Sitting on a Fortune

by Becki Willis

  To try to reason with her was a waste of breath and good time. The best Madison could do was appeal to her sense of compassion. “Please, Mrs. Henry. This man is suffering and needs a doctor. You don’t even have to help me. If you could just move aside, I’ll take care of him myself.”

  “I told you, Princess. You ain’t going nowhere.” A gun appeared in her hand, punctuating her claim with deadly aplomb.

  Several thoughts swarmed through Madison’s mind.

  She has a gun! This crazy woman just pulled a gun on me!

  …Wait. I’ve seen that gun before. I recognize the pearl handle.

  And her face… I’ve seen her before, too. Before the party. Wasn’t she…

  “The library!” Madison gasped. “You were the woman cleaning the library.”

  “That’s right. That’s me, the invisible woman in the background. The cleaning lady. The one no one ever really sees.”

  Madison was totally confused. More confused, at the moment, than she was afraid, even though the woman was armed and clearly unstable. “Who did you say you were?”

  “Sandy Henry. Owner of Coming Clean.”

  The pieces of the puzzle floated around in Madison’s mind, but she still had trouble making them all fit.

  “You clean several of the businesses around town. You left Marvin Gardens to open your own business. You’re the one who called in a couple of alarms at the Gold and Silver Exchange.” Inadvertently, Madison’s eyes went to the fancy pearl handle in her hand. Was that where she had seen the gun before? “You were at the library that day. You overheard me and Miss Sadie discussing local gold mines.”

  “Who knew?” Sandy Henry mimicked Madison’s own words from that day in an overly sweet, little-girl voice. Then her voice hardened, and her face twisted into a sneer.

  “You’d be surprised at the things you overhear when no one thinks you’re listening,” she said. “People assume the cleaning woman is deaf. That she’s too stupid to understand what they’re talking about. People say all sorts of things in front of the invisible cleaning lady.”

  “But… what does this have to do with Mr. Pruett? Why are you holding him here? Why do you need the gun?”

  “Because I’m tired of waiting! I want the necklace!”

  “The… necklace?”

  “Don’t play dumb.” It took great restraint for Madison to stand her ground when Sandy Henry moved forward. Close enough to kick Mr. Pruett’s foot. “Do you know how much time I’ve wasted on this fool? I saw the pieces he brought to Lamont Andrews. Some of those were worth twice as much as Lamont paid him. He said there were more where those came from. And I saw the necklace. I made a point to befriend him after that. I’ve spent hours listening to this fool drone on about his fortunes. Hearing him talk about his grand collections, his many treasures. Waiting to get my hands on that necklace.”

  “You and Lamont Andrews are partners?” Madison guessed, her voice squeaky.

  “He was manager for my ex. I guess I’m his manager now,” Sandy decided, “even if Mr. Andrews doesn’t know it.” A cunning smile touched her face. “Yeah. I like the sound of that. You could say I’ve become his manager. I’ve learned a lot of things by being invisible there. In return, I may have managed to take a few slow-moving pieces off his hands. When you think about it, I did him a favor, setting that fire. He’ll make more on the insurance claim than he ever made in that two-bit store!”

  Madison’s eyes widened. “You set the fire?”

  “I couldn’t get the stupid case open,” she complained. “He changed the codes again, and this was one I couldn’t crack. So, I cracked the glass to get to this little jewel.” She waved the pearl-handled gun in the air. “I had to cover my tracks. A fire seemed the easiest solution.”

  Done with his treats, Pup came back to circle and sniff around their legs. Sandy kicked him away in aggravation.

  “Why did you keep stealing the dog?” Madison asked. So many things didn’t make sense. So many of the puzzle pieces just didn’t fit.

  It was Sandy’s turn to look confused. “I didn’t steal the dog. That’s his dog.”

  “No. This dog belongs to a little boy down the road.”

