The Cursed

  “David Beckett is no man’s fool,” Kelsey assured her quickly. “Not to mention that Liam is Katie’s brother-in-law.”

  “David is married to Katie O’Hara?” Dallas asked.

  Hannah frowned. “You know David, too?”

  He nodded. “Haven’t seen him in ages, but of course I know him. Liam and I were friends for years.”

  “Small world,” Raintree said.

  “It’s Key West,” Dallas replied, his words echoed by Kelsey and Hannah at almost the same time. For a moment he was another Conch and not the outsider.

  Conchs, as native Key Westers were called, were few and far between.

  “We should still call and make sure they’re aware,” Hannah said.

  Kelsey nodded. “I’ll call Liam right now.” She reached into her pocket for her cell phone and took a seat at the table.

  Hannah suddenly went into hostess mode, rising and heading for the tea.

  “I can do that,” Dallas said.

  “I’m fine,” she assured him, smiling. “I’m not an invalid. You all may be the agents, but Jose came to me. I can’t help but feel involved, but I’m okay.”

  “You still have to be careful,” Dallas said.

  “I intend to be,” she promised as she took the teapot and put it on the table. He picked up cups and saucers.

  “Can I do anything?” Logan asked.

  “The Jameson’s is in the corner cupboard over the sink,” Hannah said.

  She found a box of scones and put them on the table with a stack of plates. Everyone joined Kelsey around the table as she finished her phone conversation.

  “I read the file, but there’s not a lot there, so why don’t you bring us up to speed on what you know about Los Lobos?” Raintree said to Dallas.

  “If you read the file, you know pretty much everything I know. As far as we know, Los Lobos has been active for about a year. Because of their fierce code of silence, we’ve never had much to go on.

  “The members of the group don’t even know one another half the time. Everyone has a code name. The Wolf is the guy in charge, hence the name of the gang, and he seems to be the only one who knows who’s who. By keeping disassociation going, he keeps control. And he keeps such tight control that everyone’s afraid not to follow instructions to a T. He orders someone or maybe a couple of people to do something. If they don’t follow orders, or if, God forbid, they fail, he calls in someone else, someone they don’t know, to take care of the situation. He has members killed to warn other members. They’re wary of one another all the time.

  “Last October, an ancient Peruvian chalice was smuggled out of a museum in Lima and found here in an abandoned building. Apparently one of the gang members messed up and that’s why it was discovered, because soon after, a man was found dead—shot execution style—on Stock Island.

  “The Coast Guard found artwork from Venezuela when they ran down an unidentified boat close to shore last January. After that, two men—shot in the head—washed up in Miami. Jose Rodriguez was the first man we had who managed to get anywhere close to the Wolf. He had made contact through a cell phone given to him by a man he’d befriended at a bar while pretending to be a petty criminal with aspirations.”

  “And now the one man to get a toe into the operation is dead,” Raintree mused. “As for the woman who drowned, is it possible it was an accident?”

  “It’s possible, just not likely. There will be an autopsy, of course. The body is already on its way up to the morgue in Marathon,” Dallas said.

  “If we only had more information,” Kelsey murmured.

  As she spoke, Dallas felt as if something in the room had changed. He looked toward the kitchen doorway and stiffened.

  No one had come in—they would have heard. And yet something had him on the alert, ready to draw his weapon.

  Then, slowly, the form of a dead man began to materialize.

  Jose Rodriguez had joined them.

  9

  Jose was leaning against the kitchen counter, looking thoughtful and a little tense, just as he would have when he was alive and attending any tactical meeting.

  Except for Dallas’s momentary reaction, no one else in the room appeared surprised to see him.

  Of course, Hannah had always known that Kelsey saw what she saw; she’d assumed it was something that certain people in a family inherited—just like blue eyes or dark hair.

  “I’ve been all over the city,” Jose said. He looked at Hannah and smiled. “Since I left you, I’ve prowled every venue on the island—I haven’t seen a single one of the men I was with the night I was attacked. Of course,” he said, and hesitated, looking at them sheepishly, “I’m just getting used to this new way of life. No, not life. Death. I’m just learning how to exist on this different...plane. Time disappears on me sometimes. I try to appear to you, but I fade. I’ll get there.” He grinned at Dallas. “It’s like going through a different kind of academy. Plus,” he said apologetically, looking around the room, “I had to be sure of who you all were first.”

  “Of course,” Hannah agreed.

  “We’re going to find your killer,” Dallas said, a hard edge to his voice. “We’ll take all the help you can give us.”

  “Thank you. So here’s what I have. There are about five gangs here on the island, mostly teens, guys in their early twenties. I followed them all, tried hanging around every known drug-dealing site in the city, and I couldn’t find the guys I was with that night.”

  “Do you remember anything that could help us?” Dallas asked.

  “One of the guys goes by the name Blade. He’s about five-eleven, dark-haired—from Colombia, I’m pretty sure. I was allowed to use his phone and talk to the Wolf, who told me the rules. Basically, absolute loyalty and obedience. I told him I was in, that I needed the money and wanted to rise up in the ranks, and I was willing to do anything. He told me I’d get my own phone and my orders as soon as I checked out.” Jose paused.

