The Virginia Mysteries Collection: Books 1-3

by Steven K. Smith

  SEVEN

  The Phone Call

  After Sam found Caitlin’s name under ‘M’ for Murphy, he picked up the phone and paused. He’d never called a girl before. Not that it was a big deal, but it just seemed a little weird. He certainly had never thought about calling Caitlin of all people. She normally drove him crazy, and not in a good way. Having Derek stare at him across the bedroom with a big goofy grin definitely wasn’t helping either.

  Finally, he dialed the number. After a of couple rings, a woman’s voice answered.

  “Hi, this is Caitlin’s home? I mean, this is Sam. Is Caitlin home?”

  “Sam,” the woman’s voice repeated, “Sam who?”

  “Sam Jackson,” he said, getting red all over again. “Um, I’m in Caitlin’s class. I have a homework question.” He knew that wasn’t entirely true, but it was related to research and history. Those were school kinds of things even if it wasn’t exactly homework. Plus it all started on a school field trip.

  “Oh, Sam Jackson!” exclaimed the woman, whom he assumed was Caitlin’s mother, like she was telling other people in the room who was calling.

  Sam felt sick.

  “Yes, I heard that you were on the field trip with Caitlin this week,” she said. “Did you have a good time? Caitlin has been talking all about it. I’m so glad that you two have become such good friends.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  A man of few words – that was Sam. Good friends? What the heck had Caitlin had been saying about the trip? He’d certainly never thought of her as his friend or anything like that. He wondered if she’d told her parents about what happened to him in the basement.

  Derek threw a pillow at him from across the room and motioned with his hands to get on with it already.

  “Okay, Sam. Here’s Caitlin. Goodbye.” She sounded much too happy for his liking.

  A softer voice came on the line.

  “Hel-lo?”

  It was Caitlin. The way she said hello made it sound like she couldn’t understand in a million years why he would be calling her. Sam almost hung up. This was just another of Derek’s stupid ideas.

  He cleared his throat and nearly sneezed. “Uh, hi, Caitlin. It’s Sam.”

  “Yes, I know, Sam. Why are you calling my house?” She emphasized ‘house,’ like he should have expressly known never to call her at her house of all places.

  Sam put his hand over the phone and whispered to Derek. “She doesn’t want to talk to me. This was a bad idea!”

  “Here, let me talk to her,” said Derek, striding across the room.

  Before Sam could stop him, Derek snatched the phone right out of his hand. Sam tried to grab it back, but Derek pushed him away and walked back to the other side of the room.

  “Hi, Caitlin, this is Sam’s older brother, Derek. How are you on this fine evening?”

  Sam smacked his hand against his forehead. This was going to be a disaster. He couldn’t hear what Caitlin was saying any more. Derek’s side was bad enough.

  “Sam tells me that you were involved in the incident that he had at P. Henry’s church the other day…”

  P. Henry? Who did Derek think he was, a historical rapper? Derek was trying so hard to act cool. Sam was sure that she’d hang up on him.

  “Anyway,” Derek continued, “Sam says that you’re great with research. We’re in a bit of a jam with our computer access right now. Do you think you could help us out?”

  There was silence while Derek waited for a response. “You will? Perfect! Thanks a lot. Here, let me put you on speaker so that Sam can hear you, too.”

  Derek pushed a button on the phone and handed it back to Sam. With a wink, he made a motion with his finger like a gun that meant everything was cool.

  “Hello?” So now she was back to saying that again?

  “Hi, Caitlin,” Sam jumped in. “So anyway, we found a letter when we went back to the church. It seems to have been written by Thomas Jefferson to George…”

  “Thomas Jefferson!” she screamed. “Are you serious?”

  Man, she was excited. She sure didn’t sound like the typical snobby Caitlin from class.

  “Uh, Caitlin,” interrupted Derek. “We have to ask that you keep this information top secret. You can’t tell anybody right now, not even your parents.”

  “Why not?” she asked suspiciously. “You didn’t steal something, did you? Was Billy part of this? Is he there with you right now?”

