Wait Until Dark: Carolina Moon Series, Book 3

by Christy Barritt

  Brody had gone to high school with the woman working the front desk, and he’d convinced her to let them take a look themselves. He was thankful she’d agreed to it because it made their task considerably easier.

  As Brody stood and stretched, someone knocked at the door.

  He tensed until he saw Joshua standing there. The police chief stepped into the room, a bag of supplies in his hands.

  “Special delivery.” He handed the bag to Brody and nodded a polite hello to Felicity. “Now, does someone want to tell me what’s going on?”

  Brody glanced at Felicity, and she gave him a nod of approval. He needed her permission first before starting. After all, this was her story, not his. She was the one with the stakes in this.

  “A relic hunter named Magnum Lewis murdered the man you found dead in the snowstorm,” Brody started, getting right to the point.

  Joshua’s eyebrows shot up. “Magnum Lewis, huh? There’s an APB out for him. I just got it yesterday. He apparently stole some government property, among other things.”

  Good. At least that was in place. Maybe law enforcement would catch this man before he did anymore damage in his greedy pursuit.

  “He’s dangerous,” Brody said. “Very dangerous.”

  Joshua’s hand went to his hip, and his gaze flipped back and forth from Brody to Felicity. “I had that impression. How did you two get involved?”

  “It’s a long story.” Felicity rubbed her lips together, anxiety written all over her features. They were pinched, and her voice cracked. “But it boils down to this: Magnum has my aunt.”

  Joshua straightened. “Your Aunt Bonny?”

  She nodded a little too fast.

  Joshua’s gaze shot to Brody. “Why didn’t you report this sooner?”

  Accusation stained his voice. It was a good question. And complicated.

  “Magnum said he’d kill Bonny if the police got involved. He wants Felicity to help him do something—”

  “Something illegal?” Joshua’s gaze fell on Felicity.

  She shook her head. “No, not illegal. But almost impossible.”

  “There’s no guarantee that once we hand over what he wants that he’ll give Bonny back.” Brody knew he was on borrowed time and he had to make this quick. But it was hard to succinctly summarize the past few days. “We may know where the treasure is.”

  “What treasure?” Joshua’s shoulders raised. He looked like he thought both Brody and Felicity might be a little crazy. It was only going to get worse from here.

  “Blackbeard’s,” Felicity said, looking up from the file she’d been studying.

  Joshua shook his head, took a step back, and let out a faint chuckle. When no one else joined him, he narrowed his eyes again. “You’re seriously telling me that this is all about a pirate’s treasure?”

  Felicity rubbed her hands on her jeans and nodded. “We know how insane it sounds. But people have been crazy about Blackbeard’s treasure for centuries now. We have a lead, but we need to search the records here.”

  Joshua let out another chuckle filled with disbelief. “And what are you going to do if you find it? Magnum will still come after you.”

  Brody decided to step into the conversation before Felicity crumbled. He could see her emotions zigzagging back and forth, up and down. “We know. But we need to buy some time.”

  Joshua leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “If you’d come to me earlier, I could have been searching for your aunt. I thought you would know better, Brody.”

  “It’s a precarious situation, Joshua, with no easy answers.” Brody’s jaw hardened. He wanted to deny his words, but he knew there was a certain amount of truth there. Maybe Brody could have handled this differently.

  Just like Andrea.

  He should have handled that situation differently also. He should have come home that week. He should have looked harder. Maybe things would have turned out differently.

  “You have no idea where they’re holding her?” Joshua asked.

  Brody shook his head. “No idea at this point.”

  “I’m still not sure I understand your game plan. You find the treasure. Magnum will try to steal it and maybe kill your aunt.”

  “I’ve got it!” Felicity stood, a paper in hand. “It makes sense now.”

  Joshua and Brody walked to her side of the table. Adrenaline rushed through Brody’s blood. Was this really it?

  “What makes sense?” Joshua asked.

  She pointed to an area of the blueprint. “My grandma’s house was built in 1802, just like they always told me. What I didn’t realize was that there was an original house on the property that the new house was built around.”

  Brody squinted, trying to process that. “So you’re saying that the remains of the old house are within the new house?”

  “Kind of. If you look at this layout, you can see that part of the original house was preserved. Mostly the living room and a couple of bedrooms.”

  “Okay . . .”

  “But there’s this area here.” She pointed to a square. “I can’t figure it out for sure, but I think a couple of the original rooms are now tucked between the rooms of the current house.”

  “Why would someone do that?” Joshua asked.

  Felicity shrugged. “It’s hard to say for sure. But homes used to be built more solidly in olden days. Plus, if I’m right, this is the area around the fireplace. It may have been more economical to build around the fireplace instead of building a brand new one. Perhaps, at one time, these rooms were used for storage, but over the years, as the house grew in size, the need for storage wasn’t as great.”

  “What do you suggest we do?” Brody asked.

