Scott’s burst of laughter at her excitement sent the water he was drinking shooting from his mouth. He wiped the wetness from his chin as he continued to laugh.
“You’re really excited about ghost hunting, aren’t you?”
Aury looked sheepish. “A little. I was the strange child who enjoyed ghost tours through old towns when we were on vacation. I think the history is fascinating.”
“Sorry, but no. The haunted woods are across the property to the east a bit. There are no buildings over there, so I don’t usually have a reason to go over that way. We can check it out after we grab some food.”
As they leaned against the car drinking, a work truck pulled in.
A short, stocky man stepped out carrying a clipboard. “Mr. Bell?”
“That’s me.” Scott offered his hand.
“I’m here about your demolition work. Is this the only building?”
“Thankfully, yes. Any idea when you can get started?”
“It’s next on the list. I need to check with the utility companies to make sure everything has been shut off. We’ll start next week.”
Aury wandered away, leaving the men to discuss details of the work to be done.
Chapter 49
Sept 12,1862
Emily started whining. Hoping to appease her, Frederick handed her another piece of dried fruit.
“I’m tired of sitting here,” Thomas complained, not for the first time.
“We’ll go inside soon,” Frederick said.
“You said that hours ago. I’m getting eaten alive.” Thomas swatted at something on his leg.
Frederick was conflicted. He knew they couldn’t stay out here all night, but he was worried about anyone who might be watching the house. He hadn’t seen any movement. “Just a few more minutes. It’s almost full dark.”
With the last piece of fruit eaten, Emily began to fuss again. Frederick couldn’t keep her quiet any longer. He stood, trying to work the kinks out of his legs from staying still so long. “All right. Let’s go.”
Hand in hand, the three worked their way toward the house.
“I need to stop at the privy,” Thomas said.
“Can’t it wait?”
“I’ve been waiting for hours. And this isn’t something I can take care of in the woods.”
Frederick sighed. “Go, but hurry. Come in through the kitchen door.” He picked up Emily and dashed to the house.
Thomas fastened his britches and stepped out of the privy, very much relieved. He closed the door quietly so it wouldn’t slam. He only made it three steps when a strong hand clamped over his mouth.
Kicking and thrashing, he fought against the arm wrapped around his small chest. A second set of hands captured his ankles, and they carried him back into the woods.
“Quiet down now. We don’t plan on hurting you,” the deep voice told him.
Thomas could only make out the whites of two sets of eyes in the deep dark of the trees. He gave up struggling for now. He wondered if he could outrun them when given the chance.
“I’m going to uncover your mouth. Don’t yell or I might have to do something to quiet you.”
The pressure was released, and Thomas took in a gulp of air.
“How many people in the house?” This time it was a different voice, still deep but raspy.
Thomas stared without speaking.
“We ain’t gonna hurt you. We be looking for your parents.”
“They aren’t here,” he blurted out. Maybe they would move on.
“When they coming back?”
Tears came unbidden to Thomas’s eyes.
The man must have noticed because he turned to whisper to someone behind him.
The deep voice who had been holding him asked, “Which side of the fight is your pa on?”
Thomas didn’t understand the question. His dad had gone to town to buy livestock and never came home. He wasn’t fighting anyone.
“Where’s your ma?”
No reply.
“Randolph, I told you, these kids ain’t got parents here,” came the raspy voice.
“Is it just the three of you?” the man called Randolph asked Thomas.
Thomas held silent.
“C’mon, boy. We don’t have time for this. We need to move.”
Thinking if he gave them what they were looking for, they might leave, he finally gave in. “It’s just my brother, my little sister, and me. Our parents went to town and never came home. We don’t have anything you’d want. We barely have anything for ourselves.”
“How long ago did they leave?”
Thomas shrugged. “Months. Early summer, I think.”
The men shared a look. “Samuel, keep hold of him. Zack, you go on ahead and listen by the door. Let’s go meet his family,” Randolph said.
Samuel took Thomas by the upper arm as they walked out of the tree line. “No sound, or someone might end up hurt,” he told Thomas.
Crossing the lawn, Thomas tried to think of a way to warn his brother. A squeeze on his arm reminded him what these men were capable of.
Randolph pulled open the kitchen door.
“What took you so long?” Frederick said, coming down the stairs. “Emily’s in bed but she’s asking for you.”
Frederick froze in the doorway to the kitchen as he took in the two men flanking his brother.
“I’m sorry,” Thomas whispered.
Chapter 50
Present Day
Entering the canopy of trees provided instant relief from the scorching heat. No discernible path presented itself, so Aury and Scott picked their way over fallen trees and waved away the cobwebs.
As Aury tried to wipe a particularly sticky web from her arm, she said, “This part of the woods doesn’t look any different from anything else I’ve seen. Why was it haunted?”
“Don’t know. Maybe because it was the farthest away from the house.”
The branches overhead blocked out a view of the sky, and the sound of small animals scurrying through the underbrush was loud in the silence.
