by Bobbi Holmes
“I don’t understand. Does this mean I won’t be buried with my sister? Did you lie to me?” Bud demanded of Walt.
“No, I didn’t lie,” Walt insisted, shooting Heather an admonishing glare, to which she responded with a shrug.
“Bud, we will bury you at Frederickport cemetery even if we have to pay for the burial. I promise you. But we have to do this legally,” Danielle told him.
Cory crouched behind the pine tree, looking out at the five people he had been following. It seemed he had been hiding behind bushes and trees ever since he got to the mountains, moving from one place to the next to keep up with the five.
They stood along the base of a hill, their backs facing him, but he couldn’t see what they were doing, nor could he hear what they were saying. Some words he could make out, but none of it made sense.
“They’re digging up the treasure,” Caitlin announced. “We need to move now before they take it.”
Cory pulled his phone from his back pocket and looked at the time. He then cringed when he realized he had forgotten to turn off the phone’s ringer. Hastily he turned off the ringer, grateful he had received no calls.
“Cory, are you just going to sit there playing with your phone? They are digging up the treasure!”
He shoved the phone back in the pocket and muttered, “What am I going to do?”
Frustrated, Caitlin gave Cory a shove. He stumbled from behind the tree out into the clearing, landing on the trail, backside first. The five people he had been tracking turned around abruptly and saw him sprawled on the ground.
Cory regained his composure and got to his feet. “I believe you have something that belongs to Caitlin,” he announced.
Thirty-Seven
Brian Henderson had just finished his phone call to report the discovery of a grave when Cory Jones came rolling out of the trees and into the clearing.
“What are you doing here, Cory?” Brian demanded while stuffing his cellphone back into his pocket.
“We’ve come to claim what’s ours!” came a shout from Caitlin, who stepped out from behind the trees and took her place next to Cory.
“Oh, terrific, that crazy teen ghost again,” Heather muttered.
Confused, Bud stared at Caitlin and Cory. The mediums looked from ghost to ghost, while Brian, who hadn’t heard Heather’s comment, didn’t realize Cory had company.
“If you found the treasure, it belongs to Caitlin. It’s hers,” Cory announced.
“What’s he talking about?” Bud and Brian asked at the same time.
“I suspect they’re talking about Bud’s gold mine,” Danielle explained.
“How did you know about that?” Bud demanded.
“What do you mean they?” Brian asked.
“The crazy teen ghost is here too,” Heather told Brian. “She showed up right after Cory did.”
Brian glanced around, looking for a ghost that he couldn’t see even if she stood inches in front of him. Heather rolled her eyes at his futile attempt and pointed to where Caitlin stood.
When hiding in the trees and watching, Cory had assumed they gathered around the treasure. But their backs had been to him, obscuring from his view the movement of the boulders. Ignoring their questions, Cory moved closer to what they had all been staring at, and in doing so, he stumbled mindlessly through Bud. The ghost let out a howl at the unexpected intrusion.
Oblivious to Bud’s presence, Cory stared into the partially exposed grave and asked, “Is that a skull?”
“You walked right through me!” Bud cursed. He gave Cory a punch, unnoticed by the young man staring down at the skull. Bud cursed again, and the next moment a rifle appeared in his hands. He took a shot at Cory, who remained unaware of the attack, still looking down at the skull.
“You can’t shoot my friend!” Caitlin ranted at Bud. She picked up a rock and hurled it at the other ghost. It flew through his body, landing next to Cory.
Cory jumped back and looked down at the rock. He turned abruptly and asked, “Who threw that?”
“Is she throwing things again?” Brian asked Heather.
“Yep,” Heather answered, her arms now crossed over her chest as she watched the ghosts.
Mesmerized by the unfolding drama, all the mediums watched, while Brian looked around nervously, waiting for another missile to fly by, and Cory waited for an answer to his question.
