Stuart shrugged. We heard someone when we were upstairs, but they were gone by the time we went down.
No, Shelly said. I didnt see anyone because no one was around. I mean, even when we came in things were pretty quiet. She stopped to think for a moment, then said, Wait! Stuart, remember when we were walking back? There was a group of people ahead of us. They were crashing into each other as if they were really drunk.
They probably were, Stuart said. But, yeah, I remember them.
Maybe the dead man was with them, Shelly said.
How many were there? Dallas asked.
Four, Stuart said.
Five, Shelly corrected. I remember counting them. I was a little nervous, but I was thinking that there were six of us, so at least we had one more in our group in case they caused some kind of trouble. Of course, they were all guys and we only had three guys.
I dont know, Stuart said. That short one might have been a woman. Hard to tell. They were all wearing hoodies. Pretty weird, considering it was about fifty.
Interesting, Dallas thought. Someone else might remember a group like that, because most tourists didnt bundle up when it turned sixty. Time to go and follow up on this first lead.
He and Liam seemed to be of one mind. They rose together. Dallas handed them his card. If you think of anything elseanything at allplease call me.
Are you going to speak with the others? They might remember something, Stuart said. I mean, not about thethe dead man, but maybe about the group we saw when we were walking home.
Yes, were just waiting for them to wake up, Liam told them.
Shelly looked over at Stuart. That may be awhile.
Stuart nodded. Theyre going to be really hungover.
Well be gentle, Dallas promised.
* * *
Hannah blinked. The dead man was still there, looking at her beseechingly.
He couldthough he apparently wasnt aware of it yetjust walk in through the door if he wanted to. Should she let him in?
According to Agent Samson, Jose Rodriguez had been one of the good guys. Floridaespecially South Florida and Key West, had a long history of Spanish settlement and Cuban immigration. His family might have been in the area for centuries. But wherever he had grown up, it seemed someone had taught him manners.
He was knocking. Hoping she would let him in.
She lowered her head for a minute. No, go away, please, she thought fervently. I dont want to be ghost central. I dont want to get involved with your murder.
She felt immediately embarrassed, because she knew that attitude was wrong. She had to help if she could.
She opened the door, swallowing hard. Hello, Jose.
At least his apparition wasnt as bloody in the afterlife as his body had been in death. He looked as he must have soon before death, wearing a typical Cuban guayabera shirt and khaki pants. His hair was sleek, dark and combed back. He was clean shaven, with dark eyes and handsome features.
Youyou know me? he asked her.
His voice was brittle, a little like sandpaper, as if he was just learning to speak.
She nodded. I found you.
He nodded. I remember. You tried to help me, but it was too late.
Yes. She studied him for a minute. Im sorry I couldnt help. I hear that you were an undercover agent, one of the good guys.
Yes.
I guess you know you were murdered. My friend Liam Beckett, a police detective, has had some experience with...the dead. He doesnt see as easily as I do, thoughlucky me, she couldnt help but add a little bitterly. But if you tell me who did it, I can tell him.
A grim smile curved his lips. If only it were that easy.
Your throat was slit. You really dont know who did it? And you were carrying a knifea big bowie knifewith blood on it. Of course, its gone now. The crime scene techs are still out there looking for it, Hannah said.
Yes, I see them. But they wont find it, he said.
Hannah realized that the techs in the yard could see her through the back window; they probably thought she was standing there talking to herself.
Maybe she was.
May I come in? Rodriguez asked politely.
She nodded. Oh, of course. Please. Lets move into the parlor.
She led the way through to the front, taking an armchair by the fire and curling her legs beneath her. The ghost took a seat across from her on the sofa.
Im so sorry, she said aloud. It seemed lame. He should have had a lifetime ahead of him. She took a breath. I want to help you. But...how can you not know what happened?
Because whoever got me came up behind me. WeI was with a bunch of guyshad just turned the corner from Duval and I heard someone behind us. He grabbed me, and the other guys saw. One of them screamed Run! and we all took off. I think the other guys had to be in on iteither that or theyre running scared, thinking theyre about to get the same, Rodriguez told her. He stared at her for a moment. She thought he was assessing her. Perhaps he was deciding if she could be of any help.
