Plundered Christmas (20 page)

“Mrs. Talbott,” scolded Lieutenant Owen. “I specifically asked you to promise to stay put.” He looked at my dad. “But your father did explain.”

“I know.” I looked around the room. “I need whoever is able and willing to come to the cellar. My husband was hurt on the yellow boat, trying to find our dog, and he left a clue. I'm sure we'll find everyone we're missing in the cellar. I especially need you officers. I don't have any authority to arrest anyone and most people don't find me in the least intimidating.”

Lieutenant Owen actually laughed. “I find that hard to believe. Lead on, Mrs. Talbott.”

I told Justin to stay put with his grandfather and Charlie. I led the Coast Guard officers out the kitchen's back door, and headed right towards the cellar entrance and the foundation for the original building. The cellar door was shut. But since it was made of five two-by-fours bound together by metal straps, we could see light through it.

“Open up!” bellowed Lieutenant Owen. “As an officer of the Coast Guard, I have official jurisdiction on this island.” It didn't really mean anything, but it did sound impressive.

And it alerted one of my family trapped inside.

“Jelly!” I shouted.

“What will happen,” said a female. “If I don't do as you asked?”

“Nothing, in the short term, Aimee,” I said. “But even someone who knows as little about the law as I do, knows that you're into something that will get you accessory to murder along with a whole bunch of other evils if you don't come out and cooperate.”

Jelly barked some more and then growled. I heard scuffling. And another voice.

“Miss Beauregard,” said the Lieutenant. “I'd listen to your friend. Things will go much easier on you if you come out.”

The glimmers at the back of my mind finally made it to the front. The voices sounded so similar. “And bring your sister out with you!” I called.

“Sister?” asked the officer.

“Yes. It kept nagging at me. But I worked with Juliana in the kitchen and she seemed so familiar even though she would hardly talk, she wore thick glasses, and kept a hairnet on covering half of her face. She and Aimee are sisters.”

A voice came from the bushes behind us. A deep voice. “And my daughters. I have a gun trained on Mrs. Talbott, officers, and I assure you that I will not miss if you don't back down. Let the three of us leave peacefully and we will not cause you or the residents of this island any harm.”

I'm not sure what it is about having your life in danger that clarifies things. But I could almost see the clues dropping into place like those little screensaver bricks. It all made sense. Horrid, greedy sense. But sense nonetheless.

“Dr. Joseph Beauregard, I presume?” I asked, slowly glancing over my shoulder to see if I could spot my would-be assailant. I couldn't. He had to be among the dense foliage of the magnolia trees.

“Don't move, Mrs. Talbott. I have no wish to kill you.”

“Do as he says, Mrs. Talbott,” said Lieutenant Owen. “Do not endanger yourself.” He lowered his voice, intending for me alone to hear. “In time, the authorities will apprehend the man and bring him to justice.”

Dr. Beauregard sounded cocky. “I have exceptional hearing, officer. And I highly doubt you will ever apprehend me. Even in this modern day, there are places that a man can disappear quite comfortably. Especially once the real Bonny treasure is mine. The treasure that you busybody people dug up. I know for a fact that the swamp star had nothing worthwhile.”

“Nothing?” My voice cracked.

“I might be able to sell the deed from the Governor of Bermuda and Anne Bonny's letter to a museum for a small piece of change, but the family stories told about true riches. Abundant riches. And by the way you outsiders have acted, I'm convinced you found it.”

Maybe it was the stress of the week. Maybe I hadn't had enough coffee or sleep. But I think, rather, it was the truth of what I'd found of the Bonny treasure and the irony of the man's actions. Or a glimpse of the man's actions through the eyes of God even. Whatever it was, I laughed.

“Mrs. Talbott?” asked the lieutenant.

I laughed harder. I couldn't contain myself. It made no sense. I should be shaking in fear, but the belly rolls kept issuing from my mouth like lava from a volcanic eruption—powerful and out of control.

My would-be assailant sputtered. “I assure you, ma'am, that this is no laughing matter. I will kill you if I have to. The treasure is worth any price.”

