Dr. Vinson pointed to the chest area. “The ribs on the right are mostly intact. The left side is shattered.”
“Is that something that could have happened after she died?” Scott asked.
“I doubt it. If something fell on her or the bones at some point after death, they would have broken, but it’s not likely they would have shattered. A coroner would be able to tell you more.”
A student interrupted their conversation to get guidance from Dr. Vinson.
“Are you ready for the real reason you’re here?” Dr. Vinson asked them when she was finished.
“Sure,” Scott said.
She escorted them to another lab down the hall. “They’ve been working on your daguerreotype.”
“Our what?” Aury asked.
Dr. Vinson smiled. “Daguerreotype. It’s a way of taking a photograph used in the early 1800s. A highly polished silver surface was attached to a copper surface, then exposed to iodine fumes to make it sensitive to light. The plate was put in a camera. After exposing it to light, the photo was developed with mercury vapor.”
“Quite the process,” Scott said.
“It was the first commercial photographic process. They’re very delicate and easily damaged. Yours was in a protective case, so it fared better than most.”
Dr. Vinson opened the door to the lab for them. “Stanley, these are the owners of the daguerreotype.”
Aury pointed at Scott. “He is. I’m just along for the mystery.”
Dr. Stanley Ross shook hands with them. “Great find. Thanks for sharing with us. Would you like to see it so far?”
“Yes,” Scott and Aury said in unison.
He escorted them to a workstation where the photograph was inside a protective enclosure. “We have to wait for new glass to be cut so we can reassemble the photo and reseal it. We don’t want any further damage done to the picture inside. I wanted to show you what we found when we took the dag frame from the case.”
He picked up a yellowed piece of paper and handed it to Scott. “Does this mean something to you?”
Scott read,
“When you are searching for more
And there is grass beneath your toes
You know where to look.
Just follow your nose.”
Scott shook his head. “One more thing for us to figure out, I guess.”
They said their good-byes and left Dr. Ross to his work. As they walked out of the college building, Aury’s mind struggled to piece out the new clue.
“Searching for more what?” she said.
“Flowers? It says follow your nose,” Scott offered.
“But she already hid something in the flower garden. She wouldn’t send them to the same place again.”
“There must have been more than one garden. But how does this clue point us to a particular one?”
“Grass beneath your toes? That just tells me it’s outside. Where else would a garden be?”
“Good point. Maybe it isn’t a garden. What can be outside or inside?”
“The outhouse?” Scott said.
“Yikes. Following your nose would fit for that, but not ‘when you’re searching for more.’ If you want more, it’s a good smell, right?”
They reached Aury’s car, and she leaned against it. “I’ve been doing some internet searches on birth and death records from the 1800s. There has been a law on the books as early as 1632 that required ministers to record births and deaths. Virginia passed a law in 1853 that put it in the hands of the commissioner of revenue.”
“Leave it up to the tax organization to make sure they account for every penny,” Scott said.
Aury smiled her agreement. “Now those records are in the state archives in Richmond. I thought I’d drive up there on Friday and see what’s available.”
“What are you looking for specifically?”
“James, Noah, and Mary didn’t return to Eastover, as far as we can tell.”
“Unless the skeleton is Mary’s,” Scott pointed out.
Aury agreed. “But at least I might be able to find something about James and Noah.”
“I’ll leave you to the book research. I have to touch base with my office this week, so they know I’m still on the payroll.”
Aury straightened up, and Scott opened her door for her. “When are you coming out to Eastover?” he asked.
“I was hoping to bring Gran out on Friday. Does that work for you?”
“Sounds perfect. See you then.”
After he walked away, Aury sat in her car and made a list of questions she wanted answers to. What happened to James and Noah? She assumed they died, or they would have returned. Maybe they did, but Mary hadn’t updated her diary.
A thought struck her. What if they had come back and the treasure was gone? Maybe there was no mystery at all. As she turned this over in her mind, she felt silly. She had gotten excited over nothing.
She jotted down more things on her list.
Check the family Bible for death records
Check Surry County oldest church records
Cemetery headstones?
Military records for James or Noah
She set her pen aside and stared out the window into the dark. What had happened to the kids? She picked up her pen and added another item.
Death records for all the kids
* * * * *
Friday, Aury picked Gran up after lunch for their trip to Richmond.
“How did you wrangle another day off?” Gran asked.
“I worked this morning. It was scheduled as a half-day because some of the employees are going to a conference in northern Virginia, and they wanted a head start on traffic.”
As they waited for the archivist to bring them the material they had requested, Gran took in the architecture of the library.
“A little too modern for my taste,” she said.
“Thanks for coming with me, Gran.”
Gran patted her hand. “I love the chance to visit Richmond. I don’t do it near often enough anymore.”
“We should make it a point to come up at least monthly. There’s plenty to do here. They even have a quilt show in October each year.”
“Let’s do that,” Gran agreed.