  “You never got the phone,” Dallas said.

  Jose looked over at him. “No. I thought I was getting it that night. I got it, all right,” he said drily.

  No one said a thing.

  “Someone was onto you,” Dallas said after a moment.

  Jose nodded. He looked at Hannah. “I heard about that woman who was killed diving. I’m so sorry, but I never saw her. I don’t know why she was killed.”

  “We don’t know yet that she was killed,” Logan said.

  Jose offered a rueful smile. “Not that diving accidents don’t happen,” he said, “but I think we all know she was murdered.”

  Hannah plunged in. “Jose, would you mind telling us about your sister? Maybe we can go at this from that end.”

  “My sister,” Jose said quietly. He looked at her earnestly. “My little sister—by about two minutes. We’re twins. But while I always knew I wanted to go into law enforcement, Alicia never figured out what she wanted to do with her life. She was a wild child, sweet as could be, but rebellious. She made my parents crazy. Then she fell in love with a great guy, a GI, and everything seemed good. She was living in the Miami area when her husband was killed overseas.

  “I worried about her, tried to figure out how to help her. Our parents were gone by then, so it was just the two of us. I was there for Alicia as much as I could be, given the job, and she told me she was doing okay. She said she’d decided to become a social worker, because she wanted to make life better for people. Then I had to go out of town on a case, and while I was away a friend texted me that he was afraid she’d gotten into drugs. I got myself assigned to the Keys and made plans to come see her, but by the time I got down here, Alicia was nowhere to be found. She hadn’t paid her rent, had abandoned all her belongings.”

  “And you had no idea where she was, what she was doing?
” Dallas asked.

  “She called me once, just before I made the move down here. I didn’t mention that I was worried about her, just said I was coming to the Keys to work an important case. I told her I’d see her soon. She said that she’d come down to see me as soon as I got here. But I never saw her, never heard from her again. Naturally I reported her disappearance, but no one’s ever found anything. The case is still open up in Miami–Dade.”

  “What makes you think she disappeared from Key West? We’re at least three hours away,” Logan pointed out.

  “When I came down for her husband’s funeral, she was wearing an odd pendant. It looked like an ancient medallion. When I mentioned it, she laughed and said it was just a piece of costume jewelry. Said she’d tried to help an old friend of her husband’s get back into civilian life. When she disappeared and Los Lobos started really gaining prominence, I kept thinking about that pendant. It wasn’t cheap costume jewelry, even if she believed it was. I’m convinced that friend was—is—part of Los Lobos. And he was using my sister—possibly making her dependent on drugs again, but also making her think he cared by giving her such an expensive gift, an antique pendant that was part of his cut from the Wolf. That’s speculation on my part, but it makes sense. All I know for sure is that somewhere along the way I lost my sister.”

  Hannah reached for him, but of course she couldn’t touch him. She lowered her hand. “I don’t believe she would have betrayed you,” she said. “No matter who she was involved with.”

  “There’s something I didn’t tell you,” he said, meeting her eyes.

  “What?” she asked.

  “The night I was killed...the group I was with...at least three of them were in Los Lobos, and they particularly wanted to come down your street,” Jose said.

  “So, they were setting you up,” Hannah said.

  “That’s certainly one of the possibilities I considered at first. I knew a couple of the guys weren’t ‘in’ yet. They might not even have known they were being scoped out for possible membership.”

  “So you weren’t being set up?” Dallas asked.

  “I don’t think so—not anymore. I think they specifically wanted to be on this street to see something.”

  “You mean...this house?” Hannah asked, a chill ripping through her.

  Jose nodded. “I think so. Do you have any idea why?”

  “There’s nothing here—nothing Los Lobos would be after,” Hannah said. “And if they were looking for something here, why were you killed here? That pretty much guaranteed a big police presence.”

  “I don’t know,” Jose said. “But you have something here. Something you don’t realize. Something they want.”

  “The chest,” Dallas said. “Do you think there’s any possibility that they could be after the treasure—that they think it might be here?”

  “But it isn’t here! There was never even a story that it was kept in this house. And if it were here, I’d know it. Trust me.”

  “Maybe someone in Los Lobos doesn’t believe that,” Logan suggested.

  “It doesn’t matter what they believe. I know all these rooms—it’s a bed-and-breakfast, for God’s sake!” Hannah said. “The attic is as neat as a pin. The stairs to the widow’s walk are right there, and people go up them all the time, especially at sunset. They want to catch a glimpse of Melody. Sometimes, when she’s in the right mood, she obliges them.”

  “The truth doesn’t matter,” Dallas said. “People act based on what they believe to be true—whether they’re right or wrong.” He suddenly turned his attention to the ghost. “Jose, what were you writing in your blood?” he asked tensely.

  “What?” Jose asked, clearly confused by the quick change of subject.

  “In the alley. You were trying to leave a message in your blood,” Dallas said. “C-U-R.”

  “Oh! I had forgotten. Imagine that,” Jose said. “Curse. I was writing the word curse.”

