Night Diver: A Novel (41 page)

Taylor waited just outside the large dining room with its extraordinary view of the beach. Medium height, muscular, with the carriage of a former military man and the intensity of a ferret on the hunt, Taylor nodded to her. Surprisingly, he smiled at Holden.

“Thank you for your promptness, sir,” Taylor said. “You have been a gentleman in a situation in which many of your peers would have sulked and pouted.”

Black eyebrows rose. “Does that mean I may call you by your given name?”

“As long as it isn’t Stinky, yes.”

Holden laughed and exchanged a warm handshake with Taylor. “Please give my best to your aunt and uncle.”

Kate tried not to stare, but she did feel like she had taken a header down a particularly odd rabbit hole. Holden and Taylor had never given any indication that they knew each other.

“Apologies,” Taylor said. “Circumstances required that certain procedures and appearances must be maintained.”

“Understood and accepted. I take it that circumstances have changed?” Holden asked.

“Quite. As the pearl-fondling MP kept saying, this is a frightful embarrassment, but now it has resolved. We just need one further thing from you.”

One of the squared-away men stepped out of the dining room. “Ready, sir.”

“Please,” Taylor said, nodding to Kate.

Still feeling more than a little unreal, she stepped into the dining room. Instead of the meal she had expected on the damask-covered table, she saw a stunning array of gems and gold. She walked closer, started to touch a shimmering mound of loose jewels, then snatched her hand back.

“Go ahead,” Taylor said. “Touch as you please. As I have repeatedly stated to Chatham’s solicitors and less formal advocates, if you had stolen this material in the first place, you never would have handed it over to us. It would have been quite easy to stash it somewhere during the storm and retrieve it at your leisure.”

“It was my only proof that Farnsworth is a lying, murderous son of a bitch,” she said.

Taylor laughed. “I see why Holden is so taken with you. Your American candor is as delightful as your beauty.”

Her head turned toward Taylor so swiftly that her hair shimmered and rippled like flame. “I—thank you?”

“Does she always say that as a question?” Taylor asked Holden.

“Only when confronted by a surprising flirt.”

“I am married, not blind,” Taylor said, winking at Kate. “I know the circumstances under which you first viewed the treasure were less than ideal, but can you positively identify any of the pieces as ones you saw aboard the
Golden Bough
?”

She blinked and realized that the social niceties were over. “There were gems lining the bottom of the case, yet I can’t swear that these are the same ones. The gold chains are as anonymous in their way as a stack of dollars. But this”—her voice dropped as she touched a necklace spread against the white damask—“is unforgettable. Not simply the rainbow beauty of the jewels, but the extraordinary workmanship.”

“You said that your mother had a drawing of a similar piece?”

“Nearly identical. She was fascinated by the combination of the modern—for the times—use of gems and the nod to a past when workmanship was prized above gems.”

“Do you still have the drawing?” Taylor asked.

“You would have to ask my grandfather or my brother.”

Taylor nodded and waited expectantly.

“The gold mask is the same as I remember,” she said. “I wanted to smash it into Farnsworth’s smug face.”

Taylor muffled laughter with a cough. “I understand the impulse. He is a piece of work.”

“The crown with the emerald tears is a bit more bent than I remember, but otherwise the same. He panicked at the end and just smashed the lid down and ran.”

“Farnsworth is a swine,” Holden said, remembering the gyrating deck and the thunderous wash of water over the slowly dying ship. “No matter what happens to him, he deserves worse.”

“Amen,” Kate said below her breath. “That’s all I really recognize. The gorgeous cross set with emeralds, the tight geometry of that big ruby brooch, that knife hilt inlaid with sapphires and diamonds . . .” She shook her head. “I don’t remember them.”

Taylor smiled. “Excellent. Those were borrowed from various collections.”

“I told you she had a keen eye,” Holden said.

“Can you identify any other pieces?” Taylor asked.

She gave a last, lingering look at the treasure that had lured her parents to their deaths and nearly killed the rest of the Donnelly family. And Holden, who was worth more to her than she had believed possible.

“Not with certainty,” she said.

She didn’t say anything about the emerald-encrusted frog that now lay at the bottom of the ocean. If it would have saved their lives, she would have thrown every bit of treasure back to the hungry sea.

“Thank you,” Taylor said. “Your cooperation is appreciated by the Crown.”

“Has Farnsworth admitted to killing Mingo yet?” Holden asked.

“No. Pity, that. His solicitors insist he is innocent of murder. As for the rest, Chatham made him do it.”

“Shocking,” Holden said dryly. “What does Chatham say?”

“His solicitors still vigorously assert that he was just gathering evidence of Farnsworth’s malfeasance.” Taylor smiled slowly. “However, you were correct when you said that it was doubtful that this was either man’s ‘first rodeo.’ We have found and interviewed the unhappy recipients of Chatham’s past contracts. He was systematically looting the projects under his control.”

“I told you he was a god-rotting bureaucrat,” Grandpa said, walking into the room. “Vultures feeding on honest men.”

Kate left the treasure without another look and ran to hug him, then Larry, who came in just behind him.

