Murder at the Azalea Festival (18 page)

Pulling up a chair next to Gus, I stared at the screen. The broadcast was local: TV cameras were aimed from the State Port out across the Cape Fear to the dredging arena.

Because of budgetary constraints, the Harbor Deepening Project had not been completed by the end of last year as planned. Then the federal government appropriated $17.5 million for the project and it was carried over into the new year with completion scheduled for the spring--now. When complete the navigation channel would be deepened from 38 feet to 42, allowing larger and heavier ships to enter the port.

"What's going on?" I asked Gus again.

"Shut up and listen," he snarled.

I glanced up at Jon who raised his eyebrows. Uh oh, he's in a foul mood, his look seemed to say.

Jon handed me an icy Coke from the refrigerator, and took one for himself. At the risk of another reprimand, I popped the tab and quenched my dusty throat with a long swallow.

Gus looked at me. "I'm sorry, Ashley, I shouldn't have snapped at you. They've found something in the river. The dredging was halted this morning when they encountered something down there. The Army Corps of Engineers brought in multibeam and side-scan sonar equipment, and they've found what they think is a wrecked ship. So they sent divers down to investigate; they've been in and out all day."

I zoned in on the TV screen. The camera crew and reporters were on board a launch out on the Cape Fear as near to the dredging arena as the Coast Guard would permit.

The camera panned the area. There were the two dredges, and the barge they'd been loading, and another ship which must have been the high-tech equipment ship the Army Corps brought in.

All fall and winter, I'd read about the progress of the dredging project in the Star-News. The larger dredge was a suction dredge, faster and more efficient than the smaller dredge, but because of environmental concerns--things like turtle nesting, for example--had to be operated carefully and infrequently.

The smaller dredge had a scoop mechanism on it, and it scooped up sand from the river bed and deposited it on barges. Then the barges transported the re-nourishment sand downriver to Bald Head Island's South Beach.

"You would have thought if there was a wrecked vessel out there, the Army Corps would have known about it," Jon said.

"Not necessarily," Gus argued. "And not if it was small. With the number of hurricanes we get, the river bottom might have shifted, burying the vessel in sand, then shifted again to expose it. More likely the dredging exposed it."

"Do you think . . .” Jon began.

Gus raised a warning hand. "Listen!"

The news reporter's face filled the screen, the view of the Cape Fear and the dredging arena a backdrop.

"This news just in. A spokesperson for the Coast Guard has confirmed that the sunken ship is a two-masted schooner. Schooners and sloops were the most common vessels to ply the Cape Fear in the 1800s. They were used as fishing vessels and for transporting freight. More schooners were constructed in the Wilmington shipyards than any other vessel.

The television reporter continued, "Divers were able to verify that the name of this particular schooner was 'The Lucy.'"

Gus leapt out of his chair, startling me so badly I dropped my Coke can. The caramel-colored liquid spread over the floor.

The television reporter was saying, "Archaeologists will have to research this particular ship before any information about its owner and history can be determined. There is a cargo hold, and a second team of divers has gone down to explore it."

I moved to the sink to find a sponge, wanting to sop up the Coke before it dried and became sticky.

I stopped when I saw Gus. He looked like he was about to have a heart attack. His face was bright red, his eyes were popping wide; in a minute he'd be foaming at the mouth.

At the same time, Jon asked, "Say, wasn't Caesar's wife's name Lucy?"

With that Gus let out an agonizing howl, like he was in pain. I backed up against the sink. Caesar's ship? Could it be?

Gus's eyes were riveted to the TV screen and he grabbed up the remote control to increase the volume.

I tiptoed around to a spot behind him from where I could see the screen.

The news reporter was facing toward the dredging arena so that all we saw of him was the back of his head. Then he turned, his hand pressed to the earphone tucked into his ear. A look of great excitement crossed his face.

"Folks, there's startling news. Divers have broken into the cargo hold where they discovered human remains. A skull was found, along with human bones. We can say with certainty that a human being was on board that ship when it went down. We can only speculate on how this person came to be locked in the cargo hold.

"It appears that the hull was smashed so that the ship was deliberately scuttled leaving . . ."

Gus was up out of his chair again, literally tearing his hair out of his head. "I knew it! I knew it!" he exploded. "Caesar wrote about them in his journal. They killed him. I've always known they killed him. I just didn't know how."

He was pacing wildly about the small room, bumping into furniture, flailing his arms and hurling objects onto the floor.

Jon approached him, placed a hand on his shoulder. "Gus, what can we do for you? Would you like to sit down, buddy, talk about it? Can I get you a drink?"

"Just get out!" he roared. "Get the hell out!"

28

"We used to live here during the war," Aunt Ruby said. "Claire, do you remember?"

"I remember Lumina," Mama said.

Aunt Ruby was older than Mama but it didn't show. Mama would always be pretty, but she'd aged a lot because of her illness. Now the doctors had discovered that by combining two of the drugs used for treating early Alzheimer's, they were having good success with some of their patients. And happily for our family, Mama was one of the success stories.

Oh, we all knew that eventually she'd have to go back to the nursing home, but for now she could live at home. And dear Aunt Ruby, God bless her, had agreed to take Mama home to Savannah.

Aunt Ruby was a retired registered nurse, in her early seventies, but a role model for us all. She was vibrant and active, laced up her Reeboks every day, rain or shine, and walked for two miles, wore make-up and colored her hair.

Binkie was smitten. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

We were having dinner at Bluewater, out on the Intracoastal Waterway. The evening was summer-like so we'd voted to sit out on the deck at a large round table with room enough for all of us. There was Mama and Aunt Ruby, Binkie, Melanie and Cameron, Nick and his sweetheart--me.

