In the Dark (12 page)

“How do you know?”

“Because there’s an undercover Federal agent on the island.”

“What are you talking about?”

Laurie didn’t get a chance to answer.

“All right,” Gil announced loudly. “Time to split into groups. Those of you who received green tags with your flippers, head off with Alex and Mandy. Mandy, give a wave, so your people see you. Those of you with red tags, you’re with Laurie and me.”

“Later,” Laurie whispered. “We’ve got to talk. People are being murdered here.” She hesitated, seeing that the groups were forming and she needed to hurry. “You’ve got to watch out for David, Alex.”

“Watch out for David? I thought that you liked him.”

“Yes, I do, but…he has a lot at stake. He…he might be the murderer.”

“What?” Alex said.

“Shh! We’ll talk,” Laurie said. “Alone, Alex. We have to be alone.”

Before Alex could stop her, she was up and heading off with Gil. Without creating a scene, there was nothing Alex could do.

Stunned, she watched Laurie walk away and pondered what she’d said. David? A murderer? It couldn’t be.

Could it?

“T
his was really kind of you,” Ally Conroy told David. “I hadn’t realized what a big deal you are until I started talking with Seth the other night. That you would take time for us…well, it’s very kind of you.” She was sitting at the helm by David. Zach, filled with excitement, was standing by the mainsail, looking out at the water as they skimmed over it.

“Not a problem. Zach is good kid.”

She sighed. “Yeah, at heart. I’ve had some trouble with him at school. I’m a nurse, and gone too often. But…we’ve got to live. Anyway, thank you. I was horrible last night, and you were great. It’s just, Seth might have been a blowhard to others—I’ve heard that term a dozen times from people talking about him—but he was very sweet to me. I was just stunned and upset. He really had a high regard for you, by the way. He was going to speak to you about something important. He said that
he was waiting for the arrival of one more professional friend, then you’d all be getting down to business.”

“And he talked about the
Anne Marie?
” David pressed gently.

She sighed. “He asked me not to say a word to any one, but I guess it doesn’t matter now. He told me that all his life, he had been interested in treasure hunting. People always wanted his money for their expeditions, but they didn’t want him to be a part of them. The woman he was expecting was going to let him go along, not just foot the bills.”

“Ally, did he know anything more about where this friend he was waiting for obtained her information?”

“An old man who died. He told her he’d hidden a copy of an old pirate map on this island.”

David arched an eyebrow. “You’re certain? There’s an actual map, and it’s hidden here?”

Ally sighed. “I’m not certain of anything, but that’s what he said. That the ship went down off Florida, and that the map, the proof, was hidden here.”

“Thank you, Ally, for telling me,” David said gravely.

“Seth didn’t know where the map was,” she said. “That’s part of why he was so concerned that his friend hadn’t arrived yet. He didn’t want to talk about it with you until she did arrive.” She hesitated. “Do you think maybe…someone thought he knew more about the map than he did, so they killed him? Wouldn’t that put you in danger, as well?”

“Ally, we don’t know how Seth died yet. And I’m a pretty big boy, but I’ll watch out, okay? Thanks to you.”

She smiled, turning to watch her son. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Ally, if you think of anything else that Seth said before he died, will you please let me know?”

“Of course.”

“And watch out for yourself, too. You haven’t mentioned this to anyone else, have you?”

She shook her head.

“Don’t—unless you’re speaking with Sheriff Thompson. He’ll be over here sometime today.”

“I won’t say a word,” she promised.

He nodded and slowed the
Icarus
, shouting to Zach that he was going to lower the anchor, because they were out of protected waters and could do a little spearfishing.

Moments later, he stood aft with Zach, assuring him self that the boy could handle the speargun without skewering either himself or David. “We come back on board after every fish,” he told Zach.

“Right. Because of the blood and sharks. And there are a lot of sharks out here, right?”

“Yup. They usually mind their own business, but…” He shrugged. “I had a friend once who liked to stay down and try to get a lot of fish at once. He used his swim trunks for a storage area. If a shark did smell the blood, the first place it would attack would be…”

“Ouch!” Zach said, laughing.

He tousled the kid’s hair, pressed his own mask to his face and made a backward dive into the water.

He meant to give Zach his day out on the boat. He was anxious, however, to return to the dock at Moon Bay before noon. Before Alex would be out of the public eye.

Before she could be alone anywhere…

With anyone.

