“Maybe you should get another one,” Gloria suggested.
“I’m thinkin’ I might just do that. Being with Mally made me realize just how much I miss Thor.”
He handed each of the women a manila envelope containing their personal belongings before leading them to the front entrance. “You leavin’ town soon?”
Gloria wasn’t sure if he was just making small talk or if he was more concerned the girls might get into more trouble…
She nodded. “Probably first thing in the morning.”
Margaret shuddered. “The only thing I want to see of this town is it in the rearview mirror!”
Officer Peyton laughed. “Can’t say as I blame you.”
They made their way out of the parking lot and onto the sidewalk. When they were out of earshot of the officer, Liz whispered. “We have to go back to Ethel’s to pick up your car.”
Liz was right. Hopefully, Anabelle was still parked in the field next to the property.
Thankfully, it was a short walk from the police station to the hotel where Liz’s car was still parked. Gloria slid into the front passenger seat. She dumped the contents of the manila envelope on her lap.
Everything appeared to be there. Her watch, cell phone, car keys, a note. Hmmm. She unfolded the single piece of paper. On it was written a single sentence. “Meet me at the Henderson place.”
Margaret leaned over the seat. “What’s that?”
“There was a note stuck in my envelope,” Gloria explained. “It says, “Meet me at the Henderson place.” The writing looked vaguely familiar. Gloria reached into her purse and pulled out the small piece of paper they found under her windshield wiper at the restaurant the other day. She laid the two small pieces of paper side-by-side on her lap. The writing was identical.
“You’re not seriously thinking of going back to that house…” That was the last thing Margaret wanted to do. She shuddered as she remembered the cold, damp jail cell they left only moments ago.
“We can’t just leave those gold coins in the house! Those are ours!” Liz was shocked Margaret would even consider leaving them behind.
The two bickered back and forth as Gloria pondered the note. She was certainly curious to find out who this person was. “Aren’t you the least bit curious?”
“Uh-uh. As a matter of fact, I’m not! And I am NOT going back in that house!” Margaret was adamant.
Liz shrugged. “Suit yourself. If you don’t go, you don’t get to share in the spoils.”
Margaret crossed her arms, clamped her mouth shut and glared out the window.
Gloria slowly folded the notes back up and shoved them in the bottom of her purse. The mystery of it all was just too tempting. Perhaps this was the same person that let the air out of their tires, too.
Gloria let out a huge sigh of relief when they rounded the corner and she spied Anabelle sitting in the same spot they left her just a day earlier. It seemed like an eternity ago.
The girls parked Liz’s car at the end of Ethel’s drive and made their way over to Anabelle. Gloria pulled on the handle. It was still locked. She peeked in the window. Nothing looked out of place.
She turned to Margaret. “You can wait in the car if you like but I’m going up to the house.”
Liz was ready. “Me too!”
Margaret’s shoulders slumped in resignation. On the one hand, she didn’t want to go to jail again but on the other, if the coins ended up being worth a boatload of money, no way would she ever be able to forgive herself if she didn’t get a cut. “I’m going, too,” she mumbled.
Before she could change her mind, Gloria marched over to the dirt driveway and began the climb up the hill. They moved at a slow pace. Mally was feeling better and her limp a little less visible but Gloria could still see it hurt her if she came down on her paw just right. “Take your time, girl. We’re not in a hurry,” Gloria told her.
Halfway up, they stopped to take a breather. The hill was steeper than Gloria remembered. When they finally made it to the top of the hill, Gloria noticed a newer, four door sedan parked next to Ethel’s old pick-up truck.
Gloria paused for a fraction of a second before knocking on the front porch door. The first couple taps were timid, as if she was afraid someone might actually answer.
Liz pushed her aside. “Nobody can hear that.” She rapped on the door loudly. “Hello? Anybody home?” she shouted into the crack.
The door slowly creaked open. A strong male voice was on the other side. “C’mon in!”
