Black River

THIRTY-EIGHT

O’Brien drove from DeLand straight to Ponce Marina, the Jeep’s tires popping oyster shells and acorns in the gravel lot. He parked under the shade of a large banyan tree, the engine ticking as it cooled. He thought about what happened outside the restaurant — the media mob, the black government car, and what Laura had told him about the threatening call.

Max stood on her hind legs, head out the Jeep’s window, sniffing the ocean air. O’Brien watched a low-lying cloud above Ponce Inlet and tried to remember the last time it rained. He thought about the image of the man — the man carrying the rifle, standing next to a large cypress tree. If it rains, DNA, boot prints, even possible fingerprints could be compromised. Maybe Detective Dan Grant already inspected the site. Maybe not.

Max glanced back at O’Brien and barked once. “Okay, kiddo, I hear you. You have a lot of good dachshund attributes, but patience isn’t one of them.” O’Brien’s phone rang. He looked at the incoming call and recognized the number. He answered.

Laura Jordan said, “Sean, Detectives Rollins and Grant just left my house. They did a long interview with me. Detective Grant is compassionate to an extent. Not so much with Detective Rollins. I felt like they were doing a good cop — bad cop interrogation. Toward the end of it, after they’d asked me dozens of questions about Jack’s friends and business acquaintances, Detective Rollins wanted to know if Jack and I had been getting along…weird stuff like whether Jack was having an affair. He asked for our life insurance information. Why is the spouse always the prime suspect? I loved my husband dearly.”

“They have to cover the bases. Once they quickly rule you out, they’ll focus on others and look at motives and opportunities.”

“I just don’t want the trail to go cold and for this to turn into a cold case.”

“It won’t. Not now.”

“I hope not. And I hope these investigators are as good as you seem to believe they are.”

“Detective Grant is thorough, and he has a good sense of justice. Did you tell them about the intimidating phone call?”

“Yes. They asked me if I recognized the voice. Unfortunately, of course, I didn’t. The call came in with the numbers blocked. The detectives said the guy might have used what they called a burner — a throw-away mobile phone. They’re going to pull my phone records. Maybe something will show up.”

“Here’s a suggestion: you can buy a recorder at Radio Shack. Place it on your phone, and if this man calls again, record his voice.”

“I can do that. I wanted to thank you for stepping in when that reporter got so pushy.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Goodbye, Sean.” She disconnected and O’Brien simply held his phone for a moment, the sound of a boat horn in the marina, a brown pelican sailing toward Ponce Lighthouse.

“Come on, Max.” O’Brien locked the Jeep and followed Max as she made a beeline to the Tiki Bar, running around a family of tourists coming out of the restaurant.

When O’Brien entered, Max had already caught Kim Davis’s attention. She smiled and said, “Maxine, are you gonna hang with me awhile?” She handed Max a small piece of crisp bacon and then wiped her hands on a bar napkin. She looked up at O’Brien. “I see you’re carrying that file folder the old man left with you.”

“I did share the information in this folder with a detective friend of mine.” O’Brien opened the folder and set the page from the coloring book on the bar.

Kim looked at the page and smiled. “That’s lovely. Who’s the artist?”

“I sketched the butterfly. A four-year-old friend of mine added the color.”

“Your little friend is good, she or he colored in the lines well.”

“She…and she’s the daughter of the man who was killed on the movie set.”

“Oh.” Kim looked at the boats in the marina for a second. “It’s reached that point, hasn’t it, Sean? Why would you contact the widow of the man killed on the movie set?” She folded her arms across her breasts.

“Because the man, Jack Jordan, and his wife Laura, bought that painting you saw in Crawford Antiques. They bought it and some old magazines a few months before he was killed. Inside the pages of one of the magazines was the Civil War contract and a letter by a man named Henry, written to his wife, Angelina. And I believe she’s the woman in the painting.”

Kim pursed her full lips, slowly letting out a deep breath. She motioned for O’Brien to follow her, walking to the far end of the bar where no customers were sitting. Kim said, “That’s what Dave and Nick were talking about when they were in here for lunch. Since you met that old man, you started out hunting for a painting, and now you have managed to stumble upon a murder, a Civil War contract, a letter, and the theft of a diamond. Not just any old theft of a diamond ring, but rather the theft of a diamond that was part of the Crown Jewels and belongs to the Queen of England.”

