Freedom's Treasure (16 page)

The coffee machine in the corner of the larger room started whistling and gurgling and Hunter rose from his chair before Elisa could call out. With a lingering look and prayer for a last second reprieve he left his cell phone on the messy desk and made his way to the door that opened to the showroom.

“Mom, would you like to have a cup of coffee with me and catch up? I feel like we haven’t talked in forever.”

Elisa whirled around, startled. The long flowing skirt flared around her legs and Hunter noted she was in her hippie mode today. He’d have to be careful or she’d start telling him how groovy it was that they’d found a safe in Samuel’s old cabin.

“You read my mind, dear. Come have a seat with me,” she patted one of the chairs before hopping into the other. “I brewed a cup of herbal tea for me. Pick whatever you’d like.”

Hunter perused the well-stocked carousel and went with a dark roast. He didn’t know if it had more caffeine or not but he liked the flavor. Less than a minute later he sat with his long legs stretched out before him. He blew steam from the aromatic brew and burned his tongue on the first sip anyway. Every single time, he thought. Surely one day he’d remember to see if he could turn the temperature down on that contraption. Then again the owner’s manual was probably buried on his desk somewhere.

Elisa and Hunter relaxed together, watching the cars go by on the main street. Some were familiar, some not. Beth Snyder drove by, presumably on her way home, and Colby pulled out of the hardware store’s parking lot while chatting away on his cell phone. A dangerous driver without a phone attached to his ear, Hunter worried for any pedestrians or drivers on Colby’s path. Dock’s beat up Dodge went by, the muffler rattling and country music twanging at full volume.

Hunter gave an imperceptible flinch and Elisa, ever aware when it came to her only chick, caught it and decided, yet again, not to remind Hunter he would have to eventually forgive his oldest friend. Their feud had officially gone on longer than they had been friends.

Here comes the chit-chat,
Hunter thought. “How are you, Mom?”

“It’s been pretty darn hot this summer,” Elisa fanned her face though the room was a very chilly 64 degrees. She dipped a spoon into her tea and stirred it though Hunter hadn’t noticed her add sweetener.

Yep, called that one.
“Are you sure it’s not those hot flashes?” Hunter winked at his mother.

Elisa shot him the evil eye. “It’s no picnic growing older, young man,” she chastised. “You just wait and it’ll be your turn soon.”

“I’m not as young as I used to be,” Hunter agreed.
I gave her the perfect set-up for…

“Don’t I know that? Hunter, you’re your own man, I raised you to be smart and respectful and I trust you to do the right thing,” Elisa trailed off and looked him straight in the eye, “which means you have to do the right thing by Anna.”

Hunter bit back the sigh. He felt like he’d been doing that an awful lot lately.

“Don’t you sigh at me, Hunter Williams! I raised you better than that.”

Hunter nodded even though he knew the sigh hadn’t escaped. “Indeed you did. I’m sorry. Please go on.”

“When you and Dock had your squabble I stayed out of it, did I not?” she asked accusingly.

Not if you count mentioning it once a month, no,
Hunter replied internally. “Yes, ma’am,” he managed it without a hint of impatience and was proud of himself.

“And I’ve supported you in all your endeavors. From joining the Marines to your choice of college on the East Coast, to opening a Real Estate office instead of using your degrees, I’ve not once suggested you do anything other than make yourself happy,” Elisa’s words were picking up speed. Hunter thought of ten different things he could say to shorten this lecture and knew only one would work.

“I want to marry Anna, Mom.” That stopped her, he noticed, but only for a moment.

“Yes, of course you do, dear. I’ve never seen you the way you’ve been since you met her. Your step is lighter, you’ve been whistling and humming, I tell you it’s getting hard to work around you and not be distracted by the happy light,” Elisa would have patted his knee but couldn’t quite reach.

“You’re not going to tell me it happened too fast or that I barely know her? You’re not complaining that you barely know her?”

“I know that she makes you happy and I haven’t seen you that way since your father… passed on. He’d be sorry he missed this, son,” Elisa’s eyes grew damp and Hunter realized his were as well.

“She doesn’t know,” Hunter told her.

“I figured as much. Too caught up in the excitement and romance of a treasure hunt,” Elisa stated sagely.

Hunter reached into his pocket and pulled out the old coin. “I thought you should be the first to see it,” he handed her the coin. “You’ve always believed in Samuel’s gold. I hate to tell you this part is silver.”

“That’s just one coin, dear. I’m so proud of you. This is an amazing find even if you don’t discover more. This was under the floor, I heard,” Elisa turned the coin over in her hand and watched the light glisten off the shiny surface. “It’s heavy, isn’t it?”

“They weren’t mixing as many alloys, back then,” Hunter acknowledged.

“Rhetorical, Hunter,” she rolled her eyes.

“I think Anna will donate the journal and whatever else we find to the Historical Society. She just wants to be the one to write the story,” Hunter took the coin back, looked at it once more and slid it back into his front pocket.

“That’s just fine, Hunter, just fine indeed. You better marry that girl or maybe I will!”

“You’d have to move to Massachusetts first.”

“Cheeky.”

Dock
slammed his front door closed and tossed the bag of groceries onto the counter. Fortunately nothing inside the bag broke but at this point he really didn’t care. He stalked to his den, pulled the black-out curtains closed and turned on a dim lamp.

