Page 20 of Wild Tempest

“What about Paul and the others?” she asked again. “Are they okay?”

“I wish I had an answer for you.”

“I worry about Lucy,” Kaitlyn said. “She’s been having a really hard time with this.”

"Do you have contact information for her?”

"Yeah, I can send that to you.”

"Your brother mentioned something about the Almaz Morya. That seems unlikely to me. Do you know anything about that?"

Kaitlyn hesitated a moment. "Owen swore me to secrecy, but I guess it doesn't matter now. He told me they had found the ship and they were trying to recover the gold."

"Where did they find the ship?”

"I don't know. He wouldn't say."

"Owen said his best friend shot him. Is that Paul?”

"There's no way Paul shot Owen. They’ve been thick as thieves forever. Brothers from another mother, you know?" She thought about it for a moment. "I mean, they’ve had disagreements over the years, but they would never hurt each other. That doesn't make sense.”

“The Morya went missing five years ago.” I asked again, “Where did they find it?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. They wouldn’t tell anyone. They were very secretive about that. If you’re familiar with the rumors, you understand why.”

We talked for a bit more, then I ended the call. She sent me Lucy's number, and I called her.

She answered after a few rings. "Hello?"

"This is Deputy Wild with Coconut County. Is this Lucy Stockton?"

"Speaking.”

"I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news.”

"Oh God," she said, bracing herself. "What's the bad news?”

"We still haven't found your husband or his ship, but we did find a member of his crew. Owen Matthews.”

"Where?"

I gave her the details.

"Did he say anything about survivors?"

"We're still trying to get details from him,” I said. “I just want to confirm your husband’s salvage crew went out to find the Almaz Morya, correct?"

After a hesitation, she said, “That's correct.”

"Where did they locate the ship?"

She hesitated for a moment. "I don't have the exact coordinates, but I can give you a general location.”

“That would be helpful.”

“I don’t understand. Who shot Owen?”

“According to Owen, your husband.”