The Cursed

by Heather Graham

  “Billie,” Dallas said. “Sit down.” He indicated the chair again. “So, tell us about Billie. Would he be Knife, Hammer, Pistol or Blade? Which one are you, by the way?”

  Garcia’s eyes widened. “I don’t know what—”

  “Get him out of here!” Dallas said with disgust.

  “No, no! Billie is Blade. I’m—I’m Knife.”

  “Knife,” Dallas said. “You like knives, Garcia? Slicing people up?”

  “I never killed anyone, I swear!” Garcia protested. “I just needed a name—you know, one that would make me sound tough and cool. None of us are supposed to know each other’s real names—or even know each other at all, most of the time. If a job calls for more than one person, we meet at a predetermined location and use the names we’ve chosen.”

  “But you and your cousin did know each other. There were four of you the other night—getting to know the new guy. Jose Rodriguez. At least one of you knew him by name, because someone in the group recruited him.”

  Garcia nodded. “Yeah, my cousin. Billie. Blade. He recruited him.”

  “Great. Tell us about your cousin Blade.”

  “Blade didn’t kill him, either.”

  “But you all knew he was going to be killed,” Dallas said.

  “No.”

  Dallas started to turn away in disgust.

  “No, no! I swear we didn’t!” Garcia cried, his voice high-pitched and tense. Sweat suddenly appeared on his face.

  He was telling the truth.

  “That’s just it, don’t you see? You have to protect me.” Garcia hadn’t wanted to talk, but he suddenly couldn’t stop, the words pouring from him. “I never saw the guy before that night. Billie—Blade—met him in some bar. He was talking about his sucky life—how he was ready to do more so he could get more. Blade talked to the Wolf, and the Wolf said to bring him in. Blade brought the new guy—Pulpit—when we got together the other night. Wolf’s orders. We were going to get our assignment when the Wolf called Blade.

  “So we’re in the bar and Blade gets the call. He just tells us to leave the bar and walk down Duval toward Mallory Square. Then the phone rings again, and the Wolf tells us where to turn off. We’re just walking. Just walking, I swear it! Then suddenly there’s this noise behind us and I...I turn around and there’s blood and your guy is trying to fight off some guy and Blade says ‘Run!’ So we ran—the rest of us, we ran like hell. I have no idea who actually killed the guy. I’m telling you the truth. Finally Blade says we gotta split up. Then he tells me that I gotta look different, so I cut my hair and all. I bought preppy clothes...I did what I was told.”

  Dallas stared at him. “And you never killed anyone?”

  “No.”

  “What happened to the girl who went diving?” he asked quietly. “Yerby Catalano.”

  Garcia shook his head. “I swear I don’t know. I overheard one of the guys saying that call went to Machete.”

  “Who’s Machete?”

  “I swear to God, I don’t know.”

  Liam came forward, pulled a pad from the folder on the desk and pushed it toward Garcia, along with a pen he took from his pocket. “We need names—real names if you have them, aliases if you don’t.”

  “I’ll be a dead man if I do that.”

  “You’re a dead man if you don’t. Your only hope is helping us. Then, if your info pans out, we’ll bring in the U.S. Marshals and see about getting you a new identity. But first we need everything you can give us. And you’d better not lie or witness protection goes out the window,” Liam warned.

  Garcia winced, looking down at the paper. “My cousin...he’s my blood,” he said.

  “It’s your blood or your life,” Dallas told him. He leaned forward. “If we send you out there now, you’re dead. I want your cousin’s full name. I want to know where to find him. I also want to know about every theft you’ve been involved with, and I want to know everything—everything—you can possibly tell us about Los Lobos and the people in it. And it’s in your best interest to do so, because until we get the Wolf, no matter how we try to protect you, no matter what we do, you’ll be looking over your shoulder the rest of your life.”

  Garcia was visibly deflated. His whole face was damp with sweat. He nodded.

  “There’s one more thing I need to know—and I need to know it now,” Dallas said.

  Garcia looked at him. His eyes were wide, terrified. He nodded.

  “What were you doing on that ghost tour?” Dallas asked.

  Garcia froze. Then he winced as if he were in pain.

  “What?” Dallas demanded.

  “The house,” Garcia said at last. “I was supposed to get a good look at the house.”

  “And what else?”

  “I...I was supposed to get the woman alone. Wolf knew that Hannah O’Brien wasn’t going to be leading the tour. That it would be another woman. Katie O’Hara. I was supposed to...to get her alone when the tour was over, before she headed back to the house.”

  “Why?”

  He winced again. “I—I wasn’t ordered to kill her, if that’s what you’re thinking. I was supposed to get to know her. Talk to her about the Siren of the Sea like I was studying local history and needed to know for a paper I was writing.”

  “Why?”

  “So she would invite me back to see more of the place. The Wolf didn’t know she’d have a cop and her husband with her.”