The interior was dark. The only thing Gloria could make out was a tall, shadowy figure. She swallowed nervously. Maybe this hadn’t been such a great idea after all.
Liz nudged her forward, following close behind. Margaret reluctantly brought up the rear. For a second, she almost turned on her heel and bolted but she’d already come this far. Margaret took a deep breath and plunged forward.
The tall figure led them into the kitchen where he turned around to face them. Gloria let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t look like a killer. From what she could tell, he was close to their age, maybe a few years younger.
His hair, peppered with a smattering of gray, was thick and bushy. His frame was thin and he stooped, just a tad, as if perhaps his back was bothering him. The most striking feature about the stranger were his eyes. They were cobalt blue. And piercing. They reminded Gloria of Aunt Ethel’s – and her own father’s.
“You must be wondering who I am…”
Gloria nodded. They were related, of that she was sure…
“I’m Ethel’s son, David.” His gaze traveled from one woman to the next. “Which one of you is Gloria?”
Gloria raised her hand. “That would be me.” She tapped Liz’s arm. “This is my sister, Liz.”
Margaret was the only one who didn’t speak up. She wasn’t about to tell this man who she was. He smiled at her kindly, his eyebrows raising just a tad as he looked at her inquiringly. Despite her vow, Margaret heard herself say, “I’m just a friend. Margaret,” she added.
David waved at the chairs. “Have a seat. I won’t keep you long,” he promised.
The girls spread out at the table, carefully avoiding the chair that poor Ethel died in. Mally crawled under the table and settled in near Gloria’s feet.
David pointed at Mally. “I heard about your dog. I’m sorry…”
Gloria reached under the table and stroked Mally’s head. “She’s gonna be alright.” She shook her head. “It’s not your fault. It was an accident,” she added kindly.
Liz spoke up. “We’re sorry about Ethel. Your mom,” she added.
David placed both hands on the edge of the counter as he leaned back casually. “That’s not your fault, either. Mom’s been having heart problems for a few years now. I guess the excitement of the last few days got the best of her,” he added.
He went on. “I tried to bail you all out this morning. When I got there, I found out they were getting ready to spring you.”
Gloria laughed. “I appreciate that.” She reached up and rubbed her aching shoulders. “That’s a night I’m sure I’ll never forget!”
“You got that right,” Margaret added.
David Henderson seemed like a decent fellow. A lot nicer than his own mother, God rest her soul, Gloria thought. She got a good feeling about the man. That he was honest and forthright. That he hadn’t enticed them out to the farm just to kill them.
“You were the one that left the note on my windshield the other day, trying to scare us off.” Gloria wasn’t accusing him. It was merely a statement.
“But did you have to let the air out of our tires?” Liz griped.
David shook his head in confusion. “I never let the air out of your tires.”
Gloria’s wheels were spinning. If David didn’t let the air out of their tires, who did and why?
“I did leave the note on your windshield,” he said. “My mom had this hare- brained idea the last few years that her dad, your grandfather, buried some ki
nd of treasure on the property.”
He went on. “I refused to help her search for it, certain it was just something she dreamed up.”
“When I got wind she managed to trick you into coming down here to search, I didn’t want to see you waste your time,” he explained.
He paused, as if searching for the right words. “Mom was a- a little unstable these last few years.”
Liz snorted. “Unstable? She said she was going to kill us and bury our bodies.”
“Surely you don’t think she would’ve done such a thing.” David was just a tad disillusioned about his mother. She was a little more sneaky and conniving than her son realized.
“She shot Mally,” Margaret pointed out.
“True,” he admitted. “Listen, I just wanted to apologize in person. I don’t want your only memory of my mother to be a bad one.”
Margaret jumped to her feet. “No harm done!” She was ready to get the heck out of there. The guy seemed on the up-and-up but one never could tell. Just look at his mother! She remembered the saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!”
