Spoils of the Game

by Lee Lamond

  “Mr. Duva, here are a few coins that I saved as souvenirs. I want you to have them. But before I give them to you, let me take a fork and show you what they really are.”

  Austin scraped the surface of a coin; flakes of gold leaf settled on the tablecloth, and the lead core of the coin was revealed. Duva picked up the lead coin as Austin started to laugh. Austin continued to laugh and laughed so hard that he began to cough. Through his laughter he looked at Duva and made a very clear statement.

  “Mr. Duva, this meeting is over. I have asked my friend here to lunch, and I am afraid that you are not invited.”

  Austin slid the small pile of coins toward Duva, who placed them in his jacket pocket. Duva rose and gave Austin a stare that Austin returned. Without a word Duva and his associate left the bar.

  Austin sat looking at Madeline out of the corner of his eye. She had her face in her hands, hiding her emotions.

  “Austin, I need another bottle of wine, and I am going to try and forget what just happened. When will we be able to wash away the stink of this adventure”

  “Madeline, if you truly believe that the coins are cursed, then we could not have picked a more deserving person to give them to.”

  “Forget my lunch—where is the wine?”

  Austin watched Duva and his friend walk toward the parking lot, with Duva on his cell phone. After a couple of minutes they got into a large, white SUV and left the parking lot. Giving the coins to Duva had felt so good. It was now clear that the search for the gold had been a folly for everyone, but somehow Duva and his friend Simon had felt they were entitled to their share, and Austin was happy to give it to them. It was strange. Giving the coins to Duva had been liberating. It was as if they had taken over the burden, and they were welcome to it. Life somehow seemed brighter, and things could get back to normal.

  At about three o’clock that afternoon, Austin and Madeline began the walk back to the house on the hill. Along the way Austin found a place along the shoreline to toss the gun that he’d taken from Simon’s wife, without Madeline being the wiser. It was about a quarter to four when they arrived back at the house. Madeline was excited about the expected present, but when it was four-fifteen and no present had been delivered, Austin was concerned, and Madeline was confused. When the woman making the delivery arrived in what appeared to be a new Mercedes, Madeline jumped up on Austin and put her arms around his neck.

  “Madeline, calm down! Calm down, you’re going to break my back.”

  “Austin, I always dreamed of owning a Mercedes. Oh, I love you, I love you.”

  “Madeline, I did not buy you a Mercedes. Now, calm down.”

  The woman exiting the car with the large brown envelope saw Madeline’s reaction and could understand why. She introduced herself and opened the envelope, placing a few documents on the hood of the car.

  “I am so sorry I am late, Monsieur Clay. The traffic up by the highway is a mess. There was a tragic accident, and two men in a white SUV were killed.”

  In a split second, Austin’s mind froze. Madeline was right. The coins were cursed, he thought to himself.

  Madeline was so excited about the possibility of getting the car that she did not hear the woman’s words, which was fine with Austin.

  Austin signed the documents at the few places noted and used his body to block Madeline’s view. Madeline saw his action and was now sure that he was buying her the car; she tried to be patient and not go crazy. Austin covered the majority of the page with the envelope and told Madeline to sign too, an obvious formality in buying a car. In a minute or two the paperwork was over, and the woman got back into her car and backed out of the driveway. Now Madeline was very confused. What was all of the paperwork about? Where was the woman taking her car?

  “Madeline, I did not buy you the car. I bought us this house.”

  Madeline stood motionless for several seconds, trying to understand what Austin had just said. Suddenly she began to cry; her knees folded until she was sitting on the driveway. Austin knelt down and kissed her on the cheek; he picked her up and took her into their new home overlooking the Mediterranean. It took about twenty minutes for Madeline to recover from what she’d just heard. As he had done many times before, Austin gave Madeline a large glass of wine to make things better.

  “Austin, why did you buy the house? It is perhaps the best gift anyone could ever get. I cannot wait to tell my sister.”

  “Hey, I got a good deal on it, and real estate is always a good investment. I cannot believe that you did not see the listing for it in the real estate office window that day we walked through town.”

  “I never saw anything, but I am glad that you did.”

  “Did you see the fine print on the contract?”

  Madeline looked at Austin, worried that there was a problem. “Fine print?”

  “Sure, every deal has fine print.”

  “Well, what does the fine print say?”

  “It says that you must accept the house as a wedding gift. Madeline, will you marry me?”

  Madeline put her arms around Austin and began to cry again. The house was a wonderful gift, but it was Austin that she wanted.

  In the days that followed, Madeline and Austin enjoyed the environment and the new house. Both had found a way to remake their lives, and each had found someone to make them whole. Madeline took the remaining time in Antibes to study her new home and determine how she could put her personal touch on every room. There were many things that she wanted to do, but for now she only had the time to do the simple things. Madeline had put the pots to good use. Each coin pot was about ten inches in diameter, and several had been filled with potting soil; soon each was about to receive geraniums in an effort to dress up the rooftop patio.

