Secrets of Amelia

by Andrea Anderson

  “Don’t worry Jerry, my friend,” Roberto had said, “I have the money hidden so no one will ever find it without me.”

  With Roberto gone and no idea of where the money was Jerry had to continue to search. Shit! I should have found out where he hid the money before I killed him thought Jerry. He made me so mad I just couldn’t help myself.

  When Jerry exhausted his search here in Mexico, where they lived now and didn’t find anything, he thought he might have to go back to the farm, as a last resort. Today he was going into town to the canteen to meet with Roberto’s brother, Juan and see if he knew anything. Jerry sold off most of what the old lady had in the way of pottery and farm animals, they had to eat didn’t they, he told himself. There really was no work in this area of Mexico only gambling and robbery. He wouldn’t really mind becoming a robber, but the penalty was stiff. If they caught him in Mexico, they might even find out he was wanted in the US and try to send him back. That was the last thing he wanted to happen.

  Juan, Roberto’s brother was happy to meet with Jerry because they always ended up drunk and he didn’t have the money to do that by himself. Jerry told Juan that Roberto got hooked up with a rich American woman and decided to stay in America. Knowing how Roberto liked women, he believed Jerry.

  Jerry’s new plot after he got Juan where he was feeling no pain was to begin questioning him about where the money got to. Jerry knew that Roberto and Juan were close and if Juan knew what really happened to Roberto, he would seek revenge on Jerry. At first, Juan said he had no clue about any hidden money, the more he drank the looser his tongue got. He told Jerry that he and Roberto had a place they went to in the mountains and camped out as boys. This was an old cabin there, it was rickety and run down, but had a good roof so you at least didn’t get wet.

  “Roberto stayed at that cabin after you and Rosalie left to go to your family,” Juan told Jerry. They drank until the wee hours of the morning, and Jerry brought Juan home with him because he was so stupefied from alcohol.

  They sat at the kitchen table discussing what they would do in the morning. Antonio, Rosalie’s son was now 16 years old, he ran with older boys and hated Jerry. Antonio had a suspicion that Jerry killed his father Roberto but was never able to get his mother to open up about what happened. He knelt by the open kitchen window and listened to Uncle Juan and Jerry talking.

  The next morning Jerry and Juan told the others they were going on a camping trip for a few days and started out for the cabin in the mountains. The terrain was steep and winding and they were on horseback because there was no discernable road for a vehicle. It took them a long time to get to the cabin and it was dark when they got there. It was difficult to see much so they made a fire and slept in their bedrolls without going in the cabin. They didn’t know that Antonio was following them. He stayed well behind and was also on horseback. Antonio was easily able to follow the trail because he had been at the cabin before. He had been there with his father and Uncle Juan and some of his friends before, but it had been a long time and the cabin was run down and dangerous now.

  The following day, Jerry and Juan made some coffee and ate dry biscuits and then searched the cabin. It was a filthy mess inside where someone had cooked and left the pan on the stove and the dishes on the table. Juan recognized Roberto’s writing on a piece of paper left on the table. It looked as if he began writing a letter or a note and then stopped before it was finished. Juan told Jerry there was a small cave, not too far from the cabin, where they buried some of the things they had stolen. They came back for the loot after it was no longer hot.

  After searching the cabin thoroughly, they got shovels and walked to the cave. Juan had a flashlight and went in first. He could see there were several places where the earth was disturbed and pointed them out to Jerry. They gathered wood and built a fire to light up the cave knowing that the flashlight would not last long. They spent most of the day digging up the floor of the cave. It took a long time because they had to come out of the cave when the smoke from the fire got too overwhelming. They found nothing. Antonio hid and watched as they dug up the cave, he wondered what they were looking for, it must be money or something valuable, he thought, Jerry won’t work that hard for nothing.

  Exhausted and drunk from multiple whiskey breaks, they went back to the cabin and ate some beef jerky, more biscuits, and some other dried food they brought and fell asleep.

