Garage Sale Riddle

by Suzi Weinert

  Jason looked at the stones. “Think of it: this structure survived a couple hundred years of thunderstorms without a lightning strike burning it down. But you two moved here, and it finally happened.

  “Think of old cobblestone streets and dwellings in Europe dating back centuries, and eroding pyramids, intended to last forever. Each constructed one stone at a time by human hands—just like this old foundation.”

  He put an arm around his son-in-law’s shoulder. “If home is where the heart is, yours will be a fine one indeed.”

  CHAPTER 74

  Down in the yard, Jennifer looked pensive. “Adam, does your stream run all the way down the north side of your property?” When he nodded, she asked. “How far is the Potomac River?”

  “Don’t know exactly. Maybe twenty miles?”

  “I want to show you something.” She pulled out her paper copy of the map cloth slated for the museum.

  He studied it a few minutes before shaking his head. “What am I looking for?”

  “I don’t know exactly. See this place on the map—the hut with the odd multi-layered flat roof and the circle of dots around it? It’s crude, but instead of a hut, could that represent the boulders in your glen? Could the dots be those trees?”

  “Well…if you look at it that way…” Recognition lighted his face as he pointed to the map. “The road here says ‘winding path’ and the name of my street is Winding Trail.” Their eyes locked.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Quick, get the others. Let’s get their take.”

  “Hey, everybody,” Adam shouted. “Please come here for a quick conference.”

  Except for Grammy, the rest convened, studying landmarks shown on the paper and hustling around the property to discover what else might correspond.

  “So with the stream over there, the Indian rocks down here and if this is the winding path…and that stone wall down from the creek,” Adam puzzled, “where’s X?”

  Becca turned in a circle, holding the paper, and suddenly pointed. “Could the square shown here be the old Yates house basement?” She pointed toward the blackened planks and roofing, tumbled askew by the fire into and around the old stone foundation.

  Hannah thought a minute. “Adam, don’t we have shovels in the barn?” He nodded.

  “I’ll get them, if you tell me where they are,” Jason offered.

  “Inside the barn door on the left. All the tools are on that wall.”

  Jason took off up the hill, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll check on Grammy while I’m up there.”

  “Nathan, would the metal detector work here?” Becca asked.

  “Don’t know. Let’s see.” He brought the detector to the place on the foundation that appeared to match the map. “Here goes.”

  When he activated the machine, they heard intermittent pinging, not concentrated pings identifying a hit. He hovered the machine over the parts of the foundation he could reach before apologizing. “This probably doesn’t penetrate deep enough. I think it’s only designed for up to fifteen inches. You get what you pay for, and Dad’s only an amateur relic hunter, so I’m sure he didn’t buy the most expensive detector.”

  “Then why don’t we just dig?” Hannah suggested. “In two weeks, construction workers will remove this entire old house so nothing needs saving. Why not have some fun today?”

  Becca took out her cellphone. “I wanted to take some family pictures today anyway, but shouldn’t we do before-and-after shots of this dig site? I mean, if this turns into a history-making moment, shouldn’t we record it?”

  “Great idea,” Adam agreed. “While Dad’s getting shovels, let’s snap that Indian altar and any other possible landmarks relating to the map. They hurried away on their task.

  Five minutes later, Jason returned, carrying two shovels in one hand and helping Grammy with the other. She gripped a garden trowel and a plastic bucket.

  “I don’t want to miss out on this excitement,” she explained.

  Jennifer consulted the map. “This may be a dry run, but if we’re guessing right, X might be here.” She tapped the hill of dirt tamped against one wall of the foundation.

  The two young men pulled away pieces of burned debris to clear access to that wall.

  Jason’s engineer’s eyes studied the situation. “This foundation wall formed the basement, so it should be about six or seven feet high. We don’t know how deep X is buried, so we probably should dig down from the top of the foundation until we find something.” He chuckled. “Doing it without machinery will take a while. When you get tired, I’ll take a turn with the shovel.”

  Becca added: “Me, too.”

