Treasure of Darkness: a romantic thriller (Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery Series Book 2)

by S. W. Hubbard

  “Looks like Sean’s lass has fixed up your rug just fine, Brendan. Come along, Francis. It’s time for us to go.” And with a tug of her flowered rayon blouse, she marches out.

  Chapter 31

  The ride home is excruciating.

  Sean can’t speak. He sits behind the wheel, his hands clenched at ten and two, his profile immobile. He could be the fifth face on Mt. Rushmore.

  I know he’s mortified and I want to reassure him, but I honestly don’t know what to say. “These things happen to my family all the time” clearly won’t play. The truth is, I’m appalled. Such noise, such anger, such name-calling—all over a spilled beer! Nealon-style repression looks pretty good to me right now.

  And what about the big reveal at the end? Sean was married and he’s never seen fit to mention it to me. How can he justify that?

  The longer we ride in silence, the more impossible it becomes for either of us to break it.

  When he pulls up to the curb in front of my condo, Sean finally turns to face me. “I’m sorry to put you in the middle of that, Audrey. My family, well, they tend to over-react. Your response….” He looks away and even in the dim light I can see the flush that’s spread to the roots of his hair. “You did what I should have done. But instead, my siblings always manage to yank my chain.”

  And you know how to yank theirs. Why did Sean urge all the kids up out of the basement when he easily could have gone downstairs to play with them? It seems to me he was intentionally flouting Adrienne’s rule. Control. We always come back to that.

  “I don’t know anything about brothers and sisters. I do know about stain removal. Doing something useful helps me cope when I’m in over my head.” I say this intending to be light-hearted, but it comes off a little prim.

  We sit in silence.

  He shifts in his seat. “Look, I wasn’t trying to conceal the fact that I’m divorced. The break-up of my marriage was very difficult. It’s not something I care to revisit often.” The muscle in his jaw that twitches when he’s upset is going overtime.

  “How long ago…”

  “Two years. We were only married for four. It was very tumultuous. We started fighting on our wedding night and didn’t stop until about a year after the divorce was finalized.”

  “What did you fight about?” The moment those words are out of my mouth I want to pull them back in. What business is it of mine why they fought? I don’t care. I’m not adding a jealousy column to my spreadsheet of emotions.

  “How much I worked. How much she partied. How possessive I was. How inconsiderate she was. Our values were different.”

  “Values?”

  “Look, we made a mistake. We were both young. We should’ve just had fun with each other and moved on. Instead, we got married.”

  I nod. A youthful mistake—everyone is entitled to one of those. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that Sean is leaving something out of the story. I think of the way his mom sized me up. The remark Anthony made about getting calm DNA into the family mix. Most of all, the way all those little nieces and nephews pounced on Sean as if Santa himself had arrived.

  “You wanted to have kids and she didn’t.” I phrase it as a statement, not a question.

  His gaze slides away from mine. “I see now that it was best we didn’t have kids. We weren’t solid as a couple. She understood that better than I did.”

  “But you’re ready now.”

  The car seems too small to contain two adults and all our combined anxiety. Surely the doors will blow right off.

  Sean stares straight ahead. “I won’t lie to you—I want to have kids someday. But there’s no rush. You and me—we don’t need to even be thinking about that.”

  We certainly don’t. I feel overheated and queasy as I reach for the car door latch. “Right. Well, goodnight, Sean.”

  My body is three-quarters out the door when he grabs my arm. “Audrey, please—let’s forgot this day ever happened.”

  Forget? Does he think I’m a computer who can be unplugged and rebooted? But I won’t say that. I won’t prolong this episode. I want to be in my house. Alone. Now.

  “Sure.” I deliver a dry peck on his cheek. “No worries.”

  Chapter 32

  Ethel nearly knocks me down when I open my front door.

  “Believe me, baby, I’m glad to see you too.” While I was gone, she apparently crashed into the hall table because a week’s worth of mail is scattered across the hall floor. I try to make my way into the living room as Ethel runs in circles around me. “Geez, Ethel. I’m not that late. I’ll take you out in a minute.”

