Legend of the Crown and Thistle

by Janie Brians

  Dear Jason. Now that he had finished translating Edwin's diary, he was planning to spend a few more days in Nassau and then return to Toronto. They had promised each other that they would keep in touch. He had asked her to visit him in Toronto as soon as possible.

  "I would love to," she'd said warmly. "And I've always wanted to see the autumn. Haven't seen it since I was a child. Maybe I"ll be able to come in October."

  "That's over six months away. I don't think I can wait that long to see you again, Anne," he'd said with a smile and then he'd kissed her.

  They had taken a long walk down the beach that morning and had spent nearly every minute together until the final boarding call for the flight to Freeport. Now suddenly he was gone from her and already she was missing him terribly.

  "October is too far away," she thought.

  Trying to fend off the depression that threatened her, she said to Lizzie, "How did your conversation go with the police?"

  "Well, I think at first they just thought it was another prank call. The officer I spoke with said they'd had several so far. But when I gave him the names of Chris Dean and Liam McFallen, he seemed to pay attention. He said he's known Chris and his uncle for years. "

  "So what did you tell him? Did you give him your name too?"

  "I told him everything I knew. At first I didn't give my name, but later I decided to so that he'd believe me. He took our address and phone number in Freeport, in case he needs to get in touch again.”

  "You called him first thing this morning?"

  "Yes. You and Jason had already left."

  "So by now, hopefully, they could be in jail and we won't have to worry about people jumping out at us from the bushes or people in cars trying to run us off the road. I sure didn't sleep well last night."

  "Neither did I. I kept dreaming about Liam. In one dream he was hiding in those bushes and in the other one he was the one driving that car. I just wish..."

  "What?"

  "I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something... something important... but I can't figure it out. It's so irritating. "

  "I guess we should do what Mom and Dad said to do, put all this behind us. After all, we still have an exciting treasure hunt ahead of us, right little sister?" Anne said encouragingly.

  "Right. I've spent quite enough time being plagued by Liam McFallen and his twisted thinking. On to better things!" she said as she took a sip of her rye and coke.

  They arrived at Freeport International Airport at nine-thirty-five that night. By the time the taxi was letting them off in front of their apartment, it was nearly ten-thirty. After not sleeping well the night before, it wasn't long before they were both ready to go to bed. Anne switched the ringer off on the telephone so they wouldn't be disturbed. She wanted to get a good night's rest. They had decided that tomorrow after breakfast, they were going to Williamstown Beach and find the cave she had fallen over so many years before.

  That night Anne had no trouble falling asleep. Instead of the frightening dreams of the night before, dreams of a faceless person lurking always in the shadows, she enjoyed pleasant dreams of sparkling jewels and glittering coins of silver and gold. Treasure chests, buried beneath the creamy sand of that little cave, filled her dreams this night. The dreams of her childhood.

  She awoke the next morning filled with expectation and excitement. Today was the day they would know if the coverlet containing some of the family heirlooms of the Royal House of Stuart were still hidden where Edwin had put it so long ago.

  She got out of bed and went into the living room and over to the coffee-table where the brass medallion lay in its bed of sand. Carefully lifting the glass top, she reached in and took the medallion from its place. Gently, she laid the glass top back down over the table and sat on the couch holding the medallion in her fingers. How many times as a teen-ager had she examined it? Every crack and crevice of it, so that now she knew its surface by heart. Now that she knew the story surrounding it, it was even more important to her. It had become the memento of a friend, and having it made her feel closer to that friend. Edwin Stuart, a young man who had been dead for centuries, was now alive again in her memory - would live again in the minds of thousands of people young and old, when the story of his diary was made public. From now on, future generations would learn of the two sons of the Scottish Queen. Though they had been born in obscurity and been forced by circumstances beyond their control to disguise their true identities, a disguise that eventually cost them their lives, soon they would finally become known to the world. At last their identities would be forever fixed in history alongside their mother and father. What they had never been able to accomplish for themselves would at last be done in their behalf.

  "We won't let you continue to be forgotten," Anne said softly.

