Oklahoma's Gold (23 page)

She reached over and opened the book to a marked page. "See? She wrote, 'Daddy brags how he and his old drinking pals, who are now thick as thieves in business together, tied up the greatest land purchase ever. Though he implied it had been a difficult one, he assured me they'd taken care of the problems. And he said soon we'd all be rich. Aren't we rich enough? Sometimes, I don't understand the way he thinks. And I worry just how he has gone about acquiring our riches.'  Not much to go on, is it?"

Daniel looked up at Emma. "Other than it seems Martha felt a little doubt or distrust of her father's business ventures."

"Yes. It does seem that way." Emma frowned in concern.

"When was that entry written, Miss Emma?" Jess asked.

"May ninth, nineteen forty-seven. Only a week before she left town."

All three of them looked silently at each other, then back at the diary. Several implications ran through their minds. The timing seemed significant. What might Martha have discovered in the days before she left?

Emma shared with them how in an entry written on May twelfth Martha had admitted she couldn't bare the secrets anymore. Had she found out something so horrible she couldn't bear to even write about it? And did her leaving have anything to do with that last land deal? Unfortunately, they knew there was no proof, no evidence, just conjecture.

"I wonder if she had started doing some of her own investigating? You know she said in that last entry that she tried to help to make things right. What if she found out how John made the deal and then she tried to right a wrong, but failed?" Jess suggested.

"I was thinkin' along the same lines," Emma said. "She had to have been torn apart by all this. You know I never told you, but my mother's words reminded me. My daddy was considered a pillar in this community. At least by most people. He had a degree in law, though he'd chosen early on to be a rancher instead of a lawyer, much to his parents' disappointment. Anyway, he did use his lawyer skills sometimes. He'd help the Indians, be their advocate. Every time there was a cause to be fought, to defend an Indian's rights against some injustice, Emmit Thomas was there to help. He was a philanthropist, too. Donated lots of his good fortune to charities for underprivileged Indians, scholarships for Indian graduates, food, building materials to help build homes. You name it, he did it.

"Then there was John Wallace, Martha’s flesh and blood, who chose to openly and publicly scorn the Indians. He used to say they were the pariah of our society, 'drinkin', lootin' scum, spongin' off us good, clean, hardworkin' white folks.'  And when he'd get good and drunk, town's people in a bar would hear him get real mean by sayin' things like 'the only good Indian is a dead Indian.'  He'd come close to ridiculin' Emmit, wantin' so badly to name him as one of those 'Indian lovin' do-gooders,' but he'd hold his tongue for one reason only. He loved his daughter too much to hurt her like that."

Emma stopped and turned to face the window. A hand went up to wipe her cheek. After several seconds, she turned back to face them. "Isn't that ironic? He didn't want to hurt her, but the old fool ended up loosin' her anyway. So he really ended up hurtin' himself, now didn't he?"

She tried to hide the bitterness in her voice, but Daniel and Jess noticed anyway. The poor woman had been through so much, but she was tough. And now was not the time to lie down, to give up. She tilted her chin in a defiant way and stared at them with renewed energy.

"We need to find out what she knew. I have a real strong feelin' whatever it is may very well be connected to what's goin' on now," Emma declared.

"Why would you …?" Daniel started to ask but was interrupted.

"God works in mysterious ways," Jess offered.

Daniel looked puzzled at both women. Maybe it took that female intuition, because he was really lost at this point.

"Yes, girl!" Emma exclaimed. "I think this here diary showed up when it did for a reason. To help us figure out what's been goin' on."

"You've got to be kidding, right?" Daniel looked shocked.

"No, son. I'm quite serious." Emma looked as stern as he'd ever seen her. "I believe there are certain events in our lives that aren't explained by your scientific reason. No. I believe they are special acts. Maybe done by a guardian angel. Who knows? Anyway, that's what I believe."

"Well, I'll be," Daniel exclaimed softly and scratched his head. Emotional turns, guardian angels, and what not. It was driving him plum crazy just listening to it all.

"You can scoff all you want, but it won't hurt to do some investigatin'. Even if it's just to find out what John Wallace was up to or into. After all, I inherited that land. I'd like to know more about how that came to be, is all," Emma defended.

Daniel knew she had a point, at least about it not doing any harm. The thing is how were they going to find out? They couldn't talk to anyone. Not anyone who would have been around then, and involved, because they were all dead. Unless … "I know! We should start by finding anyone who lived in town back then. There's got to be at least a couple people who've been around that long, don't you think?"

"Great idea!" Jess joined in his excitement. "Where do we start?"

"We start with Miss Jessup," Emma announced.

"The librarian?" Daniel questioned.

"Yes, sir. She's not only been around for nearly eighty years, livin' here all her life, but she could also suggest others to talk to, and you know why? Because she's head of the senior citizens' club. The one who keeps all personal records, sends out the newsletter, and not to forget, in charge of reunions for those folks datin' clear back to the nineteen twenties." Emma looked triumphant. "Yep. I'm darn sure she's our best bet!"

