by Patricia Fry
Arthur smiled at her. “It’s weird, though.”
“Why?” Michael asked.
“Because we can come and go as we please.”
When Rags started pulling on the leash and trying to follow Koko into another room, Savannah picked him up. She peered at Arthur. “So do you still go in and out through the turret using that precarious ladder?”
He laughed and shook his head. “We found one of the original doors to the basement. It was hidden real well inside a broom closet.” He looked at Michael. “We’re finding all kinds of things we didn’t know existed. Even as a child—before the… accident—I didn’t have the freedom to explore much around this place.” His face lit up when he said, “I found out it was built in the late 1880s and somehow survived the big Frisco earthquake in 1906. It has had only a handful of owners. Charles Peyton bought it… ” he frowned, “with my father’s money… thirteen years or so ago. It seems that there were long periods of vacancy. It had been empty for a decade when we moved in.”
“Fascinating,” Savannah said.
Suzette winked. “Wait ‘til you hear some of the rumors.”
“Rumors?” Michael asked.
Arthur hesitated, then said to Suzette, “You know, they’re probably tired. Let’s let them get settled and we’ll tell them the juicy stuff over dinner tonight.”
Michael chuckled. “Sounds good.”
“And I want to show you that… strongbox, coffin, or whatever it is… after a while,” Arthur added. “Shall we meet in the living room around three thirty?”
“Sure. That’ll give us a chance to put Lily down for a nap and rest a little,” he said.
****
“Is she all rested?” Arthur asked, when he saw the Ivey family appear in the living room two hours later.
Savannah nodded. “Looks like the sale’s still going.”
“Yes.” Arthur glanced around the room. “Still a lot of stuff here and more coming out of the closets and the barn each day.” He focused on Lily. “Want to go for a walk, little one?”
“Good idea,” Michael said, handing the baby to Savannah. “I’ll get her stroller out of the car.”
“She might need her jacket,” Savannah said, turning to head back to their suite.
Arthur held out his hands. “Here, Suzette and I’ll entertain her until you get back.”
When Savannah noticed the Siamese cat batting a wad of paper around Suzette’s feet, she asked, “Is Koko going out with us?”
“Yes,” Arthur said. “Want to bring Rags?”
She nodded. “Might as well let him out for a stroll.”
Within a few minutes, Savannah returned with the large grey-and-white cat dressed in his blue harness attached to a matching leash. Arthur picked up Koko and the two couples walked together out through the kitchen door and along a cement path—Michael pushing Lily in the stroller. Michael chuckled. “Arthur, I get a kick out of the way Koko rides draped across your shoulders.”
“Yeah, good thing she’s a lightweight,” Savannah said. “I don’t think I could carry Rags around my neck like that.”
“He’d probably get altitude sickness riding on either of your shoulders,” Arthur said, laughing. “That would be a long jump for him if he wanted to get down.”
“Oh, I’m not that much taller than you are,” Savannah said.
“What are you,” Suzette asked, “five foot ten?”
Savannah smiled. “Close. My friend Iris is five ten. I’m half an inch shorter than she is. Most of our friends and even the rest of my family are all shorter—five four, five five, like you are, Suzette. Iris and I… and Michael… are known as the tall people.”
The younger woman stood erect. “I’m actually five six,” she said.
Arthur smiled. He rubbed one cheek affectionately against the Siamese cat, then said, “What I want to show you is near that old incinerator.”
“Gosh, that’s quite an antique, isn’t it?” Michael said when he spotted the large, crudely constructed cement-and-iron waste burner. “I didn’t notice it when we were here before.” He glanced toward the row of bungalows. “Well, it wasn’t visible from our bungalow, was it?”
“No,” Arthur said. “Plus, this whole area was hidden behind a dense row of shrubs on that side. They were dying and full of stickers, so I had them taken out and hauled away.”
Michael examined the structure more closely. “I’ll bet this was built around the same time the house was—you say the late 1880s?”