  The light on my answering machine is flashing. Could Ty possibly have called while I was gone?

  I press play and hear the querulous voice of Mrs. Simchak, my next-door neighbor. “Audrey? Are you all right? I saw you go out earlier, and then about seven I heard the dog barking like crazy and I looked out my window and saw someone on your front porch. And then the person tried to look in your window. So I called the police. I hope you don’t think I’m a nosey old woman, but after what happened in the fall…” The machine runs out of space and cuts her off.

  I feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise. “Is that why you’re so wound up, Ethel? Was someone here?”

  She gazes up at me, eyebrows cocked in concern.

  I check my watch: 10:00 PM, too late to call Mrs. Simchak for more information.

  I’m sure as hell not calling Coughlin.

  I take a deep breath. “We’ll be all right, Ethel. These are all new locks. We’ve got the alarm system now.” She trots behind me as I double-check each door and window. How I wish Ethel could talk, tell me who was here looking for me.

  I settle for pulling her into my bed.

  I wake up late on Sunday feeling like I haven’t slept at all. I need to talk to someone about what happened at the party. Not Maura. Not Jill. Someone rational. Logical. Impartial.

  I pick up my phone and dial.

  “Dad. You wanna take a walk?”

  Ethel trots ahead of us on her retractable leash as Dad and I walk toward the duck pond at Loantaka Park. I give him a blow-by-blow description of the party culminating in the Ghastly Guinness Gaffe.

  “And while I was cleaning up the beer and all of them were arguing, Adrienne said, ‘No wonder your marriage didn’t last.’ To Sean.”

  “That’s rather harsh. Sean’s quite sensitive about his divorce.”

  I stop walking. “Wait. You knew he was divorced? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I assumed you knew.”

  “When did he tell you?”

  “I don’t remember. It just came up in passing, maybe when we were talking after basketball practice.”

  “You see—he doesn’t hide it from other people, only from me.”

  Dad makes the batting away gnats gesture that he uses to dismiss any sort of nonsense unworthy of his consideration. “I’m sure he wasn’t intentionally hiding information.”

  “Tell me exactly what he said when he told you.”

  Dad gazes into the woods where a doe stands immobile, waiting for us to pass. Finally, he sighs and speaks. “Actually, I don’t think Sean himself told me. I think I must’ve heard it from Natalie. She teaches Lamaze at Overlook Hospital. She mentioned that Sean’s sister-in-law and his ex-wife ended up in the same class together. It was awkward.”

  “Whoa, whoa—back up. Lamaze…as in natural childbirth? You’re saying Sean’s ex is pregnant?”

  “Apparently she just gave birth to twins.”

  “Oh my God! Don’t you see? That’s why he feels under pressure. He wants to one-up her. Get married quickly and start producing offspring. He’s falling behind—all his siblings have kids and his baby sister is getting married in a few weeks. Sean’s very competitive.”

  I know if I said this to Maura she’d tell me I’m being ridiculous. But my father gives patient consideration to my words before speaking. “Sean genuinely likes children, Audrey. However, he is certain
ly competitive. But then, so are you.”

  “Not about having babies.”

  “What’s really at issue here, Audrey? You and Sean have only had a few dates. It’s far too soon to be thinking about having babies together.”

  I mull his words. Silently, we cross a footbridge, pass a park bench. Then I speak. “Do you know what my favorite TV show was when I was a kid?”

  “I would hope it was Nova, but I suspect I’m about to be disillusioned.”

  “Full House. Grandma and Grandpa let me watch every single episode. It was about a man who was a widower, and he had three daughters who got along great and never seemed to be bothered by the fact that they had no mom. And his best friend and his brother-in-law lived with them, and then the brother-in-law got married and had twins and they all still lived together as one big, happy family.”

  Dad grimaces. “Sounds preposterous.”

  “It was. But it was my fantasy to have a family like that. To live in a big house where there was always someone home. To have sisters who watched out for one another. To have funny misunderstandings that always got patched up.”

