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  "So actually the water-filled pit protected the treasure just as its builder had intended," Jaye responded thoughtfully. "Have you any idea who he could have been?"

  "A genius," Angus replied without hesitation. "With something of great value to hide. Modern engineers estimate that it would have taken at least twenty men working for two years or longer to complete the project. There are a labyrinth of tunnels, and at least one of them is five hundred feet long."

  "That would be the main flood tunnel that runs all the way from the treasure pit to Pendle Bay?" "That's correct." "And there's no chance that this could be a natural fissure as some suggest?"

  Jaye posited the question cautiously, patting Ben who was offered a paw. "No way. The surrounding soil was all hard-unworked clay. A natural fault would have soaked through everything. It was designed to flood the shaft if excavated to a hundred feet, and that's exactly what it's done." "And for more than two-hundred years." "But not for another single year, if Adelaide's plan is put into action," Angus insisted, with a fanatical gleam in his eyes. "For she…and I, devised a foolproof way to bypass the flooding feature and recover the prize."

  "How?" Jaye asked bluntly, after she refilled their glasses with lemonade and replenished the dog's water bowl. "I mean, hasn't everything already been tried? Cribbing the shafts, expensive pumping equipment, even divers?"

  Angus nodded and took a long drink from the icy glass. "If we stop the flooding we've got the treasure. And the only way to stop it, is to block it at the source." "At Pendle Bay, you mean?" "Right. Build a cofferdam around the entire north shore." "But wouldn't that be prohibitively expensive?" "Not when you consider what's at stake. A treasure of inestimable value. Must have been, otherwise why go to such efforts to protect it?" * * * "Don't do it, Jaye," Chris advised when she told him of her discussion with Angus, and how he had suggested that she finance the enterprise by mortgaging the island. "The entire history of the treasure hunt has been plagued by misfortune. No wonder Bell Island has an evil reputation."

  It was an overcast day with a fine drizzle misting through the humid air. They had met for a quick lunch at the Ploughman Arms, where a lone fiddler was strumming away in the corner.

  "I'm not sure," she admitted. "Yet I feel in a strange way that I owe it to Adelaide, to follow through on what she started."

  "I don't need to remind you how many fortunes have been lost on all similar ventures."

  "But they all sought to stop the flooding after it had entered the shafts. This one will stop it before this happens."

  "Look, I can't stop you if your mind is already made up," Chris said, his dark eyes earnest. "But at least talk it over with Brad before approaching the bank." * * * "Brad Philips," Angus fairly snorted in disgust when Jaye told him that she had made an appointment to see him the following day. "I wouldn't give that fellow the time of day."

  "Well I've no idea why you would feel that way," Jaye retorted. "But the fact remains that he was Adelaide's lawyer, and handled her estate."

  "Everyone has his own agenda," Angus insisted, tapping the side of his nose to demonstrate the point. "And when the biggest fortune in the world is at stake, you can't trust any of them."

  Then before she could protest, he added cryptically, "Adelaide was as sure footed as a cat. And she knew this island like the back of her hand. There is no way that she went slithering around on the rocks at the dead of night and fell in the water." "…but I don't understand what you're getting at?" "Oh, I think you do, lassie, I think you do. Your aunt was on the brink of finding the treasure, and there were those who didn't want that to happen." Then he dropped the bombshell. "Adelaide didn't just disappear by accident, she was bloody well murdered!"

  Three

  "It's all nonsense, of course," Brad Philips insisted, swiveling around in his office chair to grab a file off the credenza. "As you know, the inquest was satisfied that your aunt's disappearance and suspected drowning was due to misadventure. It's all in here."

  He handed Jaye the manila folder. From where she sat, a panoramic view of the City and North Shore Mountains unfolded before her. "It most likely is, and yet Angus was quite adamant about Adelaide never going out walking at night."

