“You’re sure?” I asked, trying hard to keep the skeptical tone out of my voice. “This is your coin? I mean, come on. What are the odds of that?”
We were now sitting in Chet’s study, which was, by my reckoning, three hallways and two rooms over from his lab. Our coin-collecting friend sat back in his arm chair and studied the former ‘rock’ in his (gloved) hand. He reached for his glass of wine and took a healthy drink. Jillian and I automatically reached for the beer bottles our host had obligingly offered to us and followed suit. For me, it might have been more of a guzzle.
“This is a 1721 Spanish Silver two reales Piece of 8 coin. The bit of lettering you saw earlier, the ‘X’ and the ‘ANI’ you told me about, was just a few of the letters encircling the coin. You can see it now reads, ‘1721 HISPANIARUM REX.’ Those buildings we saw? They were castles, located in the upper left quadrant and the lower right. And in the upper right and lower left? You can see that they are lions.”
“Is there any writing on the other side?” I wanted to know.
Chet nodded, and turned the coin over. He tapped the letters that curved around the outside of the coin.
“Philipus V.”
“And that’s a person,” I guessed.
“King Philip the Fifth,” Chet confirmed. “He ruled from 1716-1740. This particular coin was placed in general circulation. Do you see the crowned ‘M?’”
“Where?” Jillian asked, as she leaned close.
“Here,” Chet said, tapping the area near the ‘V’ of King Philip’s name. “That’s Madrid’s mint mark.”
“You clearly know your coins,” Jillian said. “I, er, am glad we could return it to you.”
“I am absolutely astounded to have this sitting in my hand, after all this time,” Chet was saying, as he stared lovingly at the silver coin sitting in his palm. “Especially since I only officially asked for your help yesterday. I take my hat off to you, my friends, and your wonderful dogs. I will telephone the captain immediately, and express my thanks.”
Bidding goodbye to our new friend, the four of us headed back to town, via another ridesharing app. Telephoning ahead, we learned that Harry and Julie were now awake, and arranged to meet them at a local restaurant for a bite to eat. Since this place didn’t have an outside terrace, the dogs would have to stay confined in the room. However, since both corgis had been swimming in the ocean earlier, then given baths, and then were given two car rides, I didn’t think we were going to have a problem. A quick look back as we exited the room confirmed that Sherlock was now on his back, with all four paws in the air, and Watson was lying next to him. They were out cold.
“Do you really mean it?” Harry asked, as soon as we had sat down next to them and ordered some drinks. “We’re really getting the rooms for free?”
“We haven’t heard anything yet from the police department,” Jillian cautioned. “I honestly wouldn’t plan on not paying your bill until the clerk at the front desk says the bill has been paid in full. It’s not worth it. I mean, we are on vacation, after all.”
“Hey, a bet’s a bet,” Harry argued.
“Tell me about that coin,” Julie implored. “I can’t believe you found it so quickly! That’s awesome, you two!”
“We didn’t find it,” I corrected. “Sherlock did. In fact, he’s been pulling us to the water ever since we gave the keys to the hotel’s valet. That dog is something else. I just don’t buy it, though.”
“What?” Harry wanted to know. “What don’t you buy?”
At that time, the waitress appeared and took our order. It was 10:30 am, and still technically breakfast, but I was tempted to order a burger. Jillian saw me looking at the lunch side of the menu and shook her head. She knew I loved my burgers, but she also knew that, thanks to my last doctor’s appointment, my cholesterol was on the higher side. His recommendation? ‘Cut out red meat. Eat more green vegetables.’ The quack. Getting old sucks.
We placed our orders, with me ordering a heart-healthy egg white omelet, with added avocado slices. I waited for the waitress to wander off before I answered Harry’s question.
“Sherlock is good,” I slowly began. “Both dogs are. But come on, don’t you think it’s a little convenient that we were asked to locate a stolen coin, only to discover it in the hands of… er, in the paws of a local otter? And this, happening on the day after we were asked to look for it?”
“They’re your dogs,” Harry reminded me. “You’ve told us many times how amazing they are in finding stuff. Think about it, man. This is just another occasion where the dogs find something that no one else could have. I mean, think back to that ugly glass tiger.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Or the missing Egyptian pendent,” Jillian added.
“Or the thief who was stealing all the Christmas presents?” Julie reminded me.
“This list goes on and on, man,” Harry pointed out.
“What’s your point?” I asked. “I know all about the cases those two dogs have solved. I mean, I was there, remember?”
“The point we’re trying to make,” my girlfriend soothingly explained, “is that this is just another example of how gifted the dogs are. I cannot explain how they can do what they do. You can’t. Neither can Harry, and he’s the professional.”
“I am,” Harry jovially confirmed.
Julie smacked him on the arm, but playfully so, I noted.
