in the library about the Marie Josephine, Gasparilla, the storm,
everything. I was cross-referencing, and that’s when I found the letters.”
“Come on, you can’t put a romantic spin on pirates,” Victor teased her. “They were dirty,
nasty thieves.”
“You should have read the letters,” Genevieve said. “Even a nasty, dirty pirate can fall in
love.”
“He could have had tons of women,” Victor insisted.
“Yes, but she was the one he wanted. Who knows why someone falls in love. Or maybe it
was only an infatuation. The one he couldn’t have. Anyway, he wrote about her in those
letters, and he said he was in love.”
“Leave it to a girl,” Victor countered, rolling his eyes and sighing.
Genevieve laughed. “Leave it to a girl to beat the pants off you,” she countered lightly.
Thor sensed camaraderie in their teasing. It was apparent this group knew one another
well, that there was a deep underlying friendship between them. He realized that he
envied it. He had a damned good crew, but they didn’t always work together. Zach and
Lizzie were totally reliable, but they were too close as a married couple to bond with
anyone the way Marshall’s people were bonded, even when they were teasing and testing
one another. He’d thought he liked it when business was business, but there was
something approachiing an actual family relationship between Marshall’s divers, and it
not only appeared to be fun, it clearly worked.
“Hey, baby, please don’t beat me up,” Victor said in mock fear. “Hey, Alex, watch out.
Our Gen is tough.” He paused, grinning and sliding closer to her on the bench to set an
arm around her shoulders. “Except, of course, when she’s seeing things in the water.”
Genevieve shook off his arm and smiled sweetly in return. “Eat shit and die, Victor.”
“Hey, hey! Knock it off, all of you. This is serious business,” Marshall said.
“Hey, I meant it,” Victor protested innocently. “She’s the best. Ouch, Gen! That wasn’t
nice.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said, staring at him sharply with those mercurial eyes that could so easily light with laughter, then narrow on a dare. “I did my homework.”
“Of course. Obviously…I haven’t read everything in our archives,” Sheridan said. Thor
had the feeling the man would be finding the letters immediately on his return to the
university.
“If Gen says they’re there, they’re there,” Victor said, suddenly dead serious.
“Come on,” Marshall said wearily. “It doesn’t matter why Gasparilla attacked the ship,
only that he did. And right as he was savaging her, a storm came through. Gasparilla got
away, but the Marie Josephine went down. He purportedly came back to find the treasure,
but the storm had shifted the sands and he couldn’t find her, so the ship remains at the
bottom of the sea with her complete treasure, or so we imagine.”
“Yes, well, that’s about it,” Sheridan said, sounding somewhat huffy. He’d always been a
nice-enough guy, if a little geeky, but it was obvious he hadn’t liked being shown up by a
diver. “The letters I do know about were left by one of his men, and from his descriptions
of their position while awaiting the Marie Josephine, and calculating the currents, the
effects of the storm and the natural shifting due to time, I firmly believe I have you
exactly in the right area. But you need to find proof positive of the ship’s final resting
ground before we allow any disturbance of the reef.”
“How many times do you think we’ll have to listen to this speech?” someone murmured
softly. Thor looked around. Jack Payne was shaking his head.
“As many times as Professor Sheridan wants to give it,” Marshall said, staring at them.
“We’re being paid by the state,” he reminded them. “Money raised mainly by the efforts
of Professor Sheridan.”
Thor leaned forward to speak at last. “We took more than simple pirate history
everything. I was cross-referencing, and that’s when I found the letters.”
“Come on, you can’t put a romantic spin on pirates,” Victor teased her. “They were dirty,
nasty thieves.”
“You should have read the letters,” Genevieve said. “Even a nasty, dirty pirate can fall in
love.”
“He could have had tons of women,” Victor insisted.
“Yes, but she was the one he wanted. Who knows why someone falls in love. Or maybe it
was only an infatuation. The one he couldn’t have. Anyway, he wrote about her in those
letters, and he said he was in love.”
“Leave it to a girl,” Victor countered, rolling his eyes and sighing.
Genevieve laughed. “Leave it to a girl to beat the pants off you,” she countered lightly.
Thor sensed camaraderie in their teasing. It was apparent this group knew one another
well, that there was a deep underlying friendship between them. He realized that he
envied it. He had a damned good crew, but they didn’t always work together. Zach and
Lizzie were totally reliable, but they were too close as a married couple to bond with
anyone the way Marshall’s people were bonded, even when they were teasing and testing
one another. He’d thought he liked it when business was business, but there was
something approachiing an actual family relationship between Marshall’s divers, and it
not only appeared to be fun, it clearly worked.
“Hey, baby, please don’t beat me up,” Victor said in mock fear. “Hey, Alex, watch out.
Our Gen is tough.” He paused, grinning and sliding closer to her on the bench to set an
arm around her shoulders. “Except, of course, when she’s seeing things in the water.”
Genevieve shook off his arm and smiled sweetly in return. “Eat shit and die, Victor.”
“Hey, hey! Knock it off, all of you. This is serious business,” Marshall said.
“Hey, I meant it,” Victor protested innocently. “She’s the best. Ouch, Gen! That wasn’t
nice.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said, staring at him sharply with those mercurial eyes that could so easily light with laughter, then narrow on a dare. “I did my homework.”
“Of course. Obviously…I haven’t read everything in our archives,” Sheridan said. Thor
had the feeling the man would be finding the letters immediately on his return to the
university.
“If Gen says they’re there, they’re there,” Victor said, suddenly dead serious.
“Come on,” Marshall said wearily. “It doesn’t matter why Gasparilla attacked the ship,
only that he did. And right as he was savaging her, a storm came through. Gasparilla got
away, but the Marie Josephine went down. He purportedly came back to find the treasure,
but the storm had shifted the sands and he couldn’t find her, so the ship remains at the
bottom of the sea with her complete treasure, or so we imagine.”
“Yes, well, that’s about it,” Sheridan said, sounding somewhat huffy. He’d always been a
nice-enough guy, if a little geeky, but it was obvious he hadn’t liked being shown up by a
diver. “The letters I do know about were left by one of his men, and from his descriptions
of their position while awaiting the Marie Josephine, and calculating the currents, the
effects of the storm and the natural shifting due to time, I firmly believe I have you
exactly in the right area. But you need to find proof positive of the ship’s final resting
ground before we allow any disturbance of the reef.”
“How many times do you think we’ll have to listen to this speech?” someone murmured
softly. Thor looked around. Jack Payne was shaking his head.
“As many times as Professor Sheridan wants to give it,” Marshall said, staring at them.
“We’re being paid by the state,” he reminded them. “Money raised mainly by the efforts
of Professor Sheridan.”
Thor leaned forward to speak at last. “We took more than simple pirate history
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