El and I ignored the man and headed inside. We checked the bathroom, but the toilets there had no backs to pull off. I took a key and jimmied open the toilet paper dispensers and paper towel holders, but there was nothing hiding in any of them, either.
“I’m clueless here. El, do you have any ideas?”
“Course not, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take a look around.”
We strode through the aisles until we ran into Mr. Wilson and his granddaughter, Millicent.
Mr. Wilson smiled and hugged Eleanor. “I’m so happy you’re okay, Peaches. I hope that friend of yours isn’t getting you into any more trouble.” He glared at me.
“Oh, Wilson, that’s not nice at all. Aggie is a good friend, and how were we to know what kind of trouble we’d run into at the Butler Mansion? It was so awful seeing Mildred dead like that.” She held up a hand, stopping Wilson from interjecting. “We’re trying to clear our names, as you should know.”
Millicent smiled. “I tried to tell him that, but he’s so worried about you, Eleanor.”
I stared at Millicent and took in her pasty white skin encased in a yellow sundress. Her pale blonde hair was tied back into a ponytail. “Thanks, dear. Unfortunately, El and I always seem to get ourselves into a fix.”
“I know, my grandfather told me all about it. Do you think all that talk about a treasure here in town might have been the reason that poor woman was murdered?”
Since Mr. Wilson was Eleanor’s beau, I figured I could trust them enough with the truth. “I strongly suspect it, and to be truthful, that’s why we’re here today. We’re hoping to find treasure hidden here,” I told her.
Millicent’s eyes widened at that. “Wow, can I help? I always wanted to find buried treasure when I was a little girl.”
“I’d hate to bother you.”
She waved a hand and blurted out, “Don’t be silly. Where should we look first?”
“I’m not sure, but I’m heading over to Sporting Goods.” I looked toward that department.
El rolled her eyes. “Millicent, why not check in Lawn and Garden.”
Millicent darted off before we had the chance to cue her otherwise, leaving us with Wilson, who moved his rolling walker forward. “I doubt we’ll find anything here. This is a big place.”
I walked down the aisle that was stuffed with exercise equipment and dumbbells, but there was no treasure in sight. Wilson eyed the guns on display and motioned for a clerk, whose eyes widened when they met Wilson’s. “I’d like to take a look at that shotgun,” Wilson said.
“What you planning to do with it?” the salesclerk asked.
“Oh, just because I have to use a walker, you think I’m incapable of owning a firearm? I oughta turn you in to the NRA,” Wilson said.
The clerk shrugged and pulled out the shotgun Wilson had indicated. Hesitantly, he handed it over to Wilson, who examined it closely and then handed it back. “Have you seen anything out of the ordinary here recently?” Wilson asked.
“No, it’s just boring ole Walmart. There were a few girls twerking on aisle four earlier, though.”
Wilson shot me a look. “Twerking?”
“It’s something girls these days do. When they shake their rump,” I explained.
That brought a smile to Mr. Wilson’s lips, and a bit of color drifted into his cheeks for a change, masking the usual grey pallor of his skin. “Sorry I had to miss that.”
Eleanor elbowed him sharply in the ribs and walked away.
“What’d I say?” Wilson asked.
“Oh, she’s just needs a minute to cool off. I thought Eleanor was your lady love?” I chided gently.
“She is. I was just kidding.”
He rumbled after her, and as I watched him go, I had about given up hope that we’d unearth any clues here. That was, until Millicent came running up to us.
“I think I found something,” she squealed.
We followed her to Lawn and Garden as she pointed out a birdbath that was green in color and had carvings of a squirrel on top. “It’s cute,” I said, completely baffled with why she’d drag us all the way over here just to show us a birdbath.
She lifted the cover off, set it on the ground and reached inside the base, coming back with a wrapped package that looked similar to the one El and I had found earlier. I took it from her and popped it into my purse, making tracks for the door. A clerk, who eyed me up and down, pulled me back. “Going somewhere, Granny?” the manly woman asked.
