Hope Callaghan - Garden Girls 03 - Smoky Mountain Mystery (14 page)

Gloria wasn’t taking a single step until she found out what the connection was.  She stubbornly stood her ground.  “I’m not going anywhere until someone tells me who exactly you are.” 

“Sure, I’ll tell ya’.” Sandy stood by the back door, resting the gun on the edge of the counter.  It was pointing at Margaret now.  Margaret shuffled to the right so the aim wasn’t on her anymore. 

“Ernie – Ethel’s dad offered to let my great granddaddy, Skeeter McGee, partner up with him in the lucrative moonshine business.  It was a 50/50 partnership.  To get in, great granddaddy gave Ernie those there ten gold coins.” 

“Things were goin’ great ‘til great granddaddy discovered the coins were worth a lot of money.  A lot more than the moonshine business.  When great granddaddy found out, he told Ernie he wanted the coins back and he could keep his old moonshine business.”

She stopped for a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing her tale.  “When Ernie refused, they got into a huge argument.  A fistfight inside the barn.  One of the moonshine tanks got knocked over by accident.  All that hundred and twenty proof alcohol spilled onto the ground.” 

“The story goes that there was a small lantern sittin’ nearby on a stool.  When the lantern fell, it ignited the alcohol and the whole place exploded.  Great Granddaddy barely made it out alive.  Ernie wasn’t so lucky,” Sandy added.

“Granny Maybelle knew all about the coins.  So did Momma.  We tried to come by here many times.  We told Ethel we’d help her find them if she agreed to split them with us.” Sandy shook her head in frustration.  “Every time she’d insist she’d already searched the place and couldn’t find anything.”

Apparently Sandy grew weary of explaining her story.  “Put all your stuff on the table here,” she ordered. 

“Includin’ them there cell phones,” she added.

The group reluctantly dropped their phones and belongings on the table before making their way over to the back door. 

Mally gingerly eased herself onto her feet and followed Gloria outside. 

Sandy watched them like a hawk as they made their way down the steps and onto the side of the lawn.   “We’re headin’ to the cellar now.”

A wave of fear swept over Gloria.  Sandy had every intention of locking them inside! 

A knowing glance passed between Gloria and David.  It would be days before someone came to check on them.  Without food and water, they would be dead by then.

They stopped at the top of the cement stairs leading down to the cellar.  Sandy stared directly at David.  “Open the door,” she commanded.

He slowly shuffled down the steps towards the cellar door.  It wasn’t locked.  The only thing holding it shut was the wooden peg.  He plucked the padlock from the hinge and shoved it in his pocket. 

“I’m gonna need that.  You can just set that right on top of the steps for me,” Sandy said.

He reluctantly handed the lock to Liz who was closest. She set it down where Sandy instructed but not before giving her the death look. 

“You can’t leave us in there,” Margaret argued.  “It’ll take days, maybe weeks before someone comes looking for us.”

Sandy ignored Margaret’s comment.  “All of you.  In!”

Gloria and Mally were the last in line.  Margaret was just ahead of them. 

Gloria was just about to take her first step down when she caught a glimpse of Mally out of the corner of her eye. 

The dog suddenly lunged at Sandy, clamping her jaws tightly around the woman’s bare ankle. Mally jerked hard.  So hard that Sandy tumbled backwards, her arms flailing wildly in the air. 

She lost her grip on the gun. It flew up in the air before landing with a thud on a clump of hard dirt a few feet away. 

Sandy was flat on her back now.  Mally still had a firm grip on her ankle.  Gloria straddled the fallen woman.  Using all her strength, she forced the woman’s hands over her head.  Sandy was much younger and in better shape than Gloria.  She began twisting and turning as she fought frantically to get out from under Gloria. 

Margaret and Liz wasted no time coming to Gloria’s aid.  Margaret grabbed hold of one of Sandy’s arms while Liz dove on top of Sandy’s knees in an effort to hold her still. 

The girls had the upper hand by now.  David sprinted up the steps and dashed over to the gun still lying on the ground nearby.  He grabbed the gun and pointed it at Sandy. “Stop fighting or I’ll shoot.”

The girls rolled off Sandy. The threesome sat on the ground, working hard to catch their breath. 

Mally had let go of Sandy’s ankles as soon as Gloria had the upper hand.  She sat patiently nearby, completely unaware she had just saved all of their lives. 

