“Wow, there’s a real treasure down there,” Courtney said as she tightened her mask. “Can you believe that?”
“There’s got to be a catch,” Grace said pulling on her flippers. “They wouldn’t let us dive for actual treasure.” She turned her attention to Hank and raised her hand. “So we get to keep whatever we find, is that right?”
Hank smiled causing his leathery face to resemble a Shar-pei. “That’s right,” he said in a grizzled voice as he ran a hand through his white springy hair. “You find it, you keep it. We got a real-life pirate ship down there and it’s all yours for the plundering.”
Grace’s suspicious nature reasserted itself. “Right,” she said with a grin. “And instead of plundering it yourself, you let just anyone do it.”
He matched her grin with one of his own. “Out of the goodness of my heart I’ll tell you what I’ll do.” Raising his voice, he addressed the other divers. “Whichever team finds the treasure and returns it to me will get a prize.”
“What kind of prize?” Grace asked.
“The most precious thing to a pirate. More precious than gold or diamonds,” he said with a wink as he stepped around them. “Now we are on the buddy system. You make sure you stay with your buddy at all times.”
Courtney gave him a thumbs up before launching into a story about her Uncle Earl and deep sea fishing. Her voice soon became background noise as Grace’s confidence slowly began to fall.
How dangerous could it be, she thought as a couple of seniors walked by giggling like schoolgirls. She counted at least a dozen or so people standing around in wetsuits ranging from sixteen up to at least eighty. If they could do it so could she. Besides, if worse came to worst she was confident she could out swim several of these people. She just had to remember, stay in the center.
She was still repeating stay in the center to herself as she stepped into the grimy dive boat. It had become a mantra by the time the boat had stopped and one by one the passengers stepped off into the ocean. She found her hand returning to her shark repellant device time and time again as she waited.
Courtney bounced up when it was her turn. “Oh, I can’t wait! This is going to be so much fun. My Uncle Earl said…”
Hank reached around and plugged up Courtney’s mouth with the breathing apparatus. He then helped her stand on the edge of the boat.
No turning back now, Grace thought, as her diving buddy took a step back and disappeared into the ocean. “It’s relatively safe down there, right, Hank?” she asked before bringing down her goggles and inserting her mouthpiece
Hank held out his hand helping her stand on the ledge. “Of course, it’s safe just as long as you follow my instructions.”
Drawing her courage, she took a step back.
“Don’t forget to watch out for sharks,” he shouted just as she plunged into the deep blue sea.
Chapter Eighteen
Grace swam down to the shipwreck lying on its side on the seabed with Courtney at her side. The other divers were already swimming in and out of the wreck, each searching for this mysterious treasure that supposedly no one had been able to find since Hank had opened his diving business twenty years ago.
Hank’s wink and jovial manner when telling the tale made her doubt his veracity, but the chance of exploring a piece of history no matter how dubious and possibly winning some sort of prize spurred her forward.
It didn’t take long to discover that their historical pirate ship was nothing more than a reasonable facsimile of an eighteenth-century warship. If the Blackbeard was here, graffiti on the side of the ship wouldn’t have clued her in, the skeleton still hanging onto the steering wheel would have done the trick. Nevertheless, Grace found herself swimming as fast as she could to the wreck, determined to win the prize Hank had promised.
She wasn’t the only one eager to explore, she discovered, finding another competitive spirit in Courtney. Employing various and often time complicated hand signals Courtney had developed during the three hour diving course, Courtney and Grace quickly went about searching for the treasure, systematically covering the shipwreck from one end to the other.
She was just about to turn around and go over the top of the ship again when she noticed Courtney doing the akimbo and something that looked like the chicken dance.
Grace followed the complicated movements of Courtney’s hand as it swished through the water.
Figuring Courtney wanted to explore the inside of the ship again, Grace waffled her hand, Courtney’s underwater version of a nod. Why she couldn’t just nod was beyond Grace, but Courtney was so excited to use her new language Grace didn’t want to disappoint her and she had such a fun time with Courtney that she readily played along and followed her buddy to a large break in the hull. She started to slip through the opening when the sound of a motor boat caught her attention. She glanced up just as a boat came to a stop far above her. A few seconds later, a diver jumped in the water and began swimming towards the ship.
A couple of divers jostled her arm as they exited the ship. Grace and Courtney moved to the side to let the others pass. Once clear, they began their search once more going from deck to deck and room to room filled with fake skeletons in various poses.
Reaching a dead end, Grace and Courtney paused, unsure what to do next. Courtney reached into her bag and pulled out a laminated map Hank had helpfully provided to each team while Grace brought out her dive light. They bent their heads together pouring over the map.
Courtney passed the map to Grace, and then tugged on her ear with one hand, while giving a finger wave indicating that she wanted to go up through the large open window in front of them.
