“Like the key we needed for the journal?” Morgan asked, referring to the journal of one of their ancestor’s.
The journal they’d found in the attic had eventually led them to the treasure under their house, but it had been written in code and had to be translated. Without Cal knowing what kind of code it was and how to find the translation cypher, they never would have found the treasure.
“Yeah.” Celeste smiled down at the phone, her stomach fluttering. “He said he’s coming out to meet us here tomorrow night.”
“And you have that big smile plastered on your face because you’re happy he can help us decode the symbols?” Fiona’s teasing remark caused Celeste’s cheeks to warm.
“Of course.” Celeste plastered a wide-eyed innocent look on her face.
Morgan and Fiona snickered.
“I’m going to do some more research on the treasure and see if I can get a lead on this key.” Jolene dumped her paper plate in the trash, then got behind the desk and tapped on the computer. “It might help us to know exactly what we’re looking for.”
Celeste threw out her own plate and settled onto the micro-suede couch noticing it was a lot more comfortable than the old one. Belladonna jumped up onto the end table beside her, knocking the book Dixie had lent them into her lap.
“Oh, I guess I can flip through here and see if I find anything useful.” Celeste opened the book, looking at the table of contents. Belladonna reached a velvety paw out and touched the page.
“Careful, Belladonna. This book is on loan.” Celeste gently pushed the cat’s paw aside but Belladonna just put it right back on the book, this time lifting the edge of the pages with a finely honed claw.
“Cut it out, I don’t want the pages to get ripped.” Celeste picked the cat up and put her on the floor.
“Meow!” Belladonna jumped back up onto the couch swishing her tail in Celeste’s face. Celeste took her hands off the book to push the fluffy white tail aside. Belladonna shot her paw out to the pages of the book, flipping some over to a section of old pictures.
“Hey, I said—”
Celeste stared down at the page in the book, her words catching in her throat. Sitting in the middle of the page was a picture of the ghost Celeste had seen in the mine and at Dead Water. She wore a fancy dress, her hair piled high on her head. Underneath the caption read, ‘Lily Sweetwater’.
Where had she heard that name before?
“Is something the matter?” Morgan asked.
Celeste looked up at her sister. “I think I just found our lady ghost.”
“Really?”
Celeste held the book up and pointed at the picture. “It says her name was Lily Sweetwater.”
“Maybe we should Google her and see if that leads us to any clues,” Fiona said, glancing over at Jolene.
“Did you say Lily?” Jolene’s forehead creased.
“Yep. Sweetwater.”
“Remember how I told you about the old-timer in the bar and how his grandma followed a lady around? The lady fought with the Sheriff about some key,” Jolene said.
“Yes,” Celeste replied.
“Well, that lady’s name was Lily,” Jolene said. “And I think he said she was married to the Sheriff.”
“Deke?”
Jolene shrugged. “I guess so. He never said the Sheriff’s name.”
“Well this all can’t be coincidence,” Morgan said. “I have a feeling it all ties together somehow.”
“But how?” Luke asked.
“I don’t know, but I think we’re on the right track,” Morgan answered. “Maybe there is more about her in the book or online.”
“Meow.”
Celeste reached over to pat Belladonna. “Looks like Belladonna inadvertently gave us a clue by flipping to the page with the picture.”
“Maybe it wasn’t inadvertent.” Fiona wiggled her eyes at Celeste.
“Yeah.” Jake laughed. “Too bad the cat doesn’t have some secret knowledge and can tell us where the treasure is. Then we could avoid all this clue chasing.”
Luke joined in the laughter and the two men shook their heads.
Celeste looked over at the cat. It did seem kind of strange that she was always turning up clues for them.
Did she have some secret knowledge?
Celeste bent down to study the cat closer. Belladonna slid her eyes over to look at Celeste, then blinked, curled into a ball and went to sleep.