“There’s a clearing around here somewhere,” Scott said. “This way, I think.” He adjusted course and Aury followed.
Sunlight acted as a spotlight to illuminate the tall grass in the center of the woods.
“This can’t be a natural clearing,” Aury said. “It’s too circular.”
She cut across the center and approached a huge mound of kudzu. “I can’t stand this stuff. It takes over and smothers the other plants and trees.” She pulled at the hardy vine.
“It’s kind of creepy how it covers things and takes on their shape,” Scott noted.
Aury laughed. “Maybe that’s what haunted you.”
“Could be. From here, it looks like a ghost holding out his arms to grab you.”
She looked up. Taking a few more steps away, she stared intently at the mound that had attracted her attention.
“I think there’s something under all that,” she said.
“Of course there is. More trees and bushes.”
“No, it looks too square.” She got closer and tried to create a hole in the center of the mass with her hands.
“We need something to cut with,” Scott said.
“Let’s get some tools. I think I see rock or stone.” Aury’s excitement was contagious.
“Another mystery?”
“Everything’s a mystery until we answer the questions.”
They hiked to where the utility cart was parked. Scott grabbed the hedge trimmers and handed Aury the long-handled pruning shears.
As they approached the clearing again, Aury pointed to the right of the largest kudzu mound. “See where it dips down there? Could that be a path?”
Scott looked at the vegetation. “Could be. I don’t know where it would go, but there are no trees there. Looks deliberate.”
Aury resumed her spot in the middle of the mound and cut away at the vines. Scott joined her, slicing and snipping the only sound for the next th
irty minutes.
“Yes! I was right!” Aury pulled aside the last of the loose vines to reveal a wall of stone.
“Definitely manmade. We can’t unbury it with these tools. We need something more robust. I wonder what would kill this stuff.”
“We could ask the master gardeners. They’ve been helpful so far.”
“Let’s do that. In the meantime, want to check out the potential path?”
“Absolutely.” Aury put the shears over her shoulder and walked toward the break in the circle.
“It does look like the trees were cleared, but it isn’t very wide.”
“Well, if it was made years ago, these trees lining the path have grown larger, making the opening narrower.”
“It has to be old if I don’t remember it. It certainly wasn’t built for cars. Maybe buggies?”
They walked along the winding path until they were joined by a trickling stream running along their route. “I don’t remember this either,” Scott said.
Following the stream, they walked until the woods started to thin out. A rumbling sounded in the distance.
“It’s not supposed to storm today,” Aury said.
Scott cocked his head. “I don’t think that’s thunder.”
They came around another bend in the path as a truck rolled across a wooden bridge over the stream.
“I know where we are now,” Scott said. “The entrance to Eastover is that way.” He pointed off to his right. “I never knew there was another entrance. I wonder why.”
“To get to whatever is buried back there, I’d guess.”
Scott glanced at the sky. “We better get going. We don’t want to get stuck in the woods in the dark.”
“Afraid of the ghosts?”
Chapter 51
Sept 12, 1862
The three black men and two boys sat at the dining room table as if this were a common occurrence. Frederick had brought out a few yams he had boiled, and the men had finished them off. When the boys learned the men were escaped slaves from the fields of North Carolina and not soldiers here to steal their food, they relaxed their guard a bit.
“You can’t stay here alone,” Randolph told the boys. “What will you do when winter comes? You said you’re already low on supplies.”
“If Mother doesn’t find us when she comes home, she’ll be mad,” Thomas said.
“Sorry, son. I don’t think your ma’s coming back. Something happened for her to be away this long,” Zack said gently.
Thomas looked at Frederick who gave a slow nod in agreement.
“Where will we go?” Thomas asked.
“Where’s your kin?” Samuel said.
“Our grandparents live in Pennsylvania,” said Frederick.
“We’re heading toward the Union troops to join the fight. Maybe they can get you to Pennsylvania,” Zack suggested.
“The Army don’t have time for no kids,” Samuel said. “They’d be put in some orphan home.”
Randolph mulled it over. “I reckon we could get them to their family.”
Four sets of eyes looked at him in disbelief. “And how do you suppose that’s going to happen?” Zack said.
“What if we had passes? Can you write?” Samuel asked Frederick.
“Sure. If you tell me what to say.”
“Does your daddy have any papers lying around? We might be able to figure it out.”
“What are you thinking?” Zack said.
“What if we here were tasked by our master to take these young’uns north to see their family. Who would stop us?” Samuel said.
“Just any slave catcher in the area, that’s who,” Randolph said.
“If we stayed in the shadows of the Union troops much as possible, they would protect us without knowing it.”
The group was silent as they thought through the plan.
“Do we have to walk?” Thomas asked. “Emily won’t be able to go fast.”
“You got horses? Or mules?” Zack asked.
“Dad and Noah took the horses and wagon when they left. We have the pony wagon. We could put Emily in there,” Frederick said.
