Searching For Treasure

by L. C. Davenport

  Rose poked Grace in the arm. "See, now isn't this better than going to see an old whorehouse in the Midwest?"

  Grace walked to the middle of the hallway with her hands outstretched, palms down, and began turning around in a slow circle with her eyes closed. She seemed to be humming.

  Rose chuckled. "You'll get used to her. She's from New York."

  "I'm trying to commune with the spirits," Grace said.

  "Spirits don't usually commune in the middle of the afternoon, Grace."

  Grace opened one eye. If it's possible to cast a baleful glance with one eye shut, then she did it.

  Within a couple of minutes, Grace and Rose had either totally charmed or bemused everyone around them, with the possible exception of Austin, who appeared supremely bored. Henry, however, looked like he was in a trance.

  "Um, Uncle Oscar, I think I've got all of the rooms ready." Everyone turned in unison to look up the stairs to the source of the angelic voice. At the first landing was a very pretty redhead teenager standing shyly above them, wearing white short-shorts and a pink t-shirt with tie-dyed splotches.

  "Everyone, I want you to meet my great-niece, Josie. She has been kindly helping me out this summer before she goes off to make the family proud at University."

  Her gaze darted around quickly to each person in turn, until she finally set them on Noah. She blushed before looking away again. "Hey,”she greeted them softly.

  Jack looked at the spark of interest on Noah's face and gave Dana an unobtrusive jab with his elbow. Dana nodded, knowing exactly what he was thinking. Just Noah's type…

  "Josie, why don't you show these folks their rooms? I'm sure by the time all of you get settled, dinner will be ready."

  "Okay." Josie walked down the stairs to stand in front of Noah. "Hi."

  "Hi." Noah roused himself with some effort. "Hi, I'm Noah. This is my sister, Dana. And, this is Jack."

  "Dana, will you and Jack be sharing a room?" she asked.

  "Oh no, Jack's my best friend. We don't share rooms," Dana replied feeling unaccountably flustered. This wasn't the first time someone had made this same assumption. She and Jack often laughed about it. But this was the first time the question had bothered her. And for some reason, she was unable to meet Jack's gaze. What the hell is wrong with me?

  Jack, wondering the same thing, added, "Noah and I will be sharing a room."

  "Oh... Are you two, um-?" Josie asked.

  Turning beet-red, Noah shouted, "No! I mean, Jack's a friend, a family friend, you know, one of the family?"

  "Oh, okay,”she said, turning red herself. "How many of you were planning to share a room?"

  Besides Jack and Noah, Grace and Rose; Henry and Mark; Brett and Austin, all planned to bunk together. Dana found herself odd-man-out, and agreed to take the smallest room at the top of the stairs. Josie explained that it had originally been an old schoolmaster’s room adjoining the nursery.

  Dana reached for her suitcase to take upstairs and found that Mark Hudson had reached for it first. "I'll take that for you Miss Parker," said the teenager shyly in his soft drawl.

  Dana smiled her thanks, aware that she was seeing a slight case of puppy love on the boy's face. This wasn't new for her. She'd had to deal with a few of these before, among Noah's friends. It was a fine line that had to be treaded between being sensitive to the young man's feelings and not encouraging his affection. Her smile turned to a frown; however, Austin reached out and grabbed the case away from Mark.

  "Forget it, little boy. I'm taking it up," Austin said in a strong, south London accent. Mark flushed but said nothing. Austin smirked at Dana in what he obviously thought was a God's-gift-to-women way. "Consider this my good deed for the day."

  With a glare, Dana took the bag herself. "I don't think so."

  "Well, well, instant dislike. That's a novel experience for me," Austin said.

  "Somehow,”Dana said as she brushed past him, "I doubt that."

  Josie had been watching the byplay, worriedly biting her lip, as if she was afraid of a situation developing that she wouldn't know how to handle. She relaxed slightly when Dana grinned at her and winked.

  "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I'll take you up now,”Josie said.