He glared at the files and papers, maps and journals that lay strewn across his desk. With a roar he shoved them to the floor. When that didn’t satisfy the rage burning a hole in his chest, his stomach, he kicked his office chair. It didn’t fall over, merely rolled away, so he picked it up and slammed it to its side.

It wasn’t fair. He’d done all the research and taken copious notes. He’d figured out where that slave had come from and he’d gone to Georgia and followed the path as best he could, all in hopes of finding the remaining gold and Hunter’s stupid bitch had stumbled on the best clue of all in a goddamned bathroom. With another roar Dock grabbed an unlit lamp and hurled it against the wall and felt satisfaction when it shattered into thousands of pieces.

Dock sat on the floor with one leg stretched in front of him, leaned against the wall and threaded his hands through his hair, nearly pulling it from the roots. God, how he hated this town, he thought. He’d tried twice to leave and never come back but somehow he ended up back here, in this ass backwards town full of hicks. Baldwin worked like a spiritual magnet and no matter how hard he pulled and strained something would bring him back.

He’d joined the Navy with the hopes of getting far away from this blasted place. His star had been on the rise until he’d washed out of the Seal training and his career with the Navy had been over shortly thereafter. He didn’t remember the night, he’d blacked out from drinking, but he was told he’d beaten his commanding officer to within an inch of his life. Two years in the stockade and a dishonorable discharge later he’d come back to Baldwin with tales of war in the Persian Gulf and not one of the idiot rednecks doubted his story except, maybe, for Hunter.

The second time he’d left town he went to Georgia to retrace Samuel’s life. It hadn’t been easy; he’d worked several menial short time jobs that were way below what he valued himself as for gas and food money. He’d met Nancy then and she was a treat to behold. Beautiful, dumb and from a family with money, the three qualities Dock valued most in a woman.

He’d wooed her over countless beers and cocktails, sex in the front of his pick-up, and filling her empty head with so many lies even he couldn’t keep track of them. She’d gotten pregnant, of course, and when her parents found out they’d kicked her out and cut her off from her trust fund. He was sure they’d change their minds once they had gotten married and the baby was born but her father saw through Dock. He’d told Nancy she was welcome back as soon as she cut him out of her life permanently.

Nancy had been caught up in the romance of the journey and her head spun with Dock’s promises. She defied her parents and swore never to leave him. Then she’d lost the baby, was that in Tennessee? Dock couldn’t remember anymore and, really, what did it matter? Nancy changed after the miscarriage. She started bitching and nagging and wanted to know why he couldn’t find a real job instead of wasting his time on the gold.

Bringing her back to Baldwin had been a huge mistake. She’d taken one look at the family home and realized every story he’d ever told her was a lie. Oh, she’d stuck it out at first, knowing it was too late to run home to Mommy and Daddy but then they’d had an argument and one little slap had sent her out the door crying. Right into the arms of Hunter who, of course, had a furnished apartment he’d let her stay in rent free as well as a part-time job she could have until she made other plans. The bastard had an answer for everything.

Dock would never admit that if he put half the effort into the family business that he’d put into searching for the treasure he’d be well off by now; perhaps with two cars in the driveway and a pleasure boat of his own. Day jobs are for shmucks, he was fond of saying.

Dock rapped his head against the wall a few times, thinking hard. He’d immersed himself in Samuel’s life believing he had to live like the man to think as he did. Dock should be the one who’d found that floor safe and he would, by God, be the one to find the treasure.

He closed his eyes, summoned every instinct he was sure Samuel had possessed. One floor safe would never be enough. The man had been brilliant, in his own way, and frugal. Surely there was more than one silver coin left from what he must have taken away from the Belvette plantation. Dock realized that there had to be another safe in that cabin, maybe in the floor, maybe not, and he just
knew
he’d be the man to find it.

Anna read over the blog posting she’d written before she hit post. It was a good thing, she realized, as it barely made sense. She’d been mixing past, present and future tenses and not in a way that worked. It would take more time to edit the article than it had to write it which told her
more than enough.

She quickly saved what she had completed with the thought that she could work on it later. It’s not like she would be going anywhere for the next few days. She winced as her gaze landed on the ugly blue boot wrapped tightly around her ankle. The whole thing was proving far too inconvenient and this was only the first day.

Determined not to let the injury spoil her mood - after all she was in Hunter’s house and had permission to snoop - she rose from the chair and hobbled her way into the living room. One of the first things she would do is check out what was saved on his DVR. You could tell a lot about a person by what television shows they recorded, she mused.

Hunter had a lot of varied interests, she noted with amusement. There were several popular sitcoms recorded, along with documentaries about aliens and other programs from the History Channel, and, joy of joys! He’d recorded last season’s football play-offs and the Superbowl. Anna had seen those, of course, but she was in the perfect mood to watch some good games. She settled into the comfortable chair with a box of chocolates she’d found stashed on the top shelf in the kitchen.

Hunter pulled to a stop in front of his house and reality set in. Anna was in there, maybe working, perhaps cooking something easy for dinner, but she was there, waiting for him to come home. It wasn’t a feeling he’d had before. A sense of contentment settled over him as someone was actually waiting for him to come home from work. Would she ask how his day had gone? Share what she had done while he’d been away?