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“I was the dockmaster for the Bonefish Key Inn back when every fisher out at the bar After the hotel got beat up by Hurricane Charlie, the oent bankrupt When the ht the property, they fixed up the inn Dr Kane asked me to run the water taxi and carry supplies I used to be pretty busy running staff people back and forth, but that’s all quieted down some”

“Aside fro many visitors out here?”

“Nope The folks at the lab aren’t the friendliest peopleScientists” He shook his head Then, realizing his faux pas, he added, “Oh, hell, you a scientist?”

“Yes, Dooley, but I’ smile “And I knohat you mean I talked to Dr Mayhew on the phone”

“Preachin’ to the choir,” Dooley said with a grin like an old picket fence

He reached into his work-shirt pocket and pulled out a worn business card that he handed to Gamay

“I don’t live on the island,” he said “Call et off it Phones don’t work there unless you climb up the water tower”

“Dr Mayhew called me from the island”

“They got a radiotelephone setup for eencies and for the mucky-mucks to use”

The boat left the open water and wound its way through a greeninto Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Eventually, they rounded a turn and headed to an island that was s The pointed top of the white water tower Dooley had mentioned rose above the trees like a coolie hat He tied the boat to the small dock and turned off the motor

A grassy slope rose up to a patio and the veranda of a white-stucco building It was practically hidden in the sun-baked pal their da the shore It was a picturepostcard perfect Florida scene, but the place gave her an uneasy feeling Maybe it was the reetation, or simply the unearthly stillness

“It’s so quiet,” she said, unintentionally speaking in almost a whisper “Almost spooky”

Dooley chuckled

“The lodge’s built on an Indian ed to the Calusa before the white man killed them off or made them sick with disease People still pick up on the bad stuff”

“Are you saying the island is haunted, Dooley?”