“Dead?” Josh echoed.
Curtis looked up. “I was visiting Glen over at Key Pirates early this morning. The police showed up and were questioning him about Lou. He… he was murdered late last night. I didn’t want to say anything yet….”
Peg’s eyes were as big as saucers, and something told me she wasn’t faking this shock. So, not suspicious, although that alone wasn’t reason enough to write her off as guiltless. “Dear God. What happened? That poor bastard!”
“That’s actually why I’m here,” I stated. “He was found in the Smith Home. It looks like he had broken in, and there was some kind of scuffle that…. Well, and he died,” I simply concluded.
“You accusing Lou of trying to rob that place?” Josh asked defensively. “Lou was a damn good guy, and you’re saying he would have risked his neck to steal what,exactly? A fucking deck of old playing cards?”
“Hey!” I piped up. “I didn’t say that at all. And those cards are worth a few hundred bucks, thank you.”
Curtis held his hands out, trying to silence the table. “Guys, come on. The fact is, we don’t know what happened yet. Josh, Aubrey here is right. The cops said Lou was found upstairs in the Smith Home, and how can we explain his presence there? He wasn’t an employee—he didn’t have keys.”
“Bastard had to have been drunk,” Peg said sadly, shaking her head.
“I only wanted to give you all my condolences,” I told Josh firmly. “I was told you were good friends of his.” Okay, so that was more of a guess on my part, but luckily for me, I’d been right.
Curtis nodded and spoke for Josh. “Thank you. It’s nice of you to come down here.”
Peg held up her glass and wiped under one eye. “To Lou, the best damn hunter if there ever was one.”
Curtis and Josh obediently raised their glasses, clinked against hers, and took long chugs of beer.
“Cassidy was a hunter?” I asked. I figured that didn’t mean he hunted Bambi, and I was hoping to get a bit more out of the group before being dismissed.
Peg burped and patted her chest. “Treasure hunter. He was a natural.”
“Oh.” I rubbed my sweaty palms against my thighs. “Did he ever find anything, like… famous?”
“He was hot on the trail of One-Eyed Jack’s lost stash.”
“Peg,” Josh said. “We don’t need folks inviting themselves into the hunt.”
“Believe me, do I look like the sort of guy who gets his hands dirty?” I asked Josh.
“Lou claimed a lot of things,” Curtis interrupted. “He was still researching.”
“I guess he was pretty dedicated to Jack,” I said absently. “He was designing an exhibit for Glen.”
Peg nodded. “Sure was. Jack was Captain Smith, you know.” She finished off her beer and waved to the bar for another.
“I’m sure Aubrey has done his own research,” Curtis told Peg. He looked at me and smiled. “Right?” He was kind of cute. Tall, well-built, messy auburn hair.
“Ah, right,” I said. “I didn’t exactly come to the same conclusion.”
“Then you’re wrong,” Peg stated frankly. She combed back some dyed red hair from her eyes. “Captain Rogers identified Jack as Smith. It’s in his diary.”
“Peg,” Curtis said, putting a hand on hers. “Aubrey probably doesn’t appreciate being told he’swrong.”
Rogers. Rogers… I knew that name…. I yawned and shook my head quickly, trying to fight off the desire for a nap. “Rogers was a—a merchant ship captain. European furniture, I believe. His ship was stranded on the reefs his first time out here, and Smith was the wrecker who came to his aid.”
Peg shrugged. “Well, I don’t know about any of that, only that Lou has his diary and there’s some entry about Rogers seeing Captain Jack disembarking from theRed Ladyand slipping into a shanty. The next thing he knew, out stepped Smith, looking every bit like a respectable gentleman.”
I looked at Jun’s profile quickly. Now I was awake. “LouownsRoger’s diary?”
Danger, Will Robinson!
Captain Roger’s diary was reported as stolen from a tiny museum in St. Augustine about a year ago. But maybe Peg didn’t know that. Maybe she also didn’t know that, as the manager of a museum myself, I stayed on top of reports of theft, and with a history in pawnshops and a friend in antiques, we all kept in contact with one another and were pretty well-informed.