  “No, Billy isn’t here,” Sam assured her. “And we didn’t really steal anything either, we just found this letter.”

  He gave her a quick run-down of how they’d found the letter at the church. Then he read it to her. She corrected him on a few of the longer words just like he figured she would. He was happy to at least know what ne’er-do-well meant in case she asked him.

  “That’s unbelievable!” Caitlin said, after Sam finished reading. “You have to tell someone, maybe the museum.”

  “We’re trying to figure this out on our own first,” said Derek. “We’ve actually done this kind of thing before. You may have seen us in the newspaper last year. We were the ones who recovered the lost coin collection for the museum.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” said Caitlin. “I do remember seeing that.”

  Sam rolled his eyes.

  “So, Caitlin,” Sam said, trying to get back on track. “Can you look up this Sweeney guy on your computer and tell us what it says?”

  “Sure, I can do that. I have a laptop in my room. Don’t you?”

  “Uh, no, we don’t.” Sam muttered. Mom and Dad had a policy about no TV or computer in the boys’ bedroom. It didn’t seem fair since everybody, even Caitlin, apparently, had one. Mom and Dad said something about keeping track of what they’re looking at and encouraging ‘family time,’ but Sam didn’t quite get it.

  “Okay, let me look here,” said Caitlin, already typing away on her computer. “Do you know his full name other than just Sweeney?”

  “No,” said Derek. “That’s all the letter says. Mr. Sweeney.”

  “It did say something about sharing George Wythe’s name, though,” added Sam. “Maybe you could search for Sweeney and George Wythe.”

  “Okay, let me see.” Sam heard Caitlin hitting buttons on her computer. Then there was a short pause as she read to herself.

  “Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed.

  “What?” both the boys yelled together.

  “What is it?” Sam said again.

  “You’re not going to believe this,” said Caitlin. “It says that in 1806, there was a George Sweeney on trial in Richmond. Sweeney, the grand-nephew of George Wythe, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, was acquitted of murdering Wythe, who died of arsenic poisoning!”

  “Whoa, I didn’t know Wythe had a grand-nephew! I’ve never even heard of that before,” said Derek.

  Sam smacked him in the arm. “Stop it, Derek, be serious. Aren’t you listening? Wythe was poisoned by his own family! No wonder Thomas Jefferson called Sweeney a worthless person.”

  “That’s terrible to have such an important man killed like that,” said Caitlin. “This article says that Sweeney was found not guilty. That’s what acquitted means, Sam. The only witness to the poisoning was one of Wythe’s slaves. Back then, courts couldn’t hear the testimony of black witnesses. That’s terrible. Wythe told his friends on his death bed, ‘I am murdered.’”

  “That’s creepy,” said Derek. “This Wythe character has quite a story.”

  “So what are you going to do now?” Caitlin asked. “Have you thought about the rest of the letter?”

  Sam had been so wrapped up in hearing about George Sweeney, he almost forgot to consider what else the letter said.

  “Read me the middle part again,” said Caitlin. “Where he was giving something back to Wythe.”

  Sam found the part she was talking about and began to read the letter aloud:

  “I give back to you now, even in death, this key to the marvelous device
you demonstrated in your study. You’ll remember it leads to the early version of our great declaration, the one I sent with you upon your return to Williamsburg before the great signing.”

  “Let me look up George Wythe and Williamsburg now,” said Caitlin.

  They heard a few moments of typing.

  “He must be talking about the Wythe House in Williamsburg. It says that’s where George Wythe lived.”

  “Hey, that’s the place Mom and Dad talked about at dinner,” said Derek. “Have you ever been there, Caitlin?”

  “I think I’ve walked by it. I haven’t been inside, although they probably give tours,” she answered. “You two have been to Williamsburg, haven’t you? It’s only like an hour away. They have all kinds of interesting…”

  “Yeah, we’ve been there,” Sam interrupted her. He’d heard Caitlin give speeches about “interesting” things before, and they didn’t have that much time to talk tonight.