  “Let’s dump excavated dirt over here,” Nathan grunted, carrying a shovelful to a spot fifteen feet away.

  “I’ll bring some bottled water for our laborers,” Hannah offered, starting up the hill.

  “And please bring my folding chair,” Grammy said, leaning against a tree.

  “Here, Hannah, let me help carry the water.” Jennifer followed her daughter toward the car.

  An hour later, Adam wiped his brow. “This stuff’s like concrete.”

  Jason nodded. “If the house is as old as we think, Adam, the original builder tamped the soil down hard to begin with. Then rain and snow compacted it further for another couple centuries.”

  “Yeah,” Nathan huffed. “I can vouch for that.”

  The others returned and Grammy adjusted herself in her chair. “But look, in an hour you’ve made a good dent. At that rate, will you reach bottom yet today?”

  This thought discouraged the weary diggers but energized the willing bystanders.

  “Here, Dad, your turn. I need a break.” Adam handed his shovel to Jason and Becca took Nathan’s while the two tired diggers sagged to the ground for a well-deserved rest.

  Adam took a deep swig of water. “Won’t we feel stupid after all this work if there is no X?”

  “Or if this isn’t the right place…” Nathan added wearily.

  “Or it’s someone’s buried trash,” Becca called over from the dig site.

  “At least none of you will need to visit the gym for a while,” Jennifer said, laughing.

  An hour later, when they traded off again, Becca snapped more pictures of the digging operation. The resulting 4’x 4’ hole in the ground meant they now hefted dirt out of the excavation with the bucket.

  Hannah said, “I’m going to serve the picnic lunch here by the dig. Mom, would you give me a hand?”

  “I’ll help, too.” Nathan followed the two of them up to the driveway.

  As they returned with the food, they heard Jason shout, “Bingo!”

  Everyone rushed to see. Becca raised her cellphone for the picture as her father lifted out a dirty fork. “Is this part of X or somebody’s buried lunch?”

  Adam handed the fork to Grammy to evaluate. “Here, Dad, you catch your breath while I take over.” Adam climbed into the hole. “Pass me the trowel.” Ten minutes later he held up a necklace and a candlestick.”

  A cheer rose from the group. Jennifer and Hannah danced in a circle and Grammy grinned ear-to-ear as Adam lifted out a small tarnished silver bowl and a brooch.

  “I can’t believe this,” Jennifer marveled.

  “Here’s another old cloth in the crate, but it’s in really bad shape. He put the damp tatters into Jennifer’s outstretched hand. She thought she saw writing scratched on some of the threads, but the decomposition made it illegible.

  Jennifer remembered the Dead Sea scrolls. “I can’t read it, but let’s save all the fragments in case an expert can.”

  Becca snapped a picture of the cloth shreds in her mother’s hand while Hannah spread blankets on the ground and turned to the diggers.

  “Why not rinse your hands in the creek and join us? Or I have sanitizer.”

  Nathan laughed. “For those of us with shovels, lunch is a saner way to ‘dig in.’”

  This brought groans from the group sit
ting cross-legged on the blankets, starting on the feast.

  Becca waved a pickle. “Hannah, this is a fabulous picnic.”

  “Just wait, you chocaholic, until you see the dessert,” Hannah tantalized her sister.

  “You don’t mean? Not your famous…”

  “Yes, double fudge brownies!” Hannah confirmed.

  “Heaven can wait.”

  CHAPTER 75

  “Alpha Echo to Charlie Bravo,” the camouflaged man hidden in the woods whispered into his phone. Hearing the correct response, he continued. “Seven individuals in sight, evidence of possible valuables from their dig visible on the blanket. When do reinforcements arrive…? Okay. Here are my coordinates and here are theirs.” He read them off.

  “Meet me in the woods but quiet. We want surprise. Did you report the situation to #1…? Roger. Will he join in the take…? Okay. When…? Ten minutes from the road where you conceal your vehicle to my position…. Thick undergrowth…. Okay, twenty minutes to conceal your vehicle, ten minutes to me. Then we go in together.”

