LAST ASSAULT ON OAK ISLAND 16

Chapter 16

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Rudy returned to the lighthouse Tuesday afternoon with strict orders from Dr. Haidin and a list of restrictions for two weeks. No more drinking, however tempered, no physical exertion, including treks to Dr. Geiger's house for Wednesday night poker, and no spicy foods, especially hot peppers.

Dr. Haidin had made a few discoveries. One was Rudy's previously suspected asthmatic condition, which reacted to certain hot peppers. With dismay, Rudy looked out the sitting room window at the small garden where green plants were full of buds, spiked leaves, and spicy peppers.

His restraint would be tested with his new limits to food and alcohol intake.

Most of Rudy's lighthouse duties were now Lauren's responsibility, including a series of tours that started Monday. This raised questions among the Clemens family. Saul sent a short note via Miles, stating concern for the lightkeeper's health and an open invitation for assistance. Saul even went so far as to stop by for a brief visit that Wednesday afternoon.

Lauren started to close the door when she saw him standing on Rudy's porch, but he lodged his foot on the welcome mat, half a boot stopping the closing door.

"I've come to apologize," he said in a mellow tone. Behind him stood Miles.

"Dad!" Lauren called, still blocking their path.

"Now you two get out of here." Carlos came out of the sitting room at a trot, waving a hand at the two men. "You've said your piece—"

"I'm not finished, Meade," Saul interrupted. He frowned, unsure what an apology required. "I'm sorry about being rash the other day. Your daughter's not in any danger from us."

Carlos pulled Lauren away from the door, but did not invite the men in. "If you're trying to get that fool son of yours in the picture, it's too late."

"I'm not." Saul gave a good impression of a man at a loss. "I just want to say I'm sorry. Can I come in?"

Rudy joined them, bringing a guiltier look to Saul's stony face. It took Saul another fifteen minutes of unabashed expiation before Carlos agreed to let the threat go. Rudy asked Saul and Miles in.

Moments later they were in the kitchen, seated at the table. Miles had taken the seat beside Lauren, but when she got back up to serve iced tea, she remained standing at the sink. Feeling his gaze on her, she finally gave him a stunted glance, but then turned her attention back to his father. Saul's conversation meandered from pleading to what Lauren deemed another equally false condition, concern for Rudy's health.

"You need another man," Saul urged Rudy, more sure of himself now that the unfamiliar business of an apology was out of the way. "You could have another keeper here in twenty-four hours. Maybe less."

"It wouldn't be the same," Rudy said without venom. "This is a big tour week. No replacement would be interested in the historical and public relations part of the job. Lauren already knows enough to give the tours."

"Fine," Saul allowed, "but you should have someone here for the mechanical responsibilities. I know you've always run the light, Rudy, and it seems she can handle it for a while, but you need a back-up man. Just in case. Someone who could actually fix things if something went wrong."

"Like Miles?" Carlos asked skeptically.

Miles shifted his legs beneath the table, his unmoving expression locked on his face.

"No. Not Miles." Saul sighed. "I'm not suggesting anyone in particularly, but you do need someone. If it broke down you'd be up there trying to fix it, Rudy. At least get someone on a call-in basis."

That was as much as Lauren heard. Maruso knocked on the back door and she let him in. He threw a menacing look at Miles and immediately conducted Lauren out of the room. He did not stop in the parlor, but hurried her up the narrow stairs to her bedroom.

He closed the door most of the way behind them, a grin tempering his annoyance as she looked to the bulkiness beneath one side of his loose overshirt.

"I know you've got something." She eyed the packet of mail he pulled from beneath his shirt. Strictly using physical means of contact was tedious, but necessary this time. "What is it?"

"This is from your museum," he reported, handing her a large brown envelope and a smaller one of slate gray stationery. "And a letter from Paul Edwards of Devonshire. The rest is just Rudy's mail."

She sat on the bed, preoccupied with the gray piece of mail. He sat in the wooden chair opposite her that she had dragged in from downstairs a few days ago. Saul's laughter filtered up the stairs. Maruso nudged the door shut with his foot.

Lauren's fingers flew along the gray envelope seal, then halted, and she picked up the larger envelope.

He frowned. "You don't want to read Edward's first?"

"I do, but I'd rather get the boring part over with," she admitted. "I think I already know what's in here." She pulled out several papers, including lab tests and computer readouts. She found the letter. "I don't know why they send all this stuff. Carlos hardly looks at most of it, just asks me," she murmured. She skimmed the letter.

"Well, Gallop says the ink is India ink and dates to about 1780," she said with a slow nod, "give or take twenty years. The paper is a sheepskin parchment commonly used by naval personnel at that time because it stood up better to humidity and moisture than pure pulp paper of the time. Also, there was a high saline content count in both the paper and leather cover. Gallop notes that the way the journal was bound—sewn instead of glued—probably means that it was meant for sea travel. Glues at the time also didn't hold up well in the moist environment of a ship."