The Cursed

“Like I said, my eyes were closed,” Stuart said.

“So were mine,” Shelly said. “When I opened them, he was just...there.”

“Did you see or hear anyone before he appeared?” Liam asked.

Stuart shrugged. “We heard someone when we were upstairs, but they were gone by the time we went down.”

“No,” Shelly said. “I didn’t see anyone because no one was around. I mean, even when we came in things were pretty quiet.” She stopped to think for a moment, then said, “Wait! Stuart, remember when we were walking back? There was a group of people ahead of us. They were crashing into each other as if they were really drunk.”

“They probably were,” Stuart said. “But, yeah, I remember them.”

“Maybe the dead man was with them,” Shelly said.

“How many were there?” Dallas asked.

“Four,” Stuart said.

“Five,” Shelly corrected. “I remember counting them. I was a little nervous, but I was thinking that there were six of us, so at least we had one more in our group in case they caused some kind of trouble. Of course, they were all guys and we only had three guys.”

“I don’t know,” Stuart said. “That short one might have been a woman. Hard to tell. They were all wearing hoodies. Pretty weird, considering it was about fifty.”

Interesting, Dallas thought. Someone else might remember a group like that, because most tourists didn’t bundle up when it turned sixty. Time to go and follow up on this first lead.

He and Liam seemed to be of one mind. They rose together. Dallas handed them his card. “If you think of anything else—anything at all—please call me.”

“Are you going to speak with the others? They might remember something,” Stuart said. “I mean, not about the—the dead man, but maybe about the group we saw when we were walking home.”

“Yes, we’re just waiting for them to wake up,” Liam told them.

Shelly looked over at Stuart. “That may be awhile.”

Stuart nodded. “They’re going to be really hungover.”

“We’ll be gentle,” Dallas promised.

* * *

Hannah blinked. The dead man was still there, looking at her beseechingly.

He could—though he apparently wasn’t aware of it yet—just walk in through the door if he wanted to. Should she let him in?

According to Agent Samson, Jose Rodriguez had been one of the good guys. Florida—especially South Florida and Key West, had a long history of Spanish settlement and Cuban immigration. His family might have been in the area for centuries. But wherever he had grown up, it seemed someone had taught him manners.

He was knocking. Hoping she would let him in.

She lowered her head for a minute. No, go away, please, she thought fervently. I don’t want to be ghost central. I don’t want to get involved with your murder.

She felt immediately embarrassed, because she knew that attitude was wrong. She had to help if she could.

She opened the door, swallowing hard. “Hello, Jose.”

At least his apparition wasn’t as bloody in the afterlife as his body had been in death. He looked as he must have soon before death, wearing a typical Cuban guayabera shirt and khaki pants. His hair was sleek, dark and combed back. He was clean shaven, with dark eyes and handsome features.

“You—you know me?” he asked her.

His voice was brittle, a little like sandpaper, as if he was just learning to speak.

She nodded. “I found you.”

He nodded. “I remember. You tried to help me, but it was too late.”

“Yes.” She studied him for a minute. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help. I hear that you were an undercover agent, one of the good guys.”

“Yes.”

“I guess you know you were murdered. My friend Liam Beckett, a police detective, has had some experience with...the dead. He doesn’t see as easily as I do, though—lucky me,” she couldn’t help but add a little bitterly. “But if you tell me who did it, I can tell him.”

A grim smile curved his lips. “If only it were that easy.”

“Your throat was slit. You really don’t know who did it? And you were carrying a knife—a big bowie knife—with blood on it. Of course, it’s gone now. The crime scene techs are still out there looking for it,” Hannah said.

“Yes, I see them. But they won’t find it,” he said.

Hannah realized that the techs in the yard could see her through the back window; they probably thought she was standing there talking to herself.

Maybe she was.

“May I come in?” Rodriguez asked politely.

She nodded. “Oh, of course. Please. Let’s move into the parlor.”

She led the way through to the front, taking an armchair by the fire and curling her legs beneath her. The ghost took a seat across from her on the sofa.

“I’m so sorry,” she said aloud. It seemed lame. He should have had a lifetime ahead of him. She took a breath. “I want to help you. But...how can you not know what happened?”