“You’re saying I need to let this one go and just reward them with a box of Scooby Snacks? Is that it?”
“They just saved us each over $700,” Harry reminded me. “Don’t be a cheapskate. Get ‘em each a case.”
“Hardy ha ha.”
We had our breakfasts, and I had my tasteless omelet. The one thing I did enjoy, strangely enough, was the addition of the avocado slices. Growing up, I avoided any food that had a hint of avocado, seeing how they were green, only now, I think I had inadvertently been cheating myself. That part of my breakfast was good.
Just as I was finishing up my glass of juice, my cell rang. A quick check of the display had me grinning. It was the local police department.
“Hello?”
“Zack? It’s Mary.”
“Hi, Mary. What’s up?”
“We just received the autopsy report on Jack Carlton.”
“I thought for certain you were going to say something about that coin,” I confessed. I let out a chuckle. “All right, hit me with your best. Did the autopsy find anything useful?”
“First, let me congratulate you guys. Chet Mayberry called the captain personally, and extolled your dogs’ skills. He couldn’t be more thrilled about the return of his coin. That is one happy numismatist.”
“That’s one happy what?”
“Numismatist. It’s the technical name for a coin collector, or coin enthusiast.”
“You learn something new each day. Numismatist. Got it. I’m following along now. He called the captain? Do you have any idea what the captain said?”
“He’s already contacted your hotel. Your bill has been paid, and he sends his thanks.”
“I have a friend here who will be thrilled to death to hear that.”
Overhearing, Harry let out a whoop of joy as he correctly guessed what I was talking about.
“With regards to Jack Carlton’s death, the Cause of Death has been confirmed: drowning. Sea water was found in his lungs.”
“That isn’t too surprising,” I decided. “It sounds like an open and shut case. I mean, he was a diver, and we found him face down in the water.”
“But… tetrodotoxin was also found in his system.”
“Tetris-what?” I asked, as my tongue tripped over the unfamiliar word.
“Tetrodotoxin,” Mary carefully repeated. “It’s an incredibly dangerous neurotoxin.”
“A dangerous neurotoxin,” I repeated, for Jillian’s benefit. “That sounds really bad.”
“Tetrodotoxin poisoning messes with the signals your nerves send to your muscles. In essence, it causes paralysis. Too much can be fatal.”
“So, he died from this Tetris poison?”
“Tetrodotoxin,” Mary repeated, for the third time. “And no. Cause of Death has already been established: drowning. The seawater in his lungs confirmed that.”
“Then, how did the...” I paused as I tried to repeat the name of the poison in my head. Nope. Couldn’t do it. “...poison get into his system? Was it something he ate? Or ingested?”
“No, not with this stuff. It’s incredibly fast acting. The deceased would have had to come into contact with it while he was out in the water.”
“Oh, I get it. He got stung by a jellyfish, or something like that?”
“I wondered the same thing, too,” Mary admitted. “The answer is, no. While the sting of a jellyfish can be painful, and there are those that can be fatal, the most well-known source of tetrodotoxin would be a certain species of puffer fish. There are also, I’ve recently learned, certain tropical frogs, newts, crabs, starfish, and even octopuses that have it. I don’t understand the basics of it yet, but I’ve put in a few calls to some friends of mine. I hope to know more later.”
“Well, you just described all kinds of sea life,” I said. “Jack Carlton was a world-famous diver, and he worked in an aquarium. He must have come into contact with it at some point in time.”
“Mr. Anderson, you’re not hearing me. Once the tetrodotoxin has been introduced into your system, the symptoms can appear anywhere from just a few minutes to several hours. It all depends on how much neurotoxin was introduced into the bloodstream, and where it came from.”
“Could he have built up an immunity to this stuff? You know, like how Westley built up his resistance to iocane?”
“The Princess Bride. Ah, I loved that movie. You have great tastes in movies, Mr. Anderson. But no, this stuff is way too dangerous to fiddle around with. Any knowledgeable diver would steer clear of any animal that carried it.”
“Then he had to have encountered something out in the water,” I deduced.
“That’s what I think, too,” Mary admitted. “The problem with that logic is, everything we’re aware of that can carry tetrodotoxin lives in tropical waters. There’s nothing native to this area.”
“For the sake of argument, let’s say Jack Carlton managed to find something out there that carried this tetradotoxin crap,” I began, “how much...”
“Tetro...” Mary interrupted. “You were close on that one.”
“Yeah, thanks. Okay, tetrodotoxin. How much of that stuff was in the victim’s system?”
“I don’t know.”
“You have the autopsy reports,” I reminded the Monterey cop. “Doesn’t it say how much of the neurotoxin was present?”
“That’s a good point. Let me see. Here it is. 3.7 milligrams.”
“That’s... that’s a really low amount, isn’t it?”
