Cracked to Death

by Cheryl Hollon

  She leaned against the doorknob and waited until they both looked at her. “Jacob has an excellent point. Take my Mini. I’m going to be working in here.” She pulled the car keys out of her pocket and tossed them to Edward.

  Edward and Jacob left, and Savannah returned to her office and tackled the stack of papers that grew into a mountain every time she turned her back. After a tedious hour, she heard Jacob and Edward return.

  Back in the conference room, they were leaning over a pile of maps that completely covered the surface of the table.

  “What’s this?” Savannah asked as she entered the room.

  Jacob’s face beamed. “My librarian helped me find some old maps that were available during the time the bottle was made. She likes to help me and Suzy.”

  “That’s great, but—” Her cell phone rang. “It’s the museum. Hi, Dr. Smithfield. I’m putting you on speaker for my friends who are helping me research these bottles.” She pressed a key and placed her cell on the conference table.

  “My colleague in Bristol got back to me on the bottle he received from your Detective Parker.”

  “Oh? He didn’t tell me the bottle had been sent over to Scotland Yard.” Savannah turned and mouthed to Edward, “He’s not my Detective Parker.” Savannah turned back around and said, “What’s the story?”

  “It is an authentic, original Bristol Blue bottle manufactured for patent medications. It was a popular export to the new colonists of North America. The tiny maker’s mark on the bottom actually identifies the glass factory and the glassblower.”

  “Jacob was right about that one being an original. What’s the value?”

  “It’s not extraordinarily valuable. It usually sells at auction for under fifty dollars.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Smithfield. I don’t know how or if it fits into the motive for Martin’s death, but I appreciate the efforts of you and your Bristol colleague.” Savannah ended the call and shrugged her shoulders. “Another dead end. The bottle is old, but why is it important? It doesn’t add up.”

  Jacob pointed to a section on one of the old maps. “This appears to be very close to where Martin was found.”

  “We’ve nothing to lose.” Edward started gathering up the maps. “Let’s go to the discovery site and see what we can find out by comparing today’s shoreline with these maps.”

  “Don’t touch them.” Jacob pulled the maps toward him. “I’ll take care of the maps. My librarian friend said I must be in charge of the maps all the time.” He looked at Savannah and lowered his head in a challenge. “All the time.”

  Edward held his hands up. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist.”

  “What does that mean?” Jacob carefully rolled up the maps and put them in a cardboard shipping tube.

  Savannah gave Edward a warning look. “It means don’t get worried over something unimportant. We will let you take care of the maps exclusively, won’t we, Edward?”

  “Of course.” He nodded.

  They loaded into the Mini and drove straight down Central Avenue.

  Chapter 26

  Friday Afternoon

  “I think this is the spot.” Jacob had Suzy’s leash slipped over his wrist. The tube of maps was tucked under the other arm, and one of the maps was spread between his hands. “Yes.” He twisted the map slightly. “This is the spot.”

  They had parked the Mini on Park Street and had walked along the seawall to the place where the newspaper stated Martin’s body had been found.

  Savannah looked at the large Mediterranean Revival–style homes that backed onto this small bit of Intracoastal Waterway. “What we need to find is the young couple and their dog who found the body. They were taking their dog for a walk.”

  She had barely gotten the words out of her mouth when a great, lumbering hulk of a chocolate lab came galloping down the narrow beach.

  “Charlie! Stay!” The command came from a young couple about twenty yards away. The man held a leash in his hand. He ran up to them, with the woman a few feet behind.

  Charlie skidded to a tumbling halt and wound up lying on his side, looking up at Suzy with adoring eyes.

  “Don’t panic. He’s a real softie.” The man snapped the leash onto Charlie’s collar. “We don’t often find other dogs out here.”

  “Suzy is a service dog.” Jacob backed away, still holding the map.

  “No problem. Charlie is curious about her vest.”

  The young woman stepped forward, with her hand outstretched. “Hi. I’m Julie Wedlake, and this is my husband, Paul. We live a few houses over on Park Street.”