“Because whoever got me came up behind me. We—I was with a bunch of guys—had just turned the corner from Duval and I heard someone behind us. He grabbed me, and the other guys saw. One of them screamed ‘Run!’ and we all took off. I think the other guys had to be in on it—either that or they’re running scared, thinking they’re about to get the same,” Rodriguez told her. He stared at her for a moment. She thought he was assessing her. Perhaps he was deciding if she could be of any help.

“Anyway, like I said, we all took off,” Jose went on. “I threw the guy off me and crashed through the yard next to yours. That’s when he caught up with me. I didn’t have a gun on me, only my knife. I got a slice of him, but since I couldn’t see anything, I don’t even know where I cut him, but I know he...he got me. Slit my throat. I kept running, and that’s when I scared your guests. But I heard him coming after me. I knew I didn’t have a chance, and I didn’t want him to kill anyone else, so I kept running. I ended up in the alley, tried to write...” He trailed to a stop. “And then I...died. He followed me—must have, if the knife is gone. But he couldn’t leave it. They would have gotten his blood off it.”

Hannah found herself suddenly fighting tears. Even as he was dying, he had thought to save others.

“You’ve heard of Los Lobos?” he asked her.

She nodded. “I think most of the country has heard of them. Every once in a while there’s something in the paper about a body popping up somewhere and they’re suspected of the murder, or a treasure goes missing and they’re the only suspects. They’re like the mafia, or that’s what it sounds like, anyway.”

Rodriguez nodded. “More or less. Every agency from the FBI to the Coast Guard has been trying to turn one of the members. The problem is, they’d rather die or go to prison than take what they’ll get if the organization turns against them. Case in point,” he said, indicating his throat.

Hannah exhaled. “But...this isn’t so much a Key West thing as it is a national one, right?”

“It’s at least partly a Key West thing, because Los Lobos specializes in treasures from the New World.” He paused. “I’m not sure where to begin. Do you remember hearing anything around a year ago about a small research-slash-salvage operation at a recently discovered shipwreck? The crew disappeared in the midst of a storm.”

“Yes. It was on the news and in the paper. The Discovery went out with a captain, a mate and three scientists. They were all lost in the storm,” Hannah said.

“I don’t believe the crew was lost in that storm at all.”

“You think Los Lobos killed them?” Hannah asked, horrified. “The storm wasn’t that bad on land, but a lot of other ships were caught in it, too, and barely made it out. The remains of the Discovery eventually turned up, but none of the crew’s bodies were ever found, although that’s not uncommon when someone is lost at sea. And now you’re telling me that—”

“The storm didn’t kill them.”

“So someone went out in that storm and—and murdered them?” Hannah asked, appalled. The loss of the crew had been a local tragedy. To think that they might have survived Mother Nature only to be murdered made the situation all the more terrible.

“There was a rumor that the treasure chest from the Santa Elinora was aboard the Discovery.”

“What?” Hannah demanded. “That treasure has been the subject of rumors for years! It was supposedly on the Wind and the Sea when she went down.”

“Supposedly,” Rodriguez said. “Key word—supposedly. Where it is now, no one knows. A historian wrote a piece on the Santa Elinora and the treasure about a year and a half ago, which started people speculating that it was still off Key West somewhere. Legend always had it that the chest was aboard Ian Chandler’s Wind and the Sea when she went down in the 1850s, but no one really knows if that’s true, and since the wreck was never found, no one’s been able to confirm that it was there.”

“So how did it end up on the Discovery?” Hannah asked, confused.

“There are thousands of undiscovered shipwrecks out there—the ocean along the coast was once like a marine I-95. And since no one could predict storms, over hundreds of years, thousands of ships went down. And those looking for them are often cutthroat and are perfectly happy to commit murder over even the hint of something valuable turning up. Honestly, I don’t believe the treasure chest was ever aboard the Discovery. What I do believe is that members of Los Lobos heard the rumors that it was there, and that they caught up with the Discovery right before the storm and killed the crew—for nothing. Since they didn’t find it, they’re searching in Key West again, because at this point no one really knows where the treasure is—on land or underwater. The items in the treasure chest are supposed to be so rare and historic that it’s impossible to estimate their value—jewels set in the purest gold ever mined in South America.”