“Incredibly so. But, listen to this. The lab technician made some notes. He said that it only takes 1-2 milligrams to kill an adult.”
“How does that help us?”
“It means Jack Carlton was murdered.”
I terminated the call after I thanked Mary for the information. My mind was spinning. Jack Carlton was murdered? And some powerful neurotoxin was found in his blood? Was that why a skilled diver was found face down in the water? That toxin paralyzed him and he drowned? What a horrible way to die!
“What’s going on?” Jillian asked, as I sat back in my chair and polished off my soda.
Yeah, I know. Omelets and sodas. You’d think it’d be a terrible mix, but it works for me. Especially if I have to choke down an egg white omelet.
“That was Mary, from the police department. The autopsy came in for the dead diver we found.”
“And?” Harry prompted.
“Cause of death is still drowning,” I relayed, which caused my three companions to nod their heads knowingly, “only there’s a twist involved. Some neurotoxin was also found in his blood.”
“The Tetris toxin?” Jillian teased.
“Hey, it’s a long word,” I argued. “Tetrodotoxin. There, I finally got it right, only Mary’s not here. Oh, well.”
“Tetrodotoxin,” Harry solemnly repeated. “I’ve heard of that stuff, man. You don’t screw around with it.”
“How have you heard of it?” I wanted to know. “Did you take a class on toxins?”
“Kinda,” Harry said, nodding. “Quite a few of our classes did, actually. They focused on what we can do to keep the patient alive, and what not to give the patient to make them dead.”
I had been taking a drink from my soda when I snorted with amusement. Yep, there was the Harry I knew. His acerbic wit never grew old. And that, my friends, is called ‘sarcasm.’
“Ass,” I grumbled.
Jillian giggled and swatted my arm.
“I only ever saw it in use on tree frogs,” Harry admitted. “You can find some shitty things out in the tropics, bro.”
“Watch your language, Harrison,” Julie scolded.
“Sorry, Jillian,” Harry apologized.
Jillian nodded and waved a dismissive hand.
“Well, what should we do now?” Julie asked.
“We haven’t been asked to do anything with regards to the murder,” I said, shrugging. “However, I would like to take care of something that’s bothering me, and it requires doing a little research. However, this is your vacation, too, so if you don’t want to tag along, I’ll understand.”
“What’s on your mind?” Jillian wanted to know.
“That damn coin,” I answered. “I just don’t buy the odds. Yes, the dogs found it, and they’re amazing. I know it. You guys know it. Hell, I’m pretty sure they know it, too. Only...”
“...it doesn’t feel right,” Jillian finished for me.
I grinned, “Exactly.”
“What do you want to do?” my girlfriend asked.
“I want to find out more about that coin.”
“You want to go back to the coin dude’s place?” Harry asked.
“Not particularly,” I admitted. “There’s gotta be other research options at our disposal.”
“This is Monterey,” Jillian reminded us. “It’s known for its diving. I’m sure we’re not the only people who have ever found a strange coin. I’ll bet the local library has something to offer.”
“A library?” Harry whined. “Oh, man. Not my idea of fun, bro.”
“And what do you want to do that’s so important?” Julie asked, as she turned to her husband.
“Can’t we hit a bar or something? I could use a...”
My friend trailed off as he noticed the disapproving frown his wife was giving him. About to scowl, I caught Harry’s eye and then patted my own belly. Harry groaned.
“You’re on a diet now,” Julie reminded him. “If you’re looking for something to do, well, we could go snorkeling. That’d be fun, wouldn’t it?”
“That water is too cold for snorkeling, Jules,” Harry said, frowning. “We’d need the proper gear.”
“If you want, you could swing by the hotel and take the dogs out,” I suggested. “I would appreciate it, and so would they, I’m sure.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Julie assured us. “Come on, Harrison.”
“I get Sherlock this time,” I heard Harry’s voice say, as our two friends walked away.
Thirty minutes later, we had found the Monterey Public Library. Jillian promptly walked to the closest computer terminal and started tapping in commands.
“All right. I’m logged in, and I’ve got a search engine open. Now, what can you remember about that coin?” Jillian asked.
“It was Spanish,” I immediately said. “The year stamped on the coin was 1721. Oh, and something about reales. Chet said it was a two reales coin.”
I heard Jillian tapping on the keyboard as I relayed what I could remember. After a few moments, a list of results appeared on the screen. Jillian scrolled through a few before stopping at a familiar coin.
“That’s it,” I confirmed. “Do you see the castles in the top left and bottom right?”
“And the lions in the other two quadrants,” Jillian added, as she clicked on the image of the coin. “It says here it was minted for King Phillip V. It’s not necessarily a rare coin, as people have been buying and selling them at auction for years.”
“What’s it worth?” I wanted to know.
“Depends on the quality,” Jillian told me.