  Lizzie came out from her room and said she was going to make some coffee and did Anne want any.

  Coming out of her musings, Anne said, "Sure, and let's have a good hearty breakfast too. We'll need plenty of strength for all the digging we have ahead of us."

  "Right, and for carrying all the treasure back, " Lizzie joined in happily.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  "DID UNCLE SAY why he wanted us to have breakfast with him?" Anne asked Lizzie as she pulled out of her parking space a half-hour later.

  "Not really. I think he's been working too hard. His voice sounded strained on the phone," Lizzie answered.

  "Strange? What do you mean?"

  "Not strange...strained."

  "Well, a hearty breakfast relaxing on the beach is just what he needs then," Anne sail as she pulled the Karmann Ghia onto Xanadu Road. "Fruit, yogurt, fresh croissants and your delicious coffee should help him mellow out a bit. Once we get the fire going, eggs and bacon will finish off his hunger, I'm sure. He always gets grumpy when he's hungry."

  "Yeah. He always did like a huge breakfast. It's a wonder he stays so trim."

  "Ha! He hardly ever sits still long enough to put on any weight. You didn't tell him our surprise, did you?"

  "No. It almost slipped out, but I caught myself. I knew you'd want to be in on it too. I just told him we had something important to say to him. For some reason he said, Tm sure you do, lass,' as if he already knows something about it."

  "Well, I know Mom and Dad wouldn't have told him. They promised they'd leave it to us."

  "Oh well, whether he suspects it or not, I'm sure once we tell him all about it, he'll want to help us in the search."

  "He wouldn't miss something like this for the world."

  They turned onto Queen's Highway and headed for Williamstown Beach. They were looking forward to the breakfast with Malcolm and the surprise they had to tell him. As they waited at the intersection for the green light that would allow them to turn right onto Williamstown Road, they saw Malcolm's car cross in front of them.

  "There he goes. He said he'd beat us there and he was right."

  "It helps to drive like a bat out of hell."

  "He must really be hungry," Lizzie joked.

  The light for them finally turned green and in the split second before Anne pushed down on the gas pedal, another car whizzed by, crossing in front of them.

  "What a jerk!" Anne said angrily.

  "Did you see the driver?" Lizzie asked softly.

  "No, but the car is a self-drive so it was probably a tourist."

  "It's a tourist alright." Then Lizzie turned in her seat to face Anne and said very deliberately, "Anne, that was Liam McFallen driving that car."

  "Are you...?"

  "Don't ask me if I'm sure," Lizzie interrupted. "I'd know him anywhere."

  "Well," Anne said without humor, "so much for your call to the police."

  "There wasn't anybody else in there with him. I wonder where Chris is?"

  Anne had another thought.

  "Listen, Lizzie, do you remember if at anytime when you were with this guy, you told him about the medallion?"

  "Yes," she said, thinking back, "when we were in E
dinburgh Castle and I first saw the thistle and crown crest, I told him we had a medallion at home just like it." She looked at Anne with fear in her eyes, "Why?"

  "Do you think it's possible that, with all the knowledge you said he has about Scottish history, somehow he's figured out about the treasure. Or at least figured that we may be able to lead him to something valuable that he can sell?"

  "How could he? Until you and Jason finished that diary, no one has ever been sure of the existence of those boys, let alone a treasure they had in their possession..." she stopped abruptly as if remembering something else.

  "What, Lizzie?"

  "Well... when we were taking the tour of the castle, we passed into the room that holds the Scottish Crown Jewels. The guard there told us that it has always been suspicioned that originally there were more jewels than the ones they now have on display. Somehow the rest have either been stolen or lost sometime ago....but still, Annie, Liam doesn't know anything about Edwin's diary. He couldn't have any idea about that!"

  "Unless..." Anne hesitated to say it.

  "Unless what?"

  "Unless Dr. Denton told him about it before...before he was murdered." Lizzie said nothing.

  "Well, it is a stretch, I suppose. Besides," Anne pointed to the two cars up ahead, "seems like he's more intent on following Uncle than us. I don't think he's even noticed us back here."

