Treasure Uncovered (Bellingwood #3) (31 page)

"You need to come with me. I think Ken is going to want all of the parts of the puzzle and you have a little more information than you've let on," she commented. "Come on up and let me take care of some of that blood, too." She pointed at his cheek and he touched it, then laughed as he saw it was covered in blood.

Polly pulled her ph
one back out and dialed Sylvie.

"How are you doing with your studying?"
she asked when Sylvie answered.

"It's been a wonderful day!" Sylvie responded. "I even got a lit
tle nap. How are the boys?"

"They're fine and I'm glad you got a nap. They were awfully glad to get in
my truck today!" Polly laughed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was a bear this morning. I was so tired and stressed out over all the work I had to get done for my classes. You're such a good frie
nd. Thank you for taking them."

"Did you g
et most of your homework done?"

"I am all caught up. All I needed was some quiet time and s
ome focus, so thank you again."

"That was no problem, but, umm, Sylvie? It's been a crazy day and Ken Wallers is here and I think I would like you to come over while we all talk. The boys have part of a story to tell and they'd be mo
re comfortable with you there."

"What happened? Did they do something?"

"Oh, nothing like that. We've solved the murder of Harry Bern and a lot of that was because Andrew stumbled on some books at his house. Can you come over?"

"I'll be right there. You're up in your apartment?"

"Almost. Oh, and don't panic. Eliseo and I were in a fight with two men and we might look a little rough, so you'll probably want to tend to his wounds again."

"Oh, Polly, what have you done? Are you alright?"

"Just come over. I'm fine and you probably need to see this for yourself so you can be assured we're going to live. We're almost inside and I just want to stumble up the steps."

Polly and Eliseo went in to the apartment and Henry looked up from a game of cards he was playing with Jason at the table.

"What happened to you two?" he exclaimed as he jumped up and rushed to Polly.

"
It’s a long story," she said. "Can you wait to hear it until Ken Wallers gets up here?"

"I guess," he sa
id. "Have you been in a fight?"

"Maybe," she winced.

"You've been in a fight?" Andrew exclaimed. "Did you win?"

"She definitely won," Eliseo said. "Henry you never want to cross this woman if she's got a weapon in her hand. And from what I've seen today, anything she can
get her hands on is a weapon."

"Can I please get some peas?" Polly asked. "This is going to get worse before it gets better." She pointed to the side of her face.

"Peas?" Henry asked.

"In the freezer," she responded. "I want a bag of peas for me and get me a Dew out of the refrigerator." She turned to Eliseo. "Anything to drink? I think there's some iced tea."

"I'd love a glass of ice water. That's all," he said.

"Come on in and get comfortable," she pointed to the sofa. "We're about to have a crowd."

"Who hurt you, Polly?" Jason asked. He had followed Henry into the kitchen and came back to her carrying a bottle of Mountain Dew. He twisted the top to break the seal and handed it to her.

"Thanks, Jason. Sit down. I'll tell you the whole thing when Chief Wallers is here. Is that alright?"

"Sure. I'm sorry you got hurt, though. Did you really hurt a bad guy? Were you scared?"

Polly looked into his fear-filled eyes. They'd had a conversation much like this after she had a run-in with her ex-boyfriend, Joey Delancy. Jason was trying desperately to grow up so he could take of his mother. Something had happened in their past that frightened him and he needed a little more reassurance that
she could take care of herself.

"I did, but I called Chief Wallers so that he would come help us and I knew that Eliseo had my back, too."

"Okay," he said.

There was a knock at the door and Henry nodded to Jason who ran to get it. He placed a bag of peas in Polly's hand and handed Eliseo a glass of ice water.

Sylvie and Ken Wallers came in together. She hugged both of her boys then took a look at Eliseo and Polly and sighed. "What did you two do?" she asked.

"They beat up some bad guys, mom." Andrew said. "Polly did too, can you believe it?"

Sylvie's eyes crinkled. "You did?"

"Uh huh," Polly said.

"Oh, Eliseo, you've been hurt again. Polly, do you have a first-aid kit?"

Polly rolled her eyes, "I'm fine, thanks. It's in the
bathroom underneath the sink."

Sylvie hadn't even heard her and rushed into the bathroom. She came back out with the first aid kit and said to Henry, "I know Polly has some rags in the kitchen drawer. I need a bowl of warm water and some of those as soon as possible, please."

Eliseo put his hand out to stop her. "Miz Donovan, I'm fine. Please don't hover over me today."

"I'm cleaning up those wounds and you aren't going to stop me. Henry?"

Henry slunk into the kitchen and Eliseo slumped back on the sofa.

"Think I'm the tough one now?" Polly asked.

With a bowl of water in one hand and towels in another, Henry came back into the living room. He set them on the coffee table and sat down beside Polly, "Are you hurt anywhere other than your face?" he asked.

"He punched me in the stomach, but I'm pretty much over that. Eliseo took most of the damage."

Ken Wallers looked around at them and finally said, "I'm sorry, but I need to find out what has happened here today."

Sylvie was startled and looked up, holding a warm, wet cloth to Eliseo's cheek. "I'll only be a minute. But, you can start."

"Thank you, ma'am," he said and tipped his head toward her, smiling.

"So, Polly. Tell me what you know."

"I found that vase in my hay loft and didn't know what it was. I probably should have called you last night, but I had no idea where it had come from."

"I get it.
Go on."