  Felicity’s gaze met his. “We wait to see where the moonlight leads us. But I think we may have found the hiding place for Blackbeard’s treasure.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  They grabbed some food at a local barbecue restaurant and ate it in the truck on the way back to Felicity’s place. Her mind raced the entire time. The possibilities in front of them seemed endless. But her hopes rose and fell like the tide. There very well could be something hidden within the walls of her house. Or this could be nothing.

  At least the police were aware of the situation now. That way if things went south, someone would know what was going on. Joshua had promised to keep his eyes open, but otherwise stay out of it until they asked for his help.

  He’d probably only agreed to that at the request of Brody.

  In her driveway, Brody hopped out and immediately squatted to the ground.

  “What is it?” Felicity already knew the answer, but she asked anyway.

  “Someone’s been here.”

  Felicity shook her head with disgust. Magnum was going to do whatever it took to find this treasure. She only hoped her plan worked. Thankfully, she’d hidden everything before she left.

  “Let’s see if they did any damage inside,” Brody said.

  With trepidation, she climbed the steps to her porch. The front door was unlocked. As Brody pushed it open, she held her breath.

  When her living room came into view, she released the air from her lungs. Everything appeared to be in one piece. For now, at least.

  “Stay here while I check things out,” Brody said.

  She didn’t bother to argue. She watched as he pulled out his gun and checked the rest of the house. As he headed up the stairs, she held her breath.

  She didn’t hear any thumps or crashes. That was a good sign.

  Dear Lord . . . please.

  Finally, she heard footsteps. Just one set.

  Brody appeared coming down the stairs.

  “Someone was in the attic,” he said. “It’s torn apart. But, otherwise, everything seems fine.”

  “Oh, good.” She finally exhaled, tired of this rollercoaster ride she’d been on for the past few days.

  There was so much on the line here. Could they really pull this off?

  They had no choice but to t
ry.

  “Let’s get to work.” Felicity gripped the bag Joshua had given them.

  She went into the dining room. Thankfully, the curtains were still drawn, promising there was no one peeking inside. Privacy was of the utmost importance.

  She pulled out some brown ink, a quill, some tea, and parchment paper, and set them on the table. Then she got busy.

  The parchment paper was a good match and, with the right coloring, it could match the map. She’d taken a lot of pictures that she could work off of, and Joshua had brought them just the supplies they’d asked for.

  She started by making some strong coffee. She took a paintbrush and slathered the coffee on the paper, which gave it a deeper brown color. As she did that, she heated the oven to 200 degrees. She slipped the paper inside but only for a few minutes. The crispness would help with the aging process.

  Brody stood by idly. She knew he’d help, if there was something he could do. But right now if he could just keep an eye on the outside of the house that would be all the help she needed.

  “Have you ever heard of mooncussers?” she asked as she waited.

  “No, I can’t say I have.”

  “Mooncussers would strap lights on nags—horses in modern day terms. This is where the beach town Nags Head on the Outer Banks got its name. Anyway, they would walk these nags up and down the sand dunes. At night, ships coming in from sea would see the lights bobbing in the distance and assume they were boats on the water and that the water was clear to sail through.”

  “Interesting.”

  She nodded and pulled the paper from the oven. It looked perfect. She didn’t have any time to waste in adding the final details to the map. She carried it into the dining room to finish it. “What happened, of course, was that the ships would crash into the shore. When they did, these so-called land pirates would rob them of their treasure.”

  He crossed his arms, following her as she worked, his gaze constantly surveying the area for any signs of danger. “They were pretty clever.”

  “Weren’t they? I kind of feel like we’re giving Magnum a piece of his own medicine. We’re making it appear that safety is ahead, but little does he know we’re planning for a shipwreck.”

  “Nice.” He fingered the paper. “You’re pretty good at this.”

  “I went to school for this. Not counterfeiting, but . . .” She shrugged. “You know.”

  “I have faith in you.”

  She hardly heard him. “He’s going to have Ricky evaluate this.” Her muscles all seemed to tighten at that announcement.

  “Your ex?”

  She nodded and raised her quill. She could do this. She could imitate the marks on the maps. “I’m hoping we’ll buy ourselves enough time in the process, though.”

  He glanced at his watch. “Speaking of time . . . you know we’re running out, right?”

  She nodded. “I think I’ve treated the paper enough for now. I just need to add the letters. The only thing I’m worried about is the tear line.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Tears are difficult. The paper is very detailed there. It will be easy to spot if the tear isn’t consistent with the original. I think I can mimic it.”

  He squeezed her shoulder. “You can do it.”

  That didn’t stop the anxiety from roiling in her stomach. Finally, she finished the last word and added the final dot. A dot that wasn’t on the original. A dot that would send Magnum on a wild goose chase.

  She stepped back and looked at it. Looked at printouts of the original. Finally, she nodded.

  “I think I’m done. I just need to add a little more heat and then roll it up.”

  “You think he’ll question it?”