  "Angus is just an old blowhard, but with a definite purpose in mind this time." "What do you mean?" "Delay." "I don't quite follow you?" "Well if he can tie up Adelaide's estate with some sort of lengthy 'foul play'

  investigation, he gets to remain on the island that much longer." Jaye admitted that she hadn't thought of that. "But he doesn't seem too

  concerned about leaving once everything is sold up," she added. "Meanwhile, he just has to hope that you'll go for his madcap scheme and by

  so doing recover the elusive 'treasure.'" "I don't think it's madcap at all," Jaye protested. "Building a cofferdam to

  prevent the treasure shaft from filling up with water seems a logical move to me." "If there is a treasure, Jaye? And if this scheme works?" "Well, I happen to believe that there is a treasure, Brad. And everything

  points to it still being there." And when he began to interrupt, she overrode him. "And why on earth

  wouldn't the cofferdam method work?" Brad looked vaguely amused at her persistence. "And here was I believing that you would stay on Bell Island just long enough to settle up your aunt's affairs then be off." "I'm sorry to disappoint you," she replied coolly. "Instead of which," he continued, ignoring her remark, "you've become as

  passionate a treasure hunter as old Angus himself." "Look, I've been reading a number of books on the subject," Jaye admitted quite defensively. "And yes, I originally thought the same as you. Stay there for a few nights, then be off. But Bell Island is a very special place…" And with that, she let the thought trail away. Tearing her eyes away from Brad's disturbingly blue ones, she gazed down on the tiny specks of humanity teeming around on the sidewalks far below.

  "Have dinner with me tonight, and we'll discuss it further," he suggested, glancing at his wristwatch. "I have to be in court in half-an-hour." * * * The revolving restaurant at the Chadwyk was almost as high as Brad's office, and sported a similar view of city and harbor. "Its lovely up here," Jaye enthused. "Living in high-rises must make one feel so safe and…insulated." "Far from the madding crowd," Brad laughed. "I suppose so." She pondered whether anyone actually lived his life in its entirety without seldom, if ever, descending to ground level. "Living, working, eating, sleeping, and playing all on the upper floors?"

  It was such a far cry from Bell Island and the slow pace of Pendle Harbor. "Do you ever think about returning there to live?" she asked Brad, recalling how relaxed he had looked after his weekend of salmon fishing there.

  "Maybe when I retire," he answered after giving it some thought. "Or, at least I'd like to spend a lot more time there than I currently can."

  They clinked their glasses together in a toast to the good old days. "Although I think they are good in retrospect only," Jaye remarked, recalling how a poor little hooker named Sadie Biggs had her bottom severely thrashed for renting it out the way she saw fit.

  "What does Angus have against you?" she asked, after the salad plates were taken away and the nine-o-clock cannon boomed out from Stanley Park.

  "I gave him notice to move, that's what," Brad answered at once. "I mean I had no choice. It was part of settling Adelaide's estate. Legally, he has no right whatever to be there, he's just a squatter."

  "Well I told him he can stay there as long as I own the island," Jaye said thoughtfully. "It's clearly what my aunt would have wished."

  "That may be," Brad agreed. "But your position is different than mine in this. You have the luxury of a personal choice in the matter, I don't."

  Later, after the desert had been flambéed by their table, they began to discuss the Bell Island treasure again.

  "If there was ever anything there in the first place, I feel fairly certain that it's long gone by now," Brad declared, digging into the delicious Baked Alaska. "I mean, what are the odds? It
's been over two-hundred years, for heaven's sake."

  Jaye explained patiently about the flooding feature that prevented anyone from digging down deeper than a hundred feet.

  "I know all that, sweetheart, believe you me. Remember, I grew up around there."

  "Of course, I'm sorry," she exclaimed. "It's just that with all this," she indicated the luxurious surrounding with a wave of her arm, "it's easy to forget sometimes."

  "Okay, " Brad said, reaching for his wineglass and swirling the contents ruminatively. "Let's just suppose that there is a treasure there, lying a few feet beneath the flooding feature, right?"

  Jaye nodded, her eyes drawn to the crimson sunset that played out dramatically on the western horizon.

  "And that all it will take to retrieve this prize is to stop the water at Pendle Bay from flooding in." "And that's what I do believe. Why wouldn't it?" "Because there's been so much digging going on there over the years, it surely must have destabilized an already flooded area, and created water cracks and cavities all its own."