It dawned on Gloria that neither Liz nor Margaret had any intention of telling David about the coins which didn’t seem right. Not in her mind. He was the rightful heir to his half of the worth. “We found something in the cellar,” she blurted out.
Margaret gasped. Liz shook her head but Gloria carried on. Shame on them for trying to steal this man’s inheritance!
“It was a small satchel with a few gold coins inside,” she explained.
Liz crossed her arms. She was downright glaring at Gloria by now.
Gloria wasn’t quite certain where the girls hid the satchel inside the house. She was at the hospital with Mally when all the excitement took place.
Gloria turned to Liz. “Go get the coins,” she ordered.
Liz looked none too happy as she grudgingly tromped off to the other side of the kitchen. She yanked a set of wooden bi-fold doors open. Behind the doors was a washing machine. She lifted the lid and reached inside.
Liz pulled the old leather satchel out. She stomped over to the table and dropped the bag on top before plopping down in the chair. “There ya’ go!”
His interest piqued, David made his way over to the table and picked the satchel up. He peered inside before reaching in and pulling one of the shiny gold coins out. He turned it over in his hand as he studied both sides. “These look old.” He turned to Gloria. “Where’d you say you found them?”
“In the cellar,” Margaret admitted.
He laid the coin on the countertop. “Mom never went down there. She never let us go down there, either. Something about dead people buried under the house.”
“That’s what your grandfather, our grandfather, told her,” Gloria explained. “Probably his way of keeping everyone away from the coins.”
“What do you think is fair?” He turned to Liz.
Gloria didn’t give her a chance to answer. “We split them 50/50.”
He nodded. First they’d have to figure out if they were even worth anything. “There’s a pawn shop in town. We can take a run over there and see what they have to say.”
The women and Mally climbed into David’s sedan for the short ride into town. He made small talk as they drove, telling them about his life and his career. Come to find out, he was a high profile trial lawyer in Gatlinburg.
“Sounds fascinating,” Gloria said.
He smiled. “It can be. It can also be very frustrating.”
David pulled into a small strip mall and directly in front of one of the store fronts. A black sign with bold letters read, “Valley City Pawn.” All four climbed out of the car and made their way inside.
Gloria decided to let David do the talking.
He placed one of the coins on the counter and slid it over to the clerk as the girls crowded around. “We were wondering if you might be able to tell us how valuable this coin is.”
The clerk picked up the coin. He pulled a small, handheld magnifier to his eye as he studied the coin. “Hmmm.”
He flipped it over and inspected the other side before pulling the tool away from his eye. “I’ll be right back.”
He turned around and quickly disappeared behind a walled partition. The clock ticked loudly as Margaret impatiently drummed her fingers on the glass counter top. “What’s taking him so long?”
He suddenly reappeared from the back and carefully set the coin down in front of them. “That coin is worth a lot of money. More than we could ever pay.”
He looked up at David. “There’s a large shop in Gatlinburg that specializes in rare coins. I’d take it to them if I were you,” he advised. “I think the name of it’s Tri-County Gold and Pawn or something like that.”
“I’ve heard of them.” David slipped the coin back into the pouch. “If you were to give your best guesstimate, what do you think it’s worth?”
The man shook his head thoughtfully. “If I had to guess, I’d say at least ten grand.”
Ten grand? Liz snatched the pouch off the counter and headed for the door.
“Thank you for your time.” David followed the women from the shop and out onto the sidewalk. “We’ll run back and get your cars. If you want, we can head up to Gatlinburg,” he offered.
“That’ll work perfect.” Gloria turned to the girls. “We can keep going after that.”
Margaret liked that idea. She was ready to go home, hopefully a little richer.
Back at the farmhouse, the group headed inside to grab some water and make a bathroom pit stop before making the long drive north.
Mally made it to the top step of the porch when suddenly her ears flattened. Her teeth bared and she let out a low warning growl.