  The next morning Jerry was stiff from all the digging he did the day before, as he usually did as little work as possible and now was feeling the pain. Juan made a fire and they had coffee.

  “I’m pretty sure that the money is not in that cave Juan,” said Jerry, “where else do you think it could be?”

  “There was another place we used to hide things in an emergency, when we would stay here and only had enough time to drop the goods off, that’s a place under the cabin in the back,” said Juan.

  “Let’s go back there and see,” said Jerry, but let’s have drink for an eye opener first. They had several drinks before they got back to looking for the money.

  Juan got the shovels and they went behind the cabin. Juan began to dig and after he dug a few holes, and had taken several breaks, they decided to dig a little further out from the cabin.

  It was afternoon and they had a hole about 10 inches deep, when Juan’s shovel struck something. He dug a wider space around where he made contact and found an old canvas bag. They brought it out of the hole and opened it up. It was full of various pieces of jewelry, watches, several guns, and two bags of Mexican pesos.

  “This is sweet,” said Jerry, “but it’s not what I was looking for. Think, Juan, think. Where else would Roberto have possibly buried other treasure?”

  “Let’s sit and have another drink and I’ll think about this,” said Juan.

  “There’s only one other place that I know where something could be,” said Juan, with much more whiskey on board now, “We probably have to tear the floor of the cabin up to find it.

  “Let’s do it,” said Jerry, “you can always fix the floor or build another cabin for that matter, since this one is about to fall down.”

  Antonio kept watch and wondered what they would do next after digging behind the cabin.

  “OK, before we start lets had a little nip of the bottle,” said Juan. After several more drinks of whiskey, they got some tools and began tearing up the floor. They were only about 30 minutes into it when they heard riders coming. They stopped what they were doing and went out to see who it was.

  Two men on horseback were riding slowly toward the cabin. Juan called out a greeting in Spanish. They riders waved and returned the greeting. They rode up to the cabin and Juan talked with the strangers telling them that he and Jerry were here to hunt, and they would be here for the next few days. The riders told them they were passing by and wondered where they could find water for themselves and the horses. Juan directed them to a stream to the north of the cabin and they rode off.

  Juan and Jerry went back to work but continued drinking throughout the day. Jerry didn’t drink as much as Juan but brought along a lot of whiskey to keep Juan plied with it. If they found the money, he wanted Juan as drunk as possible. Then Jerry could take most of the money and Juan would be so drunk he wouldn’t remember what happened or how much money they found.

  They had about half of the floorboards of the cabin removed when Juan said he saw something. Juan was pretty well oiled by now. He swayed when he stood up. He bent down and saw the end of an old suitcase. Then Juan did something he would have never done if he weren’t so drunk. He reached blindly into the dark cavernous area under the remaining floorboards to get the suitcase. Suddenly he let out a blood curdling scream in horror. He pulled his hand out as fast as possible and one of the two young snakes that bit him was still hanging on his arm.

  Jerry freaked, he screamed out, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” And jumped away from Juan for fear on
e of the snakes would bite him too.

  When Juan stopped screaming you could hear the eerie hisses and rattles of the snakes that has a nest under the floorboards of the house, and one was lying on top of the suitcase. Another snake was coiled and lay just under the next board they would have removed. Trying as hard as he could to get out of the space under the floor was difficult for Juan probably because he was so drunk, he lost his footing between the boards. Before he could get his foot out of the hole an adult snake came from another direction and bit him on the leg before he could pull it out.

  Jerry was in shock and didn’t move or believe what was happening. Of all things he hated snakes the most. He finally came to his senses grabbed Juan’s other arm and pulled him away from the area cursing at their bad luck. He sat Juan on a chair at the table at the far end of the room but was petrified that one of the snakes would come out of the hole and bite him too. He was looking at the bites when he thought he saw movement in the area under the cabin where the boards were torn up and got scared. He dragged Juan outside, took off Juan’s belt and made a tourniquet on his arm. He then got out his knife, opened the arm and leg at the site of the fang punctures, and let them bleed. He poured whiskey in the wounds and wrapped them with a rag. Juan was in terrible pain.