“I’ve heard about the treasure my whole life,” Hannah said. “According to legend, the Santa Elinora was discovered and salvaged when David Porter and his Mosquito Squadron came down in the 1820s, back when Florida was still a territory, to clean out the pirates. But Porter didn’t keep any documents because officially they were supposed to be stopping pirates, not salvaging wrecks. But lack of proof didn’t stop people from claiming that Porter found the chest and kept it in Key West until he tried to send it up to D.C. on the Wind and the Sea. Most of the people on the island at the time believed that the treasure went down with the Wind and the Sea when she sank, and to this day most people think it’s still there.”

Jose nodded and smiled slowly. “You would know. Your home is part of the legend of the treasure, and that makes you involved. Are you a descendant of the original owners? Not many left these days who go that far back.”

“In a roundabout way. I’m a descendant of the original owner’s first cousin.”

“And you give ghost tours.”

Hannah lifted her hands helplessly.

He laughed. “Not to worry—it’s a legitimate business. And people like to be remembered. They like to have their stories told. I’d like my story to be told, one day.”

Hannah hesitated and then said, “I know that you were working undercover. My friend Detective Beckett was here, along with a Federal agent.”

“Dallas Samson,” Rodriguez said, nodding.

“They said you were a good guy.”

Jose knitted his fingers together and then released them, looking at her with a grim smile. “I’ve been with the FBI about five years. I made a point of getting this case. I’ve spent the past six months trying to get in with Los Lobos. I just made it in, but evidently I did something suspicious, or someone in the gang had seen me when I wasn’t undercover. Or someone betrayed me. I have some ideas. But this case meant more to me than just bringing down the gang.”

“Oh?”

“Los Lobos concentrates on ‘priceless’ treasures they can sell on the black market. But when their cash flow is down they deal in anything. Drugs. Human cargo.”

“Human cargo? Are you talking about slavery? Today?”

He nodded. “Trust me, it still goes on.” He shook his head. “One case—which at least had a happy ending—involved a young girl in Texas who was set up by a wealthy friend. A man in Eastern Europe offered a multimillion-dollar sum for a blue-eyed redhead under twenty-five. Los Lobos got wind of the offer and acted fast. The young woman went to a party at her friend’s mansion, where she was drugged. Luckily we already had a man watching the friend and she was rescued. As for her millionaire friend, he mysteriously killed himself in lockup while waiting to be taken in for arraignment.”

“You mean the millionaire was part of Los Lobos?”

“There are very rich people out there who covet things—and they know that Los Lobos can get whatever will make their collection complete.”

“How horrible.”

He nodded. “And we still don’t know who the leader is or the gang’s exact hierarchy. I’d hoped I would figure that out, but so far all I had discovered was that they only communicate with prepaid phones that they use once and toss. But,” he said, “I never reported the real truth of my involvement to my superiors. They won’t let you work a case when you have a personal interest in it.” He seemed to inhale deeply, as if unaware that ghostly lungs didn’t need oxygen. “My sister disappeared almost a year ago. I have reason to believe she fell into the hands of a Los Lobos general.”

“You mean she was kidnapped?” Hannah asked.

“Yes. And either she’s being held for the highest bidder or she’s already been murdered, or...”

“There’s another ‘or’?” Hannah asked.

He nodded. “I was likely killed because the leader, a man they call the Wolf, discovered that I was FBI. And it’s possible my sister...might have joined them—and that’s why I’m dead.”

* * *

Dallas and Liam met Mark, Yerby and the Atkinsons at a little coffee and ice cream shop on Duval. All four looked as if they’d had a long night. Judy and Pete Atkinson were in their late twenties, possibly early thirties. Pete was already balding, but he was slim and fit—even if he was looking haggard right now. Judy was tiny, maybe a full five feet in height, and a little round. Her eyes were a red-rimmed bright blue, making Dallas think of the American flag. Yerby Catalano was pretty, about twenty-two, with dark eyes and long dark hair, while Mark Riordan was probably a year or two older, tall and broad and muscled, as if he played sports. All four were more than willing to talk, they just didn’t seem sure what to say.