“What’s the matter, girl?” Gloria patted her head and stepped inside the door. Mally followed her in. She growled again. This time a little louder. The dog stopped in the living room, refusing to move toward the kitchen.
Gloria tugged on her collar. “What’s gotten into you?”
“She’s probably ready to get the heck out of here, too!” Liz surmised.
The kitchen light was on. “I thought we turned that off when we left,” David commented.
So did Gloria. She headed to the fridge to grab some bottles of water when out of the corner of the kitchen a voice threatened. “Stay where you are!”
Gloria whirled around. Standing in front of her holding a small handgun was a woman. A familiar figure. Someone she’d seen before. Her eyes flew open when she realized who it was. It was the young waitress from the train! The one that gave her the map to Clingman’s Dome. “What the ??”
“What are you doing here, Sandy?” David took a step forward.
Now Gloria was totally confused. The two of them knew each other?
Sandy’s pretty young face twisted into an evil grimace. “So you thought you were going to keep everything for yourself and once again, I was going to get screwed over!”
He held up a palm. “Not at all.” He lowered his voice and began speaking in a soothing tone.
Her hand began to shake as she pointed the gun at him. “Ethel always insisted there was no coins, nothing buried out here but I knew she was lying, trying to keep me from getting my fair share.” She waved the gun in Liz’s direction now. “When she asked me to send those train tickets to her niece up in Michigan, I knew something was up.”
She went on. “Then when Ethel had me hand out those brochures as some kind of crackpot clues, I knew she was plannin’ on havin’ them do her dirty work and search for the treasure, all the while telling me she’d already searched this place and there wasn’t nothin’ here.”
Gloria took a step forward. “You-you were the one who locked me in the bathroom on the train…”
Sandy grinned evilly. It was fun watching the supposed super sleuth Gloria realize she’d been stalked the entire time she was here…
“And you were the one who let the air out of our tires.” Margaret studied Sandy in
a new light. What a shame. She seemed like such a nice young lady on the train…
“That’s right!” She whirled around and faced David. “I heard you talkin’ about the coins. Where are they?”
David glanced at the satchel on top of the kitchen table. She followed his gaze, realized the coins were in there and quickly snatched it up in her fist. She waved the gun towards the back porch door. “Head to the cellar,” she ordered.
Gloria wasn’t taking a single step until she found out what the connection was. She stubbornly stood her ground. “I’m not going anywhere until someone tells me who exactly you are.”
“Sure, I’ll tell ya’.” Sandy stood by the back door, resting the gun on the edge of the counter. It was pointing at Margaret now. Margaret shuffled to the right so the aim wasn’t on her anymore.
“Ernie – Ethel’s dad offered to let my great granddaddy, Skeeter McGee, partner up with him in the lucrative moonshine business. It was a 50/50 partnership. To get in, great granddaddy gave Ernie those there ten gold coins.”
“Things were goin’ great ‘til great granddaddy discovered the coins were worth a lot of money. A lot more than the moonshine business. When great granddaddy found out, he told Ernie he wanted the coins back and he could keep his old moonshine business.”
She stopped for a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing her tale. “When Ernie refused, they got into a huge argument. A fistfight inside the barn. One of the moonshine tanks got knocked over by accident. All that hundred and twenty proof alcohol spilled onto the ground.”
“The story goes that there was a small lantern sittin’ nearby on a stool. When the lantern fell, it ignited the alcohol and the whole place exploded. Great Granddaddy barely made it out alive. Ernie wasn’t so lucky,” Sandy added.
“Granny Maybelle knew all about the coins. So did Momma. We tried to come by here many times. We told Ethel we’d help her find them if she agreed to split them with us.” Sandy shook her head in frustration. “Every time she’d insist she’d already searched the place and couldn’t find anything.”
Apparently Sandy grew weary of explaining her story. “Put all your stuff on the table here,” she ordered.
Hope Callaghan - Garden Girls 03 - Smoky Mountain Mystery Page 12
