Deadly Treasures

by Vivian Conroy

  ‘See!’ Duncan sat up, his eyes alight. ‘Peartree might have been out on the site at night. He could have gone to the dig and found Goodman there snooping. He might have confronted him about his actions, they argued and in the heat of the moment Peartree bashed his head in. Then he thought he could blame it all on me, by telling the police about the argument he overheard. With me arrested for murder, Delphine’s engagement would end and he could court her again.’

  ‘Your family would never accept him. They didn’t think him good enough before, why would they now? After he accused you and got you into all of this trouble? No, Peartree knows Delphine is lost to him for ever. He might try to harm you to get even with you for this loss, but would he really have killed?’

  ‘How do I know?’ Duncan sank back, deflated. He studied her with a sour expression. ‘That chap who is now looking at my non-existent garden?’ Duncan gestured at the window. ‘What is he to you?’

  ‘Just someone I met. We both took an interest in the same matter. It got solved and then we met in another instance. He helped me solve something…painful in my family. I’m grateful to him. He is smart.’

  ‘Sort of a detective?’ Duncan made a face. ‘I have no confidence in either the police or those private consultants or whatever they’re called. They just complicate things. They should believe me when I say I did not kill Goodman on the dig that night.’

  He got up. ‘I should be getting out to the dig, show my face to the workers. If I let Peartree work them, they’ll become loyal to him instead of me.’

  He barged out of the back door, without even saying goodbye.

  Alkmene rushed after him. Outside the bright sunshine hurt her eyes and she blinked a moment. Then she caught up with Duncan and arrested his arm. ‘I think you already lost the locals’ loyalty when you fired two of them.’

  Duncan waved a hand in the air. ‘That was inevitable. The first one was a walking disaster, breaking everything. I should never have hired him.’

  ‘And the innkeeper’s son, Miles?’

  Duncan stared at her.

  Alkmene asked, ‘Did he really steal something from you?’

  Chapter Ten

  Duncan stiffened, something flashing in his eyes.

  Alkmene gripped his arm harder. ‘Did he?’ she pressed.

  Duncan exhaled slowly. ‘Yes, he did, but I can’t prove it. I should have realized the villagers would all support him and I would get nowhere with the local police. I believed they’d do a search and turn up the missing item. But maybe even if they had done such a search, it would have helped little. The boy could have hidden it anywhere. He knows all of the hiding places.’

  Alkmene wanted to ask something, but froze at the sound of creaking coming from a particularly close-cropped bush to their left. She stared at it, the movement of its branches from more than the wind across the open land.

  ‘Someone is there,’ she whispered at Duncan. He pulled free from her grasp and wanted to throw himself at the bush.

  But the branches already moved even more, split apart, and Jake came out, his hands full of scratches and an angry red line trailing from his right temple to his jaw.

  ‘What on earth are you doing?’ Alkmene asked.

  ‘It seemed to me somebody had been hanging around here. Maybe to watch the cottage.’

  ‘Watch my cottage?’ Duncan hollered. ‘Who? Why?’

  Jake said, ‘Someone did hide here. Overturned earth, you know, broken twigs.’

  Alkmene asked, ‘You didn’t find anything tangible like footprints or cigarette butts?’

  ‘No.’ Jake looked at Duncan. ‘What did the boy Miles steal from you?’

  Duncan leaned back on his heels. ‘Why should I tell you?’

  Alkmene sighed. ‘Duncan, please. Jake isn’t your enemy. He has rushed out here to help me find evidence to defend you. You have to work with us to get cleared. You don’t want to be arrested again, do you? You don’t want your mother to find out, do you?’

  Duncan cringed at the mention of his mother. ‘Not really.’

  ‘That’s what I mean. Now what did Miles take?’

  Duncan resigned himself to the situation and spoke, head down. ‘A gold bracelet. I can’t say with certainty that it was part of the Black Castle treasure, but it was old – that I knew from the moment I set eyes on it.’

