A Treacherous Treasure

by Leighann Dobbs

  Dom sucked in a breath. “Of course! It all makes perfect sense.”

  “It does?” Claire asked.

  “Yes. Consider the chronological order.” Dom turned to Zambuco. “You said Elbert’s widow recently died. That would be Diane’s grandmother. And what happens when your grandparents die? You start to go through their things. Diane must’ve found something about the treasure in her grandmother’s belongings.”

  Excitement shot through Claire like a double shot of caffeine. “She could have gotten the key to the storage unit. Maybe Elbert had had a journal like Charlie Kuhn or some kind of record of the storage location and what was in it. Maybe he’d even kept a record of the digs.”

  “So she would know exactly what kind of treasure they dug up,” Zambuco said.

  “Yes.” Dom’s face darkened. “She may have come for the treasure … or she may have come for a more nefarious reason.”

  “What do you mean?” The ominous tone of Dom’s voice sucked away Claire’s excitement and set her nerves on edge.

  “According to the file, the family never believed Elbert was lost at sea. They hounded the police to turn it into a homicide case. The police never did. This might have been impressed upon Diane at a young age. Maybe when her grandmother died, Diane found the evidence that enabled her to come back here and do more research into Elbert’s death. Maybe she was just trying to find out what did happen back then … and when his skeleton was dug up in the treasure chest, well, it might have been the catalyst that prompted her to set things straight for her grandfather.”

  “You mean, avenge his death?” Zambuco asked.

  Dom nodded.

  “Okay, but why kill Mari, then?” Claire asked.

  “You, of all people, know that when people go off the rails, they aren’t reasonable. She might have thought everyone in the treasure-hunting club had something to do with Elbert’s death. Bill was dead, so she struck out against Mari to even things out,” Dom said.

  “She’s new to Greenbriar Manor. Moved here a few months after the grandmother died. The timeline makes sense,” Zambuco said.

  “And Quentin has been telling her treasure stories,” Claire said.

  “Most likely prompted at her insistence,” Dom added.

  Zambuco’s face hardened. He shoved his phone into his pocket. “And if she’s coming here to get her revenge, then she’s not going to stop at killing Mari.”

  Claire’s heart skipped. “Oh my gosh, two other people involved are at Greenbriar. She could easily take her revenge on them, especially if she’s in charge of their medications!”

  “We have to stop her.” Dom lurched off the steps and sprinted toward the car, and Claire and Zambuco followed.

  “Poor, unsuspecting Quentin played right into her hands,” Claire said.

  Zambuco checked his watch as he jammed the car into gear. “The ferry leaves in five minutes. I’ll call ahead and see if they can hold it until we get on. We must get to the mainland now … before she claims her next victim!”

  * * *

  The ride to the mainland was a combination of grating nerves and frantic phone calls. Zambuco tried to place calls to the police station on the mainland as well as to Greenbriar, but his phone kept cutting out at the most inopportune moments. Claire spent most of the ride trying to urge the ferry driver to speed up, but he was already going as fast as he could.

  When the ferry finally pulled into the dock, the three of them were already in the car, seat belts fastened and engine running. Since the captain had held the ferry for them, Zambuco’s sedan was first in line, and he gunned it off the boat as soon as the crew lowered the ramp.

  Zambuco broke some speeding laws, and they pulled in to Greenbriar in record time. The three of them burst out of the car and ran into the facility. Zambuco flashed his badge at the startled receptionist.

  “Diane Randall. Where is she?” he snapped.

  “Ummm… I don’t—”

  “She’s in wing five giving the patients their meds,” a nurse with a clipboard in her hand volunteered. “But I don’t see wha—”

  “That’s where Lila’s room is!” Claire took off like a shot, her heart pounding in her chest. She silently congratulated herself for sticking to her health regimen. She could easily run to Lila’s room in record time. Dom and Zambuco were not as fit. She glanced over her shoulder to see them trailing behind as she skidded around the corner and down the hall to Lila’s room.

