by David Wood
With all four in the dinghy, they motored out into the bay, towing the drug boat behind them. When they neared the Sea Foam, they undid the rope, casting the interlopers’ boat adrift. Then they boarded the Sea Foam and pulled the dinghy aboard.
Maddock got behind the wheel and fired up the engine. “We need more information. Let’s get back into town and see what else we can learn about this sailor held prisoner.”
Chapter 13
Petit-Trou-de-Nippes
The ripe smell of fish hung over the market that dominated the waterfront in the town’s modest commercial district. The four of them wandered through it, Fabi pointing out local delicacies to Bones and Willis while Maddock remained singularly fixated on their current objective: finding the elderly fisherman who was reputed to know all of the local legends and lore.
Upon arriving back at town and securing the boat, they had first visited the library. Fabi had explained to the librarian that they sought information about a sailor from long ago, and the librarian had referred them to an individual she said they would find at the fish market.
Far from an industrial scene like the seafood exchanges of Tokyo or even Havana, the market here was casual and mostly sedate. A line of crude wooden stalls were erected near the water, with a few fishermen still unloading the day’s catch. They unloaded nets and ice chests from dories and pulled up to the beach, haggling with the vendors in good-natured fashion. A gaggle of locals perused the offerings, which were often placed in burlap sacks for the trip home. Besides many types of fish, there were also oysters, clams, crabs, lobster, and shrimp on display.
Maddock eyed the fishermen he passed, but most of them, while adult males, were not what he would call elderly. He and the others traversed the length of the market without seeing a likely candidate. He turned around, looking for anyone who might help him find an elderly fisherman knowledgeable about local maritime history. He was about to admit they would just have to start approaching people at random when he spotted someone lying down on the deck of a weather-beaten fishing boat. The vessel lay right off the beach, in water so shallow it was barely floating, and its sole occupant reclined on a pile of nets. An old man.
“Old man and the sea, there?” Bones gave a subtle nod of the head.
Maddock nodded. “Fabi...” He looked over toward the boat, indicating that her language skills would likely be required. He asked Bones and Willis to wait in the market so that they wouldn’t appear too intimidating, four people boarding the boat at once.
“No problem,” Willis said. “We’ll keep an eye on you from here.”
“Maybe keep an eye on some of these shrimp, too.” Bones began chatting up a seafood vendor, pointing to the tasty crustaceans, while Maddock and Fabi waded out into ankle deep water until they were in a position to board the fishing boat.
“What’s this guy’s name again?” Maddock asked in a low voice.
“She said it was Jean-Claude Panier. I’ll do the greeting, you just smile and look friendly.”
“Got it.”
Fabi ascended the short boarding ladder and said something in Creole. The old man, who wore only a pair of rolled-up trousers stained with fish blood, and whose hair and beard were stark white, rose to a sitting position atop his mound of netting. He answered back in the same language while pointing to the vendor stands on the beach.
“He thinks we want fish,” Fabi translated for Maddock. She turned back to the fisherman and said something else, at the end of which the man waved them aboard. Maddock followed Fabi onto the deck of the old boat, which reeked of fish and saltwater and fuel. Maddock smiled and nodded to Panier, who nodded in return but did not bother to stand up.
Fabi spoke at length in Creole and then the man’s eyes seemed to light with recognition. He said some words in Creole with a raspy voice that had experienced much rum over the decades, and then Fabi turned to Maddock.
“He says he has heard a story of a ‘mad sailor’ who claimed to know the location of a shipwreck treasure—a very valuable one with many coins—that locals have searched for extensively but never found any trace of.”
The old man nodded at Maddock when Fabi paused, as if to assert that what he had said was true even though he could not understand the translation. Panier then added some more detail, which Fabi again passed on to Maddock.
“Now he says that either the sailor was lying or the shipwreck must be a long way from here, because if it was anywhere around here someone would have found it by now.”
Maddock and Fabi exchanged a glance while the fisherman remained silent, watching them.
“Ask him if he knows anything else...any other details at all.” Maddock made eye contact with the man as he said this, to show that he was serious, that this was an important matter to him. The mariner flexed his toes in the netting while he appeared to think about it. At length, he nodded and spoke with deliberation.
“There is one more thing,” Fabi relayed. The old man spoke again and Maddock watched Fabi’s eyebrows rise. Then she translated.
“He says that, according to local teachings, a priest came to exorcise the sailor of his demons. He persuaded the French to let him take the sailor with him. They went to the cathedral in Hinche, here in Haiti.
Maddock nodded . It was something to go on. He said thank you to the man in French, then turned to Fabi and told her they should get going. But before they could leave, the old fisherman raised a hand and spoke rapid fire Creole. It didn’t sound like a routine Thanks for stopping by, glad I could be of help, kind of thing, so he looked to Fabi for an explanation.
“He cautions us to watch out, for the evil walks the trail of the lost treasure.”
Maddock nodded. “We’ve heard about the demons.”
The fisherman apparently recognized the last word, because he quickly uttered one of his own while shaking his head.
