Chapter 12
Frowning, Shelly stared at Grant, but of course, he’d tell them what they needed to know right away.
And he did.
“There’s been another murder at home, this one in Jacksonville, not even an hour’s ride north of St. Augustine,” he said.
“And a single murder in the United States is rare?” Sal asked. “I read somewhere that they happen every day.”
“And across the world,” Grant agreed. He shook his head.
“The fact that it was so similar to the murder in front of George Maynard’s place is rare in the United States,” Grant told them.
“This time, it was a professor. A Jonathan Trent. He was staying at a small, isolated cabin he had out on Jacksonville Beach. According to Zach’s sources, he was a well-loved professor, a man who went on social media to mourn human behavior regarding the murder here of Vincenzo Mero.
He talked about the man’s values, his humanity, his regard for all people, and so on.
His body was found burned to ash in a little cove of palms by his house when his housekeeper came by to see him and he didn’t answer the door. ”
“And a curse tablet was found?” Alfredo asked.
“Not yet. But—” Grant told them.
“But you two will be heading home because you’re the remarkable curse tablet finders,” Sal said.
He smiled. “That’s all right. We understand, and we’ll get on everything we can here.
I think a lot is going to be up to the computer nerds now, those who know how to dig into the dark web, to play the kind of games that might be needed to break this. ”
Grant looked at Shelly. “Jackson’s been alerted; Zach and Skye will be waiting for us at Jacksonville Beach.
Our pilots are on the way—they’ve been flying a few of the Blackbird agents around—but they’ll be waiting for us at Leonardo da Vinci.
But we do have time to eat those sandwiches these guys bought for us and consume enough coffee to get us on the plane. ”
“What about the fellow who had been online with Antonio, this man Geoffrey Gainer? Has anyone managed to find out exactly who and where he is?”
“They did find a professor named Geoffrey Gainer who spent time at a university at the same time as Antonio. As luck would have it, the man is on vacation somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but they’ve got calls out, and rangers and everyone else out there is looking for him.
We’ve got a long flight back; things could change while we’re on the way,” he said.
“We’ll find whoever this woman is in the ‘ancient city,’” Sal said.
“I know your people are great, too, but some information that’s discovered may mean more to someone who is American. Can you get copies of Antonio’s hard drive to Angela Hawkins Crow at our headquarters?” Shelly asked.
“Will do,” Sal promised. “You’ll be back here, right? If the trail leads this way again?”
“Absolutely,” Shelly promised them. “And even with us gone—”
“We will take extreme care that we’re not taken by surprise.
But something tells me that when our crazy man attempted to kill the two of you and became a captive himself instead, the ‘mortal being’ doing the damage here has been taken down.
Now, another may arise, but the brains behind this operation need to find the right people to carry out their deeds.
That could take time here. So. Go find the brains of the operation.
That will stop this whole charade,” Sal told them.
“Well, first, eat. Then we’ll get you to the airport. ”
At the dining table in the little office, Alfredo poured coffee, and Sal passed out the sandwiches.
“Too bad we can’t bring you with us,” Shelly told them. “Thank you. You’ve been great to work with!”
“Thank you. And I’d personally love a vacation out at Jacksonville Beach,” Sal said. “The powers that be won’t be letting us go anywhere soon—too much to wrap up on this with the media, Antonio’s family … and those who loved Vincenzo.”
“I’m not real sure we’ll actually be getting a vacation at Jacksonville Beach anyway,” Shelly assured him, smiling. “Though we would love to have you sometime!”
“And I’m just sorry we didn’t get a chance to show you the wonders of Rome!” Sal said. “Anyway, let’s eat, and we’ll get you to the airport!”
With sandwiches and coffee consumed, they headed to the airport.
“Just as Jackson promised,” Grant murmured to Shelly as they arrived and discovered that an escort was waiting for them at Leonardo da Vinci Airport to get them right through to their plane.
And their pilots were waiting as well. They had about a ten-minute wait on the runway and then were in the air, heading home.
For the long flight.
Shelly glanced at Grant. They’d chosen seats next to one another for takeoff.
She couldn’t help but wonder what he thought of her. She now couldn’t believe that she had walked into his room the way that she had. In her whole life, she had never done anything so brazen or …
Presumptuous?
She wondered if he could read her thoughts, as he could read those of the recently dead. His hand was over hers on the seat divider. His eyes were closed.