  “Magnum is the type who will question everything. But this will buy us time. He’ll give us Aunt Bonny back, and we’ll get her hidden away. Hopefully, the real treasure will end up in the hands of someone who will truly appreciate it and not some money-hungry relic hunter.”

  But as she said the words, doubt began to creep in. She prayed she could pull this off.

  Brody sat beside Felicity on the couch. The lights were turned off, and they both waited to see where the moon would shine. There was no TV on. Nothing but silence.

  He could feel the jitters of excitement and nerves in Felicity as she sat beside him. Under other circumstances, he might be tempted to pull her into his arms, but now wasn’t the time. He hoped he would have time for that when all this was over. Time to explore what a relationship between them might look like. What a chance at love might feel like. What letting go of the past might mean.

  He held his own cup of coffee and slowly raised it to his lips. The waiting was the hardest part.

  Felicity looked up at the stained-glass window above the front door. Could it really be the key? Was it in front of them the whole time?

  The way she’d put everything together was just short of amazing.

  “I hope all this works,” she whispered beside him.

  He squeezed her knee. “Me too.”

  “Thanks for being here through it all.”

  “Thanks for not chasing me off.”

  “I tried a few times,” she reminded him.

  He grinned. “Thankfully, I’m stubborn.”

  “Thankfully.”

  The sun had long since set. The moon was rising in the sky. But it wasn’t aligned right yet.

  Felicity got up and paced toward the door. She peered out the window.

  “It’s almost time,” she told him. “It’s getting closer.”

  He tried to imagine what might play out over the next hour. Over the next day. Over the next few days. It could be amazing. Or it could be horrible.

  He prayed for the prior.

  He glanced around the house. “By the way, what are you going to do with the place?”

  She turned swiftly toward him. “This house?”

  “That’s right.”

  She shrugged. “I haven’t thought about it.”

  “It would be beautiful if it was restored.”

  Her gaze fluttered around the place. “You’re right. It would be. But I’m afraid I don’t have the funds to do that. It would take so much time and money.”

  “Restoring this place seems right up your alley.”

  She nodded. “It is. I love old things and history. But I also realize my limitations.”

  “Any thoughts of going back to Raleigh?”

  “It’s hard to say. We’ll have to see if anything keeps me here.” Her gaze fluttered up to him.

  He scooted closer. “I could work on that.”

  “I bet you could.”

  Just as he leaned in, she stepped back and drew in a sharp breath.

  “Brody, there it is! It’s an X. A real-life X marks the spot.”

  He looked over. Sure enough, the lines from the stained glass had formed an X on the wall above the fireplace.

  That was where the treasure was. Located in one of the house’s original rooms. Near the attic.

  “Let’s get to work,” he said.

  Against her wishes, Felicity found herself back in the attic with a lantern in hand. She knew they had to be careful. The chances were that Magnum and his men were still watching them. Though they couldn’t see inside the house, any loud noises might alert them that something was going on.

  Brody stared at the boards in from of him. “I’m going to start taking these down. Let’s see if there’s anything to this theory.”

  “Let’s go.”

  Another ripple of excitement rushed through her. This all seemed surreal. But what if there really was something on the other side?

  Using an old hammer, Brody pried the first board away. Blackness stared back. He took down another and another. They came down easily since the wood and nails were old. Incredibly old.

  Finally, a two-foot section had been removed. The blackness only grew, and a cold, damp breeze floated out.

  Maybe this was why it always seemed so drafty up here
. In fact, her lantern had gone out the first time she and Brody came up here. Could it be because there was a room beyond these walls?

  “Let’s see that lantern.” Brody reached for it.

  She stepped closer, dreading being away from the light. Brody seemed to sense that and snaked an arm around her waist. Then he thrust the light into the opening.

  Her eyes widened at what she saw there.

  It was a room. A small room. Across from the section of wall they’d taken down was a door.

  Felicity grabbed the lantern and stepped inside. She knelt down until she was eye level with the keyhole.

  “This is it, Brody. This is it.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Felicity stared at the door, gave it a nudge, examined the hinges. There was no way they could open this, not unless they had the right tools. It was solid and thick and held together with some kind of mortar, unlike anything she’d seen before.

  “I can’t believe it.” Brody ran his hand over the wood. “This is crazy.”

  “To say the least.”

  Could this really be where Blackbeard’s treasure was stored? Was it right here under her nose all these years?

  Her throat went dry. She hadn’t thought they’d actually be able to find the treasure. She’d worked so hard to make a forgery of that map to give to Magnum and buy herself some time.

  But now that she’d found the treasure, maybe she should just hand it over. Get her aunt back. End all of this.

  After all, none of this was worth her aunt’s life. Without her aunt, she’d have no one.

  Except Brody. But what did they really have? Was he interested in seeing where their relationship went? Or had they simply shared a few kisses?

  She couldn’t mess this up. She’d messed up too much in her life already.

  “Brody, I’ve got to tell Magnum,” Felicity muttered.

  She had to tell him now. That meant she had to get out of this attic and make the call.

  She rushed toward the stairway before Brody could stop her.