“I’ve been sitting too long,” Paige said evasively. “I think I need to move around. Maybe I’ll go for a run.” She closed down the laptop and tucked it under her arm.
Jake looked up, eyebrows raised. “Don’t you usually run in the morning?”
“Usually. But all these railroad details are muddled up in my mind. Running always clears my head.” It was a stretch for an excuse, but Jake seemed to buy it. “And it’s still light out,” she added as she headed to change into running clothes.
Ten minutes later, dressed in black leggings, a violet NYU sweatshirt from college days, and running shoes, Paige jogged along the main road. Surrounded by mountain pine trees, she let the fresh air fill her lungs. Block after block, her jumbled thoughts became clearer – so clear that she was not surprised to find herself in front of the museum.
Of course, the building was closed for the night. According to the posted hours on the front door, it would reopen at ten o’clock the following morning. Paige planned to return the next day, but she was there now. Why not look around a bit?
Paige circled the museum, arriving quickly at the side gate to the back yard. Hadn’t Rose said Jesse didn’t mind people looking around the back after hours? Trying the gate, she found it unlocked. Another sign she was meant to check out the yard. Without hesitating, she stepped into the yard and closed the gate behind her.
Twilight had started falling during her run, leaving the train yard in an eerie state of semi-darkness. Emerging moonlight illuminated the ground, making it easy to walk without tripping. Yet the objects in the yard resembled silhouettes from a lateral view. She was surprised that a motion detecting light didn’t spring on as she passed the building’s back door. She supposed the town was small enough for the population to be trusting. Or maybe it just wasn’t dark enough to trigger a light. She checked her sweatshirt pocket, grateful to find her keys. The small flashlight she kept on her keychain could come in handy if she lingered.
Paige made her way to the center of the yard where The Morning Star formed a large, dusky shape. She didn’t know what she was looking for, but she circled the car as if it could tell her its story. Kneeling down, she pulled out her flashlight and directed the light under the car. The rails were still warm from the recent sunlight. Nothing appeared unusual. The space between the tracks and the car provided plenty of room for a child to play. Paige would have found it a perfect hideaway when she was a girl.
She stood and circled the car again. Her keychain-sized flashlight only illuminated an area of the welded train panels and stair railings. She’d have to wait for daylight to search inside the car. She was still convinced Jesse would give her permission to enter the car for the sake of her article. Maybe he would even allow Sam to give her a tour. She smiled at her hunch that the young girl might be more familiar with the car’s interior than anyone else.
Surrounded almost entirely by darkness now, Paige was grateful for the moonlight, which sent beams of light that reflected off metal objects. Like tiny garden lights, they provided a pathway through the yard as she moved between displays. With additional help from her flashlight, she arrived at the miniature yard, Sam’s favorite play area. She shared Sam’s delight in this portion of the yard. Miniatures had always intrigued and enchanted her.
Paige pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, checking the time. It was getting late. After another quick trip around the smaller area, she’d head back to the inn. As it was, Jake was sure to shoot her a disapproving look when she returned. Rose might do the same. Still, one more minute of browsing wouldn’t make a difference.
Although she wasn’t looking for anything specific, Paige was delighted to see a new item in the yard. Henry had followed through on his promise of a birdbath. A pole resembling a broom handle held a flat wooden board approximately five inches square. A semi-round object Paige suspected originally served as a cereal bowl rested on the flat surface. She was strongly tempted to grasp the bowl to see how Henry had attached it, but she resisted. The water inside almost reached the brim. If she spilled it, she didn’t know where a spigot for water might be. If Sam had filled it herself, she could be upset to find it empty in the morning.
As Paige stepped away from the makeshift birdbath and made a quick sweep of the rest of the yard, her toe caught on a raised railing, and she tripped. She caught herself, but a second stumble sent her tumbling to the ground, hitting the birdbath on the way down. She sat up, shook her arms and legs, determined she wasn’t injured, and then gathered the assorted pieces that formed the birdbath. Although the pole and board were fine, still attached to each other, the bowl was now empty. With no way to refill it, she’d need to leave it until morning.
