“We’ll head in right now,” Sean assured his sister. He seemed puzzled by her reaction and paused to give her a hug. “It may be treasure,” he said.
“And it may not,” she told him. She waved a hand in the air. “Maybe it’s documents. A captain’s log, something like that.”
“To me, that would be a greater treasure,” Sean said.
“Pieces of paper?” Jay queried glumly.
Sean laughed. “Come on, you must know the value of that kind of paper.”
“Yeah. Historic!” Jay said. “I say it’s going to be pieces of eight! Gold and silver ingots. We know the Santa Geneva sank there. And she had come from Columbia to Cuba—and to Key West to bring Dona Isabella and others back to Spain. There had to have been great treasures on the ship!”
“I say that it’s going to be gold and silver because the damned thing is heavy as hell,” Sean said.
Katie moved back by Vanessa. She waved a hand in the air. “Boys, boys! Bring this boat back in—or I’ll take the helm!”
Sean grinned at her and started the engines.
Vanessa glanced at her. “He doesn’t want you driving his boat?”
“Oh, he’d let me, but I hit the dock once. It was rather an expensive error,” Katie said. She tried to grin. The grin failed.
Sean, David and Jay remained excited. Sean was at the helm, but David and Jay hovered with him. They gestured as they spoke, all enthusiastic.
Vanessa jumped off the boat quickly to help with the ties when they arrived at the dock. By then, she didn’t even want to be on the boat with the chest. It was ridiculous, but she felt uneasy. It was so stupid! She didn’t usually let herself behave so ridiculously. Even when they had found the bodies of Travis and Georgia…or what had remained of them, she hadn’t been uneasy. She had been horrified, and then angry. They had been so young. They had been so cruelly robbed of their lives. And someone was getting away with it.
She was tired. Certainly, that was it.
As if reading her mind, Sean looked over at her. “You all right?”
She nodded. “Hey—I’m going to run back to the inn and get the rest of my things.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
“Are you two coming by tonight?” Katie asked. “I’m going to change for work.”
“I’ll be home soon,” David promised, pausing to kiss her, smiling and smoothing her hair back.
“Boys, boys—take your time. Vanessa and I will be fine,” Katie assured him. She looked at Vanessa. “We can walk part of the way together.”
“Perfect,” Vanessa said.
She was on the dock; Sean was on the boat. He smiled at her. “I won’t be all that long, really. I’ll come to the inn and get you. We definitely need a big drink at ye olde family bar tonight!”
She was glad to see him so enthusiastic.
Jay was staring at her, too. He gave her a thumbs-up, glad because she was proving that the two of them were worth something.
“What do you think our problem is?” Vanessa asked Katie as they started toward Front Street.
“I don’t know—weird, isn’t it? I was as excited as anyone when we started—then it came aboard. Creepy. Hey, we are probably idiots. If that thing is filled with treasure, even after the state gets hold of it, we’ll be in nice shape.”
“Katie, all of us are working. None of us is desperate for a treasure. Okay, maybe Jay. He went through a serious funk after…after everything with the movie went so badly. He didn’t work a lot. I think he’s been working lately, but…not doing what he wants. Underwater weddings, scuba trips…just enough to keep going. He thought we would have been in the big bucks once the movie went to a distributor. But then it was all so horrible…”
“Well, we’ll leave it to the boys,” Katie said, rolling her eyes. “And Jaden and Ted have worked with some of the most amazing finds. Treasure after treasure. They’ll get it unsealed without compromising anything. Now, that is amazing! Sealed and preserved. We need to be happy.”
“Sure,” Vanessa said. She wrinkled her face in perplexity and stopped to stare at Katie. “It’s absurd. I was excited. Now I’m not. What made the difference?”
“I don’t know…I don’t know. Maybe we should go back tomorrow to see Marty—he’ll be getting his shows going and all by now. We’ll get him to talk about Dona Isabella. Maybe that will help us somehow.”
“I did a lot of research—I was nuts about the legend. It was so tragic. I’m not sure what else Marty can tell us,” Vanessa said.
“Can’t hurt, right?” Katie said.
“Can’t hurt,” Vanessa agreed.
She was surprised when Katie wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. “Sorry—goose bumps. I’m glad Sean is coming back for you.”
“I’d be fine,” Vanessa said. She was glad, too.
“Come into Katie-oke. That’ll make you feel normal!” Katie assured her.
Vanessa nodded. She and Katie hugged quickly, then went their separate ways.
She was glad to head down Duval. The tourists and bright lights helped her shake her feelings of unease.