She entered in the search parameters at an auction website and sat back so I could see the results.
“Here’s one for $100. There’s one for $500, but there aren’t any bids. Yeah, I see what you mean. Some of the coins have sharp details. Others look as though they’ve been attacked by a sander.”
“Those are probably the coins that have been found underwater,” Jillian theorized.
“Makes sense.”
“They’re attributed to a lot of shipwrecks,” Jillian added, several minutes later.
“Oh? Which ones?”
“There are too many to name. Spain transported a lot of treasure during the years this particular coin was in circulation. It says here that a typical Spanish galleon could have been loaded with two million of these coins, weighing close to 60 tons. No wonder there were so many pirate ships during that time period. That must have been too tempting of a target to pass up. It must be why Pieces of Eight and doubloons have been found on the beaches of all the Americas.”
“That coin could have been part of a real-life pirate treasure horde,” I mused. “Incredible.”
“Zachary, you’re grinning like a schoolboy who has just been let out for the summer. What is it with men and pirate treasure?”
Before I could answer that, my cell rang. I checked the display and saw that another local Monterey number was calling, only this time, it wasn’t Mary, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Chet, the coin guy. Who else did I know in town?
“Hello?”
“Hi,” a woman’s voice hesitantly said. “Um, is this Zachary Anderson?”
“Well, you know me. Do I know you?”
“Actually, yes, you do. We met the other day. I’m Sherry. Sherry VanZanten. We, uh, met not long after Jack Carlton’s body had been discovered.”
“The woman hiding in the bushes,” I recalled.
“I wasn’t hiding!” Sherry protested. “Jeez, would you give a girl a break? You sound just like the police.”
“How did you get my number, Sherry?” I wanted to know. “We didn’t exchange contact information.”
“I’m sorry. I looked you up online.”
“My cell phone isn’t listed online,” I told the girl. “Would you care to try again?”
“All right! I’m sorry! I asked a friend at the police department to pass me your number.”
“See? Now that I can believe. Why have you called me, Sherry? Is there something I can do for you?”
“My friend says that you’re a police consultant in Oregon. Is that correct?”
“I hold several job titles. Police consultant is one of them. Why do you ask? If you have need of the police, then I would suggest you talk to an actual police officer, and that isn’t me, I’m sorry to say.”
“I need your help. I want you to find out who did this to Jack.”
“You said you were one of Jack’s volunteers, right?”
“What of it?”
“Well, I need to know something. Did Jack do a lot of diving in Monterey?”
“He liked looking for wrecks. Why do you ask?”
“Because I want to know. I want to know where he was diving, and who he was diving with. Did you know his most recent dive log is missing?”
“Why would you think I had something to do with that?”
“I didn’t say that you did. You just assumed I did. Man alive, why do you keep throwing questions back at me whenever I ask you one? If I didn’t know any better, then I’d say you’re hiding something, Sherry. What...”
The line went dead.
“Is everything okay?” Jillian asked, as she looked over at me. “I heard you say the name ‘Sherry.’ Wasn’t that the name of the woman who was found hiding in the bushes?”
“The one and the same,” I confirmed. “Sherlock and Watson led us right to her.”
Jillian nodded, “I remember her. What did she want? Wait. How did she get your number? Did you give it to her?”
“No. She said a friend of hers from the police department passed it on to her. As for what she wanted, get this. She says she wants me to find out who did this to Jack.”
“She’s the prime suspect right now, isn’t she?” Jillian asked.
“Yes. She said that she was told I was a police consultant from Pomme Valley, and therefore, wants me to find out who did this to Jack Carlton.”
“Did she call him by his full name or did she refer to him by his first name?”
I thought back to Sherry’s request.
“First name only. Is that important?”
“She totally had a thing for him,” Jillian deduced. “If it wasn’t intimate, then she wanted it to be.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“She had a crush on him.”
“Do you think she was stalking him?”
“Well, if she was, then she’d be the perfect person to talk to. Maybe she knew of someone who wanted Jack Carlton out of the picture.”
“Like a rival,” I guessed.
“Or enemy,” Jillian added. “Same thing, I guess.”
“Do you know what else she said?” I asked, as I recalled another part of Sherry’s cryptic conversation. “I asked her if she knew whether or not Jack Carlton liked to dive in Monterey. Sherry informed me that he liked looking for wrecks, and almost immediately afterward, she went on the defensive. Started asking questions every time I did. I think she was moments away from panicking, which was why she hung up on me.”
Jillian frowned, “She hung up on you? That’s rude. I don’t care who you are, you just don’t do that to people. Hmm. Zachary, why do you suddenly look so excited?”
I pointed back at the screen, which still showed pictures of the old Spanish coins.
“Don’t you get it? I think Jack Carlton was looking for sunken treasure ships, and that coin confirms it!”