“Here you go,” the archivist said, handing over a number of volumes and three spools of microfiche. “Do you know how to use the machine?”
“Yes, thank you,” Aury replied. “Gran, let’s take the room on the right.”
The ladies settled into the niche that held a microfiche machine, a small table, and two chairs. While Aury threaded the machine, Gran looked through the books. Soon she was lost in the past.
An hour later, Aury pushed away from the machine. “I searched Surry, York, and James City Counties, but I haven’t found anything on James or Noah Townsend.”
“Did you try various spellings?”
“Yes, I thought of that. Nothing close.”
“What about Mary?”
“There are so many Marys in that period, I’m not sure where to start. Townsend was a common name. There was nothing in Surry or James City Counties, but York County has a short note about a Mary Townsend who died in 1862 of typhoid. No birth date. It lists her as married but doesn’t name her husband.”
“If she died of typhoid, maybe the kids caught it as well,” Gran said.
“But they couldn’t have all died of it or Scott wouldn’t be a descendent,” Aury reasoned. “Did you find anything interesting?”
“Mostly information about land grants and how property was divided, then passed down through the generations. There was one mention of Eastover.” She referred to her notes. “It was originally part of a land grant in 1637 from the King of England to Henry Brown. Of course the boundary lines have changed over the centuries, adding and subtracting in places. Now it covers two hundred and eighty-three acres.”
“When was the manor house built?”
Gran checked her notes. “1840s. No exact date. Of course, it was much s
maller than what it is now.”
“Scott said the original didn’t have a kitchen inside, so that was added on later. It’s over four thousand square feet now.”
“Let’s go. I’d like to see it while the sun is up,” Gran said.
Instead of taking the interstate to Williamsburg, Aury took the country roads leading to Surry County and Eastover.
“Scott said he found the family Bible. The deaths of the two babies were recorded, but no deaths later than that. Not even marriages of any of the children.”
“Maybe we need to track Scott’s lineage backward. How did he end up with the house?” Gran asked.
“From his grandparents. His dad’s side, I think.”
“Let’s ask him to give us as much information about his relatives that he can remember. Obviously, it was passed out of the Townsend name at some point to end up in the Bell family.”
“Wouldn’t the property deed have a list of owners? I got copies of those when I was at the library,” Aury said.
Gran patted her arm. “That’s a wonderful idea. We need to look at the deed records.”
When they pulled up in front of Scott’s cottage, Gran was eager to explore. “I feel like a young child again, playing in the woods with my sisters.”
Scott came from behind the building and greeted them.
“Liza, I’m so glad you were able to visit. I hear you’ve been helping behind the scenes on our adventure,” Scott said, shaking her hand.
“You have a beautiful place. I can see why your grandparents loved it so much.”
“I see you have electricity,” Aury said.
“Yep. Came on this morning. They cut the power to the motel, of course. I think the best thing to do will be to knock the building down altogether. Not worth salvaging. We’ll try to get your stuff out first. What can’t be saved will be covered by the insurance.”
Aury waved away his concerns. “No one is in a rush. Trust me, quilters always have a stash of fabric and enough equipment to keep sewing.”
Scott offered Gran his elbow. “What would you like to see first?”
“I would love to visit the manor house.”
“Then let’s go.” He helped her into the utility cart, and Aury jumped in the back.
On the short ride to the house, Aury pointed out various places she and Scott had found clues. “You got a lot done this week,” she commented to Scott.
“The weather has been beautiful, and I’m on a deadline. I have to go to the office next week. I’ve used up all my vacation time.”
An unexpected feeling of sadness hit Aury. This had become her personal getaway and now Scott was leaving. She wasn’t sure what she had expected.
They pulled into the circular drive. “It’s beautiful,” Gran said.
“It needs a lot of work,” Scott countered. “I’ve only had time to replace the rotten wood on the steps and porch.”
“Oh, but can’t you just picture the way it looked at the turn of the century?” Gran stood with her hands clasped in front of her, admiring the columns on the front porch.
Entering the house, Aury let her grandmother lead the way. She followed along as Gran made appreciative noises over various characteristics of the house.
“We had a dining room table very much like this growing up,” Gran said.
They finished their tour in the library. While Gran inspected the books on the shelves, Aury filled Scott in on what they found at the library in Richmond.
“Do you know any of your family history prior to your grandparents?” Aury asked when she finished the account of their findings.
Scott rubbed his neck thoughtfully. “My mom was looking into the history of this place when she got sick. I’ll see if I can find her notes. They’re at my apartment.”
“Where do you live?” Gran asked.
“In Shirlington, Virginia, near DC.”
“That’s not too far. What do you do?”
Aury was glad Gran was asking the questions, not her. She was curious but didn’t want to come across as too interested.
“I’m an engineer at Harrington and Associates. We do a lot of consulting on government contracts. You know, as much as I enjoy my job, I’ve had more fun the past few weeks working with my hands. Here, I can actually see results from my efforts when I’m chopping up trees or filling in potholes.”