“We can’t leave Betsy,” Thomas said.
“Who’s Betsy? I thought it was only you three,” Samuel said.
“Betsy’s the goat. We can tie her to the wagon. It’ll be good for Emily to have milk along the way,” Frederick explained.
Randolph stood. “We should get on the road as soon as possible. Let’s sleep tonight. We’ll gather what we can tomorrow and leave when it’s dark again.”
Thomas’s eyes started to well up again. Placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, Randolph added, “You can leave your ma a note telling her where you’re going so she don’t worry.”
Chapter 52
Present Day
The sky was overcast as Aury and Scott made their way through the trees to the clearing.
“I sprayed weed killer at the base of the mound last week before I went to work, but I don’t think it made a dent,” Scott told her.
“The master gardeners said it would take multiple applications before there was a chance of anything killing this stuff. It’s best to get it in the winter.”
“I don’t want to wait that long. Do you?”
“No way. It’s something amazing. I can feel it.”
Scott held up the chainsaw he was carrying. “It might be a little overkill, but it will be faster than attacking it by hand.”
Pulling her gloves on as they stepped into the slightly brighter spot that revealed the clearing, Aury said, “It’ll almost be sad when we find the treasure.”
“What?”
“I mean, it’ll be fun, but then we won’t have anything to look forward to anymore,” she explained.
“I’ll look forward to not going to work in an office every day.” He examined the kudzu, determining the best place to start. “But, honestly, what are the chances we’ll discover something valuable?”
Aury shrugged. “What they considered valuable then and what we consider valuable today may be very different things. You shouldn’t get your hopes up.”
“You’re one to talk.”
They set to work at the base of the plant, Aury tugging the vines tight while Scott easily cut through them with the chainsaw. Soon they had sliced a twelve-foot swath and started working across five foot higher and parallel to the ground.
When the buzz of the chainsaw stopped, the silence was deafening. They had scared all the animals away, and even the bugs were holding back their din.
Scott pushed his safety glasses to the top of his head. Aury wiped the sweat from her face with the sleeve of her shirt.
“Ready to see what’s under here?” he asked.
Together, they pulled and tugged at the vines until a wall of green-covered stone loomed in front of them. A single, cracked pane of glass dark with dirt centered the opening. Aury approached the window and rubbed away some of the grime with her gloved hand. The bottom lip was five feet above the ground, allowing Aury to peer in at the dark interior.
Scott tugged the vines to the left of where Aury was standing. “I think there’s another window here.”
Exchanging the chainsaw for the long-handled pruning shears they brought with them, Scott trimmed carefully around the glass. “This is stained glass.”
“I’ll bet it’s the church from the photo album!” Aury said.
Scott peered through the filthy window. “It’s going to take a lot of pruning to get inside this building.”
“Now we need to find the graveyard.”
“What graveyard?”
“If there was a graveyard on the property, wouldn’t it make sense to be next to the church?”
Scott looked around. “Well, it isn’t in the clearing or along the path. It’s either on the other side of this building or under that mess.” He gestured toward the uneven line of kudzu forming hills and tall, human-shaped piles to the left of the building.
“We can narrow it down. They wouldn’t
have buried anything right next to the trees.”
“If they used grave markers at all, they might have been wooden, and there won’t be any trace left,” Scott said.
Aury’s face dropped in disappointment. “I didn’t think about that.”
“Let’s see if we can make our way to the other side of the building.”
Taking a wide berth around the thickest part of the kudzu, they walked down the potential path a short distance before cutting into the woods. After stomping and trampling through the brush, they came to another, though smaller, clearing. Kudzu was in evidence here as well, but it grew lower to the ground, looking like waves of green.
“This has got to be it!” Aury exclaimed.
“I don’t know where to begin,” Scott said.
Aury jumped in like a child chasing the sea. She lifted her knees high to keep her feet from tangling in the vines.
“I don’t think you’ll find anything like that. We need to be more systematic about it,” Scott said. “Let’s take a break and come back later. I need to check on the guests.”
Disappointed, Aury climbed out of the mess. “I don’t want to wait until winter to locate the treasure.”
“I’ll do some research to see if something else can be done. I don’t want to wait either, but it’s been hidden this long. A little while longer won’t matter.”
Chapter 53
Sept 13, 1862
You better carry the papers,” Randolph told Frederick. Frederick tucked them into a pocket of his pants. He placed a bundle containing the last of their food stores in the pony wagon next to Emily, who immediately attempted to crawl over the side.
“Here, take your baby,” he said, putting her into the wagon again. The tattered doll Mother had sewn for her only two years earlier proved to be a sufficient distraction, and he was glad he’d remembered to bring it.
Samuel took his place at the front of the wagon and lifted the wooden handles meant to attach to a pony harness. Thomas ran in from the rear of the house, leading Betsy by a rope.
“I fed her again and gave her water,” he said.
“What’s hanging on her?” Zack asked.
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