Paper Treasure

by Anne Stephenson

  “I don’t know,” said Charlie.

  “He’s going to protect what’s rightfully his,” declared Weirdo. He gripped the wheels of his chair and moved to within spitting distance of Charlie’s face. “Where’s your gumption, lad?”

  “Down the toilet.”

  “Well, fish it out. Don’t you want your family’s share?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Then, think. We’ve got to get the goods on this guy Reid before that deadline Monday night.”

  Weirdo drummed his bony fingers on the arm of his chair. “Even if you don’t have the actual certificates, we might be able to prove ownership some other way.”

  Weirdo was right. This was no time to give up. Charlie explored the possibilities. “We could set a trap. We know where he is.”

  “And we know what he wants,” added Lisa.

  “What about bait?” asked Weirdo.

  Charlie thought. “Do you think Mrs. Lovell would help us?” he wondered aloud.

  “She’s kind of old,” said Lisa.

  “All the more reason.” Weirdo thumped the arm of his wheelchair. “What’s the matter, you kids think old people can’t take care of themselves?”

  “No, sir.”

  Weirdo suddenly turned a peculiar shade of grey.

  “What’s wrong?” Lisa rushed to the man’s side.

  “What if this guy Reid’s already tried something? He might have broken into Essie’s house just like he broke into Charlie’s the other night.”

  “Come on,” urged Charlie, “we’re wasting time.”

  Weirdo swung his wheelchair towards the door. “Get my ball cap,” he commanded. “It’s on a hook inside the cupboard.”

  “Are you allowed out?” Charlie grabbed the handles of Weirdo’s wheelchair.

  “Of course, I’m allowed out.”

  “I thought,” began Charlie, “that you had to sign in and out, or something. Like a residence.”

  Lisa handed the man his hat. “Don’t get mad at Charlie, Mr. Weir. He’s only trying to help.”

  “Sorry,” said Weirdo gruffly. “I’m worried about Essie, that’s all.” He leaned back so he could see Charlie. “Truce?”

  “Truce.”

  “You look like an idiot upside down.”

  “So do you.”

  Lisa opened the door. “Cut the mushy stuff, guys. We’ve got a job to do.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Weirdo pulled his Blue Jays cap over his sparse white hair and snapped on his clip-on sunglasses. “To the elevator,” he ordered.

  Charlie and Lisa had given him the slip. They’d said they’d be around when he got back from the library, but he couldn’t find them anywhere. After all he’d done for them.

  Joey called to his mother that he was going to visit the neighbours, then he nipped through the gap in the hedge and rang the side bell at Mrs. Kowalski’s.

  She answered the door. “Hi, Joey. Did you want to come in for a visit?” she asked, opening the screen door. “I’m making chocolate chip cookies.”

  Joey could smell them baking in the oven.

  “No, thanks,” he said. Mrs. Kowalski always put nuts in her cookies anyway. “I’m looking for Charlie and Lisa. I have a message for them.”

  “Have you tried the Kirby’s’?”

  “Yeah,” said Joey, “but there’s nobody home.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  The timer went off in Mrs. Kowalski’s kitchen.

  “If I see them, I’ll tell them you were looking for them.”

  “Thanks.”

  Joey headed back the way he came and sat down on the swing his grandfather had rigged beneath the apple tree when Charlie was little. He pushed himself off the ground and pumped. The branch above him creaked as the swing gained height. He swung back and forth, sun and shade alternating on his bare legs.

  Charlie and Lisa could be anywhere. What he needed was a plan.

  He pumped higher.

  Every time things got interesting they got rid of him. Like last night, when they had followed Reid to the motel.

  The motel! Joey dug his heels into the dry ground and hopped off the swing. He’d find out what Reid was up to, then Charlie and Lisa would have to include him.

  He’d have to be careful. Mrs. Kowalski was at her kitchen window. She waved at him.

  Joey waved back and pretended to go in the house. As soon as he was sure she was no longer watching, he followed the property line to the back of the yard.

  There was a rather large hole in the neighbours’ fence. He’d discovered it the other day when he was on a secret mission behind the lilac bush.

