The Old Cape Teapot

by Barbara Eppich Struna

  The General took his time going down the rickety outside steps that were barely attached to the dilapidated house. He carried a large, brown, leather satchel.

  Silas trailed behind him with an exasperated look on his face. “Where we goin’?”

  The General said nothing.

  When they finally reached the bottom, Silas quickly shoved the General aside to unlock the car. “Where we goin’?” he asked again.

  The old man regained his balance, opened the car door and ordered, “Orleans, then get onto Route 28, by Pleasant Bay.”

  Silas pulled away from the back of the house and turned out of the driveway.

  ***

  ORLEANS

  After a mile and a half, the General barked, “Pull in over there. Park next to the chain-link fence.”

  Silas slowed the car. A small sign on the fence read: Orleans Water Conservation Area.

  He turned right onto the dirt road and glanced down to check the gas gauge. “Christ, I’m almost empty. Maybe I should drive up ahead to that convenience store. Isn’t there another way to get into these woods?”

  “I don’t know.” The General adjusted his eye patch. “No time to get gas now. You can get it after we’re done here.”

  Silas was out of the car first. He walked over to the edge of the woods and stared into the thick mass of trees and scrub.

  The old man stayed in his seat. He sneered at Silas as he pulled out a plastic garbage bag and the Smith & Wesson from his satchel. Hiding the gun in the waistband of his jeans, he exited the car, carrying only the black garbage bag. “Hey, Silas! Carry this will ya?”

  Silas reluctantly grabbed the bag and mumbled something, but the General never heard it.

  “Did you bring the spade?” The General growled.

  “Yeah.” The kid opened the trunk to retrieve the pointed shovel.

  They walked around the end of one side of the fence to follow the dirt road up a hill. The General stopped halfway, turned to his left then stepped over the brush and into the woods. Silas followed, carefully watching for any bugs or spiders.

  The two unlikely partners trudged through the woods as the sound of the General’s metal knee brace blended in with the crunch of dead leaves and dry twigs.

  The General stopped after about five minutes. “We got company.”

  Silas stared ahead into the brown forest. “I don’t see anyone.”

  “Over there.” He pointed to his left. “A woman. Looks like she’s digging.” He stood quiet to watch her.

  Silas didn’t care. His eyes were glued to the ground trying to see if anything had crawled up his pants.

  The General motioned to Silas with his hand to keep moving forward, “Let’s keep goin’.

  ***

  Earlier that Morning

  AN ORLEANS MOTEL

  Nick woke early. The small round table next to the curtained window held his files and laptop. A photo of Nancy Caldwell’s antique locket and paperwork from the Spanish Government about lost treasure were spread across the surface of his makeshift desk. On top of one of the files was a black velvet pouch; John Julian’s heirloom earrings lay contrasted against the dark of the bag. A semi-automatic was nestled in a shoulder holster that hung on the back of a chair, within easy reach of where he slept.

  Dressed in boxers and T-shirt, Nick sat on the edge of the bed looking at the piles of paper. The time on his phone was eight o’clock. He had just enough time to shower before the Army & Navy store opened.

  After buttoning up his shirt, Nick strapped on the shoulder holster under his jacket then headed downstairs for the motel’s complimentary coffee and Danish pastry in the lobby.

  At the military surplus store, he bought gloves, a portable shovel, and some canvas duffel bags. After tossing them into the back seat of his rental car, he traced his route across a map of Orleans then headed south, for Pleasant Bay. Nick had a good idea of where he was going but he wanted to be sure.

  39

  Present Day

  ORLEANS – CAPE COD

  AFTER MY SHOVEL had gone down into the black soil only about ten inches, I heard some rustling behind me. Turning around, I saw two men in the distance coming towards me from the opposite direction of where I came in. My heart pumped faster.

  Oh my God, someone else is here in the woods! I turned again to position myself so that I could face them as they came nearer to where I was digging, cautioning myself to stay calm. What if they ask what I’m doing? I’ll tell them I’m researching something for the local historical society. Okay. That’s a great idea. I continued my excavation.