Shaking her head, Celeste turned her attention to the book. Lily’s story was the typical Cinderella story of a beautiful woman that came out west, worked as a saloon girl and then married the Sheriff. The Sheriff died mysteriously two weeks after their wedding. A picture of the wedding showed a grim faced Lily with Deke in his sheriff outfit at her side.
“Boy, Lily doesn’t look too happy in her wedding picture.” Celeste flashed the picture around the room.
“Walt’s grandma heard them fighting in the stable, maybe they were fighting at their wedding too.” Jolene said.
“Maybe,” Celeste said flipping to the next chapter. “Oh, here it talks about the stagecoach robberies. Maybe we’ll find something of interest.”
She read quickly, skipping over the boring stuff and picking out the parts that might be important to their search.
“It says the stagecoaches were robbed by a lone masked man. It was a mystery how he knew when the coach was coming because it came at all different times.”
“Interesting. How many robberies were there?” Jolene asked.
“Five all together.” Celeste’s fingers scanned the page, picking out the important stuff. “It says he made off with silver and gold and also jewelry he stole from any passengers that were unlucky enough to be traveling on the coach. Looks like he struck pay dirt with one necklace he ripped right off the neck of a Mrs. Simon Brandt—the Vanderbeek necklace—it was worth one hundred twenty thousand even back then!”
Celeste stared down at a picture of the opulent necklace. Even in black and white, she could see the exquisite beauty of the diamond-studded collar. It was covered in stones with teardrop shaped rubies and emeralds hanging down like a waterfall. “The necklace has never been seen since.”
Jolene’s fingers tapped the keys of her computer. “That necklace alone is worth two point eight million today.”
“Wow. Combine that with the value of the gold and silver reputed to have been stolen in the robberies and the treasure is worth about four million,” Fiona said.
Jake whistled. “Not to mention all the other jewelry and valuables that might have been stolen from the passengers.”
Celeste nodded. “Deke must have figured out it was Shorty somehow, and he must have been right because the robberies stopped after he shot him.”
“Walt told me about some love triangle scandal back then. Maybe Deke, Shorty and Lily were the love triangle and that's why she looks unhappy at the wedding,” Jolene said.
“Or maybe Shorty wanted the beautiful saloon girl and Deke saved her from Shorty’s clutches and stopped the stagecoach robberies at the same time by shooting him,” Luke added.
“And then Lily married her hero, Deke, who tragically died weeks later.” Fiona sighed. “What a romantic story.”
Celeste laughed. “You might not be too far off. When I was in the mine with the ghosts, Shorty said ‘you can’t have her, she’s mine’. I thought they were actually talking about me at the time and was scared Shorty’s ghost was planning on doing something to me.”
“But he could have been talking about Lily,” Morgan said.
“I guess so.” Celeste’s eyes narrowed—she remembered where she’d heard the name “Lily” before. “And then Deke said something strange. He said something like ‘You should stay out of this just like Lily should have’.”
“What’s that mean? Stay out of what?” Jolene asked.
Celeste shrugged. “That, I have no idea about.”
“Maybe she found out some secret and that’s why they argued,” Jolene
said.
“Or maybe it wasn’t even Deke she argued with,” Morgan replied. “How reliable is that story, anyway?”
Jolene pressed her lips together. “Good question. I got it second hand from an old-timer who heard it from his grandmother years after it actually happened. Maybe it’s not even true.”
“Hopefully when we go to Dead Water tomorrow Lily will grace Celeste with her appearance and fill us in,” Luke said.
“I don’t know,” Celeste replied, a hollow feeling in her chest. “She seemed like a shy, reluctant ghost.”
“But you’ve already seen her twice, so at least there’s some hope,” Fiona reminded her.
“Yeah, maybe if we give her what she wants, I can get her to talk,” Celeste said.
“What does she want?” Jake asked.
“Vindication,” Celeste answered. “Or at least that’s what she said when we saw her in the cemetery.”
“Vindication for what?” Luke’s forehead pleated as he looked at her.