  Savannah and Edward shook her hand and Paul’s and introduced themselves to the couple, but Jacob kept a tight grip on the maps.

  “What are you looking for?” Julie looked at her husband. “Maybe we can help.”

  Savannah didn’t hesitate a second. “We’re looking for a cache of old bottles turned up by one of my students. I own Webb’s Glass Shop on Central Avenue, and this week we taught a glass recycling class, which started on Monday. Martin brought in an old bottle that he said came from the water along here.”

  “Do you mean the diver who was found here on Tuesday morning?” Paul asked.

  Savannah nodded. “Yes. He was in class on Monday and brought a Bristol blue bottle that he said he had salvaged.”

  The couple looked at each other.

  Paul said, “We’re the ones who found him. The bottle found with him was broken, but you could still see the cobalt blue through the mesh of his dive bag.”

  “I’m consulting with the police department as their glass expert, and I would like to ask you some questions, if you’ve got a few minutes.”

  “Definitely,” said Julie. “Our house is a few doors away. Please follow us so we can be more comfortable and can get these dogs out of the heat. I’m sure Suzy would appreciate a little water, as well as everyone else.”

  “Thanks,” said Edward. “We’re happy to take you up on it.”

  After Savannah and Edward helped Jacob stow the borrowed maps in the tube, the little troupe followed the couple down the beach to the back entrance of an early 1920s stucco and clay-tiled mansion. They entered through the back door and found themselves in a screened-in area with an Olympic-sized pool, which could easily have hosted a swim meet. They followed Paul and Julie inside through the door to the kitchen.

  “Let me get some water for the dogs first.” Julie picked up a large bowl from the floor and grabbed another one from a cupboard in the enormous granite-topped island. After she filled the bowls with water and placed them down several feet apart, she said, “I don’t know about Suzy, but Charlie doesn’t like to share either food or water.” Charlie practically inhaled the liquid in noisy, sloppy slurps.

  “Suzy is a polite dog.” Jacob led her to the smaller bowl. “She’s had lots of training to prepare for all situations.” Suzy lapped some water, then sat.

  “Good,” said Julie. “I’ll get us some iced tea, and we can chat in the living room. Paul, get everyone settled, and I’ll be right in with a tray.”

  They followed Paul and were soon settled in a casual, comfortable way, so that it felt like they had all known each other for much longer than the few minutes that had passed.

  After Julie served the iced tea and sat, she said, “Now, what do you want to know?”

  Edward nodded over at Savannah, and she cleared her throat. “We want to know where Martin found the bottle. We think it is the key to solving his death.”

  Paul and Julie looked at each other with eyebrows raised.

  Paul nodded slightly. “This is weird, but we actually might be able to help you.”

  “Fantastic, but how?” Savannah asked.

  “We have a marine science business,” said Paul.

  “And it fits in with your questions very well,” said Julie. “It combines a remotely operated vehicle, called an ROV, with bottom-sensing instrumentation. It is possible for us to—”

  “Scan the bottom of the Int
racoastal Waterway to search for the bottles,” Jacob said, finishing the statement.

  “Right,” said Paul. “We’re in the process of collecting data right now in support of a grant application to map sections of the gulf to document sea grass destruction. We’re also going to measure the effectivity of different methods of sea grass restoration.”

  Edward frowned. “I’m sorry. A grant? I’m not familiar with funding for science in the States.”

  Julie smiled. “I’m not sure anyone is, but basically, Paul and I are applying for funding to prove that our ROV is more effective at documenting sea grass damage caused by boats that run aground and tear up the bottom.” She nodded at Paul.

  “The grant will fund a feasibility study for using high-definition cameras tethered to our vehicle for not only providing proof of damage but also for estimating the fines levied on the boat owners for the restoration of the sea grass.” Paul lifted his eyebrows. “If this gets approved, we can offer our services to the restoration companies for damage assessment and proof that the damage has been repaired.”

  “Currently, the sea grass is counted by hand, a tedious and error-prone estimation method,” Julie added.

