After two more locations, they found themselves standing in the same vicinity of the second symbol on their journey and stopped to analyze the map and Booth drawing. They were going nowhere, except back and forth over the same area. Elizabeth focused her attention again on the caption below the Booth drawing. Where the sun meets the steed, then follow KGC. She looked back at the map and traced her finger over the path they walked and realized that there was a method to the madness. It was the letter “K”, which explained why they backtracked part of the way, just as the letter would require if written. The circles with the v carets were basically roundabouts in which they would return back the same direction.
Once she figured that out, it became easier to navigate the remainder of the clues, and she was able to skip several of the points as they traced the letters “G” and “C” across the property, only having to retrace their steps once because one of the clues seemed to no longer exist. As they closed in on their final symbol of a circle below a solid line that resembled an exclamation point, which she found fitting, Elizabeth could see the yellow police tape surrounding two pits in the slave cemetery. However, the symbol wasn’t the cemetery. If it was to be lined up with the base of the K and G, then it was just short of it. She knew that there was only one thing of note in that area—the box.
She brought Danny over to it and attempted to lift the cover. “A little help here.”
With their synchronized movement, the cover fell to the ground, and Danny peered inside.
“I can tell you from personal experience that there is nothing inside. It’s all cement, even the bottom.”
“Maybe it’s beneath the cement.”
Shaking her head at the implausibility, Elizabeth explained that she found Margaret’s sweater at the bottom of the hole, and according to Mrs. Francis, her abduction occurred about a year before the bank heist. If Webb had buried the money at the bottom, then the sweater wouldn’t have still been down there. “If there really was Confederate gold, that is where he probably found it and then moved it somewhere else. Wherever you find the Confederate gold, you will find the bank money.”
“Why should I believe you?” Danny asked, making no attempt to hide his distress.
“You’ve been part of this from the beginning. I told you about the sweater when I found it. You’ve seen it yourself.”
A string of expletives flew from his mouth, and without warning, he dropped to the ground, bringing Elizabeth down with him. He leaned over the side of the hole. She nervously eyed his jacket. “Can you please be a little less erratic? You do have a grenade in your pocket.”
He seemed to ignore her as he studied the inside of the hole. After several moments, he pushed himself back up, more expletives spilling from his mouth, and began to pound his hands on his head. “I need that damn money.” His unraveling concerned her deeply. Before, she thought she had him under control, but now she was chained to a desperate, cornered animal. She guessed the money was going to be his only savior.
In a frenzy, he whipped around facing the home, on heightened alert. “What was that?”
She tried to keep her voice calm in hopes of settling him. “I didn’t hear anything,” and just as she said it, she saw several figures emerging out of the tree tunnel. Even from the distance, she recognized one of them. As if she sensed her, Grace began heading in their direction with her long strides, a gun at the ready in one hand, while several uniformed officers fanned out on both sides.
Danny ducked behind Elizabeth and grabbed her around the waist, pulling them both back and chanting “fuck” in the process. “They’re not getting me, not unless they get you first.” He had pulled the grenade back out, and it was now snuggled into her chest. “Take it.” She fumbled trying to grab it with her hand joined to his and snagged her finger through his braided rope bracelet in her haste. She felt the metal key woven into the bracelet cutting into the inside of her wrist, but didn’t lessen her grip. Danny kept his finger in the metal ring. “One wrong step or you drop it, the ring gets pulled.”
Now she was the one chanting “fuck.”
When Grace and the other officers were at the edge of the slave quarters, he shouted, “Stop right there or she dies.”
She could hear one of the officers yell “grenade,” and Grace froze along with the other officers.
“This is how this is going to work,” Danny shouted. “All of you are going back the way you came, get in your cars, and leave. No helicopters, no more backup. If you fuck with me, I pull this ring and Elizabeth dies.”
Grace’s stare never wavered, but she could see her fist opening and closing as he spoke. She holstered her gun and raised her hands in a gesture of submission. The other officers followed suit, and the group began backing away, but Grace refused to turn her back, until she was no longer in sight.
With the group no longer in view, Danny began pushing her toward the forest. “Danny, we can’t keep walking like this.” She gestured toward the grenade they continued to jointly hold. “One of us is going to drop it.” He took it with his free hand, and she yanked her hand away. With her finger still caught in the bracelet, the bracelet snapped, and she winced at the pain, but it was quickly forgotten as he was again off, forcing Elizabeth to keep up with his near running pace. She doubted he knew where he was going. It seemed his only plan was to go in the opposite direction of the police.
After several minutes of dodging trees and underbrush, Danny came to a sudden halt, causing her to stumble and fall to her knees. He tilted and bobbled the grenade slightly, and she closed her eyes in anticipation. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes again and saw another set of hands cradling below Danny’s, prepared to swoop in if he lost his grip on the grenade. She followed her eyes up to the figure standing in front of them.
“You’re gonna drop that, son.”
She exhaled. “Samuel.” She wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating from her near-death experience, or she was already dead and Samuel came to take her.
“I told you guys to back off,” Danny snapped. Either she and Danny were having the same delusion or Samuel was in fact standing in front of them.