Nose to nose the two ghosts shouted at each other, Bud telling Caitlin he had never hit a girl before, but he had no problem turning her over his knee and giving her a good spanking, while Caitlin dared him to give it his best shot but warned she would kick him so hard he would roll up like a pill bug, and then she’d squish him like one.
“Who threw that rock?” Cory asked again. He turned to the others and started walking toward them, stepping right through the arguing ghosts. When he did, Bud and Caitlin stopped shouting at each other and looked incredulously at Cory, his back now to them.
“You walked through me!” Caitlin shouted at Cory.
“What’s going on?” Brian asked Heather.
Heather shushed Brian and told him to hold on a minute, her attention on the dueling ghosts.
“How do you think I feel?” Bud asked Caitlin. “He walked through me twice!”
Having seen enough, Chris whistled. The ghosts and Cory looked at Chris, while Danielle arched her brows at Chris and said, “Wow, impressive. I didn’t know you could whistle that loud.”
“Sometimes it comes in handy,” Chris said. He looked at Cory, pointed at the ghosts, and asked, “Can you see them?”
“Who?” Cory asked.
“Are you saying you can’t see Caitlin?” Danielle asked.
“That’s a silly question,” Caitlin snapped. “Of course he can!”
Cory frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“You can’t see Caitlin, can you, Cory?” Walt asked.
Cory looked at Walt. “What are you talking about? Caitlin is dead.”
“No!” Caitlin wailed before disappearing.
“She was annoying,” Bud muttered.
“Well, you are sort of related.” Heather shrugged. “So there is that.”
“What do you mean we’re related? I’ve never seen her before,” Bud snapped.
“Who are you talking to?” Cory asked Heather.
Cory now stood with his back to Danielle, Walt and Bud, his attention on Heather. Seizing the opportunity, Danielle stepped closer to Bud and whispered softly, “He can’t see you. Please don’t leave; let us find out why he’s here.”
“I would like to find that out myself,” Bud said.
“Who are you talking to?” Cory again asked Heather.
“Cory,” Danielle called out. He turned and faced her. “Why did you follow us up here? You knew we were coming here today. Carla told you. Your uncle told Adam about what she said, and Adam told us.”
Cory looked around sheepishly, shuffling his feet as he glanced over to Officer Henderson. “Is this going to get me arrested?”
“I guess it depends how you answer the questions,” Brian said.
“When Carla told us you were coming up here today because of Uncle Bud’s treasure, I didn’t have a choice, because it’s rightfully Caitlin’s,” Cory explained.
“What does he mean, Uncle Bud’s treasure?” Bud asked.
“What is this treasure?” Danielle asked after hearing Bud’s question.
Cory frowned at Danielle. “Why are you asking me that? You just said it a minute ago. His gold mine.”
“But why do you keep calling it a treasure?” Danielle asked. “While a gold mine can be valuable like a treasure, it sounds funny calling it that.”
“All the gold he took out of the mine and never brought off the mountain.” Cory looked at Walt and said, “You obviously found it. Carla heard you talking about the treasure and coming up here to bring it back.”
“That’s what happens when someone eavesdrops and passes a story on,” Danielle said.
“Are you saying they didn’t find the treasure?” Cory asked.
Danielle nodded to the partially open grave. “Does that look like a treasure?”
Cory walked back closer to the grave. Bud quickly stepped to one side to avoid being walked through again. Cory looked down and frowned. “It looks like a skull.”
“How did he know about my gold mine?” Bud asked.
Danielle looked to Bud and asked, “Did you remove gold from the mine and hide it somewhere up here?”
Bud shrugged. “Maybe.”
Cory frowned. “Who are you talking to?”
“I like to think out loud,” Danielle lied. “Why did you think Bud had a treasure up here?”
“It was a story in Caitlin’s family, about some great-uncle Bud, a prospector who struck gold up here. He brought back a gold nugget. Caitlin showed it to me, but her mother gave it to the museum. That was wrong. She shouldn’t have given away the nugget. And now that the museum has it, pretty soon everyone is going to find out about the gold mine up here.”