  Ending the call, the camouflaged man again lifted binoculars to his eyes.

  As minutes ticked, he watched the Shannon family visiting together at their picnic, including the old lady in the folding chair. If they continued digging out the treasure, his group need only scoop and bag it. But the longer they waited, the likelier the dynamics could change. On the plus side, some family members might depart, leaving fewer for his crew to confront. On the negative side, more might arrive. His crew needed a decision in—he glanced at his watch—seventeen minutes.

  As he watched, the two younger men at the picnic rose. One, carrying a shovel and trowel, disappeared into the hole while the other emptied buckets of earth handed to him—along with occasional shiny objects. The women collected these on one end of a blanket.

  When his watch showed seventeen minutes had passed, the camouflaged man’s phone vibrated.

  He listened and said, “Good. Now ten minutes to me. Situation unchanged.”

  * * * *

  Becca looked at the buckets of dirt and artifacts Adam and Nathan had removed from the hole. “Hannah, we could easily do that. No hard shoveling, just exposing the items and lifting them out. Let’s give the boys a break.”

  When Adam and Nathan joined the others on the blanket, Adam said, “At first I saw only one crumbling crate, but I think I just uncovered the edge of another one. We don’t know how many are buried. It’s early afternoon and we’ll be lucky to get all the stuff out by dark. How will you protect what we’ve found and what’s still buried?”

  Jennifer looked at the objects on the blanket. “We could put these in the safe in our house, except Grammy’s almost filled it with her valuables from Florida. We could hide what we’ve found somewhere in the house where nobody would find it. But who could we get to stay out here in the woods all night to guard what’s left?”

  Adam raised a hand. “Look, I’m not a police detective for nothing. I can’t stop thinking about this Early guy who had you followed. What if someone’s still trailing you—maybe watching you right now? If he knows you’ve found what Early wants, he could carjack you on the way home or burglarize your house if you take the stuff there. He could send someone here tonight to dig up the rest.”

  Nervously, they glanced at the surrounding wood. Seeing nothing ominous, their attention returned to each other, but they felt uneasy.

  Adam continued. “Most of my squad’s at a firing range shoot today but off-duty when they finish. I could call them to come over here, maybe even help with the excavation. They could provide you armed escort home with the stuff you’ve found. Some of them moonlight with security jobs. One might stay here all night for a reasonable charge, or at least give you the name of a security guard to hire.”

  Jennifer hesitated. “Don’t you think the fewer who know about this, the better?”

  Jason shifted uncomfortably. “Jen, this whole treasure hunt invites danger, and we don’t even know from what direction to protect ourselves. We’re out here in the open, vulnerable, digging up something a known villain will kill to get. Yes, Adam, please call your police buddies to escort us home. I’ll be happy to hire a couple of them to guard our house tonight and more to watch this site.”

  “All right, sir. I’ll take care of it right now.” Adam walked away, dialing his phone.

  Jason turned to Jennifer. “If you went straight to the museum now with your painting, your riddle, your map and what you’ve found today in that hole, they’d be happy and we’d be safe. Otherwise, you endanger everyone you love, including me.”

  Grammy clucked, “Your husband just wheeled out the big cannons, Jen.” In a softer voice, she asked, “What are you going to do, dear?”

  Jennifer sighed. “Everything you say makes sense, Jay. I…I can’t argue with logic, so I guess I agree.”

  “Geez, what a relief.” Jason hugged his wife. “Thank you.” He kissed her forehead and turned to his son-in-law. “Adam, how soon will your friends come?”

  “They just finished so maybe twenty minutes or so?”

  “Then let’s get as much out of the hole as we can and photograph it before they get here. Please call the Smithsonian so we know exactly where to go. Adam, could your friends escort us there to be sure nothing happens en route?”

  “We’ll have to ask them, but I’m armed and you can count on me.”

  CHAPTER 76

  The mercenary team approached so stealthily that the camouflaged man heard nothing and realized they’d arrived through the bushes only seconds before they materialized at his side.