  Lila was sitting in her chair by the window, Jane seated across the small round table from her. Standing next to Lila was Diane Randall, the little paper cup they used to dispense medicine in her hand.

  Claire rushed over and knocked the cup out of her hand. “No you don’t!”

  Diane’s face registered surprise. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” She scrambled to the floor to retrieve the pills.

  Claire ignored her. Knowing that Zambuco would deal with Diane any second now, she crouched in front of Lila. “Mrs. Kuhn, are you okay?”

  “Of course, dear. I’m feeling very chipper today, in fact.”

  “Claire, what is going on?” Jane looked at her as if she were crazy, then her attention flicked to the doorway, in which Zambuco and Dom had just appeared.

  “I caught her in the act,” Claire announced to Zambuco. “She was giving Mrs. Kuhn those pills.”

  Zambuco snapped white latex gloves onto his thick hands and took Diane’s arm in one hand and the pills, which Diane had put back into the cup, in the other. “I’m going to need you to come with me.”

  Diane jerked her arm away. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “You’re wanted for questioning regarding the murder of Mari Wilkinson. I need to take you down to the station.”

  “Murder? I never murdered anyone! Let go of me!”

  A crowd had gathered outside, and Claire saw Quentin Crane hovering just outside. Relief flooded through her. They’d made it in time before Diane could harm Lila or Quentin.

  “I want a lawyer!” Diane yelled as Zambuco pulled her out of the room. “You can’t just drag people down to the station without proof. I didn’t do anything wrong!”

  “We’ll determine that down at the station. You can call your lawyer there,” Zambuco said.

  Something in the corner of the room caught Claire’s eye. Jane’s umbrella! She glanced out the window to see sunny blue skies. She whirled to face Jane, whose eyes were darting from Zambuco to Dom to Claire with a confused look.

  “Frank, just what is going on here? Mom needs her medicine. Did Diane do something—”

  “Jane,” Claire interrupted. “Isn’t that your umbrella? Why would you bring that today? It’s not raining.”

  Jane looked even more confused. “I didn’t bring it today. I left it here last week. But why—”

  Claire interrupted her again. “So you didn’t have it the night of the big downpour when Mari was murdered?”

  “No. It was right here the whole time. I didn’t have any umbrella, actually, and with it raining so hard we … I mean … I decided to stay in.” Jane glanced uncertainly at Zambuco.

  Claire walked over to the umbrella, bending over to inspect it but making sure not to touch it. The handle was in the shape of a white rose, thick and heavy. Could it be the murder weapon? It looked bulky enough, but Claire couldn’t see any dried blood. Perhaps Diane had given it a good cleaning.

  Claire slid her eyes back over to Diane. “No, I don’t think the umbrella was here the whole time, was it, Diane? I think the umbrella made a little trip to Mooseamuck Island.” Claire straightened and looked at Zambuco. “Detective, I believe I just found your murder weapon.”

  Dom’s eyes narrowed, and he came to stand beside Claire. Claire wondered if he was a little jealous. It was usually his job to find the physical evidence. He bent closer then patted his eyebrow and straightened. “The handle looks sturdy enough. This needs to be tested for traces of blood.”

  A murmur drifted over the crowd. Zambu
co let go of Diane long enough to grab the umbrella.

  “What lovely flowers.” Lila reached out toward the umbrella.

  “These are not for you. I must take these with me, but I’ll bring you prettier flowers later,” Zambuco said softly to her.

  “What exactly is going on?” Jane demanded.

  “Alice James saw you at Mari’s house the night she was murdered. Except it wasn’t you, it was your umbrella.” Claire pointed to the umbrella. “She said you were there right around the time of death. She also saw the Greenbriar shuttle there earlier that day, and a woman matching Diane’s description was driving.”

  “The shuttle goes to the island quite often,” Jane said.

  Dom picked up where Claire left off. “What we think happened is Diane took the umbrella, either to implicate Jane or maybe just because it was raining. She drove over in the ferry and visited Mari. She discovered that she had some of the treasure and then came back later with the umbrella to kill her, using the umbrella as the murder weapon.”