  They headed upstairs and once Josie indicated which room was Dana's, Dana peeled off from the rest of the group. She tossed her bag onto a lovely old four-poster bed. In fact, she was still studying the bed when Jack knocked on the door.

  "I noticed you doing that downstairs. What are you searching for?" he asked.

  "Just looking." She paused. "This bed is a Gaussier Ballard."

  "So?"

  "So I wonder if Mr. Gaston knows what it's worth."

  "Do you?" he asked with a smile.

  "Not exactly, but I think it's worth quite a bit. If he does know, he's taking a big chance letting tourists sleep on something so old and valuable."

  "Or maybe he's got tons of money and doesn't care."

  "Maybe."

  "Uh-oh, I know that look. It's not your business, D."

  Dana grinned mischievously. "But wouldn't it be funny if everyone went out searching for treasure, only to find out we'd been sleeping on it the whole time."

  "Are you going to unpack now?" Jack asked. Dana nodded. "I'll leave you alone." Jack stopped on his way out of the door. "I don't like that Austin character."

  "You and me both. Trouble with a capital T that rhymes with D and that stands for Austin," Dana said.

  Jack laughed. "I mean I don't like the way he looked at you."

  Dana glanced up in surprise at the edge of protectiveness she sensed in Jack's voice. He knew better than anyone that she could handle the Austin Jones’of the world. She said as much and was surprised even more when Jack's frown deepened. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. It was a habit that Dana knew meant he had something on his mind, and he didn't know how to say it. Instead he sighed and glanced at the floor for a moment. When he finally said something, it flabbergasted her.

  "I think I see a romance brewing," he said grinning.

  Dana's eyes widened in surprise and a flutter in her stomach overtook her that she couldn't account for. "W-What?"

  Jack looked at her oddly. "Noah and Josie. You must have noticed."

  Dana laughed weakly, feeling foolish. "Oh, that... Yeah, I noticed."

  Jack cocked his head. "Who did you think I meant?"

  Dana wasn't about to embarrass herself by saying what crazy thought had popped into her head. "Uh, I thought you meant me and Austin."

  "Hell, no!" he said, grimacing.

  "Well, why do you think I looked so surprised," she fibbed.

  "Huh." Jack looked at her with an expression she couldn't read and that worried her. They'd known each other too long, and knew each other too well... They had no secrets.

  "See you at dinner, Jack."

  Jack seemed to want to say something else, but he shook his head and left. Dana gathered a few things and went in search of the bathroom she had seen earlier. This was evidently a more recent addition to the castle, but she couldn't tell what part of the original it had replaced.

  Dana studied herself in the mirror, wondering, not for the first time, what was wrong with her. Not prone to superstition, she nonetheless wondered if there was a cloud of doom hanging over this weekend.

  A budding romance between a paying guest–her brother–and the owner's great-niece could create problems. There was the young Mark and his crush on her. There was Austin and his obnoxious attitude. There were these strange thoughts and feelings she'd been having lately. And then there was the unreadable expression in Jack's eyes that had bewildered her.

  "Well, hell,”she muttered to herself as she went down the stairs.

  Chapter 3

  When Dana reached the dining room, Grace was explaining Rose's insistence on being the only one who drives. "She's never really got over the accident. Now she trusts no one's driving but her own. It's totally nerve-wracking to the person driving i
f she happens to be a passenger in the car. She closes her eyes at approaching stop signs and stomps at phantom brake pedals."

  "How do you think it is for me?" Grace asked.

  "I think it is Post-Traumatic Stress. I've suggested therapy, but-"

  "Hell, I don't see the point of spending a hundred dollars an hour just for some shrink to tell me to get over it. It's just easier to always drive."

  Dinner was waiting for them in the dining room, although there was no sign of the wonderful cook Oscar had promised them. It had been placed out on a sideboard so they could serve themselves and the table was beautifully set.

  The meal consisted of a rich seafood soup made thick with oysters, seasoned and served with home made bread; a creamy crawfish bisque; stuffed dumplings; crispy bread sticks dripping with butter; minted ice tea; and to top it all off, chocolate profiteroles for dessert.

