Page 112 of Stilettos & Secrets on the 7 Seas

Rowan raised the bottle in a toast. “To killing the bundletail calf.” He drank and passed it to Max. I really did need to have a conversation about those lyrics.

Thirty-Six

“Again,” Rowan ordered. Caiyan took his empty potato sack and dove again. I wished I had a vat of rum. My nerves were on edge waiting for Caiyan to surface. My fake wedding had gone as planned. The crew for both ships had drunk themselves dry and now looked the worse for it.

Bone Island sat a football field away. It didn’t look like the pieces of the map I had seen. There wasn’t a skull-shaped rock or a big, red X drawn in the sand that holleredcome and get it.

I perched on the railing of theSea Storm—a ringside seat to the show below me.

Max and Rowan manned one rowboat. Vane, Mortas and five crew members sat in another. And another waited with Rackham and two crew members to ferry the potential treasure to the ships.

Ace climbed onto the deck from his station below in the galley. He stood beside me watching Marco, Caiyan, and the one crew member on Vane’s ship who claimed he could swim dive for treasure.

I’d read some captains didn’t allow their crew to learn how to swim so that when they arrived at ports with fruits, wine, and women, the crew didn’t jump ship and swim to shore. Some were keelhauled for learning to swim. The theory was if they fell overboard, the ships were too big to turn around and save them. Not knowing how to swim meant drowning took less time and kept suffering minimal.

I hoped this was true of Vane’s crew. When Caiyan brought up the fake treasure, I didn’t want fifty men in the water searching for more. Caiyan was taking entirely too long to show Vane he’d found a piece of eight. If he didn’t hurry, my plan would get messy.

My inner voice agreed. She’d run every possible outcome of my plan. At least all the ones I could think of. Marco and Caiyan floating in the ocean during a battle didn’t play out well on my mental movie screen.

“Where’s Vane’s treasure?” I asked Ace after Caiyan surfaced again with an empty sack. “They keep coming up empty.”

Ace scowled down at the water. “We had a teensy problem last night.”

I faced him, air suddenly harder to inhale because of the corset under the simple white shirt and blue skirt I wore. At least this skirt had pockets. One of which currently held the knife Max had given me. “What problem?”

“I accidentally dumped the entire chest into the sea.”

“Are you nuts?” I covered my mouth to hide my horrified response. “If Vane’s man pulls up anything but coins, we’re screwed.”

Ace huffed like he wasn’t totally responsible. “It was quite heavy, you see, so we hauled it up to the window. Vane has a nice, large one. Caiyan reached to open the window, but the blasted thing was locked. He used his, you know,” Ace made magician Hocus Pocus hands. “The window flung open, but he forgot to tell me not to let go. The chest toppled into the water before we could catch it.”

“The entire chest?”

“Yes. It’s why Caiyan is not swimming in the direction of the treasure. He’s biding his time, waiting for Vane’s man to tire out. He just needs a moment to drag it away from the coins.”

I smacked my head. “Does Rowan know?”

“I’m not sure.” Ace patted my arm. “Don’t worry, love, your Scot will come through.”

“You there,” Vane shouted up from the rowboat, pointing at Ace. His bloodshot eyes and heavy lids told of last night’s overindulgence. “Yer the cook, yeah?”

“Yes, Captain.” Ace started to salute and then thought better of it.

“This lack of treasure is putting me in need of sustenance. Since my cook is currently occupied—” Vane glanced at the water where Marco surfaced empty-handed. “Go below and make ready a meal. Something edible.”

Ace shuffled away, mumbling that Martha Stewart wouldn’t put up with such disrespect.

My guess was Captain Vane needed food to recover from his hangover headache and queasy stomach. Luckily, Ace couldn’t conjure up greasy fries and a Coke. I wanted Vane weak.

“Did ye find anything?” Max asked from his rowboat. According to the perplexed look on his face, he didn’t know about the missing chest.

“No.” Marco inhaled deeply and went under again.

Caiyan swam to the surface and shook his head.

Vane’s man burst from the ocean and held up a coin. “I found one. And ’tis more.”

“Huzzah!” A cheer erupted around me. The men on both ships leaned over the rails, shouting and celebrating.

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