Inherent Danger

by Matt Lincoln

  That was just a thought, a theory created by what I saw before me. I looked down the passageway again, expecting to see a bag or a piece of luggage nearby. It couldn’t be under him, as there wasn’t enough room on the ladderwell. “If he was trying to get off the boat, he’d have taken that inheritance with him, am I right?”

  “Considering that was the whole reason for the trip, I’d say so,” Xavier answered me.

  “So, then, why isn’t it here with him?” Could whatever have happened to the boat been so sudden that Declan had just been caught in a plain, simple everyday activity, like going to the main deck for fresh air or something? I didn’t feel that this was making too much sense. “Xavier, did Declan have any known health concerns? I mean, like a heart condition. If he were scared or shocked, he could have had a heart attack on the ladderwell here, right?”

  It was a little far-fetched, but at this point, I was looking for a reasonable explanation. Xavier came back in my ear quickly. “No, nothing listed here. Maybe you should turn him over. There might be something to give us a clue there.”

  I reached down, placing the camera on one of the steps as I needed both hands to turn the man over. I moved to let Xavier and Rosa have an unobstructed view of what I’d find, even though I knew it was still recording. I rolled the Declan’s body over, and I was not prepared for what I saw.

  There was a gaping wound on his head that was nasty to see even now. But the real surprise was the bullet wound to his chest and his eyes looking out at nothingness in a look of horror and pain.

  “Header? Is that…?” Xavier started to ask.

  “Yep. That’s a gunshot wound.” My brain was trying to understand what my eyes were seeing. “Um, this is going to change a few things.”

  “Yeah.” I could overhear Xavier typing at the keyboard and breathing a bit more deeply now.

  I had to think fast. “I’m not bringing anyone up until I get a second person down here. This could be a crime scene. Or a robbery or I don’t even know what. Xavier? Do not relay this to his brother yet. Not until we can get down here and get some real authentication about what went down, understand me?” I knew he and Rosa would comprehend the severity of this new situation. But I just wanted to make sure, maybe for my own sake.

  I moved Declan’s body back into the position I’d found him in and picked up the camera. “I’m coming back up. We’re not touching anything else down here until I contact some people and we have extra eyes and hands on this.”

  I moved swiftly out of the wreckage, not truly focused on what I was doing. It was all on reflex that I swam out and found the tethering line again. My mind raced with scenarios, ideas, and conspiracies. Xavier was talking to me the entire time, but I wasn’t hearing him. This wasn’t what we’d signed up for, but that wasn’t going to stop me. Whether it was piracy or a greedy crew taking advantage of their elder passenger, I was determined to get to the bottom of this latest mystery.

  I took my check-ins seriously, meeting all of them and finally responding to Xavier's repeated calls for me to reply. “I’m still here. Just working things out in my head.”

  “We understand, but you can’t ignore the check backs, Header.” Xavier sounded worried, and I hated to have been the one to cause that.

  “I know, sorry. I’ll make an effort not to do it again.” I needed something else to think about, though. “What’s going on up there? What have you been working on?” I knew he wasn’t wasting any time in searching for answers, either.

  “I can’t find anything,” he sighed. “There have been no reports of piracy in the area, but I did find a missing person’s report from Costa Rica. It matches the name and description of one of the crew members of the Hester, so that tells me that his family has lost contact too.” Xavier paused to make sure I heard this. “I’m looking into the other crew members, but so far, no one has reported them missing.”

  “That could be a very bad sign.” I didn’t like the implications. I hated to think that someone murdered an elderly man over a case full of trinkets. But now we had to consider that possibility. I stayed quiet until I got back to Wraith. The removal of my gear was a quiet affair. I wasn’t in the mood to talk about what we’d seen, not yet. I told Rosa to helm us home while I went over the footage with Xavier.

  There was still no sign of the luggage, and we decided that it was probably still in his cabin. We’d need another trip out soon and another diver or team member at the very least. I knew that I couldn’t solve this right here and now, and that was unsatisfying. But I was going to have to live with it, at least for the time being.