“I don’t wanna hurt you, son. I’m just here to help,” Samuel said in his smooth, soothing voice.
“I’m not your son. Get out of my way.”
Samuel stepped back and motioned for Elizabeth to stand. “You need to let her go.”
“Fuck you.”
Samuel was unfazed. “The police, they’re everywhere out there. Your only hope is to head out in that direction.” He pointed deeper into the trees. “There’s a stream ’bout two hundred yards in. Follow it up and bear east when you get to the top of the ridge. They won’t follow you there.” Danny stared at him intently, clearly contemplating this option. “But I assure you, you won’t make it with her attached to you like that. She’s just gonna slow you down.”
Danny shifted from foot to foot and furtively looked around. The sound of distant voices echoed through the trees, causing him to jerk, and Samuel placed his hand under the grenade, in the ready again, in case Danny lost his hold. In an unexpected move, Danny switched the grenade into his handcuffed hand, jammed his other hand into his pant pocket, and roughly pushed a key into Elizabeth’s palm. Her hands were sweaty, and she fumbled with it, trying to undo the lock.
While she struggled, Danny never looked away from Samuel. “You know where the money is.”
Samuel simply nodded.
“Where?”
“Under the wishing stair.”
Any reply Danny had was cutoff when the tight metal cuff released its hold and she was free. Danny ran in the direction Samuel suggested. She saw the ditch, but Danny didn’t.
“Get down,” Samuel yelled to her, and she dove for the ground to avoid flying rocks and debris.
* * *
Panic ripped through Grace as the echo of an explosion filled the air. She ran toward the center of the eruption, stumbling on the uneven ground, but refusing to giv
e up her hastened pace. The reverberation of a scream pierced her ears, and only when it stopped, did she realize the sound tore from her own throat. She ran past the cemetery and darted through the trees, searching. Her foot caught on an exposed root, sending her to the ground, but she sprang up and carried on without care for her own well-being. Where is she? “Elizabeth!”
She stopped and turned in a circle, frantically scanning the area for any signs of life. She cursed her panting breath and pounding heart, as it drowned out any subtle sounds the forest offered. “Elizabeth!” God, please answer me. Movement on her left drew her attention and she ran again, nearly diving to the ground when she saw her. She crawled the final distance to Elizabeth’s prone body. “Baby, I’m here.”
She cradled her. Bloody cuts covered Elizabeth’s arms. Her eyes opened, and she stared back, stunned and lost. “I’ve got you. You’re going to be okay,” Grace whispered as she rocked her.
“Sssamuel,” Elizabeth lisped out.
Several of the officers soon caught up and hovered over. “Get an ambulance.”
Elizabeth pushed herself up and looked toward the epicenter before turning away and burying her head into Grace’s shoulder to avoid the grisly scene.
* * *
Grace stood at the edge of the forest line, impatiently barking out orders to the officers processing the scene. Danny’s body was now concealed by a blue tarp, awaiting the arrival of the coroner. She was glad he was dead. She would have killed him herself, had she had the opportunity. She stood on the line between the forest and the plantation property so that she could keep an eye on Elizabeth, who was sitting on the steps of one of the slave quarters, the same step they both occupied after discovering the items at Samuel’s grave. Elizabeth repeated his name several times after she found her. She watched as paramedics finished cleaning the cuts on Elizabeth’s arms. She should have been more seriously injured. Grace couldn’t explain any of it, but she believed in Samuel and knew she could never repay the debt she owed him.
* * *
Elizabeth patiently sat as the paramedics attended to her cuts. She tried to assure them that she was fine, nothing that a good shower couldn’t take care of, but they weren’t persuaded and continued to tend to her. She suspected that Grace had something to do with their attentiveness. She toyed with Danny’s broken rope bracelet that rested across her knee, and she couldn’t remember how she came to possess it. The archaic metal key that was woven into the bracelet left an imprint on the inside of her wrist when their hands jointly held the grenade. The whole event was surreal. She missed so many clues about him because she just wasn’t looking, but in hindsight it all made sense. The only unanswered question was who was pulling the strings?
From the corner of her eye, she saw Grace continuing to stand guard at the edge of the property and a sense of giddiness filled her. She knew that she should probably be feeling shock at Danny’s betrayal or remorse at his death, but she couldn’t help her feelings. It was over. A huge weight that had been oppressing her for the last two months had been lifted. The case could finally be put to rest, and there were no more impediments that stood between them.
* * *
As the paramedics packed up, Grace headed over. She didn’t want her to be alone, and Elizabeth smiled at her as she approached. How could she be smiling? Grace was still in turmoil over the ordeal, knowing that there was a very different way this day could have ended, but she wouldn’t delve too deeply into that thought; she just couldn’t. Her throat locked as she attempted to swallow.
She took the seat next to her and turned to Elizabeth. “Marry me?” The question came out without forethought, an uncharacteristic trait for Grace, but there was no regret.
“What?”
“I know what I feel, and I’m not wasting another day. I nearly lost you.”
Elizabeth looked at her with an expression that seemed to be a cross between confusion and shock. “Wow, I…” She turned her eyes to the open plantation field before returning them to Grace, and a smile crept over her face. “Yes.”