“Yes, home. Why?”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“No, I don’t think so. Why?”
“Open up your purse.”
My hands went to my hips. “I will not. I didn’t take anything from this store that you sell.”
El muscled her way forward. “Yeah, she happens to be an investigator here in town, you know. You might have heard about her—Agnes Barton?”
“I don’t care if she’s the Queen of Sheba. I saw her put something in her purse.”
I opened my bag. “Go ahead and look then, but I didn’t steal anything.”
She searched my purse and pulled out the parcel we’d just found. “What is this?”
“A family heirloom, if you must know.”
“Oh, and you carry it around with you everywhere you go?”
“Yes, it’s safer that way.”
She examined the package and handed it back. “Obviously, I was mistaken. Sorry.”
“Sorry?” El gasped. “You insulted us. I assure you that there is nothing here at Walmart that is worth stealing. You should show your elders more respect.”
The woman whisked a hand through her hair. “I really am awful sorry.” Her breath came hard and fast as a manager approached.
“Is there something wrong here?” he asked.
I smiled sweetly. “Of course not. We’re fine here, but did you know that someone is in the parking lot tearing it up?”
He ran outside, several other employees trailing behind, leaving the four of us to saunter out in our own due time. As we stepped outside, cop cars whirled into the lot, and the officers got out and wrestled two men to the ground amongst the dust and gravel they had created.
I mopped up the sweat that had gathered at my brow with the back of my hand as Mr. Wilson and his granddaughter parted ways with us, promising to meet back up with us at the cabin. “That sure was luck running into them,” I said.
“See? It’s not always such a bad thing to volunteer information. Millicent is a godsend. I’d hate to think how long we’d have been there searching.”
“I’ll have to agree with you there, El, but in the future, I hope that we can keep our activities to ourselves. So far, everyone seems to be searching outside of the businesses instead of inside. I’d like to keep it that way.”
El bobbed her head in agreement. “We can trust Mr. Wilson and Millicent.”
I bit down on my lower lip, remembering it wasn’t long ago that Wilson had blamed me for dragging Eleanor down with me, but I decided to keep that to myself. El deserved her happiness. “Yes, that’s why I told them about why we were here.”
Chapter Eight
Back at the cabin, I was browning ground round while El was at the ready, waiting to pour in the spaghetti sauce. Since there wasn’t a Kroger nearby, I opted for the Great Value brand sauce from Walmart, which wasn’t all that bad. I just preferred the Kroger brand sauce. Pinching pennies is just what we seniors do on a fixed income. I still struggle to make my money last for the month. Oh, if only El and I could get a paying customer.
El stirred in the sauce, and I added a handful of brown sugar to sweeten it up a tad. El’s tongue touched her upper lip as she asked, “Do you think we made enough for everyone?”
“Not sure, but since Mr. Wilson hasn’t shown up yet, I guess we’ll have enough for leftovers.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door, and El ran to open it. Mr. Wilson rolled his walker in, followed by the ever-watchful Millicent, who
had a loaf of French bread in her hands. I took the bread and thanked her as Andrew came through the door with a bottle of wine.
“I sure hope you made enough,” he said with a smile.
I smiled back at Andrew and took the wine, placing it in the freezer to chill since I love cold wine. “I didn’t expect you to be here,” I said.
“Oh, I ran into Wilson, and he told me to come. He said you were hunting treasure together.”
“Well, Mildred’s son, Timothy, gave us a copy of the treasure map, remember?”
“And we aren’t the only ones with a copy,” El interjected. “It seems like that tabloid published it.”
Andrew’s brow shot up, and I wanted to crawl under a rock. It would be easier than trying to explain my activities of late. “Yes, it seems it’s no map at all, but a scavenger hunt.”
“Scavenger hunt?”
“Yes, we found a piece of what we believe is the treasure at Tim Horton’s and another at Walmart.”
“What kind of treasure are we talking about here?”