  He took one last look over his shoulder then disappeared amidst the shrubbery and through the fence.

  Less than a minute later, Joey had traversed the neighbours’ yard and made his way to the next street over. He stood on the sidewalk for a moment to get his bearings, then turned left and headed downtown.

  Joseph Bradford was on the case.

  Charlie slowed to a stop on the sidewalk in front of Essie Lovell’s house. He’d forgotten about the porch steps.

  “We’ll have to carry him up, and then come back for the chair,” Lisa said in a whisper.

  “What’s that?” asked Weirdo.

  “The stairs,” said Charlie. “We’ll have to carry you.”

  Weirdo grumbled something unprintable. He’d been in a good mood, enjoying the sun on his face, even if he had complained that his teeth jarred every time his wheels hit a crack in the asphalt.

  “I’ll make sure Mrs. Lovell is home,” said Lisa. She hurried up the steps and rang the doorbell. Essie appeared in record time.

  “We’ve brought a friend of yours with us,” said Lisa. She stood aside so Essie Lovell could see who was on the front walk.

  “Jack Weir!” Essie’s face lit up in a beautiful smile. “Jack,” she said as she stepped outside to greet him. “It’s so good to see you.”

  “You too, Essie.”

  The old friends beamed at each other, then suddenly Essie’s expression clouded over. “But you shouldn’t have come today,” she said. “I’m so upset.”

  “Why” asked Charlie. “What’s wrong?”

  Essie’s mouth worked, but nothing came out.

  “Is it Reid?” prompted Charlie. “Have you heard from him again?”

  She shook her head. “Benjamin Bunny is missing.”

  Weirdo looked puzzled.

  “Her cat,” said Liza.

  “Oh.”

  “He usually stays out all night in the warm weather,” said Essie, wringing her hands in despair. “He’s always waiting at the back door for me when I come down in the morning. Only this morning he wasn’t there.”

  Lisa put her arm around Essie. “Maybe he got shut in someone’s garage overnight.”

  “That’s probably what happened,” added Weirdo. “Remember that ginger cat Hilda and I had?”

  Essie nodded. “He’d go off for days at a time. Old man Harvey used to feed him scraps from his restaurant.”

  “I’m sure that’s all it is, Mrs. Lovell,” said Lisa. “Someone else probably fed Benjamin. He’ll come back.”

  Somewhat reassured, Essie invited them in for tea.

  It was really cool seeing the two of them together, thought Charlie, as Mrs. Lovell fussed over Mr. Weir, making him comfortable in her maze of a living room.

  Once they were settled, Weirdo told Essie how much her shares were worth.

  “And to think I was going to sell them for a few hundred dollars!” She turned to Charlie and Lisa. “If you two hadn’t come along, I would have been just another sucker.”

  “Now, Essie, don’t blame yourself,” said Weirdo. “You had no way of knowing that the stocks were worth something. I might have done the same thing if I wasn’t such a suspicious old coot.”

  Charlie winked at Lisa. “Like my grandfather, right, Mr. Weir?”

&nbs
p; The old man chuckled. “Takes one to know one.”

  “So, what’s this plan of yours, Charlie?” asked Essie Lovell.

  “We need to lure Reid here and trick him into revealing himself.”

  “How?”

  “You phone him at his motel and tell him you’ve decided to sell. He’ll probably jump at the chance to buy your certificates.”

  Essie nodded. “All right,” she declared. “I’ll do it. Where did you say he was staying?”

  “The Lakeshore Inn.”

  Chapter Eleven

  To Catch a Thief

  Joey hid behind the pop machine at the end of the corridor until the housekeeper, loaded down with clean sheets and towels, disappeared inside another room.

  He scurried by her cart to Room 210. A Do Not Disturb sign hung on the door.

  He could hear the murmured sounds of someone speaking inside the room. Either Reid was on the telephone or he had company. Joey crept up to the window.

  The curtains didn’t quiet meet in the centre. If he stood on his tiptoes, he could just see into the room. Reid had his back to the window. He was holding the phone to his ear with one hand and gesticulating wildly with the other.

