“I picked up on the grandiose part,” Dane said. “He sounds like a character. Makes you wonder if it’s all just bluster, or if he really did accomplish anything of note.”
“He lived quite a life,” Kaylin said. “He took part in the battle of Waterloo. He also fought for Simon Bolivar in Colombia, then came back to Europe where he was wounded at Marathon. He traveled most of the known world and became a self-styled discoverer. Not exactly a colonial times Indiana Jones, but something close.” She grinned, and some of the strain melted away. She looked younger, more energetic. “He claimed to have been the first person to rediscover the ruins of Syre and Assab in Abyssinia. He also claimed that he was the first to excavate them, as well as Petra in Arabia.”
“Wasn’t Petra a crappy Christian band back in the eighties?” Bones called from the kitchen. He dropped a bag on the table and joined them on the balcony.
“It’s also a famous city in the Middle East,” Kaylin said. “It’s literally carved into the sides of cliffs.”
“You know, like in the third Indiana Jones movie.” Dane nudged his friend with an elbow to the ribs.
“Oh yeah!” Bones said, as if this were all a startling revelation. “You guys are so smart.”
The blonde rolled her eyes and continued. “Anyway, Rienzi was returning to France on the Dourado with all the treasures he had accumulated during his world travels. He lost everything when the ship sank.”
“Bummer,” Bones said. “Reminds me of the time I hooked up with this really cute sorority girl. We made it about halfway back to my dorm and then she hurled all over…” He took one look at Kaylin’s disapproving stare and cut the story short. “Never mind. Rewind to where I said ‘bummer’ and just leave it there.”
“Good idea.” Kaylin folded her arms across her chest and frowned, but there was a twinkle in her eye that had been absent moments before. “Rienzi certainly thought it was a ‘bummer’ as you put it. He went back to France and made a bit of a name for himself writing. He never did get over losing his life’s work, though.”
“What happened to him?” Dane asked.
Kaylin hesitated. “He killed himself eighteen years later.”
“Ouch. Sounds like the guy had a flair for the dramatic,” Bones observed, shaking his head. “So, what do we know about the last voyage of the Dourado?”
“It’s a strange story,” she said. “Besides Rienzi’s belongings, the captain claimed to have been carrying more than half-a million dollars on board when the ship went down. That was a great deal of money back then. When the survivors reached Singapore with word of the sinking, the British sent out a detachment of troops in three ships to guard the wreck from the local pirates while divers tried to salvage the ship.”
“I can’t imagine trying to dive using nineteenth century technology,” Dane observed. He shuddered at the thought of braving the depths with only the aid of primitive dive equipment. Modern diving was hazardous enough.
“They didn’t have to. The ships returned very quickly. They were unable to find the Dourado, and assumed that it had gone down in deep water. Less than a week later, though, the wreckage was found off the coast of the island of Bintan. Salvage efforts only turned up a few items: a silver statue, a box with some papers, and a couple of personal items. They found no sign of the money, nor of Rienzi’s treasure. After three months, Rienzi gave up on ever recovering his property, and returned to France.”
The doorbell rang, bringing their conversation to an abrupt halt. Kaylin answered the door, and returned a moment later with a tall, lean, ginger-haired man of middle years in a black suit and priest’s collar. His thin-lipped smile was the only sign of emotion in an otherwise bland face. His eyes, narrowed in either curiosity or suspicion, flitted from Dane to Bones, then back to Dane.
“Father Wright,” Kaylin said, “I would like to introduce two friends of my father. This is Dane Maddock.” She gestured to Dane with a wave of her hand. “And this is Uriah Bonebrake. They were in the Navy together with Dad.”
The priest shook Dane’s hand first, then turned to Bones. “Uriah,” he said, clasping Bone’s hand. “A strong, biblical name.”
“Let’s hope I don’t share his fate,” Bones said with a mischievous smile. “Getting killed over a woman hits way too close to home.” Dane’s surprise must have registered on his face, because Bones frowned at him. “Think I don’t know my bible? I was raised on the reservation. Pentecostal preachers everywhere you look.”
“I suppose we can forgive you for that,” Father Wright said. He actually cracked a smile, but only a small one. “Kaylin,” he continued, turning to their hostess, “I won’t stay but a moment. I just came by to check in on you.”
“Thank you, Father. I’m doing fine, all things considered.”
“Glad to hear it.” Father Wright paused, rubbing a pale, slender hand absently across his chest. He seemed nervous or uncertain. “I hope you’ll forgive me, but I have a bit of an unusual question. Your father had in his collection a very old French bible. I must not have hidden my admiration for it very well, because he offered to donate it to the rectory library.”
“Oh,” Kaylin said, a frown creasing her brow. “I haven’t gone through his things yet. I’ll keep an eye out for it, though, and let you know if I come across it.”
“Perhaps it is in his library?” the Priest asked. Dane thought it a trifle rude for the man to persist, but he held his tongue. “I could drop by his house sometime when you are going to be there.”
“Actually, that’s the one place I have inventoried,” Kaylin said. “After the burglary and the police investigation it seemed like it needed doing. As I said, I will look for it.” Her voice had taken on a tone of impatience, and she stood with hands on hips.
“Thank you,” Father Wright replied, touching her shoulder gently. “I just wanted to mention it. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.”
“I will, Father. Thank you for dropping by.” Kaylin showed the priest out and returned to the living room where Dane and Bones had wandered in from the balcony. She had a puzzled look on her face.
“That was an odd conversation,” Dane said, dropping down onto Kaylin’s black leather sofa.
“It was very odd,” she said, taking a seat next to him. “Father Wright is a good man. It just feels so inappropriate for him to be asking for something of Dad’s so soon after…” Her voice trailed away. “You know what I mean.”
“You’d think a priest would have better bedside manner,” Bones observed. He fished beer and a package of beef jerky out of the bag he had laid on the kitchen table. “Anybody else?” He held up his drink and snack.
“It’s a little early for that much gas,” Dane said. “Thanks anyway, though.”
“Breakfast of champions,” Bones said. He joined them in the living room, dropping down into a Papa San chair beneath one of Kaylin’s seascapes. The rattan chair creaked under his weight, and he overflowed it like a gorilla in an inner tube. Dane chuckled at the mental image. Bones raised an eyebrow but did not ask what was funny.
“Cool artwork, Kaylin,” Bones said, looking around at the paintings that adorned the living room walls. “You painted them all, huh? Anyway, I want to talk about this wreck we’re supposed to find,” he said. “If it was salvaged back when it first went down, and they didn’t find much, it either means that Rienzi was full of it, or this alleged incredible discovery was lost somewhere between the point where the ship sank, and the point where the wreck was finally discovered. At best, we’ll have to scour the ocean bed looking for some item which, by the way, we don’t know what it is. I’d say it’s impossible.”