  I glanced up and noticed that the strangers were very different in age but both were dressed in black leather, like they’d just stepped off the city subway. I saw that the younger man was carrying a black garbage bag and a shovel. The other man had a limp and a black patch over one eye.

  As the older man finally passed me, he lifted his arm up to wave, “Morning.”

  For a quick second, his ankle length leather coat flew open and I thought I saw the butt of a gun strapped to the side of his waist.

  Maybe I should leave? I thought, as a cold chill climbed up my spine. The younger guy passed me at a distance, keeping his eyes on me the whole time. Yeah, I should get out of here. Then within seconds they both headed south and away from me. I relaxed a little, hoping to dig some more.

  I watched until their backs disappeared over the ridgeline and out of sight. They seemed to be headed in the direction of where I’d entered the woods. Hopefully they’ll be gone by the time I was finished here. I turned back to the pile of dirt by the stone featuring the W, concentrating only on my digging.

  As I pushed the black soil around, I wondered how much deeper should I go. And where had I seen the younger guy before? Never mind, just do two more shovelfuls of dirt; then I’ll leave. I plunged the shovel again into the black soil and hit something that stopped the blade. Determined to get through the blockage, I jammed the steel point into the ground a few more times, hoping to break past whatever was stopping my shovel. As the dirt flew up over my hiking boots, a tiny hint of silver appeared on the inside of the hole.

  I knelt down to get a closer look. Using the shovel’s blade, I picked at the speck of grey. My head filled with pressure as I bent my upper body downward so that my fingers could claw at the ground to loosen the dirt. Suddenly, several small discs began to fall onto the crumbling black soil, some silver, some gold. I reached again for the shovel to dig out more clumps of soil in and around the area. A flat, thin piece of what looked like bark fell away from one side. I quickly picked it up to learn that it felt like old leather. Oh my God! My head began to spin. I sat back with my hands resting on my knees and just stared at what I’d unearthed.

  After rubbing the surface of one of the odd shaped discs, a faint crest was revealed. My body swayed as my heart beat faster. I realized that I was holding another real piece of eight: silver that was cut into an uneven circle then branded by a pirate as he divided up the stolen treasure.

  The sun warmed my back and my emotions ran high as I dug deeper. As I unbuttoned my old winter coat, my antique necklace got caught on something around my neck. I should never have worn it today, I thought. I pulled at the silver chain, trying to get it free; as it broke loose, a few strands of my hair came with it.

  I continued digging and could see various sizes of uncut gemstones also falling away from the sides of the hole and down onto the soil. Maybe I should get Paul. This is too exciting to keep to myself. Then I started to laugh at the whole situation and couldn’t believe it was happening again.

  I brushed a few strands of hair away from my face with the back of my dirty-gloved hand. Am I dreaming? No, I can taste the dirt on my lips. Stay calm, Nancy. My heart felt like it was going to jump right out of my chest. Take a deep breath and try to be sensible. The best thing to do now would be to cover up the hole so no one else would find it, and then return with Paul and some bags to carry whatever else we might f
ind.

  I shoved a few coins and some gems into my pocket, pushed the dirt back into the hole and smoothed it flat with the back of the shovel. After lifting the W stone back on top of the dirt, I scattered some leaves and twigs over the marked stone. It looked hidden from the average walker, but I knew where it was.

  Storm clouds began moving in and the woods grew darker. A smile stretched across my face as I headed for the path marked with the yellow caution tape. This discovery was nothing like my first one. The treasure I’d found in my backyard yielded some gold and silver coins and only a few pieces of jewelry. Those artifacts belonged in a museum. This treasure was different. Gemstones! Diamonds! It presented me with an opportunity to reap profit for John Julian, back on Antigua, and also for myself.

  I set my eyes before my feet so I wouldn’t trip over any vines or branches as my hiking boots made their way across the forest floor. Paul and I were going to be millionaires!