They sat huddled over triple lattes, as if that could drive away the memory of the previous night.

“Shelly and Stuart are already packing up to head home, you know,” Yerby told them. She shook her head. “Shelly was so freaked out.”

“I wanted to kill her this morning,” Pete said. He winced. “Bad choice of words. But...we thought that she and Stuart were just freaking out over something imaginary.”

“Yeah, but I’ve never seen her so upset,” Judy offered. “And Stuart was just as freaked out.”

Yerby laughed. “We were all thrown—you should have seen us stumbling around like idiots.”

“Maybe you were stumbling,” Mark said.

“Hey, you were no better,” Yerby said.

“None of us was any better,” Judy said apologetically. “We were just...well, for Pete and me, this was our big weekend out. My folks have the kids. We have a four-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy, and we’re both teaching and getting our doctorates. We came down to go a little wild.”

“Hannah was great, though—you know, Miss O’Brien, the owner,” Mark said. “She calmed them down, and who the hell else is going to give you your money back and send you to a nice hotel in the middle of the night just because you got scared?”

Yerby lifted her sunglasses to stare at him. “Sounds like you’ve got a crush on her.”

Dallas could understand that. There was something unique about Hannah. She could snap back with precision, but she was also careful and wary—older than her years.

“Yerby!” Mark protested.

She smiled. “Just kidding. I almost have a crush on her and I’m straight,” she said with a grin. “She was pretty cool. But we were wrong—all of us except for Stuart and Shelly. They did see something. A dying man.”

“And I thank God we didn’t,” Judy breathed.

“Yeah, that’s why I can’t figure out how we can help you,” Pete said.

“Shelly and Stuart remember a group leaving Duval about when you did. Do you remember anything about them?”

“I don’t remember anything about anything,” Yerby said.

“I do!” Judy said, perking up. “Shelly was kind of unnerved all night. She took all those ghost stories to heart. Anyway, Shelly was walking with me, and she grabbed my arm. Said we should slow down and let that group get ahead of us. Just in case. They looked like trouble, you know? They were all wearing hoodies, so we couldn’t see their faces.” She hesitated for a moment. “It was almost like they were trying to look stoned or drunk when they really weren’t.”

“Did you see them anywhere else earlier in the night?” Dallas asked.

“We didn’t really go anywhere except for the tour and the Hard Rock,” Pete said.

“I didn’t notice them until Shelly pointed them out,” Judy said.

“Do you remember seeing anyone else that night who stood out?” Liam asked.

They looked at each other, then shook their heads.

“Okay,” Dallas said. “What do you remember after you were woken up? Did you hear anything from outside?”

“Except for Shelly screaming? Because I don’t know if we could have heard anything from outside besides that,” Judy said.

“Shelly screamed really loudly,” Yerby said, nodding.

“And, by then, even Stuart was pretty hysterical,” Mark added.

“Wait a minute,” Pete said, frowning. “I do remember hearing some kind of...thrashing. I went to the window in the back to look out, but I didn’t see anything. Although I didn’t look long. Shelly was hysterical, and we all ran out to see what was going on. But you have to remember—they were convinced they’d seen a ghost. None of us even began to imagine she might have seen a real man.”

“Back to the drunks in the hoodies. Did you notice any of them earlier?” Dallas asked. “Think about it. You notice people in hoodies down here. This is a vacation city. You mostly see shorts, halter dresses, tank tops, swim trunks.”

Pete frowned thoughtfully. “You know, earlier in the evening—before the tour—we were having a drink, and I do remember seeing at least one hoodie hanging over the back of a barstool.”

“Where were you? Do you remember?” Dallas asked.

“Yeah. A really cool Irish bar toward the south end of Duval. O’Hara’s,” Pete said.

Liam groaned.

Dallas turned to look at him. “Someone should be able to help us out there, don’t you think?”

“Oh, yeah, I think so,” Liam said.

“Yeah?” Pete asked. “How come?”

“My sister-in-law’s family owns the place,” Liam said.

4

“I’ve been watching the news all day. They still aren’t letting out much information,” Katie O’Hara said. She indicated the television above the bar and the wide-screen in the main room. “They went over the same few facts so many times it was ridiculous.”

