2 Dead & Buried (14 page)

“Wait. What’s that?” She pointed to the letters.

Fiona squinted down at it. “Looks like initials. MB. Guess I’ll have to research who that was. Do you guys mind if I take these?”

No one minded. Fiona wrapped the crystals back up and the group got busy rummaging through the items. Morgan was just starting to feel like the whole exercise had been for nothing when she heard a sharp intake of breath from the other side of the room.

“Hey guys, I think I found something.”
 

Jolene was crouched down in the corner, boxes pushed out of the way on either side of her. Morgan rushed over and looked down, her heart lurching up into her throat when she saw what had caused Jolene to call out.
 

There, on the floor in front of them was a box very similar to the other boxes they had found. Like the others, this one was silver, with gold on the corners and an ornate carved flower design. But it was much bigger—about a one and a half feet long and six inches wide. Morgan reached down and picked it up, her pulse picking up speed as she held it.

“Wowser. That’s one nice box,” Cal said.
 

“Does the key fit it?” Celeste asked.

Morgan found a table off to the side and put the box on top, then took the key out of her pocket.

She held her breath as she lined the key up with the hole in the lock. She inserted and turned.
Click
.

The top flew open. Inside was a long piece of leather, rolled up tight, the outside was dry and cracked with age.

“Be careful with that,” Cal warned. “Old Leather can be very brittle.”

She lifted the leather out and placed it on the table, then unrolled it very slowly. Her heart beat faster and faster as the images and writing inside were revealed.
 

It was a treasure map.

By the time they brought the map down to the informal living room, Jake had come home from work and joined them. They spread it out flat on the coffee table. Morgan inhaled the smell of old leather as she bent over to study the lines of the map which had been crudely burned into it.

“This looks like our yard, but it’s shaped different,” Jolene said.

“The geography of this area was changed about a hundred years ago, when the area started becoming attractive to tourists,” Cal replied.

“Yeah, I remember reading about how the channel to the cove was made deeper and the cove itself much wider. Then on the other side, some land was filled in near Oarweed Cove where it abuts our land.” Celeste pointed to the different parts of the map as she talked.

“So, our land as it sits now is here … and here?” Morgan drew a circle with her finger to indicate where she thought the land was.

“I think so,” Cal said.

“So part of this isn’t even our land.”

“You’re right … but the important part looks like it is.” Cal pointed to the big X in the middle of the map where the supposed treasure was.
 

Morgan squinted at the map, it did look like the treasure was buried somewhere near the point of land at the edge of their property. Near where the body had been found.

She glanced outside. Plenty of daylight left. “We should start digg—”

The knock on the door interrupted her and she raised an eyebrow at the group.
 

“Anyone expecting company?”

Nobody was.

“We should hide this, just in case.” She gestured to the map and Celeste and Jolene got busy rolling it up and finding a hiding spot. Morgan and Fiona went to answer the door that the insistent visitor was now pounding on.

“Hold your horses … I’m coming.” She ripped the door open and her heart froze when she saw who was standing there.

Sheriff Overton.
 

And he wasn’t alone, he had several uniformed policemen with him and they looked like they were there for backup. But why would he need backup?

“Well ‘bout time. I hope you aren’t trying to hide any evidence because it’s too late,” Overton said with a smug smile on his face.

“What are you talking about?” Morgan stood feet apart, fists on her hips. She didn’t invite Overton in, but he opened the screen door and stepped in anyway. The commotion had caused everyone else to gather in the hall.

“Oh good, I see you’re all here. That will make it easy to arrest the killer.”

Morgan’s heart clenched.
What was he talking about?

Fiona narrowed her eyes at the Sheriff. “No one invited you in, so you can turn around and leave.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. See, I got this little piece of paper here that says I got probable cause to bring the killer in for questioning.”
 

The toothpick switched from one side of his mouth to the other as he pulled some papers from his front pocket and shoved them in Fiona’s face.

Morgan felt her anger rising. “I already told you, I had nothing to do with killing that guy.”

Overton looked at her and nodded. “Yep and, much to my surprise, you were telling the truth.”

Morgan scrunched her face at him.

“It’s not you I’m here to arrest … It’s her.” Overton pointed past Morgan’s shoulder.
 

Her heart squeezed as she turned to follow the direction of his finger. It was pointing straight at Celeste.

“What!” Cal boomed, putting a protective arm around Celeste. “You can’t just come in here and arrest people with no evidence.”

“Oh, I have evidence.” Overton smiled his Cheshire cat smile. “Found the murder weapon right in little Blondie’s car.”

“What are you talking about?” Morgan shot a glance at Celeste who looked as baffled as she was.

“Yep. The coroner got back to us this morning. The victim’s head was bashed in with a round object … oh about this big.” Overton cupped his hands to illustrate a circumference of about six or seven inches.

Morgan narrowed her eyes. “And you found one in Celeste’s car?”

“Yep. Just happened to notice it when we were here last night.” He turned to one of the uniforms behind him. “Show her.”

Morgan’s eyes widened as the gangly kid held up a large plastic bag with one of Celeste’s kettle bells inside.

“That handle makes ‘em perfect for getting a good swing for bashing someone’s head in, wouldn’t you say?” Overton raised his eyebrows at Morgan.

“Those are for exercising!” Morgan louvered her eyes between Overton and Celeste. This had to be some sort of mistake or one of Overton’s tricks.
 

“Let me see that.” Jake pushed forward and grabbed at the paper Overton had shown to Fiona.

