In My Heart // GAWSTEN

The Man In the Picture

"Treasure hunter Brock Lovett is best known for finding Spanish gold in sunken galleons in the Caribbean. Now he's using deep submergence technology to work two and a half miles down at another famous wreck - the Titanic. He is with us live via satellite from a Russian research ship in the middle of the Atlantic... Hello, Brock?"

"Yes, hi, Tracy. You know, Titanic is not just a shipwreck; Titanic is the shipwreck. It's the Mount Everest of shipwrecks. Everyone knows the familiar stories of Titanic. You know, the nobility of the band playing to the very end and all that. But what I'm interested in are the untold stories. The secrets locked deep inside the hull of Titanic."

That grabs Geoff's attention. He stops plucking at the strings on his old guitar and turns his full attention to the small television.

"I've planned this expedition for three years, and we're out here recovering some amazing things," the man on the screen says. "Things that will have enormous historical and educational value."

The reporter responds, "But it's no secret that education is not your main purpose, Mr. Lovett. You're a treasure hunter. So what is the treasure you're hunting?"

"I'd rather show you than tell you, and we think we're very close to doing just that."

Geoff slowly stands up and sets his guitar down. He walks into the living room, an old, black cat at his heels. Geoff turns up the TV.

"Your expedition is at the center of a storm of controversy over salvage rights and even ethics. Many are calling you a grave robber."

The guy – Mr. Lovett - chuckles. "Nobody called the recovery of the artifacts from King Tut's tomb grave robbing. I have museum-trained experts here making sure this stuff is preserved and catalogued properly. Look at this drawing, which was found today..."

Chills cover Geoff's arms as the video camera pans off of the treasure hunter and onto the portrait, which rests in a tray of water.

"...a piece of paper that's been underwater for 84 years... and my team are able to preserve it intact. Should this have remained unseen at the bottom of the ocean for eternity, when we can see it and enjoy it now?"

"I'll be goddamned," Geoff whispers.

---

"Mr. Lovett, there's a satellite call for you."

"Bobby, we're launching. See these submersibles here, going in the water? Take a message."

"No, trust me, you want to take this call," the guy insists.

Lovett gives him a glare.

"Trust me, sir," he repeats. "You really need to hear this. But he's kinda old – you're gonna have to speak up."

Lovett sighs and reaches for the phone. "This is Brock Lovett," he says loudly. "What can I do for you, Mr..." He covers the phone with one hand, looking pointedly at the assistant.

"Geoff Wigington," the man quickly supplies.

"Mr. Wigington?"

"I was just wondering if you had found the Heart of the Ocean yet, Mr. Lovett."

Lovett almost drops the phone.

"I told you you wanted to take this call," his assistant mutters at the shocked expression on Mr. Lovett's face.

"Alright. You have my attention, Geoff. Can you tell me who the man in the picture is?"

"Oh, yes. The man in the picture is me."

---

"He's a goddamned liar! A nutcase," one of the team proclaims as they walk to meet the landing helicopter. "He says he's Geoffrey Donald Wigington, right? Geoffrey Donald Wigington died on the Titanic – at the age of seventeen. If he'd have lived, he'd be over a hundred now."

"A hundred and one next month," Lovett murmurs.

"Okay, so he's a very old goddamned liar. I traced him as far back as the 20s... he was working as a guitarist in L.A. A guitarist. His name was Geoff Wigington. Then he married a man named Ragosta, moved to Cedar Rapids, adopted two kids. Now Ragosta's dead, and from what I've heard, Cedar Rapids is dead."

Lovett chooses then to interject. "And everybody who knows about the diamond is supposed to either be dead... or on this ship. But he knows about it." He points at his team. "And I want to hear what he has to say. Got it?"

---

"Can I get you anything? Is there anything you'd like?" Lovett asks once he's escorted Geoff inside. He meant something along the lines of a drink or someplace to sit, so Geoff's answer isn't what he's expecting.

"Yes," he says softly. "I would like to see my drawing."

Lovett nods. "Right this way."

The pair head to the preservation area of the lab deck. Geoff looks at the paper in its tray of water, thinking about how much he's changed in the last eighty-four years. How much everything has changed.

The drawing sways and ripples, almost as if it were alive. Geoff can't tear his ancient eyes away from it. It's exactly the way he's been picturing it all this time.

"Louis the Sixteenth wore a fabulous stone called the Blue Diamond of the Crown," Lovett says as Geoff gazes at the art. "It disappeared in 1792, about the time Louis lost everything from the neck up. The theory goes that the crown diamond was chopped too. Recut into a heart-like shape... and it became Le Coeur de la Mer. The Heart of the Ocean. Today it would be worth more than the Hope Diamond."

"It was a dreadful, heavy thing," Geoff murmurs. He points at the drawing. "I only wore it this once."

"I tracked it down through insurance records," Lovett explains, "an old claim that was settled under terms of absolute secrecy. Do you know who the claimant was, Mr. Wigington?"

He's quiet for a second, and then - "Someone named Hockley, I should imagine."

"Nathan Hockley, right. Pittsburgh steel tycoon. The record is of a diamond necklace his son Caledon Hockley bought in France for his fiancé... you... a week before he sailed on Titanic. And the claim was filed right after the sinking, so the diamond had to have gone down with the ship. See the date?"

"April 14, 1912," Geoff whispers. That date has been burned into his brain; he'll never forget it.

"If you are who you say you are, you were wearing the diamond the day Titanic sank." He gives that a moment to resonate before he smiles. "And that makes you my new best friend. I will happily compensate you for anything you can tell us that will lead to its recovery."

"I don't want your money, Mr. Lovett. I know how hard it is for people who care greatly for money to give some away."

Lovett is skeptical. "You don't want anything?"

Geoff points at the drawing again. "You may give me this, if anything I tell you is of value."

"Deal," Lovett nods.

Geoff's eyes catch on a monitor that's playing a reimagining of the boat splitting, and his breath seems to get stuck in his chest.

Lovett follows his gaze. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Geoff huffs a flat laugh. "Well... of course, the experience of it was... somewhat different."

Lovett swallows. He hesitantly asks, "Will you share it with us?"