Kevin Anderson - Artifact

“…So Paul Trujold, he…You listening to me, Peta?”

“I’m sorry, Manny. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“It’s all right,” he said. “But you need to hear this.”

Manny repeated what he had been saying. When he had finished telling her about Paul Trujold, about the real purpose of Simon’s dive—to retrieve a piece of the artifact that was wedged in an underwater cave—she thought of the pendant that Arthur had given her and started to put the facts together. If there was any real basis for what Manny had told her, she could come to only one possible conclusion.

“My God, Manny. Are you sure? Because if you are, chances are Frik is responsible for Arthur’s death.”

“How so?”

“Arthur had a piece of the artifact. He always kept it on him. Frik could have seen it and put out a contract—”

“Yes, but you told me you saw the piece with Arthur’s body.”

“I did. It was covered with blood and—”

“So you say maybe the killer—”

“Missed it. Yes. It’s possible, what with the police and so many people.” She stopped. “God, Manny. If it’s true and I don’t get to Simon—”

Manny pointed at a speedboat. “That’s one of Frik’s boats, the one Simon’s been using.” He maneuvered between a small fishing boat and the powerboat tied up to the village’s makeshift pier. When he was up against the dock, he asked, “Want me to stay here with you?”

“I can handle things.”

Without arguing, Manny tossed her duffel and medical bag onto the wooden dock, helped her out of the boat, and blew her a kiss. She watched him reverse into the channel, and waved him onward. Turning to face whatever awaited her in the village of San Gabriel, she trekked to the top of a minor incline.

In the only bar in town, which was also its only hotel of sorts, Peta met the owner—a handsome, charming Venezuelan who introduced himself as Eduardo Blaine and kissed her hand with far too much enthusiasm and spittle for a rank stranger.

“I am a friend of your Mr. Van Alman. He called to tell me you were on your way and told me to take care of you.” He held on to her hand for more than a moment too long. “I am proud to welcome you to my establishment. Your room is ready for you. It has a spectacular view.”

“If I could have that back.” Peta withdrew her hand. She would like to have said that Frik was far from being her friend, but instead she asked after Simon.

“He is in his room,” Blaine said.

“Please tell him I wish to see him. I’ll wait at the bar.”

“He, um, he is—how shall I say it—not quite alone.” Blaine winked blatantly, as if at a co-conspirator. “He did not wish to be disturbed.”

Peta chose not to argue. “I’m told he will be going out early tomorrow morning. I must see him before then.”

“If you will do me the honor of dining with me, I will promise to wake you before he leaves.”

And then we arm-wrestle, Peta thought wryly. “Dinner sounds fine,” she said. “But first I’d like to take a shower.”

“Allow me to show you to your room.” Blaine picked up her duffel.

“How many rooms do you have?”

“Four.”

“In that case”—she took her duffel from him—“the key will do.”

“I will bring the key to you in the bar,” he said. “It is in the office. Please order what you wish, compliments of Eduardo Blaine.”

Peta barely kept herself from laughing out loud. She went over to the bar, which proved not to be in Blaine’s office, seated herself on a stool, and ordered and received a Carib and a pack of 555s. The pretty young barmaid in a floral dress and bare feet looked as if she was Blaine’s daughter.

For some reason, the thought of the Venezuelan having a daughter intrigued her. With a mixture of amusement and guilt, she realized that she was feeling horny about the man. His Antonio Banderas looks and overly florid South American manners were not usually the sorts of things that attracted her. She remembered the sight of Arthur splattered across the bathroom at Danny’s, and her guilt won out.

Deciding that this would be a good time to check on McKendry, Peta retrieved her cell phone from her handbag and dialed the hospital. She could hear a faint voice at the other end, but static on the line made it impossible to converse.

“Is there a telephone around here? I’ll use a credit card.” Peta lit her first 555 in three years, savored the familiar flavor, made herself the same old promise.

The girl took an old-fashioned rotary dial phone from under the counter and pushed it shyly toward Peta, who lifted the receiver.

“…care of her.” Frik’s voice.

“That won’t be a chore.” Blaine. “She is most beautiful.”

Peta covered the mouthpiece with her hand and blessed the inefficiencies of a telephone system which so consistently crossed wires that the idea of privacy was a joke. Even if the two men had heard background noises, they would take no notice of them.

“I have given you my word that I will take care of her,” the Venezuelan continued.

“You do that, Mr. Blaine,” Frik said. “Or I will be forced to take care of you.”

As the line went dead, Peta softly replaced the receiver in its cradle.

Two possibilities raced through her mind: either Frik wanted her protected, or Frik wanted her eliminated. All she had to do was make sure that she stayed alive until she could figure out which one it was.

23

The night air was humid and still. The only thing moving in the room was Peta. She stirred, vaguely awake. From somewhere she heard voices.

She turned over, kicking off the clinging sheet. The voices kept up a steady racket, and she realized they must be coming up from the street below her window. She wished she had earplugs. Somehow she needed to get back to sleep, get some rest. God only knew what tomorrow would bring.

The voices outside weren’t all that was keeping her awake, though. Since Arthur’s death, Peta had sublimated any thoughts of men; none could ever take his place. When her mentor and lover had been alive, she’d had a healthy libido and often found herself aroused by some passing man’s firm ass, or long fingers, or broad shoulders. Now those feelings brought only guilt.

She also considered herself pretty immune to charm, especially when she knew intellectually that it was a con. But Blaine’s eyes, his ready smile, his—for lack of a better word—charisma, had burned a neat little picture in her mind. It made her squirm with competing emotions of desire and embarrassment.

She turned onto the other side.

Sleep, damn it, she thought. Stop thinking.

The unseen strangers below her window laughed as a bottle shattered.

She flipped onto her stomach, tucked her head more firmly into the pillow, and stretched out on the sagging mattress. The air was close, the voices echoing eerily. Not very patiently she waited for sleep to return….

A grinding noise broke through the fog in her brain. A buzzing. Can’t they stop with that racket? she thought sleepily.

She rolled over and opened her eyes. It was morning, bright morning; the type of brilliant sunlight that said dawn had passed hours ago. While her eyes adjusted, her mind identified the sound she’d been hearing: an inboard motor.

She swung her legs off the bed and rushed to the window, trying her best to ignore the rough, splintery feel of the wood floor. Pushing aside the sheer curtain, she looked out to see a boat emblazoned with the Oilstar logo moving at top speed toward the mouth of the harbor, out to the open sea. Simon’s boat.

“Shit.” As Peta stepped away from the window, a splinter penetrated the soft skin of her arch. On her other foot, she hopped to one of the chairs and yanked out the splinter. She grabbed her jeans from the other chair and pulled them on. The fading watery growl of the engine reminded her that with every passing second Simon moved farther out to sea and, she thought, to a dive that was likely to kill him.