  It wasn't far into the meal before everyone realized that the fine dining mentioned in the brochure had not been an exaggeration.

  Dana fixed her plate and sat down next to Oscar. He was frowning thoughtfully at Josie, who was giggling at something Noah had said. In an attempt to distract him, Dana asked, "Mr. Gaston, what can you tell us about the history of Raven Keep Castle?"

  "Please, call me Oscar." He smiled with warm pride. "I personally find the history of Raven Keep Castle to be quite interesting, but I'm afraid the rest of you might find it boring."

  "Oh, piffle," Grace said. "Why do you think folks come to these places if not for the history? If we'd wanted something new, we'd have gone to Las Vegas."

  "I've heard such romantic stories about how grand life was in castles," Rose said.

  Clearly delighted at the interest, Oscar began: "When most people think of castles, they think of kings, queens and princesses. But many have owned castles since the great rulers and there are many fascinating romantic stories to be told. Like spiders."

  "Spiders?" Noah looked puzzled. "You mean like the creepy crawly kind?"

  "Yes. There are many stories, each one more outlandish than the next. But my favorite was about the castle owner who imported spiders from China. He had the spiders spin webs in his oak trees that he later covered with gold dust for the double wedding of his two daughters."

  Rose barked out a laugh. "Sounds like a bunch of people with more money than sense."

  Oscar continued. "Mr. Randolph, owner of Raven Keep Castle during that time would have agreed with you. He didn't go for such grandiosity. He trusted in the land, not in the things money could buy. So he survived through the reconstruction and beyond."

  Brett and Austin had been shoveling in their food as they ignored the others. Brett pushed his plate towards the center of the table and stood. "While I find all of this riveting, you had mentioned a meeting about how the treasure hunting was supposed to proceed."

  Oscar, clearly beginning to lose patience with the man's rudeness, didn't even try to smile. "After dinner, we will meet in the library and I will explain the ground rules. Once," he added pointedly, "everyone is finished."

  Austin stood and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "We'll be waiting in the library then."

  "Mr. Jones, you can not smoke that in here. I'm sorry; I should have mentioned that at the beginning. This castle and its furnishings are very old. If anyone wishes to smoke, they must do so outside."

  With a hateful glare and a muttered curse, Austin went outside through the front door. Brett headed to the library to wait for him there.

  With a disgusted look at their retreating backs, Henry gallantly tried to return to the genial after-dinner conversation. "Well, I'm glad to see that some old places survived the wars pretty much intact," he declared. "Mark and I saw some gorgeous places further south. Oak Palace and East Gate were two of our particular favorites."

  "Rose and I love to visit old places, too," Grace said.

  "Yeah, next year, we plan on doing a tour of birthplaces." Rose looked around at the questioning faces. "We plan to cross the country that way. Last year we took a Black History tour. You would not believe what fascinating things they don't teach you in history class."

  "What kind of tour are you on this time?" Henry wanted to know.

  "A supernatural tour. Grace's idea. But I have to admit it's been fun. The witch museum in Salem, Mass, a voodoo tour of New Orleans, plus we've been visiting some famous and not so famous haunted houses along the way."

  Jack met Dana's eyes and they gleamed with memory. "Are you planning a visit to The Myrtles?" he asked.

  "Arguably the most haunted house in America?" Grace exclaimed. "Of course. It's the highlight of our world trip."

  "We try to break up the theme with little side trips like this. Just to give it some variety."

  Josie smiled shyly. "You seem to travel a lot."

  "Oh, its not just travel", Grace said. "We're trying to experience life to the fullest."

  "We've been doing this for about six years. Grace and I had been friends forever, and it just so happened that our husbands left both of us, pretty close to the same time."

  "Four weeks apart. Can you believe it?" Grace said.

  "You know, same old sad story. Heard it a million times. Trade in the old heap for a newer model. One day Grace dragged me to one of those gripe sessions at the Y-"

  "It was a support group," Grace interrupted.