Gloria rolled over onto all fours and crawled through the grass towards Mally.  She wrapped her arm around her beloved dog and buried her head in her furry neck.  “Mally, you just saved us.”  She patted her side.  “Good girl!”

Mally wagged her tail.  “Woof.”

Sandy was still horizontal on the ground.  “Deranged dog!  I hope I don’t get rabies,” she muttered. 

Liz jumped to her feet and sprinted back in the house.  When she returned, she had her cell phone in hand.  “I just called 911.  Cops are on the way.”  No way was she going to end up in jail again for any reason! 

David sidestepped Sandy and made his way over to where Mally and Gloria were still sitting on the ground.  He bent down to thank the dog.  “Thanks for saving us Mally.  I owe you a nice juicy steak!”

“Woof!” Mally rolled over onto her back for a tummy rub. 

Moments later, the bubble on top of the police car popped up over the hill.  The car came to a sudden halt at the top of the driveway.

Gloria’s heart sunk as she watched Officer Peyton emerge from the driver’s side.  He took one look at Gloria.  “Not again,” were the first words out of his mouth.

Gloria shook her head.  “It’s not what you think.”  Thankfully, she didn’t have to get into a long-winded explanation.

Officer Peyton turned to the woman lying on the ground.  “Sandy McGee,” he said.  “Don’t tell me you’ve gotten yourself into trouble again.”

“You know her?” Liz was surprised.

He nodded.  “You could say that.  Ms. McGee here has quite a reputation ‘round these parts for causing trouble.”

Sandy scrambled to her feet and held her arms out.  Officer Peyton pulled a set of cuffs from his pocket and clamped them on her outstretched wrists.  He guided her into the rear of the police car and placed her inside.

David made his way over to the officer and handed him the gun.  “You better hang onto this.”

Officer Peyton opened the driver’s side door, started to slide in and suddenly stopped.  “You said you were leaving town soon, right?”

Gloria nodded.  “We’re on our way in just a few minutes.”

Peyton grinned widely.  “Good!”

David locked up the farmhouse and headed to his car.  The trio of cars formed a caravan as they made their way towards Gatlinburg.

Margaret soaked in the magnificent view of the mountains from the passenger seat.  Gloria glanced over at her friend.  She seemed to be in deep thought.  “Everything okay?”

“Huh?”

“I asked if everything was okay.  You seem like you’re a million miles away,” Gloria said.

Margaret leaned her elbow on the window frame.  She looked down in the dumps.  “I tried calling the detective yesterday and today.  I left a message both times and he’s not calling me back.  Do you think that’s a bad sign?” she asked.

Gloria wasn’t sure if that was a bad sign or not.  “Maybe he’s just really busy…”

Margaret shook her head.  “Or maybe it’s so bad, he doesn’t want to tell me over the phone.”

“I hope not for your sake.  I’ve been praying about it.”  Gloria didn’t know what else to add so she changed the subject.  “It’s gonna be really late by the time we get home tonight.”  She glanced at the clock.  It was already almost noon.  The drive from Gatlinburg to home was at least ten hours.

Heavy traffic made the drive through Gatlinburg a slow go.  Thankfully, the pawn shop was on the far end of town and close to the highway they needed to hop on when they were finished.

The exterior of the pawn shop was nothing fancy but it was big.  A lot bigger than the one in Cross Creek. 

David and Liz were already waiting by the front door when Gloria and Margaret climbed out of their car.    The four entered the store and headed to the nearest counter. 

“Can I help you?”  An attractive, dark-haired woman about their age stood behind the counter.  Her nametag said “Mary.” 

David pulled one of the coins from the satchel he was holding.  He set it on the counter and slid it towards the clerk.  “We were wondering if you might be able to tell us what this coin is worth.”

Mary picked up the coin.  She examined it silently for several long moments before glancing up at them.  “I’m not a coin expert but we do have someone on staff that is.  I’ll be right back.”  She made her way down the long counter before disappearing behind a solid metal door. 

Gloria nervously tapped the glass countertop as she waited.  On the one hand, if the coins really were valuable, it would definitely make the entire trip – including spending a night in jail – worth their while.  But on the other, how would they decide to split the money?  50% for David, 50% for the girls or would it be an equal share for the four?

David must’ve been having the exact same thoughts as Gloria.  “No matter what the coins are worth, I think we should split the value equally.  After all, I never would’ve found the coins without you and you wouldn’t have found the coins if my mom hadn’t contacted you.”

He had a point.  Gloria didn’t get a chance to reply before Mary returned.  Following behind her was a distinguished looking gentleman, a serious expression on his face.  “Where did you find this?” 