Paige stood up and inserted the pole in the ground. Though wobbly, it stayed upright. Henry would be able to dig into the ground to secure it later. She looked around at the ground again, using her flashlight to locate the bowl. At least she could balance it on the board until the whole contraption could be firmed up in the morning. But, as she reached for the bowl, a sparkle in the moonlight caught her eye. Swinging her flashlight around, she gasped at an unexpected sight on the muddy ground. She set the bowl precariously on the board and bent down to take a closer look. Quickly determining the object merited her interest, and vowing to return it to the museum in the morning, she pocketed it and hurried back to the inn.
CHAPTER TEN
Stephen Porter flipped the coin back and forth between his fingers, his other hand holding a forkful of herbed egg frittata, one of many breakfast dishes Rose had set out for the guests. Paige, Jake and both Porters sat around a circular table, eating breakfast and discussing Paige’s find.
“It’s a gold coin, Paige,” Stephen said. “That’s the best I can tell you, other than the fact it’s in mighty good shape.”
“Pirate ships have gold coins,” Tommy announced. “Were you on a pirate ship?”
“Not recently,” Paige admitted. She tousled the boy’s hair and turned to his father. “It was hard to tell what shape it was in before we cleaned off the mud.”
“Nineteen twenty-six, right?” Jake asked Stephen, who still held the coin. “I think that’s what we determined when Paige finally got back from her run last night.”
Paige caught Jake’s reference to her longer-than-expected excursion, but chose to ignore it. The coin was a much more fascinating topic.
“Look at the back,” Paige pointed out. “See the eagle?”
Stephen handed the coin to Paige, who held it out for everyone to see.
“That’s called a Double Eagle,” Jake said. “It’s a twenty dollar coin.”
Paige looked at the coin again. “I only see one eagle.”
“Double Eagle refers to the value,” Jake said.
“I thought you said you didn’t know much about coins,” Paige said.
“I don’t. But my grandfather had one like that. Kept it in his safe. He showed it to me once. It certainly didn’t look as shiny as this one.”
“It definitely has me curious,” Paige admitted as she helped herself to a slice of cantaloupe. “I can’t help wondering what it was doing in the railroad yard.”
“Just like I can’t help wondering what it’s doing here at the inn.” Jake grinned, meaning only to tease Paige. She’d made it clear she intended only to clean the coin up and take it to Jesse.
“I bet it’s worth a lot of money,” Tommy said. He beamed with joy at contributing to the conversation. “Especially if it came from a pirate ship.”
“You never know,” Paige said, smiling at him.
Rose entered the room with a fresh pot of coffee for refills. “What’s all this I’m hearing about coins?”
Paige set the coin down on the table so Rose could examine it.
“Well, that’s quite a pretty piece. Gold, isn’t it?”
“Yes, gold,” Paige said. “I found it outside the museum last…yesterday, after it closed.” Jake tried to muffle his laughter, and she shot him a frustrated look.
So she’d reworded her statement a bit mid-stream. Last night was, after all, yesterday. And the museum was closed when she went on her run. “I found it in the mud, outside, and brought it here to clean it up. I’m going to take it to Jesse this morning. Maybe he’ll know where it came from. It might belong to someone in your family, Rose.”
“Maybe,” Rose mused. “But I’ve never seen it before. Anyone visiting the museum could have dropped it.”
“Or a pirate,” Tommy piped up. He waved his fork as if he were a swashbuckler with a sword. His father reached for his arm to settle him down before eggs could go flying.
“Or…a pirate…” Rose repeated, glancing around the table with amusement. “Something tells me I’ve missed some interesting parts of this conversation.” She poured coffee for Stephen Porter and Jake, but Paige covered her mug with her hand.