  Savannah spread her hands. “How does this help us locate the area where Martin found the bottles?”

  Julie looked at Edward. “I see where you’re confused. We haven’t selected the areas where we’re going to collect baseline data. It means we can use our ROV to search in the most likely places Martin would have been able to access. It’s a win-win.”

  Jacob tapped the tube of maps. “That’s why I have these old maps. We can figure out what would have been a good place to bury the bottles on the old maps, and then we can match where they might be in the Intracoastal. Then the ROV can scan those areas for us to see if there have been disturbances on the bottom.”

  “You’ve got it, young man,” said Paul. “We have to accumulate a significant amount of data regardless to accompany our proposal. We might as well make it interesting.”

  “You know, this sounds like a very thinly disguised treasure hunt.” Julie tilted her head sideways.

  “No,” protested Paul. “This is actually aiding in a murder investigation.” He grinned wide. “Even better.”

  Edward stood. “How do we start?”

  Paul also stood. “Jacob, I’m going to get my set of modern charts, and let’s determine some target areas for the ROV scans based on your maps. Then we’ll start scanning tomorrow afternoon. Good? Let’s go into the workshop and plot this out.” He looked at Julie, Savannah, and Edward. “You don’t mind, do you?”

  “Mind? You don’t think you’re doing this without us, do you?” Julie waved at the entire group. “It’s this way. It was originally a billiards room, but we’ve found it to be the perfect laboratory for our business.”

  Jacob could hardly contain his excitement. He followed Julie and Paul into a large room outfitted with all the work space and instruments that could be found in any university laboratory. He unrolled one of the maps onto a long table near the end of the room and pointed to an island in the middle of the Intracoastal. “This is one of the possible locations where I think the treasure cache should be.”

  Paul rummaged through his collection of charts stored in a flat set of drawers and pulled out a chart of the same area, which was a modern update. “This is still a shallow area of the Intracoastal. Let me plug this into our application and see what parameters we will need to enter into the ROV navigation program.”

  Jacob sorted through his maps and pulled out another location, which Paul located on one of his charts as a final possibility. After the coordinates were plugged into the ROV and Paul had taken pictures of Jacob’s maps, everyone fell silent.

  Savannah looked at Paul. “When are you going to perform the data scans?”

  “It will have to be during low tide tomorrow, which will be at about three in the afternoon. This will give us the best chance of detecting any kind of disturbance on the bottom. The water is so murky that the less water there is, the easier it will be for the cameras to analyze for anomalies.”

  “Can we come along?” Jacob scooped up Suzy, who had been about to remind Charlie that she was a service dog. “I won’t be any trouble.”

  Edward spoke up. “I think we should all be involved. This is serious business, and not merely a lark for the scientific fun of it. Even though it does look like this ROV of yours could shortcut the efforts of salvage divers across the world.”

  It was Jacob who voiced the thought foremost in everyone’s mind. “We might finally find Gaspar’s treasure.”

  Chapter 27

  Saturday Morning

  “I’m at the hospital with my mother. She’s got pneumonia, and it’s very serious. I can’t come into the shop today.”

  Savannah had answered the early morning call a few minutes after opening Webb’s Glass Shop. “Oh, I’m so sorry. What can I do to help?”

  There was a long loud sigh from Amanda. “Thanks, but they’ve got her in an oxygen tent and have pumped her with enough antibiotics to cure leprosy. She’s doing very well, but I can tell she doesn’t understand what’s happening. Whenever I get near, she grabs onto my hand like she’s drowning. At this point, I’m her life preserver.”

  “Then, of course, you must stay with her.”

  “When I got the call from her nursing home, they also said that the police had searched her room.”

  “Your mother’s room? That’s crazy!” Savannah could hear the anger in her voice.

  “Not so crazy. In her closet, they found a cracked blue bottle with blood on it.”

  Savannah cleared her throat and spoke softly. “That’s not good. Was your mom upset?”

  “I don’t think so. She’s been sleeping pretty much all the time.”