  Sandy shrugged. “Whatever. I assumed the mutt was his, here to protect his treasures. Treasures that turned out to be nothing but trash! These are his grand, priceless collections!” She waved her arm in the air, indicating the shelves filled with their random offerings. She set the lantern on a shelf so that it still illuminated the space, freeing her hand to pick something up. “This isn’t a valuable copper vessel, handcrafted by Paul Revere’s own hand. This is an ordinary stockpot!”

  Angered, she flung the pot down atop the prone man. He grunted as he absorbed the unexpected blow. As the pot hit and rolled away, Pup growled in protest. A single glare from the madwoman sent the dog cowering to Mr. Pruett’s side.

  “He told me he had Ming vases and exquisite urns brought back from his travels in the Middle East. He told me he dabbled in gold and precious gems. He said they were priceless. Turns out he told me lies, but I saw the necklace.” Her eyes sparkled with greed. “Not up close, mind you. I was in the back cleaning, being invisible. But I saw the way it glittered. Lamont laughed and said it was a fake. And I would have believed him, if it hadn’t been for you.”

  “M—Me? What did I do?”

  “There you go, playing dumb again. You know about the necklace. You have a picture of it. You were looking up information about local gold. I never believed that story the Adams family told. They said it was their insurance that the old broad would leave the house to them, but you know how that turned out. Until you started snooping around, asking questions, I thought they were just blowing smoke. But thanks to you, I realized that old story was true.”

  The more she talked, the less sense she made. Madison struggled to keep up. “What story?”

  “Gerald remembered his grandfather talking about it. Truman Ford was Juliet’s most trusted employee. He was the one she trusted to handle her sensitive business, even things that weren’t strictly legal. He told about a secret package he once took for her to a jeweler in Bryan. The old woman vowed him to secrecy. He said it was dangerous mission, because there was some sort of new law making it illegal for her to own any gold.

  “The jeweler made him wait in the basement until closing time. Without a word, the jeweler came downstairs, went into a different room, and left Truman to wait there in the dark. The man came back out, handed Truman a box, and said just four words. ‘You were never here.’ His grandpa said he knew he shouldn’t have looked, but he peeked into the box before giving it back to the old woman. He said it was a necklace. Diamonds and rubies around a gold nugget. He said Juliet was really worried later on, because the jeweler went to jail. Something about conspiring against the government for helping people hoard gold. That was why he knew she would leave him the mansion, because he kept her secret about the necklace.”

  The words were weak, but from the floor, Tom Pruett took up his old fight. “It’s the only way to preserve our constitutional rights. We have a duty to our forefathers to resist the call…”

  Sandy kicked at his foot, ending his weak mantra. “Listen to that old fool,” she scoffed. “Crazy as a bed bug. But when I saw you upload that picture to the computer—”

  “That was you that day!” Madison gasped. “You killed the lights!”

  “I didn’t want that photograph getting out on the web, not once I realized where the necklace came from and how valuable it really was. If there was gold found locally, then Grandpa Truman’s story was true. I tried to play nice. I tried convincing this old coot to show me his collections. I finally tricked him into coming out here. That’s when I realized how crazy he really was, and that the necklace was either hidden somewhere else, or he had already sold it.”

  “So, you ransacked his house.”

  “Didn’t find a thing,” she snorted in contempt. “Which could only mean one thing. He had sold it.
And since you had the photo, and you were the one researching gold, I realized that you are the one with the necklace.”

  Swallowing nervously, Madison took a step backward, attempting to put more distance between them. Distance that hardly mattered when one of them had a gun.

  Particularly when that gun now aimed directly at her abdomen.

  “I guess you’re real proud of yourself,” Sandy sneered. “Your grandmother cheated the Adams family out of the house, even though they proved their loyalty by keeping quiet all those years. That house should have gone to my Paul one day. But you got your greedy hands on not just it, but now the necklace, too. I can’t let you take it all. I can’t let you keep stealing from my family. This invisible woman is going to stop you.”

  Sandy waved the gun, but its aim stayed true.

  “I. Want. That. Necklace.” The words came out in a slow, guttural growl.

