Sophie looked into Teddy’s eyes, and all the fight seeped out of her. “No,” she replied truthfully.
“I can’t hear you,” Teddy taunted.
“No!” she cried. “I’m glad you killed him.”
“Good, because no amount of breast-beating can undo what I’ve done. What we’ve done. We’re sinners, you and I. We’ve broken the laws of man and the laws of God. You can either spend the rest of your life on your knees, begging for forgiveness, or go forth unrepentant, proud that you’ve taken charge of your life. Which will it be, Poppet?”
Sophie didn’t reply. Instead she kissed him hard, reaching for the buttons of his britches. Teddy bunched up her skirts around her waist and plunged into her, pounding into her with a fury that left her breathless. She matched him thrust for thrust, slamming her hips against his with wild abandon. She’d never done anything like this before, but the need that drove her was as primal as the instinct to kill to protect what one held dear. Teddy was right, they were sinners, but only because life had dealt unfairly with them. They could have made the best of their situation and spent the rest of their days in abject misery, or they could have done what they did and fought for their happiness.
It was too late to turn back now, not that she would. She had her Teddy, and he’d take care of her and John Theo no matter what life hurled at them. Teddy wasn’t cautious or afraid; he was cunning and fearless, and that knowledge fueled her passion as she took Teddy deep inside her and gave back as good as she got. When they were finally spent, Teddy rolled off and lay on his back, panting with exertion. Sophie reached out and took his face in her hands, much as he’d done only a few minutes earlier.
“Let’s go find that treasure,” she said. Sophie got to her feet, adjusted her skirts, and reached for Roy’s shovel.
Chapter 50
“We have to stop for tonight,” Teddy said.
They’d dug up only about two feet of soil, and Sophie’s hands were now as red and blistered as Teddy’s. He drove his shovel into the packed earth and looked around, taking in the view for the first time. It had cleared during the afternoon, but thick clouds still blanketed the sky, leaving a wide band of deep blue along the horizon. The crimson rays of the setting sun lit up the clouds from beneath, giving the sky an apocalyptic appearance. Teddy stood very still, looking toward the shoreline bathed in an unearthly red glow.
“It’s beautiful here,” Teddy whispered, mesmerized. “Really beautiful.”
Sophie followed his gaze. He seemed to be looking at a wooded hill across the bay, the top enveloped in a crimson haze. A few of the leaves had already begun to change, the trees dotted with spots of red and orange, and the blue-gray water of the bay lapped against the foot of the hill. The shore appeared deserted, not a house in sight.
“Yes, it is,” Sophie agreed. “Very serene.”
“I want to build our house up there,” Teddy said, pointing to the top of the hill.
“Looks a bit isolated,” Sophie replied.
“That’s what makes it so perfect. It’s not suitable for farming or fishing, but it forms a natural harbor. All it needs is a dock.”
“Do you have the funds to build us a house?” Sophie asked, somewhat surprised by Teddy’s observation.
“I will if we find this treasure. Do we have any food left?”
They used some of the water they’d brought up to wash their hands and faces and settled down to eat. The sky above them was growing dusky, but they didn’t make a fire. Instead, they huddled together, wrapped in blankets to keep out the autumn chill. As the wind picked up, the sky cleared, and thousands of stars appeared overhead, no longer hidden behind the woolly clouds. A crescent moon hung above the ocean, its points as sharp as those of a sickle. It was about as romantic as it could get when lying a few feet from a fresh grave, but Teddy seemed unconcerned; he had other things on his mind.
“Sophie, when we get home, I want you to write a letter,” he said.
“To whom?”
“To Mr. Barron of Boston. He’s a lawyer I plan to engage on your behalf,” Teddy replied.
“To file a petition of divorce?”
“No.”
“Then why do I need a lawyer?”
Teddy shifted next to her and rested his head against hers. “Lionel Holland is a very wealthy man, Poppet, and he has only one son, who will inherit his wealth upon his death. George Holland cannot remarry and sire an heir while he has a living wife and son, who will become his sole heir should anything befall him,” Teddy said.