But he was smiling.
“Please don’t tell me that you can read my mind!” she said softly.
He shook his head, eyes still closed. “I wish that I could! What started out to be a beautiful evening was certainly turned into chaos.”
“Yes.”
He opened his eyes and smiled at her. “And now, here … well, we’re alone again, but not alone, of course, because …
She laughed. “I wasn’t going to attack you on the plane!”
“Maybe I thought about attacking you on the plane,” he told her.
And when they looked at one another then, it seemed that everything was all right, all that had felt awkward on the personal level seemed to drift away.
“I’m not against the concept, just the location,” she assured him. His hand squeezed hers. It was nice.
It was nice. It wasn’t a time when words were welcome to describe what might or might not be a real relationship.
Past their partnership, of course.
“Think we should sleep?” she asked him.
“You mean for real sleep?” he countered.
“Yes! For real sleep,” she assured him. “We have so many hours before we get home, and I think that when we get there—”
“It’s going to be early morning, and we’ll be plowing right in.
Well, at least we land in JAX, and the beach won’t be too far.
It’s a beautiful area; I’ve been there a lot.
And I’m trying to imagine where someone might have hidden a curse tablet.
Especially because, of course, Zach and Skye wouldn’t be working this already if they weren’t excellent at what they did.
And as Sal asked, is murder that unusual in the US?
No. But the way that they found the body, burned to smithereens—”
“Do you think that it is the man who was cursed this time? Here’s the thing—why leave the curse tablet especially rhymed for George, then take George to torture him and leave another body there instead?”
“They wanted something out of him. Either that or they just wanted him to suffer under the maximum damage they could inflict on him first.”
Shelly nodded slowly. There were so many possibilities. “I keep thinking …” she murmured.
“Thinking is good. But what in particular?” he asked.
“Ancient city. Rome is, indeed, an ancient city. And, of course, there are other ancient cities. You have Cairo and environs, Athens … the whole Mediterranean area, really. But I’m wondering if the ‘ancient city’ isn’t St. Augustine.
No, there hasn’t been a city there for thousands of years.
But for the USA, the civlization there is extremely old.
Okay, it’s the oldest continuously inhabited area of the United States, at least by the first European settlers.
It served as the capitol of Spanish Florida.
And I’ve heard that St. Augustine had something of a Thanksgiving when the first ships came in.
They needed to use up the food on the ship and asked the local indigenous tribe to join them, so … ”
“Maybe you’re right. I just wish I knew more about this woman and her direct communication with the gods that our crazy man was talking about,” Grant told her. “Then again, if you’re right, this woman is in St. Augustine. We just need to find her.”
“Strange,” Shelly murmured.
“What’s that?”
“Crimes of violence are usually committed by men. Women can be truly malicious, I’m not denying that. But when you look at statistics, women poison people. They don’t run around knifing them or burning them—”
“But that’s the point. She doesn’t commit the killings; she orders them,” Grant reminded her.
“Maybe. But something just doesn’t fit yet.”
“And that’s why we’re heading home,” he reminded her. “Well, we have food, but we just ate, so maybe … hmm. We really do need to get some rest before—”
“You have a choice on a cot?”
“Whichever one you don’t want!” he told her.
“You don’t have to be that polite.”
He laughed. “I’m not being polite. I just really don’t care. But come on, let’s lie down. And temptation can’t be too great—the cots are pretty slim.”
Shelly shook her head. “Ah, Special Agent Markham! You’ve much to learn, I believe. A skinny cot doesn’t bother me. Pilots walking in do.”
“Not into the Mile High Club, eh?”
She gave him a groan of exasperation and stood to walk down to the rear section of the plane, where the cots were located.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” she murmured.
“What’s that?”
“This flight and our last flight … on the best and biggest of planes we could have met with turbulence. These flights have been incredibly smooth.”
“Don’t jinx us!” he told her, laughing and rising as well. “But you’re right. Maybe a greater power knows we’re facing enough turbulence and wants to make the little things better.”
She smiled at that and lay down. At first, she thought she’d never sleep. Of course, Grant was just across the aisle from her. She closed her eyes; even if she couldn’t sleep, she didn’t want to keep him up.
But she did sleep, and it was good. She didn’t wake up until she felt a gentle touch on her arm.