"
When we were cleaning Harry Bern's house out this afternoon, Andrew opened a book to look through it and things fell out. There were one hundred dollar bills and some Iraqi currency and a few articles. Those are over on the table. Jason?"

He got up and went over to get the b
ox of items they had recovered.

"We found a few more books with money and articles in them. Harry had put some light glue on them so they wouldn't spill out unless someone worked at it."

"I worked at it," Andrew spoke up. "We went through all of his books and found the ones with stuffing. Jason counted and there were forty-three hundred dollar bills!"

"Hmmm," Ken said.

"Andrew also found a set of Time Life Ancient Civilization books and we brought those back with us as well. Sylvie, we need to talk about that."

Sylvie nodded as she p
ut a bandage on Eliseo's cheek.

"He was looking at some pictures in the Mesopotamian book and happened to set it down in front of me and I realized that the patterns were the same as what I had seen on the vase. Then, I began looking at the newspaper clippings and realized they were all about these soldiers who had stolen things from Iraq during Desert Storm. There were some arrests, but not everything was recovered. The hundred dollar bills were dated from the late eighties and some from nineteen ninety-one and it occurred to me that it was probably part of the money they had stolen from the palace."

Polly flipped through a few of the articles and landing on one, handed it to Ken Wallers. He glanced at it and said, "Okay, keep going."

"Well, then I called you. But, I figured I would run out and get the vase so that I could show you everything at once. I put it in a bag with those towels because I had to bring it down the ladder. When I got to the bottom, those guys were in my barn and they attacked me. I kicked and bit and got one in the nose, but they were getting serious when Eliseo showed up. They let me go and probably thought I was a stupid woman."

"But, you're not," Jason interrupted.

"But, I'm not. I grabbed a shovel and dropped the one who punched me. Then, not long after that, you showed up. But, Eliseo. You and that Dover guy knew each other."

Ken turned his body to face Eliseo. "I think it's your turn now."

"I did know those two fellows. We were in the same unit together with Harry Bern. Because of my accident I got out of there before they did, but I always wondered what they were up to."

"Is Harry the man you were telling me about who traveled around the country and didn't let anyone know where he was?" Polly asked.

"Yes," Eliseo said. "It wasn't a game. They wanted their part of the money. He had gotten it out of Iraq and it seemed like he enjoyed taunting them on the message boards. They'd show up in a town a few days after he had left. When I figured out he was living here in Bellingwood, I came up to try to talk some sense into him. I didn't tell any of the others what I was doing, just dropped off the message boards and headed up here. I thought I would beat them, but I came into town the day he was killed."

"You moved into my barn," Polly said.

"I did and I'm not sorry," he smiled.

"Go on," Ken encouraged.

"I knew those two were around the area and that one of them had killed Harry. I saw them downtown and thought I would take the day off and talk to them, see if I could convince them that he was gone and his stash was probably long gone. We did fine until they started drinking that night and then they got mad and accused me of stealing the money and using it myself. I couldn't make them see the sense in that. I was working and living in a barn. If I had the money, I would certainly be living better than that. Everything deteriorated and we got into a fight."

"How did you know I needed you today?" Polly asked.

"I had come up to get a glass of water when I saw their car pull into the parking lot. I saw them run down to the barn and decided to give them enough time to do whatever they were going to do. I didn't know you were there until I heard you scream."

Polly felt Henry shudder beside her. "I'm fine," she said. "Let it go."

"Then I ran into the barn and distracted them and now we're here."

"Did either of them tell you that they had killed Harry Bern?" Ken asked.

"One of them told me that he met with a little mishap," Polly said. "Is that close enough?"

"That will be close enough for me to get started."

"What now?" she asked.

"Well, now, we get the process started down at the station. I'll make some calls to find out what to do with the vase and the money. I'd like the two of you to come down tomorrow morning and make a statement and we'll see from there."

"What about this money?" Polly a
sked, holding up the small box.

"Well, I suppose that I asked you to deal with all of Harry Bern's stuff and you were planning to bring his things back to your house. I'll take the articles, but this money was part of the books, so it's yours to deal with."

Polly smiled, "I know exactly what to do with it." She counted out twenty of the bills and handed them to Sylvie. "Here. Your boys found this stuff. You should do whatever you want with it." Then she took out three more and handed those to Sylvie as well. "One for each of you. Do something fun with them, okay?"

Sylvie looked at her with her mouth open, then she began shaking her head. "I can't take this."

"Oh yes, you can," Polly said. "Ask Eliseo. I'm a dangerous woman."

Sylvie took the cash and looked at her boys, neither of whom knew what to say. They stared at the money and then at their mom.

"Thank you, Polly. This helps," she said.

Polly handed the rest to Eliseo. "You're going to find a place to stay this week. This will get you started."

He pushed the money back at her.

"Really?" she asked. "You've been part of this longer than any of us. Take the money, say goodbye to Harry and let this chapter be over for you. And besides, I'm ferocious, remember?"

He breathed through his nose a couple of times. "I'm not sure what to say here."

"Thank you is all you need to come up with. Oh, and be at work tomorrow morning. That would be nice," she laughed.

Ken Wallers stood up and said, "I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for a very exciting afternoon. Now, I have work to do."

Henry walked him to the door and shook his hand. Polly heard them speaking in low tones, but had no idea what they were talking about.

Ken left and Henry said, "I could use some supper. What do you think?"

Sylvie tried to hand a hundred dollar bill back to Polly, who simply ignored her.

"Would you mind picking up pizza?" Polly asked him.

"I'd love to do that. Boys,
you wanna take a ride with me?"