“But George and I never had a child.”
“He doesn’t know that.”
“Teddy, what on earth are you talking about?” Sophie demanded.
“That preacher you told me about thought you were with child just before George sent you off to Boston. Who’s to say you weren’t? Had you been, your baby would have been born about a month ago. You will write to Mr. Barron telling him of the birth of your son and explaining that you left George because you feared for your life. I will instruct the lawyer to do nothing with the letter, but simply keep it safe. Should George try to have you declared dead so that he can remarry, or should he die himself, then Mr. Barron will produce the letter. It’s for your protection, Poppet, should anything ever happen to me.”
“But John Theo is nearly two,” Sophie said, still trying to make sense of Teddy’s unorthodox proposal.
“He is small for his age. Besides, you will provide Mr. Barron with a copy of the baptismal certificate.”
“I don’t have a baptismal certificate. If John Theo had been baptized, it’d have been by the Fullers.”
“I’ll get us a certificate,” Teddy replied. “All you have to do is play along.”
“I won’t do it, Teddy. It’s wrong.”
“Wrongdoing is relative,” he replied. “Some would say that what George did to you isn’t wrong. He was within his rights as a husband, but I doubt you would agree, so I’d say people’s actions are open to interpretation.”
“You’ve changed, Teddy. You used to know right from wrong,” Sophie snapped. She’d known Teddy wasn’t the boy she’d fallen in love with as soon as he’d returned, but this day had been eye-opening.
“Sophie, life is not as black and white as you’d like to believe. It’s mostly shades of gray that vary based on one’s circumstances.”
“No, I don’t believe that. Some things are wrong, regardless of interpretation or circumstances.”
Teddy turned to face her, his gaze defiant. “I would never have laid a hand on Roy Smith had he not threatened me. Was it wrong of me to protect myself and my family?”
“No.”
“Then you admit that the murder I committed is justified?”
“Yes.”
“I would also never dream of defrauding George Holland had he not abused you the way he had. Legally, he’s still your husband; therefore, his estate should pass to your son should he die. Is that not so?”
“But John Theo is not his son.”
“No, but as long as George is married to you, he cannot beget a son of his own, making our son his only legal heir,” Teddy explained. “I’m simply looking out for you both should anything befall me.”
Sophie pressed her cheek to Teddy’s arm. The thought of losing Teddy was more than she could bear, but she knew he was right. If anything happened to him, she’d be left alone with no means of support. Her only options would be to return to George and face whatever punishment he chose to dole out or find employment, not an easy thing to do with a small child to look after. Perhaps Teddy was only being practical. After all, he had no wish to use the letter while George was still alive.
“Perhaps we should baptize John Theo ourselves,” Sophie suggested. “We don’t know that he was ever baptized by the Fullers.”
“No, we don’t, and the certificate doesn’t indicate the age of the child, only the date of the baptism. George Holland will not be able to prove the child is not his.”
“
Thank you for looking out for me, Teddy,” Sophie said as she pressed herself closer to him.
“I’d walk through fire for you, my love,” Teddy replied, his voice quivering with emotion. “You and John Theo are the only reasons my life is worth living. Knowing you were waiting for me helped me survive capture and the unspeakable brutality I was forced to perpetrate to stay alive so that I could return to you. I will rest easier knowing you’ll have legal recourse should I die.”
“And what if I die?” Sophie asked.
“It would break my heart,” Teddy whispered. “But know this. I will look after our boy and make sure he’s provided for should anything happen to me. You never have to worry about that. We’ll be all right, Sophie, no matter what.”
“No matter what,” Sophie echoed.
“Go to sleep now. You’re worn out, and so am I. If we don’t find the booty tomorrow, we will leave this accursed island and never come back.”
“Amen to that,” Sophie muttered, already half asleep.