  “I—I don’t have it.” Unfortunately for Madison, she wasn’t a very convincing liar.

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “It’s true.”

  “I told you. I’m tired of wasting time. I’m tired of being invisible. Tell me where the necklace is.” Her eyes bore into Madison’s.

  “I don’t have it!”

  “Fine. I’ll just shoot the old man.” Her tone was so nonchalant, so casual, it had to be a bluff.

  She never broke eye contact. Sandy simply aimed her gun at the ground and fired.

  Madison shrieked in surprise and no small amount of terror.

  Mr. Pruett roused to see what the commotion was about; the bullet had missed him by several inches.

  Pup barked and ran around in circles, adding to the chaos.

  The air still quivered with the gun’s echo.

  Time stuttered.

  Seconds later, the door jerked open, and someone rushed through.

  Thirty-One

  Madison saw an opportunity and took it. When Sandy Henry whirled around, Madison swooped down, grabbed the hammer, and slung it with all her might. It struck the woman in the back and sent her toppling to the ground.

  “Quick!” Madison cried to her unknown savior. “She has a gun.”

  “Not no more.”

  Lamont Andrews leaned down and scooped the gun up from the ground. The gun had flown from Sandy’s hand when she fell, skittering along the floor to land at the man’s feet. “Hey. This is my gun,” he said darkly, recognizing the pearl handle with its one-of-a-kind marking.

  Madison had never been so happy to see the sour-faced businessman as she was now. Taking big gulps of air, she nodded and managed to say, “She stole it. Right before she set your building on fire.”

  Lamont narrowed his eyes and looked at the woman on the ground. She writhed in pain, cursing and moaning and complaining about a broken back. “I suspected the broad was stealing from me,” he admitted, “but I never could catch her in the act.”

  “She knew your codes,” Madison offered. She knelt beside Mr. Pruett, tending to his injuries again. “This man needs a doctor!”

  Sandy attempted to sit up, but a large foot came down on her injured back and held her in place. “You stay where you are,” Lamont told her. He used the gun as extra incentive. The large man appeared unfazed, his manner as casual and nonchalant as if he did this sort of thing every day.

  He pulled out his phone and hit redial.

  “This is Lamont Andrews again. We need an ambulance.”

  At Madison’s questioning look, he explained, “I called 9-1-1 as soon as I heard the shot.”

  “I’m so glad you came home when you did!”

  Pup circled Lamont’s feet, barking his dislike for the newcomer. He raced over to Madison and Mr. Pruett, yipped, and started back toward Lamont. Madison managed to grab the dog and keep him beside her. After all, the glowering man had a gun, and there was no love lost between the two.

  She worked to quieten the dog as Lamont asked, “Is that the dog you accused me of stealing?”

  “Yes. I don’t know how he kept getting locked in your barn, but this is the second time I’ve found him here.”

  “This ain’t my barn.”

  “Then whose is it?”

  “His.” He pointed to Mr. Pruett. “My property ends at the drive. I keep asking him to mow his side, but he never does. He usually only comes out here at night, so when I saw all the cars, I was curious what was going on. But when I heard the gunshot, I knew something was up.”

  “Again, I’m so glad you came home!” Relief gathered in her eyes and threatened to leak out. She concentrated on roughing the dog’s fur. “I came out to rescue this little guy, but thanks to him, we rescued Mr. Pruett. And then you rescued me.” She lifted her eyes to the man, no longer ashamed of her tears. “Thank you, Mr. Andrews. I owe you a debt of gratitude that I can never repay.”

  He eyed her for a long moment. “I don’t know about that,” he finally drawled. “We caught this one.” His foot tightened on Sandy, causing her to cry out. “I think my insurance company will be very interested in what you’re able to tell them.”

  Madison and Brash soon thought of another way to show their appreciation to her unexpected savior. They asked Lamont Andrews to act as broker for the sale of four gold nuggets. The sale gave him a generous commission and a newly found air of legitimacy and respectability.

