Page 70 of Camino Ghosts

“Yes, sir.”

“Instead, you’re here in this courtroom, correct?”

“Pretty obvious.”

“Are you being paid to testify?”

Monty had prepped his witnesses well and the question was expected. “Yes, sir, I’m being paid, same as you.”

“How much?”

Monty stood with a smile and said, “Your Honor, please.”

“Objection sustained. Do not answer.”

“No further questions.”

“You are excused, Mr. Purdy.”

Donnie Bohannon owned a charter service and specialized in catching sailfish in the Atlantic. He was forty-one, with the lined, bronze face and bleached hair of a man who spent his life in the sun. He had never been to Dark Isle but passed by almost every day, to and from the central marina in Santa Rosa. In the past eighteen years, he had seen nothing on the beaches. Hurricane Leo hit it hard and destroyed many trees, but there was no sign of life.

Roger Sullivan was a fishing guide who worked the bay side in smaller craft. The one-mile gap between Dark Isle and the mainland was a prime breeding pool for grouper, wahoo, and flounder. He passed close to the island every day and had seen no signs of life in many years. There was once a herd of deer, but they disappeared after Leo.

Ozzie Winston was a retired harbormaster at the Santa Rosa marina and a native of Camino Island. Brad Shore ran a scuba operation. Their testimony was more of the same: a knowledge of Dark Isle based on years of passing by it, familiarity with its legends and stories, and certainty that there had been zero human activity on the island in their lifetimes.

Monty’s point was simple and effective: Even if Lovely visited her island for years, as she claimed, those visits had stopped long ago.

As the lunch hour approached, he made the decision to rest his case. In preparation for the trial, his strategy had been to attack the credibility of Lovely’s case by casting doubts about her story. However, she had done a marvelous job in holding her own, and Monty was convinced Judge Burch was sympathetic to her.

What else could Tidal Breeze and the state of Florida prove? Dark Isle had in fact been inhabited by former slaves, both before and after statehood. Lovely claimed to be the last of their descendants and her testimony was believable. How could they prove otherwise? The archaeologists had found a real cemetery.

Judge Burch was always ready for lunch, but when he realized the lawyers were winding down he said, “I’ll allow each party to take a few minutes for a recap. But I don’t need to hear much. Mr. Mahon.”

The lawyers were caught off guard, but none had an advantage. Steven stood, without notes, and said, “Sure, Judge. We began this dispute with Tidal Breeze denying everything, the usual tactic. Tidal Breeze denied humans ever inhabited Dark Isle and denied my client ever lived there. We know now that those denials were hogwash. It’s so refreshing to see the state of Florida suddenly have a keen interest in the island. For almost two hundred years the state had nothing to do with it. No schools, no roads, no bridges, no clinics, no electricity, no phone service. Nothing, absolutely nothing, Your Honor. Lovely Jackson and her people lived in poverty on their island. Health care didn’t exist. Diseases were common. The life expectancy was at least twenty years lower than average. But they survived because they had to and because they were proud and treasured their freedom. Now, the state has crawled into bed with a big-time developer, Tidal Breeze, and the state is in this courtroom right now fighting for ownership of Dark Isle.

“And something else to think about, Judge. The state and Tidal Breeze make much of their allegation that Lovely abandoned the island when she was fifteen years old. But did she? Did she really relinquish control? Most of us educated white men scoff at the notion of a curse hexed upon the island over two hundred years ago by a young African witch doctor, or voodoo priestess. We might snicker and whisper that it’s a fantasy no reasonable person could really believe. We’re much too sophisticated for such silliness. Well, if that’s so, then I challenge any of my colleagues on the other side of the courtroom to take a shot. Go down to the marina, rent a boat, take a ride across the bay, and have a stroll around Dark Isle.”

Evan Killebrew had said little during the trial. He wasn’t expected to, not with such high-powered talent in the room. He stepped to the podium and said, “Well, Your Honor, putting aside the rather colorful history that we have enjoyed so far this week, I urge the Court to turn its attention back to the law, the black-and-white language of the statute that clearly says all deserted and abandoned islands in our waters belong to the state of Florida. Beyond that, what the state does with its property is not relevant in this lawsuit. If the state wants to sell the island to Tidal Breeze, or to anyone else, then that is simply not relevant today.”

Killebrew sat down as Monty stepped to the podium. “I’ll be brief.”

“I know you will.”

“Thank you. For sixty-five years, Ms. Jackson did nothing to enforce her legal rights as the owner of the island.”

Judge Burch startled them with “Excuse me, Mr. Martin, but she tried to pay the property taxes for about fifty years.”

“Yes, but since she didn’t own the property, then no taxes were due, Your Honor. No one owed taxes on the island because there was no owner.”

Judge Burch looked away, unconvinced.

“A year ago, the local paper, The Register, ran a front-page story about a proposed development called Panther Cay. Suddenly, after sixty-five years of silence, Ms. Jackson hires a lawyer, Mr. Mahon, a noted environmental litigator, to represent her in a title action. Mr. Mahon, by his own admission, does not do property or title work. In the same newspaper, he was quoted and was, shall we say, rather disdainful of Panther Cay. He promised legal action by his nonprofit.”

“What are you saying, Mr. Martin?” Judge Burch interrupted again.

“I’m saying it looks suspicious.”

“You’re saying Mr. Mahon tracked down Ms. Jackson, solicited her case, and filed it to stop the development?”

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