  As they knelt beside him, he reported, “Same seven targets.”

  They focused their own binoculars on Jennifer’s group.

  “They’re still digging, but this scenario could change any minute—better if some leave, worse if more come.”

  “I’ll make that decision,” spoke a voice the camouflaged man didn’t recognize. He looked up to see a new man also dressed in camos: William Early, whose face he knew from photographs. #1 had arrived.

  “Yes, sir, Mr. ‘E’.”

  “Chief,” Early spoke to one of the men, “review your plan again.”

  “Sir, we go in armed when the seven are together in one spot, get all at once, no loose ends. We surprise the hell out of them. We disarm and immobilize them. We dig and collect your relics. We leave. You pay us the balance due.”

  Early’s face creased into a feral grin. “Yes. At last.” He turned to the soldier. “You brought the item?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Give it to me.” Chief handed him a large bag, which he clipped onto his belt. Early trained his binoculars on the Shannon family. “I see six.”

  “One’s digging inside the hole.”

  “What do you recommend, Chief?”

  “I doubt the situation can improve. We should roll.”

  “Do it.”

  Chief stood to give his men a hand signal. They moved forward, fanning out toward the family by the old house foundation. Guns in hand at the ready, they crept closer, tightening the arc until they encircled the Shannons.

  Chief shouted, “Hands on your heads. Kneel down and no one gets hurt.”

  Stunned, the Shannon group froze.

  Jason stood. “What the…” But even as he uttered the question, he realized the answer.

  “I said kneel,” the camouflaged man barked, knocking Jason to his knees.

  Jennifer felt fear and a shudder of guilt. She had brought this danger to her loved ones.

  Adam and Nathan had also jumped to their feet, ready to defend their turf, but were thrown to the ground by the mercenaries.

  Hannah hurried to protect Grammy. Slowly they knelt on the blanket together.

  “Get the other one out of the hole,” Chief ordered.

  Another mercenary did so, jerking Becca over to join the others, kneeling now on the blanket.

  Before lifting his hands, Adam surreptitiously reached into his p
ocket to speed dial his cellphone with a code his fingers knew by heart.

  One of the mercenaries kicked him. “I said hands on your head.”

  Early’s men frisked them all for weapons, including Grammy.

  “Here’s one,” a camo-suited man held Adam’s pistol aloft before tucking it into this own belt.

  “Get their cellphones,” another ordered his team.” They threw these into a pile.

  “Hey, this phone’s turned on.”

  “Then turn it off.”

  “Now on your knees. Keep those hands on your head. You, too, old lady.”

  Grammy struggled to comply.

  William Early strode imperiously onto the scene. “Well, what have we here?” he sneered at Jennifer. “Let’s see what you’ve found.”

  He knelt to examine the pile of excavated valuables. They heard his sharp intake of breath. “My God, this is it. I recognize the plantation mark on this bowl. Remarkable,” he gloated. “And this knife—could it be…?” He feverishly scraped away the dirt and peered at it closely. “Yes, the JSM initials on the handle. Mosby’s treasure, and now it’s mine.”

  So she had truly found it. Early’s authentication clinched that. Yet her shame at creating peril for her family and her fear of what might happen next overshadowed her sense of accomplishment.

  “Now all of you, face down on the blankets.”

  They heard digging commence, accompanied by various orders. “Hand me the steel digging bar,” and “Over here with our sharp shovel,” and “Lift out this whole crate because a second one’s buried next to it,” and “Get it into the bags.”

  They knew Early’s men intended taking the treasure with them.

  Each family member lay on the blanket with his own thoughts: Grammy doubting why she came to Virginia; Jason awash in frustration at allowing his family to become endangered; Becca fearing her exciting, promising life about to end; Nathan realizing he never wanted to lose Becca; Hannah praying for survival for herself and her new secret; Jennifer torn with guilt over putting her family at risk; and Adam, hoping his last-ditch phone effort might have worked.