  On Lamont’s suggestion, they opted against an outright sale of the necklace. With the mystique of legend behind it (no one would confirm or deny exact facts and dates, due to legal concerns,) the horrendous necklace took on a new quality of intrigue. Lamont suggested the item be auctioned by a reputable auction house, after suitable hype and legend was put in place. So far, the plan was working beautifully, and there had been great interest in the piece. Madison was astounded when the insurance company suggested a policy of no less than one million dollars. In exchange for publicity that would carry with the sale, they offered the policy at no cost.

  Mr. Pruett had no serious injuries from the ordeal, but it was evident that the man could no longer care for himself. He required a doctor’s care and close monitoring, particularly if he were to be a candidate for a promising new drug on the market. A niece was in the Houston area who agreed to act as his guardian. She promised Genny regular reports on her uncle’s progress and his move into an assisted-living facility.

  As a show of appreciation to the community for finding and rescuing her uncle, the niece donated his state-of-the-art computer systems to The Sisters Police Department. She also gave a small cash reward and a year’s supply of kibble to Pup and Monte Applegate.

  Pup, it was determined, was regularly lured to the old barn with treats and his new favorite kibble. When he was quick enough, the dog could escape capture by the older gentleman. Occasionally, however, Tom Pruett got the upper hand, and the carefree canine had to serve as a guard dog to his ‘treasures.’

  The treasures were a mixture of fact and fantasy. Some of the items he collected—the vases and canvased artwork, the artifacts and some of the jeweled baubles—were, indeed, valuable. Most came from his travels abroad. Some of the items—the copper pots, the stamp collection, and much of the modern art—were practically worthless. Their grand worth existed only in his mind. As his disease progressed, he became obsessed with the need to hoard things his mind deemed as treasures.

  Sandy, in her greed and in her own obsession with the unfairness of life, believed the poor man’s illusions. She saw him as the means to an end, the one big break she had needed to get ahead. When she realized the fortunes weren’t real and the man didn’t offer the golden opportunity she anticipated, something in her broke.

  Even though she was correct about Madison having the necklace, she erroneously came to that conclusion based on hatred and her age-old vendetta against the Hamilton-Cessna family. She believed that, once again, they had denied her of what could have/ should have been. She had no way of knowing about the chair or the secrets it held.

  When Brash came to arrest her, she
denied her rights to an attorney. She gave her statement there in the old, ramshackle barn, beneath the beam of the LED lantern. She admitted to kidnapping Mr. Pruett and tossing his house. She admitted to setting fire to the Gold and Silver Exchange and stealing various items, including the gun. She admitted to tampering with the internet at the library and leaving Madison a threatening message. She admitted intent to do bodily harm to both Mr. Pruett and to Madison. If Madison hadn’t turned over the necklace, she was prepared to kill them both.

  She denied any knowledge or involvement in peering into Granny Bert’s house or driving the phantom black vehicle. Records supported Lamont’s claims of innocence, as well. He had traded his black car in for the sportier white model, one day before the mysterious sedan appeared.

  For now, who drove the car and why remained a mystery.

  After much debate, and with her husband and grandmother’s full support, Madison decided how best to spend the money from the gold. Cars, debts, and college tuition aside, she could think of only one way that felt right.

  It was a big day for the community. Their first-ever Gold Rush Bonanza!

  The massive old cotton gin connecting the two towns hosted an arts and crafts fair. Special events included a Golden Baby Contest, costume judging, and period games. Mr. Jenkins’ high school science class presented an impressive exhibit on gold, and the One-Act Play cast and crew performed a skit about striking it rich in the gold mine.

  The Big House opened for limited tours and refreshments served on the lawn, something Juliet was known to do upon occasion. Across the street, the Juliet Municipal Library had readings from Darwin Blakely’s medical journals and a prominent feature of his library section.

  With the renewed interest in gold mining—again, no one would confirm whether the gold came from local mines or the Yukon—Muehler Creek Mining opened for the day, offering tours and relay races centered around panning for gold. There was even talk of re-opening the business on a limited basis.