“I’m sorry, Kitty Kat,” Larry said, hugging her close. “I never should have brought you into this. I didn’t know that Farnsworth was crazy. I caught him as he was coming up from a night dive with Mingo. Farnsworth said if I went to the authorities, he would frame Grandpa and me for the theft and make it stick. He said he had a lot of connections and you know Grandpa’s reputation.” Larry shrugged. “Then Farnsworth learned that Cameron was coming and told me I’d better have a nice set of books to show or it was over.”

“It’s okay,” she said, hugging him again. “But if you sign another contract without me, you’re on your own.”

“Um . . .” Larry said.

“You weren’t the first,” Taylor said. “This was not the only time that Chatham has stolen from an ongoing project. As far as such things go, it was a rather elegant sort of theft. Whether on a land dig or an ocean salvage, Farnsworth arranged for costly artifacts to disappear. The project itself ultimately is written off as a failure. In the case of more than a few contractors, assets were seized on the pretext of breach of agreement. Chatham was good at finding companies that were on the ragged edge of survival, getting them to sign hopeless contracts, and then ruining their reputations when the project failed.”

“Are the solicitors finished wrangling yet?” Holden asked.

“Yes.” Taylor turned to Kate. “As someone explained to your family earlier, the previous contract has been torn up with the assent of all parties. A new one has been signed.”

She winced and looked at Larry. “This time I will kill you.”

Taylor laughed. “The contract was negotiated by Holden’s solicitors, who are fiercely competent. The treasure will be priced at fair market value, which will be determined in excruciating detail. After expenses, which have also been negotiated and agreed upon, Moon Rose Limited will be paid half the market value of the treasure, plus the cost of replacing the
Golden Bough
. The salvage of the wreck of the
Moon Rose
will continue at Crown cost, under your brother’s guidance and Holden’s occasional oversight.”

“Holy crap,” Kate said, eyes wide. “Are you pulling my leg?”

Grandpa laughed around the pipe stem clamped between his teeth.

“More nuggets of slang to add to my collection,” Taylor said, smiling. “No, I’m not pulling your leg or any other part of you. Holden’s solicitors are a fearsome lot.”

She stared at the man who had been questioning them for a week without a single break in his correct armor until this morning. “How long has Chatham been screwing over his government and everyone else?”

“At least twelve years,” Taylor said. “We are still digging, I assure you.”

“Nobody knows how to steal like a god-rotting bureaucrat,” Grandpa said.

“Vultures,” Larry said.

Grandpa walked over to look at the treasure. Larry followed to stand beside him. The family connection showed in both posture and familiarity.

“How did Chatham get away with it so long?” Kate asked Taylor angrily. “Surely there is some oversight in that bureaucracy.”

Taylor hesitated.

“Connections,” Holden said. “The failure of some of Chatham’s projects was chalked up to incompetence. He was kept on, but he knew he would never rise further than he had, even with his family’s influence.”

Quietly the Donnellys speculated about the worth of one piece or another.

“What made this time different?” Kate asked. “Why did they listen to us rather than Chatham?”

Holden looked uncomfortable.

“Holden’s connections,” Taylor said. “His family has a long military tradition and considerable wealth from commerce during the salad days of the British Empire. When Chatham chose Holden to be an incompetent dive supervisor due to his injury, Chatham had no idea that Holden was one of ‘the’ Camerons.”

“Enough,” Holden said.

Taylor gave him a sideways look. “One cannot help the family into which one is born.”

“One tires of the subject,” Holden shot back.

“This one doesn’t,” Kate said, confronting Holden. “When, if ever, were you going to tell me about your apparently illustrious family?”

“When I had my ring upon your finger and not a moment before. My family is large and can be intimidating. They have been terribly keen on the subject of my marriage for the last few years. I have not. Then I met a woman courageous enough to overcome her nightmares and lovely enough to stop my heart.”

“Does this paragon have red hair?” she asked softly.

“Like sunset,” he said, then whispered against her ear, “and freckles I’ve yet to taste.”

Grandpa looked up. “You have the real treasure,” he said to Holden. “Make damn sure she doesn’t slip through your fingers.”

“That is entirely up to her.” Without looking away from her turquoise eyes, Holden said, “Taylor, please take everyone but Kate and close the door behind you.”

“Yes, sir. Come along, gentlemen. There is a salvage dive to plan.”

Grandpa and Larry looked at Kate.

“Shoo,” she said. “I’m a big girl now.”

When the door closed, Holden reached into his pocket and took out two gold rings.

“With the blessing of the British government, I had these made from a bit of money chain from the
Moon Rose,
” he said. “Will you take one, and me?”

She let out a long breath. Her eyes sparkled with laughter and tears and her throat was tight with emotion.

He waited for her to take the ring that gleamed so softly against his palm.

“The writing inside,” she managed. “It’s elegant and beautiful, but I can’t read it. What does it say?”

“Let the lover be.”

“Yes,” she whispered against his lips. “Let the lover be.”

ELIZABETH LOWELL
’s exciting novels of romantic suspense include the
New York Times
bestsellers
Dangerous Refuge, Beautiful Sacrifice, Death Echo, The Wrong Hostage, Amber Beach, Jade Island, Pearl Cove
, and
Midnight in Ruby Bayou
. She has also written
New York Times
bestselling historical series set in the American West and medieval Britain. She has more than eighty titles published to date, with more than 24 million copies of her books in print. She lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with her husband, with whom she writes novels under a pseudonym. Her favorite activity is exploring the western United States to find the landscapes that speak to her soul and inspire her writing.