I then checked out Star Salvage. Where ESL had taken the more serious educational approach, Star went for glitz, with links to various underwater organizations and lots of photos of the Susannah and of Peter Groves in diving attire: Groves studying charts and looking very serious, he and others looking at some of the loot they'd found. Star claimed to have found numerous wrecks in several places, including the Great Lakes, the Eastern seaboard of the U.S., and the Caribbean, and it was noted that the company was now in the Mediterranean. The company was touted as a great investment opportunity. There were references to the gold on the Margarita, and so on. People interested in further information on the company could leave an address for a prospectus. It was all pretty convincing, until I remembered that Maggie had told me that Groves had been screwed, to use her term, over the treasure on the Margarita. Somehow I rather doubted that Star was quite the sterling investment its Web site trumpeted it to be.
I was running out of time, however, so I did a quick check on Harvard and UCLA. Both Briars and Ben were what they said they were, professors of archaeology and classics, respectively.
I logged off, and thought for a few minutes. I still hadn't firmly established a link between the shipwrecks and the tour. There had to be one. Ben had been on the ship, and had not even tried to deny it. He'd been absolutely unflappable, though. He'd gone with me to the police, and had stayed right at my side until we got back to the hotel. He'd even bought me a drink in the bar, as if this were a perfectly normal evening. Questioned, he said he'd gone over to the warehouse to see if he could find a phone to call a taxi to take him back to the hotel. When I asked him why he was going through papers on the Elissa Dido, he'd said he was just curious about what Briars was doing.
"I'll apologize to him when I see him," he said, sphinxlike. "I hope he'll forgive me." And that's all he'd say. Was there another possible connection between the two? I thought back on all I'd found out, not much in and of itself. But there was Rick and his fraudulent claims about investment opportunities, and there was Star Salvage looking for investors. It was a long shot, but the only one I had.
"Aziza! Can I have another minute of your time?" I said shortly thereafter. "Privately."
"Not on the same subject, I hope," she replied, as I took her aside.
"Related. This may sound a bit obscure, but do you think Curtis might have invested in something really speculative recently?"
"He better not have," she said. "He promised me. How speculative?"
"Very. Something like an expedition to find buried treasure on a shipwreck in the Mediterranean."
"Oh please, I hope not," she said. "I'll kill him."
On that less than positive note, I went to check on Briars. "How are you doing today, Briars? Feeling okay? Got enough to eat here?"
"I'm better, thanks," he said. "I suppose I should apologize for my behavior yesterday. I was feeling a little sorry for myself. Not that it wouldn't have been magic, of course, if you'd taken me up on it. But maybe I was a little pushy."
"That's okay," I said. "I didn't find the idea offensive."
"I've been thinking I'd like to come with the group on the desert trip, if you'd let me. It would get me out of here, and I think I could contribute something. I have done some work on Roman Africa."
"Fine with me if you feel up to it."
"Great," he said. "I promise to behave myself. If you agree, it might be a good idea to take Hedi along as well. He grew up in the desert, you know. He hasn't got much to do right now, and he could share a room with me."
"Okay. Sure. I know I've asked you this before, but I'm asking again. What was your conversation with Rick about? I'm sorry, but what you've been telling me just doesn't ring true."
He looked pained. "God, you're persistent. What possible difference could it make now that he's dead?"
"I have no idea what difference it would make, but I'd really appreciate the truth. Quite frankly I feel as if I've been lied to by just about everybody, or at the very least, that people on this tour have other agendas completely unrelated to sightseeing and antiques that they haven't felt the need to mention to the tour leader. As I told you yesterday, the police are reopening the investigation into Rick's death, and I just want to make sure I know what there is to know about the people I'm associating with here."
"Okay, okay. I get your point. It's true, that story about Rick bugging me to invest with him was pure fabrication. The guy was dead by the time you and I got around to discussing it, and I just didn't see the point of bothering you with it, or for that matter, speaking ill of the dead. At that point I just thought he'd done something really dumb by diving into that pool, so there didn't seem any harm in fibbing. I'm trying to convince you I had good intentions in not being too forthcoming on this subject. Am I succeeding?"
"Maybe," I said. I wanted to believe this guy, but he did make it difficult.
"I guess that'll have to do. The truth, then, is that he tried to bribe me not to go on looking for the shipwreck. The little runt offered me ten thousand dollars. At least that's what he worked up to eventually. He started at five, but apparently he took my response as meaning I wanted more."
"And your response was?"
"I'm sorry you feel you had to ask. I told him to fuck off, in those very terms. They say everyone has a price, but mine happens to be just a little more than ten thousand dollars!"
"Just as well. I have a feeling he wouldn't have been able to pay you, anyway. Why do you think he did this?"
"I have no idea. The only reason I could think of is that he invested in Star Salvage, and was worried about losing his money if we found the ship first. I told him to stay away from me, the boat, the shipwreck, and everything else. When the boat got trashed that very night, it did cross my mind that he might have done it, although you know, he was such a little wimp, despite all his posturing, I rejected that idea. Given what's happened lately," Briars said, pausing for a moment, "I'm sure I was right to do so. The weight of evidence definitely points to Groves. Now can we talk about something more pleasant? What time do I have to be ready to leave? Oh, and where are we going to stay? I'll have to tell that fellow Ben Osman where I'll be; otherwise, he'll be sending in the troops for me."
"It might have to be on camels," I said.
He laughed. "Thanks for cheering me up," he said. "And not being too hard on me about Rick. Or for that matter, my rather outrageous behavior yesterday. You wouldn't care to change your mind on that subject, would you?"
"No," I said, heading out the door and back to the hotel.
"T ELL HER," AZIZA demanded, hands on hips and eyes blazing. "Tell her what you told me."
It was a deflated Curtis who stood between the two of us. Gone was his air of confidence and well-being. Instead he looked uneasy, even defeated. Even his tan looked as if it had faded.