What Emma Left Behind

by Anne Spackman

  * * * * *

  Caera violently regretted volunteering to babysit the young children for church that Sunday morning a few weeks later. The job would have been easy, if it weren't that the three and four year olds didn't sleep in cribs the whole time like the babies did. They had to be out, flipping through books to see the pretty pictures, all the while demanding that she read the words printed beneath them, fighting over whose toy was whose, stuffing handfuls of Cheerios and little graham crackers into their mouths and at the same time succeeding in dropping the same amount all over the floor, running around with little model airplanes and making whooshing noises, and occasionally chanting "get sidder, get sidder" before running at Caera and knocking her over.

  One little girl in particular loved to see how much power she could have over Caera. At only four and a half years of age, she had managed to figure out how to get her way at any time and from any person and looked upon every stranger as a new challenge.

  At the moment, she held Caera's shoe and was running around the room with it, uttering high-pitched squeals of delight the closer she got to the only window in the room. Unfortunately, the room was not only on the second storey of the building, but it had also rained the night before, and the ground was wonderfully oozing mud everywhere.

  Caera yelled at the little girl to stop just as she reached the window and began opening it. Too late, she realized as she heard the little girl's giggle.

  "One step closer and I'll drop it," she threatened as she suspended Caera's shoe by one hand and extended the other one out in front of her to push Caera away if she got near.

  "Leslie, you give me back that shoe this instant!" Caera saw the little pink bow on her head shake "no" and tried again, "If I give you a candy bar, will you give me back my shoe?"

  Again the pink bow shook "no".

  "Leslie, if you drop my shoe, I'll tell your mother, and she'll punish you for being so naughty."

  That was precisely what Leslie wanted to hear. Without a word she let go of the shoe.

  Caera ran frantically to the window in time to see it sail downward and land in the mud with a squelch.

  Caera realized she had little time to retrieve and clean her shoe before church was over. She left Katie, the oldest and bossiest child in the nursery at seven years of age, in charge until she got back with strict orders to watch that nothing but food entered anyone's mouth and that the young children didn't play with any sharp objects. Without even a backward glance, Caera descended the winding staircase and burst through the outside door. At last she reached the area where Leslie had dropped the shoe, but it was nowhere to be found.

  Caera stooped over and began scrabbling away in the mud, momentarily reflecting that something dropped in mud like this could be buried forever. Before long, however, she laid sight of her shoe, and all her concentration centered around getting back to the nursery before the end of church. Luckily, there was a hose outside, and the mud came off easily since it was thin and watery.

  Caera put her wet shoe back on and ran into the building, entering the nursery just as the church service ended. But she couldn't shake the irrepressible feeling that she had lost more than a shoe in mud like this a very long time before.

  Caera hardly spoke the whole way home. As soon as the car drove up, she got out and ran for the front door, not waiting till it was in the garage. In a matter of seconds, she was inside and up in her room to change out of her good clothes. The odd feeling she had experienced less than a half hour before had changed into excitement, and while she yanked on her favorite blue track suit, her mind raced through new ideas and adjusted old ones.

  Caera reached for her bottom drawer and rummaged through for the old message that they'd found. Holding it at last in her hand, she read it again:

 

  After looking at it for several minutes, Caera found herself remembering how she, Claudia, and Ana had marched all over town looking for links with Emma's life as an answer to the "Search within thy Past" cryptic. But obviously it had to mean something else because they hadn't found anything.

  Funnily enough, the three of them had always used the second message in conjunction with the first one, but were they supposed to? And what was it that the other one had said? Oh yeah. Caera had written it on another piece of paper, and it was folded up with Emma's first message. She read it again also.

  "Draw together the Clues that you find

  For your purpose, keep in mind

  You will see what is is what is not

  Search carefully, X marks the Spot"

  They hadn't gotten the "Search within thy Past" part right, and the "X marks the Spot" clue was also leading nowhere. But there were other parts of the two messages they hadn't explored yet. And now that Caera thought about it, was it possible that the "X marks the spot" was supposed to lure people off the right track? She wondered. After all, it sounded really like a clue from Treasure Island; like a clue to a pirate's treasure.