  “What? I did not! I never took that umbrella anywhere!” Diane protested.

  Dom raised a brow at her. “You didn’t go to visit Mari Wilkinson that day?”

  “No … I mean yes. I did go to visit her, but I didn’t kill her.” Diane turned pleading eyes on Zambuco. “My grandfather was Elbert Daniels, and I’ve been trying to talk to all the people that knew him and find out more about him. That’s all. I didn’t kill anyone.”

  Claire snorted. Diane was good. She’d almost be convinced if she hadn’t heard hundreds of other killers claim their innocence as well. “Well, if you truly are innocent, then you have nothing to fear. The law will prove it.”

  “You’re Elbert’s granddaughter?” Lila’s eyes were sharp as she assessed Diane. “He was a lovely man. But you know, he never did go missing on that boat. That’s what everyone thinks, but I’m not so sure. Charlie warned me not to talk about it, but I saw it. Elbert couldn’t have taken his boat out because I saw-”

  Claire’s stomach flipped. Was Lila about to confess that she’d seen Charlie with Elbert’s boat? Someone had to have set it adrift … had that someone been Charlie Kuhn? Claire couldn’t let Jane find out like this.

  “Now, now, Lila, you’ve had a very upsetting afternoon. Maybe you should rest,” Claire said, cutting off whatever the woman was about to blurt out as her eyes met Zambuco’s. Apparently they were on the same wavelength. He gave her a curt nod then tugged Diane toward the door.

  “Okay, okay. Break it up. Go back to your rooms. The party’s over.” Zambuco pulled Diane out the door.

  Jane put a protective arm around Lila. “Was she really going to hurt Mom?”

  Claire edged toward the door. They’d come with Zambuco, and, even though he had a prisoner now, he was their ride. “We’re not sure. But your mom is safe now. I’ll explain everything later.”

  Claire and Dom caught up with Zambuco in the lobby, where he was handing a still-protesting Diane off to one of the officers that had responded to his earlier interrupted call.

  “Well, that ties things up nicely.” Zambuco rubbed his palms together.

  “Maybe, but there’s still one loose end,” Claire said.

  “Oh?”

  “Diane couldn’t have killed Elbert,” Claire said.

  “Oh, right.” Zambuco made a face. “And that still might have something to do with Jane’s father.”

  “Lila was about to say something earlier about Elbert’s boat. I wonder if she really does know something or if it’s just the dementia,” Dom said.

  “I didn’t want her to blurt out something that might incriminate Charlie. I mean, we know he knew about the treasure because we have his journal, but I think we need some time to think things through and figure out what really happened to Elbert.”

  “We may never find out what happened,” Dom said. “The people who know might be dead by now.”

  “We owe it to Jane to try, and now that the immediate danger is safely behind bars, we’ve got some time.” Claire glanced out the window to where they were putting Diane in the back of the police car.

  “And if Charlie was involved, we need to soften the blow as much as possible for Jane,” Zambuco said.

  “Agreed,” Claire said then added, “Hopefully we won’t have to give her the worst possible news.”

  19

  “I knew the two of you would figure out who the killer was.” Mae beamed at Dom and Claire from across their usual table at Chowders, where they were all just finishing up their breakfast.

  Dom’s chest swelled with cautious pride. “Well, we still didn’t figure out who killed Elbert.”

  “Pffft.” Norma tapped the handle of her cane on the table. “You two found the important killer. The one that was running around the island now. Who cares who killed someone sixty years ago?”

  “We did have some help from Zambuco, you know.” Dom wanted to give credit where credit was due.

  Norma snorted.

  “I’m just glad the killer was caught.” Alice’s needles clacked together as she turned to Jane without dropping a stitch. “I’m sorry if I got you in trouble. I guess I just saw the umbrella and assumed it was you.”

  “That’s why one should never assume,” Claire said.

  Jane waved her hand dismissively. “It’s no problem. I can see how you would make that mistake. I’m just glad everything worked out.”