  “Why don’t I come over, and we can both sit with your mother?”

  “Oh, thanks. I would appreciate it. This is so hard to do by myself. Mom looks so scared, and I—” There was a great gulping sob, followed by “Mother! Stop! Stop that!” and then the phone went silent.

  “Amanda? Are you there? Amanda!”

  There was a commotion, and loud voices were telling Mrs. Blake to remain calm. Several more long seconds, maybe even minutes, went by.

  “Savannah?”

  “I’m here.”

  “Thanks. Mom deliberately pulled off the oxygen tent, and everyone is upset and frustrated. They’re talking about giving her even more medication to sedate her. I need to go talk to the doctor and make sure they understand about her dementia.”

  “I’ll be there as quick as I can.”

  Savannah locked up the shop and drove the short distance down to the hospital. She asked at the desk for Mrs. Blake’s room and was soon walking into a room jam-packed with monitors, respirators, IV lines, and an even paler than usual Amanda, who was wringing her hands like an automaton.

  “Savannah!” Amanda grabbed her and crushed her slim frame into a bear hug, showing the desperation she felt. “I’m so glad you’re here. There’s a real possibility Mother is dying.”

  After she extracted herself from Amanda’s desperate clutches, Savannah led her to one of the two visitor’s chairs in the hospital room. “Sit down and, even more important, calm down. This is not helping. Now, take a deep breath and let it out slow.”

  “But—”

  “I mean it. Deep breath.”

  Amanda inhaled a short breath and released it quickly. “I have more—”

  “No talking until we have your emotions under better control. Your mother can sense it, and she’ll take longer to recover, because she’s reacting to your anxiety. Now, deep breath.” Savannah took a deep breath, and Amanda followed suit. They breathed in time for several minutes, until Amanda’s color returned.

  “Thanks.” Amanda looked over at her mother, who seemed to relax and breathe easier. “You’re right. I need to be calm when I’m here. Just because she can’t remember my name doesn’t mean she doe
sn’t know who I am.”

  “That must be horribly upsetting.” Savannah leaned back in her chair. “What do the doctors say?”

  “Ugh. It’s a lot of mumbo jumbo, but it boils down to ‘She’s old,’ as usual. I’ve got a call into the primary care physician who used to be her favorite until she went into the Abbey. If he can, he says he will stop by and review her condition. That will make us both feel better. Thanks for being here.”

  “That’s what friends are for.”

  They both looked over at Mrs. Blake, who was now sleeping peacefully, although her breathing was still labored.

  Chapter 28

  Saturday Morning

  Sandra Grey walked into Detective Parker’s office, placed a folder on his desk, then sat in one of his guest chairs. She crossed her legs and tugged at her black pencil skirt. “My office has just received the results for the blood on the bottle you found at the Abbey. We can confirm that the blood is from Martin Lane.”

  Parker raised his eyes from her smart red pumps to her equally red lips. “I’m not surprised. This will make for an interesting conversation with Amanda Blake. We should be able to pick her up for questioning this afternoon.”

  “Amanda? You mean Savannah’s friend? You’re sure?”

  “I’m not going to have any choice. The evidence pointing to her is piling up, and I can’t ignore the facts.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “One, she had opportunity. Since she was Martin’s girlfriend, he would have let her get close enough to him to strike the fatal blow. Two, she had access to his bottles. That’s the method.”

  “I’ll give you that, but what is the motive?”

  “I believe that’s why she ducked out on our officer Williams. Something happened. An argument or maybe even the realization that those bottles could be worth thousands as part of Gaspar’s treasure. In any case, I have enough to pick her up for questioning, and I can start the arrest process.” He picked up the receiver on his desk phone and dialed. “Officer Williams, do you have the warrant processed? When do you expect it to be completed?” He glanced over at Sandra. “It’s still in the signature chain.” Returning to the phone, he said, “Regardless, we can pick her up for questioning. Pick me up out front in about five minutes. We should find her at Webb’s Glass Shop.”