CHAPTER 24
Across from Eric at the splintered wooden table, on the back patio at the Twin Palms, sat Ashley Campbell. In the candlelight, she looked to him like a young Halle Berry, but taller and less delicate. Her long, straight hair was pulled tightly back in a ponytail. Her smile had a gap in the middle, but her teeth were a brilliant white. She wore a small gold cross around her neck.
On either side of them sat Val and Mack. They were eating a Valentine’s Day meal Val had put together, of steamed grouper with a tomato-caper sauce and canned yams. In the middle of the table, beside a mostly empty wine bottle, a candle burned inside a cracked glass jar. The stars were out, and the night was pleasant. Tiki torches burned along the coral-rock wall ringing the patio, to ward off biting insects
Eric found himself staring at Ashley. He couldn’t help it.
Between bites, she said, “It’s hard to believe this guesthouse is still here. You know this area was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.”
“In 2012?” Eric said.
“Yes. You have a good memory. That one came late in the season. Damaged the reefs, flooded all these coastal buildings. This one was filled with sand until the owner got back to cleaning it.”
“That must have been hard for everyone here,” Val said.
Ashley said, “Yes. But this is Andros. Here in the Bahamas we take it as it comes.”
“About Andros,” Val said. “I wanted to ask you about that boy who went missing in the blue hole. You didn’t know him, did you?”
“Only of him.”
“Apparently there was a witness, right? A girl, who claimed she saw a monster under the island kill her boyfriend. . . .”
Mack grunted and shook his head, then took another bite of fish.
Ashley told them what she knew about the teenager, who had vanished the previous week. Apparently, the whole story had been relayed by his girlfriend, who had been found half-naked on a roadside miles away the next morning, still in shock, her bare feet raw and bloody from running through the jungle. Two other teenagers there had only heard her scream. Nobody had seen anything. No body had been found.
Ashley traced the top of her glass with her finger. Her neatly painted fingernails were lime green, a few shades lighter than her eyes.
She said, “In some ways, this island is very different from other islands in the Bahamas. There are legends here. But I don’t believe most of them.”
“What sort of legends?” Eric said.
“Stories about monsters, sometimes related to accidents in the blue holes. About Obeah witchcraft.” She smiled at Eric. “About naked Arawaks who still hide in the bush, stealing from the unwary. There’s more mythology here than where I grew up.”
“And where’s that?” Eric felt emboldened by the wine.
“On a small island in the Abacos. North of here.”
“Mack lived there for a time, you know,” Val said.
Ashley leaned forward. “Really? Where?”
“Great Abaco.” Mack leaned back in his chair. “Moved there after my wife left me. Guess I wasn’t any good without a leg.”
Ashley regarded Mack. “She didn’t really leave you for that, did she?”
Mack shrugged. “Never figured her out, or why she left. I still had my dick, didn’t I?”
Eric thought of saying something, but Ashley only laughed.
“Mack . . .” Val said.
He said, “Anyway, we never had kids. Probably a good thing. So I decided to go where I used to love diving so much. The Bahamas are unbelievable.”
Ashley said, “Why did you leave, then?”
He lifted his prosthetic leg up off the floor and dropped it onto the edge of the table. He rapped the titanium rod with his knuckles. “Because of this goddammed thing. Couldn’t dive where I wanted to anymore, inside the holes, and I had too many medical issues.”
“But you are a hero, Mack. You should be proud.”
“Whatever.” He looked away from her.
Ashley said, “I had to leave the Abacos too. For work. I started taking seasonal jobs in Nassau when I was sixteen, then I moved there a few years later for full-time work. When they built Oceanus, I came here. But I try to visit my family whenever I can.”
“Are they still where you grew up?” Eric said.
She nodded. “On Two Finger Cay. My dad’s a fisherman. A good man. Mom still stays home with the youngest. I’m the oldest, ya know. I send them a little money to help them get by.”
Val said, “You said something about monsters, Ashley. Why are there more monster stories here, on Andros?” Val raised the wine bottle to refill Ashley’s glass, but she covered it politely with her hand. Mack gestured at his own, and Val poured him the rest.
“This is a very big island,” Ashley said. “A hundred miles long. With very few people. And with the number of blue holes, the swash on the west side, the Tongue of the Ocean, there are lots of legends.”
Val said, “And when people go missing on a place like Andros, like that boy . . .”
“Yes,” Ashley said. “It leads to more stories.”
