“Away So Far.”
“We need to find out more about the place before we go to Horton. Any ideas?”
“You can only go there for lunch and they want you back on the ferry in two hours.” Louis was pacing and stopped abruptly, his eyes focusing on the baby skull sitting on his bookshelf.
“Louis? You there?”
“Yeah,” Louis said. “I just figured out where to get some answers.”
CHAPTER 34
The sun was still low and the morning air still cool as the boat sliced through the calm water of Charlotte Harbor. The old man let them off at Bessie Levy’s stilt house and Louis helped Landeta climb the ladder.
Louis had called ahead and Bessie was sitting out on the porch, coffee mug in hand, when they came around to her front door.
“Gonna be another scorcher today,” she said, taking her feet off the railing and rising. She looked up at Landeta.
“Who’s this? Dr. Mid-Nite?”
“Old comic book hero,” Landeta said to Louis and then extended his hand. “I’m Detective Landeta, Mrs. Levy.”
Bessie wiped her hand on her trousers and shook Landeta’s hand “Take a load off,” she said gesturing toward the old aluminum lawn chairs. “You want some coffee?”
“That would be nice,” Landeta said.
Bessie went inside and Landeta folded himself into one of the chairs. Louis stood by the railing staring out at the silvery water. He was trying to figure out where Away So Far Island was, but there were a dozen green clumps out there, each with another one hiding behind it.
Bessie brought out a tray, setting it on a lobster trap next to Landeta. “So what’s this about some island?” she asked Louis.
“Away So Far,” Louis said. “We need to know about it.”
Bessie arched an eyebrow as she poured coffee into a mug and handed it to Landeta. “Why you want to know about that place?”
“Did you hear about the man who jumped off the ferry last week and drowned?” Louis asked.
Bessie shrugged. “I don’t have a TV and I don’t bother with the papers anymore. But I heard them talking over at Cap’n Con’s. Some crazy tourist, right?”
“No, he was local,” Louis said. “He was coming from Away So Far. We just need to check it out.”
Bessie looked dubious but she finally gave a shrug and handed Louis a mug of coffee. “Well, for starters, that ain’t its real name,” she said. “It was originally called Isla de los Huesos.”
“Island of...” Mel began.
“Island of Bones,” Bessie said. “This whole place was crawling with the Spanish once and that’s what they called the island. Hueso is the word for bone and it sounds like ‘away so.’ Someone else added the ‘far’ I guess ’cuz it’s so far out there. Folks round here just always called it Away So Far.”
Louis stirred sugar into his coffee. “Who owns it?”
“A family named del Bosque,” Bessie said. “Nobody knows much about ’em really. They’ve owned the place for generations and they’ve always kept to themselves, living off their fishing and oystering plus what they could hunt and grow out there. The restaurant started out as a shack back in the fifties, just a tiki-hut up on the hill where local fishermen would stop in for a beer. But then the Topsider crowd starting showing up, looking for a place to slum, so the family figured they could make some money off ’em.”
“It looks like a house,” Louis said.
Bessie nodded. “Yeah, they built the restaurant sometime in the sixties.” She curled her lip. “Tourist trap, that’s all it is.”
“So, no one from there has much contact with the mainland?” Landeta asked.
Bessie just shook her head. Louis was sure Landeta had not seen it, so he asked, “Not even the kids? What about school?”
“Home schooling, I hear,” Bessie said, sipping her coffee. “Poor kids. Can you imagine what their lives must be like?” She shrugged. “But then, lots of folks round here like to keep to themselves. I guess that’s why no one ever thought twice about Isla de los Huesos. As long as they pay their taxes and get their health department certificate approved every year, nobody gives a damn what goes on out there.”
It was quiet for a moment. Just the gentle lapping of the water on the pilings below and the screech of a gull overhead.
Louis was trying to connect the dots. Del Bosque was a Spanish name. Frank had that book on Asturias. Was he from the Island of Bones? Is that why he went back?
Louis looked over at Landeta. He was staring out over the glittering waters of Charlotte Harbor. Louis knew Landeta couldn’t see what was out there, but he knew his thinking was on the same track as his own. But they still had no proof to take back to Horton.