Fabi almost whispered the words to Maddock. “He says they’re not demons.”
“Then what are they?”
The old man repeated the key word without awaiting Fabi’s services.
Zombii.
Chapter 14
Hinche
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was not what Maddock had envisioned. He expected a centuries-old facade, but this building, while clearly a cathedral, was a prime example of modern architecture. Two large towers bookended an elaborate framework of arches.
He searched for the words to describe it. “This place is…”
“…funky,” Bones finished.
“It does have a real on-again-off again history,” Fabi said.
“Kind of like us?” Bones grinned.
Fabi smirked. “Kind of like that, I suppose, but over a much longer time period. Construction began in the 1500s as a parish church, when the town boomed with the discovery of gold. But some years later, after the gold mines had been depleted, the town was abandoned before the church was completed. It sat around unfinished all the way until the 1800s, when construction took up again, but with a new design. Even then it didn’t actually get finished until the early 1900s.”
“So what’s it used for today?” Bones asked as they walked toward the front entrance.
“Church services. Let’s get inside and see if anyone can help us.”
The front doors were wide open and so they entered a cavernous main room lined with long pews. No service was in progress but a couple of people sat quietly with their heads down near the back, and a priest stood off to the side. Fabi, Maddock, Bones, and Willis approached the priest, who initially spoke with Fabi in Creole but quickly shifted to English, perhaps sensing that the three men in Fabi’s party didn’t speak the native tongue.
“I have a room where we can talk without interrupting the worshippers.” He turned and walked down the aisle until he reached a door. He opened it and led the group inside. A few chairs were scattered about, and another door led into a confessional booth.
The priest, an elderly black Haitian who explained he had
been schooled in the Bahamas where he learned to speak English, asked them what he could help them with. Maddock told the story of the crazy sailor from the 1700s, and then the priest’s eyes seemed to twinkle with recognition.
“Yes, I have heard that tale. The sailor’s name was reputed to be Alonso Sanchez. He did eventually regain his sanity and left the island.” The priest held up a long, bony finger before continuing. “Here is the funny thing, though: Even as his mind returned, Sanchez insisted the demons he had ‘experienced’ were real. He never recanted his testimonial that he saw some sort of... ‘demons’, was the word he was always recorded having used.”
Maddock asked a few more questions, but the priest had nothing more substantial to offer, and so they thanked him for his help and exited the room. On the way out through the cathedral, Maddock couldn’t help but notice two more doors, both set into the front wall of the church, behind the pulpit and stage, which featured a small band setup, including a drum set and organ.
Maddock said nothing, however, as the priest walked out of the room into the aisle, watching them leave. They left the building the way they had come and walked out to their vehicle. After they had gotten in, Fabi at the wheel, Maddock recapped what they had learned, which was not much more than the sailor’s name.
Bones shook his head and gave a heavy sigh. “I had high hopes for that place. What’s your fall back plan if this treasure hunting thing doesn’t work out, Maddock? I think I might try out for the Raiders.”
Willis laughed heartily. “Funniest thing I’ve heard all day. I would enjoy watching you get crushed out there, though.”
This triggered an argument until Maddock spoke over them to stop it.
“Don’t suit up for the field just yet, Bones. I don’t think we’re quite done here.”
“What do you mean?” Fabi looked over from the wheel.
“You said they added on the new church to the old cathedral, right?”
“Correct.”
“So maybe we should find a way to have a look at the original structure. Could be that part of it is still down there, but sealed off. If we could only find a way in...”
Bones appeared skeptical. “The priest was a nice guy, he didn’t mind hearing us out and talking to us for a bit, but something tells me he wouldn’t be too keen on giving us the keys to the kingdom.”
Maddock turned around in the front seat to look back at Bones and Willis. “What if we came back later after he’s not there?”
Night fell a few hours later and the four of them returned to the cathedral after a light supper. They saw no activity outside, only a cone of light from a fixture over the door. As they approached, Maddock asked Fabi if she thought it would be open. She shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. There are churches whose doors are always open, but it’s not uncommon for some to lock up after hours. Vandalism and theft can be a problem here, especially for the nicer places, and I’d say this is one of the nicer ones.”
“Time to find out,” Willis said as they walked up to the front door again. He pulled on the handle but the double door wouldn’t budge.
Fabi breathed a sigh. “Really sorry, guys.”
Willis gave her a shocked look. “I thought you said you and Bones were a thing?”
Confused, she half-stammered out a reply. “Were, sometimes, whatever. What’s the point?”
Willis stepped aside from the door and let Bones take his place. “You would think you knew the man a little better. Bones don’t need no key, do you, my man?”
“Doubt it. Let me take a look.” Bones went to work on the door while Maddock and Willis kept watch. Bones pulled a folding multi-tool from his pocket and applied it to the door lock. A soft click sounded, and when Bones tried the knob, it turned. He pushed the doors open, looked inside to make sure no one was there, then stepped over the threshold.
