The Ghost from the Sea (27 page)

I
t was crowded
in the interview room, but Chief MacDonald thought this was the best place to gather the principal parties. They had each been interviewed separately but he wanted to bring them all together to discuss the gold's fate.

He had sent Bill Jones home. Technically, Bill hadn't broken any laws and the chief figured he and Adam could work out their differences later. The man he had found hiding in the closet—Kurt Jefferson—was in lock up. The chief would deal with him later.

Both Danielle and Marie Nichols had been called down to the station. Joe had picked up Marie, while Danielle came down to the station with Lily.

Sitting around the room were Marie, Adam, Jolene, Ian, Danielle, and Lily. While Lily was not directly a principal party, the chief let her stay, considering her relationship to Danielle and Ian, and the fact that they both insisted she be there. Also in the room was Jack Winters. The only ones who knew he was there were Danielle and Lily, although the Chief suspected he might be. Sitting on the center of the table was the box of gold, pulled from its hiding place under the floorboards from the Hemming house.

“Technically speaking, Jolene is right—she could, under the right circumstances, claim the gold under Oregon's treasure trove laws,” the chief explained.

Jolene glared at Adam. “I told you that.”

“I said under the right conditions,” the chief reiterated.

“How is that even possible?” Marie asked. “Someone can really come onto my property and start ripping up my floorboards and take whatever they find?”

The chief nodded. “Yes, especially considering a tenant of your father left the treasure there. It never belonged to your family. The treasure trove laws in Oregon are rather liberal in regards to finder's keepers.”

“I'll get a lawyer—” Adam began, but was quieted by his grandmother who reached over and grabbed hold of his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Does this mean I can take it?” Jolene asked.

“No. I'll let the courts handle this. But I suspect they'll decide the rightful owner of the gold is Danielle.”

All heads turned to Danielle who blurted, “Me?”

With a nod, the chief walked to the table and pulled a plastic bag from the box. It held a small ledger book and a handwritten letter the chief had carefully slipped into the bag, after initially examining the contents of the box.

“What's that?” Jolene asked with a frown.

“You were so focused on the gold coins, you ignored these,” the chief explained.

“I remember now,” Jack said from the corner, where he stood watching the scene unfold. Danielle glanced to him. “When I moved the box, I put my will in it.” He laughed. “I was a little drunk when I wrote the will, but I was annoyed at Walt for implying I wasn't capable of keeping the money in a safe place. I figured when I took it over to Marlow house, he would find my will inside and feel guilty for thinking I was a piker.”

“The amount of gold found in the box matches what's recorded in the ledger. If one were to read the ledger, they would assume the business was nothing more than a tour boat—there's no mention of moonshine. All very legal. The owners of the business—and the gold—are listed as Walt Marlow and Jack Winters. The document in the plastic bag is the last will and testament of Jack Winters—where he leaves all his worldly possessions to Walt Marlow. George Hemming witnessed the will—it has his signature.”

“What does this mean?” Adam asked.

Marie reached up and took her grandson's hand, “It means dear, the gold belongs to Danielle.”

“No…” Adam groaned.

Jolene shook her head furiously and jumped to her feet. “That's impossible! I found it, it's mine!”

“You can try fighting it in court,” the chief said with a shrug. “But, Winters left all his worldly possessions to Marlow. Marlow left all his worldly possessions to Brianna Boatman, and Brianna Boatman left all her worldly possessions—aside from specific amounts to several charities—to Danielle Boatman.”

Adam started to say something but was again silenced by his grandmother, who squeezed his hand. After a moment, he looked at Danielle and said, “Okay, but I expect a steak and lobster dinner out of you. Several.”

Danielle flashed Adam a guilty smile.

“This isn't fair!” Jolene ranted, turning her wrath at Danielle. “Why you? You get everything! Your aunt's estate, your cousin's, this, and even the real estate that should belong to our law firm! It was my family's money! It should be mine!”

Jolene was still screaming when Joe and Brian came into the interrogation room and removed her.

“What was that all about?” Adam asked. “I'm the one who should be crying like a baby.”

Marie was pleased to see he was smiling.

“After they started digging into Renton's affairs, many assets from the law office were liquidated to pay off his debts—which included money he embezzled from my aunt's estate. I'm afraid Renton's law firm didn't do a very good job protecting their own assets—or Jolene's. I feel bad about it but—”

Marie interrupted Danielle, “You had nothing to do with that.”

“I suppose,” Danielle reluctantly agreed.

“Who was the guy in the closet?” Ian finally asked. “I figured that's why you wanted me here.”

“I thought you should be here, in case you felt you had a claim to the gold, since you were renting the property. As for the guy we found hiding in your closet, he's another treasure hunter,” the chief explained.

“
D
o
you want to press charges?” the chief asked Ian. Adam had already taken Marie home, and the chief had returned to his office with Ian, Lily, and Danielle. Jack, who had gotten bored, had vanished after they left the interrogation room.

The chief sat at his desk, while Danielle and Ian sat in the chairs facing him, and Lily sat casually on Ian's left knee.

“Does he have a record?” Ian asked.

