“How far down do you think it is?” the First Lady pondered as she imagined chests of gold, family silver, and jewelry fit for a queen.
“Down?” Regina puzzled. “How far down what is?” she asked as Trip lay down in front of the mirror and continued to stare at himself, a bit puzzled.
“Based on the location in this Trooper Truth propaganda, ” the governor replied, “I’d say the treasure’s down pretty deep, because it’s in the crab sanctuary, which is in a trough of the bay, if I’m not mistaken. ”
“Well, that’s good, ” the First Lady said with relief. “The deeper the better, because it will make it all that much more difficult to find. I doubt those Tangier people have the proper gear to dive down and bring a big cannon to the surface. Why, it would sink one of their little boats. ”
Within the hour, news of the Tory Treasure screamed over the wire and blared over televisions and radios throughout Virginia, the U. S., and in particular, bombarded North Carolina. Commentators speculated that the people of Tangier would be excited into a furious frenzy because of the governor’s order that any waterman seen within five miles of the crab pot with its yellow buoy would be arrested by the Coast Guard, which had rushed to patrol that area of the bay. Treasure hunters and their vessels were on notice that they would be seized, the airspace between the Virginia coast and Tangier was restricted to all except authorized aircraft, and Naval vessels were preparing to form a blockade around the island.
Fonny Boy and Dr. Faux heard the news over the car radio after posting bond and leaving Richmond as quickly as possible. They sped toward Reedville, where the dentist intended to hop on the mailboat and bribe the captain to help them find the crab pot Fonny Boy had dropped in the water.
“The Coast Guard won’t be suspicious of the mailboat, ” the dentist reasoned as Fonny Boy stared tensely out the window, watching telephone poles fly by.
“That’s poor! It ain’t fittin’! The treasure, it’s mine!” Fonny Boy said every other minute.
“We’ll split it fifty-fifty, ” Dr. Faux reminded him. “You owe me for bond and whatever I end up paying the mail-boat captain. We’ll need gear, too, which will be expensive. There’s a bait and tackle shop near where the mailboat docks, but we’ve got to hurry, and for God’s sake, don’t do anything to cause trouble, Fonny Boy. If the police know we’ve left Richmond, we’ll be arrested again for jumping bail, and then the judge is really going to throw the book at us. ”
“They wouldn’t do nothing to us!” Fonny Boy’s backward talk meant that if they got caught while finding the treasure, they were really in trouble this time.
“And if the mailboat gets seized, who cares?” Dr. Faux replied. “It doesn’t belong to us. If questioned, we’ll just blame everything on the captain and say that we boarded the boat to mail a few letters and dental bills back to the island, and next thing we knew, the boat was speeding toward the treasure before we had a chance to get off. ”
“No!” Fonny Boy excitedly meant the opposite.
Major Trader and his cellmates learned the news, too, because one of the guards had a habit of wearing a Walkman with the sound turned up so loud prisoners could hear every tune, advertisement, and news release that leaked from his headset.
“Now listen here, ” Trader said. “Instead of wasting all your time trying to drown me in the toilet, let’s band together. If we can figure a way out of here, we can find that treasure first. ”
“You think so?” Slim Jim asked with nagging doubt. “I mean, even if we could get outta here, how we gonna find that crab pot and then haul all the treasure outta the bottom of the bay?”
“I can’t swim, ” Snitch added.
“Uh uh, I never could swim, ” Stick confessed.
“You don’t have to swim, you idiots!” Trader impatiently replied.
He had traded beds with the Mexican boy because if there was one thing Trader understood, it was office psychology. His maxim was fairly simple. If you wanted to feign friendship and sympathy, you sat the person you wished to manipulate in a nice living area with nothing between the two of you but a coffee table. If the objective was to intimidate, you sat at your desk, which became an imposing barrier between you and the individual you intended to terrorize. If you wished to confuse and humiliate, which had always been his preferred tactic with the governor, you poisoned the person with Ex-Lax and then insisted on having important discussions while walking through buildings or driving.