Anyway, like I said, we all took off, Jose went on. I threw the guy off me and crashed through the yard next to yours. Thats when he caught up with me. I didnt have a gun on me, only my knife. I got a slice of him, but since I couldnt see anything, I dont even know where I cut him, but I know he...he got me. Slit my throat. I kept running, and thats when I scared your guests. But I heard him coming after me. I knew I didnt have a chance, and I didnt want him to kill anyone else, so I kept running. I ended up in the alley, tried to write... He trailed to a stop. And then I...died. He followed memust have, if the knife is gone. But he couldnt leave it. They would have gotten his blood off it.
Hannah found herself suddenly fighting tears. Even as he was dying, he had thought to save others.
Youve heard of Los Lobos? he asked her.
She nodded. I think most of the country has heard of them. Every once in a while theres something in the paper about a body popping up somewhere and theyre suspected of the murder, or a treasure goes missing and theyre the only suspects. Theyre like the mafia, or thats what it sounds like, anyway.
Rodriguez nodded. More or less. Every agency from the FBI to the Coast Guard has been trying to turn one of the members. The problem is, theyd rather die or go to prison than take what theyll get if the organization turns against them. Case in point, he said, indicating his throat.
Hannah exhaled. But...this isnt so much a Key West thing as it is a national one, right?
Its at least partly a Key West thing, because Los Lobos specializes in treasures from the New World. He paused. Im not sure where to begin. Do you remember hearing anything around a year ago about a small research-slash-salvage operation at a recently discovered shipwreck? The crew disappeared in the midst of a storm.
Yes. It was on the news and in the paper. The Discovery went out with a captain, a mate and three scientists. They were all lost in the storm, Hannah said.
I dont believe the crew was lost in that storm at all.
You think Los Lobos killed them? Hannah asked, horrified. The storm wasnt that bad on land, but a lot of other ships were caught in it, too, and barely made it out. The remains of the Discovery eventually turned up, but none of the crews bodies were ever found, although thats not uncommon when someone is lost at sea. And now youre telling me that
The storm didnt kill them.
So someone went out in that storm andand murdered them? Hannah asked, appalled. The loss of the crew had been a local tragedy. To think that they might have survived Mother Nature only to be murdered made the situation all the more terrible.
There was a rumor that the treasure chest from the Santa Elinora was aboard the Discovery.
What? Hannah demanded. That treasure has been the subject of rumors for years! It was supposedly on the Wind and the Sea when she went down.
Supposedly, Rodriguez said. Key wordsupposedly. Where it is now, no one knows. A historian wrote a piece on the Santa Elinora and the treasure about a year and a half ago, which started people speculating that it was still off Key West somewhere. Legend always had it that the chest was aboard Ian Chandlers Wind and the Sea when she went down in the 1850s, but no one really knows if thats true, and since the wreck was never found, no ones been able to confirm that it was there.
So how did it end up on the Discovery? Hannah asked, confused.
There are thousands of undiscovered shipwrecks out therethe ocean along the coast was once like a marine I-95. And since no one could predict storms, over hundreds of years, thousands of ships went down. And those looking for them are often cutthroat and are perfectly happy to commit murder over even the hint of something valuable turning up. Honestly, I dont believe the treasure chest was ever aboard the Discovery. What I do believe is that members of Los Lobos heard the rumors that it was there, and that they caught up with the Discovery right before the storm and killed the crewfor nothing. Since they didnt find it, theyre searching in Key West again, because at this point no one really knows where the treasure ison land or underwater. The items in the treasure chest are supposed to be so rare and historic that its impossible to estimate their valuejewels set in the purest gold ever mined in South America.
Ive heard about the treasure my whole life, Hannah said. According to legend, the Santa Elinora was discovered and salvaged when David Porter and his Mosquito Squadron came down in the 1820s, back when Florida was still a territory, to clean out the pirates. But Porter didnt keep any documents because officially they were supposed to be stopping pirates, not salvaging wrecks. But lack of proof didnt stop people from claiming that Porter found the chest and kept it in Key West until he tried to send it up to D.C. on the Wind and the Sea. Most of the people on the island at the time believed that the treasure went down with the Wind and the Sea when she sank, and to this day most people think its still there.