  He raised his head again, and his eyes glittered. ‘I was so sure I was now on the right track. I would prove to all of those naysayers that they had been wrong. I took it out of the earth, cleaned it carefully. I intended to give it to Kramer to take to London the next weekend to be assessed and dated. I have contacts, reliable men who would never lie to me.’

  ‘Kramer?’ Alkmene was confused. ‘So you knew he was taking me here? You wanted him to take the bracelet back to London after he had dropped me here for my stay?’

  ‘No, not at all.’ Duncan frowned at her. ‘I had no idea you were coming. But Kramer came out here anyway, every other weekend. He brought these ridiculous baskets my mother prepared with fruit and bread and a knitted scarf as if I might die of famine or cold here out in the fields. I always believed sea air was healthy, but she seems to think it will become the death of me.’

  Alkmene stared. Her head suddenly swarmed with questions. ‘Kramer, your father’s driver, came out here every other weekend? But he told me on the drive over here that he had never been here again after he dropped you to start the dig. Somewhere in spring that was, he said.’

  ‘Well, then Kramer was lying. He has been here every other weekend. He came on Friday to deliver the basket with motherly smothering, then he claimed the drive back could not be made on the same day and he stayed until Saturday morning. Once he even stayed until Monday, for I’m sure I saw him on the hills on Sunday afternoon. He was carrying field glasses. I had never known Kramer had an interest in birds.’

  ‘Maybe it was not birds Kramer was looking at,’ Alkmene said slowly.

  ‘What?’ Duncan asked.

  ‘Maybe he was spying on you, on your dig. When we found you on the bed upstairs, I saw Kramer driving away from the cottage. What on earth was he doing here? He must have been spying. Maybe he was even in league with Goodman.’

  ‘They argued, and Kramer killed him.’ Duncan’s expression was tense. ‘And to think I wanted to give the bracelet to Kramer when he came here again, to deliver to a contact in London who might assess its value and date it. I could have delivered my only find into the hands of the man working with my opponent Goodman.’

  ‘Not that you still have it now,’ Jake remarked.

  Duncan glared at him. ‘I kept the thing on me all of the time, in the inner pocket of my jacket. I was at the inn that Friday night and it was hot in there so I put my jacket over a chair, while I was playing billiards with some locals. I could have sworn nobody had been near it, but after the game ended and I had bought the men some celebratory beer, I picked up the jacket and the bracelet was gone. I knew at once the boy had done it. Miles was the only one who knew I had it. He had seen me dig it out. It was a last-minute find, close to dusk that day, and the workers had gone already. I believed myself to be the last one on site. I held the bracelet up against the light of the setting sun, smiling to myself. I heard a sound and looked up and saw Miles, standing on a hillock, looking down on me. As he noticed I had spotted him, he vanished quickly. I am sure he knew I had found something valuable and he stole it from me.’

  Alkmene frowned. ‘What for?’

  ‘Money I suppose.’

  Jake shook his head. ‘That makes no sense. How could Miles sell it? Where? He is but a simple local lad. He has no contacts to get rid of such an unusual thing.’

  Duncan shrugged. ‘He has probably hidden it to wait until the dig is over and we’ve all left. Then he’ll find some way to pawn it some place and he’ll be a rich man by local standards. I have always had a feeling that Miles had more ambition than brains.’

  Al
kmene exhaled. ‘You can’t just accuse someone out of the blue. If the bracelet disappeared from your pocket at the inn, another might have taken it. Miles is just a boy. Such a false accusation could ruin his prospects, his entire life.’

  Duncan rubbed his face again. ‘Maybe. All I know is I lost my proof that something old and valuable has been hidden here. I’ve found nothing else, and Price and his people will laugh at me.’

  ‘Not to mention the bet with Peartree that you will lose.’ Alkmene chewed on her lower lip. ‘Did Goodman know about the find of the bracelet?’

  Duncan shrugged. ‘How would I know? He seemed to know about a lot of things. He confronted me like he was sure I would…’ He fell silent and stared at his hands.

  Alkmene stared at them as well. They were big and strong, capable of wielding a hammer and dealing a deadly blow.

  Duncan looked up at her as if he was reading her mind. ‘Do you believe I’m innocent, Alkmene?’