  8

  Jake

  Once we got back to the marina, I spent most of my time getting the gear and supplies ready for the new mission we would now have to take on. We’d already procured body bags and evidence bags to transport everything with more dignity. Now I was going to need a medically trained individual to confirm the deaths, even though Declan’s was pretty cut and dry.

  Doc was still a couple of days out, and while Rosa had medical training and skill, I didn’t know if that was going to be enough. As she was helping me to clean up and reload our supplies, I turned to ask her.

  “Do you think I should talk to George and make him aware of what we’re dealing with?” I offered. “He’s used to the secrecy end of this kind of thing. And I don’t like the idea of letting someone with a strong connection to Kippy on my boat, but he would be able to tell us about the bodies.”

  Rosa was shaking her head already, but not to say ‘no.’ It was soft and unsure. He’s been trustworthy in the past, but I get your apprehension about him and Kippy. Doc’s going to be busy for his first few days back, at the very least. Rosa sighed, and it sounded irritated. My opinion? Don’t let George on Wraith, but maybe set something up here at the marina for him to work with. That way, we’re not removing evidence too far from the source.

  “Good plan.” I looked back over at the comm station, wondering. “We should really log this into some kind of authority, or law enforcement, don’t you think? It is in international waters, but a gunshot wound does imply foul play was involved. In my gut, that boat is a crime scene.”

  I agree with you. And if you want to call in the experts, I’ll stand behind your call. Rosa nodded at me.

  It was going to be a difficult call no matter what, but I’d rather err on the side of caution. So, once Rosa and I finished with the supplies for our next trip out, I sat down at Xavier’s station and started making calls. Or rather, I attempted to. I got ignored, transferred, and just plain hung up on a lot. After an hour of this, I stopped and decided to try again later.

  Once Wraith was locked up good and tight, I headed over to George’s to speak with him. Xavier had disappeared onto his yacht to research and find out whatever else he could about this mission and the strange turns it had taken. Rosa was anxious to get back to her place for her own reasons, which I didn’t ask too much about.

  I texted George to let him know that I was coming over. I probably should have asked first, but my mind just wasn’t in the mood to do all the niceties. I got a rapid response back, welcoming me to come over. That made me feel a bit better about it.

  As I pulled into George’s driveway, I saw him standing out front, waiting for me. Next to him was another refreshing sight. Eve was there with him. I turned off my vehicle and stepped out as they gingerly walked over to greet me.

  George shook my hand with a smile. “It’s good to see you again, Jake. Even under these conditions.”

  I nodded back at him. “I know, well, sort of. Are you doing okay?” I didn’t know the full extent of what was going on, but I could feel the tension and stress he was under. I could only imagine what had to be going on in his mind with Verity’s legal troubles. I smiled over at Eve and smiled. “And how are you tonight?”

  Eve was in lawyer mode, looking sanguine and resolved. “I’m very well, thank you. Yourself?”

  “Busy day.” An understatement if there ever was
one.

  “Well, please do come in.” George gestured for Eve and me to go inside. “I’m sure there is an abundance to discuss between the three of us.” We all walked into his front foyer, and he motioned for the two of us to head for the guest sitting area off to the right. “I’ll just go get us some refreshments.” He bowed his head and continued down the hall to the kitchen.

  His home hadn’t changed since the last time that I was there. There was a lot of stonework and an old-world feel to the décor. I noticed that Eve took a chair with a large briefcase already on the floor beside it. She’d arrived here, and they’d been conversing before I’d shown up. I had to suppose that it was about whatever Verity was going through.

  I nodded toward the case as I took a seat on a big, earth-toned sofa. A stone and wood table sat between where I was, another sofa identical to this one, and the chair Eve was in. The table was covered in magazines and medical journals, all of them impressively current. As I looked around the room, I saw no family pictures nor any artwork on the walls.