  “I didn’t hear the rattle,” Juan said crying. Jerry didn’t know what else to do, that’s what he saw them do in the movies until they got the victim to the hospital for anti-venom serum. Jerry sat Juan under the shade of a tree.

  “I will be right back,” Jerry said, “and then we’ll get you to a doctor. Here have some whiskey it will help with the pain.”

  Jerry was more worried about how to get the suitcase out of the cabin than in getting Juan medical help. Jerry got another bottle of whiskey from his saddle bag and took two huge swallows and very cautiously went back into the cabin. He tried to stay as far away from the opening of the floorboards as possible cowering against the opposite wall. Somehow someway he had to get that suitcase out from the fucking nest of vipers. Think; think Jerry told himself I must think of how I can get the suitcase out of there. Of all the fucking things in the world, I hate snakes the most he thought. No way am I going to stick my hand in there. Jerry went back outside and sat on a rock and tried to think of a plan and took a few more swallows of the firewater.

  Antonio watched from the nearby woods. He saw Jerry bring Uncle Juan out of the cabin and lay him under a tree. Antonio thought Uncle Juan was just drunk and went over to talk with him, that’s when he spotted the tourniquet on his arm and saw the fang marks. He knew Jerry was not trying to help Uncle Juan. Antonio thought of the two men he saw on horseback and got to his horse and began riding in the direction of where he thought the two strangers might be camped. He would find them and bring them back to see if they could help Uncle Juan.

  Jerry looked over at the fireplace from the door of the cabin. He saw a long piece of metal that must have used as a poker for the fire. He got as close as he thought was safe, to see where the suitcase was and tried to come up with an idea to get the suitcase out. If he could get close enough to that makeshift poker maybe he could……then he heard the hissing. He jumped back fast cursing and trembling with fright and ran back outside.

  “Those fucking vipers,” he screamed, I need to try something he thought, anything. Once more Jerry looked over at the fireplace, this time he noticed a long, thin piece of wood. He ran over to the fireplace as quickly as he could and picked up the wood and took it out on the porch. Next he wrapped some old rags around it and poured whiskey on the rags. He lit the makeshift torch on fire and got it as close to where the suitcase rested. His gut was in a knot, but he had to do it. He began jabbing it into the dark areas where the snakes were. I must be fast and grab the suitcase before it catches on fire, I’m hoping if I burned the shit out of those snakes, they get the Hell out of there. He threw the burning stick into the area then pushed it in as far as he could with the metal rod.

  “Here take that you slimy sons of bitches,” he bellowed.

  It provided some light, and Jerry let it heat up under the floorboards and then he reached in and grasped the handle of the suitcase with the end of the rod. He was taking no chances with the snakes. He let out a howl because the bar got hot and he burned his hand. He wrapped the end of his shirt around the handle and got out of there.

  “I better take my hot ass to a cool country and fast,” he murmured as he ran toward the horses.

  It didn’t take long before the whole cabin was in flames. When he went over to Juan, he was crying and in great pain. Jerry lifted him on to his horse, loaded the suitcase on his and set off to take Juan somewhere to get help. He tried to ride fast, but the trail was full of twists and turns. He stopped at the stream, washed Juan’s arm in the stream, and gave him water to drink. Juan had a hard time drinking the water, his whole body felt very hot and he was delirious. Jerry got him back on his horse and they started again, Jerry was thinking if this stupid son of a whore can’t stay on the horse, I’ll have to leave him here.

  Before long, Juan fell off his horse and was confused and incoherent asking for his mother. Jerry dragged Juan’s body in the woods and covered it with leaves and small branches, there was no time to look for help now, he had to get back and hide the money. He rode back to farm and hid the suitcase in some bushes. They asked him where Juan was, and Jerry told them he wanted to stay at the cabin for a few more days.