  “So you gave up the plan. But what was the plan?”

  “I was supposed to get her talking Then I was supposed to see that the doors were left unlocked.”

  “That’s it? That was all you had to do? You weren’t supposed to kill anyone?”

  “No. No killing,” Garcia said.

  Maybe not, Dallas thought, but the kid was lying. There was something else.

  Dallas forced Garcia to meet his eyes. “There’s something else going on. What aren’t you telling me?”

  Garcia let out a breath. “Drug her coffee,” he said.

  “What?” Dallas said, surprised by the answer.

  “Get into the kitchen and drug her coffee. But I never got the chance.” Garcia stopped talking and inclined his head toward Liam. “The cop was there.”

  “Detective Beckett was there, you mean.”

  “Detective Beckett. And the other guy—lethal looking guy. He was a Beckett, too. David Beckett. The cop’s brother. So when I found out she’d be surrounded all night, I shelved the plan. The Wolf isn’t stupid.” Garcia paused again and sighed. “He doesn’t mind sending out an army to get killed. But he always has the endgame in mind, so if things don’t line up, he gets it. When he called me to check in and I explained the situation, he said just to be friendly and curious and stay at the Hard Rock when the tour was over, then leave after I had my free drink.”

  Dallas stood and looked down at Garcia. “This better be the truth—the absolute truth,” he said. “We’re going to find the others and pick them up. We’ll hold them, and then, most probably, they’ll be charged with conspiracy to commit murder. I’m a federal agent, not a district attorney, but if you testify, I’m sure the DA will agree to relocate you.”

  Garcia nodded, then looked down at the pad and pen lying in front of him.

  When Dallas and Liam headed for the door, Garcia laid his head down on his arms. He was shaking, Dallas saw. Despite his dangerous alias, “Knife” wasn’t cut out for a life of crime, and he was afraid. Terrified. He’d been an easy mark. He almost felt sorry for the kid.

  But, Dallas knew, the Wolf wouldn’t feel any such thing. Because he didn’t care who he lost—who he sacrificed.

  And damn it, they still weren’t close to the answers they needed.

  “Think we’ll get anything?” Liam asked as he and Dallas met up with Logan i
n the hall.

  “I think he was telling the truth. The Wolf is smart about only sending those out to kill who can kill,” Dallas said. “Garcia, a killer? No way. The Wolf goes for the cold-blooded kind. Like the guy who came after us on the bridge. He was ready to kill or be killed. The odd thing is, I don’t think the Wolf cared whether we were killed on that bridge or not.”

  “No?” Dallas asked.

  “What he wants is to get inside the house. He knew the accident might not go his way, but he figured even if we weren’t killed or in the hospital, we’d be so wiped out by getting hit, then all the follow-up with the cops, that once we got back we’d be out like lights. Maybe even on painkillers to help us sleep. Meanwhile, he would have come in through the door Garcia left open and hidden somewhere, so once we were asleep he could look around for the treasure to his heart’s content.”

  “And then most likely kill us all,” Logan finished.

  “Maybe,” Dallas said. “Or maybe he just wanted to get into the house and our fates didn’t matter one way or the other. The Wolf steals art and artifacts. The only time someone dies is was when they cross him or he wants to send a warning, or they’re in his way or have something he wants. The people on the salvage boat disappeared. But Jose was only killed because he had infiltrated the gang, and maybe because the Wolf thought Jose was close to discovering something about the Wind and the Sea.”

  “Here’s what I don’t get,” Logan said. “Why does he think the treasure’s at Hannah’s place? It was never there, right?”

  “There are no records to show that it was ever stored at the house,” Dallas agreed.

  “Records can be missing or misleading,” Liam said.

  “We have to find it,” Dallas said.

  “Yes,” Logan said. “And the Wolf.”

  “But,” Logan said, “if we can find the treasure—or even make Los Lobos think we have—we just may be able to trap the Wolf.”

  * * *

  Valeriya was in Captain Chandler’s room, the room where Dallas was staying.

  She was on the floor, looking disoriented. Kelsey rushed in ahead of Hannah, gun at the ready, prepared for anything. Valeriya saw the gun and let out another high-pitched scream.

  “Valeriya!” Hannah cried, hurrying forward to help the girl, who was trying to get up. “What happened?”

  Valeriya pointed at the bed. “I—I pulled the sheet, but it caught under the mattress and I slammed against the wall and fell down.”

  “Did you hit your head? Are you hurt?” Hannah asked her.

  Kelsey slid her weapon back into the waistband of her trousers, snug against the small of her back, and joined Hannah to help Valeriya to her feet.

  “I’m okay,” Valeriya said. “I’m sorry I screamed like a baby.”

  “You sure did,” Hannah agreed, laughing. “But that’s okay.”

  “Let’s get you downstairs, so you can have something to drink and sit a minute—make sure you’re all right,” Kelsey said.

  “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 cle
an 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.