“What was that thing you mentioned? That creature the girl said she saw?”
Ashley laughed, her brilliant teeth lit momentarily by a distant flash of lightning offshore. It was going to rain soon.
She said, “Something some locals call the lusca. It’s a mythical creature. Half octopus, half shark, half as big as Oceanus.”
“Sounds like bullshit,” Mack said, then downed his wine. Eric figured he’d drunk more than a bottle by himself by now.
“Mack, there’s a lady here,” Eric said.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake—” Mack started, but Ashley touched his hand and he stopped.
“Mack’s right,” Ashley said. “Of course it isn’t real.”
“Maybe,” Val said. “But it intrigues me. We’re looking for some sort of undiscovered animal. Something that might live in the blue holes. We’re not sure how big it would be.”
They had run DORA through an easier oceanic blue hole for a few days, one that was broader and more accessible than The Staircase. They had returned to The Staircase today. Eric was getting much better at guiding the ROV through its tunnels. But not good enough. DORA still couldn’t even go as far in as Breck and Pelletier had, let alone the rescue divers who had gone in after them, due to a restriction too narrow for Eric to risk running DORA through. For now, they would have to look for Val’s new cephalopod species somewhere else.
Ashley said, “From what I hear, nothing much lives in those holes. They’re dangerous, and the water’s sometimes poisonous, right?”
“Hang on,” Val said. “Let me show you something.” She went inside and came back with the printout of the blurry image taken in The Staircase. She handed it to Ashley. “This is why we’re here.”
“What is it?”
“We think it might be a tentacle, or the arm of some cephalopod.”
“A what?”
“A cephalopod. A squid or octopus,” Val said. “What you say about the island’s holes is right. Many of them are toxic, and dangerous. That’s why it would be such a find to observe a new species of megafauna living in them. Do you know anyone that is very familiar with this island? The waters offshore?”
“One man. You should come and meet Clive. He might be able to help.”
“Clive?” Eric said.
“He’s a sculptor. He sells his work at the resort, at the end of the beach. He used to be a fisherman like my dad. He worked these waters for years. A lot of people say he’s crazy, for the stories he tells. But I think he’s an honest man.”
“We’d love to visit,” Eric said. He heard Mack snort. Looking at Ashley, he found himself struggling for something else to say. He realized he was leaning toward her and sat up as a rumble of thunder passed by.
“We’ll certainly come by,” Val said. “We need a lead. So far we haven’t had much luck.”
After dinner, Val thanked Ashley for coming by to talk to them.
“Thank you for the dinner,” Ashley said. “You grill a mean grouper. And it was lovely meeting you both.” She smiled at Eric and Mack.
“Can we give you a ride back?” Eric asked. “It looks like it might rain.”
“You don’t even have a car, Romeo,” Mack said. “What you gonna do? Carry her?”
“I thought maybe we could call her a taxi—”
Ashley said, “That’s sweet, Eric. But I think the rain won’t come for a while.”
“Ehhh.” Mack waved a hand at them. “Fuckin’ Valentine’s Day.” He said good-bye to Ashley and walked away, grumbling.
Val said, “Don’t mind my uncle, Ashley. He has a sailor’s mouth.”
“It’s okay. Where I work, I see all types. And hear all sorts of language.” She turned to Eric. “I appreciate your offer, love, but I will take the bus. I insist.”
“Can I walk you to the bus stop?” Eric said.
“I’m fine.” Ashley smiled. “Really. Good night.” She pecked Eric on the cheek, and he felt himself blush.
Eric watched the easy sway of her hips as she walked down the dimly lit path toward the road, another flash of lightning coursing across the sky. He finally shut the door when she was out of sight.
He looked over at Val. “What?”
“Nothing. Told you she was cute,” Val said. She smiled at him, but looked sad.
“Yeah. She’s amazing. Are you all right, Val?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
“You just seem . . . I don’t know.”
“Maybe it’s because it’s Valentine’s Day. I’m not really a romantic, but it’s weird to not even talk to Will today.”
“Why don’t you call him?”
She shook her head. “He’s still mad at me for coming here. But every time I try to talk him about his . . . problems, he gets upset. I don’t want to bother you with our issues, though.”
“It’s okay. I’m a good listener.”
She looked at him, differently than she ever had before. His heart skipped a beat. Maybe he had a chance, right now. But they worked together, and she was with another guy. . . .
Then the look was gone. “Goodnight, Eric,” she said, and turned and went to her bedroom.