smiled.
“Moxie?”
“You know what it means.”
“I’ve never heard you use that word.”
“Well,” Em looked at James, “moxie is my middle name.”
“Wait,” he said. “I know this one.” He studied the water for a moment as a sailboat drifted across our horizon. “Parker Posey in
“I loved that movie. Always remembered the quote.”
I should have been proud of her, but somehow she was invading our turf. Movie quotes were for me and James.
We drove back to Cheeca Lodge, telling the uniformed gate attendant we wanted to see the cemetery.
“We’re getting a lot of action on the old place.”
“Oh, really?”
“You’re the third people today. I’ll go a month and not have anyone ask to see the old graveyard.”
“Three people?”
“Yeah. Some single guy, then two people actually asked if there was a room that overlooked the place. I checked it out. Nobody has ever, ever asked for a room with a view of the cemetery. At least as far as we can tell.”
“Really?”
“They asked for a view of the plot. Seems they have family that traces back to this piece of property.”
“No kidding?” James said.
Handing us a pass, the gate attendant pointed us in the direction of the Methodist property.
It was mid-afternoon and the temperature was up in the mid-eighties as the valet drove off in James’s truck.
Standing outside the fence, I gazed at the angel who had watched over the little graveyard during the worst storm in history. There she stood, surrounded by the beauty and the opulence of one of the finest resorts in the Florida Keys. The pool, ocean, suites, bar, and restaurants were just a stone’s throw away.
“This is the spot.” I walked it off. “There could be another nine boxes that surround the cemetery. They wouldn’t have interfered with the bodies, being fifteen feet away from the picket fence, but chances are no one would mess with them.”
“This evening we’ll know for sure.”
Maria had phoned Em. Everything was a go and the plan would go into action in the next three hours. In less than two hours, Maria Sanko had received the blessing of the hotel to dig up a portion of their precious beach and explore its suitability for sand sculptures. And they had no knowledge of what the real purpose was. The woman was a miracle worker.
Pacing the circumference of the cemetery, I happened to look up at the main resort building, directly to the west. Drapes in one of the bottom floor windows were open and there were two faces staring out at us.
I froze, realizing someone was watching. Someone was aware that we had an interest beyond the history of the dead bodies.
I froze, recognizing those faces. Markim and Weezle.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
“Dude, you’ve got to be wrong.”
“It was them, James. No question.”
“I checked at the desk. No such persons.”
“Look, they were there.”
“She looked it up. The desk clerk said absolutely no one has checked into that room yet.”
Closing my eyes, I pictured those two faces, staring intently at the three of us. As soon as I looked up, they disappeared. Either they ducked out of sight or vacated the room.
“James, it’s never that hard to get into a vacant room. The maid is in there and you walk in and ask if she can come back later, or you catch a door when someone walks out and you grab the handle before it closes all the way.”
“It’s that dark side of you, partner. That’s what intrigues me. That you think about things like that.”
I glanced at my cell phone and saw it was almost time for Maria to arrive. Glancing up, I saw her coming out of the lodge with a guy about our age.
“Skip, James, Emily, this is Diego. He’s in charge of special events here at the hotel.”
He shook our hands. “I am delighted that you two want to do a practice session here. I understand your benefactress will pay us one thousand dollars for this evening.”
We both just nodded our heads.
“You must be very good sculptors.”
“Up and comers,” Maria said. “They’ve won some contests in Europe, right boys?”
We nodded again.
She laid a hand on his arm. Surveying the beach, she looked up and down, then back at the cemetery.
“Diego, do you know anything about sand?”
“No.”
I saw a look of relief on her face. “Good. I mean, let me tell you a little bit about what we’re looking for and why the boys decided to use your beach to work on their project.”
She bent down and picked up a small pinch of sand.
“We’re looking for very small grain size. Maybe point one to point three millimeter grain size. And, we’re looking for sand with sediment still intact. You see, clay particles and other sediment help the sand pack hard. That’s what we’re looking for.”
“Is that what we have?”
She shook her head. “Hard to tell. We’re going to be bringing a dump truck load of similar sand and a small backhoe loader. We may mix our sand with your sand. It should give us a stronger bond, better packing.”
“A truck and backhoe? On our beach? You didn’t say anything about a truck and a backhoe.”
Maria smiled and shook her head. “Diego, please. Understand that that’s why we’re coming in later, so we can do this in relative privacy. No one will be on the beach at that hour and-”
“A dump truck? And a backhoe?”
“Diego,”-like a nurturing mother-like someone who was looking out for his best interest, like someone who wanted a one-hundred-thousand-dollar commission, “you get to keep the sand. And I know how it’s important to renourish your beach. It’s really a win-win proposition. It’s going to work out very well for you.”
The man frowned. “It is a worthwhile project, but-”
“We’ve brought yellow tape to cordon off this area. We’ll run it from the building to a post out by the water. For safety reasons, you understand. We can’t have people anywhere near us.”
“And you’re going to do this when?”
“Around eight or nine o’clock this evening. While we can still see, but most of your guests will not be outside.”
He was biting his lip. “A backhoe and a dump truck. It seems like an awfully big undertaking for a practice session.”
“Think about this, Diego. If the sand works, you’re going to have what may be an award-winning sculpture on your beach tomorrow. You’ll have it as long as you can preserve it. And, as the boys compete in national and international competitions, you’ll be able to say that Cheeca Lodge had the first. The original sculpture. A giant sand sculpture of a futuristic seahorse.”
“Okay, okay. We want to do this. We’ll make sure that we keep people away from your operation. Just put the rest of my beach back the way you found it.” He let out a deep breath. “Please?”
She smiled and touched his arm. “You’re not going to regret this, Diego. It could be a huge project.”