“I’m not sure.” Celeste flipped to the table of contents in the book. “I’ll have to look through here and see what it is she could be referring to.”
“I think it’s important to find out.” Morgan’s ice-blue eyes sparkled with excitement. “Because something tells me that whatever it is has something to do with Shorty Hanson and the hidden treasure.”
Chapter Ten
“This place is so cool!” Jolene stood in the middle of the street, in the center of Dead Water, her brown leather cowboy boots stirring up sand as she turned to look at every part of the ghost town.
Celeste smiled at the look of wonder on her sister’s face. The place was pretty cool—all that history and the old buildings still almost intact. She couldn’t wait to show it to Cal.
“Okay, let’s get to work,” Luke said. “I figure we can split up and search the buildings. Look for any hiding spots, like hidden compartments in walls.”
“And look on the outside too,” Jake added, “False bricks or stones can be good for hiding stuff.”
“So should we all take a building, then?” Morgan asked.
“Sure, but if you go inside just be careful—the floors might not be safe.”
Jolene, Fiona, Morgan, Luke and Jake each chose the building they wanted and then walked off leaving Celeste alone in the center of town. She’d picked the saloon since that’s where she had seen Lily’s ghost before. As she walked over to the entrance, she chewed on her bottom lip anxiously—she knew they were counting on her talking to Lily about the key but she couldn’t just conjure up a ghost. Ghosts usually came to her, she didn’t have any control over when … or if … one would show up.
The building creaked ominously when she entered, as if the ghosts of the past were trying to warn her away. She walked over to the far end, where the stairway lay in a pile on the floor. Squatting down, she ran her hand along what was left of the old banister. The smooth wood felt like satin under her fingers. She closed her eyes and imagined herself walking down the stairs, dressed in a long gown, her blond hair piled on her head. The sounds of clinking glasses and conversation floating up to her from the saloon below as she descended.
“It was a nice place in its time.”
Celeste’s eyes flew open and she jerked her hand back. The misty ghost of Lily swirled in front of her.
“I’m sure it was.” Celeste stood up.
Lily sighed. “It was good here, until everything went wrong.”
“What went wrong? Do you mean the stagecoach robberies?”
“That’s just part of it.” Lily turned and walked to the bar. Celeste followed.
“What else happened?” Celeste asked.
“Betrayal, a cover up …” Lily looked down and put her hand on her stomach. Celeste’s heart skipped a beat when she noticed a pink ring on Lily’s finger—the same ring they’d dug up over at Emma’s. “I did what I had to do.”
“What did you have to do?” Celeste’s brows knit together.
What had Lily done?
Lily looked afraid, her ghost started to fade out. Panic clutched at Celeste’s chest—she was going to lose her one chance to find out about the key.
“What do you want vindication for?” Celeste blurted out the words and Lily’s ghost swirled, coming in a little clearer like an old-fashioned television picture that had been fine-tuned.
“It’s not for me,” she said.
“Then who? Maybe we can help … if you’ll help us figure out where the key is.” Celeste held her breath for Lily’s answer.
“It’s all in the letters,” Lily said.
“Letters? What letters?”
“Emma has the letters,” Lily said, her ghost starting to evaporate.
“Wait!” Celeste begged. “What about the key?”
Lily’s voice was barely a whisper. “You’ll find out everything in the letters—only after the truth is read will I show you where the key is.”
***
Celeste exited the saloon and looked down the street. She could see Fiona and Morgan inspecting the bottom corner of what used to be the general store. Luke was at the end of the street near a brick structure and Jake was just coming out of the Sheriff’s office.
As Celeste started toward Fiona and Morgan, Jolene came out of the next building.
“Did you find anything?” Celeste squinted at her younger sister.
“Nothing but old dust and some splinters,” Jolene said frowning down at her fingertips.
As they approached Fiona and Morgan, the two older sisters stood up from where they’d been squatting near the corner of the general store.
“Did you find something?” Jolene asked.
