Page 93 of Southernmost Murder

“No!” I screamed.

I saw red.

Nothing but raw, sheer fury coursed through my veins.

I wasn’t going to lose Jun to this fucking pirate treasure.

I couldn’t let myself become the modern-day Rogers.

I raised the dagger still clutched in my hand and threw it with every ounce of strength and ferocity I had within me.

Chapter Sixteen

I STOODin front of a new tombstone. The earth was still freshly packed. The morning air held that sweet, cool scent of disturbed soil that I imagined existed deep in the wildest of forests. And like a forest, besides some birds chirping nearby, it was quiet.

Some vacation this turned out to be.

I blinked back a few rogue tears and wiped my nose on the back of my hand.

“Indy.”

I glanced up, shielding my eyes from the morning sun as I looked at Jun. “What?”

“You okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

He stroked my hair for a few moments before handing over a bouquet of fresh flowers. I took it with a murmur of thanks and set it in front of the slab of granite.

“You did right by them,” he said.

“I hope so.”

Jun put his arm over my shoulders and pulled me closer until I wrapped myself around his back and chest, giving him a tight, sideways hug. “You did,” he said again. “You fulfilled both of their wishes.”

Thomas J. Smith had been identified by the local medical examiner, based on the physical facts we had on the former sea captain and part-time pirate king. After discussing it with Ms. Price and the rest of the nonprofit board, they all agreed to paying the expenses for him to be laid to rest in the local cemetery, based on his last wishes. More importantly, we had a lengthy chat with the city of St. Augustine and the museum that had been entrusted with Rogers’s estate, as he had no living relatives, and Edward’s body had been moved down to Key West. So Jun and I ended our vacation by paying respects to the couple, finally together after over a hundred years, one treasure hunt, and a few murders later.

“How’s Tillman?” I asked after we’d both been silent for a while.

“He’s doing fine. Recovering nicely.”

I hugged Jun a bit tighter.

Herb had shot him without a second of hesitation last week, and in those horrifying seconds that followed, as I watched Jun fall, I thought I’d lost him. Thank God his vest did its job underneath the jacket he’d worn. And as for Herb….

“Herb?” I asked.

“He had a tetanus shot prior to being stabbed with that dagger.”

I grunted. “Good thing.” Did I sound bitter and sarcastic, or was it just me?

Jun tightened his hold. “He’ll be going to prison.”

“I wish Curtis was,” I muttered. “I mean, he should have paid for all he did. Dying was the easy way out.”

Jun just petted my head in response.

At what point other people began showing up in the cemetery, I wasn’t sure, but suddenly we weren’t alone anymore.