“Nothing. He has a diving and salvage company in Astoria. I suspect he heard Paul's interview with Ben, and like the others, wondered if the gold was still in the house.”

A knock came at the office door. They all turned to the open doorway. Heather Donovan stood there, wearing a sheepish smile as one of her hands twirled the tip of her right pigtail.

“Come on in Heather.” The chief waved her in. “Heather here was the one who called us about your break in. She saw him sneak in your backdoor. At first she thought it was someone visiting you and then—”

“I lied,” Heather blurted out.

“Excuse me?” the chief said.

“I knew who it was, I recognized him—Kurt Jefferson. I know him, because I hired him to do some diving for me.”

The chief frowned. “What kind of diving?”

“I hired him to put the jewelry back on the Eva Aphrodite.”

“You?” Danielle gasped. “You were responsible for the box getting on the boat?”

“I was trying to get rid of all this bad karma. But I blew it today. I saw Kurt going into Ian's house, and I knew why he was there. But I just didn't want to deal with it. And then I realized if I ignored it, then my karma would never get straightened out.”

The chief stood up. “Maybe we should go back to the other room. There are more chairs there, and you can explain it to us.”

Another knock came at the door. It was Joe. “Sorry to bother you, but Jolene refuses to leave.”

“Jolene Carmichael?” Heather asked.

“Yes.”

Heather turned to face the chief. “I think you should have Mrs. Carmichael join us. She's dealing with some pretty messed up karma too, and this might help her understand.”

T
he chief
, Danielle, Lily, Ian, Heather, and Jolene were back in the interrogation room. Joe and Brian quietly watched and listened from the adjacent room, through the two-way mirror. Jolene kept muttering, “I don't know why I'm here.”

Heather stood up and took a deep breath. She looked around the room. “As many of you know, my great-grandfather was a very bad man. He killed a young boy after that boy found some of the stolen gems from the Thorndike necklace. What you don't know is, Harvey Crump was not the only person he ever killed.”

Everyone but Heather remained seated, their attention riveted on her.

“Ephraim Presley, my great-grandfather, was friends with Anthony Taylor. Some of you know Taylor as the husband of Eva Thorndike, who, with Ephraim, stole the gems from her necklace.”

“What does any of this have to do with me?” Jolene asked.

Heather faced Jolene. “Your grandfather, Ralph Templeton, was also a very bad man.”

“What are you talking about? He was a wonderful man!”

“No,” Heather said calmly. “He had financial troubles and tried to get Walt Marlow to finance a business deal with him. He had already been embezzling from the family business, and was facing possible financial ruin.”

“That's not true. Walt Marlow wanted to go into business with him, I read Ethel Pearson's diary.”

“No. Your grandfather needed his brother's support and unfortunately, his brother, believed Walt was having an affair with his wife. He wasn't. Your grandfather knew that. He knew his sister-in-law was really having an affair with Anthony.”

“So? Why is this important now?”

“Because your grandfather decided the solution to his problems was to murder his brother and sister-in-law. After all, Thelma had brought a considerable fortune to the marriage, and she had no family. If both Howard and Thelma died—everything would go to your grandfather.”

“Wouldn't someone have been suspicious had the boat not sunk, with everyone dead on board?” Lily asked. “I can't believe they knew there was going to be a storm.”

Heather looked at Lily. “The plan was to sink the boat after killing everyone. The storm—that was a gift. They watched the boat sink. The storm didn't come up until they were back at shore. Like I said, a gift. No one ever suggested foul play. As for the inheritance, Ralph Templeton understood it would take a while before he could claim it, since there were no bodies; but that didn't really matter, because in his brother's absence he would have control of the estate. He also hoped that with his brother gone, he could approach Walt about his deal, but Walt wouldn't even talk to him, he was too upset after both his yacht and business partner went missing.”

“How do you know all this?” Ian asked.

“I found more than the emerald in my grandfather's trunk. I just never told any of you. I found Ephraim's detailed confession about the murders, along with some of the jewelry taken off the passengers. I think he initially wrote that to protect himself, should Ralph Templeton ever suspect he knew who had paid for the hit.”

“How would Ephraim be privy to all that was going on with Ralph and Walt?” Lily asked.

Heather smiled. “Ephraim had his own spies. He liked to keep tabs on anyone who he saw as a threat.”

“I'm assuming Ephraim and Anthony helped carry out the murders,” Danielle said.

Heather nodded. “Ralph knew Anthony wanted to get rid of Thelma. If the rich widow he was courting found out he had been carrying on with Thelma at the same time, it would end their relationship. So Ralph blackmailed Anthony, while providing a financial incentive. He told Anthony that Thelma was a liability for both of them—and with her gone, they could both profit.”

“Monsters…” Lily muttered.

“I don't believe it,” Jolene protested.

“Anthony arranged everything. He was supposedly the only one who knew the true identity of the person behind the hit. Ralph naturally wanted it that way, to protect himself. What Ralph didn't know was, Anthony had spilled it all to Ephraim, who then documented—in detail—the series of events, including the location of the wreckage and the fact that Anthony mysteriously went missing not long after the Eva Aphrodite disappeared.”