The Cursed (18 page)

“Thank you, but I’m okay.”

“You may need to go to the hospital, just to make sure you don’t have a concussion,” Kelsey said.

“No, no, I’m okay, just...raffled,” Valeriya said.

“Rattled,” Hannah explained to Kelsey.

Kelsey smiled. “
Raffled
is good, too.”

Hannah smiled, then was distracted when she realized Valeriya had slammed against the wall harder than she’d thought. False brick—really just a plaster overlay—had been applied across a section of the wall at one point, and now bits of it were chipping off.

“Kelsey, I’m going to finish making up the room. Can you help Valeriya?”

“Sure.”

“No, no, I will finish cleaning,” Valeriya insisted.

“No, you will sit down and make sure you’re okay,” Hannah told her, then walked to the hall closet to get the broom.

Back in the bedroom, Hannah struggled to move the heavy captain’s bed away from the wall so she could sweep up all the plaster that had fallen. When she was done, she paused for a moment, then pushed the bed back.

The walls had been painted over the years, but she had no idea when the false brick had been added. The style had been popular during the late 1700s through the mid-1800s, so presumably it had been there awhile.

She would have to get Bentley in to repair it, she thought. He was used to working with plaster and knew the old wooden houses in the Keys like few other men. This would be a tricky job. There was actually a notch out of the wall, almost as if the false brick had been hollow.

She started to turn away but then turned back. Something wasn’t right; she had just caught it in her peripheral vision.

She was trying to move the bed away from the wall again when Kelsey came back.

“You okay up here?” Kelsey asked. “What in the hell are you doing?”

“I’m fine. Moving the bed to get to the wall. There’s something...odd. It looks like a false brick was pushed in when Valeriya collided with the wall.”

“Easily fixed and easily hidden until it’s fixed,” Kelsey said. “Just move the bed a little to the side.”

“Yeah, but...”

She started pulling on the bed again, and Kelsey helped her until she could reach the broken spot in the wall. Immediately she knew what had captured her attention. Something inside the wall had caught the sunlight and given off the tiniest gleam.

She poked at the plaster, and more of it chipped away.

And then she knew what she had seen. Something metal had been hidden in the false brick and revealed when Valeriya had slammed against the wall.

“What is it?” Kelsey asked.

“I don’t know...almost got it,” Hannah said. She poked around in the little hole with her finger until she touched the metal. The rest of the “brick” fell apart as she dug it out and dusted the plaster from it.

She looked up at her cousin. “It’s a key.”

“A key,” Kelsey said. She shrugged. “Well, we’ve found things—including bodies—in walls before. In the past, I guess this was something like a safe-deposit box, except more permanent.”

“And at least it’s not a body,” Hannah said.

“Yes, that’s always a good thing,” Kelsey assured her wryly, then mused, “but a key. A key to what?”

Hannah held the key flat on the palm of her hand. It was long and straight, with some kind of metal insignia on the top and a simple protrusion on the bottom with which to open...whatever it opened.

“It’s old, that’s for sure,” Kelsey said.

Hannah looked at her and smiled, and she couldn’t help responding as she sometimes had when they were younger. “Duh!”

Kelsey laughed and started to speak, but then they heard movement on the stairway and spun to face the door.

Kelsey started to reach for her gun—ever ready, Hannah thought—but it was only Valeriya.

“Is everything all right?” she asked anxiously. “Did I break something?”

“No, Valeriya, everything is fine,” Hannah said, quickly slipping the key into her pocket. “How are you feeling? Did you have some tea?”

“I’m fine. I just feel so stupid for making such a fuss. And look what I did to your wall!”

“It’s no big deal,” Hannah assured her. “Bentley can fix it. Come on. Let’s all go back downstairs.”

“Let’s finish in here first,” Kelsey suggested.

“I will help,” Valeriya said, moving to collect the clean sheets from their place on a chair.

“No!” Hannah and Kelsey said in unison.

“You can supervise,” Hannah told her.

She and Kelsey had both worked for their uncle when they’d been kids. In a matter of minutes they had the bed made up with clean sheets and everything back to rights—except for the hole in the plaster. Hannah vowed to herself to come up later, when Valeriya wasn’t there to feel guilty, and move the bed to hide it.