“How does he know any of this? And who is he?” Bud demanded.
“Cory,” Walt said, “tell us what you know about Uncle Bud. I assume Caitlin told you?”
“Who is Caitlin?” Bud asked.
“I told you, a relative of yours. Shush so we can hear what he says,” Heather told Bud.
Cory turned to Heather and frowned. “What?”
Heather shrugged. “Danielle is not the only one who thinks out loud. Go ahead, answer Walt’s question.”
Cory looked from Heather to Danielle and then to Walt. Brian cleared his throat, getting Cory’s attention. When Cory looked at Brian, the police officer flashed him a stern look, as if saying, go on, answer Walt’s question.
Cory let out a sigh and hesitantly said, “There was a story in Caitlin’s family about a great-uncle Bud who had gone prospecting up here and struck gold. His sister didn’t believe him, so he brought back a gold nugget and gave it to her. She wanted him to file a claim, but he was afraid to do that, worried that someone would follow him back up here and kill him for his gold.”
“But that is why you file a claim, to protect your interest,” Chris argued.
“No one knew there was gold up here,” Bud interjected. “The minute I filed a claim, these hills would be swarming with people. I just wanted to remove as much gold as possible first, and I could file my claim later.”
Cory shrugged at Chris’s comment. “I don’t know about that. Caitlin just said he never filed a claim, but he got a lot of gold out. And then he disappeared. Caitlin never believed he just took off or that anyone killed him. She figured he did something stupid like got bit by a rattlesnake, and then some mountain lion ate him. Leaving behind his treasure.”
“This Caitlin has a morbid imagination,” Bud grumbled.
“If that grave belongs to Uncle Bud, then Caitlin was wrong. Someone did kill him,” Brian said, nodding to the grave.
Cory furrowed his brows, looking from the grave back to Brian. “Are you saying that is Uncle Bud?”
“What’s left of him,” Brian said.
“Hey, I am right here!” Bud shouted.
“And someone already found the treasure, and they killed him?” Cory asked.
“Why did Caitlin say pirates kidnapped Uncle Bud?” Danielle asked.
“Pirates?” Bud frowned.
“Who told you about the pirates?” Cory asked.
“A friend told me,” Danielle said.
“Oh, Adam,” Cory grumbled. He shrugged and said, “When Caitlin’s mom was a kid, she heard a story about pirates hiding in the mountains or something like that. Caitlin liked to say pirates kidnapped Uncle Bud, like the story her mom told her, but she figured he probably just died a boring death by doing something stupid.”
“Boring death?” Bud squeaked. “Death is death!”
“What did you hope to accomplish following us here?” Danielle asked.
Cory shrugged. “I’m not sure. Not really. I had a dream, and Caitlin told me to follow you up here. Figured, if I came up here, the dreams might stop. I didn’t really have a plan for once I got up here. But then when I was watching from behind the trees, I felt something push me, and suddenly I am standing here, in front of all of you. So I did the only thing that I could do; I made a declaration for the treasure, for Caitlin. Because it really should be hers.”
“You’ve been dreaming about Caitlin?” Danielle asked.
Cory nodded. “Yes. Ever since she died. It upset her when her mother donated the gold nugget to the museum. It had belonged to her.”
“Do you believe Caitlin’s spirit really visited your dreams?” Danielle asked softly.
Cory shrugged again. “I don’t know. It felt real. But I want the dreams to stop. Not because I don’t want to see Caitlin, but I don’t like the way they make me feel. She’s always so angry. I just want them to stop.”
“I don’t understand any of this,” Bud said.
Danielle looked at Brian and asked, “Um… when are they supposed to get here? We really need to talk to Bud before they do.”
“Cory, where’s your car?” Brian asked.
“What did she mean she needs to talk to Bud?” Cory asked.
“I’ll explain it to you, but let’s walk to your car and do it there. When they get here, I have to show them where the grave is,” Brian explained. “We’ll talk down by your car.” Brian looked at the others and asked, “Is there anything else you want to ask Cory before we go?”