  As they got closer to the beach they saw Malcolm pull off the main road and park in a clearing close to the path that led to the beach. The other car just sped on by and out of the girls’ view. A minute later the girls were also pulling up beside Malcolm's car. Both waved as they parked next to him. He waved back but there was no smile.

  "Wow, he really is tense this morning," Anne observed. "Think he saw Liam?"

  "Don't know. Let's not bring it up unless he does, okay?"

  "Okay. But we better keep our eyes open just in case Liam is hiding around here somewhere."

  "Yeah, this whole thing is really making me nervous."

  "Me too."

  They got out of Anne's car and opened the trunk. Lizzie grabbed the blanket and large thermos of coffee and Anne got the rest of the food. Closing the trunk, she said, trying not to let the tension show in her voice, "Okay uncle. We've brought lots of food here. Hope you're hungry."

  She looked around as she spoke. She felt uneasy knowing Liam could be lurking somewhere nearby. The beach was deserted this morning.

  Malcolm pulled a picnic basket from the seat of his car and said, "I've brought a little something too."

  "You didn't have to do that Uncle," Lizzie said. "I told you we'd bring everything."

  "I wanted to, lass," he said simply.

  The three of them walked down the sandy path to the beach. Lizzie half expected Liam to jump out at them any moment.

  The girls spread the blanket out. Lizzie pulled out plastic bowls for the yogurt and fruit and coffee cups for her freshly brewed coffee.

  "Uncle, if you'd get the fire going for us, we'll set up the first course. We've brought some of your favorites...yogurt and fruit and delicious croissants fresh from the bakery," Anne told him.

  "I must say, you've certainly done a lot for this occasion."

  "It's a pretty special ocasion," Lizzie said.

  Malcolm gathered some pieces of dry driftwood and branches and, with a flip of his lighter set them to flames. Lizzie added two handfuls of dried pine needles that flared or smoked.

  "Okay, come on you two. Sit down and relax now. The yogurt is ready and I've poured the first cups of coffee. Get'em while they're still hot," Anne said. Malcolm chose to continue standing but Lizzie sat down next to her sister.

  "You said you had something to say to me Lizzie. Why don't you get it said," Malcolm said impatiently.

  "Oh, come on uncle, let's eat first. You really are tense right now. First we'll have some coffee in honor of your two very clever nieces." Lizzie tried to tease him out of his bad mood. It seemed as if it was beginning to work.

  "Alright, if that's the way you want it," he smiled as he sat down on the blanket with them. He pulled his picnic basket closer and began eating the yogurt and croissants. The coffee was perfect and he seemed finally to relax a bit.

  "How many times have we had picnics on this beach over the years? a hundred or more?" he said.

  "Oh much more," Anne said, "Lizzie, Pauly...uh, Paul, Chris and Kate and I were here at least once a week and usually with food of some kind or another. Remember how much Kate and I loved it when Winnie would give us some of her fantastic brownies to take on our picnics?"

  "Kate...haven't heard that name for a long time," Malcolm said. "She was quite a lass wasn't she." There was something in his voice that Anne didn't quite understand.

  "A good friend," was all Anne said. Then she remembered the bracelet she'd bought for Kate in Italy. Kate's mother had insisted that it be put on her daughter for the burial. Anne shook away the memory and went over to the fire to fry the eggs and bacon. They sat quietly for several minutes, each thinking their own thoughts while they ate their eggs and bacon.

  “Now I remember!" Lizzie said suddenly. "You were the one who told me that Kate had been pregnant when she died," she looked at Malcolm. "What of it?" he replied glibly.

  "How'd you find out, Uncle? No one was supposed to know it except Mom and Dad and I, outside the doctor and Kate's parents."

  Anne had picked up her coffee cup for a drink and, just as she raised it to her lips and waited for Malcolm's reply, a man jumped out of the bush. She did not recognize him, but she heard Lizzie shout at him.

  "Liam...what are you doing here?!"

