She wondered if what she was about to do was crazy, or necessary.
She walked slowly along the beach, almost unaware of the cameras or the reflector shield being wielded by Bill and Jake. “Yesterday,” she began, “we made an amazing find. People often wonder why, when a wreck has rested in the ocean so long and we have so much advanced equipment to put to work in the oceans these days, it hasn’t been previously discovered. As Sean O’Hara noted, we have to remember that conditions in the past might have been different, and that the ocean is always shifting and hiding her treasures. What we refer to as the Bermuda Triangle is a busy area where currents and weather are particularly active and where, perhaps, there are major magnetic fields at work. Basically, it’s natural phenomena that dictate what happens beneath the waves. Mad Miller’s pirate ship was taken down by a force of nature. And the force of nature, over the years, shifted the wreckage, and created a long debris field. Despite sonar, seagoing robots and other technical devices, treasures and wrecks can hide in plain sight. As in this case, the great metal hull of a World War II ship has hidden a great deal of the wreckage. What we have discovered this time is treasure. It’s my belief that we have imagined the real story of Mad Miller, Kitty Cutlass and Dona Isabella wrong. We saw what happened as Dona Isabella would have wanted the world to see it. She was a beautiful woman, a proud and haughty woman. She lived life as she chose in Key West in luxury. She traveled the Caribbean, and she took on lovers as she chose, all with her husband’s riches. I believe that she made a deal with Mad Miller. Somewhere, she met the pirate. She told him the course of the Santa Geneva and what riches the ship would carry. In return, they would split the bounty. It would be assumed that she’d died in captivity—but not until a ransom had been paid. Dona Isabella would then take on a new identity and live richly—without the yoke of her husband’s financial power over her—wherever she chose. I can’t imagine just what seductive power or force the woman wielded, because earlier, at the site of the Santa Geneva wreck, we pulled up a chest that held the body of a murdered woman. The ‘treasure chest’ of her body was stolen somewhere en route to a lab in Gainesville, but the experts noted immediately that she was not decked out in great finery. It’s my belief that Dona Isabella was entranced with the pirate way of life and perhaps with Mad Miller himself. Either on her own—or with his blessing—Dona Isabella murdered the one person who stood in her way in the act of completely subduing the pirate Mad Miller to her total control. In remorse, Mad Miller saw to it that Kitty Cutlass went to the bottom of the sea in a sealed tomb. With Dona Isabella now calling the shots like a true pirate queen, she and the remaining crews of the ships sailed on to Haunt Island, where the massacre of all those who would not bow down before her took place. She was truly in her power when she and Mad Miller then set sail again, only to sail into the embrace of a massive storm, and a watery graveyard for all aboard. How furious she must have been—furious with God and the heavens. She had at last obtained freedom, power and control—only to fall victim to the revenge of the sea herself. Once, Africans brought to these islands believed that the tempest within this area—now known as the Bermuda Triangle—was caused by the bitter fury of a woman who had not been kind, while her sister had taken pity on a poor and broken man who proved to be a god. The haughty sister married a rich and handsome man who turned out to be a demon who killed her and devoured her. Her fury caused the thunder and waves and strange phenomena that brought down ships and planes. Perhaps, in later years, sailors—pirates, patriots, merchants and pleasure seekers—might well find that same evil spirit rests in the bitter and furious soul of the heartless woman who murdered for power and riches.”
She stopped walking, and smiled.
Jay lowered the camera and looked into her eyes. The reflector shields fell, and Sean came walking toward her, taking her by the shoulders, his grin deep, his eyes admiring.
“Fantastic!” he said.
“Oh!” Katie gasped. “That’s brilliant, Vanessa, and you probably got it all right after all these years of us believing that Kitty Cutlass was a murderess!”
“It makes perfect sense,” David agreed.