The others followed him in and Willis shut the door behind them. A few lights were on inside, making it possible to see enough to move around, but it was still very dim. Maddock urged them in a low voice that if someone should emerge from one of the rooms , they should say they found the door open and came in to pray. But as they moved toward the front of the church, no one did come out, nor could they hear anything to indicate someone else might be here. They reached the stage behind the pulpit, where Maddock had seen the two doors.
Maddock said that he and Willis would check the door on the left while Bones and Fabi took the one on the right. “First thing is to see if we’ll need Bones’ special skill set,” Fabi said as she tried the door knob. But it opened, and she and Bones checked it out while Maddock opened the other door.
“It’s just a broom closet,” Fabi called out right away.
“Maybe we should hang out in here a little while, make sure we don’t miss anything in here,” Bones joked.
“Get a room, you two,” Willis called from the one he and Maddock had just entered.
Maddock found a light switch and flipped it on, bathing the place in low light from a single overhead fixture. “Office.” He took in a neatly organized wooden desk, a large, ornate cross featuring a life-sized Jesus nailed in place hanging on one wall, a group of framed pictures showing the priest they had talked to giving sermons, and others that were historical photos of the cathedral in different stages of construction.
Willis began rifling through the desk drawers while Maddock studied the walls and floor, which was a contemporary, though unremarkable, tiled affair. Bones and Fabi appeared in the doorway, taking in the small room.
“Exciting.” Bones looked to Willis. “I take it the desk isn’t full of gold doubloons?”
Willis held up a worn bible and a box of candles, shaking his head. “Get that throwing arm warmed up, Bones. This treasure hunt thing’s looking more and more like…”
“Look here.” Maddock walked to the big cross. It was so large that it rested on the floor while the top of it came just shy of the ceiling. He peered behind the cross and noticed that there was a millimeters-wide space between it and the wall.
“You thinking about repenting or something, Maddock?” Willis watched him put both hands on the cross and begin to put pressure on it.
“Too late for that...” Maddock pushed and then pulled the religious symbol, but nothing happened.
“What, you think it’s hiding something behind it? Is there something there?” Fabi walked over to him.
“Just a tiny gap. But this thing is solid wood, very heavy, so I’m wondering why it doesn’t hang flush against the wall. Also curious as to why such a big cross is locked away in here instead of out in the main church.” Maddock pulled up on the cross, but again it didn’t budge. “It’s almost like they—”
As he pulled down on the life-sized crucifix, they heard a thump as the bottom of the wood hit the floor. The tile beneath the cross flipped up smoothly until it came into contact with the wooden post, revealing a dark open space wide enough for a person to fit through with a ladder leading down.
“What the...” Willis moved from the desk over to the exposed trap door.
“Is it just a hiding place for the priest’s secret stash, or does it actually lead anywhere?” Bones also crossed the room, eager for the answer to his own question. Maddock had already produced his flashlight and had the beam aimed down into the uncovered space.
“Looks like it leads somewhere.”
“Let’s not get our hopes up too much,” Fabi cautioned. “I’d like to think it leads down to the old cathedral, but it could just be a basement.”
“A hidden basement with a secret trapdoor?” Willis held the light for Maddock so that he could climb down using both hands.
“We’ll find out soon enough.” Maddock descended the rungs of the old wooden ladder. “Tunnels! Come on down,” he called up. Willis closed the office door and then he, Bones and Fabi joined Maddock below.
“Catacombs.” Fabi surveyed the dank stone walls. They followed the unlit passage until it branched right and left.
; “I see cells up ahead to the left,” Maddock said. “Let’s check those out.”
They walked left, the sound of water dripping on the stone floor echoing weakly in the catacombs. Two cells were set into the left side of the passage, iron doors swung open. Maddock and Willis walked into one while Bones and Fabi entered the other.
“They sure were big on the leg irons in those days, weren’t they?” Willis shook his head as he eyed the now familiar heavy iron fixtures embedded into the wall.
“Big on carving stuff into walls, too.” Bones’ voice echoed through the catacombs. “Looks like somebody was writing a novel in here. Take a look.”
After a quick look, Maddock and Willis revealed nothing noteworthy inside their cell. They joined Bones and Fabi in the adjacent one. Maddock added his light to Bones’ on the rear wall. Dense lines of symbols engraved into the stone blocks challenged them as to their meaning.
Bones shook his head. “It’s all Greek to me.”
“There’s the ‘demon’ word again.” Fabi pointed it out. “Here...here...and there.”
“Wait a minute.” Maddock zoomed in on a section of the engravings with his light. “I think I do recognize a word...” He knelt on the stone floor and eyeballed the painstakingly carved glyph. He spelled it out. “Z...O...M...B...I...and another ‘I’...”
“Zombii,” Fabi completed.
Bones shone his light on the word. “We should look into zombie lore around the island, see if there’s a connection to this sailor. I’d say this must be where the ‘crazy’ guy was held, right?”
They all agreed, but Maddock still appeared doubtful. “I agree this is where the sailor was held, but I don’t know about the zombie thing, Bones. I mean, really? We’re supposed to be tracking down a treasure, relying on historical facts, not urban legends or whatever you want to call them.”
