Finding the needle.

Later, Edward and Tatcher found themselves sitting in Mary's dining room. Mary had left for a walk, most likely in an attempt to keep herself from blowing up at Edward again. That's quite a temper she has, he thought trying to ignore the unpleasant feeling gnawing at his gut. It wasn't her anger that was bothering him. That he could deal with and even understand it. It was the thinly veiled disappointment beneath her anger. He thought back to the look she'd shot him as she'd stormed out and his heart sank in his chest. Get a hold of yourself, mate, he thought. So what if Mary feels disappointed. It's her problem, not yours.

"So have you found which one is the Jackdaw?" Tatcher asked. Edward looked down at the stolen pages in from of him and realised he had been staring at them for several minutes without reading a single word. Focus, he scolded himself.

"Not quite," said Edward. "How about you, found anything on our Captain Bates?"

Tatcher looked up from his laptop and nodded. "He began his career as a navy man, fought in West Indies during the war with Spain. He also spent quite a few years chasing pirates."

"Really?"

"Yes, he was actually part of the blockade around Nassau."

"Maybe that's why the name sounded familiar." Edward got up and grabbed a bottle of rum from the buffet. "And after that?"

Tatcher watched as he poured two glasses. "After that, he quite the Navy and was given an estate in Nassau as a reward for his service to the crown. There he became a merchant."

"Weapons?" asked Edward

"No, rum and luxury goods."

"So , we still don't know how he got the cannons."

"Or why the governor wanted to meet our guy." Tatcher searched his pocket, pulling out a small cigar and a match.

"Maybe he was switching sides," suggested Edward. "… and, Ed, no way in hell I'm letting you smoke near these pages."

"Fine," grumbled Tatcher, putting his cigar away. " But, I don't buy the switching side thing. From what I can read here, he seemed to be pretty big on the whole King and Country nonsense… but who knows. Everyone has their price." Tatcher, never one for moderation of any sort, drained his glass and poured himself a new one. "I just don't see why the governor of Cuba who had an armada at his dispositions, would need to consult or hire this man. "

"Maybe there is another connection between the governor and mister Bates we're just not seeing."

Tatcher shrugged. "Like what?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But we're missing something."

"Well, his manor in Nassau as been converted to a museum, they kept part of his correspondence, maybe there is something about his meeting with the Governor."

Edward nodded. So far, they had found many pieces of the puzzle, but the bigger picture still eluded him. An English captain invited by a Spanish governor. A Templar cross on a canon built hundreds of years after the order had been dismantled. A cargo shrouded in mystery. A stolen diary. Each an important piece of the puzzle, Edward was sure of it. He just couldn't see how they all fit together. What are we missing?

The plaze vieja's was lively with music and the sound of conversations rising from the terrace. Normally, Mary would have sat on a bench somewhere to enjoy all this merriment from afar, yet at the moment it was the last thing she was in the mood for. She paced angrily cursing between her teeth with each steps. It was all too familiar. She had done this so many time in another life, often for the same reason as right now. Fucking Edward Kenway. The man had been back in her life for two weeks and already he had her ripping her hair out.

She was so distracted; she barely felt her phone vibrating in her back pocket. Taking a few deep breaths, she reached for the phone and picked up.

"What?" she hissed, her voice much angrier than intended.

"And how are you doing on this fine day?" greeted Shaun, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Are things going well?"

"Fine, Shaun."

"So, is your friend just like you remembered?"

"More, than you can imagine," she spat out. "That arrogant fool is still leaving chaos in his wake."

Shaun chuckled. "Well, you must be over the moon."

Mary scoffed. Althought, she didn't admit it out loud, there was some truth in what Shaun had said. Yes, she was pissed off. Yes, he was driving her crazy at the moment, but in a weird way she had missed that. It reminded her of a happier time. After all, their relationship, or at least the one they use to have, was built on her providing him a good arse-kicking when he needed one.

As if he had read her mind, Shaun asked: "Has he shown any sign of recovering his memories?"

"Yes and no, but I'm not pushing too hard. I'm treading carefully."

"Of course. Sorry," Shaun said sadly. "And what about the case?"

"It moving along faster than I thought. By the way, I wanted to ask, do you have a file on a certain William Bates?"

"Let me see…" Shaun paused for a moment and the faint sound of key taps reached her ears. "Yes, we do and a pretty big one at that."