  Maybe Emma had said that because she knew that some people wouldn't have cared what had happened to her and her father and would only be concerned with the family fortune. And maybe then it was a sign that they should really be trying to put her soul to rest first--that finding out what really happened was more important. If that were the case, then the reason the treasure had never been found was because people had been going about everything in the wrong way in their greed.

  But what about the rest of the clues contained within the two messages? Had they found any viable answers to them? All Caera could see was that when Ana got the list of historical buildings from her uncle, they hadn't turned up a thing. And they had all assumed there'd be a clue out by the Davenport's house and figured that the only untouched part of the property was the back yard. So they had dug but found nothing. And what purpose had the excursion served?

  Caera thought hard. She and Claudia were obviously looking for the treasure being Campbells as they were, and Ana well, she was their best friend. But the Davenports? It struck Caera just then that their ancestor had been part of the mystery too, since Aaron Davenport had been accused of Mr. Campbell's murder and was himself found dead shortly afterwards.

  In fact, the whole second message had been instrumental in getting the Davenports involved, first of all because it had led the girls into their backyard and also because Alex had only believed in the dreams because he himself had felt Emma's presence outside the cave. Maybe this was Emma's purpose--to reassemble the same parties of long ago. Caera shuddered. She hoped another murderer wasn't going to reappear.

  Despite these revelations, there were still things that bothered Caera. Emma kept bringing them through her past through the twins' dreams. Be that as it was, the dreams thus far hadn't led to anything concrete, except perhaps the fact that they were what had motivated Claudia and Caera to get involved with Emma's murder and the mystery of the lost treasure in the first place and they were also steering them subtly in the right directions. Caera pondered the situation.

  "That's right!" she excitedly jumped on her bed with a heavy thud. It was true. So far they had been concentrating on the "Search within thy Past" line and the "X marks the Spot"--in short, the treasure and the wrong direction. The dreams, however, were always there trying to tell them things, and not just the dreams but strange feelings like she'd had that morning had come and gone. The image crossed her mind again.

  Falling... buried forever... the mud... Like all the dreams, it had to have something to do with Emma.

  She remembered the where they had first seen the ghost of Emma together, out on the lawn. And she considered that Emma had to have stayed at the house after she hid the diary because she wrote this and hid it somewhere for it to be eventually put in the crate in the attic. Caera's face wore a look of stern concentration.

  O.K. I know she hid her diary and afterwards was still at the house to hide this message. She wouldn't have gone very far to hide anything—very probably not ev
en as far as the Davenports' and definitely not to town or else the killer could have found her before she had had a chance to hide the diary. Seeing as how she wrote here that she had accomplished the task—

  and she couldn't dare its being discovered by her killer if it really disclosed the location of the family fortune or if it revealed her or his identity—

  "It has to be here—in our house! " Caera grinned in exultation but suddenly stopped.

  Falling... buried forever.....

  "No! Not in our house." She picked up the worn book and ran outside to find Claudia.

  "I'm tellin' ya, Ana. Caera says there's something buried in the yard," Claudia was explaining just twenty minutes later to Ana on the telephone.

  "Oh, no, not that again. Haven't we already demolished one back yard this year?" Ana teased.

  "But that was the wrong place," Caera insisted, now on the extension.

  "Well, even if we do decide to dig up your back yard, how are we gonna do it without your parents noticing? Remember what the Davenports' yard looked like?"

  "I've already figured it out," Caera assured her. "Look. Last time we weren't thinking. It's been at least two hundred years since Emma died, right?"

  "Yeah, so?"

  "So, anything that's survived damp soil and microorganisms that long would probably have to be made out of metal. Wood would've rotted, at least most kinds would have. That means that if there's anything down there, it's probably metal and could be detected with a little aid from modern technology."

  "You mean a metal detector."

  "Precisely."

  "But where are we gonna get one?"

  "Just leave it to good ole' Sears and Roebuck," Caera answered confidently.

  "I know that, silly, but have you any idea how much they cost? A lot," she finished when Caera didn't answer.