“What exactly have they said?” Hannah asked.

“That an as-yet-unidentified man was found in an alley, his throat slit. That even once he’s identified his name will be withheld pending notification of next of kin. They’re warning people to stay in groups and stick to well-lit streets.”

“Hmm,” Hannah murmured. She’d told Katie about what had happened, and she didn’t feel she was violating anyone’s trust. She hadn’t revealed anything Agent Samson had told her, only confided in Katie regarding the ghost of the dead man. Besides, Katie was married to David Beckett, Liam Beckett’s brother, and she was sure to know what had happened through the family.

And, like Liam, Katie and her brother, Sean, had their own strange and unearthly Key West experiences. They all shared a strange bond because of that.

Hannah had desperately needed to talk to someone, and Katie was not just a good friend, she was a friend who knew all about souls who hung around after death because something was keeping them from moving on.

“What about Melody and Hagen?” Katie asked.

“I haven’t seen them since early this morning,” Hannah said, and winced. “I accused them of playing tricks. I think they’re mad at me.”

“They’ll come back. They love you—and the house,” Katie said drily. “But you say this Agent Samson is a hard case?”

“Rude. Obnoxious. And suspicious of me, for whatever reason.”

“I don’t think I know him,” Katie said.

“He said he grew up here.”

“It’s an island, but people come and go. Did he leave the Keys when he was young?”

“He’s supposedly friends with your husband.”

“Really? Well, he might have been. But he hasn’t been back here long, right?”

“I don’t really know. He and Liam seem to work well together, but I’m in a difficult situation.”

“Because he’s on your case and you have information that can help him, but you can’t tell him what you know because a ghost told you,” Katie said.

“Something like that. Except, of course, I can tell Liam.”

“I say you call Kelsey,” Katie told her. “Your cousin Kelsey O’Brien, not Liam’s wife.”

“I thought about that. I mean, she’s FBI, too—with a special unit that handles this kind of thing.” Hannah paused, then said decisively, “All right. I’ll call her.”

“No, I mean, like, now,” Katie said.

“I just hate to bother her,” Hannah said.

“Let’s see—dead FBI agent in your alley and another one thinking maybe you had something to do with it. And she’s not only an agent, too, she’s part of the Krewe of Hunters and specializes in paranormal cases. I don’t think calling her in these circumstances counts as bothering anyone,” Katie said.

Even as she spoke, Hannah’s phone—sitting on the table by her coffee cup—began to ring, and the screen identified the caller as Kelsey O’Brien.

Katie stared at Hannah. “You two have telepathy now?”

“No,” Hannah said with a dry smile. “She probably heard about what happened.”

She picked up the phone, and Kelsey started off by asking her how she was. Hannah lied and said she was fine. “But I was about to call you,” she added. “Have you guys up there heard about the murder in the Keys?”

“We always hear when something like that goes down. This is...bad. I’ve spoken with Logan, and we’re coming down.”

Logan Raintree was the head of Kelsey’s special unit. They were also a couple. Hannah was pretty sure they had either gotten married already in secret or were planning on a quiet wedding soon. She would have expected their relationship to be taboo, but apparently they really were very special agents and the tight-knit community in which they worked didn’t discourage close—even intimate—relationships between agents.

“That’s great,” Hannah said. “I can’t wait to see you.”

Katie, watching her, nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

“But until I get there, hang with Liam and Katie, okay? Just to be safe.”

“Because this has to do with Los Lobos?”

Kelsey was quiet for a minute and then she said, “Yes. So you do know.”

“Yes, I know it’s all related. But, why would I be in any danger? I didn’t see what happened,” Hannah said, surprised.

“There were cops, agents and crime scene techs stomping all over your yard today, right?” Kelsey asked.

“Yes, but...the only two people who saw any part of what happened are headed back to Miami—or there already, depending on who was driving,” Hannah said.

“Los Lobos has a long reach. I wouldn’t count on them being safe,” Kelsey said.

“They didn’t see the killer, just the dead man.”

“I’m sure the police are doing everything they can,” Kelsey said. “And there’s always the possibility that Jose Rodriguez can help us himself.”

“He can’t.”

“You’ve seen him already?” Kelsey asked, surprised.