Grace narrowed her eyes at the map in her hands. If she was right, they were in the middle of the Captain’s quarters. She lifted her flashlight and looked around the small room which contained nothing but barrels of rum against one wall and a skeleton sitting against another with a bottle of rum in his lap. She thought back to all the pirate movies she had watched in her life. Where was the large table? The huge bed? Every other room had been filled with items but this one seemed rather bare. Small too, she thought glancing back at the map.
She turned her attention to the barrels, swimming along the length until she got to the end. It was there that she noticed an eerie glow underneath one of the barrels. With Courtney’s help, they shoved it to the side revealing a door.
Grace shined her dive light for a moment onto the plaque above the door that said Dead Men Tell No Tales before pushing the door open and swimming inside. A skeleton wearing a pirate’s hat, patch, ratty clothes and a gag, stood in the corner of the room, acting as a sentry. He held out a lantern from his bony fingers, filling the room with the eerie blue glow. She stared in amusement at the gruesome looking pirate before turning to examine the rest of the room.
She tilted her head to the side as she examined the room, which due to the ship’s position on the floor of the sea was now on its side. The ornate bed, massive desk and every other object in the room had been bolted down to keep it right side up.
Her gaze bounced around the room as she and Courtney swam around. To her left was the bottom of the ship with a large table filled with an assortment of items bolted down to its surface. To her right was the cabin ceiling, complete with an empty candle chandelier. Directly in front of her was an outline of another large window which butted up against a sea wall obscuring its view from the divers swimming around the ship, and beneath her was a large ornate canopy bed.
Working quickly, they searched the quarters from one side to the other before finally stopping and staring at each other in frustration.
It had to be here, Grace thought as Courtney re-examined the table. There had to be some clue; something here that would point to where the treasure lay. She turned in a circle once more, her gaze roving over the sideways room before it suddenly occurred to her to look up.
A giant painting encased in a watertight glass case loomed above them. Hank dressed in a stereot
ypical pirate costume with long curly black hair, gold teeth and a patch leered down at her. A treasure of pearls and diamonds sat in front of him. One hand held a large ruby and the other dangled a scarlet bag with yellow tassel. Underneath the painting was another plaque containing the same saying as the one on the door:
Dead Men Tell No Tales.
She swam back to Courtney, directing her attention towards the painting before looking around the room.
Her gaze fell on the sentry and she immediately swam towards him with Courtney right behind her.
They gently pulled the gag covering his mouth down to reveal a yellow tassel sticking out between a couple of gold plated teeth.
Grace gently opened the pirate’s mouth as Courtney pulled the tassel and the red rubber bag it was attached to out of the skeleton’s mouth.
As Courtney was untying the knot on the bag, something dark swam through the open door.
Grace lifted her head and looked towards the door; certain she had seen something out of the corner of her eye.
Courtney let out a little trill of delight, bringing Grace’s attention back towards the girl. She held up a large diamond shaped piece of red glass before lifting her hand up for a high five.
CREAK.
Grace turned her attention towards the desk behind her as Courtney dived into the bag, examining each piece of fake jewelry one by one.
A shiver ran down her back as she turned her dive light towards the other side of the room, searching for whatever it was that had caught her attention earlier. She touched her shark repellant wristband making sure it was in place before signaling Courtney to hurry up. All they had to do now was swim back to the boat, present their treasure to Hank and collect the prize. Sooner the better, she thought as her fear returned full force.
CREAK.
Her skin prickled with unease as she tried to make sense of the noises around her. Crackling, creaking, bubbling, and clanging sounds she had ignored and considered background noise while diving, now had her full attention. They seemed far louder and much spookier than they had before.
She waited for Courtney to tie the bag around her wrist before she turned and hurriedly swam towards the door, anxious to get out of the room as quickly as she could. She had just passed the barrels of rum and was heading for the open window when she heard what sounded like a high pitch squeal.
Grace’s eyes widened as she turned around looking for the source of that strange sound.
“Yheeeee!”
Her heartbeat sounded loud in her ears as she cautiously swam back towards the barrels of rum and towards the door.
A feeling of paralyzing fear hit her when she noticed that the eerie blue glow that had lit up the room was gone and nothing but darkness remained.
Suddenly, Courtney’s hand appeared out of the darkness and clamped down on the side of the door. Grace didn’t hesitate as she grabbed Courtney’s wrist and began pulling the girl out of the room. To her surprise, she was jerked forward suddenly and back towards the room. She lifted her feet and braced herself against the wall, pulling with all her might as a tug of war over Courtney erupted between Grace and whatever it was on the other side of the door.
Courtney’s fear filled eyes pleaded with Grace from behind her mask as her hand began to slip out of Grace’s grasp.
Grace glanced down, watching in horror as Courtney slid out of her hands and she was pulled back into the dark room.
Without thinking, Grace plunged into the room after her. She reached for her dive light as she swam forward, only then realizing that she must have dropped it when she reached for Courtney’s wrist.
There was a motion to her right and she turned just as Courtney barreled into her. The frightened girl crab crawled over Grace and through the water back towards the door, screaming, “Yheeeeeeeeee,” the entire way.