  “A total fairy tale.”

  “I know, Dad. But I’ve never been able to let it go. I’ve always envied people with big extended families, people who have to haul out mismatched folding chairs for every holiday dinner. Spencer and Anne Finneran had that kind of family. That’s why I was attracted to them.”

  “Huh! You saw the rot that lay beneath the surface there.”

  “I did. I think that’s what’s scaring me about Sean’s family.”

  “The Coughlins are certainly not murderous, Audrey.”

  “I didn’t mean to imply that.” I turn my head, focus on the papery leaves clinging stubbornly to the beech trees. “The Coughlins terrify me. I thought I wanted what they have, but now I see I could never endure their never-ending storm of emotions.”

  “Don’t be hasty, Audrey. If you allow yourself to love Sean, you’ll learn to accept his family.”

  I swing around to face my father. “Don’t tell me what to do! Not when I know I could never survive as part of that family.”

  Dad shakes his head. “Ah, my dear—there’s no way of knowing what your heart can endure until you’re faced with the unendurable and find yourself surviving.”

  As darkness settles over my condo complex, I hear a sharp rap on my front door. Ethel’s ears perk up. My heart goes into overdrive.

  Ethel runs to the front door, but she doesn’t bark. Instead, she jumps up and starts scratching, her tail wagging furiously.

  I peer through the cloudy peep-hole. A tall man dressed in black, looking away from me over his shoulder at a car parked at the curb.

  Could it be? I flick on the porch light.

  “Ty!” I scream as I open the door.

  He steps in. The grin on his face is so wide it must hurt. He drops a small duffel bag at my feet. “$98,372. You can take the rest outta my paycheck, twenty bucks a week. Car’s out front.”

  “Shut up!” I throw my arms around him, then step back and punch his arm”

  “Ow! What’s that for?”

  “You had me worried sick. I’m still worried sick.” I drag him into the living room and point him to the sofa. “Sit. Talk.”

  So Ty begins, right from the moment when Ramon received the soup. As we suspected, Ramon honestly thought Ty was giving him the box of cans to keep. So he took it home, and popped some open for his dinner. Then he popped another can for the kid staying with him, Horacio, from his home village. That’s when they discovered the cash. They opened all the cans, and it truly seemed like a miracle because Horacio was in big trouble with the coyotes who brought him to the U.S. His parents had paid them a down payment back in Honduras. Now the final payment was due, and they didn’t have the money. So Ramon thought he’d use some of this windfall to help Horacio, and send the rest to his own family. He took the cash to a wire transfer place, but they started asking a lot of questions about why he had so much to send. Ramon got nervous and left. Thought he would ask some friends the best way to send it. And on his way back to the house, he heard what happened to Horacio. He panicked and ran. Some friends drove him to Dover, and he’d been hiding there ever since. But he couldn’t work, and the friends weren’t going to keep him forever.

  Ty leans forward on the sofa. “Ramon called me because he heard you came lookin’ for him at the church. He told me nothing but bad has been happening to him since he found the money. He thinks there’s a curse on it. So he wants to give it back. In exchange, he wants me to tell the cops about the coyotes who killed Horacio. He’s afraid to get mixed up in it, afraid he’ll get deported. All he wants is to start over in a new town where no one knows him. So we made a deal.”

  “He gave you the money. And where did you drive him to?”

  Ty shakes his head. “I gotta keep that on the down-low, Audge. Let’s just say, I seen some states I never been to before. I needed to use some of the money for gas and stuff. And I gave Ramon some cash to get him started in the new town. But like I said, I’ll pay you back.”

  “Ty, stop! Of course I don’t want money back from you.” Tears slip from my eyes. “I’m so glad you’re all right. I never blamed you for the money getting lost. I never would have wanted you to take this risk to get it back.”

  Ty straightens up. “I lost it. I’ma get it back. That’s the way I roll.”

