Dourado

CHAPTER 2

Dane and Bones were surveying the damage to the Sea Foam when the sound of approaching footsteps drew their attention. Though they had returned to port, they remained on their guard after the attack. Even Corey, who abhorred violence of any sort, had armed himself with Matt’s spare.9 millimeter and was keeping an eye out for danger.

A young woman, perhaps in her mid-twenties, stood at the end of the dock. She was tall, with long, deeply tanned legs, which her khaki shorts displayed to good effect. A tight, white, sleeveless shirt clung to her trim, athletic body in all the right places. The intense Key West sun glistened on her long, white-blonde hair, which she wore pulled back, displaying a strong, yet attractive face that appeared untouched by the humidity. Her chin was a bit too small and her nose just a touch too big for her face, but that only added character to her appearance. She regarded Dane with an intense, green-eyed stare that took his breath for an instant. She was a beauty.

“Good afternoon,” she said, smiling broadly. “Permission to come aboard?” She asked the question as if it was a mere formality, which Dane supposed it was. Beautiful women on the Sea Foam were few and far-between.

“Granted,” Bones replied quickly, shouldering Dane aside. He offered his hand to help the young woman onto the deck. She did not need his assistance, though, vaulting the rail and landing on the balls of her feet with catlike agility. Bones stepped back and grinned in approval. “Not bad. What are you, anyway, one of those Romanian gymnast women or something?”

“Hardly.” She brushed some invisible dirt from her shorts. “Well then. I assume you would be Bonebrake and Maddock,” she said, nodding to each of them in turn.

“As if we had a choice,” Dane replied, and immediately wondered if that sounded as dumb to her as it did to him. Bones was the clever one. ”And you would be?”

“I am Kaylin Maxwell.” She looked at him as if he ought to know her.

Dane was certain that he’d remember that pair of legs, if not the name. “I’m sorry Miss Maxwell, have we met before?”

“Sure we have,” Bones interrupted, his smile shining brighter than white against his deeply tanned features. “You know, at that thing, at the place…” His voice trailed off under Kaylin’s bemused stare.

Kaylin folded her arms and looked down at the bullet holes riddling the side of the boat. “Termites?” she deadpanned.

“Cubans,” Dane said. “It’s a long story.”

“But it’s a great story,” Bones interrupted. “We were heroes. How about I buy you a drink and tell you all about it?”

“I’ll take a beer if you have one handy,” she said. “But I know enough of your reputation to not let you buy me anything.”

Dane waited for the woman to explain herself, but no explanation was forthcoming. “You never told us where we know you from.”

“You don’t know me,” the blonde replied, “but you both knew my father quite well.”

Dane paused for a moment, and then took a step back. “Hold on! You’re Maxie’s daughter?” Commander Hartford Maxwell had led his and Bones’ unit during their service in the SEALS. Dane had held the rank of Lieutenant Commander under Maxie. “I haven’t heard from him in years. How is he?”

Kaylin looked away, her bright eyes cloudy and her face crestfallen.

Dane’s heart sank. He already knew what she was going to say.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you,” she said, her voice husky with emotion, “that my father is dead.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “He died a week ago. That’s why I’m here.”

“Oh,” Dane said, caught off guard by the surprise announcement. He did not know what to say, so he grimaced and looked down for a moment. He had seen his share of death, but he knew all too well that loved ones were different. Matt and Corey had joined them, and they offered their condolences to Kaylin, who nodded her thanks.

“You’re in the will, Maddock,” Bones joked, clapping him on the shoulder. “Lord knows Maxie wouldn’t have left me anything.” The commander had appreciated Bones as a soldier. Problem was, Bones held his liquor about as well as any other Indian: not well at all. Maxie was constantly busting his subordinate for some shenanigan or another. Every time it had been when Bonebrake was drinking. After retiring from the service, Maddock’s friend had curtailed his drinking to the occasional social drink, but his offbeat personality remained intact.

“I’m sorry, but I fear there’s no inheritance,” Kaylin said, smiling sadly.

“Yeah, I guess that wasn’t very sympathetic of me,” Bones said, looking a bit abashed. “I gotta tell you, I’m not very good with the whole serious thing.”

“No problem,” Kaylin said. “As I said before, I’ve already heard a little bit about you, so I was prepared.” She offered a sad smile to show there were no hard feelings, but then her face grew serious. She frowned and looked around uncomfortably. “Is there somewhere the three of us can talk?”

“Oh, sorry. Of course.” Matt and Corey excused themselves, and Dane and Bones ushered her into the main cabin. They sat down around a small table that was covered in charts and various books and papers. Dane hurried to clean up the clutter while Bones took three Samuel Adams from the small refrigerator and passed them out. Kaylin took a long, slow drink and sat in quiet contemplation for a moment before launching into her explanation.

“My father was murdered,” she began. “The police say he interrupted a burglary in progress.”

Dane took a drink of his beer. It was dark and rich, just the way he liked it, and so cold that it stung his throat on the way down. He was listening to what Kaylin had not said, and that was what he responded to.

“But you think differently.”

“I know it wasn’t a burglary,” she replied, meeting his gaze with a level stare. “Not long before he died, my father gave me a package and told me to keep it safe. He said it was something he was working on, and that people were after it. He planned to get it back from me when he felt that things had cooled off, whatever that meant.”