A giggle sputtered out, then as oddly as it began, the laughing stopped. “You are right, Dr. Beauregard. We did find the hidden treasure. At least most of it, I think. And the treasure is worth any price. But do you know, according to Anne Banet, what the treasure was?”

“What does it matter?” he asked. “Gold, jewels, Spanish coin—it all spends well.” He grabbed my shoulder and spun me to face him. “Tell me what you have found.”

I nodded, swallowing as I looked down at the revolver pointing at me. Had I really been laughing just moments before? And where was James through all this? Had Dr. Beauregard's daughters managed to overpower him somehow?

In the midst of my sudden panic, Jelly barked. Twice. If one of the young ladies didn't remember our dog's signals, the cellar was going to get really messy, really fast.

“Thank you, Lord,” I murmured. His control over the bodily functions of our dog reminded me that He hadn't lost control over anything in this situation. A calm fell over me as quickly as the panic had. Dr. Beauregard's excellent hearing made him look at me quizzically. Perhaps he thought I had nothing to be thankful for.

“I know, Dr. Beauregard, that your first name is one of the Banet family traditions. Joseph, Mark, Margaret, Anne, James, Thomas and Mary are all hereditary names for you. But I wonder if you know anything about your namesake.”

My comment did not improve the man's mood any. He poked my stomach with the gun. “Focus on answering my question, Mrs. Talbott. Tell me what you found.”

I looked away from the gun and tried to look him in the eye. “I am trying, sir. We found a lot of letters and learned many things about the queen of Banet Island. One of which was the source of your surname. A priest named Father Joseph who accidentally, or providentially, became a permanent resident. It was because of his influence, that the former Anne Bonny hid her treasure for future generations.”

The professor growled impatiently. “I have no quarrel with you, Mrs. Talbott, or wish to harm you or these good officers. I just want you to point me in the direction of the treasure and I'll leave you all in peace.”

I sighed, easing my body as far away from the gun as I could without actually moving. I decided to tell him the truth. “We already gave all of it to Margo.” I thought of the old Bible and figured I should clarify. He had dug up a box in the swamp. That meant one spot remained. “We haven't found the items in the graveyard yet. But the rest of the treasure? You won't want it.”

“I'll be the judge of that.” He shoved me to the side, and brandishing his gun as a warning to the officers, began walking for the kitchen door.

At that moment, Jelly barked, more urgently.

Joseph Beauregard reached the kitchen door, only to be met by an angry Frau Schmidt. She swung a cast iron frying pan like a tennis racquet, knocking the gun from his hands—painfully, by the look of his reaction.

“You don't hurt a good
hund!
” she shouted.

Following that, our little piece of the world got touched by the hand of God. I know that sounds melodramatic, but I was in the midst of it.

Someone in the cellar let Jelly out. He bounded up the stairs, toward the kitchen and bit into the legs of Dr. Beauregard.

Our villain cursed as he fell, but the Coast Guard officers, not threatened in the least by a foul mouth, were on him and had him subdued in a matter of seconds.

I hadn't realized how much stress I was still under. Had I just fainted a little while prior? I fell to my knees, breathing hard, but praising my Lord.

I heard scuffling on the cellar stairs and rested my hands in the sandy soil to give me the strength to lift my head and look over.

James and Aimee led out an angry looking Juliana. Someone had wrapped James' leg with white cloths of some sort to stop the bleeding, but it couldn't be too bad because he was walking right for me. Aimee and Juliana vaporized into the background as my knight in shining armor reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet. I fell into his hug and held on for all I was worth.

I probably could have stayed in James' arms for hours as emotionally drained as I felt. He was whole and safe. But a man I had known for much longer cried out.

“Aimee!” I could hear Frank's heart breaking in the way he said her name. My poor baby brother.

Not letting go of James, I leaned into his shoulder, ostensibly to help him walk, but just as much as to have him help me.

Aimee dragged her sister over to Lieutenant Owen. His officers had her dad cuffed. Juliana was restrained shortly thereafter. Aimee held her arms out in front of her, waiting for cuffs of her own.

Frank's would-be fiancée looked over her shoulder at my brother. “I'm sorry.”

“Aimee, why?”