"Templar, then?"

"Don't make me state the obvious, dear." He paused, visibly uncomfortable with this next part. "He was more or less Wooden Rogers' successor in the order. I believe you remember him."

Mary didn't need to answer that question. Wooden Rogers was not a name she was likely to forget. It had been seared into her brain with burning white iron.

"Thank you Shaun," she said trying to keep the floodgates of her memories shut.

"Just make sure they don't find anything too big before, he remembers."

"Will do. Talk to you later."

"I think I found it…" Edward could scarcely believe it. He had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "I think I found the Jackdaw!"

"So, is that what you boys were looking for all along?"

Tatcher and Edward spun around only to find Mary leaning casually against the kitchen doorframe. An amused smile danced on her lips, a smile that said loud and clear: 'got you. She had found them with their pants down and there was no denying it. How did she even sneak up on us? wondered Edward. One of us should have heard her come in.

"Am I in or would you two gents rather I go wait in the stairwell until you are done talking?"

There was a loud snort and Tatcher's barking laughter filled the room. "All right lassy," he said still laughing. "I'd say you earned it. Don't you think, Edward?"

"Couldn't agree more."

Mary smiled and, after grabbing a glass for herself, took a seat beside Edward at the table. At least she doesn't seem too mad anymore, he thought relieved.

"You don't seem exactly surprised about the whole thing," noted Tatcher as she calmly refilled the glasses.

"I supposed not. You were both so secretive about this contract, I was expecting something big and mysterious and it looks like I was right." She winked at Tatcher and turned to Edward. "So, you've found something?"

Edward nodded. "Yes, right there," he said pointing to one of the pages stolen from the archives.

"And, what are we looking at exactly?" asked Tatcher as he glanced at the document.

"You don't see it?" asked Edward. "All right so we know Kenway was attacked by the Athena on june 27th and that while he managed to sink it, his ship was severely damaged. He even wrote that the second mast was practically collapsed…"

"He wrote?" interrupted Mary.

"In a travel log."

"And you have that?"

Edward and Tatcher exchanged a glance, both of them wincing slightly at the question.

"We have my notes on it…" Edward said finally. "Someone decided they needed the journal more than I."

Mary nodded, but didn't say anything else, instead waiting for him to continue.

"Anyway, he couldn't have gone very far with his ship in such a state. So I checked any damaged ship that arrived Havana during the week following the 27th."

"How many?" asked Tatcher.

"Five. Three of which were coming from the thirteen colonies and were apparently damaged in the same storm."

"That leaves us two. Are you sure the Jackdaw's among them?" asked Mary.

Edward shrugged. Of course, he couldn't be sure. In all honesty, the evidence he had was mostly circumstantial and he was making a leap of faith most scholars would have refuse to do without more evidence. Luckily, Edward wasn't a scholar.

"Well… both ships are brigs with a similar built, but I think it's that one," said Edward as he pointed to one of the same on the registry.

"The Saint-James?" said Tatcher not quite convicted

Mary frowned. "Why that one? "

"For one, that brig left before the repairs were finished and the docking fee and repair costs were covered by someone already in Havana. I don't know who it was but someone was expecting that ship."

"We know Kenway was headed to a rendezvous in Havana," said Tatcher.

"Right. There's also the names."

"The names?" said Tatcher and Mary with one voice.

Edward nodded, pointing at both the name of the ship's name and the captain's name on the form. Actually, it was that small detail which had attracted his attention before anything else.

"The Saint-James piloted by James Scott," read Tatcher. "Wait, wasn't Kenway's first wife a Scott?"

"The mother of his daughter, yes," grinned Edward. "Kenway wasn't suppose to return to the West Indies so he'd need an alias to travel and it only makes sense he'd pick something relating to his past."

"Still," said Mary. "Scott is a fairly common surname…"

"That's true, but it's not just the last name. James Scott Captain of the Saint-James."

"What's so special about James?" asked Mary, her tones oddly flat and controlled.

"It might be a long shot, but during his first years under the black flag, Kenway lead several raids with a pirate named James Kidd. They were friends."

"I've heard the name before. He disappeared later, didn't he?" she said.

Edward nodded. "No one knows for sure what happened to him. Probably, died in a raid."

"I even meet about a guy who claimed that James Kidd was nothing but one of Mary Read's old alias," chuckled Tatcher.