  "We could chip in," Claudia suggested. "All six of us. And then maybe we could afford one."

  "I dunno . . . "

  "Just think how it'll pay off when we find Emma's diary," Caera tempted her with the possible tangibility of their dream.

  "You mean if it's not with the treasure," Ana retorted.

  "It couldn't be, " Caera responded calmly, "or Emma would have hinted to that in her secret messages."

  "Well, " Ana considered the situation for a minute. "All right. But since it was your idea, Caera, you've gotta call the boys and tell them about it, okay?"

  "Great. So whattaya say we all meet Saturday morning at nine o ' clock at our house? We'll get the detector during the week."

  "Fine with me," Ana conceded, "but you've forgotten my original question. What are you gonna tell your parents?"

  "We'll just tell them that we want to bury a time capsule," Claudia opined. "That'll explain why we wanna dig up the yard, and then we've just gotta say it's a secret to get a little privacy.

  "It sounds like you two have already given this a lot of thought," Ana laughed.

  The Diary

  "That's two hundred fifty-three dollars and eighty seven cents." Andrew fastened a rubber band around the grubby swadge of bills and stuffed it and the coins into a change purse. The six of them were gathered in a circle in an alcove of the school's courtyard, looking mournfully at their money. Ana thought of a month of lawn mowing and resisted the urge to touch her contribution one last time, but no one noticed the baleful expression on her face since they were all lost in similar reveries.

  "Oh well," Claudia commiserated, "If we're gonna do this, then let's get going."

  "Right." Caera swallowed hard. "There's nothing to be gained by just standing here. And what's more important, finding the diary or two hundred and fifty bucks?" Andrew stared at the coin purse but looked up abruptly when his brother nudged him. The funds were soon stashed in Todd's backpack, and the group prepared to exit the building discreetly.

  Two by two they marched back into the school building in the direction of the nearest door to the outside, which was ensconced on the other side of the cafeteria. They didn't make it far, however, before they were spotted. Jessica Ford and Amy Porter noticed their haste and strolled over to them, breaking off a conversation with an after school crowd in the cafeteria.

  "Guess who's managed to block off the escape route?" Ana muttered through clenched teeth at the girls' approach. "Oh hi, Jessica... Amy."

  "Hi, Ana." They glanced at each other conspiratorially. "We were just wondering where you all," Amy picked up on the guilty looks on their faces and smiled, "were going."

  "Whaddaya mean, Amy?" Caera chirped innocently.

  "Oh I think you know what we mean," Amy replied sweetly. "You were rushing off so fast, and I thought to myself, what could possibly be so important to them that--the treasure. It probably must mean there's something up with the treasure! Well, I just had to come over here and confirm it, you know. It just wouldn't do to let you leave without having something to tell Marie, now would it?"

  "There's nothing to tell, Amy." Claudia was already indicating to the others to go ahead and let her deal with Emily's and Marie's lackeys and sometime miscreants. "My mother's taking everyone home today, and we're late because she's getting off work earlier than usual. So if you don't mind, we'll see you tomorrow." Claudia waved, hoping her story would be believed.

  "Whew," she announced her presence once she was outside. The others were in the parking lot waiting and turned around when they heard her. Once they were rejoined, they slipped off towards the town center unobtrusively. It was still early enough for most of the school to be inside chatting with their friends, but Claudia didn't stop worrying until they'd made it to the relative anonymity of the shopping district. She had a strange feeling that they were being followed, and when they entered the first store she thought she saw someone that vaguely resembled Ellison Davis coming down the street.

  After the first three department stores, however, (Alex had insisted that they buy the cheapest detector and the others raised no objections) Caera made the others stop in the candy store for cherry sours, and Claudia felt convinced that they'd thrown any spies off the track.

  Everyone at the funeral wore black. She had never seen so much black; the mourners, the casket, the pall bearers, the coaches. The storm that had been coming brought with it no more wind but instead ceaseless drizzle and a dull gray sky. Now that the minister had finished his words, people were throwing flowers over the coffin. There were some sobs from those standing behind her, but Emma found her eyes were very dry.

