Treasured Lies (5 page)

He motioned that it was time to head back to the boat. She guided the artefact into her net bag, placing it with care at the bottom of the netting. Archer reached for her hand, and when he squeezed it she searched his eyes. Even with the mask on she could tell he was distracted.

With their torches panning out before them, they left the cave. Once outside, sunlight filtered through the blue haze, lighting up the water like a mystical oasis. Rosalina searched below her as she floated upwards but despite knowing exactly where it was, the shipwreck had once again vanished, completely concealed by coral and plants. It was nature's little disappearing act. Without their lucky find, it may have been lost forever.

Back aboard
Evangeline
Alessandro made an enormous fuss over the jewel box. He cradled the piece in his hands like it was a newborn baby. Rosalina had no doubt that by the time she'd had her shower and returned to the saloon, Alessandro would have established the full history of the box and be jumping at the chance to tell them all about it.

‘Hey, Jimmy, you won't believe what we found.' Archer rested his palm on his mate's shoulder.

‘A cannon.'

Rosalina did a double take.
How did he guess that?

‘Actually, yes.' Archer laughed. ‘But that's not the exciting bit.'

Jimmy scratched his bare chest, and even from a metre or so Rosalina could hear the dry rustle of his grey hairs. ‘Well, don't hold out on me, what'd ya find?'

‘We found the
Flying Seahorse
. The whole friggin' hull. She's upside down but intact. We went in through a fairly decent sized hole in the hull. It'll be like plucking treasure from a museum display.'

‘Fuck me.' Jimmy said it in a faraway tone. Normally he'd apologise after swearing like that in front of Rosalina, but by the dreamy look on his face he probably didn't even realise he'd said it. She imagined him picturing golden relics, just sitting there, ready for picking.

‘The doc had better give you the all clear today, Jimmy.' Archer ran his fingers through his wet hair, snagged them on his curls and gave up. ‘Because I'll need your help down there. Tell them about the monkey, Rosa.'

Ginger cupped her cheeks. ‘Oh no, was there a monkey down there?' Sometimes Ginger played the ditzy blonde just a little too well.

‘Not quite.' Rosalina inwardly cringed and resisted the urge to point out how silly Ginger's comment was. If there had been a monkey on board the
Flying Seahorse
, there would be absolutely nothing left of it by now. Fortunately that would be the same for any bodies that may have gone down with the ship. There was no chance any human remains would still be evident, according to Archer anyway. It had been a question she'd asked when they'd first discovered the
Flying Seahorse
. Because there was absolutely no chance she'd be diving the wreck if there were.

Rosalina drank a large mouthful of water in an attempt to wash the taste of saltiness from her mouth. ‘There's an unusual gold statue sitting right at the inside edge of the cave entrance. It looks like it's been placed there on purpose, as if guarding the doorway.' Rosalina smacked further negative thoughts down, it wasn't like her to be a pessimist. Maybe The Incident was playing on her mind more than she realised. Being negative wasn't in her repertoire, and just the hint of that shift in her personality made her hate Nox all over again. The fact that Nox was dead should help her move on, though it may take longer than she'd originally thought. ‘Anyway,' she said. ‘The statue has a monkey's head and a strange pot belly. It's big, about a metre or so high. And the head may be removable, like it's some kind of urn.'

‘I'm going to need your help lifting it, Jimmy.' Archer eyeballed his best mate. ‘It's bloody heavy. When I tried to lift the head off, the whole thing fell over, then I couldn't right it again.'

‘How are we going to raise it then?' Jimmy grew serious, his deep frown pulling his greying eyebrows into a straight line.

‘Don't worry about that, I have an idea.' Archer checked his watch and clicked his fingers. ‘But first, let's get washed up and hide all this stuff. The doctor's due in less than an hour.' Archer reached for Rosalina's hand and she noticed the stickiness of dried salt water as their palms met. ‘Hey, Ginger, I don't suppose you've planned lunch, I'm starving,' he said.

Her face lit up and she rubbed her hands together. ‘Sure have.'

