stood like children awaiting the call to lunch.

“There was indeed a ship carrying a large cargo of freshly manufactured Bristol blue bottles in eighteen thirty-eight. The name of the vessel was the
Blue Lady
. Her last known location was St. Augustine, but she never reached the Port of Galveston and was reported as captured by pirates, with all souls lost.” She paused and looked up from her notes. “Sadly, it was the way of it. The entire crew would have been killed or conscripted at threat of death.”

Savannah turned to Jacob. “This is what we're trying to find. Let's go back and look at your maps and see if we can target more sites for Paul and Julie to examine.”

Back at the studio, they stood around the conference table, and even Suzy was sniffing the papers, looking for a likely place on the old maps but one that was out of the way on the new charts.

Edward and Savannah mainly stood back while Jacob's fingers traced incomprehensible paths on both the old maps and the new charts that Savannah bought at the marine store. After a long wait, he pointed at one of the new charts. “This is the best place to look.”

“Why?” asked Savannah. “I don't see the logic of your choice.”

Jacob pointed to a large sheet of paper on the conference table. It was a hand-drawn marine chart of the inlets and channels near the beach where Martin's body was found. He adjusted it until it lined up perfectly with the edge of the conference table.

“This chart is a compilation of all the charts available during the time of Gaspar the Pirate's raids. I used all the versions that the library could get to draw a composite. Although they look similar, there are details that point to locations from the old maps that would have been in protected inlets but are now out in the middle of the waterway. I have the five most likely spots circled in red on my maps. But I think this one is the best choice. It would have been a small, protected harbor where the pirates could have destroyed the ship and buried the valuables. The other ones are still possible, but in diminishing order of likelihood. Still, I think all five are probable.”

He looked at both Edward and Savannah, then sat down and waited.

“I'm bowled over,” said Edward. “We need to get these checked out right now.”

Savannah reached for her cell. “Absolutely. Let's see if we can use the ROV.” She called the couple. “Hi, Paul. We've gotten more information from the library, and Jacob has identified several more sites we would like to investigate. Are you still interested?”

“We were hoping you would call. Having a real objective is so much more interesting than yet another anonymous data trip.”

Savannah nodded in the affirmative for Edward and Jacob. “Great. Is it possible for us to go out this afternoon?”

There was a long wait. Savannah put the phone against her chest and whispered, “He's asking Julie. Apparently, they had another location in mind for this afternoon.” She put the cell phone back to her ear. “Yes, we'd like to ride along. Okay. We'll be there in about fifteen minutes.”