  “The deadline was for Monday…. Of course I can deliver. What do you think I’m doing here, sightseeing?”

  Joey watched as Reid paced back and forth across the room.

  “Don’t worry. One more day and I’ll control the majority of the stock…. No. As soon as I sell the shares to you, you can convert them to Mattlin Mining stock. They’ll never know they were sitting on a small fortune.”

  Joey hadn’t the faintest idea what Reid was talking about, but whatever it was, he was sure it had something to do with the Treasure Creek Gold Mine.

  He pressed his face against the glass. Reid had lowered his voice and Joey could barely make out what he was saying. Something about an old lady….

  “And what do you think you’re doing, young man?” said a voice behind him.

  Joey felt a hand grab hold of him by the t-shirt. He spun around and found himself looking directly into the steely eyes of the motel housekeeper.

  “I, um, I was looking for….”

  The door to Room 210 opened and Reid stepped outside.

  “What’s the problem?” he asked the housekeeper.

  “I found this boy peeking in your window,” she explained.

  “You did, did you?” Reid stared down at Joey squirming in the housekeeper’s grip.

  Joey decided to tough it out. He didn’t know what else to do without Charlie. Who was going to kill him anyway when he found out.

  “Hey,” he said brightly. “What’s up?”

  “You know this boy?” asked the housekeeper, easing her hold on Joey’s shorts.

  “I certainly do,” said Reid. “He’s my…brother’s son.”

  Before Joey could protest, Reid had pried him from the woman’s grasp and straight-armed him into his room.

  The motel door closed behind them with a resounding click. Reid roughly shoved his young captive onto the bed. “Well, now,” he said in an ice-cold voice. “What are we going to do with you?”

  “Nothing,” declared Joey. “I came over to see if you were going to buy my Grampa’s house.”

  “Right. Which was why you were peeking in my window.”

  Joey started to get up. He had to get out of there. Reid was getting scary.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Home,” squeaked Joey. “My mother will be worried about me.”

  “Sit down.” Reid eyed him shrewdly. “I’ll bet she doesn’t even know where you are, does she?”

  Joey’s face gave him away.

  “Which reminds me,” said Reid menacingly. “How did you know where I was staying?”

  “Um, you said you were from out of town.”

  “There are half a dozen places to stay in Colville.”

  Joey edged his way back across the bed. When the telephone rang sharply on the table beside him, he almost jumped out of his skin.

  “One word out of you, kid, and you’re dead meat,” said Reid as he lifted the receiver.

  Essie hung up the phone and walked triumphantly into the living room. “He’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

  “All right!” exclaimed Charlie. “We’ve got him now.”

  Weirdo rubbed his hands together with glee. “That’ll teach him to try and bilk us oldies out of our money. Do you have the certificates, Essie?”

  “Right here.” She removed an envelope from beneath the cushion of the chair she was sitting on. “I didn’t want to let on, but I’d already got them out of the bank the other day, before you and Lisa came to see me,” she added to Charlie.

  “It’s too bad all the others aren’t around to see Treasure Creek finally pay off,” said Weirdo, patting Essie on the hand. “It’s been more than fifty years in the making.”

  “Can I see one of those certificates?” asked Lisa. “Mr. Weir has his so well hidden, nobody has ever seen them.”

  Weirdo almost blushed. “Gold makes people do strange things,” said Essie as she handed Lisa the envelope. “My late husband always wanted to go prospecting with Archie, even though he didn’t know the first thing about it.”

  “You know,” said Weirdo. “None of us ever did see Archie after the mine stopped producing.”

  Lisa removed the certificates and held them so Charlie could read over her shoulder.

  They looked rather like saving bonds. “Treasure Creek Gold Mine” was written in embossed gold letters. Each piece of paper represented a thousand shares in the mine.

  The crucial ownership clause was printed on the back, Weirdo explained. Whoever owned the shares could transfer the title to anyone else provided they had a witness.

  Charlie thought about what Mrs. Kowalski had told him.

