Patricia put the photo back down next to Eugene, then lit her candle and replaced it. She was still for a moment, but when she turned away from the altar, she was smiling sadly. "Thank you, Tio." She hugged Don Rodolfo.

He patted her back, then held her out at arm's length. "Todas las cosas tienen su tiempo." He smiled.

"Cierto."

Thomas followed them back to the table, his hands deep in his pockets.

All the energy drained from Thomas when he stepped into the boat. He dropped back into the rear corner seat and barely managed not to fall over.

Patricia, stepping off the restaurant's boat behind him, said, "Are you all right?"He shrugged. "Ask me in about ten hours."

She sat down beside him, in the middle of the seat. Moses sat in the other corner.

Seaman Guterson went forward and unclipped their line from the mooring buoy.

Before he let go, he called out, "Where to, sir?"

Thomas flopped his head over, looking at Patricia, and raised his eyebrows.

"Where you picked me up will work for both of us, I think. You didn't take your boat in to work today, did you?" she asked Moses.

"No-the Intercity."

"Right then," said Patricia.

She smiled at Seaman Guterson and Thomas felt an unreasonable stab of jealousy. Thomas turned his hand over in lazy assent, and Guterson started the boat up and headed for the open middle of the bay, where he could run at planing speed.

The air was still warm and the lights reflected off the rippling water creating up-side down impressionistic towers. He was drowsily aware of her warmth, almost-but not quite-touching him. In a soft voice he said, "Was it almost dying?

Is that why you decided it was time to come back to Cosas Muertas del Mar?

Before you didn't have another chance?"

She looked at him and leaned closer, also talking softly. "Partly. Partly it was the encounter with Geoffrey. I'm almost grateful to Geoffrey, for showing up when he did. He's such an, uh, extreme. One of life's extremes. Like almost dying.

"I am grateful to you. If you hadn't been there-if I hadn't needed to explain it-I wouldn't have pulled the whole mess back to the surface. It dropped Dad's death into a greater perspective. Extremes do that, I guess." She slumped slightly, matching his posture, her shoulder touching his. "We carry these things around with us, unexamined, and only when we really look at them, take them out in the sunlight and dust off the cobwebs, do we realize we can finally put them down."

Again, Thomas felt like he'd been slugged in the stomach. He thought back to Eugene's photo. The guilt was still there, the grief. But something had changed.

Perspective? He repeated what Don Rodolfo had said to Patricia. "Todas las cosas tienen su tiempo."

He felt her nod. "Yes, all things have their time."

She stopped talking then, leaning her head back against the seat to look up at the stars. Thomas followed her example.

He woke up, startled, Seaman Guterson standing over him. He looked around.

They were at the Hertz Rent-a-Boat facility by the airport Hilton. He sat up and felt something slide off him to his lap. He picked it up. It was a silk jacket, the onePatricia had been wearing.

He looked up at Guterson.

"When I dropped them at the pier, she said not to wake you, sir. I didn't realize she'd left her jacket."

Thomas carefully hung the jacket over his arm. "That's all right, Mr. Guterson.

I'll just have to make sure it gets back to her."

CONNECTED.

ENTER USER ID CODE: XXXXXXX.

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CHECKING ATTENDEE LISTS FOR CURRENT SESSIONS. YOU ARE.

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"JAZZ," ENCRYPTION LEVEL EPSILON. ATTENDING:.

[BEEP] [VID WINDOW LT. HAMILTON GRAHAM].

Morning, sir.

[BEEP] [VID WINDOW ENS. BARTHOLOMEW TERKEL].

Morning, Commander.

[BEEP] [VID WINDOW MED. EXAM. RICHARD PRICE].

Good morning, Tom. It's been a long time.

[BEEP] [VID WINDOW COMDR. THOMAS BECKET].

Gentlemen. Thanks for connecting. I thought we'd review our progress to date.

Why don't we start with the victims? Okay by you, Dick?

[VIDWIN PRICE].