O’Brien smiled. “That pretty much sums it up.”

“Sean, you can’t save the world.”

“I’m not trying to.”

“I never should have pointed you in the direction of that old man. If I’d known a photo he was carrying would put your life in danger, I would have told him you sold your boat and no longer come to the marina.”

“But that would be lying, Kim.” O’Brien smiled.

“I’d much rather tell a white lie than see you hurt or worse. I couldn’t handle that…not now. Not ever.”

“Hey, nothing’s going to happen. Police are investigating. I’m out of it.”

“Did you tell the old man you’re out?”

“Not yet because I haven’t found the painting.”

“Then stop looking for it and the answer to his question. If that painting, and apparently you think it is…if it’s connected to a murder, the theft of some legendary and probably cursed diamond, and a clandestine contract between England and the Confederacy…why on earth would you try to find it? Isn’t the painting now part of the police investigation?”

O’Brien said nothing.

Kim looked out the open isinglass window, the soft breeze in her hair, a white pelican alighting on a dock post. “Sean, I just worry about you…that’s all. I care deeply about you. Maybe that’s my fault. I guess there’s that fine line I walk by caring about you and trying hard not to sound like I’m nagging you. Of course you’ll help the old man find the painting, maybe help the widow and daughter, because it’s what you do. But helping others doesn’t have to mean putting your life on the line. You could do something a little less threatening, like volunteer to help at the Salvation Army or a homeless shelter for God-sakes.” Kim bit her bottom lip and tried to smile.

“Hey, it’ll work out. I’m not putting my life on the line. I’m not looking for a diamond or a killer. I’m just trying to assist an elderly man in finding a family heirloom, that’s all.”

Kim lifted Max off the wooden floor and held her close. “If you need to be out of town, I can watch Max.”

“Thank you.”

Kim looked down and lifted the old photo of the woman from behind the child’s artwork. She asked, “Do you still believe the woman in the picture was holding the same type of rose I received?”

‘Yes. Did he leave another one?”

“No, thank God. Did you ever bump into the guy I described?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, I have.”

“When?”

“He showed up here at the Tiki Bar. I think he might be following me.”

“When you were auditioning, did you tell him you worked here?”

“No. I don’t know if it’s just bizarre odds that he’d stop in here for lunch, or is he stalking me?”

“Did he approach you?”

“Not directly. He took a seat in the back corner of the restaurant. Julie waited on him. He ordered sweet tea and a hamburger. And every time I’d glance toward that part of the restaurant he was looking at me. My shift ended twenty minutes later. On the way home, I had some errands to run. Each place I stopped, I had the feeling that I was being followed. Maybe I was just suspicious, but I couldn’t shake the feeling. It’s something I’ve had since those men broke into my house.” She bit her lip and looked away. “And this re-enactor hasn’t broken any laws. He hasn’t said a word to me since that day on the movie set. I hate the feeling of being suspicious and downright paranoid.”

O’Brien said nothing for a moment. His phone rang in his pocket. He removed it and glanced at the number. Dave Collins calling. O’Brien answered and Dave said, “Sean, I just spoke with Charlie Simmons…the guy who owns the sixty-foot Hatteras docked two slips down from me. Anyway, he said he saw your Jeep in the marina lot. Are you on property?”

“Yes, I’m talking with Kim.”

“Better cut it short and come take a look at this.”

“Take a look at what?”

“Nick and I are flipping through the news channels, domestic and international. And all of a sudden, what do we see on tabloid TV? We see you display your pitcher’s arm. Looks like you just threw out the first pitch in what is becoming a tense global game. Although you managed to hit an open garbage truck with that microphone, to quote our friend, Nick, you just landed in a big pile of shit because all hell is breaking out over this diamond — or the diamond’s possibility of it being identified as the Koh-i-Noor. You need to see this because that bright, flashing stone is a lightning rod, attracting fire and tension as to who really owns it. And now saber rattling between two powerful nations is happening.”