“No more coffee for me. I’m eager to get to the museum to show the coin to Jesse, see if he recognizes it.”
Rose shook her head. “I’m sure he would have said something to me, especially since the museum has been struggling. If he knew about the coin, and it’s valuable, he probably would have wanted to sell it to pay for The Morning Star’s restoration. I doubt he’s ever seen it.”
“Well, only one way to find out,” Paige said.
“There’s a coin appraiser up in Silverton,” Rose added. “If Jesse wants to check it out, I can give him the name. The guy appraised some coins for a guest recently.”
“Good idea,” Paige said. “I’ll suggest it to him.” She folded her napkin and set it beside her breakfast plate, standing up. “I think I’ll head to the museum.” She turned to Jake. “Coming along?”
“Not a bad idea,” Jake agreed, taking a last gulp of coffee. “Who knows what you’ll find next if you head down there on your own.”
“I’ll look up the name and number of that appraiser in case you want to get the coin checked out,” Rose said.
“Thanks,” Paige said. “We’ll see what Jesse says.”
* * *
Paige was surprised to see a crowd outside the museum; only one person stood over 48 inches high. At least twenty grade school children squirmed as their patient teacher tried to get the class to line up.
The “open” sign showed on the museum’s front door, and Paige motioned for Jake to follow her inside. As she bypassed the line of schoolchildren, one young voice piped up. It belonged to the wiggliest of the bunch.
“Hey, Ms. Crandall, why do those people get to go in before us? We were here first.”
The teacher smiled and waved Paige and Jake by, and then turned back to the class. “You see how nice and quiet these two people are? They are ready to visit the museum. Let me see who else is ready to go in.”
As Paige opened the door, she could already hear the students calming down.
“I have a sudden urge to pull your ponytail,” Jake whispered from behind her.
“Don’t you dare! You’ll set a bad example,” Paige exclaimed. She looked over her shoulder at Jake in mock disapproval before whipping her head back to the front, causing her hair to lightly smack his face.
“Oldest trick in the book,” Jake laughed. “I should’ve known you’d do that.”
“It worked well for me when I was seven.”
“And I bet you never got caught, either.”
“Nope.” Paige turned her head again, grinning. Jake stepped back to avoid a repeat performance.
“Good morning, you two,” Jesse called from the counter. “You barely made it in while it’s still safe. A wild group of second graders is about to descend on the premises. No telling what kind of commotion might break out.”
“Yes, we saw them outside, lining up. They look tame enough,” Paige laughed. “I think you’ll survive.”
“We always do.” Jesse straightened a tall stack of museum brochures, enough for each child to take home after the visit. “I like having classes visit. Field trips make school more interesting, plus it’s good for them to learn about the railroad since it’s the foundation of our local history.”
Paige made sure they were the only ones in the museum – at least at the moment – before she slid her hand into her jeans pocket and pulled out the gold coin. “Speaking of history, I was wondering if this looked familiar to you.”
Jesse set the brochures aside, took the coin from Paige and inspected it, his expression blank. Paige couldn’t help wondering if his lack of response was natural or intentional.
“Nice coin,” he said, his tone noncommittal. “Where did you find this?”
Paige hesitated briefly before answering. “I stopped by while I was jogging last night and ended up looking around the yard. Rose had said you don’t mind if people visit the outdoor exhibits after hours, and I found the coin on the ground in a muddy area. I took it back to the inn to clean it up and figured I’d bring it down to you this morning.”
“A muddy area?” Jesse looked puzzled. “Hasn’t been any rain lately.”
“Oh, that.” Paige blushed, knowing Jake was watching her explain. It wasn’t the first time her clumsiness had caused problems. “I accidentally knocked Sam’s birdbath over. I’ll need to apologize to Henry. It didn’t break, but it’s unstable now, and he’ll need to reattach the bowl to the board.”
A burst of activity interrupted Paige’s apology as the class of school children entered the museum. Although the line was orderly, the kids buzzed with enthusiasm.