“Is someone staying in here?” Valeriya asked.

“An FBI agent,” Hannah said. “He’s investigating the murder in the alley the other night.”

“My partner and I are staying here, too—down at the end of the hall,” Kelsey told her.

“I’m glad, Hannah. This way you are not alone,” Valeriya said.

“No, I’m not alone,” Hannah said. “Let’s go back down now.”

“There are more rooms to clean,” Valeriya said.

“Not today, Valeriya. Please don’t worry. I’ll keep paying your salary until I need you to come back to work.”

“I can’t take your charity,” Valeriya protested.

“It’s not charity. I’m being selfish. I want you around when I need you, okay?”

Valeriya looked at her searchingly, then nodded at last. “Okay. Then I’ll go home now and let you and your cousin catch up.”

“No!” Kelsey and Hannah spoke at the same time again, then looked at one another and smiled.

“The men will be back soon, and someone will see you home,” Kelsey said.

“Why?” Valeriya asked, suddenly nervous. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m just nervous,” Hannah said. “I know it’s silly, but after that man was killed so close to the house, I worry, that’s all.”

“Oh, no, that’s silly. It’s broad daylight, and I live a few blocks away.”

“Do it as a favor for me,” Hannah told her. “Let’s go downstairs again. You can teach us Russian.”

As they left the room, Hannah was acutely aware of the key in her pocket.

* * *

When the three men left the station, Logan headed up to Miami to find out what he could about Alicia Rodriguez, while Liam went to talk to his team about finding Blade, Hammer, and Pistol, aka William “Billie” Garcia, Reggie Arnold and Carter Addison, names Martin Garcia admitted he’d known despite the Wolf’s prohibition.

Dallas headed to the other side of the island to interview the married couple who had been partnered with Yerby during her fatal dive.

He reached their hotel and paused to looked across the road to the beach and the water. He thought about growing up here and how much he still loved to feel the sea breeze, about the way the world changed in summer, cooling down just a little bit when the sun had set and the breeze came in off the water.

Key West could be a crazy place—it was a destination for bachelor parties from around the world, for one thing—and you could hear a dozen different languages being spoken every time you walked down the street. Cubans had plied these waters and landed on the island long before any real settlement had been founded, and much of the island’s history had to do with the cigar makers who had made it their home. Music was everywhere and usually good, because there was so much competition and the less talented were squeezed out. Jimmy Buffet had left his mark, for sure, but you could hear anything as you passed the bars and clubs of an evening.

The Conch Train was in constant motion, touring visitors around the city and giving them a crash course in island history. Writers and readers came to pay homage to the master at the beautiful home that was once owned by Earnest Hemingway and was still filled with six-toed cats. Gorgeous Victorian homes dotted the island, and there was no end to the businesses offering diving, snorkeling, fishing and partying out on the water. The Conch Republic was like a mini United Nations, he thought, and he loved it.

And he hated the fact that the Wolf was killing on
his
home turf.

Most of all, he hated the fact that the bastard had homed in on the Siren of the Sea—and Hannah O’Brien.

He was a few minutes early, so he decided to take a moment to call Hannah. He made his way to the hotel pool, where he was meeting the couple, chose a seat and pulled out his phone.

“Everything okay there?” he asked her the minute she answered.

“Absolutely,” she assured him. “I’m having tea with Valeriya and Kelsey.”

“Valeriya?” he said sharply.

“She came to clean today. She needs the work.”

“Be that as it may, Hannah, you shouldn’t let anyone in when you’re alone.”

“I’m not alone. I’m with Kelsey.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “But we’re not letting Valeriya leave until one of you comes back. She’s connected to the Siren, so we don’t think she should be out alone.”

That, he thought, was a wise decision. But he still didn’t like it that the other woman was there.

Anyone—anyone—including a longtime employee, could be working for the Wolf.

“Hang on,” Hannah said. “I’m heading into another room.”

He waited.

A moment later Hannah started speaking excitedly. “Dallas, it’s great that she came. She was making the bed in your room and fell into—”

“Wait. You let her in
my
room?”