  The walls were bland in plaster, and that stood out in stark contrast to the foyer only feet away. Maybe he’d recently done some remodeling and hadn’t finished with the set up yet. This room seemed very out of place for what I knew to be the rest of George’s home to be.

  “So, without giving me too much client-attorney confidentiality information, how are things going?” I tried to make that sound funny, and it must have worked because Eve cracked a smile.

  “Since I last saw you yesterday? Swimmingly,” she responded. “And you? Any earth-shattering news to share?”

  I shook my head and smirked. Nothing that I could tell her about. “No, not really. Just all that secret, covert, spy stuff you hear about on the nightly news.”

  Eve chuckled a bit at this. “Yeah.”

  By this time, George had returned with two glasses of iced tea and handed them to us. We thanked him and watched him take the empty sofa opposite me.

  “So, what has Eve told you about Verity’s situation, Jake?” George asked me, point-blank.

  I was a little taken aback, and I sputtered as I had just taken a sip of the tea. “Um, well, nothing. It’s none of my business, George.” I decided to take the direct route to avoid all conflicts of information. “I actually came to see you about another subject entirely. It was pertaining to a mission of mine. Something I’m working on right now. Not that I’m unconcerned about Verity and her… situation,” I didn’t know how else to address that, “but I’m not trying to pry. Just so we’re clear.”

  George nodded his head and breathed in deeply. “I see. Then, this business of yours, will Eve be hampered or opposed if she hears of it, or should we speak about these matters privately?”

  I glanced over at Eve, who was watching me for an answer. I shook my head. “There’s nothing wrong with her hearing my problems. As long as we all keep what I say to this room alone.”

  “Well, now I’m really interested,” Eve replied playfully. She took a sip from her tea glass and leaned back to listen intently.

  I saw no reason not to start. “My team and I are working for a man here in Miami by the name of Speirs. We were hired for retrieval of a lost boat out in international waters, which we’ve worked in before. Not a really big deal. That said, we found the wreckage and are preparing to recover the…” I stopped, not sure how I should mention the next part.

  “There are casualties on board the wreckage,” I continued. “We’re supposed to bring them up. There’s no conclusive idea of why the boat went down, so we have to assume it was an accident. The other options are piracy or crew theft of the lone passenger’s items.” I really didn’t want to get into detail here. It wasn’t important as to why I needed George’s help.

  I pressed on. “Anyway, I did the preliminary dive this morning and set up the way for a full retrieval in the coming days. But I found a body, and he wasn’t the victim of any kind of accident during a sea voyage. He was shot in the chest, and he had a head injury.” I stopped as I saw George’s eyes grow wide. “And just so you know, I did try to contact law enforcement. But being international waters, I’m having a hard time getting anyone to respond to me.”

  George was quiet for a few seconds, and then he spoke. “I understand, but I’m a bit unclear as to why you’ve come to me with this, Jake.” He shook his head. “I’m not unsympathetic to your plight, but how can I be of any assistance to you with this?”

  “Well, I was hoping that you could examine the bodies once we bring them up and that you could help us with the forensics.” I expressed that as diplomatically as I could.

  “No, Jake, you can’t do that,” Eve warned, shaking her head almost violently at me. “You can’t bring those bodies back to US soil without contacting all the proper authorities first. You could get into serious trouble for that.”

  “Yeah, I know that, Eve, but as I said, I can’t get anyone to call me back about it.” I sighed loudly. “I’m going to try again tomorrow, but if this goes down like I think it’s going to, no one is going to want to take responsibility for it.” I had been through this type of investigation before. Someone always wanted to pass the buck.

  George interjected here. “Would it be possible for me to travel with you and see the bodies firsthand, while they’re not considered the responsibility of any one territory or government?”

  That was just what I wanted to avoid. So, I lied a tiny bit. “Not at this point. I can’t take anyone not on my team out with me.” I really hoped neither one of them would ask more questions into that. I kept my gaze on George, with the expectation of him also not wanting to pry into my personal business more than he had to.