  "Whatever. A bunch of menopausal old biddies moaning and whining about their sorry lot in life…not for me, thanks. I checked the bulletin board to see what else they had that might be interesting." Rose laughed derisively. "Square dancing. Pottery. Flower arranging. This was going to be my lot in life from now on? Screw that. I got mad."

  "It wasn't pretty to see," Grace said.

  Rose grinned. "It felt good though. I was beginning to feel that I had wasted the last thirty-five years of my life, keeping house and typing papers for a man who obviously didn't appreciate it. Do you know what that feels like, to feel you have wasted your life? Well never again. But even though Chester left me for a younger, classier broad, he did try to be fair about money. He gave me a bundle in the divorce settlement."

  "I had money of my own," Grace added.

  "So with money in our pockets and time on our hands, we decided to make up for the lost years. We watched whales in Cape Cod, rode the rapids on the Snake River, fished for marlin off the coast of Florida and herded sheep in Wyoming. I know too many folks our age who go to the Grand Canyon and ooh and ahh and snap, snap, snap with the camera. That's not how I want to finish out the rest of my life. When we went to the Grand Canyon, we rode those little burros down into the canyon, camped out, watched the sunrise over the lip of the canyon the next morning and rode them back up. Now that's the way to see the Grand Canyon."

  Mark glanced around the table. Oscar was nodding at Rose with approval. Henry, resting his head on his fist, was looking at her with a starry-eyed expression. Dana and Jack were wearing almost identical expressions of something akin to hero worship.

  Once Oscar was sure everyone had eaten their fill, he brought them to the library where Brett and Austin were already waiting. There he went over how the upcoming weekend would play out.

  "There are many stories of treasure surrounding this castle, some of which I quite frankly discredit. Such as the train and bank robber, who between robberies lived with the family, posing as the children's schoolteacher. He supposedly left some of his loot somewhere in the castle. Or the story about the pirate burying some of his gold on the property, but I wouldn't put much stock in it.

  However, one story that may have some credence concerns one former owner who died mysteriously. He reportedly kept a small fortune in gold, silver and jewels that was never found after his death."

  Austin stirred from where he had been leaning against the mantel. "So you do believe there is treasure here?" Austin asked.

  "I believe it is possible, yes, but perhaps not the grand treasure troves of your imagination. In the old days, many hid their val
uables on their own property, rather than trusting banks. It is possible there may be some of those types of treasure. Gold coins, silver coins, small jewels, knives, weapons, belt buckles, pocket watches–all are valuable to museums and collectors. However, one will not become rich off of that kind of discovery.

  "As to the rules. As you can imagine, I cannot allow significant property damage to occur while searching for treasure. After all, this is something of a resort or has aspirations to be, and others will be coming to try their luck after you are gone. So no tearing down walls or dismantling fireplaces."

  Mark raised his hand, tentatively, as if he was sitting in school. "Excuse me, Mr. Gaston, but can we dig holes?"

  Oscar smiled warmly at the boy. "Yes, Mark, holes can be easily refilled. You cannot tear up trees or bushes while digging, but you can dig."

  "So we can only look in the yard?" Grace wondered. Dana had to smile at the notion that the vast grounds surrounding the castle could be considered a yard.

  "No, not at all. There may be many hiding places inside the castle. But please use your common sense. People who hid their belongings for safekeeping would still want them to be easily retrieved if need be. It would be foolish to tear down a wall each time you wanted to pay the window cleaner. It would make much more sense to have secret hiding places in easily accessed areas."

  "Like where?" Mark asked. He was eager to know.

  Brett smiled with smug superiority. "Why the hell would we tell you? Figure it out for yourself."

  Creep, Dana thought.

  "You know,”Jack said, who thought the same as Dana,“like if someone hid something outside they'd want to be able to see the location from their bedroom window and be able to find it without the aid of a lamp. That way they wouldn't tip off the neighbors when they tried to get their money."

  Brett looked at Jack with a glare. Jack only returned his look with bland innocence.

  "We don't have to look for treasure, do we?" Everyone turned to Dana with a surprised, why-else-are-you-here look on his or her face. "I just wanted to know."