When the swim was over, Alex rewarded her dolphins with some pats, praise and fish, then stood, anxious to hurry over to the next platform and accost Laurie.

She didn’t get a chance to. Jay, in another one of his handsome suits, came hurrying along the dock.

“We’re starting evacuation proceedings now,” he told her.

“Now?”

She looked at the sky. It was an unbelievably beautiful day, the sky an almost pure blue.

“Don’t even bother looking up. You know how fast things can change.”

“The storm turned toward us?”

“The Middle Keys may get a direct hit as early as late tonight or tomorrow morning. She’s not a big one, but…well, you know. A storm is a storm. The ferry is here, and the guests are packing up. I’d like you and Gil to take a walk down to the beach and make sure we haven’t missed anyone.”

“Sure.”

“The others can rinse down the equipment and get this part of the operation closed down. Later, if the storm keeps on coming, you can go down and open the lagoon gates so the dolphins can escape to the open sea if necessary.”

She nodded. The lagoons were fairly deep; her charges could ride out a storm much better than people could. Still, the facility had been planned with escape routes for the animals, should they be needed.

“Did they act strangely today?” Jay asked.

“No.”

“Then I’d say we’ve still got plenty of time.”

Jay didn’t have a particular affinity for the animals, but he knew enough about them to know that the dolphins would know when the storm was getting close.

“I see that Laurie arrived fine,” Jay said.

“Yes.”

“She told Len she forgot to charge her cell phone.”

“Well, yesterday was her day off, and she wasn’t that late this morning,” Alex reminded him. Until she had a chance to listen to Laurie, she certainly didn’t intend to tell Jay that anything was wrong in any way. She turned around, looking toward the next lagoon. Irritated, she realized that both trainers were already off the platform.

“Where’s Gil? Does he know we’re going on a beach hunt?”

“I just passed him. He’s at the Tiki Hut, grabbing a sandwich.”

“Is Laurie with him?”

“I don’t know,” Jay said. “Don’t worry, you’ll have a chance to talk to her when you get back. You know the island better than anyone else, so I appreciate you doing this yourself with Gil.”

“Sure, I’ll go find him.”

Alex looked around for Laurie as she walked the path to the Tiki Hut, which was almost dead quiet, despite the time of day.

“Grilled chicken,” Gil announced to her, lifting a wrapped sandwich. “I got you one, too, and a couple of bottles of water.”

She arched an eyebrow, amused. “The beach isn’t that far.”

“Yeah, but we’ve got a lot of trails to check, just to
make sure. The ferry’s already picked up anyone who planned to check out today. It will be returning soon.”

“Where did Laurie go so quickly?” Alex demanded. “She should be cleaning the equipment and battening down with Manny and Jeb.”

“I don’t know. She was with me right after the swim. She was pretty upset, though. She couldn’t believe Jay had us finish the swim when there had been an evacuation notice. But she knows her responsibilities, and we’ve still got hours to get out, though I’m sure the roads will be a mess. We’ll find her when we get back. Jay said you’re staying, but that the rest of the dolphin team has to be on the next ferry.”

“Amazing, isn’t it?” she said, looking at the sky, despite the fact she knew it didn’t really mean anything.

“Always a calm before a storm. Didn’t your folks teach you that?” Gil teased.

“I suppose.”

They reached the beach. As far as the eye could see, it appeared to be empty.

“Well, I’m sure Jay will make sure all the guests and employees are accounted for,” Gil said. “But I guess we have to comb the trails anyway, huh?”

She smiled. “You go to the left, I’ll go to the right, and we’ll circle around and meet in the middle. How’s that?”

Even as she spoke, she felt a lift in the breeze. It was subtle, but there. “I guess the storm really is coming in,” she said.

“You never know. They can predict them all they want, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to do what they’re supposed to. Had it reached hurricane status yet?”

“I don’t know,” she said ruefully. “I wasn’t really paying attention. Yesterday was quite a day, if you’ll remember.”

They’d reached the fork in the trail. “You go your way, I’ll go mine,” he told her.

She nodded and started off.

The trails were actually really pretty. She didn’t know how many of the trees were natural and how many had been planted to give the feel of a lush rain forest. Great palm fronds waved over her head, allowing for a gentle coolness along the walk and, she noted, a lot of darkness and shadow.

The fronds whispered and rustled, and she felt as if the darkness was almost eerie, all of a sudden. There was a noise behind her, and she spun around, then felt like a fool. The noise was nothing more than a squirrel darting across a path.