  In the silence even Jake seemed to hold his breath.

  ‘Of course,’ Alkmene said quickly. ‘I’m here to prove you did not do it. But I need other suspects and if you tell me Goodman was not known around these parts…’

  She frowned. ‘It’s odd that Kramer lied to me about not having been here since he dropped you off initially. If he is not a spy for Price or Goodman, what do you think he was doing here all those weekends when he had delivered your mother’s basket to you?’

  ‘I have no idea. I didn’t really care either.’ Duncan sounded grumpy. A driver was to him probably just like the car: available for his use and not to be considered any further.

  Alkmene tilted her head, deep in thought. ‘Whose would the excavation be if you were no longer able to complete it? Because you were incarcerated or worse?’

  Duncan held her gaze. ‘Well, I suppose since I had everything set up and moving forward smoothly, another archaeologist would come in and complete it.’

  ‘Like Trevor Price himself?’

  ‘I suppose so.’

  Jake shook his head. ‘Price had to bring you in because his health was too bad to do work any more.’

  Duncan perked up. ‘But that was some months back. Last time he wrote to me he said that his health had improved significantly from his stay in warmer climates and he was eager to pick up some work again.’

  ‘Aha!’ Alkmene clapped her hands together. ‘We see a clear pattern emerging here. People were watching you to see if you were successful in locating the treasure and when you had something, they moved in to remove you from the scene and take over your dig.’

  Duncan shook his head. ‘No, that doesn’t fit. I had one bracelet that I lost, and it didn’t mean I had found the treasure at all. Don’t you think I worked like crazy in that spot to find the rest of it? But there was nothing, not a clue it was ever hidden there. I had a sinking feeling I just struck lucky once and would not find anything else here. There was no reason for anyone to think he could have the treasure if he just got rid of me.’

  Alkmene laughed. ‘Come on. I know you. Perhaps you did have doubts inside your own mind, but you’d never let that be seen. You would have acted like you were fully confident you’d have the treasure in no time.’

  Duncan suppressed a smile. ‘Well, yes, I suppose so.’

  ‘See. You acted like you were already bathing in wealth from your find. You smiled secretively like you’d make all those naysayers see you had been right all along. People watched you strut by and they were sure it was just a matter of days, no, hours, before you would have it made.’

  Jake had to laugh at her tone, but Duncan stared at her with genuine conviction. ‘By George, Alkmene, when you say that, I think it could have been like that. So somebody thought I was about to hit the jackpot and didn’t want me to. He killed Goodman on site with my tool so I would be blamed and arrested.’

  He frowned. ‘But how would that person have known Goodman would go to see the site at night?’

  ‘If Goodman was a spy for your patron, someone might have lured him there with a note saying he should come to hear something worthwhile about the treasure. If Kramer was in league with him or with Price, he might have written such a note to set up a meeting. Have the police looked through Goodman’s things after his death? Have they found any note or other indication Goodman was working with somebody else?’

  Duncan shrugged. ‘I have no idea, but I think they would have checked. They might be a small force, but they do know their profession. Especially Constable Aldridge – he’s a fanatic. He came to the dig one day and told me that I had to take into account that the digging might disturb rare species of animals. He pointed out some areas that should not be disturbed. I think there were badger burrows there or something. I just humoured him by saying I would stay away from those burrows and that I would also be careful with plants. I know nothing about plants of course, but it just seemed smart to take his concerns seriously. You see, contrary to your beliefs I can be diplomatic.’

  Alkmene did not smile. ‘I wish you had been diplomatic last night and had not jumped Peartree at the inn. Talk of it must be all over town. You don’t want people to see you as a violent hothead who might just have picked up a hammer to lash out at somebody he didn’t like.’

  Duncan sighed. ‘Peartree has just been bugging me ever since he decided he had to have Delphine. I believed that once her marriage with another was on the cards, he’d back off, but no, it seems as though he wants to prevent it at all costs.’