  As if the funeral were mechanical, the gravediggers pressed in from somewhere, eager to finish the burial as quickly as possible in the rain, and the mourners wafted back towards their coaches. Emma was numb to their condolences, so they shook hands with her uncle John before they took their leave. Soon only her uncle, Susanna, and Mrs. Brodie remained, and then they, too, headed back to Emma's house to settle her father's affairs.

  Emma hardly noticed when her uncle and Mrs. Brodie left the two cousins alone together in the parlor. Susanna was the only person she could talk to who wouldn't mention what had happened; everyone at the funeral seemed very sorry that she had been the one to find her father but continued to discuss it until she couldn't stand it anymore. A long silence ensued, during which both girls looked out the window at the dreary day.

  "Great uncle Ian will have to face terrible news when he gets back." Susanna broached a new subject.

  "Yes..." Emma continued to gaze out the window. "I suppose he will."

  "I did so miss my brother at the funeral."

  "Really? I didn't notice his absence."

  "Yes, Father says he was quite upset. He's out there now, hunting in the forest." Hunting? Emma thought back to the long blade of the hunting knife that had been used to murder her father. Her thoughts were shrouded in confusion. Who had killed her father, and why? She shivered. It couldn't have been Collin, could it?

  The window pane was streaked with rain, but for a moment she saw rivules of blood a
nd shot bolt upright. Everything was blackness, except for an instant. Claudia in her room rubbed her eyes and looked around. She knew in a moment that her sister had been dreaming with her, and ran to Caera's room, hoping they found the diary, and soon.

  "All right, you guys. Are you ready? Who'll do the honors?" Andrew held aloft the metal detector and glanced about the circle of five faces. Both sets of twins plus Ana and Todd had met early that Saturday morning in the Campbells' back yard. The sun was shining brightly, and it was rather warm for a February day without clouds. Behind the house, the group was almost completely sheltered from the wind, but its oscillating song could be heard whistling around the roof of the house and through the trees which cocooned the house like a protective wreath.

  Caera saw no reason for Andrew's pep talk and promptly relieved him of the metal detector. "Let's just get on with it," she griped. "We're freezing our butts off out here." Andrew's enthusiasm was encouraging. He'd changed since the hunt for Emma's diary began, and her words, to her own surprise, seemed to have an affectionate ring, spoken as they were through a grin.

  As it turned out, Ana had been the only one to read the instruction manual entirely, and so it fell to her to work the metal detector while the others watched and listened carefully as they followed behind her. For a long time a silence hung in the air, except for the sound of the wind and the constant whine of the detector.

  For the first times it sounded, they scrambled excitedly in the frozen earth only to find disappointingly an old beer cap lid and a rusted belt buckle. They didn't know which window Emma would have dropped her clue from, but Caera and Claudia had guessed that she had been standing at either the library window or one of the bedroom windows.

  As they walked further from the house to an area below and a little ways from the library window, the detector sounded again faintly, and the friends exchanged a quick speculative look, excited but wary of further disappointment. Todd, Alex, and Claudia dug at the spot first, and then Caera and Andrew took over while Ana held the detector high above.

  They had worked for just over ten minutes when Caera thought she felt the shovel scrape against something hard. She stopped Andrew and rubbed the dirt away from the surface of a piece of metal that was sticking through the earth at the bottom of their artificial hole. In a moment, she and Andrew were carefully digging away the soil around the object to loosen it from its age long grave.

  After she thought that they had dug enough around it, Caera pulled gingerly on the piece of metal that stuck out, and it slowly wiggled free. The others crowded round as she brought something out, but they couldn't as yet tell what it was under the clod of muddy earth that still clung stubbornly to it.

  Claudia rushed inside to get a pan of water while the others waited outside anxiously. When she returned in a few minutes, Caera placed the object in the pan, and Alex swished it around until the water turned murky and a sound of metal sliding on metal was heard.

  They had found a key--a worn, brass key with scratched and dull teeth encased in a sickly green coating of slime. In a sudden flash of insight, a picture formed clearly in Caera's mind, and she saw her, Claudia, and Ana in their attic months before. Claudia's words that day came back to echo in her ears.