“Yeah, I read that people used to burn their garbage and trash in these things.” Arthur chuckled. “I guess they didn’t have trash pick-up in the horse-and-buggy days.”
Michael squatted in order to examine the incinerator more closely, remarking, “Gosh, this is really something.”
“I know,” Arthur said. “When I was a kid, I used to think it would make a great fort. But I wasn’t allowed to get dirty to find out,” he lamented.
Michael stood and began walking around the ornate object, shaking his head and chuckling every once in a while. “It’s an interesting piece of work,” he muttered, as if to himself. Looks like you could use it for burning even today.”
“Maybe. But that’s not what I wanted to show you,” Arthur said, walking about twelve feet west of the burner. “Look at this.”
The others caught up to Arthur, who had stopped next to a large, two-foot high, circular rock wall.
“Wow, this is old, too, isn’t it?” Savannah remarked. “What was it? A wishing well… koi pond?”
“Fountain?” Michael suggested. He scanned the area. “Looks like this was one of those outdoor rooms or garden rooms that are so popular now. See there,” he pointed, “that’s the remnants of something—probably seating—cement benches—and what might have been a wooden pergola.”
“Probably,” Savannah said. She pointed. “There’s a gnarled trunk from an old wisteria or climbing rose. I imagine this was a really pretty area at one time.”
“Out here next to the incinerator?” Arthur asked, frowning.
“Yeah, they may have used it as part of the design,” Michael said. “See?” he gestured, showing the possible borders of the outdoor room. He motioned toward the incinerator. “This was probably the focal point—they might have burned it to keep warm out here while entertaining.”
“Or they just used it as a conversation piece,” Savannah suggested.
Michael shrugged. “Maybe.” He looked out over the expanse of land toward the ocean. “What a great view on a clear day.” He then glanced down at the circular rock wall. “And this provided the serenity. Water is calming. Maybe it was simply a pond… a lily pond,” he said, emphasizing Lily’s name by tickling her. He laughed when she giggled.
Arthur nodded. “But it appears to have been abandoned for a long time, wouldn’t you say so?”
“Oh yeah,” Michael agreed, “… a long time.”
“Well, check this out,” Arthur said, climbing into the cement ring and pointing at a piece of rusted iron protruding from between two partially buried river rocks.
“What is that?” Michael asked.
“I don’t know.” Arthur faced Michael. “Suzette and I go walking every day and this morning, we saw Koko inside here pawing at something.” He motioned toward a pile of rocks. “It was filled almost to the top with those stones.”
“We figured she was after a lizard or maybe a snake,” Suzette said, shuddering at the thought.
Arthur grinned at her before continuing. “So I climbed in here with Koko and started moving the weeds and rocks out of the way.” He pointed. “That’s when I saw this piece of metal poking out. It looks to me like a handle, and I’m curious as heck to find out what it’s attached to.”
“I’m betting on a hidden treasure,” Suzette said.
Michael stepped into the circle and peered down at the protrusion. Running his hand through his straight dark-brown hair, he muttered, “Interesting.” He squatted and tugged on the piece of
iron, then sat back on his heels. “It looks to me like it’s been buried there for decades.” He squinted up at Arthur and Suzette. “Are there any tools around here?”
“Here are a couple of screwdrivers we found,” Arthur said. “We used them to dig some of the dirt out. But they weren’t strong enough to pry those rocks loose.”
“I saw a bunch of bigger tools in that shed over there,” Suzette said. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
In the meantime, Savannah saw someone moving around near one of the bungalows. She shaded her eyes from the sun and squinted. “Oh, there’s Ruth. What’s she doing?” After staring at her for a few moments, Savannah aimed the stroller in that direction and called out to Michael, “I’ll catch up with you later. I’m going to go talk to Ruth.”
“Sure, honey,” he said, continuing to walk off with Arthur and Suzette.