  “Austin, do you think I need a drain hole in these pots, so that they will not fill up with rain?”

  Austin picked up an empty pot and agreed that rainwater might be an issue. “I might be able to drill a hole in the bottom. This clay does not appear to be that hard.” Austin took a pair of scissors, scratched the bottom of a pot, and confirmed that for a fired pot, it was surprisingly soft.

  In a downstairs closet were an old electric drill and some rusty drill bits that had belonged to the previous owner. Austin turned over the first pot and carefully began to drill through the five-hundred-year-old clay. Being careful to not crack the pot, he proceeded slowly, watching as clay powder began to build up around the hole. Suddenly a very strange thing happened—the reddish clay powder turned to gold, real gold.

  In addition to the clay that made up the pot, a hard layer of five-hundred-year-old mud coated its interior, and it was very thick at the bottom. Hidden in the mud in the bottom of the pot were the gold disks he had learned about in Switzerland but had assumed were long gone. Using a spoon he liberated the bars from the mud, and then he sat back in his chair and began to laugh. He handed the disk to Madeline, who took it apprehensively. She looked at the gold without comment. Only hours before, she had been convinced that the issue of the gold was behind her, and she had been relieved; now it was back.

  She handed the disk back to Austin and turned and walked away, saying, “Austin, we agreed that any gold would be used for good, and that is what I want to do. I do not want the gold, and I want you to do something.”

  “Let’s see how much is here. There were one disk in this pot. Perhaps that is all that there is.”

  Austin took a spoon and began digging into the bottoms of the pots that Madeline had not filled with dirt. In the second he could see what remained of a leather or perhaps cloth covering; below that was more mud, and within the still-wet soil was another disk of gold. Each pot contained its own disk of gold. Austin was not sure, but each disk was about four and a half pounds, so that the total weight was about one hundred pounds. Austin did the calculation in his head and guessed that the gold was worth more than two million dollars.

  Madeline sat in a wicker chair, looking out to the ocean. “So, Austin, what a
re you going to do now?”

  Austin joined her in the other wicker chair and also stared out at the ocean. “Madeline, a few days ago we decided that the gold would be used to help find a cure for your nephew. I think I have got him covered now. I have no children, but you might consider putting some of the money toward the education of both of your nephews.”

  Madeline continued to stare out to sea. Austin’s suggestion was not what she wanted.

  “Austin … in the past few weeks, I have found a murdered friend, I have been confronted by my boss that you say was a crook, I took a wild trip into Northern Italy, I helped you dig in the bottom of a well, someone tried to stab me, and then I watched you almost kill two men along the road. My boss killed two people and then killed himself, and today I was confronted by the mob, then you bought me this house. And I must tell you that I cannot take any more. Austin, putting money aside for the boys is a good idea, but I do not want the gold to affect their lives. I want to go back to our plan. I appreciate that you may have a solution for Benjamin’s problems, which changes our plans and perhaps allows for any money to be used for another purpose. Are you going to let me decide what to do with the money, or are you going to bully me into your plan?”

  Austin looked down at the patio floor and tried to understand Madeline’s thinking. Whatever it was it was still a lot of money, and he could easily find a good use of it. He had thought about making sure that she was well cared for, but now that he’d asked her to marry him, that would not be an issue. Perhaps there was something that people could do with money other than just hoard it.

  “Madeline, we came very close to throwing the pots into a dumpster. You kept them and were going to turn them into something beautiful. They are your pots, and what is in them is yours.”

  “I want to give the gold to Father Gladieux. He will know what to do with it and how to make good come from bad. It was through him that the gold was found, and I just feel it would be best if we did that.”

  Austin admired Madeline’s unselfishness and her values. Logic and rational thinking had no place in this discussion.

  Madeline said, “I’ll call and see if we can stop and visit with Father Gladieux on our way back to Paris. I want the gold to go from our hands into his hands as quickly as possible. I will call my sister and see if she can find out where he might be reached, and then we can just go and give the gold to him.”

  Chapter 13

  France

  Arriving back in Paris was stressful. The vacation that Madeline had looked forward to was over, the gold was still in her life, she was now the owner of a house at the beach, and soon she would be married. On Monday she was to be back at work at the Louvre, not knowing whom she would be working for now that her boss had killed himself. Surely people would be concerned about what damage might have been done to the Louvre and the public image of the fine museum. As they left the train, Austin gathered up the luggage and arranged for a porter to take it to the curb and a taxi. It was late on Sunday afternoon when they finally got back to Madeline’s apartment.