  “I’ll go back to see him in a day or two,” Jerry said.

  Later that day, after Rosalie and her mother had gone to the market; Jerry got the suitcase and got in his pickup truck and rode to the furthest end of the farm. When he was certain nobody was around or had followed him, he opened the suitcase and examined the money. It was all US dollars. He knew by the weight of the suitcase Roberto had not used much of it. There should be 300,000 large in here, all mine, thought Jerry. He took the top layer of bundled bills and began counting the money. As he got to the next layer of bills, he noticed that they were all new bills and he immediately got suspicious. He held one of the bills up to the sun to see it better. He began looking at them carefully for a long time. “Fuck,” he said to himself these are counterfeit. Thinking back to the night he made the exchange for the drugs; he thought the scenario through. I always wondered why that bastard, Jason seemed so smug when he gave me the suitcase. It was a set up and Jason gave him up to the cops, they didn’t want to move in on the deal until Jerry accepted the money. Jerry was suspicious of Jason and had someone else pick up the money and meet him away from the drop site. The guy who picked up the money was a drug addict and Jerry had kept his girlfriend as a hostage at a motel threatening to kill her if the addict didn’t return with the money. When the pickup man returned, Jerry gave him the drugs, and raced away knowing that the cops would be there soon enough. The guy couldn’t wait to get his girlfriend back and they were both anxious to shoot up.

  There was about 30 thousand dollars of old bills on top and Jerry thought would be safe enough for him to get away. After counting, the money Jerry gathered his clothes and hide them in the truck. When Rosalie came back, he told her he was going into town and won’t be back till much later. He really was going to Los Vegas; there he would find a money launder and use the 30 thousand as a stake to make more money by gambling. After all he thought, I’m a great card player and I can turn this cash into a fortune easily.

  Antonio found the two men and asked them to come with him to help his uncle. They went back and saw the burned-out cabin, but Uncle Juan was gone. They began to follow the trail back and saw where some bushes were trampled. They got off their horses to see what happened. The moaning was low and mournful. They followed the sound into the woods and found Juan. He was feverish and couldn’t talk he just moaned. They tried to get him to drink some water and were not successful. Antonio showed them the snakebites and they just looked at one another.

  The tall stranger said,
“Son I don’t think this poor man stands a chance. He has two sets of fang marks on his arm that means double the poison in his system; even if he was in a hospital, I’m not sure they could help him. Antonio cried when Uncle Juan stopped breathing and vowed to get Jerry for doing this. The strangers helped him bring Juan’s body back to the farm it was late when they got there, and Jerry was long gone.

  [ Chapter 41 ]

  I’m so happy to be away from that nasty farm and that low life bunch thought Jerry, I think I deserve a treat. The first thing Jerry did when he reached Vegas was to find a motel and buy some new clothes. He would pose as a high roller and hit the tables. He would see how he did at the tables and then try and get rid of the funny money. It was too risky to do it at the casinos, but he could spend it in shops and restaurants, and it would be a while until someone caught on. If he won money gambling in the casinos that money would be Ok. He had been there about three weeks and holding his own at gambling by winning a little more than he bet. He was in the MGM Grand one night when he spotted her. He did a double take at first not believing his eyes. She was older now, though still very attractive. She was with an old, gray haired, guy and both were drinking heavily. He sat and watched her for a while trying to figure out what her game was and to make sure it was her. She’s a bit old to be a prostitute he thought. The old guys usually want young chicks. Finally, he couldn’t stand his curiosity anymore and he went over to where they were sitting and said, “Hi Lynn.” She looked up startled and stared at him, as if she had seen a ghost. Recovering her senses, she said, “Hi Jerry, what are you doing here?”

  “I’m enjoying a little time off.”

  “Sit down and join us” she said, and she introduced Jerry to Festus as someone she knew from the town, she grew up in. “How is everybody back in our old town,” she asked.

  “I’m not sure,” said Jerry, “I haven’t been back there for a while myself. Do you live here now?”