by Suzi Weinert
For the first time Mary Ann looked up at Jennifer. ”Fight back?”
“You bet. He’s counting on you knuckling under rather than prosecuting him. But instead, go after him so he can’t do this to anyone else. Do it for yourself. Do it for the others he’s duped before and the ones he’ll cheat next.”
“I…I don’t think…”
“Yes, you can. For your own peace of mind and to make society better. Here, let’s call Sibyle right now. She can walk you through this fighting-back process.”
“You think it’s the right thing to do?”
“I know it’s the right thing to do. And so do you. Here’s my cellphone. Just dial her number.”
Mary Ann studied the phone as if unsure what it was. Slowly, Jennifer’s words penetrated her brain and she pressed buttons. But when Sibyle answered, Mary Ann handed the phone to Jennifer.
“Sibyle, it’s Jennifer Shannon, your Mom’s neighbor and friend. She needs you because she’s had a devastating shock. Instead of the wonderful, loving man she thought him to be, Charlie has disappeared, breaking her heart and stealing her money. She’s very upset. How fast can you get over here?”
“Geez, Jen, is she okay?”
“No. She needs you, your understanding, your love and your help involving police to find Charlie and charge him with the crime.”
“I…. Okay, I…I’ll be right over.”
“…and bring your toothbrush.”
“What?”
“Plan to stay as long as it takes to help her through this.”
“Oh, my. Can you stay at least until I get there?”
“I just returned from a long trip and can’t stay. You’re close, in Vienna. You can be here in fifteen minutes. I’ll wait that long. Hurry!”
When Sibyle arrived, Jennifer explained what she knew. “Your mother knows all the details. Call me if you need me. Here’s Adam’s number. He’s the police detective. He’ll tell you what department to call.”
Back at home, she explained Mary Ann’s plight. When her mother wiped away tears, Jennifer guessed she mourned for her own lost love, Anthony Venuti. But rather than steal her money, he made her a millionaire. When they were alone in the kitchen, she touched her mother’s arm.
“What’s bothering you this morning?”
“Tony. I agonize over what happened to him—what horrible end he suffered without me there to comfort him. At least Mary Ann’s love is all right somewhere. She might wish he’s dead, but my dear Tony really is. If only I knew what really happened I could put my mind at ease.”
“Mom, I hope you forgive me, but I asked Deputy Goodwin to find out what he could about Tony.” She explained what she’d learned, uncertain what reaction to expect.
First her mother’s face registered shock, then disbelief as she absorbed the information. Then a smile lighted her expression. “Oh, Jen, thank God he’s alive and well. How much courage it must have taken for him not to ask me to go with him into witness protection. This was his final gift of love to me. This anguish about his final days has weighed me down for years. Now I can think of his sunny smile lighting up a room somewhere this very minute. He’s alive.” She beamed.
Jennifer comforted her mother, holding her hand. But her own mind raced. Would they ever know the real truth? Was Tony Venuti the selfless, brave hero, facing the future without the woman he truly loved rather than wrench her from her friends and family for a life on the run?
Or was his story a version of Charlie’s? Did he choose a future without her, leaving his money with her only because the witness protection window swept him away too fast to retrieve the cash box in her keeping?
Her mother would never know which option was the truth, but she could forever cherish the version she chose.
CHAPTER 72
Jennifer left her mother’s side to answer the phone, putting it on Speaker so the others could hear. “Hi, Mom. It’s Hannah. We’d like to invite you, Dad, Grammy and Becca to visit our property this morning to see what we’ve accomplished. You were in Florida a month and you won’t believe our progress. In two weeks, we start construction of our new house. ”
“When do you want us?”
“The sooner the better. How about an hour, at ten o’clock? I’ve planned a picnic lunch for us.”
Jennifer glanced out the window. “It’s overcast today. Have you a rain plan?”
“The old house is gone, of course, but we could eat in the barn or the garage if we had to.”
Jennifer looked at the others, eyebrows raised in inquiry. They nodded. “It’s a yes, although I don’t know whether Becca will come since she isn’t awake yet. When we returned, Nathan was over here like a rocket. Almost seems like he lives here. But let’s talk about you, honey. You sound like such a happy girl.”
“Oh, Mom, this is an exciting time in our lives. We want to share our happiness with the people we love.”
“Okay, see you soon. Love you.”
She no sooner hung up than Becca shuffled in, eyes barely open but hand outstretched for a coffee cup, which Jennifer guided into it.
The doorbell rang. Jason answered, returning to the kitchen with Nathan. “Morning everyone…Becca. Good to see you all again.”
Becca winced, “You’re seeing me at my worst—in the morning BC.”
“BC?” Nathan looked puzzled.
“Before coffee.”
He laughed. “I’m from a big family. Hard to scare me.”
“Coffee for you, Nathan?” Jennifer asked.
“Sure.” He kissed Becca’s cheek. “Hey, what’s this you have spread across the table?”
Jennifer described the frame, the riddle and the map, surprised at his interest.
“My dad’s a Civil War buff,” Nathan said. “He has a whole collection of stuff he found in past years with his metal detector.”