Jose nodded and smiled slowly. You would know. Your home is part of the legend of the treasure, and that makes you involved. Are you a descendant of the original owners? Not many left these days who go that far back.
In a roundabout way. Im a descendant of the original owners first cousin.
And you give ghost tours.
Hannah lifted her hands helplessly.
He laughed. Not to worryits a legitimate business. And people like to be remembered. They like to have their stories told. Id like my story to be told, one day.
Hannah hesitated and then said, I know that you were working undercover. My friend Detective Beckett was here, along with a Federal agent.
Dallas Samson, Rodriguez said, nodding.
They said you were a good guy.
Jose knitted his fingers together and then released them, looking at her with a grim smile. Ive been with the FBI about five years. I made a point of getting this case. Ive spent the past six months trying to get in with Los Lobos. I just made it in, but evidently I did something suspicious, or someone in the gang had seen me when I wasnt undercover. Or someone betrayed me. I have some ideas. But this case meant more to me than just bringing down the gang.
Oh?
Los Lobos concentrates on priceless treasures they can sell on the black market. But when their cash flow is down they deal in anything. Drugs. Human cargo.
Human cargo? Are you talking about slavery? Today?
He nodded. Trust me, it still goes on. He shook his head. One casewhich at least had a happy endinginvolved a young girl in Texas who was set up by a wealthy friend. A man in Eastern Europe offered a multimillion-dollar sum for a blue-eyed redhead under twenty-five. Los Lobos got wind of the offer and acted fast. The young woman went to a party at her friends mansion, where she was drugged. Luckily we already had a man watching the friend and she was rescued. As for her millionaire friend, he mysteriously killed himself in lockup while waiting to be taken in for arraignment.
You mean the millionaire was part of Los Lobos?
There are very rich people out there who covet thingsand they know that Los Lobos can get whatever will make their collection complete.
How horrible.
He nodded. And we still dont know who the leader is or the gangs exact hierarchy. Id hoped I would figure that out, but so far all I had discovered was that they only communicate with prepaid phones that they use once and toss. But, he said, I never reported the real truth of my involvement to my superiors. They wont let you work a case when you have a personal interest in it. He seemed to inhale deeply, as if unaware that ghostly lungs didnt need oxygen. My sister disappeared almost a year ago. I have reason to believe she fell into the hands of a Los Lobos general.
You mean she was kidnapped? Hannah asked.
Yes. And either shes being held for the highest bidder or shes already been murdered, or...
Theres another or? Hannah asked.
He nodded. I was likely killed because the leader, a man they call the Wolf, discovered that I was FBI. And its possible my sister...might have joined themand thats why Im dead.
* * *
Dallas and Liam met Mark, Yerby and the Atkinsons at a little coffee and ice cream shop on Duval. All four looked as if theyd had a long night. Judy and Pete Atkinson were in their late twenties, possibly early thirties. Pete was already balding, but he was slim and fiteven if he was looking haggard right now. Judy was tiny, maybe a full five feet in height, and a little round. Her eyes were a red-rimmed bright blue, making Dallas think of the American flag. Yerby Catalano was pretty, about twenty-two, with dark eyes and long dark hair, while Mark Riordan was probably a year or two older, tall and broad and muscled, as if he played sports. All four were more than willing to talk, they just didnt seem sure what to say.
They sat huddled over triple lattes, as if that could drive away the memory of the previous night.
Shelly and Stuart are already packing up to head home, you know, Yerby told them. She shook her head. Shelly was so freaked out.
I wanted to kill her this morning, Pete said. He winced. Bad choice of words. But...we thought that she and Stuart were just freaking out over something imaginary.
Yeah, but Ive never seen her so upset, Judy offered. And Stuart was just as freaked out.
Yerby laughed. We were all thrownyou should have seen us stumbling around like idiots.
Maybe you were stumbling, Mark said.
Hey, you were no better, Yerby said.
None of us was any better, Judy said apologetically. We were just...well, for Pete and me, this was our big weekend out. My folks have the kids. We have a four-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy, and were both teaching and getting our doctorates. We came down to go a little wild.