Fiona shook her head. “Nothing. We thought there might be a secret hiding place, but it was just filled with cobwebs.”
Celeste heard the scuff of boots behind her and turned to see Luke and Jake.
“Did you all come up empty?” Luke asked, and then turned to Celeste. “Even you?”
“No, actually I think I got us another lead.” Celeste smiled. “I saw Lily’s ghost in the saloon.”
Luke’s brows shot up. “And?”
Celeste told them about the deal she’d made with Lily.
“So we need to get these letters from Emma?” Jake asked. “What makes you think she’d give them to you?”
“Well, I’m not sure she will, but it’s worth a try,” Celeste said. “There must be some kind of connection between Lily and Emma and I think we have something that might help persuade her to entrust us with the letters.”
“What’s that?”
“The ring with the pink stone we dug up the other day. Lily’s ghost was wearing one just like it.”
Chapter Eleven
Emma’s trailer was located about a half mile off route 51. Her driveway, if you could call it that, was a dirt road that meandered through the desert on the edge of the property they’d previously searched with the metal detectors.
Nerves fluttered in Celeste’s stomach as they approached the trailer. She had no idea if they’d be welcomed or chased off with a shotgun.
The trailer itself, although decades old, was kept in good repair. In the front, wood-sided raised garden beds held rich loam that fed the lush herbs and flowers Emma had miraculously managed to grow under the desert sun. Vintage metal patio chairs, their fresh turquoise paint gleaming in the sun, sat under an awning that extended from the side of the trailer.
Morgan rapped her knuckles on the metal door and the hollow, tinny sound elicited a chorus of barks from inside. Celeste saw Fiona’s face crease with worry and she knew her sister was thinking the same thing. Hopefully Emma wouldn’t have her dogs chase them off.
The door opened and Emma’s keen blue eyes squinted out at them. A reddish-brown hound dog on either side of her pushed to get out, sniffing and snapping. Emma shushed them and they quieted down with a whimper.
“You’re the treasure hunters, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Yes, tha
t’s right,” Morgan said. “We met the other day.”
Emma nodded. “I remember, I’m not senile you know. Why are you here?”
“We wanted to give you this.” Fiona held out the ring they’d dug up. Emma pushed her face out the door. Her brows mashed together, then widened as her face softened.
“My great-grandmother’s ring.” Emma opened the door wider and reached out. Fiona dropped the ring into her hand. Emma smiled as she held it up in front of her face.
“We dug it up the other night, but with the excitement and the Sheriff coming and all, I forgot all about it until I found it in my jeans pocket this morning.” Celeste saw Fiona cross her fingers behind her back as she told the little white lie. “We figured you’d want it so we hurried over with it.”
“Of course.” Emma pushed the door wide and the two hounds rushed out sniffing enthusiastically at their feet. “Where are my manners? Would you girls like some lemonade?”
“We’d love some.” Morgan answered for all of them as she bent to pet one of the dogs.
“These are my dogs, Clive and Lucy,” Emma said. “They must like you girls. Otherwise they’d be barking and trying to chase you off.”
Celeste’s shoulders relaxed with relief. If the dogs liked them, then chances were Emma would too. And the offer of lemonade was promising.
Emma pointed at the patio chairs. “Just have a seat and I’ll be right out with the lemonade. I made it fresh this morning.”
The girls sat down while Clive and Lucy divided their attention between them. They seemed to favor Morgan and Jolene, which was no surprise since both girls had a way with animals.
“You’re a good dog,” Morgan said as she cupped Clive’s face in her hands. “I can tell these dogs are very loyal to Emma.”
“Yes, they are,” Emma said as she came up behind them, balancing a large tray that held a pitcher and glasses in her hand. “How did you know?
Morgan shrugged. “I just know things sometimes.”
Emma looked at her strangely as she set the tray down. The ice cubes clinked together as she picked up the pitcher and poured lemon-colored liquid into the glasses, which she handed to the girls.
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