I showed Andrew the ruby necklace we’d found at Tim Horton’s, and I unwrapped the paper that hid an emerald necklace, which is what was in the package Millicent found at Walmart. Andrew straightened to his full height of six feet and asked, “What makes you think these are real?”
I stared at the intricate gold chain. “Here, feel it. It’s quite weighty. I’m no expert, but I believe these pieces are antiques.”
“That emerald is quite large,” Wilson observed. “It must be worth a fortune.”
“It reminds me of that necklace on the Titanic movie,” El said. Then she bit her finger nervously. “I do worry, though. This treasure is supposed to be cursed, isn’t it?”
“If you believe in that,” I said. “I don’t believe in curses or—”
Just then, the lights flickered on and off. El threw herself at me, hurling her arms around me and clinging in panic. I tried to dislodge her arms from around my neck. “Would you stop, old girl? You should know better than to believe in rumors and such.”
Her eyes were wide. “What if some gnarly old captain from that ship comes back to recover his treasure?”
Andrew gave me a look. “What captain is that?”
“The one from the St. Christopher,” I informed him. “They found a treasure on a sinking ship in the 1800s and all the crew died, except for one man, who was arrested for their murders.”
Andrew scratched his shoulder. “I know you believe that to be the case, but I think it’s a load of rubbish.”
Of course he thinks that, I thought. “The Butlers then suffered misfortune, and they say the treasure is cursed.”
“So then why are you looking for it?”
“Because whoever killed Mildred might be looking for it. My camper was trashed, too.”
“Have you ever stopped to think that someone may be stalking you?”
“For what reason?”
“Maybe whoever is after the treasure will be after you, too. You might be playing right into their hands.”
El began to pace. “He might be right, but I’m more worried about ghosts here.”
I rolled my eyes. “Now listen, the both of you. That treasure is no more cursed than we are for finding it. There has to be something more going on here. Tim Horton’s wasn’t even around in the 1800s.”
El dumped the cooked spaghetti into the colander to drain and began filling plates. “Good point, and it bothers me. What if Andrew is right and somebody is stalking us? They might be using us to find the treasure before they strike.”
“You have a valid point, but I’m wondering why the treasure map was shared with everyone via that tabloid. It’s going to get very crazy around town with everyone digging up clues to find the treasure before us.”
“I know. So far, we have been lucky, but who knows if it will hold—our luck, I mean.” El carried the filled plates to the table. “We need to try and stay one step ahead, but with the Cat Lady looking for treasures, too, I’m worried. I’d sure hate to tangle with her. She carries a shotgun.”
I nodded in agreement. “She wasn’t at Walmart, so maybe she’ll give up.”
“That’s not true,” Mr. Wilson said. “We saw her in the parking lot.”
I popped the cork to the wine and poured it into the wine glasses on the table. “I sure had hoped she’d give up.”
“I hope you both plan to be careful. I’d hate for this to get out of hand,” Andrew said as he put a forkful of pasta in his mouth.
I nodded in agreement, but my gut feeling was that it had already gotten out of hand in a big way. What if the whole dang town started to look for the treasure? How would we find out who was at the bottom of this then?
***
Once our company was long gone, I hid the jewelry beneath a loose floorboard in the kitchen. I never even told El where it was. I needed to protect her from harm. The less she knew, the safer she was. The sun set in the West, and I swayed my way into my room, collapsing on the bed, and fell asleep with visions of treasure dancing in my head.
Chapter Nine
My door opened, and Eleanor staggered into my room with a cup of coffee in her hands. “Are you going to wake up, sleepyhead?”
I blinked several times before I was able to fully open my eyes. The smell of the coffee mixed with vanilla creamer willed me to rise. As I took the cup into my hands, a chill crept up my spine. “Why is it so cold in here? Is the air conditioning on full blast?”
El smiled like a cat and replied, “Nope, it’s been like this all night.” Abruptly changing the subject, she asked, “Where did you hide the treasure?”
I stared up at El, who wore purple pants and a white tee, her toes wiggling inside the flip flops on her feet. “What does it matter?” I asked, as I got up and made my way for the bathroom.