  "So you're saying that prior to the excavations, the cofferdam theory would have worked, but is unlikely to do so now?" "That's right. However, it's going to cost you millions of dollars to find out.

  The question being, are you willing to take that kind of a risk?" "We're anticipating some water in the shaft even after the dam is in place. But this would be a small amount as compared to what is there now, and would be easily removed with pumps."

  "Look, can we stop talking about Bell Island for just a moment?" Brad suddenly asked, as he sucked on an after dinner mint. His eyes were full of amusement and, yes; she hadn't been mistaken…longing as well. So the intimate dining by candlelight had affected him as well.

  Jaye had felt it building from the moment she had glimpsed him across the luxurious foyer. "You look absolutely ravishing," he had exclaimed, noting with approval her short black dress with the matching shoes and stockings. She had felt herself flush despite her best efforts to contain it.

  "You realize that you've missed the last ferry," he said to her, glancing at his wristwatch before downing the remainder of his drink. "So unless you want to check in here for the night, I suggest you come back to my place."

  Brad lived in a smart new building called the Q, which overlooked the harbor at Chandler Quay. His suite was on the eighteenth floor with a sweeping view of the city and North Shore Mountains. "We could almost see Bell Island from here," he laughed. "On a clear day." Jaye felt high on more than just the dinner wine. Brad's company was intoxicating, and desire for him had awakened every nerve ending in her body. She remembered how much she had wanted him that hot afternoon on the sun porch, and the way she had relieved herself afterwards with body pillow and vibrator.

  He handed her a glass of brandy and guided her onto the terrace, swathed in moonlight. "It's lovely up here," she murmured, feeling very much like a fairy princess of old, living high above mere mortals in a magic castle in the clouds. While to herself she acknowledged with a tiny ping of alarm, that she could grow accustomed all too quickly to this style of living.

  "Penny for them?" he offered with a grin. To which she replied that they were worth much more than that. And when they kissed under a sparkling Venus, she felt the strong presence of déjà vu..

  He made marvelous love music with his fingertips and lips, a drumming and suckling on her senses that heated her to fever pitch. She kicked off her shoes and lay down on the bed, inviting him to fuck her. For it was the filling up that she needed most of all right then, the clamping of her erotic muscles around a thick driving shaft that would not only complete her and make her feel whole, but quench the pounding desire at its source.

  She pulled him down on top of her and fitted her body to his. "That's it, oh, yes…" she moaned, snaking her legs around his waist as they moved as one. Their shadows gyrated up the candlelit walls like some fecund prehistoric beast. Jaye had been waiting for this for a long time. Had, in fact, wanted to bonk Brad's lights out from the moment they had met. Now, she was showing him the extent of her grand passion suppressed for too long.

  "Wow, I didn't know that you cared," he joked, as they drifted together on a sensual tide of mutual satisfaction. "I've never been as thoroughly had before, and it's let me see what I've missed."

  Yet even as Jaye lay sated and spent, she couldn't quite dispel the hot memories of Guy, and the rocking of the train as it rumbled through the Rockies. First with Chris and now with Brad, she found herself comparing their sexual prowess with his. Was Guy really better in bed, or did he simply hold a special magic for her? * * * "The idea of erecting a cofferdam around Pendle Bay is not new," Chris said.

  "However, it was never followed through before due to the costs involved." "I realize that," Jaye answered with just a hint of impatience. "But new

  technology has made it financially viable." They were browsing around the Antique Market, which was held every Sunday on the Old Coast Road. "There are now portable dams that free-stand on the sea bed, eliminating the need for costly pile driving equipment, crossbracing, and anchorage."

  "You've really been doing your homework," Chris remarked, picking up a potpourri vase. "And I gather that Brad was unable to dissuade you."

  Jaye felt herself flush guiltily at the mention of his name. Her pussy still held the memory of his cock and her tongue the taste of his secretions.

  "I think I'll get this fellow today," she said, indicating a Chelsea figure of a huntsman, while neatly changing the subject. "What do you think?"

  "You must have quite a collection of china figurines," Chris remarked. "At this rate you'll be able to open your own shop soon."

  "If only that were true," Jaye laughed. "For after the computer business, there's nothing I like better than antiques."