“Come on in, Ms. Crandall,” Jesse said. “I have a film set up in the back meeting room, ready to go. You know how to start it. After the film, I’ll give everyone a tour.”
As the class settled in the meeting room, the museum grew quiet again until the back door flew open, and new energy burst in.
“Dad!”
A frenzied Sam raced across the floor, ignoring Jesse’s admonitions to close the door behind her.
“My bird! My bird is gone!” The anguish on Sam’s face broke Paige’s heart.
“Samantha,” Jesse said calmly, “birds fly away. I’m sorry if you had a bird friend who’s not here today.”
Sam shook her head violently. “No, not this bird. This bird can’t fly. But it’s gone. I went to see if it had finished its bath, and it wasn’t there. The water’s gone, too!” She burst into tears and put her head down on the counter.
Paige looked between Jake and Jesse as the pieces fell together. She rubbed Sam’s back to calm her and reached out toward Jesse with her free hand. Grasping the coin, she coaxed Sam into looking up and held the coin out in front of her teary eyes.
“Sam, is this your bird?”
A look of delight filled the young child’s face. “Yes! You found my bird! You found my bird!” She jumped up and down clapping.
“This is why you wanted a birdbath?” Jesse scratched his head, puzzled.
Sam nodded. “It was dirty. I wanted it to take a bath while I was sleeping.”
“Where did you find this, Sam?” Jesse asked
“Outside,” Sam said quietly.
“Yesterday?” Jesse pressed.
“No…” Sam looked down at her feet. “Before that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? This might belong to someone who’s missing it,” Jesse explained. “That’s why we have the lost and found box in the office. You know that’s where we keep things we find.”
Sam’s expression turned stubborn. “But this is my secret.”
Paige smiled. “So this is the secret treasure you told me about?”
“Yes.” Sam said.
“Are there any more treasures,” Paige asked. “Any other birds?”
Sam shook her head. “I’ve been looking, but I can’t find any more.”
“Well, we need to keep this, to see who it belongs to,” Jesse said, reaching for the coin.
“Not fair! I found it!” Sam’s eyes filled with tears again.
Paige intervened. “Sam, I have an idea. Would you like to find out more about your bird? For example, where it
came from? And why it was dirty when you found it?”
“I guess so,” Sam admitted hesitantly.
“Then we need to take it to someone who will know more about it, to get information.”
Sam’s mouth turned downward in a pout. “But I don’t want you to take it away.”
“I have an idea,” Paige said, turning to Jesse. “Could we have a pencil and a piece of paper?”
Jesse pulled the requested items out from under the counter and handed them over. Paige set the coin down, eagle side up, and placed the paper over it. She handed the pencil to Sam.
“Here, rub the pencil over the paper. I’ll hold the paper for you.”
Sam followed the directions, a smile forming as she watched the eagle shape form under the pencil marks.
“Wow, that’s cool!”
Paige waited until Sam traced the whole coin and then lifted the paper up, handing it to Sam. “There, now you have a special picture of your bird you can keep while we find out more about it.”
“OK,” Sam said, pleased but hesitant. “You promise to take care of it?”
“Absolutely,” Paige said. “You can be sure we’ll take special care of it.” Both Jesse and Jake nodded in agreement.
“I’m going to put this up in my room!” Sam took off, one hand holding the paper, the other pulling the back door closed behind her.
“Jesse?” The teacher called from the back room. “We need help with the film, when you get a minute.”
“Be right there,” Jesse said. He turned back to Paige. “What do you suggest?”
“Rose mentioned at breakfast that there’s an appraiser in Silverton. One of her guests went up there to have some coins checked out. I think it’s worth a trip.”
“It can’t hurt,” Jake agreed. “And I haven’t been on that Durango-Silverton line yet. We could take the train up there to have the coin looked at and bring it right back so you don’t have to close the museum.”
Jesse paused, but agreed. “See what you can find out. I’d like to know more about it.
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