He glanced over it then looked at the kettle bell. “Is there forensic evidence on that?”
 

“We haven’t run it through the lab yet but I’m sure it will prove to be the weapon.” Overton stepped over toward Jake, taking the toothpick out of his mouth. “You better keep your nose out of this. In fact I think I’ll put you on administrative leave until this case is over.”
 

Jake opened his mouth to protest but Overton put his hand up to stop him.

“I should have you fired for consorting with known criminals,” he said, jerking his chin toward Morgan and Celeste.

He turned to the uniforms behind him. “Now cuff her and take her away.”
 

Cal stepped in front of Celeste. “Now wait just a minute!”

The uniforms froze and looked back at Overton uncertainly.

“Better step aside, Reed, or I’ll have you brought in for obstruction of justice.”
 

Celeste pushed in front of Cal, holding her wrists out together in front of her. “It’s okay. I’ll go with them and you guys can come and post bail. I’m not worried since I didn’t kill anyone.”

Morgan was impressed with her sister’s calm demeanor.

It took everything she had to step aside while they cuffed Celeste and brought her out to the car, but she knew it was the best thing to do. As soon as they were gone, she’d be on the phone to the lawyer and working to get Celeste out of jail. There was nothing she could do right now to stop it, though, so she let them take her.

“We’ll be down right behind you,” she said to Celeste as they led her by.

Celeste nodded. “No hurry.”

Morgan stood in the doorway, her fists clenched and the map all but forgotten as she watched them shove Celeste into the back of the police car and drive away.

She’d never felt so helpless in all her life.

###

“We have to get her out right away. I don’t want her spending one night in there.” Morgan turned to face the group, her mind whirling.

“I’ll get on the phone to Delphine,” Fiona said. Delphine Jones was the sharp witted lawyer they had used when Morgan had been accused of murder earlier in the summer. She’d done a fantastic job and Morgan couldn’t think of anyone better to help Celeste.

“I’ll put a call into some of my friends at the station.” Jake whipped out his cell phone.

“We’ll need money for a retainer,” Morgan said.

“Don’t worry about that,” Cal replied. “I’ll give you whatever you need for the lawyer.”

“We’re not taking your money.”

“Consider it a loan, then. What you have in the attic is worth plenty of money … you can sell some of it later if you want, but for now I have cash at the ready and we don’t want to hold up getting Celeste out.”

Morgan nodded. He was right.
 

“Delphine’s going to meet us down there,” Fiona said as she headed out the door.

Morgan, Cal and Jolene followed. Jake stayed behind. His presence at the station wouldn’t help things after the run in he’d just had with Overton.

Delphine Jones was already in the police station parking lot when they pulled up in Cal’s pearl white Lincoln Navigator. She was on her cell phone, pacing back and forth in front of her car, arms gesturing wildly. Her hot pink jacket and pink, white and orange broom skirt fluttered in the breeze behind her.

She hung up when they pulled up next to her.

“Okay, give me the quick version.” She tapped her nails on the hood of the Lincoln as Morgan told her how Celeste’s kettle bells were the suspected murder weapon for the dead body on the cliff.

“Was there any evidence on the weapon?”
 

“Overton said they hadn’t run them through the lab yet.”

Delphine narrowed her eyes in the direction of the police station.

“Jerk.” She spat the word out like it was sour yogurt.

Morgan knew from their previous dealings that there was no love lost between Delphine and the Sheriff. She didn’t know why but Overton seemed afraid of the feisty lawyer and Morgan knew that worked to their advantage.

“Can you get her out?” Fiona asked.

“Sure. Well, I might need a judge, especially if Overton is playing games with the murder weapon and delaying the testing. But I’ll do my damn best to get her out tonight.” They started off toward the police station entrance. “I’ll go straight in to Overton and see if I can get him to release her and you guys can go down for a visit.”

A blast of cool air hit Morgan as the entered the lobby and her stomach clenched remembering when
she
had been arrested. Delphine headed off to see Overton and Fiona demanded that they be allowed to visit Celeste.
 

Someone came out and led them down to the cells. Morgan’s nerves grew more tense with each step. They filed past four empty cells, Celeste was in the last one—the same one Morgan had been in.
 

Morgan peered into the cell, her heart pounding wondering what kind of condition her sister was in.
 

Celeste sat on the bed, cross legged. Her eyes closed, breathing steady. She opened one eye then the other as a smile lit her face.

“Oh hi guys. You didn’t have to come so fast,” she said as if they had dropped in for a leisurely Sunday afternoon visit.

“Celeste, are you okay?
 
Did they hurt you?” Cal’s face was lined with concern. Morgan narrowed her eyes at him, they were all concerned about Celeste but Cal seemed overly so.
What was up with that?

“Oh I’m fine.” She waved her hand. “It’s not that bad here. The bed is comfortable and it’s a great place to meditate ... very quiet and lots of emotional energy.”

“We brought Delphine and she’s going to get you out,” Fiona said.

Celeste got up from the bed and came over to edge of the cell, looking out at them through the bars.
 

“I think I might be staying here tonight, but I don’t want you guys to worry. I didn’t kill that guy so I won’t be here long. You need to focus on taking care of the guys that are after us … I have it on good authority it’s only going to get worse.”
 

“What? You’re not going to have to stay here,” Jolene said.

“I’m afraid she is.” Delphine came rushing toward them. “I need a judge to let her out and they’ve all gone home but I promise I’ll get her out first thing in the morning.”