  “Odd, though, that Randall girl coming here after all these years to avenge the death of a grandfather she never knew.” Tom stroked his chin. “Seems unlikely, doesn’t it?”

  Dom’s left eyebrow jerked in an annoying twitch. It did seem unlikely, but all the clues pointed to her. Could they have been wrong? If that were the case, surely Zambuco would have called to let them know by now. He’d had Diane in custody since last night. Dom glanced at his phone, which sat on top of the table next to the plate that held his half piece of ricotta pie. No message.

  “I’m just glad the island is safe again.” Alice stuffed her skein of yarn and knitting needles into her large tote bag, threw some money on the table, and stood. “It was a little unnerving having a murder occur right across the street.”

  “Are you going over to the market?” Mae glanced at Tom. “We could go over with you. We have some feed for the goats to pick up.”

  As the three of them left, Jane pushed up from the table. “I have to get home and check on my kitchen. Shane is installing the cabinets today, and I want to see what they look like before I head over to Greenbriar to visit Mom.”

  Dom’s chest tightened. Jane’s words reminded him that he and Claire would have to spend the day digging into Charlie Kuhn’s involvement in Elbert’s murder and possibly bring bad news to Jane and Lila.

  Next to him, the metallic sound of Norma digging pennies from her coin purse and stacking them on the bill caught his attention. Her gnarled, paint-stained hands painstakingly counted out the exact amount then grabbed the handle of her cane as she struggled out of her seat. “I’ve got some painting to do. Nice work on the capture, guys.”

  They watched Norma leave, then Claire said, “Well, I suppose we should get to work. We can’t put off the inevitable, and the sooner we find out what Charlie was really up to and tell Jane, the better.”

  “Agreed. Seems like she has no idea—”

  Ping!

  The sound drew both their eyes to Dom’s phone, where there was a brief text from Zambuco:

  Umbrella Not Murder Weapon.

  Dom looked up from the phone into Claire’s troubled eyes.

  “She must have used something else,” Claire suggested.

  “Of course … but where is it?”

  “Maybe she put it in the storage un—” Claire stopped midsentence, her eyes zoning in on the door. Dom turned to see Benjamin Hill making a beeline for their table with Allen fluttering behind him.

  “What about over there, Grandpa? That table is near the heater.” Allen pointed to a table on the other
side of the room.

  Ben scowled at him. “No, Allen. It’s June and warm out. Besides, I have something to say to Dom and Claire. It’s time we tell the truth about the past.”

  Allen’s face paled. “But Grandpa, they’re busy eating, and we should—”

  Ben turned stiffly to face his grandson. “Let me talk, boy, or you can go wait in the car.”

  Allen lapsed into silence, but the downturn on his lips and the way he shuffled his feet told Dom he was not happy.

  Ben turned to Dom and Claire. “Something’s been eating away at me since we talked, and I have to come clean.”

  Dom raised a brow but waited patiently for the confession.

  “I lied to you two when I told you we never found any treasure.”

  “Now is as good a time as any to tell the truth,” Claire coaxed.

  “Sixty years ago, we found that treasure chest, all four of us. But it wasn’t what we expected.”

  “It wasn’t?” Dom asked.

  Ben shook his head. “We expected gold coins, like you see in the movies. But the chest was more of a shrine. Old letters tied with ribbon, a portrait of a young, pretty thing, an old journal, some jewelry but not enough to fill the chest. It was like we’d dug up someone’s grave. We were disappointed. But jewelry’s easy enough to sell, and we decided we might find some kind of history collector interested in the letters or journal. Bill took a piece to bring to the silent partner so he could take it to a collector and determine its value.”

  “And who was this silent partner?” Dom asked, wondering if Ben knew that it was Charlie.

  “Hell if I know. Billy Wilkinson brought him in, and Billy was the only one to have contact with him.”

  “Okay, so what happened? Did they take it to the collector?”

  “Not right away. You see, Elbert got a bunch of highfalutin ideas about historical value and whatnot. He didn’t want to sell. Wanted to put it all in a museum instead.”

  Dom’s brow resumed its annoying tingling. “Oh, really?”