  “We were there when we were younger,” said Sam. “Our mom went to college in Williamsburg, and our parents got married at the chapel there.”

  “I don’t think we cared much about this stuff the last time we were there, though,” admitted Derek. “It seemed kind of boring. I do remember putting my head in that big wooden thing. That was cool!”

  “The stocks,” said Sam. He recalled Mom and Dad taking a picture of each of them with their head and arms stuck in the wooden constraints. “Maybe we should have left you there, Derek.”

  “Oh my gosh, I just thought some more about the letter,” said Caitlin. “Do you know what he must have meant by the early version of the declaration?” Her voice was brimming with anticipation. She didn’t wait for them to answer. “The Declaration of Independence!” she shrieked over the phone.

  “Whoa,” said Derek. “Is it the real Declaration of Independence? Maybe all this time, the country has been looking at the wrong document! Maybe we’re not officially Americans. We could actually be part of Spain!”

  “What I don’t understand,” said Caitlin, ignoring Derek like she often ignored Billy, “is why the letter says Jefferson sent something with Wythe to Williamsburg before the great signing. They signed the Declaration in Philadelphia. Why would he go back to Williamsburg before it was signed? I’ll have to do more research and get back to you at school. This is too much – I have to go!”

  “Okay, thanks…” Sam tried to say, but she had already hung up. Girls were weird.

  There was a knock on their door.

  “Boys, did you take the phone from the kitchen? I can’t find it down here anywhere.”

  It was Mom!

  “Quick – get that letter rolled up and under the bed!” Derek whispered.

  “Uh, yeah, I think it’s in here somewhere, hang on,” Sam stalled.

  “What are you boys doing in there?” Mom called through the door.

  “We’re looking up words in the dictionary,” said Derek, in a half-truth. He watched Sam put the letter carefully under the bed without tearing it.

  “Okay, come in!”

  “Were you on the phone?” asked Mom.

  “No, we were just stumping each other with words,” Derek lied. “Sam is a ne’er-do-well.”

  “Really! Well, that’s a pretty big word. You’ve been known to be a troublemaker yourself, sir,” Mom said, laughing. “It’s time to get ready for bed. It’s late, and you both have school tomorrow.”

  “Okay,” answered Derek.

  “Here’s your phone, Mom,” said Sam.

  After the lights were out, Sam looked over at Derek’s bed. “What are we going to do?”

  “We need to figure out the part about Wythe’s study in Williamsburg. There’s something hidden there, but I don’t know what.” Derek yawned loudly and turned over in his bed. “I’ve got to go to sleep. We can figure this out tomorrow after school. It’s not going anywhere tonight.”

  Sam lay in his bed holding the “key” that didn’t look like a key. He stared at the ceiling. How could he go to sleep with so much to think about? They had found something amazing here. It was even bigger than the rare coins they found last summer. He had a piece of history right in his hands. A letter and a clue from one of the most important people in the nation.

  Sam agreed with Derek – they had to go to Williamsburg. He hoped Mom and Dad wouldn’t change their minds. What could be in George Wythe’s study? Could it really lead to the Declaration of Independence? That didn’t seem possible. He’d read in his textbook at school that the Declaration of Independence was on display in Washington.

  He imagined George Wythe, such an important guy, lying in bed, yelling about being poisoned by his good-for-nothing grand-nephew, Sweeney. Not the way that you want to go. And poor George wasn’t even that famous. Well, at least Sam hadn’t known about him before Caitlin pointed out his grave.

  Certainly he wasn’t as famous as his student, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson went on to be one of the most famous people in the country. He even became President, for goodness sake. Sam and his family had visited the Jefferson Memorial in Washington. He didn’t remember seeing a Wythe Memorial. It just goes to show that life isn’t fair. Jefferson ended up on the nickel, and Wythe ended up poisoned.

  Sam tried to think about the letter some more, but his head was starting to hurt. His eyes were heavy. Before long, despite his swirling thoughts, he was asleep.