Fine by me. You want to start with the crew or those unfortunates in the hold?

[VIDWIN BECKET].

Your choice.

[VIDWIN PRICE]All right, the crew. They were pretty much stripped and scattered by sharks and lesser predators. We had to resort to gross DNA typing to sort the bones. Captain K. K. Mok was identified by the mandibular tori of his upper jaw. His lower jaw is still missing as are several other of the smaller bones as well as his left hip and femur.

Several of the major bones were splintered consistent with ballistic impacts and we found an embedded slug in his right hip. It's grossly deformed, but the ballistic wallas tell me it's jacketed fifty-caliber. Degree of trauma almost certainly indicates he died from gunfire and quickly.

[VIDWIN BECKET].

Where did the dental records come from?

[VIDWIN GRAHAM].

Abbott detention facility. Mok was skipper of another ship and did two years hard time for smuggling illegals. He was clearly a cog in a larger organization, but he always claimed he was an independent. The confiscated vessel was registered in Panama in his name, but his finances weren't up to that. When he was released, he spent a week in the refugee camp, then checked out via work sponsorship, signing on with a Panamanian freighter as second mate. [VIDWIN BECKET]

And the registry of the Open Lotus?

[VIDWIN GRAHAM].

Panamanian.

[VIDWIN BECKET].

Well, we'll get back to the ship in a bit. Please go on, Dick.

[VIDWIN PRICE].

That's about it for Captain Mok's remains. Our next contestant is John Doe One.

We're missing most of his head, so dental records were not an option. The fragment of the skull we did recover, a piece of the zygomatic arch, is splintered-consistent with gunfire, again. His head probably exploded, and the fish carried off the bits. I'd be willing to bet he died immediately.

[VIDWIN BECKET].

Sorry to interrupt again, but do we have an idea of when "immediately" was?

That is, when did this attack take place? And was it sunk then or later?

[VIDWIN GRAHAM].

What we have are several complaints to the Federal Communications Commission on the thirteenth about oh-one-fifteen. The times reported vary by five minutes, but they all agree that there was a two-minute burst of white noise covering the entire VHF spectrum. Three of the plaintiffs got a bearing on the disturbance.

The points of convergence are the current wreck site, plus or minus three hundredyards.

[VIDWIN BECKET].

Hmmm, five days ago. Three days before Ms. Beenan stumbled across it. So they jammed them, presumably during the attack. How does that correlate with the state of the bodies? [VIDWIN PRICE]

The degree of faunal interaction can vary intensely in waters this warm, but the degree of bacterial gas buildup-in the tissues of those relatively protected in the hold-brackets that time.

[VIDWIN TERKEL].

Huh?

[VIDWIN PRICE].

That time of death and immersion works.

[VIDWIN TERKEL].

Oh.

[VIDWIN BECKET].

Okay. Please continue, Dick. I'll try and keep from interrupting again.

[VIDWIN PRICE].

John Doe two is pretty much the same story. Death by gunfire. Defleshing and scattering by the busy mouths of the sea. Parts are missing. No hits from CODIS-II or dental records.

[BEEP] [TEXTWIN] MSG FROM ENS. TERKEL:.

what is codis two?

[VIDWIN PRICE].

Any questions before we move on to the hold?

[VIDWIN BECKET].

No.

[TEXTWIN] MSG TO ENS. TERKEL:.

combined dna indexing system, fbi maintained, mostly convicted felons and unidentified crime scene data, but also anybody booked for a crime or screened for military or police enlistment. you're in it.

[VIDWIN PRICE].

We have eighteen adult John Does, twelve adult Jane Does, nine minor JohnDoes, and eight minor Jane Does. No hits through CODIS-II or dental. I've got one tattooed ankle that was covered by a lace-up boot-that's Jane Doe nine. It doesn't help much-it's a circlet of thorns motif that shows up all over the world.

[BEEP] [AUXWIN PRICE].

Jane Doe-9: Ankle tattoo [Image]

[VIDWIN PRICE].