She looked thrilled that he'd asked her and it occurred to Rosalina that Ginger must like having something to do. Rosalina still found it difficult to let someone else do the cooking on
Evangeline
. For three years the professional galley had been her domain but now that Archer needed her to do all the diving, she barely found the energy to create any of her favourite meals, or even the basic ones for that matter. Not that she didn't appreciate bringing priceless treasures up from their watery grave, she just missed cooking. With a bit of luck, the doctor would give Jimmy the go-ahead to get back in the water. Hopefully things would then settle back to normal.

Archer led Rosalina to the Hamilton suite, shut the door behind him and made his way to the bathroom where he adjusted the shower taps to hot. He then offered the shower to her first. She didn't argue, she couldn't stand the dryness of her skin from the salt water any longer. She slipped out of her bikini and stepped into the cascade. A warm shower after scuba diving always took on its own luxurious reward. It was like pure cleanliness was massaging her skin and hair back to life. Beneath the water, as she attempted to detangle her hair with her fingers, her mind drifted to Archer's reaction to the pearls. Something had troubled him and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

She reached for the soap. ‘Hey, babe, would you like me to wash your back?'

A heartbeat or two later and he was in there with her. ‘Okay.' He wiggled his eyebrows. ‘Only ‘cause you asked so nicely.' He slipped his arms around her waist and drew her in for a kiss. Even this simple touch from him set her heart racing. A tingle shivered from her skin, following the line of his touch. His warm hands on her body was just one of the pleasures she'd missed when they were separated. Eight months they'd been apart, and during that time she'd felt like her world had splintered into irreparable pieces. Her heart, her mind, her body, her soul drifted along on an endless sea of anxiety. Thankfully, fate brought them back together.

She debated whether or not to bring up the pearls. Wave after wave of uncertainty tormented her decision. But the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't let it go. He promised her, before she allowed him back into her heart, that he would never keep secrets from her again. She didn't like to think of this as a test, but maybe it was.

‘Hey, babe.' She leant her back against his warm body and let her head fall against his shoulder. As she had hoped, he wrapped his arms around her, just beneath her breasts.

‘Yes.' His breath was hot on her cheek.

She sucked on her bottom lip as she mapped out how to ask the question. Archer's hand rode up to cup her breast. It was her cue to speak before things got carried away. ‘Honey, when I handed you those pearls you looked so sad. Why?'

He stiffened and his hand dropped away. Rosalina spun to face him. She placed her palm on his chest, directly over the unusual gold necklace that he'd worn every day since his father died. The muscles beneath her fingers were as hard as the look in his eyes. ‘Tell me, babe. I know something flashed into your mind. What was it?'

His eyes shifted to her, yet she could tell he'd slipped from reality. She'd seen this look before and knew she was about to hear something very sad. If he was willing to let it go. Archer had a history of keeping things from her, but then again, most of his life he'd blocked his memories from himself too.

The finger of gold around his neck turned out to be the key to finding the Calimala treasure. In turn, finding the treasure, a quest his father had started, was the key to unlocking Archer's tragic childhood secrets. Occasionally, something triggered another flashback and Rosalina believed she was the key to coaxing those memories from him. Some of these flashbacks were horrific and had her delirious with sadness. Some, however, were delightful and although they were few and far between, it was unearthing those ones, those special childhood memories that he'd buried from his past with all the other misery, that made this process all worth it.

Archer reached for the soap and avoiding her gaze, he rolled the citrus scented bar around in his palms until a thick lather oozed from his fingers. Rosalina waited and could practically see the debate raging in his mind.

Archer closed his eyes before he cleared his throat. ‘The day before Dad died, he took me shopping with him to buy Mum's birthday present. We were at Santorini, I think.' His eyes rolled beneath his closed eyelids and Rosalina imagined he was visualising that time.

‘Dad didn't go to tourist shops. He had a knack for finding the best things at the best prices. We hired some donkeys and went down one of those cobblestone streets. It was so steep I thought I was going to fall off and Dad's donkey did so many shits on the way down, the poor thing must have been literally bursting under his weight. We laughed a lot about that.' Archer smiled now, only briefly, and he opened his eyes, but he stared at a spot over her head, his eyes unmoving, maybe seeing something deep in his memory.