Still, she felt as if she had come down with a sudden case of goose pimples, and then she knew why. David had told her not be alone.

And certainly not alone walking down an isolated trail.

She was suddenly angry. She’d never been afraid here before. She had enjoyed the solitude that could be found on the island.

But that had been before people started dying.

She quickened her steps, anxious to get back to Gil. “Hello? Anyone out here?” she called. There was no reply.

Birds chattered above her head.

She looked all around herself. Not much farther and she would meet back up with Gil.

She reached the farthest point, seeing the sand on
the southern tip of the isle, and stepped off the trail to look around and call out. Nothing.

She turned back, noting that the breeze was growing stronger. In the shelter of the trees, though, she could barely feel it. The dive boat hadn’t gone out that morning, she thought, but pleasure craft had probably been rented out. She hoped all the guests were back in.

“Hello?” she called out again, and once more paused to look around. She quickened her pace, then stopped suddenly.

And it wasn’t a sound that had caused her to stop. It was a stench. A horrible stench.

And she knew what it was. The rotting, decaying, stench of death.

She started walking forward again, shouting now. “Gil! Gil!”

She started to run, and the smell grew stronger.

There was no denying it. Very near them, hidden in the foliage, something—or someone—lay dead.

“Gil!”

She nearly collided with him.

“What the hell is it?” he asked.

“Something dead,” she told him.

“Yeah…that’s what I thought. But where is it coming from?” Gil asked.

“It’s gotten stronger as I’ve come toward you,” Alex told him.

“Then it’s here somewhere.”

She stood still, surveying their immediate surroundings.

“Alex.”

“What?”

“Let’s get out of here,” Gil said.

“Gil, we can’t. We have to find out what it is.”

“Or who it is,” he said uneasily. “Alex, this is a matter for the sheriff.”

“No! Yes, I mean, but not now. I am not letting anyone else disappear.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We have to find out what it is, then call the sheriff. Gil, please?” Alex said. She took a few steps in the direction of a large clump of trees.

“Alex…” Gil said.

“It’s here,” she whispered. “There are a bunch of palm fronds on the ground, fallen leaves…and the smell is really strong. It’s here.”

He looked at her, then sighed. “All right. I’ll lift the fronds.”

“We’ll do it together,” she said.

They steeled themselves against the smell of death and set to work.

And after a moment, it was Gil who let out a sick croak of sound.

David had listened to the radio warnings and decided it was time to head back in. The water where they were was about seventy feet deep, and he’d snagged a few snapper. Zach, proudly, had speared his first fish ever, and it had been a beauty. Someone would be enjoying his catch tonight, one big beaut of a dolphin—or mahimahi, as the restaurants called it, afraid that otherwise diners would think they were serving big cuddly marine mammals.

They hadn’t taken the spearguns down this time; they’d just gone for a last look around. Far below
them, a few outcrops of coral welcomed all manner of sea life.

David was just about to motion Zach back to the boat when he saw something that caused him to pause. Anemones could create the appearance of heads with waving hair, and that was what he was certain he was seeing at first. But then…

David thought there was something beneath the skeletal arms of the coral.

He surfaced, and Zach did the same, lifting his mask and snorkel. “We have to go back, huh?”

“Yes. Head on to the
Icarus
. I’ll be right with you.”

He watched Zach swim back to the
Icarus,
which wasn’t more than twenty feet away. Then, taking a deep breath, he jackknifed in a hard, clean dive toward the depths.

He reached the coral, saw the outstretched arm, and…

Horror filled him so completely that he almost inhaled a deadly breath.

There she was.

Alicia. Or what remained of her.

Hair billowing in the water…

Features partially consumed.

Feet encased in concrete.

“That has to be the biggest, fattest, deadest possum I’ve seen in my entire life,” Gil said, turning aside. “Phew.”

“Thank God it’s just a possum,” Alex said fervently.

Gil looked at her, puzzled. “Okay, I know I was acting a little weird, but you seemed convinced we were going to find a person.”

She shrugged, remembering that Gil had no idea she’d
already found one body on the beach. “I guess I’m just spooked because of yesterday. Let’s head back.”

David docked the
Icarus
just long enough to drop off Ally and Zach, then headed for dry dock on the Gulf side of Plantation Key.

There he waited for Nigel Thompson to pick him up in his patrol car.