This caught Jennifer’s attention. “He has one and knows how to use it?”
“You bet he does. Me, too. I guess it still works. He hasn’t used it for years because he says getting permission from landowners is nearly impossible. And if you’re caught using it on parkland I think the fine is $160,000. But he knows the ropes if you need advice.”
“Hannah invited us all to see progress on their property this morning and…”
Nathan continued her thought. “…and that property hasn’t been disturbed for many years. My Dad says all of northern Virginia was once Civil War territory. If I had the metal detector we might find something interesting.”
Jason munched on a peach. “You’ll have no trouble getting their permission. This could be fun.”
“Then why don’t I see if I can get the detector working and meet you at the Iversons’ property? Did you say about an hour?”
“Good,” Becca mumbled. “That gives me just enough time to get ready.” She walked Nathan to the door. “See you there.” From habit in Florida, she locked the door when he left.
* * * *
An hour later, as their car turned up the long driveway into 3508 Winding Trail, Jennifer fought a tinge of unease. With this property Hannah and Adam’s permanent home, she needed to shake for good the memory of her awful experience here with Ruger Yates. Once the mind connects a location with terror, the warning flag flies. She must put that episode behind her.
Jason nudged Jennifer back to the present. “Did you bring the things we’re taking to the Smithsonian when we finish here?”
She nodded, tight-lipped. “It’s all in the trunk…the frame, the riddle and map. I’ll show them the framed picture, but I’m keeping it.”
At the top of the driveway, Hannah and Adam greeted them. After hugs, Adam explained, “You can get an overview from up here, but the yard is the size of a football field, so the best look requires a walk.”
Nathan drove up, removing the metal detector. “Not working perfectly, but we might find something with it. Do I have your permission to look for metal in your yard?”
“Sure,” Adam agreed. “But if you
find something exciting, let’s share the loot.”
“Suits me.”
“I think I’ll look from up here,” Grammy decided. “See, I brought a portable chair.” They settled her. “Did this house burn down?” She gestured toward the charred skeleton of irregular timbers and the blackened roof listing into the basement.”
“Mom, I phoned you about it when it happened,” Jennifer reminded her. “Remember, Hannah and Adam were inside?”
“I remember now. Somehow, I’d forgotten. What an awful scare.” Grammy grimaced. “I’ll hug them even tighter, realizing I almost lost them. I’ll never forget it now that I’ve seen this gutted building.”
Hannah led the way as they started down the sloping yard. “We had the bush-hogger leave all the big trees and most flowering bushes like these lilacs and rhododendrons, but he removed the brambles and thickets.”
“And,” Adam added, “we discovered a creek running down that side. We hadn’t known about it before, but it’s a nature spot where our children can find tadpoles someday. We have at least fifteen kinds of tall trees: maples, elms, three huge oaks, some locust, firs and hawthorns and wait until you see the pines. Really beautiful now that we can enjoy what’s here. Do you think we should put in grass or leave the ground natural?”
“I vote for natural,” Becca said.
“Eliminates mowing,” Nathan observed.
Jason scooped up a stone. “Natural’s ‘in’ now and practical, as Nathan says. How about this rock. Quartz?” Crystals beneath the stone’s rough surface glinted as he rotated it in the sunlight. “Almost looks like it came from another planet.”
Adam picked up on that. “If you want mystique, wait till you see what’s up ahead.”
As they came upon a clearing, Jennifer gasped.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Becca touched her mother’s elbow with concern. Jennifer pointed and they all followed her stare to a circle of pine trees around a large boulder with a smaller one atop.
“This…this is the place.”
“The place?” Jason asked. “What place?”
CHAPTER 73
“This is the place in the painting.”
“The place in what painting?” Adam asked.
Recovering from surprise, Jennifer managed, “I can’t believe it. I must be mistaken. Jay, would you mind getting the painting from the car?”
“You’re sure?”
“Well, I think so, but it can’t be.”
As he walked back up the hill, they heard Nathan’s metal detector ping. They all watched as he narrowed the pinging to one spot, forced his weed digger into the spot and levered up a divot of soil. Crumbling the dirt away with his hand, he crowed, “Look, it’s an old bullet.” They crowded around him for a look.
Adam walked ahead. “Here’s the place we want to show you. This opening in the trees. “The big rocks inside almost look like an altar. How do you think that smaller crescent-shaped rock fits in? Don’t stumble against it. It’s sharp.”
Becca stepped into the circle and just as she climbed on to the boulder, rays of sunlight cut through the overcast, spilled through the trees and haloed her with its glow. “What is it?” she asked, seeing their amazed faces.
“There’s…,” Nathan searched for words, “…there’s an other-worldly feel here.”
To her surprise, Jennifer said, “Indians thought this a holy place. Now I see why.”
Jason gave her a sharp look. “And how would you know that? Have you seen this place before?”
“Only in the painting and…my dreams.”
Jason shook his head. “In her dreams? What next?” Switching to a subject he understood, he asked Adam. “What’s your construction plan?”
