Flash of Gold by Lowe Tom

Author:Lowe, Tom
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kingsbridge
Published: 2021-01-30T16:00:00+00:00

SIXTY

Walt stood and walked to Serendipity’s salon door. “Come aboard, gentlemen. Can I get either of you a cup of coffee? Hailey and I just brewed a fresh pot.”

Detective Dan Grant stood at the open door with Detective Lou Garcia. Grant said, “I think we reached our limit an hour ago. May we come inside?”

“Of course.”

“I see you have a half-dozen pairs of shoes out here. Do you want us to remove our shoes before entering?”

“That’d be great, but it’s not required if you feel more comfortable otherwise. It’s an old habit that Hailey and I follow. My late wife always wanted us to leave our shoes on a rubber mat and not track the outside into the inside.”

They entered with shoes on, both detectives nodding at Hailey.

“Hi,” she said, wondering why they’d returned.

Grant looked around the salon, taking in the maps and charts, a whiteboard diving schedule on the wall above Walt’s corner office. Grant glanced through the open doors leading to the cockpit. He saw the diving equipment, small crane, and the submersible, torpedo-like robots. He lifted a notebook from the inside pocket of his sportscoat, turning toward Walt. “Doctor Baker, that last time we were here, you told us how you and Tucker Granger had discovered ….” Grant flipped a page in his notebook. “How you’d discovered a shipwreck—the remains of Santa Ramona.”

“I believe I shared that we had discovered some items from what we believed came from the Spanish galleon.”

“How much treasure had you salvaged at the time of Mr. Granger’s death?”

“Very little. It was enough to help us establish and obtain recovery rights to the site. Before Tucker was killed, we were gearing up to do an extensive, preliminary inventory, and this would include hiring additional divers. When we had a better perspective as to the scope of what we found, we were going to do a joint news conference with the state.”

Garcia said, “Sort of putting your cards on the table, huh?”

Walt smiled. “It’s a simple matter of protocol. And now Hailey has decided to stay on and be our operations manager, working with another person to archive, photograph and catalogue every artifact we recover. The operation may last a couple of years or more.”

Garcia cleared his throat. “Doctor Baker, outside of you, Tucker Granger, and your daughter, is there anyone else here at the marina who knew you’d found something down there?”

“Not that I’m aware of, no one. Everyone here on N dock, and perhaps other docks, knew we were searching for the wreck of Santa Ramona. Some people, liveaboards, may have suspected we were getting closer. We’ve been going out so often, and our excitement was building each time we got closer to where we believed Santa Ramona sank.”

Grant asked, “So you didn’t share anything with the marina community, correct?”

“With the exception of our friends Dave Collins, Nick Cronus, and Sean O’Brien, which was after Tucker was killed, absolutely not. And, with them, we shared that we thought we were narrowing in on the shipwreck, and its discovery was imminent … looming just around the corner.

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