She’d never let him know that she had nearly panicked, and thought herself trapped!
She smiled around her regulator and gave him an okay signal. He saw what she had.
He lifted the camera as Bill moved himself through the water to help her grasp the heavy object. He signed to her, and they carried it between them with Sean following. They made their way to the anchor line and moved up to thirty-three feet, waited and moved up again, following the line.
The others had seen them. They begin to ascend, as well.
Jamie was at the dive platform, ready to help them. Vanessa heard Barry say a quick “Oh, shit!” And then he had a camera rolling. Bill climbed out first and shed his tank and BCV in order to help Jamie shift the piece from the dive platform to the boat. Katie followed, throwing her flippers on board and hauling herself up. Sean was quickly behind her, and she reached for the camera. Soon, they were aboard, and the piece she had found was lying on the stern section of the deck with the group gathered around to stare at it.
“It’s a piece of a mast,” Jamie said.
“And the clumps?” Barry asked.
Jamie stared at Barry, grinning, and then looked at Sean. “Ted and Jaden will have some work to do tonight. Look at the circular patterns. You’ve found a stash of coins, my friends. Gold and silver, I’d wager. And if I’m right, and if our experts can clean them and give us some dates, I think we’ll find that you’re right, Sean. We’ve come upon a debris field of the pirate ship, if not the pirate ship itself.”
Sean turned to Vanessa and pulled her close, planting a huge kiss on her lips.
“You’re amazing!” he told her.
She smiled uneasily.
She had followed the figurehead again.
But the figurehead had nearly trapped her that day. Had it been leading her to treasure?
Or trying to lure her to her death?
15
“Oh my God!” Jaden cried, delighted with the discovery. “Ted, look…it’s definitely a cache of coins. I’d say it is a piece of the mast. Maybe the new wreck crushed the old wreck. I think that Sean was right, and that it was a long debris field…and still, what’s left of the pirate hull might be there…it’s possible. It’s certainly not impossible!”
“This is really fabulous,” Ted said. “The last time I saw something like this it was…wow, it was a display from the Atocha.” He turned to Jaden. “We can get started. We brought supplies. I can’t wait to see the dates on the coins and find out what was on that ship. I can’t wait to see the coins. I think there are definitely some cobs attached there—those are bits taken off the gold bars. They could have been stolen from anyone, French, English, Spanish or Americans!” he said excitedly.
They were back on the beach and the heavy piece of mast with its encrusted treasure lay in the center of a tarp while they gathered around it and stared.
“It’s amazing,” Zoe breathed, looking at Vanessa. “And you found this, too?”
“More or less. I was diving with Sean and Bill,” Vanessa said.
“You really missed your calling,” Zoe said.
“Hey, Bahamian or International waters?” Jay asked, looking at Lew.
Lew smiled broadly. “Bahamian! Yeah!”
“Ah, there goes the treasure,” Jay said sadly.
Vanessa stepped back, not really thrilled with the fact that she had once again discovered a find in the water. She couldn’t help but think about Lew’s story—and the things Bartholomew had said.
But…
Say there was a ghost that somehow haunted her in the water. First off, why would Dona Isabella, so cruelly taken and murdered, want to cause evil to anyone?
And second, ghosts didn’t have the power to do what had been done.
She realized that she had backed out of the group, and she was sorry that Sean was so concerned with safety that they couldn’t possibly have a minute alone. Not alone, maybe. But…with just Katie and David.
She started as she stood in the back of the group—something had hit her on the back. She spun around and looked down. A tiny pinecone lay there in the sand. She frowned, and then looked up.
Carlos Roca.
She stared at him. He was real. Alive—and on the island. She couldn’t begin to fathom how he had followed them so easily.
Unless, of course, he was good at that kind of thing.
She looked at him, at the misery in his eyes, at the pleading within them. She saw that his face had grown gaunt; he looked like a man haunted by a million demons.
He was beckoning to her. He drew a finger to his lips.
She’d be crazy to walk to him in the brush. Alone.
She winced. She wondered if there was such a thing as instinct, and if her belief in the man was actually crazy. After all, he was there.
He hadn’t been killed.
She turned, thinking she could grab Katie or someone.
They were all still discussing the coins. Jaden was explaining how many people used something like an electrode to clean such pieces, but they had always had good luck with certain chemical washes and delicate handwork.