“I’m going to jump in the shower,” I announced, slamming the door shut, hoping she’d let this drop. I turned on the water and climbed into the shower, enjoying the pounding of hot water on my aching body. For me, mornings were the worst. It didn’t help that the mattress I was sleeping on was lumpy. After I toweled off, I slipped on denim cropped pants with a Bates Motel T-shirt. I sure loved that show, and even though it wasn’t like the original Psycho, it sure made you think about things. Like what would happen if one had an overbearing mother. It sure wasn’t me. Both of my children went their own way, and I couldn’t be happier for them. It made me wonder who Mildred’s son, Timothy, really was. Why give us a map that the whole dang town seemed to have? Was he up to something?
I met El in the kitchen and microwaved water for my instant oatmeal. It was all I wanted to bother with this morning. Visible through the patio door was the murky lake, or at least it looked that way, as it was quite cloudy out today.
Eleanor was more quiet than usual for her, and I tried my best to ignore her sour mood. The last thing I planned to discuss this morning was the treasure we’d found.
“So what gives? Are you going to tell me where you hid the treasure or not?” El asked, her lips turned down into a frown.
“It’s better that you don’t know. Let me just say that it’s in a safe place.”
“Why are you hiding it from me?”
“I’m not. I’m protecting you just in case some nut job stops by. What you don’t know won’t hurt you.”
El began to pace. “You don’t trust me, is that it?”
“No. I just told you that—”
“Bull,” she said. She threw up her arms and walked out on the deck. I followed her, but she wouldn’t even look at me.
“Maybe you’re right, Eleanor,” I said in a soft but serious voice. “Maybe the treasure is cursed. Look how it’s affected us this morning. I hid the treasure so that it won’t get stolen while we’re out, and you’re accusing me of not trusting you. I wonder if that’s what happened aboard the St. Christopher. It led them to kill each other until only one of them was left.”
El’s eyes met mine, and she gi
ggled. “I guess you’re right, Aggie. I was so angry this morning when I couldn’t find the treasure that I was ready to snap your neck.”
I stepped back. “Are you being serious here?”
“Yes,” she said. “I don’t think I have ever been so angry before. I’ll be glad when this is over. I mean, the case of finding out who really killed Mildred. Do you think her son was involved?”
“I have mixed feelings about him. Why did he really give us a copy of that map?”
El walked back inside, and I followed until she stopped dead in the middle of the room. “Do you think he’s the one supplying the tabloid with information? For all we know, he killed his mother.”
“True, and I thought it’s worth checking out his story. We never asked him where he was the day his mother died.”
“I agree, Aggie. I also wonder if it’s possible if Mel Pifton could have been at the gas station in Standish when Mildred was killed or if he made the trip after he killed her.”
“It’s a drive, but anything could be possible. Maybe he wanted to have an alibi ready, just in case somebody asked.”
“He sure knew about the treasure, too,” El pointed out.
“We need to stop by Marion’s Dairy today, but afterward, I plan on finding Timothy. He should be in town until after his mother’s funeral, at least.”
“My bet is that he’ll be in town longer. My gut says he’s up to something.”
We left in the big black Cadillac, headed to our stop at Marion’s Dairy. Once we arrived, we had a devil of a time parking. There was a crowd packed in front of the building and I sighed. “Oh, we’ll never get in here,” I whined.
I stiffened as I heard sirens and watched as the sheriff pulled up and left his cruiser by the road, making his way toward Marion’s. “What’s going on, Sheriff?” I asked as he walked past.
He never said a word. If it weren’t for his brows wrinkling so, I’d never have thought he’d heard me at all. I guess he was just ignoring me. Within minutes, the Cat Lady was led outside slapped in cuffs. She was then placed into Peterson’s cruiser, and the sheriff drove off, taking me by surprise.
“I wonder what happened,” I said to El. “You don’t think she was looking for treasure inside, do you?”
Madison Johns - Agnes Barton 05 - Treasure in Tawas Page 7