  EIGHT

  The Declaration

  “Children, that’s enough talking. In your seats right now!” yelled Mrs. Haperwink.

  The pledge of allegiance was about to start, followed by the morning announcements over the loudspeaker.

  Sam was tired again. He still wasn’t sleeping, which was twice as bad for him as it would be for some people. Normally he slept like a rock. But when he didn’t sleep well, he really felt terrible.

  As the bell rang, Caitlin was trying to get his attention from across the aisle. She mouthed the words ‘I need to talk to you.’ Sam wrote ‘recess’ on the top of his notebook and held it up to her as he stood for the flag. There was no sign of Billy, but he was often late, so that was nothing new.

  I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America.

  As if that were his introduction, Billy burst around the corner. Realizing that he was interrupting the pledge, he stopped in the doorway and came to attention with his hand over his heart. Mrs. H gave him a critical look.

  And to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

  As Billy sauntered over to his desk, Sam couldn’t help but notice that word again in the pledge – “liberty.”

  It was following him.

  He supposed it was better than having a word like “death” or “destruction” follow him, but it did remind him of Jerry. Sam had been dreaming about him all night. Bad Patrick Henry, as Derek had taken to calling Jerry.

  Third grade recess was late in the day, and lunch was even later. It seemed really stupid to Sam. Derek’s fourth grade class ate lunch at eleven, but they didn’t have their recess until the last period of the day. It didn’t make any sense. He wondered if Ms. Saltwater had engineered the schedule just so the day could be a bit more miserable for everyone. He wouldn’t put it past her.

  As soon as they reached the playground, Caitlin ran over and grabbed Sam’s arm. “I have to talk to you!”

  “Okay, okay. I want to talk to you too, but let go of my arm.” Sam wriggled loose from her grasp before anyone noticed.

  “Sam, come on, the game is going to start,” yelled Brandon Perth from the soccer field. “Or maybe you’re going to play in the girls’ game today!”

  Several of the guys laughed and pointed to him standing next to Caitlin.

  “Jackson, come on,” Billy said as he jogged by. He pointed to the soccer field. “You were supposed to be co-captain today for choosing teams.”

  “I don’t think I’m going to play today,” Sam answered.

  “Yo
u’re what?” yelled Billy. No one ever turned down the chance to be captains for soccer.

  “Caitlin and I have some stuff to talk about from the church, remember?” Sam swore that Billy came to school with only half a brain sometimes.

  “Church? But today’s Monday,” replied Billy, until a wave of recognition slowly came over his face. “Oh, that church! Right, hey, I’m coming too.”

  The other boys noticed Billy walking off with Sam and Caitlin.

  “Aw, forget it,” yelled Brandon in disgust. “Reed, you’re co-captain today in place of Sam. Let’s go.”

  Sam sat down on the picnic bench next to the blacktop and turned to Caitlin. “So what did you find out about the letter?”

  “Well, I did some more searching about why George Wythe would go home to Williamsburg before the signing,” started Caitlin.

  “You found a letter! When did you do that?” asked Billy in surprise.

  “I’ll tell you later,” replied Sam. He turned back to Caitlin. “Go on, what did you find out about Williamsburg?”

  “So, as you know,” she paused and sighed at Billy. “Well, as some of you know, the Founding Fathers were in Philadelphia at the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, to sign the Declaration of Independence. It turns out that’s not entirely true. They declared independence on July 4, but the actual document wasn’t ready for the official signing until a few weeks later. They couldn’t just hit print on their computer, you know.”

  “Could they take a picture on their phone?” asked Billy.

  Caitlin sighed but continued. “Anyway, the document had to be engrossed, which I read means copying it onto parchment paper very neatly. It wasn’t ready for the final signatures until August 2, 1776. That’s almost a month later. By that time, George Wythe and several others had already returned home.”

  “I guess he had other things to do besides sit around Philadelphia waiting for the ink to dry,” said Sam.

  “Right, so he went back home to Williamsburg.”

  “To the George Wythe House,” said Sam.