“I don’t get it,” Bones interrupted, his beer forgotten as he concentrated on the issue at hand. “Maxie was good. If he knew somebody was after him, he should have been on his guard. How did they get to him?”

“That’s another reason that I know it wasn’t a burglary,” Kaylin replied. “As you said, Dad was good. Whoever got him must have been better.” She paused and cleared her throat, her eyes beginning to mist. She accepted the napkin Dane offered with a nod of thanks and dabbed at her eyes.

“What was the condition of the house when the police got there?” He felt strange continuing the discussion when she was obviously upset, but he sensed that it would be better to give her something to talk about, rather than sitting in gloomy silence.

“It looked like a burglary,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. This was obviously difficult for her to talk about. “Drawers had been rummaged through or dumped on the floor. His DVD player was missing, and what little bit of jewelry he owned. Things like that.”

“Let me play the devil’s advocate here,” said Bones, raising a long finger. “How can you be certain that it wasn’t a burglary? You know, Occam’s Razor and all that.”

“For one, it was too clean,” Kaylin said. If she minded the question, she did not show it. “They left no fingerprints. Zero. No signs of forced entry, no alarm from the security system, and I know for a fact that Dad never went anywhere without locking up and arming the system.”

“He never missed a detail,” Dane agreed. Maxie was the most professional officer he had ever known. “I can’t imagine Maxie forgetting anything.”

“Also, the hard drive on his computer was erased, save a few mundane files. All of his research was wiped clean. That isn’t the sort of thing a burglar would do. The biggest reason, though, is what they didn’t mess with.” She paused. “Dad’s study looked untouched: his desk, his filing cabinet, his books.”

“Why would burglars mess with his books?” Bones asked. “Is there a big black market for old James Micheners?”

“People will sometimes hide money in their books,” Dane explained. “Or they’ll get those fake books that are hollow on the inside and put their valuables in there.”

Bones raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Dude, I would make a lousy burglar,” he said. “The desk, I get. They’d be looking for checks, credit card numbers, money, stuff like that.”

“You said the study looked untouched.” Dane had caught the inflection in Kaylin’s voice. “What makes you believe someone had been in there?”

“The work Dad was doing,” Kaylin looked up at the ceiling, seeming uncertain how to answer, “was sort of a research project. He told me that along with his real work, he kept a fake journal. Some of it was accurate, but with key information altered or missing. He kept it in the safe in his study. If someone got hold of it, they’d think it was real, because he’d gone to the trouble of locking it up.”

“The sneaky son of a…” Bones whispered. “Oh. Sorry. No disrespect or anything.” He stared out the window with a faint smile and a distant look in his eyes. “I don’t know if you remember him the way we do. It’s all good, though.”

“That’s all right, he was sneaky.” Kaylin laughed and reached out to pat Bones’ shoulder. “He figured that if whoever was after him ever got hold of it, it would protect us, and also keep them from finding what he was looking for.” She shook her head in admiration.

“I assume the false journal was missing,” Dane said, finding himself drawn into the puzzle despite his surprise at the news of Maxie’s death.

Kaylin nodded. “The safe was locked. All his other papers appeared to be undisturbed, but the journal was gone.”

Dane folded his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. He just could not believe Maxie was gone. The man had always seemed indestructible. Dane’s parents had died in an auto accident while he was in the service, and Maxie had stepped in to fill the void left by their loss, serving as a guide and role model. The two stayed in touch for a short while after Dane left the military, but life had gotten in the way. Now, he regretted not having put more effort into the friendship.

“I truly am sorry to surprise the two of you with all this,” Kaylin said. “Someone comes out of the blue and drops a bomb on you. It isn’t the best way to deliver news. In any case, Mr. Maddock…”

“Please, call me Dane.” It jarred him to realize that, after their conversation, they still were not technically on a first-name basis.

“All right, Dane.” The way she said it reminded him of how Melissa used to try a new flavor of lipstick: pursed lips and sort of a withholding judgment expression on her face. “I know this all comes as a surprise, and not a pleasant one at that, but I need your help.” She reached across the table and laid her hand on his arm.

“Hold on. Why me?” Dane was momentarily taken aback. What could he do to help with a murder investigation? He fixed the woman with a questioning gaze, but let her hand remain where it was. “I mean, you didn’t come all this way just to deliver bad news. Why are you here?”

“Dad told me how to find the two of you.” Her eyes darted to Bones and back to Dane. “He said that if anything happened to him, I should come to you.” She let that statement hang in the ensuing moment of stunned silence.

“Wait a minute,” Bones finally said. “Maxie wanted you to come to me?” His look of exaggerated shock would have been comical had Dane not been so completely caught off-guard by Kaylin’s revelation.

“He knew the two of you were working together. He told me that you,” she gestured at Bones with her beer bottle, “were a character, but as trustworthy as they come. He’s definitely right about the first part. As to the second part, that remains to be seen.”

“But we’re marine archaeologists, not policemen,” Dane protested. What had Maxie been thinking? “We dive on wrecks and look for treasure. How can we help you?”

“Marine archaeologists are precisely what I need,” Kaylin said. She bit her lip and looked from Dane to Bones and back to Dane. It seemed as if she was uncertain whether to say any more. Finally she continued. “I need you two to help me find a shipwreck.”