Grace leaned in and kissed her, gently at first, mindful of her injuries, but the sense of urgency ruled reason, and it deepened to a passionate, sensual kiss. She didn’t give a damn who watched.
When they finally parted, Elizabeth looked back with carnal eyes. “My only condition is that you do that every day,” she breathed out.
Grace felt much lighter, and a bit wetter.
“Excuse me, Detective Donovan.”
She turned to the asshole that broke the moment. “What!”
“The, um, uh, coroner is here.” The officer stumbled away.
Realizing the poor timing of her proposal, she took a breath to center herself. “We should be finished up soon, but there are a couple of questions,” Grace said in the form of an apology. She hated shifting gears, but she was desperate to get it over with, so they could get the hell out of there and carry out the rest of what she planned in private.
“What was Danny’s motive?” Elizabeth asked for her. She explained what she learned from Danny and her adventure with the KGC map and Booth drawing, which led them back and forth across the plantation. “In the end, there was neither the bank money nor the gold.”
“It’s probably long gone by now.”
“No, just before Danny…you know, Samuel said it was under the wishing stair.”
Grace gave a questioning look, unsure if Elizabeth was suffering from delayed trauma. “What wishing star?”
“Wishing stair,” Elizabeth corrected her, patting the step between them. “I met Samuel for the first time right here, while I stood on this step. When it squeaked, he told me that a squeaking stair is a lucky stair, and I had to make a wish. This is the wishing stair.”
Grace cocked her head. “Did you make a wish?”
“I did,” Elizabeth said, smiling. “And it just came true.”
Grace leaned in for a kiss before returning to business. “So you’re telling me the money is underneath this slave quarters?”
“Yes. See all the corrugated iron sheets surrounding the structure? They served not only to protect the integrity of the dilapidated home, but shielded its discovery from a metal detector.”
Grace felt a rise of adrenaline, and a small shiver traveled through her. “This is incredible.”
“I know, isn’t it,” Elizabeth said, caressing the stair.
“Not the money.” Elizabeth looked at her in confusion. “I just asked you to marry me, and you said yes.”
Another kiss was in order, and they took their time and no one dared to intervene.
Chapter Thirty-three
Elizabeth stood at the back of the line of students outside Professor Dixon’s office door, waiting for the usual throng to dissipate. She used the time to reflect on the last few days. True to Samuel’s word, the bank heist money was found beneath the slave quarters, every dime, although the hype of the KGC gold was overplayed. There was only a few thousand dollars of the legendary gold recovered. But what pleased Elizabeth the most was having the case against Jackson dismissed, much to the dismay of ADA Wilcox, who in his usual form, insisted that all the events were irrelevant to the prosecution. Fortunately, his supervisor didn’t agree. However, for the Francis family, she knew that this was only the beginning. They would need time for healing and forgiveness.
There was only one matter left unsettled. Two days after Danny’s death, the tape had finally been restored. There were no surprises. It was a surreptitious recording of a conversation between Webb and a young Davis Powers, who was doing the bidding of his father. They discussed the most recent name entries in the intel report, the manner in which they were to disappear, and preliminary plans for the bank heist that would fund the group’s ambitious agenda moving forward. It was expected that it would spread from Southern state to Southern state, until the South once again had restored segregation. It was a ludicrous plan.
At that moment, Judge Powers was being questioned by the FBI, and
although damning, it was unclear whether the tape alone would be enough to indict, given the passage of time and legal evidentiary hurdles. However, it was certain that Judge Powers’s career would be over, and Elizabeth would take her victories where she could.
As the last student filed out of the office, Professor Dixon turned her attention to Elizabeth standing in the doorway. “Ms. Campbell, pleasure to see you again. Perhaps you should enroll in my course.”
She offered a polite smile and sat in the seat she previously occupied on her last visit. “I apologize for disturbing you, Professor, but I just had a few more questions about DARA.” She had scoured the bill a second time after the restoration of the tape, looking for any missed clues that might link the judge to the authorship of the bill.
“I’m not sure what more I can tell you, but I will do my best,” the professor said as she started to assemble a collection of student papers that were scattered on the desk.
“The bill has a lengthy introduction that reads more like a preemptive legal defense, as though its authors knew that it would be subject to court scrutiny. I researched the two senators who authored the bill, and they’re no legal scholars. They aren’t even lawyers. They had help.”
Professor Dixon leaned forward, resting her chin on her clasped hands. Elizabeth had her interest.
“When I came to speak to your class,” Elizabeth continued as she pulled a folded paper from her coat pocket. “One of the topics discussed was on the evolution of the interpretation of the Constitution. You asked which approach was appropriate in interpreting the Constitution—strict or loose construction.
“Yes, I throw that question out to my class every year.”
“It wasn’t really the question that you asked, but what you said at the beginning of that discussion that had me thinking.” She opened the paper in her hand and read, “The Founding Fathers gave us a Constitution of checks and balances because they realized the inescapable lesson of history that no man or group of men can be safely entrusted with unlimited power.”
Secrets of the Last Castle Page 28
