“Get a room, you two,” Willis called from the one he and Maddock had just entered.
Maddock found a light switch and flipped it on, bathing the place in low light from a single overhead fixture. “Office.” He took in a neatly organized wooden desk, a large, ornate cross featuring a life-sized Jesus nailed in place hanging on one wall, a group of framed pictures showing the priest they had talked to giving sermons, and others that were historical photos of the cathedral in different stages of construction.
Willis began rifling through the desk drawers while Maddock studied the walls and floor, which was a contemporary, though unremarkable, tiled affair. Bones and Fabi appeared in the doorway, taking in the small room.
“Exciting.” Bones looked to Willis. “I take it the desk isn’t full of gold doubloons?”
Willis held up a worn bible and a box of candles, shaking his head. “Get that throwing arm warmed up, Bones. This treasure hunt thing’s looking more and more like…”
“Look here.” Maddock walked to the big cross. It was so large that it rested on the floor while the top of it came just shy of the ceiling. He peered behind the cross and noticed that there was a millimeters-wide space between it and the wall.
“You thinking about repenting or something, Maddock?” Willis watched him put both hands on the cross and begin to put pressure on it.
“Too late for that…” Maddock pushed and then pulled the religious symbol, but nothing happened.
“What, you think it’s hiding something behind it? Is there something there?” Fabi walked over to him.
“Just a tiny gap. But this thing is solid wood, very heavy, so I’m wondering why it doesn’t hang flush against the wall. Also curious as to why such a big cross is locked away in here instead of out in the main church.” Maddock pulled up on the cross, but again it didn’t budge. “It’s almost like they—”
As he pulled down on the life-sized crucifix, they heard a thump as the bottom of the wood hit the floor. The tile beneath the cross flipped up smoothly until it came into contact with the wooden post, revealing a dark open space wide enough for a person to fit through with a ladder leading down.
“What the…” Willis moved from the desk over to the exposed trap door.
“Is it just a hiding place for the priest’s secret stash, or does it actually lead anywhere?” Bones also crossed the room, eager for the answer to his own question. Maddock had already produced his flashlight and had the beam aimed down into the uncovered space.
“Looks like it leads somewhere.”
“Let’s not get our hopes up too much,” Fabi cautioned. “I’d like to think it leads down to the old cathedral, but it could just be a basement.”
“A hidden basement with a secret trapdoor?” Willis held the light for Maddock so that he could climb down using both hands.
“We’ll find out soon enough.” Maddock descended the rungs of the old wooden ladder. “Tunnels! Come on down,” he called up. Willis closed the office door and then he, Bones and Fabi joined Maddock below.
“Catacombs.” Fabi surveyed the dank stone walls. They followed the unlit passage until it branched right and left.
“I see cells up ahead to the left,” Maddock said. “Let’s check those out.”
They walked left, the sound of water dripping on the stone floor echoing weakly in the catacombs. Two cells were set into the left side of the passage, iron doors swung open. Maddock and Willis walked into one while Bones and Fabi entered the other.
“They sure were big on the leg irons in those days, weren’t they?” Willis shook his head as he eyed the now familiar heavy iron fixtures embedded into the wall.
“Big on carving stuff into walls, too.” Bones’ voice echoed through the catacombs. “Looks like somebody was writing a novel in here. Take a look.”
After a quick look, Maddock and Willis revealed nothing noteworthy inside their cell. They joined Bones and Fabi in the adjacent one. Maddock added his light to Bones’ on the rear wall. Dense lines of symbols engraved into the stone blocks challenged them as to their meaning.
Bones shook his head. “It’s all Greek to me.”
“There’s the ‘demon’ word again.” Fabi pointed it out. “Here… here… and there.”
“Wait a minute.” Maddock zoomed in on a section of the engravings with his light. “I think I do recognize a word…” He knelt on the stone floor and eyeballed the painstakingly carved glyph. He spelled it out. “Z… O… M… B… I… and another ‘I’…”
“Zombii,” Fabi completed.
Bones shone his light on the word. “We should look into zombie lore around the island, see if there’s a connection to this sailor. I’d say this must be where the ‘crazy’ guy was held, right?”
They all agreed, but Maddock still appeared doubtful. “I agree this is where the sailor was held, but I don’t know about the zombie thing, Bones. I mean, really? We’re supposed to be tracking down a treasure, relying on historical facts, not urban legends or whatever you want to call them.”
Willis exited the cell. “Let’s see what else is down here, then. Maybe we’ll find more clues.”
The other three filed out and they proceeded to explore the remaining catacombs. They turned out not to be all that extensive, and only a few minutes later they had come to dead ends without discovering anything else that would aid them in their search.
Maddock met up with the others, meeting in a huddle at the junction of the two main passages. “Zombies it is. Let’s get out of here and we’ll head back into town to see if there’s a connection to our sailor.”
Fabi nodded. “Good idea. I actually need to stop by my clinic to take care of some work things, but I can give you some local contacts who might be able help you with historical zombie lore.”
Chapter 15
Fabi sat at a computer in the office of the local health clinic. On the screen in front of her was a database, one she had designed herself, that contained patient data and which tracked visits by searchable criteria. She was in the middle of making modifications to the design when a knock came at the door to the office, even though it was open.
She saved her work and turned around to see a tall, well-dressed man standing in the doorway. His immaculately coiffed dark hair, straight white teeth, and fine features immediately set him apart. In this part of Haiti, a man dressed in a suit was an unusual sight, but knowing who he was, his atypical appearance didn’t surprise her. Ricardo Avila, a wealthy doctor who funded the clinic, was somewhere in his fifties but fit for his age. Well known for his public funding campaigns, the physician was not very hands on with this particular clinic. In fact, Fabi could recall only one other time she’d ever seen him here, and that was when she had first started work.
Avila walked over to the desk and extended a hand. Fabi rose from her chair, wondering what this was about.
“Miss Baptiste, please accept my sincere condolences on the death of your beloved cousin, David. His loss is a tragedy to the entire community. Such a good, pious man.”
Fabi hesitated longer than she usually would to give thanks, because in her mind she was wondering how Avila even knew she was related to David. “Thank you.”
“Were you two close?”
His eyes always looked as if they were almost closed, making it hard to judge the sincerity of his expressions, but as far as Fabi could tell, he seemed genuinely interested.
“We were, yes. I have many fond memories of growing up with David and playing as kids here in Haiti.”
Avila pointed to an empty chair next to the desk, one Fabi kept there for visitors who needed to sit with her while she helped them with something on the computer. “May I?”