  With all the luggage stacked in her living room, Madeline slumped down on the couch, and Austin slumped down next to her. It had been an amazing month. Both were exhausted, but neither of them was feeling relaxed. The rest on the couch was brief. Madeline wanted to go through her mail, air out her apartment, and unpack. It was clear that emotions were not right, and perhaps some time away from each other was best. Austin got the signal and took the small bag that contained the gold and his luggage, gave the future Mrs. Austin Clay a kiss, and stated that he would call her tomorrow.

  That night Austin fell asleep at about seven, watching TV, but before he surrendered to slumber in his bed, he went to a closet and retrieved the painting he had purchased from his future brother-in-law in Saint-Abban weeks earlier. It was a fine painting of a sad woman, but it no longer represented anyone he knew. He carefully placed the painting in a plastic bag and moved it downstairs to a utility room that contained the trash bins. By tomorrow the painting would be gone, and in the future he hoped to see only a smiling Madeline.

  That night Madeline spent two hours on the phone talking to Paulette, her sister. When Madeline had called from Antibes, Paulette was thrilled to hear of the engagement, and now the sisters had started planning the nuptials. The news about the beach house touched the romantic part of Paulette’s brain, and she was sure that after years of loneliness, Madeline had found someone she deserved. Paulette had gathered her son’s medical records, and soon the information would be on its way to the United States. There was much to be happy about. Without giving too many details, Madeline brought up the topic of finding Father Gladieux.

  “Paulette, Austin wanted to find Father Gladieux. I talked him into making a donation to a good cause, and I know that Father would have a good idea.”

  “A donation?” said Paulette. “Does he feel guilty about something, or is he just trying to buy his way into heaven?”

  “When I first met Austin, I knew he was wealthy, but he is much more than that. I was never concerned about his money, but he has enough that he could learn to share.”

  “Well, if he keeps buying you houses, he will soon be broke.”

  Both women laughed.

  “Madeline, I heard recently that Father Gladieux was in the hospital. He had a stroke, and he has lost his vision in one eye.”

  “Oh, no,” said Madeline. She hated to see the priest die slowly, and Father Gladieux was the only one that she knew who would know how to use the gold for good.

  “I believe that he is now out of the hospital, but he is not well,” said Paulette. “His nephew told my husband that he was planning to drive him up to Chartres for a reunion of priests from his seminary class, but I am not sure when that will be. I will ask.”

  The morning brought Madeline’s first day back at work. What would she say? What would she admit to? Austin had coached her to volunteer nothing and to listen carefully. Perhaps they were guilty of enticing a dishonest man, but they did not kill Badeau. Vassar called a meeting of Badeau’s former department and expressed sympathy for Badeau and his family and concern for the museum. There were no plans for Badeau’s replacement, and for the time being Vassar would take on that responsibility. He knew that there were good people in Badeau’s group, and for the foreseeable future, the department could perhaps run itself.

  Sabine and Madeline met at about ten that morning, and Madeline shared the news of her engagement. For a few minutes the shared excitement occupied all of their time.

  “Madeline, did your friend Austin ever find anything of interest in the information I gave him on the artist that painted those pictures?” asked Sabine.

  For a few seconds Madeline searched her brain for an answer. “Sabine, at first Austin got all excited about the information you gave him. He was sure that it gave clues about the possibility of finding an old treasure, but the more he studied it, the more he gave up. Austin now believes that the Nazis got the gold from the estate of some banker that Austin thinks actually found the gold before the war. Trust me, Austin does not need any more money, and he told me that now I am his treasure.”

  “Oh, that is so romantic,” said Sabine. “I am so happy for you. Your wedding is going to be like a fairy tale.”

  It was shortly after eleven when Vassar called Madeline into his office and greeted her with a smile. Vassar was an administrator and a people person, and most people found him very easy to talk with. Not knowing what he wanted made Madeline feel very intimidated.

  Vassar asked Madeline to have a seat on a couch, and he took a seat in a large overstuffed chair.

  “Madeline, I heard a rumor, and I must say that I am a little surprised but also very happy. I heard that you and our Monsieur Clay are engaged to be married.”

  Madeline blushed with a mixture of emotions. The poorly kept secret of their relationship was now out, and she hoped that it would not affect her relationship with her job. But then again, why should she ca
re?

  “It’s true,” Madeline said with a smile. “I am very happy. Austin is a terrific man with a strong interest in doing good things.”

  “Madeline, I fully agree with you, and in the next couple of days I want to meet with him to complete the plans for his project. I have received several letters from those who were at the presentation he made, and I think we will have all of the support that is needed. I must ask you an important question, if I might.”

  “Yes?” said Madeline apprehensively.

  “With the loss of Claude Badeau, I must find a replacement, and your name is on the list. But now I wonder if you will be with us or if you will be leaving.”

  It was strange. In the last few days, Madeline had never thought about possible changes in her life. She had always worked and had planned to work until she retired. Where was she going to be living? What would she do if she did not work at the museum? Vassar was looking for a precise answer, and she did not have one.