  “Curse,” Dallas repeated.

  “There’s a curse on the chest from the Santa Elinora,” Jose said. “I was planning to write ‘cursed treasure,’ so you’d know what Los Lobos were looking for and maybe you could stop them.”

  “The real curse is that evil men will always want treasure,” Dallas said.

  “Too true,” Jose agreed. “And I think that if you find the treasure and set a trap, you can catch the Wolf. The problem is, the Wolf believes what he’s seeking is here, in this house.”

  “What have I been telling you, Hannah?” Dallas asked gravely.

  “I can’t just leave. This is my home—my business. I can’t just bail because someone might be looking for some nonexistent treasure here.”

  “No one is suggesting that,” Kelsey assured her.

  “We don’t even know for a fact that any of this is true,” Hannah said defensively. She knew that she didn’t want it to be true. It was terrifying. And she couldn’t expect Kelsey and Logan to stay here forever, protecting her. And Dallas Samson had his own place to get back to. Eventually he would leave, too.

  “No, we don’t know it for a fact,” Jose said. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” His last words were faint. Hannah turned to look at him just as he faded into nothing.

  “Jose!” she said.

  “He’s used up all the strength he has for the moment,” Dallas told her.

  She was silent for a moment. “There is the possibility that his sister betrayed him. I think he doesn’t want to believe that it could be true—and I don’t want to believe it, either. But it is possible.”

  “Yes,” Dallas agreed.

  She realized that he was resting a hand on her shoulder. He had been like a stone pillar today. She suddenly wanted to take his hand and hold it. She tried to draw on her own inner strength. She had to stop. She was finding him more and more attractive. There was something pathological about that, she knew. She was getting fixated on a man who was protecting her purely from a sense of duty. Not good. Not good at all. She needed to back away. It probably didn’t help that she hadn’t dated more than once or twice since she and Lars had split.

  A little voice in the back of her head was whispering that she didn’t have to have a relationship with someone to enjoy him. Other people did it all the time.

  She very firmly told the voice to shut up.

  “So where do we go from here?” she asked.

  “We keep you safe,” Dallas said.

  Logan looked at Dallas. “We need to get the autopsy reports on Jose and the diving victim.”

  Dallas nodded. “The autopsy reports would definitely be helpful.”

  “I have a tour tonight. People will start showing up around seven-thirty,” Hannah said.

  “You need to cancel it,” Kelsey said.

  “No, I don’t think we should cancel the tours,” Dallas said. “I think we need to be on them.”

  “I think that’s risky,” Kelsey argued. “We don’t know who will be on a tour.”

  “That’s the point. We’re hoping someone will show up who we can use,” Dallas said.

  “But how do we protect Hannah?” Kelsey asked.

  “Hannah is sitting right here,” she reminded her cousin sharply. “I may be afraid, but I refuse to imagine never having a normal life again.”

  “I intend to be so close no one will be able to get to her,” Dallas said to Kelsey.

  “Where’s the M.E.’s office?” Logan asked.

  “Up in Marathon, just over the Seven Mile Bridge,” Kelsey said.

  “We’ll all go. We won’t need long in there,” Dallas said. “Then we’ll all come back.”

  “What about the house?” Logan asked.

  “The house will be watched by the best,” Dallas said. “Melody Chandler and Hagen Dundee.”

  “The re
sident spirits—I told you about them on the plane,” Kelsey explained to Logan.

  “But they can’t stop someone from coming in,” Logan pointed out.

  “Maybe we want to know who comes in,” Dallas said. “And what they do while they’re here.”

  Hannah was silent. Yesterday she’d felt as if the house had been invaded—as if someone had been there while she was out. But that might have been paranoia.

  “I have a better idea,” she said. “You two can go, and Kelsey can stay with me.”

  “We can go to the dolphin research center,” Kelsey said. “We have friends who work there. I haven’t been in ages, and you can drop us on your way up, then pick us up on your way back.”

  “It’s not safe for Hannah to wander around,” Dallas insisted.

  “Who will know we’re there?” Hannah demanded. “I didn’t even know until two seconds ago.”

  “And I am an FBI agent—not to mention I used to be a U.S. Marshal,” Kelsey reminded Dallas.

  He still looked as if he wanted to protest, but he lowered his head for a moment and then nodded.

  “Of course,” he said. “I’m just going to talk to Liam quickly—see if he has anything. Tell him what we’re doing.”

  Ten minutes later they were on their way. Dallas and Logan seemed to hit it off immediately, chatting while Logan drove and Kelsey sat with him.

  Hannah sat in the back of the rental SUV with Dallas and wondered how she could feel that she already knew him so well and why she wished she knew him even better.

  * * *

  After dropping off the women, Dallas and Logan made good time up to Marathon, where Dirk Mendini met them in front of the coroner’s office looking harried. After Dallas introduced him to Logan, Mendini said, “You know, two murders in two days. That’s a lot when you’re not looking at a big city.”

  “So she was murdered,” Dallas said.

  “Yes, that’s what I’m putting in my report. Murder by person or persons unknown.”

  “What makes you think it was a homicide?” Dallas asked him.