As he answered, Adam led the way toward the stream. “First, excavators will remove the burn debris and dig up the old foundation. Hannah wants to save those original stones to use in the new fireplace and in our rock garden. Then the builder lays the new foundation. I’ll show you our blueprints up in the barn, in case you have suggestions. We want a walk-out basement with big windows to bring in sunlight—no dank subterranean feel like…,” he faltered as a twinge of boyhood memory flickered across his mind, “like the one in the original house.”
“When do they begin?”
“Two weeks. Nice little creek, huh?” As they studied the gently running little stream, the metal detector pinged again. Nathan again focused on the exact spot and dug in with his tool.
This time, as the chunk of earth in his hand crumbled away, he held up a belt buckle.”
Nathan touched Adam’s arm. “If we’re finding things randomly like this, you really should measure it off in quadrants and go at this scientifically. This may have been a Civil War camp site.”
“Could you show me how?”
“My dad sure could, and I could help.”
Becca arrived with the framed picture and Jennifer held it up for them to see. “I think she’s right,” Hannah agreed. “It’s an amateur drawing but no question it’s this scene. Where did you get this, Mom?”
“At an estate sale in Great Falls.”
They snickered. “Well, of course. We should have guessed. That’s our Mom, the garage sale diva.”
Adam looked up the hill. “Okay, if you’ve seen enough here, we have a picnic waiting up by the barn.” He led the way.
When they reached the upper driveway, Jason helped lift coolers out of the car. “Will you keep the barn?”
“Only during house construction… to store materials and provide shade on hot days before the roof goes on the house. Then it comes down.”
Becca mused, “Instead of bulldozing it, why not salvage the barn wood to panel the basement walls? That shabby-chic look makes a unique statement, and the weathered grain would give a soft, gray textured background.”
Hannah smiled broadly. “Oh, I like the idea. Unique and practical.”
“Some people buy used bricks and wood from old building demolitions,” Jennifer added, “to preserve the materials but keep them functional.”
Hannah tucked the cooler into shade near the barn. “They call materials salvaged from old houses ‘architectural artifacts’. All kinds of stuff like hardware, stained glass, doors, chandeliers, columns, statues and more.”
Becca put the food baskets in the shade also. “So you’ve already looked into it?”
“When you’re about to build a house, which you do maybe once in your lifetime, you research a lot. Architectural magazines are full of ideas for using these artifacts. Some owners find a round window or stained glass feature or other odd pieces they insist their builder or designer fit into construction. That’s too fancy for what we have in mind, but I really like Becca’s idea about the barn wood.”
Jennifer couldn’t resist. “And salvaged artifacts are another way to recycle things instead of junking them.”
Becca turned to Nathan. “Uh-oh, Mom’s on her soapbox again. Recycling is one of her excuses for haunting those garage and estate sales.”
Nathan turned to Jennifer. “You know, my mother’s a garage saler, too.”
“Well then, she and I have more in common than thinking you’re a nice guy.”
“Why, thank ya, ma’am.” Nathan gave a convincing John Wayne imitation, thumbs stuck into his waistband.
Grammy winked at John Wayne. “You know the famous Will Rogers quote?”
Nathan shook his head.
“’Never squat with your spurs on.’”
When the others within earshot stopped chuckling at the quote, Hannah asked Grammy, “How was the trip from Florida to Virginia?”
“After all the confusion surrounding the move, getting here was the easy part.”
Jason asked Grammy, “Do you plan to buy a new car to replace your Mercedes?”
She considered this. “Jury’s out, but probably not. I don’t expect to drive much anymore. You and others offered to take me places while I live across the street, and the senior place where I move will offer t
ransportation service. So I guess I’ll just hang on to the insurance money when it comes.”
Several murmured encouragement for that decision.
Adam turned to Nathan. “Want to take a closer look at the burned house?”
Activating his metal detector, Nathan cautioned, “The ground around the outside of the burn site is solid, but poking around in the ruins is risky and dirty—those black soot smudges are hard to wash off. Ask me how I know.”
Becca swatted him playfully. “You little fireman, you.”
“Shall I bring along the detector?”
“Absolutely,” Adam said as all but Grammy walked to the site.
Jason tried chipping away at one of the foundation rocks. “This isn’t a poured slab and cinderblock basement. These are stones and mortar and they’re in solid. How old was the house?”
Adam scratched his chin. “Records don’t go back about the original house because there was no building code then. People could slap together whatever they wanted on their land. The Yates family owned this farm property over a hundred years and two other farmers owned it in sequence before that. As for the house, looks like each owner added on instead of tearing down and starting over.”
“So this original foundation could be a couple hundred years old?” Jason calculated.
Adam kicked the wall. “They built them to last back then. Not the kind of construction some contractors get away with now.”
Jason admired the workmanship. “When you build it yourself, as this owner must have, only his best effort would do.”
“Or what was at hand that he could afford. Although Hannah and I have grand ideas for our house, many special features are too expensive for us. But we do plan to take turns coming every day to watch our builder’s progress, so we expect good results.”