Hannah was silent for a minute, then said, “This is a bed-and-breakfast. She didn’t go in with a search warrant. She just went in to make the bed and bring fresh towels. That’s what we do here.”

He took a deep breath. “All right. So what happened after she fell?”

“She was pulling on the sheets, and she lost her balance and slammed against the wall where the plaster looks like bricks. You’ll never guess what I found!”

“No, I’ll never guess, since it’s pretty impossible for a treasure chest to fit in a space that’s a few inches deep, at best.”

“No, not a treasure chest—but I may have found the key to one. I found a key in there, Dallas. A very old key. And I don’t know why it never occurred to me ’til you just said it, but it could be the key to a treasure chest.”

Dallas heard footsteps and looked up. A young brunette was coming toward him, hand in hand with a man wearing khakis and a short-sleeved shirt decorated with multicolored parrots.

They had to be the Brennans. He rose to greet them.

“Hannah,” he asked quickly, “you didn’t show Valeriya the key, did you?”

“No, of course not.”

“And the officer is still parked in front of the house, right?”

“Yes, he’s there. We’re fine, Dallas. Kelsey knows what she’s doing.”

“I know that,” he said quickly. “But I’ll be there soon, anyway, as soon as I finish with this interview.”

“Wait! What’s happening with you?” Hannah asked.

“I’ll tell you as soon as I see you, but we’re finally moving in the right direction,” he assured her.

The couple was almost on him. He ended the call and offered his hand. “Dallas Samson, FBI,” he said. “I really appreciate your willingness to help. Sit, please.” He’d found a spot near the pool that was shaded and had lawn chairs in a group.

“I really hope we
can
help,” the woman said. “I’m Lottie, by the way. Lottie Brennan,” she told him quickly. “We didn’t know the poor girl before that morning, but she was so sweet and filled with life. She was mad at her boyfriend for not coming, but she said she wasn’t missing out because of him. Another couple was supposed to have come with them, as well, but they copped out on her, too. She came anyway, because she really loved diving.”

Lottie’s husband, who introduced himself as Don, nodded vigorously. “She was a nice kid—a really nice kid. This is so horrible. I feel responsible.”

“Me, too, even though I know we’re really not,” Lottie said. She looked at Dallas. “We were all swimming together. She was right with us. Then, suddenly, she wasn’t. There were a lot of divers out—and you know how people kind of look alike in dive gear? Well, there were at least twenty people on our boat, and I don’t even know how many more from the other boats anchored pretty much where we were. I thought she was still with us, because there were several pretty girls with dark hair nearby. We’d checked in with each other every few minutes all along the way, but then, when it was time to go up, she just wasn’t there! We told the divemaster and the captain immediately. They called the police and the Coast Guard, then went down to look for her right away.”

“Do you remember anyone on your boat who was close to my size? And blue-eyed?”

They looked at each other thoughtfully and shook their heads.

“She didn’t just drown?” Don asked.

“We’re investigating,” Dallas said.

“Do you dive?” Lottie asked him.

He nodded.

“Then you know what it’s like. You see a ray and you’re fascinated, so you start following it. Then a shark swims by, and even though you know not to panic, you move away, anyway. Then you see the wreck itself and you can’t stop staring at it. I have to admit, I wasn’t watching the other divers. It was just too beautiful down there.” She paused and ducked her head. “Not so beautiful for Yerby, though,” she said. “But I can tell you this—no one anywhere near your height was on
our
boat.”

“Can you think of anything that might help? Anyone you might have seen who
was
my size? Anything that struck you as out of place or different?”

“Um, yeah. One thing,” Don said thoughtfully.

“What’s that?” Dallas asked.

“I did notice a really big guy diving near us when we first went in. He was wearing a wet suit—not just a heavy skin, a full wet suit. It covered him head to toe. He didn’t come from our boat, because he was already in the water when our group went in, but I remember seeing him kind of blend in with us. To tell you the truth, I really only noticed him because I was wishing I was in that kind of shape.”

“He was well muscled?” Dallas asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Don said admiringly.

“Anything else you remember about him?” Dallas asked.