Danielle glanced at her fellow mediums before answering. They all shook their heads in a silent no. She looked back to Brian and said, “No, nothing now.”
“Am I under arrest?” Cory asked.
“You don’t seem to be armed and dangerous, perhaps a little confused,” Brian said.
“His ghost friend was the one who was armed and dangerous,” Heather muttered.
“Heather, why don’t we go with Brian in case she’s still hanging around. And let Walt and Danielle handle the situation here,” Chris suggested.
“In case who’s hanging around?” Cory asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Brian muttered, giving Cory a gentle nudge to get him walking back to the road.
Thirty-Eight
“Who exactly is this Caitlin you were talking about?” Bud asked after Cory left with Brian, Heather, and Chris.
“She was the one who threw a rock at you,” Danielle explained.
“And she’s dead too?” Bud asked.
“Yes. But I don’t think she completely understands. There is a lot of anger there,” Danielle said.
“She looks so young. I should have dealt with her differently. But it all happened so fast.”
“Caitlin is volatile,” Danielle said.
“That’s an understatement,” Walt muttered.
“Who is she?” Bud asked. “Is she really related to me?”
“Yes, distantly.” Danielle explained the family connection between Bud and Caitlin.
“So you did give your sister a gold nugget from your mine?” Walt asked.
“Yes. She didn’t believe me when I told her I’d struck gold.”
“They passed the gold nugget down in your family, and it ended up with Caitlin until her mother donated it to the local museum after she died. I believe the museum was rather excited to learn of a possible undiscovered gold mine in one of the local mountains,” Danielle explained.
Bud frowned at Danielle and then looked to Walt. “I don’t understand. I would assume everyone knew about the gold mine by now. Last night I realized that had to be the reason your father killed me. He was the only one other than my sister I told about the gold, and the only one who actually knew where the mine was and where I hid the gold I had already removed. I hadn’t filed the claim yet. I was planning to do it when I came back down from the mountains the last time I came up here. Your father knew that. Why would he kill me and not claim the mine?”
“And
you saw Walt’s father shoot you?” Danielle asked.
“It had to have been Alex. The only ones who knew I had been prospecting up here were Walt and Teddy. Teddy had no reason to want me dead; I never told him I’d struck gold. Teddy would have been the last person I would tell. I saw Alex that day. He was standing over there, on that ridge.” Bud pointed off in the distance.
“That’s rather far off. How did you see his face?” Walt asked.
“I’d recognize that hat and coat Alex wore anywhere, and it was his horse.”
Walt frowned. “I remember Teddy’s horse; he looked almost identical to my father’s gelding. My father used to call them a matching set.”
“True, but that wasn’t Teddy I saw. Whoever it was, he was wearing Alex’s hat and jacket,” Bud insisted.
“What do you remember after he shot you?” Danielle asked.
Bud considered the question a minute and then said, “Everything went dark, and then I woke up, and I thought I’d gotten away from him. But I felt I couldn’t go home. I thought he was going to kill me.”
“You were dead already,” Danielle said. “And confused.”
“I realize that now.”
“Let me get this straight, you told my father about Teddy and the woman who worked for him, and that morning you came up here?” Walt asked.
“Yes. Anna was with Maddie that day, and Alex told me he was going to stop home and tell his mother that he might bring Maddie home with him and Anna that night. I left for the mountains. But he obviously had other plans and showed up here the next day.”
“Do you remember what day that was?” Danielle asked.
When Bud told them the date, Walt and Danielle looked at each other for a moment.
Danielle looked back to Bud and said, “I know without a doubt that Walt’s father was not responsible for your death.”
“How can you say that? You weren’t even born yet,” Bud said.
“Because,” Danielle let out a sigh before saying, “Walt’s parents were already dead. We’re fairly certain Teddy killed them, and then he probably came up here and murdered you.”