Chapter 51
The following day dawned chilly and bright, the biting wind off the Atlantic making Sophie huddle into her shawl. She was too tired to dig, so Teddy went at it alone, hacking at the hard earth for hours. Sophie wished they could just leave and go back to John Theo and Caleb, but Teddy was determined.
“It’s here, Sophie. I can feel it in my bones,” he said while taking a break.
“Teddy, it’s nothing more than a tall tale, and that letter might have been a fake. Who’s to say that Captain Kidd even wrote it? Perhaps Roy Smith’s father got it off someone else, and who knows where they got it to begin with?”
“No, I think it’s genuine. The man held on to that letter until the day he died, and I suspect he left England and came to Massachusetts hoping he’d find the treasure someday.”
“It’s nothing more than a poor man’s dream.”
“But you were the one to crack the cypher, Poppet. You saw the words with your own eyes.”
“Yes, I did, but perhaps it was all a clever jest. Maybe the captain only wrote that letter to distract his enemies from the true location. I wager his wife knew where the treasure was buried all along and has been living off that money for decades. Or it might have been divided among the members of his crew. Surely he didn’t bury that chest by himself. Someone had to have been there to help him, and that someone would have returned to claim the booty.”
“Not if that someone was taken prisoner along with his captain or was already dead,” Teddy argued.
“You have till noon,” Sophie said, hands on hips. “If you find no trace of anything by then, we’re leaving.”
“All right,” Teddy agreed. “That’s reasonable.”
He turned his back to her and hacked even harder, leaving Sophie to her own thoughts.
Sophie came awake slowly, her body achy from lying on the hard ground. She didn’t sit up straight away, but looked up at the sky, watching a seagull wheeling just above her head, its body gilded by the rays of the sun, which was riding high in the sky. It had to be nearly noon, and she suddenly realized that Teddy had stopped digging. All was quiet and still.
Sophie sat up and looked toward the pit. The shovel was lying on the ground, its angle a testament that it had been tossed aside without care. She looked around, expecting Teddy to come out from behind the rock or a tree where he’d gone to relieve himself, but there was no sign of him. When she’d fallen asleep, the pit had been only about three feet deep, not enough to hide him from sight.
Sophie’s heart thumped as she scrambled to her feet and looked downhill toward the boat, half-expecting it to be gone, but it was still there. “Teddy!” she screamed frantically. “Teddy, where are you?”
“In here,” came Teddy’s muffled voice from the pit.
Sophie approached the pit and looked down. Teddy was squatting, his gaze fixed on a grinning skull peeking out of the earth, the bone gleaming white in the afternoon light, the eye sockets packed with dirt. What Sophie took to be roots at first was in fact the ribcage, the bones surprisingly delicate. She took a step back, frightened.
“Do you know what this means?” Teddy asked as he straightened and faced her.
She nodded. The treasure chest had to be buried beneath the skeleton. “Be respectful, Teddy,” Sophie said quietly.
“I will.”
Teddy carefully unearthed the rest of the skeleton, doing his best to keep the bones from coming apart. The clothes had rotted away over time, but there were still large chunks of moldy leather clinging to the remains. Tall boots covered his legs nearly up to the knee, and a belt with a large buckle encircled what would have been his waist. What remained of a doublet clung to the shoulder bones, and a beat-up hat was tilted back, exposing the top of his skull. Sophie peered inside and saw the top of a chest, now clearly visible just beneath the remains.
“Do you think they killed him after burying the chest?” she asked, marveling at the cruelty of people who could murder one of their own without a second thought. Presumably, the sailor would have been a part of Captain Kidd’s crew, not some random person he’d forced to come along.
“I doubt they brought a dead body with them and carried it all the way up this hill just to bury it atop the treasure, but I really couldn’t say. I’ve never heard it said that Captain Kidd was a heartless man. His crew was devoted to him, so perhaps they did drag a body up here.”