“Want a ride, Rags?” Savannah asked, motioning for him to hop into the carry basket on the back of the stroller. The cat looked at the basket and then up at Savannah. “Hop in, Rags,” she urged a couple of times, gesturing with one hand. Finally he decided that a ride would be nice and he stepped in and sat down. Koko trotted along behind the stroller, keeping a curious eye on Rags.
Ruth looks upset, Savannah thought, as she drew near. Who are those women she’s talking to and why are they behind the bungalows? She stopped and considered turning around. Looks like a personal conversation. But when she saw the other two women walk away and climb into a parked taxicab, she decided to approach her friend.
“Hi, Ruth,” Savannah said.
The pert woman turned quickly toward Savannah, her short dark bobbed hair swinging to one side. “Oh, you startled me! Hi, Savannah.”
“Are you okay? You look a million miles away.”
“Yes, more like a thousand years away.” Ruth stood quietly for a moment, staring off in the direction the cab had gone, before saying, “That was my sister Matilda… Mattie.”
“Oh?” Savannah glanced at the dust cloud in the distance. “The homeless sister you told me about?”
“Yes, she came here with a friend—someone she knows from the streets—and she happened to see me.” She shook her head slowly. “I did not recognize her. I… have not seen her, except briefly a few times, over the last thirty years. She only came around when she wanted something from our parents. In fact, it must be twenty years since I have seen her at all. My God,” she said, “she looks awful. It is a sin what living on the streets can do to a person.” In her slight Mexican accent, Ruth continued, “She is so old; some of her teeth are missing. She is not healthy. If I had any sort of emotional connection to her, I would be terribly sad.” She pressed her lips together. “As it is, I am sad just because she is a human being. I am sad for my parents, that they lost two daughters the way they did—one to death and one to drugs.” She slumped into a deck chair and stared down at her lap.
Savannah took a seat next to her and rested one hand on Ruth’s arm.
After weeping silently for a few moments, Ruth wiped her eyes and drew a ragged breath. “Her friend used to live here in the seventies and eighties.”
Savannah raised her eyebrows. “Here? Really? Were her parents servants?”
Ruth shook her head. “No, she supposedly lived in the mansion with her family.”
“And now she’s homeless?”
“It appears so.”
“What a way for a wealthy girl to end up,” Savannah said. She looked at Ruth. “What’s her story, do you know? How did she end up on the streets—was it a result of the downturn in the economy during the eighties? I imagine someone who grew up in a family that could afford this,” she gestured toward the mansion, “wouldn’t have much work experience. I can see how she might find it difficult to support herself when times got tough.”
“I do not know her story, but I saw her talking to Laura, one of the ladies from the estate-sale company. Laura has a passion for local history and she listens to the stories people bring here. She might know something more about Mattie’s friend. All I know is that she lived here with her grandmother and her father. If there is more that Laura knows, maybe she will tell us at dinner tonight.” Ruth suddenly looked beyond Savannah. She furrowed her brow and asked, “What are they doing out there in that old fish pond?”
“I guess Koko found something that Arthur thought was interesting this morning, and he and Michael are trying to unearth it.”
Ruth grinned. “Men and their curiosity. They’re fascinated by the most unusual things.” She then stood, saying, “I should go back. We want to get a head start on displaying more of the items from some of the other rooms, so we won’t have so much to do in the morning.”
“How long will the sale go on?” Savannah asked.
Ruth shrugged. “Until it is all gone I guess, or over the next four or five days—whichever comes first.” She laughed. “I do not think the estate company people are in a great hurry to leave—the core group of helpers are staying in a couple of the bungalows. They seem to be enjoying the use of the pool, tennis courts, and the other facilities.”
“I imagine so,” Savannah said. “How many are there from the company?”
“Oh, about a half dozen, I think.”
“Will they all be at dinner this evening?”
“Probably not. Usually it is just Laura and her assistant Gail. The others are from a local college and prefer to be on their own after the work is done each day.” She stood. “Hey, better go. See you later, Savannah.” She leaned over and spoke to Lily. “You, too, sweet girl.”