‘We stopped at this tiny alley. Hundreds of copper pots, pans and cooking utensils of every kind hung from the trellis-lined alleyway. The walls were loaded with everything from clothes to fishing gear. It smelt dusty and old and I loved it. Everywhere you looked there was something interesting.' He touched his lathered hands to her shoulder and teased the foam over her skin. ‘It was obviously where the locals shopped. I don't know how Dad found these places, but everywhere we went, it was like he'd been there a dozen times before.'

The pride Archer had for his father was practically tangible and for the umpteenth time Rosalina wished she'd been fortunate to have met Wade.

Archer ran his soapy hand up and down her arm and his eyes followed the movement. ‘We stopped halfway along the alley to climb a set of stairs. At the top was a dusty little jewellery shop. You'd never even know it was there. How the guy attracted any business I have no idea.' Rosalina smiled up at him. Archer was a great businessman, and obviously even as an eleven-year-old child he could recognise shortcomings in business enterprises.

‘But in saying that, it was pretty clear the guy'd been there a very long time. So maybe he didn't need or want to advertise. The right people knew where to find him. My Dad included. We spent so long in that shop. I remember complaining because I was hungry. But Dad was painfully methodical, analysing almost every pearl necklace. He'd hold them up, weigh them, look at them under the shopkeeper's enormous magnifying glass, ask my opinion. Not once did he ask the price.'

Archer's shoulder sagged, as if heavy with the weight of the story, and her stomach twisted as she dreaded what he was about to say. ‘It took forever. When he finally chose one, the guy behind the counter made a big show of wrapping it up in gold decorated paper and a white ribbon.'

He blinked several times then his eyes turned to her. Her breath caught in her throat at the sadness she saw in those coffee-coloured eyes. ‘That was the last I ever saw of that necklace. He never did get a chance to give it to Mum.'

‘Oh, Archer.' Rosalina stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his wet body. She clung to him, flesh to flesh. The steady flow of warm water cascading down his back and over her arms was both a soothing lullaby and a dramatic contrast to the storm that must be brewing inside his chest. If only she could take that memory from him and give it a more deserving ending. But it could never be; instead they could only dream of how a gift like that, chosen with the greatest care and detail, would have been received.

Chapter 7

Archer was just about ready to drop
Evangeline's
anchor at Anafi's small marina when Ginger spotted the helicopter coming in low over the horizon.

Archer squinted at the sun-drenched clouds, searching for the chopper. ‘He's early.' So far, every visit from the doctor had them waiting at least half an hour. It had become the norm for him to be delayed for one medical reason or another. But to be early, that was different. As it neared though, Archer noticed the chopper was different, smaller in size and rounder in body. An avalanche of paranoia hit him as he snatched at his binoculars and ran to the upper deck.

Maintaining cover behind the wall, he peered through his binoculars at the helicopter and when he saw the man behind the glass dome with his chiselled face and silver hair, a name tumbled from his throat with a dreaded hiss. ‘Ignatius Montpellier.' His hatred for the man bubbled to the surface like toxic gas. The last time he'd seen him, the thief had literally snatched a piece of ancient treasure right out from Archer's grasp. At the depth they were diving and the way Iggy had shot to the surface, it should've killed him. It was only because Archer had nearly died from decompression sickness once before that he'd halted his chase. Ignatius was borderline crazy. His continual taunts over the years had only fuelled his disdain for the man. If Archer ever got his hands on Iggy, he had no intention of holding back.

This was their worst nightmare.

Archer wasn't surprised to see him though. The commotion over The Incident had the media all over them; it was only a matter of time before Iggy found out. But damned if his timing was shitty. Just when they'd literally hit the jackpot, that bastard shows up. Jimmy's going to hit the roof if he doesn't get to dive for the treasure he's been dreaming of since Archer asked him to captain
Evangeline
from Australia. The helicopter kicked up the sea spray as it roared past and Archer clamped his teeth when Iggy gave a salute. Archer frowned as he wondered who he could be signalling to. It certainly wasn't him.