  “That’s a tricky impasse, Jake,” Eve replied. She sat and thought about it while George and I also tried to produce a solution.

  “I know it, but that’s just how it is.” I may have put my team into too tight of a corner with my own rules here. “That said, I’m guessing that there’s not much else that we can do then, am I right?”

  George sighed and answered me honestly. “You can retrieve them, I suppose, but unless there is a neutral location that I can use to examine them, then I’m afraid that there’s nothing I can do to help you or your team’s endeavors with your mission. I’m sorry.”

  I was going to have a hard time talking myself into letting an outsider get onto Wraith again. A conversation with Rosa and Xavier was certainly going to have to happen, and maybe it would be better to just wait for Doc. That was looking like the most logical option, even if it was a crappy one, time-wise.

  “Okay, well, thanks for listening and trying.” I took another drink of the iced tea and decided to kill two birds with one stone while I was there. “Without getting anyone into trouble, can you tell me how Verity’s doing? What’s her ordeal about?”

  Eve waited for George to respond, obviously not feeling like it was her place to say anything.

  He cleared his throat and began. “It’s not Verity, per se. It’s her firm, the company she works for. You know that they clean and repair art and artifacts for private collections, that sort of thing?”

  I nodded that I knew about it.

  “It appears that someone within their firm is… copying these items, these works of art, and trying to sell the copies overseas. Passing them off as the originals or twin pieces of fine art and making a lot of money off of them.” George spoke with a heavy, dull tone to his voice, and I could see that he was very worried about his daughter’s situation. “Verity has no direct knowledge of the events, but as she is employed with them, the eyes of suspicion have fallen on her.”

  “Wow, that’s… I can’t think of a relatable word to explain that.” It was pretty crazy, but that might be too blunt. “Where is she now? Verity, I mean. She hasn’t been arrested, has she?”

  “No, not yet,” George said with some dread. “They have questioned her several times. Her home and workplace have been searched, and her accounts looked into. I asked for Eve’s help
in case things go sour and she’s charged with some wrongdoing.” He glanced over at Eve, who smiled back at him reassuringly. “She’s the only solicitor that I know and trust. She’s been kind enough to come here to Miami and try to make sense of this all for us.”

  “I can understand that.” I smiled over at Eve. “She’d be my first choice too.”

  At about that time, George got a message alert on his cell. He took it out of his shirt pocket, glanced at it, and sighed in a tired fashion. “Sorry, but I need to take this call. You’ll excuse me?” He asked this as he stood and started for the foyer.

  “Hey, I need to get going anyway.” I, too, stood up quickly and planned to make my getaway. I looked over at Eve and nodded toward the door. “Can I walk you out?”

  She took my hint and set her tea glass on the coffee table. “Yes, please. Thank you.” Eve grabbed her briefcase, smiled at George, and mouthed “thank you” in his direction, and we quickly exited his home. It was a good excuse to get going, and I figured that we’d shared all the information that we needed tonight.

  Eve and I closed the front door behind us.

  “I can drop you off anywhere you’d like to go, instead of you calling a cab,” I offered. There weren’t any other cars out there, but for mine and one of George’s, the BMW Verity liked to use. Eve clearly hadn’t driven here herself.

  “Yeah, I guess that I’ll have to. I was planning on calling for a ride, but if you’re offering,” she teasingly remarked. We made our way over to my Mercedes, and we both slipped into the front seats.

  “I appreciate this,” she said kindly. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it.” That was the normal thing to say, but my mind was elsewhere. As I pulled out of the driveway and back into traffic, I also started to notice that something felt a little off in the front end of the Mercedes, and I figured it would be just my luck for it to begin giving me fits. After all, it was a rental, and it had some decent miles on it. I disliked the idea of having to shop for a new automobile, but if I needed to, I would.