"Your name's not James, is it?"

She chuckled, her laugh hanging in the air around them. "Not most days."

Edward frowned. There it was again; hushed voices resounding in his mind. The words they whispered felt familiar, but he couldn't recall hearing them before nor did he really know what they meant. It was worrying. Especially since it was the second time it 'd happened today. It was like his dreams were leaking into his waking though. At least he hoped that's what it was. The only other alternative being that he was on the verge of insanity and slowly tipping over.

He emptied his glass twice, hoping the rum would quiet the whispers. The amber liquid fell to his stomach, tracing with fire the outline of his throat.

"Anyway," he said, putting his glass on the table. "Kidd was a member of Kenway's inner circle and it would be fitting to chose the name of a fallen comrade as an alias."

"That's quite an honour," said Mary. She looked down unable to meet his gaze. Edward was tempted to ask her if she was all right, but she didn't give him the time. She exhaled slowly and, forcing herself to look into his eyes, she asked: "Where do we search now?"

"Nassau," interrupted Tatcher who was going over the stolen page. "That's were we look next. Mister Bates came from there and James Scott listed it as is destination after Havana."

"If that is Kenway and he was traveling under an alias couldn't he have lied about his destination as well?"

Tatcher shook his head. "I've been going through your notes on the journal and one of the drawing you copied in there looked strangely familiar." Tatcher flipped through Edward's notebook until he found the right page. It showed a crude drawing of cliff. " … I just remembered where I'd seen it before. It's in Nassau, not that far from my place."

Mary refilled their glasses and raised hers to propose a toast. "To Nassau?"

"To Nassau," said the two men, raising their glasses as well.

That night, as he laid in one of Mary's guest rooms, Edward tossed and turned unable to will himself to sleep. He was exhausted, but his mind kept replaying their narrow escape from the archive on a loop. No, he thought with an exasperated groan. Edward King doesn't do regret. But thinking it didn't made it true.

Unable to quiet his mind, Edward got out of bed and left his room. The corridor was echoing with Tatcher's snores as he made his way toward the master's bedroom. He cracked the door open to see if Mary was asleep.

"Edward?" she asked with a yawn, propping herself up on her elbows.

"Sorry, to wake you up," he whispered as he slipped inside her room and came to sit at the edge of her bed.

Mary let her head fall back on the pillow. "What's going on?" she asked struggling to keep her eyes open. "Bad dreams, again?"

"No. I… I wanted to apologies for what happened at the archive. I acted like a complete cock and I'm sorry; I should have listen to you when you told me to go." Mary looked up at him, her eyes now open wide. She seemed taken aback, but only for a moment.

"I appreciate the apology," she said. A smile spread on her lips. It wasn't her usual secretive half grin tho. This smile was warmer, softer. "Even if you really behaved like a selfish arrogant fuck-"

"Glad we're clear on that," said Edward raising his hand in the air. "Better go back to bed before I do something to piss you off again."

"Wait." She scooted over, making room for him. "If you want," she offered.

"It's tempting" he admitted looking as the empty place next to her.

"Just to sleep, tho," she reminded him.

"Less tempting, but still." He kept his tone was playful, hiding behind the joke. In truth, he didn't really care about having sex with her. Well, no, that was a lie. Edward had been attracted to her since the first moment he had seen her, but his desire to share her bed was more complex than that. Having her near seemed to repel the dreams plaguing his nights. It made him feel safe in a way he couldn't quite explain.

Edward slide under the sheets beside her with a satisfied yawn.

"Thanks," he said. Already, he could feel himself his eyelids growing heavy. "It's actually kindda nice to just sleep next to someone for a change."

"Not going soft on me, are you?" she whispered playfully.

"Not everywhere…" he said with a grin

A laugh escaped Mary's lips against her will. As always, he made it impossible for her to stay crossed with him for very long.

"Keep it in your pants."

"Aye, Captain!"

Mary bit back a smile. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Kidd…" he replied as he closed his eyes.

He felt Mary's body tense up next to him. "What did you just say?" she asked, sitting up.

Edward turned toward her, his eyes blinking rapidly to stay open. "Goodnight Mary. Why?"

"Are you sure that's what you said?"

"Yes, of course" he yawned. "…Isn't it?"

"I must have misunderstood. Sorry," she said as she laid back down, facing away from him. "Goodnight, Edward."