  "Well you're in the ideal location for it now," Chris suggested. "An antique shop on Bell Island, the tourists would go wild." And it was, in fact, an idea she had actually toyed with. Only in her version she had added a tea room that served scones and sponge cake. * * * "You can't be serious," Angus snapped when she mentioned it to him,

  although it was done more in jest than anything else. "If the cofferdam fails to stop the flooding, then we can always open a souvenir shop," she had quipped offhandedly. But the mere idea of strangers milling around his island had apparently hit a sore spot with him.

  "I just can't imagine a gaggle of curiosity seekers tramping over everything," he declared with the utmost venom. "Why, it would be almost sacrilegious."

  And when Jaye looked askance at him, he explained. "Bell Island is like a shrine to your aunt."

  "Don't worry, it's not likely to happen," she assured him. "For I wouldn't be investing mega dollars in the cofferdam if I didn't believe it would work." * * *

  "What if there is a treasure there, but it turns out to be of little value?" Chris asked. "I know I'm playing devil's advocate here, but for heaven's sake, Jaye, you have to weigh all possibilities."

  They were having a late night snack on the sun porch under a wispy scimitar of a moon. Bell Island hovered mysteriously around them.

  "That wouldn't make sense," Jaye responded, shaking her head. "Why would anyone go to that amount of trouble—there was a lot of complicated and difficult engineering involved—to bury something that isn't valuable?"

  "Well, perhaps it was of value to them, but not in the monetary sense. It could have been a religious relic of some sort."

  "That doesn't seem likely," Jaye replied firmly. "Although, I know all sorts of theories abound as to what is actually buried there."

  "If anything?" Chris interjected ominously. Then, on seeing her exasperated expression, patted her on the knee and told her to cheer up. * * * "What do you think is buried there?" she asked Angus, as they strolled around the treasure pit site with Ben following close behind. "A treasure of great value, I know. But who put it there and why?"

  "Well the most popular theory, of course, is pirate booty. But I don't buy that, not for a m
inute. Pirates lacked the discipline and knowledge to build something that elaborate. No, I'd put my money on Incan gold smuggled up here on board a Spanish galleon." "But this far west? This is the Pacific coast, not the Atlantic." "And that makes the theory even more plausible. Picture a rogue Commander who wants to make himself very rich before he retires. So instead of setting sail for Spain, he turns his ship towards the Pacific seaboard until he reaches a secluded island." "We're talking the sixteenth-century now," Jaye said. "Yes, and wood from the treasure pit has been carbon-dated to that time, give

  or take fifty years." "But galleons always sailed as part of a convoy, never alone," she protested. "That's true," Angus agreed. "But they were scattered by storms frequently. And it wouldn't have been too difficult for a captain with treachery on his mind to slip away at night."

  Jaye leaned against the smooth bark of a maple tree and shaded her eyes against the glaring sun.

  "They would have had an engineer on board who would have designed the workings on Bell Island, and sufficient manpower to carry them out," Angus continued.

  "But these ships carried large crews. Surely gossip about an undertaking of that magnitude would leak out?" Jaye suggested.

  "Not if it were sunk before ever reaching another port," Angus declared with unseemly relish. "And that was the fate of so many of these ships, laden with treasure and all. There's a king's ransom lying at the bottom of the oceans."

  "And what did Aunt Adelaide think? About the source of the treasure, I mean. Did she believe the Spanish galleon theory, too?"

  Angus nodded vigorously while throwing a ball to Ben that went spinning in a wide arc beside a grove of beech trees. "Adelaide was as convinced as I am that Incan gold lies at the bottom of the treasure pit."

  Yet, there was something else lurking just beneath the surface, an evasiveness that Jaye could sense in his slightly shifty expression and wariness of manner. She was convinced that he wasn't being honest with her. He had been too ready with his theory about Incan gold. It had been way too pat. She came away with the distinct impression that Angus knew more than he was telling about what lay buried on Bell Island. * * * "Or what he thinks is there," Chris corrected. "I've told you before, Jaye, he's a strange old bugger, and I think you've been placing far too much credibility on what he says."