Ted climbed in and slammed the door. “Drive, woman, drive!” he said.
In a matter of minutes they were back at the shop. They didn’t have to worry about weight or statistics; Ted and Jaden had carts and ramps, and they quickly had it down, still on a tarp, in one of their temperature-controlled rooms where the air was heavy with moisture.
Jaden and Ted looked over the trunk and discussed the best way to attack it. Obviously, they didn’t have a key, and if they did, the lock was probably too degraded to open with it. They did, however, have a friend who was a locksmith.
He was called.
They were going to have to wait.
If they were going to have to wait, Sean wanted to bring Vanessa back.
“All right, I’m going to call David,” he told Ted. “I’ll run and grab a quick shower, stop by for Vanessa, and we’ll all meet back here in an hour. How’s that?”
“An hour?” Ted said. He loved the old, treasure and a mystery.
“Ted, we have to wait for the locksmith,” Jaden reminded him.
“We could just need a little oil,” Ted said hopefully. “You know what works wonders? Olive oil, not that I was really thinking about olive oil on this. WD-40.”
“We’ll do it right. Run on, Sean. I’ll chill some champagne!” Jaden said happily.
Vanessa told herself that she wasn’t afraid of her own room. She was. She didn’t want to be alone anymore. She just wanted to go back to Sean’s. She’d get the rest of her things later.
She showered fast, scrubbed her face, towel dried her body and her hair, dressed in an A-line knit dress and sandals and ran back down the stairs. The sun was setting, and it would be dark soon. She was glad she was on Duval Street—and that pirates and wenches and drunken frat boys were plying the sidewalk.
She headed into the little bar again but ordered a soda. She could still feel the warmth of the whiskey and didn’t want to appear to be as inebriated as the frat boys. It was while she was there, idly sitting on one of the four stools in the place and watching the crowd, that she nearly choked and fell off.
She wasn’t seeing any kind of an apparition.
No one dressed in pirate attire.
To her amazement, Zoe Cally and Barry Melkie, props, costumes, makeup and sound on their ill-fated film, stood in front of the Irish bar, drinking beer, deep in conversation.
She jumped up and ran across the street. “Hey!”
Zoe turned to look at her. She was a pretty girl, small and delicate, with large brown eyes and light hair. She smiled, and the smile was bright and welcoming.
“Vanessa!” Zoe cried with pleasure.
“Hey, you!” Barry said. He picked her up to give her a huge bear hug. He was a big man, about six foot three and well muscled, in his midthirties.
Barry set her down, grinning as broadly as Zoe. “This is unbelievable! How cool. We were just talking about you and Jay, and thinking that we should call you.”
Zoe laughed. “We were talking because we read an advertisement. There are these guys planning a documentary on weird stuff in Key West and environs,” Zoe said.
“I know, I know!” Vanessa said. She started to speak again, but Zoe interrupted her enthusiastically.
“Imagine our surprise when they called us!” Zoe said.
“Hey, let me buy you a beer, Vanessa,” Barry said. “We’ll explain.”
Vanessa explained how she and Jay were already working with Sean and David. “Sean just called you and my Lord, you got here quickly!” she said.
Zoe giggled. “We were close. We got here last night.”
“And guess what? I mean, I think this was all really supposed to happen. I have already called the kids,” Barry said proudly.
“The kids?” Vanessa said.
“The kids—our kids, our grad students. You know, both those bozos managed to graduate and get work, can you imagine?” Barry asked.
Vanessa felt her heart sinking. “You mean Bill Hinton and Jake Magnoli?”
“Well, of course, what other kids did we work with?” Zoe asked, confused.
“Vanessa, come on, let me buy you a beer,” Barry said.
“I—I can’t right now. I’m waiting for Sean,” Vanessa explained.
“And Jay?” Zoe asked, grinning.
“And Jay,” she said.
Zoe smiled. “I am so glad. I’m so glad we were already heading here. This is going to be so important, so cathartic, for all of us. We were there! We saw Travis and Georgia. Vanessa, you of all people must understand how we feel!”
“Of course,” Vanessa agreed softly.
“This is an amazing opportunity. We’ve all been ripped apart by nightmares. We’ve all been like zombies since it happened,” Barry said.