  The two guys I’d seen earlier suddenly crossed my mind. It’ll be okay, I reassured myself, dismissing any sense of danger. They should be long gone by now and well out of the woods.

  40

  Present Day

  ORLEANS – CAPE COD

  NICK HAD PARKED right next to Nancy’s car at the convenience mart and walked quickly across the street in search of the twisted tree marking the opening in the woods.

  At the same moment, the General stood with his back to where Nancy had been digging, just out of her sight range. He leaned in over the deepest side of the old foundation to see that the bottom was about five feet down. The hole was relatively small and built into the side of an embankment that resembled a walk–in basement. He swung his head back and forth to scan the debris that covered its base. “It shouldn’t be that far down under the dirt…maybe a foot or so.”

  Silas stood his ground next to the old man, not wanting to be any closer to the edge.

  With a clack of his knee brace, the General stepped back, looked at Silas and ordered, “Get down there. Take the shovel.”

  “You’re crazy. I’m not going in there.”

  The General opened his coat and pulled out the Smith & Wesson. “I didn’t want to use this but you give me no choice.”

  Silas glared at him. “Take it easy. I’ll do it.” He cautiously walked towards the front of the foundation’s edge where the dirt was almost level with the forest floor. Straddling a few rocks that had been part of the original stonewall, Silas’s shoe sunk into the muck about two inches. “Shit.” He brought the other leg over so he could get a better footing.

  The old man looked impatient. “Keep goin’,” he growled, now waving the gun at Silas to hurry up.

  “Fuck you,” Silas whispered, and then he slowly walked straight back to the rear of the hollowed-out ground.

  “Over in the corner, on your right.” The General’s gun pointed to the same direction.

  Old stonewalls surrounded Silas on three sides. Flashing a disgusted look toward the General, he jammed the shovel into the black dirt then quickly turned and asked one more time, “Come on. Do I really have to do this?”

  Silas heard the General pull back the hammer of the gun; a clear signal the old man was serious. He continued to dig, cursing with every lunge of the spade. It wasn’t too long before he heard a dull thud. He stopped and knelt on one knee. As he brushed dirt away, the top of a brown backpack appeared. The bag loosened only half way from the soil as he pulled at it. Silas quickly unzipped the exposed top half. “Holy shit! There’s money in here.”

  “That’s it,” the General urged, stepping closer to the edge to get a better look at what Silas had uncovered. The heel of his leather boot accidentally slid against a moss-covered rock, catching him off guard. His finger squeezed the trigger. The gun went off.

  The old man fell onto his back, knocking the wind out of him as he dropped the gun. He scrambled to his feet only to see Silas laying face down over the opened backpack. His gnarled fingers reached for his pills from the inside of his coat, flipped the lid off and swallowed one. The General’s hand trembled as he reached down to retrieve the gun.

  41

  Present Day

  ORLEANS - CAPE COD

  A LOUD BANG stopped me in my tracks. I listened but the woods were silent again. My pulse increased. Was that a gunshot? Oh my God! Why didn’t Paul come with me? Damn it! I need to get the hell out of here. I kept the shovel in my right hand so that I could use it as a weapon if I needed to. Hail Mary full of grace….

  As I scrambled through the dry leaves I kept turning my head back and forth and behind me, in search of anything out of the ordinary. Take it easy, I told myself, I’m the one who loves to walk in the woods. Everything will be okay.

  After another couple of steps, I saw the old man in the long leather coat. He was still in the woods and it looked like he was hiding something behind his back. As I came closer to him, he turned and stared at me with his one eye. A low growl echoed towards me as he muttered, “God damn it.”

  With no other way out of the woods I knew I had to walk right by him. I wondered where the other guy was. I slowed up a little, trying to give myself a few moments to calm down.

  He was looking right at me. “Hello…again.”

  I forced a smile but kept my head down and said nothing. As I approached him, he looked even more menacing with his wild gray hair and black eye patch. He turned towards me and in a garbled voice asked, “I was wondering if you could help me out?”