  Standing over the three of them holding a tire iron, he looked only at Malcolm when he said menacingly, "You know why I'm here. Are you going to cooperate or do I have to force the issue?"

  Anne thought their encounter with him on Black Coral Road had been the most fear she had ever felt, but she was wrong. The anger emanating from him burned in his eyes as he stood poised to attack. Anne was even too terrified to breath.

  "What do you mean?" Malcolm's voice was too calm.

  "You know exactly what I mean. It's over Malcolm. You're finished."

  Before either girl could move or take a breath, Anne heard a movement next to her and turned to see Malcolm standing with a gun pointed at Liam.

  "I don't think so, laddie. This..." and he patted the revolver in his hand, "seems to indicate that you're the one who's finished."

  Finally Anne took a breath and she heard Lizzie exhale in relief. Malcolm had Liam under control, thankfully. Liam did not move.

  Anne sat her cup down and she and Lizzie stood up.

  "Take the iron away from him," Malcolm commanded. Lizzie reached over and took it from Liam and gave him a look of disgust.

  "Lizzie...don't help this man!" Liam pleaded.

  "Shut up!" Malcolm shouted. Anne had never seen him so angry.

  "Give me that!" he said, pointing to the tire iron Lizzie was holding. She seemed shocked by his tone of voice too. It was so different somehow. Slowly, she handed the iron to him.

  "No! " Liam shouted as he reached for her.

  A shot rang out and Liam bent over in a convulsion of pain and then fell to the sand.

  A stain of red widened on the right shoulder of his light-blue shirt. He lay there in agony. Lizzie bent down to him.

  "You didn't have to do that, Uncle!" she yelled.

  Between gasps of pain, Liam said to her, ":He...he's the one, Lizzie! He.. .he stole Maddy's th... things!"

  As his words registered, both girls turned to look at Malcolm. The gentle smile and twinkling eyes were no longer there. Their blood chilled under the evil glint in his now icy, blue eyes. It was as if a mask he must have worn for years was suddenly gone and there in its place was the real Malcolm McAllister. A man they neither knew or recognized. A violent man who now stood pointing a gun at them as well. "Well, now you've done it, laddie," he said sardonically. "Is he telling the truth, Unc
... Malcolm?" Lizzie asked.

  For a fleeting moment, the gentleness returned to his eyes as he looked at her but then it was gone, as if it had never existed.

  "Why are you asking me that, girl? Did ya not shout at the top of your lungs the other night that you knew what I'd done and would have to turn me in? What did ya think, lass? That I'm such a sentimental old fool that I'd just let ya march me into jail? Is that what ya thought? Afraid you're mistaken, lovey. It's just as your good friend Christopher said when he thought I couldn'a hear him. I have my priorities. We all have them, don't we. Mine is to acquire as much as I can in this life and I will allow no one to get in my way... No one." He looked at both girls coldly.”

  "You thought I was talking...It was you in the bush? I thought it was Liam. I was speaking to Liam," Lizzie said through angry tears.

  Malcolm bowed mockingly, "My mistake...but the result will have to be the same now.”

  "You robbed Maddy." She brushed away her tears and faced Malcolm resolutely. "That's why you knew that the thieves had only robbed her gallery. That's what bothered me all this time. When Liam came down the stairs and told us that Maddy had been robbed, your first reaction was, 'with that security system?' Neither Liam nor I knew yet that it was only the gallery that had been robbed, but you did, of course."

  "Very good, lass. I had hoped you hadn't caught that little faux pas, but I wasn't sure. And when you left so suddenly, I knew I had better go after you to find out for sure. I was glad to hear that you were suspecting the laddie here instead. Otherwise, you would have had a fatal accident in Scotland, I assure you. As it is, you'll get to die right here on the beautiful island you love so well. It'll be a tragic accident, to be sure," he continued dementedly, "Perhaps something along the lines of the accident poor Kate had, all those years ago." He smiled a twisted smile. His words hit Anne like a slap in the face.

  "You?! You killed her!?" She made to move toward him, intense rage pushing her forward.