"I didn't know that you lived in Wilmington as girls," I said. "I thought you grew up in Savannah."

"We did live mostly in Savannah, Ashley," Aunt Ruby said. "But during the war years Daddy--your granddaddy--worked up here for a while. He was valuable to the war effort as a shipyard foreman. Of course, we had naval yards in Savannah too, but Daddy went where he was needed. And where Daddy went, Mama went, and we girls too."

A yacht was being tied up at dock, and the yacht owners disembarked to come up the boardwalk and be seated at the table next to ours. I couldn't help staring; what a fabulous life style.

Nick noticed. "Envious?" he inquired softly so no one else could hear. "I can't offer you a yacht. Will a houseboat do?"

I whispered back, "Anywhere you are, sweetheart. I'm glad you could make it tonight. It means a lot to me to have you here with my family."

"I know, and that's why I told them down at the station they'd have to get along without me for a few hours. But I'm afraid I've got to go back just as soon as dinner's over."

I wanted to ask him for details about the discovery of the sunken ship, ask him if the police, or the Coast Guard, or whoever handled such things, had verified that it was indeed Caesar Talliere's missing schooner, and if they thought the bones were Caesar's. But this was not the time.

"Do you remember when we first met, Ruby?" Binkie inquired hopefully.

"I shall never forget, Benjamin." She turned to all of us. "Benjamin and I met at the Children's Dance at Lumina Pavilion. Claire, you were there too, but you were such a little thing."

"I loved the music," Mama said meekly. She was rather subdued and quiet, but she was here, in mind and in body, and that was all that counted.

"Oh, the music," Aunt Ruby reminisced. "Jimmy Dorsey, Kay Kyser, the great band leaders all came to Lumina. And once a week, there would be a children's dance.

"But at other times, during the summer months, we children would be allowed to play outside on the beach and watch the grown-ups dance."

"And don't forget," Binkie reminded, his eyes twinkling merrily, "watch for German submarines."

"Oh, I do remember that. How much I wanted to see one, but I never did."

"And then the black-out came," Binkie said, "and all those brilliant lights—thousands of incandescent lights—were extinguished, and Lumina closed until the war was over.

"And after the war, you and Claire returned to Savannah with your parents," he said sadly. "How I missed you. You were the cat's meow, as we used to say. And a whiz at the fox-trot."

"As I recall, so were you, Benjamin. And we did correspond," Aunt Ruby said wistfully. "And I never married. Did you?"

"No, Ruby, I never found anyone to compare with my dancing partner," Binkie confessed.

They smiled happily at each other across the table.

The waiter took our drink orders, and some of us had wine, others iced tea.

Melanie and Cameron had been listening to this exchange, and Melanie both surprised and pleased me when she said, "Binkie, Ashley and I will be driving to Savannah often to visit Mama. Why don't you plan to come with us as often as you can."

"I'd like that, Melanie. Ruby, what do you think? Shall I come?"

Aunt Ruby smiled broadly. "I'd love for you to see our family home and to spend some time there with us. Good suggestion, Melanie."

"How're things going with the show?" Nick asked Cameron. "Have your stars recovered from their injuries? That was some free-for-all, I heard."

"I was there," I said. "I saw it. How do you manage those guys, Cam?"

"Believe or not, on the set, they're one hundred percent professionals. Off the set, they act like kids. Actually, even bad publicity is good publicity; it's better than being ignored. We've gotten a lot of calls and e-mails from fans wishing them well.

"No bones were broken, just a lot of bruises and shiners. The writers wrote their bruises into Monday's episode. In the script, the guys had a run-in with some obnoxious jocks. We made the whole thing work for us."

Melanie snuggled near him. "That's because you're a genius, darling."

"Well, what really happened?" Nick asked. "Was it a fight in earnest? I heard they were fighting about Mindy's death. Joey Fielding accused Jimmy Ryder of being responsible. The cops on the scene said the fight looked like the real thing to them. But then no one was willing to press charges."

"They told me they were just horsing around," Cameron replied. "Boys will be boys, that sort of thing. They were upset about Mindy's death and had too much to drink."

"I see," Nick said but doubtfully.

The waiter returned to our table, pad and pencil in hand, and took our orders. Nick and I decided to share the Caribbean platter--coconut shrimp, chicken, island crab. The others ordered house specialties, fresh catch, roasted chicken. The cuisine was casual American, something for everyone.

Twilight on the waterway was spectacularly beautiful with dusk settling in along the shores, lights twinkling on.

"What do the police know about that sunken ship that was recovered today?" Cameron asked Nick.

I'd been hoping the subject would not come up. For one thing, I knew how much Nick disliked discussing ongoing investigations. For another, I worried that subjects like this might disturb Mama, but she seemed engrossed with the fish platter the waiter set before her.

Nick waited until all our plates had been served before saying, "The state archaeologists are investigating. That's about all I know, Cameron."

But I felt sure he knew far more than he was telling. I suspected Cameron realized Nick was stalling, although there was nothing further he could say.

"I hear Nem Chesterton is running for mayor," Aunt Ruby said. "I used to be good friends with his wife's mother when we were girls."

"Janet's mother?" I asked.

"Yes, we lived across the street from the family. She and I never lost touch. I recall that she didn't approve when Janet accepted Nem's proposal. She felt the Chestertons were pretentious. Telling everyone they were descended from one of Wilmington's founding families, when everyone knew the first Nehemiah Chesterton was nothing more than a carpetbagger--an opportunist of the worse sort."

"I never knew that," I said. "Why would someone make up a story like that?"

"Why to build themselves up," Mama replied demurely.