Savannah watched Ruth walk away, then peered under the stroller sunshade at Lily and checked on Rags, who was now curled up in the carry basket. Koko had grown weary of the conversation and had strolled back to where the men were working. Savannah stood and had started to ease the stroller off the deck when she saw Suzette walking toward her.
“Hi,” she said to Savannah before kneeling down to Lily’s level and attracting her attention.
“Did they find anything?” Savannah asked.
“Yeah. They uncovered a big, old, ugly metal box, but they can’t get it open. It may be rusted shut or locked, and so far, they haven’t been able to break into it with any of the tools we’ve found around here.” She stood and leaned toward Savannah. “I think they need a gun.”
Savannah was taken aback. “A gun?”
“Yes, with bullets. Isn’t that how cowboy bandits break into strongboxes they steal from the stagecoaches? They shoot the lock off,” she said, gesturing.
Savannah chuckled. “Indeed, they do.” She eased back down into the deck chair and motioned toward another one—a casual invitation that Suzette accepted. “So you’re on winter break?” Savannah asked.
“Yes, an opportune time to be with Arthur and help him out a little.”
“Are you enjoying your studies?”
“Immensely,” Suzette said. She leaned in to speak confidentially to Savannah. “Although, I must say I’m kind of distracted now that Arthur and I have started dating for real.”
Savannah smiled. “For real?”
“Well, yeah. Before, we just texted, emailed, and talked on the phone. I didn’t think he… you know, cared about me in the same way I care about him.”
“Oh?” Savannah said, tilting her head, her straight blond-highlighted hair brushing across one shoulder.
“He was kinda… distant, even though he seemed to enjoy our conversations as much as I did. He was guarded.” She narrowed her eyes. “Know what I mean?”
Savannah nodded. “Yes, I think I do.”
She faced Savannah. “Hey, it was you who turned the tide, you know.”
Savannah looked surprised.
“You told Arthur to follow his heart sooner rather than later.” She put one hand on Savannah’s knee and smiled. “Thank you so much for that. He said you suggested that he should not wait to have the reconstructive surgery before telling me how he felt.”
“Yes, I did tell him that
. I knew he felt deeply about you, and I didn’t want him to miss a chance… for the two of you to find out if there is a… ”
“Love connection?” Suzette smiled. “Oh yes, I’ve been in love with Arthur since I met him in the burn center nearly eight years ago. Sure, we were only ten—well, I was a ripe old eleven. He may not even know it, but he helped me so much when we were there at the center together.”
“He was dealing with a lot in his life then, too,” Savannah said, “so I’m sure it was mutual.”
“Yes, I guess it was.” She looked in Arthur’s direction. “Savannah, I’m so in love with him.”
Savannah smiled widely and patted Suzette’s hand. “I’m awfully glad to hear that.”
“And we have such similar goals—but then, we kind of grew up together—know what I mean? Neither of us had much reference to the world—we both had been kept hidden. Well, for me, I had overprotective relatives who all jumped in to help raise me after I lost my parents in that car accident.” She thinned her lips. “We did a lot of exploration of our inner selves over the years—Arthur and I. But we’re just now learning about the world around us. And we’re getting the most amazing help from the most amazing people.” She smiled into Savannah’s eyes. “… like you and your family.”
“Awww, what a nice thing to say. Thank you. I can see that Arthur has made some excellent choices—you being among them.”
Suzette blinked her brown eyes. “Thanks. It means a lot.” She glanced at Arthur again and said, “Hey look! I think they got it open. Let’s go check it out.”
“Okay,” Savannah said, taking Rags’s leash as he stepped out of the stroller basket. They followed behind Suzette.
“Ma-ma?” Lily said, turning in the stroller and seeing that Suzette was pushing her.
“Here I am, honey,” Savannah said, walking up next to the baby and gently running her hand over her soft curls.
“What did you find?” Suzette asked, as they approached the men.
“Don’t know,” Arthur said, looking puzzled.
The women moved closer and peered at what had been exposed. “What’s in it?” Savannah asked. “The missing books of the Bible?”