"Well, okay! Let's get to it," Daniel said and started to put his hat on, ready to leave.

"Miss Emma, what do these mean?" Jess had been studying the journal while the others were talking. She pointed now to the series of numbers on the last page.

"Let's see … 96-46-8, 34-21-10," Emma read aloud. "I don't know. Saw 'em earlier and just assumed that maybe they were combination numbers or accounts of some kind. Couldn't figure out the significance."

"Read those again," Daniel asked.

So Emma repeated the figures and then looked up to find both Daniel and Jess still puzzled.

"They're probably land coordinates." Deek had just walked into the house. Hot and sweaty from riding Tumbleweed, he'd come into the kitchen for something cold to drink. He had just finished glancing at the numbers scribbled on the worn yellow page and immediately recognized their meaning. "You missed this." He pointed to the letters next to the numbers. "The W stands for west and the N obviously for north. So, you have 96 degrees west and 34 degrees north. You know. Latitudes and longitudes in degrees to tell where a place is?" He looked at them like they were all idiots.

Jess was the first to respond. "Of course! Now why didn't I think of that? You're pure genius, little brother!" she said, smiling and tousling his hair, which of course he reacted to by scowling and pulling away.

"Doesn't take a rocket scientist," he grumbled, then grabbed some cookies off a plate. Placing his milk in the other hand, he ran out the door before anyone could do anything else sappy like that. What did she think he was? A little kid?

No one really noticed him leave because now all three were studying and thinking about the numbers. Why would Martha leave these? For what purpose?

"No wonder we missed recognizing them. Martha was very clever, leaving out the circles and slash marks that would have told us the numbers were in degrees, minutes and seconds," Jess commented then paused a moment before continuing. "Geez. That means this is a very specific location with these minutes and seconds included. You know, not just a big area like a whole city. More like a few acres, maybe." She looked up at them to see that they were staring at her like she was speaking some unknown language. "Back home every kid in school had to make topographic maps in science class. Sort of a hands-on 3-D project where we learned about land coordinates. Teachers would have us complete all kinds of maps for practice. That's how Deek recognized it so quickly. He just finished that class in the spring."

"Cartography, right?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, that part of it is. We had to carry it a step farther by showing elevations of land, where there are mountains, rivers, canyons, things like that," she added. "Do you have a map of Oklahoma? Or better yet, one of Chickasha, Miss Emma?"

"Got both, I think. One of the state and one of Grady County. That's about as detailed as I can give you. Don't think they make one of just Chickasha," she said as she rummaged through the desk drawer.

"That should be good enough. Maybe we can figure out where this is." Jess leafed through several other journal pages, stopping to read some passages. "Hey! Look here! Another set of numbers!"

"Where?" Emma came over with the map in hand and studied the page.

"Here." Jess pointed to the last written line where Martha had superimposed her writing over the numbers. Jess almost missed it, but while she was reading, an "O" in one of the words looked peculiar. Examining it closer she detected the double circles of the number eight, then discovered other numbers along with it.

"May twelfth, nineteen forty-seven," Emma commented.

"Looks like another land coordinate." Jess traced her finger across the numbers. "She really tried to hide this one. Wonder why?"

"That is strange," Emma agreed and added, "Think it means anything special, her writin' on the twelfth?"

"Well, that is the day she talks about finding out secrets hard to live with. Maybe this is part of one of those secrets," Jess offered and wrote the numbers on a separate piece of paper. "Okay. Now let's see the map."

Daniel had unfolded it and spread the map of Grady county out on the table. All three began looking for the first set of numbers. Soon, they had their intersecting points. It didn't mean anything to Jess who was unfamiliar with the area, but Emma's eyes showed immediate recognition.

"I own that land," she stated simply. "That's the west field." She became silent for a moment and caught the knowing look on Daniel's face. Then she looked back at Jess. "We call it field number forty-seven because that's when my granddaddy purchased it."

"You have cattle out there?" Emma shook her head. "Crops?" Jess continued, but was met with another negative.

"Oil," Emma explained. "Been pumpin' crude out of that field for more than fifty years. Made our millions that way."

"I see." That was all Jess said, but of course all of them could see a lot more, if they let their imaginations go.

"Her jotting those down, in and of itself, doesn't mean anything," Daniel, the rational one, commented to keep those imaginings in check. "So find the other set of numbers."

They were all thinking these would point to another oil field. Yet, they were all surprised at their discovery. "Why, it's just some prairie land. Nothin' I own, anyways," Emma remarked, somewhat disappointed.

"Not plains," Jess disagreed. "Mountains." She pointed out the brown swirls and how according to the legend, they represented a mountain range.

"Well, I'll be," Daniel exclaimed, pushing his hat back to scratch his forehead.