  If his grandfather had already signed his over, he’d made a dreadful mistake.

  Charlie moved over to the window and glanced down the street. Nothing.

  “You’d better not stand there, Charlie,” cautioned Weirdo. “He might see you and take off.”

  “You’re right.” Charlie sat back down. He should relax; everything was going according to plan. Reid had no idea there were there. They outnumbered him four-to-one. He had absolutely nothing to worry about.

  Then why was he in a nervous sweat? Lisa gave the certificates back to Essie and smiled at him reassuringly. It didn’t help. When the doorbell rang a minute later, Charlie felt a rush of adrenalin.

  Essie Lovell jumped up and smoothed the front of her dress.

  “Remember, Essie, lock the door behind him and remove the key,” whispered Weirdo. “We’ll be right here if you need us.”

  Essie took a deep breath and went to answer the door.

  The other three waited in the living room. They heard the outside door open and close, and then Essie gave a half-scream of surprise. She appeared in the doorway a moment later. Her face was ashen. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

  “Essie! What’s the matter?”

  Reid stepped into view behind her. He held Joey across the front of his body like a shield.

  “Don’t anybody move,” he warned as Charlie reared out of his seat. “Or the kid gets hurt.”

  “Leave him alone!” cried Charlie. “He’s got nothing to do with this.”

  “Then why was he snooping around my motel room?”

  Charlie and Lisa exchanged a look of surprise. The last they’d heard Joey had gone to the library with his mother.

  “I’m sorry, Charlie,” cried Joey. “I was only trying to help.”

  “It’s okay, Joey. Don’t worry about it.” Charlie’s voice shook. They should have levelled with Joey.

  “Why don’t you sit down with the others, Mrs. Lovell,” said Reid in a sickly sweet voice. He waved her towards the sofa. “Joey and I will wait right here.”

&
nbsp; “You’re a real nasty piece of work,” growled Weirdo. “First you pick on old people, and now you’re using a kid to get what you want.”

  “It seems to be working quite nicely, doesn’t it,” drawled Reid. “I should have thought of it earlier, instead of wasting all my time trying to buy your stupid shares. But don’t worry, Mrs. Lovell. I’ll still pay you the hundred dollars.”

  “But they’re worth $2,000,000,” blurted Charlie.

  Reid eyed Charlie. “I see you’ve done your homework. Well, it doesn’t make any difference now, thanks to Joey here.

  Joey tried to break loose.

  “Let him go,” pleaded Lisa. “He’s just a little boy.”

  Charlie stood up to challenge Reid, but Reid only increased the pressure on Joey’s arm. “I said sit down.”

  Charlie clenched his fists, but he did as he was told. For the time being. There was no way Reid was walking out of that room with his brother.

  “As soon as Mrs. Lovell gives me the certificates, and you there…” he glared at Weir, “…act as witness. I’m out of here,” declared Reid.

  Essie Lovell covered Lisa’s hand with hers. They were sitting side by side on the sofa, the shares firmly planted beneath the cushions.

  “Why about the young lad?” barked Weirdo.

  “He comes with me.”

  “You’ll never get away with this,” hissed Weirdo. “That’s kidnapping.”

  “Relax, old man,” snorted Reid. “I don’t want to keep him. He drives me crazy. In fact, I think I’ll ditch him on my way out of town…. The certificates, Mrs. Lovell?”

  Essie gave Lisa’s hand a quick squeeze. “I’m so upset,” she said to Reid. “I can’t remember where I put them.” Her voice quavered convincingly.

  Lisa caught Charlie’s eye. Charlie gave Weirdo an imperceptible nod. Essie was playing for time.

  “You’d better back off, Reid,” barked Weirdo. “You’re upsetting Mrs. Lovell.”

  Essie let her shoulders slump and leaned back against Lisa. “She’s going to faint,” cried Lisa. She fanned Essie’s face with her hand.

  Reid stood his ground.

  “At least let me get her a drink of water,” said Charlie. He decided to risk standing up. “If she passes out, you’ll never get her shares.”