She looked at him so intensely, I felt like I was intruding by simply being nearby. “He's my dad, Frank. For right or wrong, he's my dad.” She looked over at Professor Beauregard. “I just never expected him to go so far.”

Frank ran over to her side. “One minute, Lieutenant? Please?”

The officer pondered this a moment. He seemed to assess the situation and make certain everything was under control. Satisfied, he nodded. “One minute, Mr. Jensen.”

Even dying to know, I could not strain my ears enough to make out what Frank and Aimee spoke about. They both looked as if the conversation caused them great pain.

At the end, Aimee asked something to the Lieutenant, who nodded and reached for something in her shirt pocket which he looked over and then handed to Frank.

“Thank you, folks, for your cooperation.” Lieutenant Owen signaled to his officers, and they led the three around the house and towards the dock.

I imagined the cutter he had requested when the chopper first made it to the island had probably arrived.

We watched them for a moment until the profile of the house blocked them from view.

Then James and I moved over to my brother. “Frank?”

He shook his head. “Not now, Jeanine. Not now. I need to walk for a while.” He took off.

I noticed it was exactly in the opposite direction from where the Coast Guard had taken Aimee.

 

 

 

 

14

 

I started to go after Frank, but James kept a hold of me.

“Let him go, Neenie. He needs to walk it out of his system.” He tugged me in closer to him. I could still smell traces of his aftershave from that morning. “Besides, I have a feeling he and Aimee will work things out in the long run.”

I was torn between running after my emotionally wounded brother or staying with my physically wounded husband and discovering the secrets he knew. I looked down at James's leg, wrapped with unraveling white bandaging, rust-stained from the dried blood. I stayed.

“Why?” I asked.

“Later,” he mouthed just before an energetic little body crashed into us.

Josie clung to him like she did when he had to deploy for work. “Are you hurt badly, Daddy?”

An echo followed. “Are you OK, Dad?”

Our two offspring huddled close to us.

Justin surprised me by actually holding onto his dad longer than thirty seconds.

James actually looked embarrassed. “I'm fine, kids. Juliana's bullet nicked me, and it hurt and bled a lot, but it didn't go into my leg.” He kicked his leg up a little so we all could see better. “And Aimee did an excellent job of bandaging it, as you see.”

At the mention of her “Aunt” Aimee, Josie frowned. “Will I see her again?”

James ruffled her hair. “I wouldn't worry too much about it.”

Never one to stay in a huddle, Justin broke free. “OK, OK.” He jumped around as if he had one of his precious soccer balls between his feet. “But what do we do now?” He put quite a bit of emphasis on the ‘now'.

I had a feeling I knew what he was getting at, but since I really didn't want any more adventure, I played dumb. “Maybe eat lunch?”

“Mom!” Justin howled and Josie echoed.

“After all,” protested my daughter, “Frau Schmidt could make sandwiches to take with us.”

“With us?” I was going to milk my idiocy as long as possible.

James had had enough though. “Neenie. We have to look to find the last letter, at least. Who knows what else might be buried in the graveyard?”

“Bodies, maybe?” I mumbled, knowing I was on the losing side of this discussion.

“You'd think, Mom,” said Justin. “By now you should be used to a few nearby corpses. We've lived next to a whole slew of them for over a year.”

Yeah, yeah, I thought. But those were my ghosts, stories and legends. Not these.

“What about Christmas?”

“Don't you remember your dream on the boat, Mom? We'll still have Christmas when we get home.”

I looked down at the improvised bandages on James' leg. He saw the glance and read its meaning.

“I'd be a pretty poor officer if I couldn't tolerate this minor wound while walking around a relatively flat island.”

What could I do? I'd been beaten.

“After all,” explained Josie. “We've saved your favorite for last.”

Irony from my little girl. How was I training these kids?

James gave her a high five. Traitor. “Lead on, detectives,” I conceded.

“Wait!” shouted Justin. He ran in the kitchen and came out moments later with our slobbering bulldog's leash in one hand and a cloth shopping bag in the other. “Our last adventure on the island has to be the whole family.” He held up the bag. “And Mrs. Smith read our minds.” As the bag neared his nose, he smiled. “Whatever it is smells yummy!”