Grace hurried after her, praying that she could out swim whatever it was that had attacked Courtney. It was only when they exited the ship that she noticed that Courtney’s tanks and mask were missing. Taking a deep breath, she pulled her mouthpiece from her mouth and held it out to Courtney as they swam away from the wreck towards one of the dozen or so boats floating above them.
They broke the surface next to a small motor boat at the same time, each desperately trying to scramble up into the boat and away from whatever horrible thing was lurking down below them.
A head appeared over the edge of the boat and looked down at them in surprise.
“Oh hey,” Kyle said excitedly as he reached for Grace’s wrist, “there you are. I was just about to come and find you. You’ll never believe what happened.”
* * *
Grace shoved her wetsuit back into her bag, and then sat down next to Kyle on a hard bench inside Hank’s scuba dive shop.
They were waiting for Courtney who was in Hank’s office with two of Port Lucia’s finest hovering over her writing down every word.
Not that there was much to tell. Courtney spent the entire ride back to the beach excitedly recounting her ordeal in the pirate ship.
According to her, someone had grabbed her feet as she tried to leave the pirate Captain’s room. It wasn’t until they succeeded in pulling her away from Grace that they ripped off her mask and her tank and let her go. She never once saw her attacker, but despite that fact, she was certain of their identity. When Grace asked whom she thought it was, the girl broke down into tears babbling incoherently in Grace’s arms.
From the sobbing coming from the office door, she hadn’t yet stopped.
Hank, who had been hovering nearby walked over to where they were sitting, apologizing profusely for what happened with a please don’t sue me look on his face. “It’s unbelievable,” he said. “Truly unbelievable. Nothing like this has every happened. Never. Unbelievable. Are you sure the young lady was attacked by someone?”
Grace nodded.
“Because it can be kind of confusing in the dark. I’ve been in that room before when the lights go out it can be rather, well…”
“Spooky?” Grace offered.
“Very spooky,” Hank said with a vigorous nod of his head as he built up a case for how the lights going out underwater could cause a girl to become quite hysterical. “And if someone isn’t used to being down there they might see things; imagine things that aren’t there.”
“Yeah, but I was there too,” Grace pointed out, “and I’m not prone to hysteria. There was someone in that room.”
“Who?” Hank asked.
Grace sighed. “I don’t know. I never saw who it was. It was just too dark.”
“Unbelievable,” Hank muttered, his face a mask of confusion. “It’s just so completely unbelievable. Why would anyone try to kill that girl?”
“It was probably the same person who killed our cruise director,” Kyle said as he stared at the door with a confused expression on his face.
“Alex Wright is dead?” Grace asked in surprise.
“That’s what I came out here to tell you,” Kyle said taking her hand. “Someone shot him while I was talking to him.”
“Did you see who killed him?”
He shook his head. “They were wearing a mask. I ducked behind a dumpster a second or two before they fired. They shot from the rooftop once, killing Alex instantaneously, and then took off. That’s why I was so late. The police wouldn’t let me go until I answered all of their questions.”
Grace tightened her hand over his. “They don’t think you did it, do they?”
“No, there were a couple of people at the end of the alleyway that saw the whole thing. The bad guy must have hustled over here after killing Alex.” His brow furrowed. “It never occurred to me that Courtney would be in danger.”
“Me either,” Grace said.
Hank’s quick intake of breath brought their attention back towards him. “Oh, so you people,” he said slowly as if working it out in his head, “brought the killer here with you.” He smiled as his normal happy go lucky personality reinforced itself. “
Which means we’re not responsible. What a relief.”
The doors opened and the detectives led out a sniffling Courtney who made a beeline across the shop and into Grace’s arms. She would have knocked Grace over if Kyle hadn’t been there to support her back.
“You’re my hero,” Courtney said as she crushed the life out of Grace. “I won’t ever forget this. Never. Ever. Ever.”
Grace took a breath as Courtney finally released her. “There’s no need to thank me, Courtney,” she said when she could breathe again.
Courtney dug her nails into Grace’s upper arms. “You don’t ever have to worry about anything ever again,” she vowed. “From now on, I’ve got your back.”
Grace smiled. “I feel better all ready.”
“Well,” Hank said as he began to move away from them, “I better be off.”
Courtney sprang forward, shaking her finger at him. “Oh, no, you just wait right there, I have something for you.” She unzipped her wetsuit, stuck her hand inside and pulled out the pirate booty they found in the wreck. “Ta da!” Holding the red bag high in the air, she squealed in delight, as her previous misery disappeared as quickly as it had come. “We won!”
Kyle whispered into Grace’s ears. “She bounces back pretty fast.”
Hank’s eyes widened. “Well, if that don’t beat all. You brought the treasure back.”
Kyle’s head snapped up. “Treasure? What treasure?”
“Don’t get excited,” Grace cautioned him as she stood and faced Hank. She had been to hell and back for that little bag of colored glass and cheap beads, and she was determined to get her prize. “So, what do we get in return?”
The Body in Davy Jones' Locker Page 18