“Aury was just saying the same thing to me the other day,” Gran said. “She’s an accountant, you know.”
Aury felt her face grow hot. She knew her grandmother was proud of her, but she didn’t want her to do any matchmaking.
“Oh yeah? Maybe I should hire you to look over the books for this place. See if I have any hope of digging myself out,” Scott said.
“I’d be happy to help,” Aury said.
“You two ready to get out of here? I’ll treat you to dinner in town before you have to catch the ferry,” Scott said.
Chapter 39
July 1862
As Sarah placed her mother’s jewelry in the tin, the memories came flooding in. On special occasions, her mother had let her try on different pieces, telling her the stories of their origin. Many came from Mary’s father. Although Sarah had never met him, she knew he was a wealthy man up north. He had visited once, shortly after Frederick was born, but she was too small to remember.
The jewelry had come from Sarah’s father as a wedding gift to his bride. The stones weren’t as large, but Sarah knew her mother treasured them above all the rest. She picked up the ring her mother always wore. She had left it behind when she went to work in the city. Sarah slipped it on her finger, but it was too big.
She knew someday the jewelry would be hers and Emily’s, except for a few items her mother would give to the boys’ wives. She used to be excited by the idea. Now, she would give them all away to get her mother back. She took off the ring and placed it with the other items in the tin.
Next, she moved to her father’s wardrobe. She had never opened it before. The smell of wood and tree sap evoked a sense of her father’s presence as if he’d just come in from felling trees; the sensation almost reduced her to tears. She missed him terribly.
Pulling out a pair of pants, she held them up. She may be able to cuff the bottoms. If he wore suspenders, Frederick could wear these, and Thomas could wear the pants Frederick had outgrown. She looked through the other items and took down some work shirts, placing them on the bed.
At the rear of the wardrobe sat a carved, wooden box. Sarah pulled it out and placed it on the floor. Sitting down beside it, she carefully opened the lid, feeling slightly guilty for snooping. She didn’t understand much of the writing on the documents. They were legal in nature, and the words were not common use.
Pushing them aside, she found some gold coins and bits of metal she didn’t recognize. Her father was a mystery to her. Although loving and hardworking, he didn’t talk about serious things often, so she didn’t know much about his past.
She replaced everything in the wooden box, then added her mother’s jewelry from the tin. She removed one of her mother’s dresses from a hook and wrapped it around the box to protect it. With the soldiers getting closer, anything of value must be hidden so it wouldn’t fall into their hands.
Sarah was determined to protect her family the way her mother would have wanted her to. She would leave their valuables where Mother had ended their treasure hunt months ago. No one would find them there unless they knew where to look. Her mother had selected the perfect place.
Chapter 40
Present Day
Scott called Aury the following week. “I found the research my mom did on Eastover. She didn’t get very far, but you are welcome to look over it.”
“When are you coming down?”
“I’ll be there Friday night. I have an appraiser coming out to look over the property.”
“Are you thinking about selling?” Aury had an uneasy feeling again.
“I have to consider my options. I hate the idea of losin
g it, but it isn’t a moneymaker as it is. It’ll take more money than I have to get it operational again.”
“What about a loan?”
“That’s why I need the appraisal. I need to see how much collateral it’s worth. I only have an apartment here. No house to mortgage.”
Aury was quiet as her mind rushed through various possibilities.
“You still there?” Scott asked.
“Yes. Sorry. Would you be willing to consider investors?”
“I’d consider almost anything at this point.”
“Let me think about it some more. Why don’t you bring your books for the business when you come? Maybe I can come up with other alternatives.”
They made plans to meet on Saturday and disconnected. As Aury sat with her phone in her lap contemplating ideas, the phone rang and startled her.
“Hi, Gran.”
“How was work today?”
“Boring. But I was able to put together a list of graveyards in the area. I never did check grave markers like you suggested.”
Gran chuckled. “I don’t think that’s what you’re getting paid to do, young lady.”
“I know, but this is so much more fun. We saved a lot of time by visiting the library in Richmond.”
“Where were Mary’s parents from? If something happened to her, maybe her parents took the kids.”
“Good idea!” Aury thumbed through her notes. “In her diary, Mary mentioned her father owned a textile company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”
“How about I search for the kids’ death records?” Gran suggested. “You said two girls and two boys, right? I’ll look for marriage records for the girls to see what their last names were changed to.”
Aury scribbled notes, not wanting to miss a thread they could follow. She wasn’t sure why she was working on this so hard. It wasn’t getting them any closer to the treasure Scott so desperately needed. But it may help them solve the mystery of the skeleton by the river.
“I think we should start with the cemeteries in Yorktown first. That’s the only reference we found of a Mary who might be our Mary.”
“When are you going?” Gran asked.
“Tomorrow after work, I think. Do you want to come with me?”
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