  Alkmene glanced at Jake, then focused on Duncan again. ‘Look, you stay here and drink the last of that strong coffee, then go see the workers. Act nicely, assure them the work will be finished. Throw in a pay rise or something to ensure they are not leaving prematurely. Jake and I can just catch Kramer before he heads back to London. I am very curious about what he was doing out and about with field glasses.’

  Duncan laughed. ‘As if he’ll tell you. The chap is like a clam. You can’t get in and you can’t get anything out either.’

  Chapter Eleven

  On their way into the village Alkmene said, ‘Of course now it’s clear to me why none of the villagers paid any attention to that flashy Woolsbury family car when we drove by the other day. They weren’t just discussing the murder, which was reason enough in itself I suppose, but they had seen the Buick quite often. Kramer came here every other weekend.’

  She raised her hand in the air. ‘Duncan just said the chap is a clam, but Kramer did share with me that Duncan had undertaken the dig here to get away from his family. Or no, rather to be with someone out here. He made it sound like it was a romantic entanglement. Kind of an odd confession from a driver who is tight-lipped about everything else. It’s almost as if Kramer wanted me to know.’

  ‘Maybe he thought you were interested in Duncan and he wanted to save you disappointment by revealing, subtly, that he was already taken.’

  Alkmene shook her head. ‘Why would a driver care about something like that? He had never met me before.’

  Jake raked a hand through his hair. ‘I’m surprised he wasn’t told off by his employer for his long absences.’

  Jake glanced at her. ‘Basket to deliver or not, it is odd that Kramer was allowed so much time away from his position.’

  ‘Maybe Lady Eleanor was worried Duncan was seeing some woman here and she instructed Kramer to spy on him. That would explain for the field glasses he was carrying around when he scouted the hills. He stayed here under the guise of Lady Eleanor’s permission while he was really spying on Duncan for the gold. If only we could prove that Kramer knew Goodman from London. Or that he had been in touch with Price.’

  She frowned. ‘How would Kramer have reported back to Price? Price was abroad, right, for his health? Can we find out if he got letters there from Kramer?’

  Jake huffed. ‘Maybe, if he stayed at a hotel and the hotel clerk would remember letters from England coming in, from the same person? But Kramer would never have used the
Woolsbury address for the replies. Too risky that they would be seen by someone else in the household.’

  ‘He must have let them be sent here. He came here often enough. I should ask at the local post office. But better try and talk to him first.’

  In the village Alkmene jumped out of the car and raced into the inn to ask for Kramer. The innkeeper’s wife said he had already left.

  Alkmene came back out, slapping her gloves against her thigh. ‘Where can he be? Gone back to London already?’

  Jake stood at the car, waiting. ‘And?’

  ‘Let’s just drive on, out of town on the other end. Maybe we will see the Woolsbury Buick.’

  Jake looked puzzled. ‘That is not the right direction for London.’

  Alkmene nodded. ‘Just so.’ She climbed back in, and they took off again.

  They had only driven for a few minutes when they saw the Buick parked on the shoulder. The tall figure of Kramer was walking across the field away from it. In the distance there was some rubble that looked like it was from an abandoned farmstead.

  Jake halted so that their car was hidden from view by Kramer’s own vehicle, should he look back. The chauffeur did not look at all, however. He pressed on as if he was on an important mission.

  Alkmene stared through the windows of the other car to see him. ‘What is he doing now? Is that actually a child?’ She scrunched up her face to focus better on the tiny figure Kramer was meeting up with.

  ‘Looks like it,’ Jake agreed. ‘Kramer is giving him something.’

  ‘Must be money,’ Alkmene mused. ‘Kramer actually has children spying for him when he is away himself during weekdays. It is clever, for Duncan will never think a little boy playing near his dig is any kind of danger to him.’

  Jake hmm-ed. ‘The boy is awfully small to be trustworthy. What if he told his parents or friends about what he was hired to do?’

  ‘He might just be short for his age. And Kramer could have sold him all kinds of nonsense about keeping it a secret from his family, the money being a surprise to them and all. I have no idea how persuasive that chap can be when he wants to. Oh, and maybe he is just using good old threats to ensure silence. Could be a real nasty piece of work.’