“In my mother’s cellar,” David replied. 

He slowly shook his head in amazement.  “These coins are priceless.” He went on.  “Back in the 1920’s the US mint created a small number of this exact coin. They later decided not to sell them because of the depression and value of gold being so high.  Anyone who possessed one of these coins was ordered to turn them back into the government where they would be compensated at face value, which at the time wasn’t all that much.”

He set the coin on the counter, still gazing at it in awe.  “There’s still a few of them out there that are unaccounted for.”  He nodded down at the coin.  “This is definitely one of them.  You have any more?”

David nodded.  “We have ten altogether.”  He was curious.  “Do you think we’ll have to turn them over to the government?”

Gloria’s heart sank.  What a huge disappointment that would be!

The man shook his head.  “The government tried to take some of the coins from another family back about ten years ago.  Case went all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the family won.”

Liz elbowed her way to the front of the counter.  “How much do
you
think the coins are worth?”

He shook his head.  “It’s hard to say.  The last one sold back in the 40’s for just over a million bucks!”

Gloria felt dizzy.  She grabbed the edge of the counter to steady herself.  That would be over ten million dollars!

She wasn’t alone.  The rest of the group let out a collective gasp at just the thought. 

The man reached in behind the counter and pulled out some business cards.  He handed one to Gloria and the other to David.  “We certainly can’t afford to buy the coins but this company here specializes in authenticating and auctioning valuable coins. I can almost guarantee they’d be mighty interested in what you have…”

David thanked the man for his time.  When the girls were out on the sidewalk, they stepped to the side.  It was time for a brief meeting. 

David spoke first.  “We agreed to split the coins evenly and I’m a man of my word.  The only problem I see is that there are ten coins and four of us.”

Gloria had to agree.  This posed a bit of a problem…  It was then she had a sudden thought.  She wasn’t quite sure what the group would think of her suggestion, though.  She took a deep breath.  Might as well just put it out there… “What about giving Sandy a share?”

Margaret frowned.  Liz snorted but David, well, he paused for a moment.  Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea.  After all, even though her father gave the coins to their grandfather, he was still the original owner. 

Maybe if they gave her a cut and had her sign off, waiving any right to try to claim ownership to the rest of the coins, it could probably save the group a lot of legal and financial headaches in the future.  “I think that’s a great idea!  Not only do we head off a legal battle once she finds out what we have, it’s the right thing to do.” He paused thoughtfully.  “After she signs off on any claims to the rest of the coins, of course.”

A heated discussion ensued with David and Gloria all for the idea and Liz and Margaret against it.  Their reasoning was, the woman had every intention of leaving them in the cellar to starve to death and die a slow painful death.  In their opinion, they owed her nothing!

David and Gloria eventually won out and the girls grudgingly agreed to give her 20%. 

Gloria glanced at her watch.  It was getting late and the drive home was long.  “We need to head home.  It’s getting late.”

David nodded.  He reached into the satchel and pulled the coins from within.  He solemnly handed two coins to Gloria, then Liz and finally Margaret.  “I’ll draw up the legal papers for Sandy to sign off on, waiving any future claim to the remaining coins.  Hopefully, I can meet with her sometime next week.”  He turned to Gloria.  “When she signs the papers, I’ll mail three originals to you.” He glanced at Margaret and Liz.  “That way each of us will have an originally executed, notarized and witnessed document if she ever tries any funny stuff.”

Gloria smiled.  He was definitely on top of it.  She never would’ve thought to draw up legal documents.  Of course, she never had millions of dollars to worry about, either.

She was sad to say good-bye and sorry that they had missed all these years to get to know each other.  Gloria felt as if they’d known each other for years.  She hugged David before opening the car door and sliding behind the driver’s wheel.  She never was good at good-byes…

Gloria was on the highway for several long minutes before Margaret broke the silence.  “What are you going to do with the coins?” 

Gloria had been thinking about it and honestly, she was worried about making a wrong decision and regretting it.  She was the type who liked to mull things over.  Take her time and not be rushed.   “I was going to find out what you and Liz thought,” she said.  “I don’t want to be too hasty and make any sudden decisions.”