  Oh no, I thought, as I cautiously slowed down to pause near the edge of the hole. “What’s wrong?”

  “My friend seems to have hit his head and isn't answering me.” He pointed to a body lying in the hole.

  “Holy crap!” I swallowed hard.

  “I’d go down there myself, but my knee isn’t very good.” He gestured to his knee brace. “I’d really appreciate it if you would check on him.”

  “Maybe you should call 911?” I suggested, hopeful that would end our exchange.

  “Well, I’ve got this old phone…but it doesn’t get any of those little lines. That means no reception, right?” He showed me a flip phone that looked to be about ten years old.

  I nodded in agreement then slowly took a few steps away from the edge of the hole. Turning my back to the old man, I prepared to leave.

  He asked again, “Sorry to bother you, but could you go down in there and see if he’s okay? I’m getting worried.”

  I spotted a cell phone tower on the horizon and wondered why he wasn’t getting any reception. I turned around, quickly slid my finger across the bottom of my phone to unlock the keys. Just as I tapped in 911 and pressed SEND, the old man slapped the phone out of my grip with one hand and shoved me backwards with the other.

  The skeleton-like branches at the top of the bare trees were the last things I saw as I fell backwards, down into the dark hole. I let out a quick scream, but in the few seconds that it took for my body to slam onto the dirt, my head filled with a barrage of words, begging and pleading with God to not let me die. I saw Paul, Molly, Casey, and Danny’s faces flash through my mind. Then I got angry. I will not die here!

  I buffered my fall by curling my legs up and trying to land and roll. My lower back hit the ground first. On impulse, I rolled onto my right shoulder, but the force of the impact took control and pushed my upper body to the other side, like a pinball. The jagged stones in the dirt jammed their sharp edges into my back. The pain took my breath away. With a dull thud, my left shoulder finally slammed against a large boulder. I felt my body rock back and forth a few times before I blacked out.

  42

  Present Day

  ORLEANS – CAPE COD

  THE GENERAL STOOD watching the woman fall into the hole, waiting to figure out what he should do next. When she finally lay still, he looked around the woods to see if he had any other company. There was no one. With the click of his knee brace, he limped down the embankment to where the ground was level then slowly lifted his good leg over the
stones so that he could swing the bad one next to it. He pushed his ratted hair back under the band of his eye patch to get a closer look at the situation. The woman lay a little to the left of Silas. The kid was still face down over the half buried backpack.

  “I can do this,” the General grunted. He winced in pain as the heels of his black boots sunk into the dark soil. “Fuck!” Determined to retrieve the backpack, his body swayed back and forth as his big boots, caked with mud, clumsily made their way to where the two bodies were lying. When he finally stood over the woman, he swiveled her upper torso further away from where Silas was lying, “Sorry, lady.” The General then pushed Silas’s body closer to the stone wall and onto his back. He was surprised to hear his young accomplice moaning. So he wasn’t dead after all.

  With a few awkward pulls on the strap, the dirty nylon bag popped out of the dirt, sending the old man onto his butt. He sat with his legs outstretched, going through the contents of the bag, like a little kid playing in a sandbox. It was all there, just as he had left it three years ago. His eyes moved swiftly over the fifty packs of small bills that were bundled with rubber bands. Under each band was a square piece of paper with the number 2000 scrawled across it.

  Intent on making sure all of his money was there, the General never noticed the approach of someone else in the woods.

  ***

  Nick grinned when he spotted the yellow caution tape up ahead. His presence in the woods was non–intrusive; he’d been trained well. The stones of the old foundation appeared in the distance on his right, confirming that he was on the correct course to the mill. He stopped a few feet from the edges of the crumbling stonewall and stared down into the hole.

  An old man was sitting on the dirt between what looked like two dead bodies. “Now what?” Nick sighed. The unexpected scene took him off guard and his foot stepped onto a dry twig instead of over it.