Teddy carefully slid the skeleton off the chest, making sure to keep it intact. He didn’t say so, but Sophie could tell he was spooked. He didn’t like the idea of disturbing someone’s resting place. Teddy dug around the chest until all of it lay exposed. The chest wasn’t large, about the size of a newborn’s cradle, but it was heavy since Teddy couldn’t lift it on his own. He picked up the shovel again and struck off the rusted padlock, and the chain slithered into the dirt at his feet. Teddy looked up at Sophie, his face aglow with anticipation.
“Dead man’s chest,” he said under his breath as he nudged it with his foot, almost as if he expected the lid to fly open and something to pop out. Teddy stood back as much as the pit would allow and used the shovel to slowly lift the lid.
The glint of gold blinded Sophie. The chest was full of coins, with pieces of jewelry thrown haphazardly in. There were pearl chokers, several rings, earrings, and bracelets.
“Dear God in Heaven,” Sophie breathed.
“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain,” Teddy joked. His eyes shone with excitement, his grin huge. “Hand me one of those sacks,” he instructed.
Sophie gave him a sack and he began to transfer the coins into it, leaving the jewels for later.
“Fancy trying this on?” he asked as he handed her a lovely pearl necklace.
Sophie shook her head and drew back from the edge of the pit. The idea of putting on something that had belonged to another, someone who might have been killed for their possessions, was abhorrent to her. Teddy was ecstatic, but she was afraid, a cold chill sending shivers down her spine. This had to be bad luck, but nothing she said would stop Teddy from helping himself to the loot. He filled the sack halfway, then asked for another.
“God damn it,” he exclaimed.
“What? What is it?”
She peered into the chest. Having scooped out the top layer of the treasure, Teddy had discovered that the chest wasn’t full, at least not of coin. Beneath the booty were several thick leather-bound volumes that took up at least half the space inside the chest. Teddy lifted one out and leafed through the pages before tossing it back in disgust.
“What are those?”
“Captain’s logs,” he replied.
“Why would Captain Kidd bury them with the treasure?”
“Probably to keep the authorities from getting their hands on them. There’s enough here to convict him a hundred times over. He probably thought he’d be able to beat the charge, or spend a few years in prison, at worst. I doubt the man thought he’d be executed on some trumped-up charge of treason.”
“How do you know it was trumped up?” Sophie asked, curious despite her fear.
“Captain Kidd was liked and respected and left largely in peace as long as his activities benefited those in power. But adversity makes strange bedfellows, as Shakespeare wisely observed, and suddenly, he was locked out of the bedroom.”
Teddy hefted the now half-empty chest out of the pit and set it beside the bags. He then began to fill in the pit. “Rest in peace,” he said to the skeleton as the earth swallowed him up once again.
“What are you going to do with the logs?”
“I’m going to put them back in the chest, then add some rocks and sink it,” Teddy replied. “Should anyone come looking, they’ll find nothing more than two men buried at the top of the hill—two nameless men.”
“What does it matter if they find the chest and the logs?”
“If the chest is found years from now, it won’t matter, but if it’s found shortly after we’ve been here, someone might ask the right questions and track us down, thinking they could still get rich. And what better way to relieve me of the treasure than by accusing me of murder?”
Sophie sighed. Regardless of the reasons, Teddy was a murderer, and she was complicit in the crime. She’d always believed her life would be forever joined with Teddy’s; she’d just never imagined they would be bound by lies, theft, and murder. But things could be worse, Sophie mused as she helped Teddy stack the books back in the chest. She could still be with George.
Having packed up their camp, Teddy and Sophie carried everything down the hill and loaded it in the boat. Then Teddy handed Sophie into the boat and pushed it out into the bay before getting in himself. He was cold and wet, but he was also happy.
“This is the start of a new life, Poppet,” he said, grinning. “You’ll see.”
“I just want to get back to John Theo,” Sophie said.
“And you will, but there’s something we need to do first.” As soon as they were far enough from the island, Teddy pushed the trunk overboard and they watched it sink as it filled with water that would destroy the pages that had kept Captain Kidd’s secrets for decades.
The House on the Hill: A Ghost Story Page 27