Margaret had to agree.  If the coins were as valuable as everyone seemed to believe they were, each of them were holding on to a couple million dollars each.  What if Don was fooling around behind her back?  Then he found out she was a millionaire and tried to salvage their marriage for the money.  Would she even want that?  Or if he did decide to divorce her, he’d want half the money.  It was too much to think about right now.  Margaret needed some time…  “I think we should hold off.  You know, keep it to ourselves at least until we have time to consider the implications…”

Gloria had one major concern.  Liz.  “What do you think Liz will say to the idea?”

Margaret shook her head.  She had no idea.  Liz was so unpredictable…

The drive back to Michigan was long and monotonous.  When they crossed the state line from Indiana into Michigan, the three women decided to stop off at a restaurant to grab a bite to eat.  As they parked the car and started to get out, Gloria grabbed Margaret’s arm.  “Now’s our chance to try and convince Liz we should keep quiet about the coins for now…”

Margaret couldn’t agree more.  “Gotcha!”

Oddly enough, they needn’t have worried.  As soon as they were seated in a booth and their order taken, Liz spoke first.  “I think we should hold off on telling anyone about the coins.”

Gloria’s jaw dropped open.  She was prepared for battle but Liz was already on board!  “That’s exactly what we were thinking.”

Liz went on.  “I mean, people get crazy when money’s involved.  First of all, we need to get the waiver from Sandy telling us she won’t try to sue us to get the coins back…”

“True,” Gloria agreed.  She hadn’t considered that angle yet.

Liz was sounding wiser by the moment.  “That money’s a huge gift but also a huge responsibility.” Her eyes lit up.  “Just think of the possibilities for our children, our grandchildren.  Heck, even ourselves!  We’re not that old yet, you know!” she added.

Liz was right.  Right then and there, the three women made a pact not to breathe a single word about the coins until they were all three in agreement and willing to do it at the same time.

Gloria charged each of them with a task in the meantime.  Liz would research different investors or groups that might have the resources to buy the coins, including the one the man told them about today. 

Margaret would find out what kind of investing they should consider once they had the cash in hand and Gloria would meet with some attorneys about drawing up wills for each of them to best handle the assets if they died.

Gloria took Mally on a quick walk around the restaurant parking lot while the others finished paying the check and taking a bathroom break. 

The rest of the drive home was spent discussing all the wonderful things they could do with the money and how much fun it would be when they finally shared the news with their families.  The hours flew by and before they knew it, Gloria was pulling in Margaret’s driveway. 

The end of the trip was so different than the beginning of the trip.  Gloria slowly got out of the car and made her way to the trunk.  She helped Margaret lift the bags out before shutting the trunk.  “Margaret, I just want you to know that I had the best time ever with you and I’m so glad you agreed to come with me,” she said sincerely.

Margaret was surprised when tears sprang to her own eyes.  She felt exactly the same way.  She knew that her friendship with Gloria had changed forever - and for the better.  The trip brought the two friends closer together than either of them had ever imagined.  Margaret impulsively reached over and hugged her friend tightly.  “I’m gonna miss you, my crazy friend!”  She whispered.

Gloria’s own eyes were filled with tears as she pulled back.  “Me too,” she said.  She took a deep breath and smiled.  She glanced towards the house.  Don’s silhouette peeked out from the door frame.  Gloria raised her hand in a small wave.

Don returned the wave and took a step back from the door.

“Keep me posted on the other,” Gloria said.  “Just remember I’m here for you.”

Margaret smiled thinly.  She wasn’t looking forward to the next few days.  More likely dreading what she might find out.  “Thanks, Gloria.  That means a lot to me.”  Without saying another word, Margaret grabbed her bags and slowly pulled them to the door.

Gloria stood there and watched as Don opened the door wide.  He quickly hugged his wife.  She was just able to make out his words, “I sure did miss you,” before the door closed and the two disappeared out of sight.

Gloria slid back into the driver seat and prayed that Don really did mean that.  That he truly did miss his wife.  She was a wonderful wife and a loyal friend.

The drive home took less than five minutes.  Gloria let out a huge sigh of relief when she spotted the old oak tree out by the road.  She turned into the familiar drive.  The porch light beckoned her home. 

Paul must’ve thought to turn it on for me, Gloria thought.  She smiled as she thought of her devoted boyfriend.  How lucky she was to have someone in her life again.

Mally must’ve sensed they were home.  She perked up when they dropped Margaret off and now she was pacing back and forth in the back seat, anxious to be home. 

Gloria parked the car and jumped out. She held the door open. “C’mon girl!  You’re home!” 

Mally gingerly dropped to the ground.  She pranced around the yard, favoring her wounded paw but still doing a little happy dance right there in the yard.