  I run my fingers through my hair. “But, Ty—you’re going to be in trouble with the police now. I’m not sure if I can get you out of this.”

  He leans back with his hands locked behind his head. “Don’t sweat it, Audge. I’m a man with a plan.”

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “Ramon gave me the 411 on the coyote who killed Horacio. I know where the cops can find him. Nobody else gonna tell them that. I give them the info and agree to testify that I saw the guy stab Horacio. Deal and done.”

  “I got news for you. They arrested the guy who threatened me at Play-O-Rama. They’ve been questioning him for two days. For all I know, they already have all this information. Now how will you deal?”

  For the first time tonight, Ty’s cocky smile fades a bit. “They still got nothing on me. I didn’t steal your car, right? I didn’t steal the money.”

  “You transported across state lines an undocumented alien who’s wanted for questioning. I’m pretty sure that’s a crime.”

  “They can’t prove that. No one saw us together. I was real careful. They’ll never find Ramon.” Ty stands up and pulls on his jacket. “Prison fulla talkers. Street’s fulla guys who keep their mouths shut.”

  I wrap my arms around him and we stand swaying in front of the door for a long minute. When he lets me go, he nudges the bag of money with his foot. “Let’s go find Martha and give it back right now.”

  I shake my head. “We have to wait until we see what’s happening with the murder investigation. If I give this money back right now, Martha will start talking and Coughlin will find out. I need to think of some explanation for how I got the money back that doesn’t get you in trouble.”

  “You gonna leave the money here?”

  I think of the man creeping around my condo last night. Has he already seen Ty arrive here with the bag? “Let’s take it over to the office and lock it in the safe.”

  Ty picks up the bag and reaches for the front door knob.

  “No.” I call a taxi and tell him to wait at the entrance to my development. Then Ty and I put Ethel on her leash and slip out the garage door, walk through the cul de sac, and meet the taxi. We don’t see a soul.

  Rarely have I been so happy to see Monday morning arrive. I need the distraction of work, and with Harold in the hospital, we ought to be able to pitch a lot of junk and really make some progress.

  I open the front door and bump directly into a man.

  Harold.

  Cleaner. More alert. But definitely Harold.

  “Good morning,” he says pleasantly. �
�I believe Jill is waiting for you in the kitchen. I have some work to catch up on.” He sits down at his card table and pulls out his calculator.

  I dash into the kitchen where Jill is nursing a cup of coffee. “Where did he come from?”

  She shrugs. “He was here when I arrived. I finally got through to Nora last night. She said the hospital never called her. They must have just held Harold overnight for observation. When I told Nora how good he looked, she said they must’ve done what they’ve done in the past when he freaks out: clean him up, gave him some meds, and release him.”

  I’m stunned. “The doctors didn’t notice he needs more than a bath and a few pills?”

  Jill shakes her head. “Nora says this is what always happens. They won’t hold him. They say they can’t because he’s not a danger—”

  “—to himself or others. Right.”

  Ty pops into the kitchen. “Hey, Audge. Yo, Jill—I don’t see that box you want me to take to recycling.”

  Jill rolls her eyes. After squealing for ten minutes straight last night upon hearing the news of Ty’s safe return, I see that this morning she has fallen right back into her usual bossy attitude. “It’s right at the top of the stairs. The big box with red lettering. It’s full of American Birding magazines.”

  Ty plants his hands on his hips. “And I’m tellin’ you, there is no box full of magazines at the top of the stairs. Look for yourself.”

  Jill gets up and flounces off to prove Ty wrong. A minute later I hear her plaintive call, “Audrey…Audrey come here, quick.”

  How can a box of ancient magazines be a problem? But I’m so grateful for the return of Ty and the cash, I go upstairs cheerfully.

  Jill stands in the middle of the hall looking perplexed. There is, indeed, no box of magazines at the top of the stairs. “Things have been moved,” she says.

  The hall looks as topsy-turvy as ever. Toys are still spilling out of Nora’s old bedroom. The master bedroom still has a wide tunnel lined with boxes. “How can you tell?”