  "...believe me, Ana, it's definitely not in there. We can't even find a key for that trunk..."

  "Wow, a key!" Todd was saying. "Whaddaya suppose it opens?" The others looked around, each lost in ponderous thought.

  "Of course!" Caera shouted her thoughts aloud. "It's been right before our eyes this whole time!" She grabbed the key, got to her feet excitedly, and ran to the back door. The others exchanged a brief dubious look before following suit.

  Caera tread up the stairs, her feet making thumping noises in her haste. In her mind she recalled the day when her parents had had the attic inspected for dry rot, six years previously. The attic had always been cluttered and countless oddities turned up every time she perused it, but it stuck her with increasing conviction that she never remembered seeing that black trunk before that day! As a dream the memory came back to her.

  She had been warned off going up there because of the decayed insulation material floating about and because of the mildew spores that filled the air with their odious perfume, yet her natural roaming spirit had prompted her one quiet afternoon. She had climbed the creaky steps and entered the gloom, visions of old castle dungeons spurring her imagination.

  The dust after the workmen had torn out the old walls had nearly settled, and she could breathe. She laughed at her parents' worry about that. It was safe and much more fun to be exploring it now in light of the admonition. Some old chairs were covered with sheets, and all the clutter previously against the walls was pushed to the center of the room. She skipped around it a little, then alighted on a shadowy corner of the spacious room.

  This corner had been excluded from the part of the room that had been made into the attic, but with the removal of the rotten walls the size of the area was now increased. She bounded around in the open space and then felt herself drawn to the shadow, which wasn't a shadow at all but an old trunk, looking as forlorn as though it had been misplaced in the commotion and now rested abandoned...

  When Caera reached the attic again, the trunk was not far from where it had been waiting for the last six years, but more accurately, the last two hundred. Caera lost no time in placing the brass key in the first padlock. After several moments of hard turning, her heart jumped when it clicked open and raced wildly as she tried and succeeded with the other. The shock and wondrous dread in the room was palpable as Claudia lifted open the lid of the ancient receptacle, and all strained in the dim light to behold the diary of Emma Campbell.

  May 7, 1768

  Today Papa has giv'n me this new Diary in which I am to wright observations and reflections. I shall endeavour to do my best in this, though I cannot imagine that I shall find anything important enough to preserve and look back upon. Papa assures me that someday I will enjoy reading these entries when time has passed and my powers of recollection have grown dim.

  To-day was my birthday and we have entertained an intimate fellowship of callers for dinner, quite a change from our usual quiet evenings. My uncle John and cousins Collin and Susanna came to celebrate the Occasion with Mrs. Brodie, papa, and with me. Regretfully, it has been a long time since I saw Susanna last, almost a year, but still she is my dearest friend in all the world apart from papa, and we have made arrangements to meet one another this summer.

  My cousin Collin has grown into a fine-looking young man over the past few years. He is nineteen years of age. Collin tells me that he has finished his studies as a solicitor and now works with my uncle in town. Mrs. Brodie says that Uncle John is quite a successful solicitor; I have no doubt that Collin will prosper as well.

  Uncle John has commission'd a portrait for my birthday and from Susanna and Collin I received a new harness for my beloved Barney. Yet more than my gratitude for these I feel grateful for their attendance, and I shall always remember this day with fond affection.

  June 22, 1768

  This early part of summer has been exceedingly hot, and many of the nearby springs have dried up so that the farmers of our region have fallen into dire times. Our back garden lasted no longer than the second week of June, and as water is become short, papa urges me to preserve what little we have stored. I fear that this unexpected drought may destroy the summer crops and leave our area hungry.

  This morning I saw my diary lying atop the dressing table where last I stored it. Many times I have considered writting in its pages, but something prevents me in this endeavour. In this close and humid climate, I feel somehow small and restless and able to do little; perhaps I shall pass the time with spinning and needlework. Oh, but I had rather go swimming in the ocean!

  July 2, 1768

  It has rain'd today & every day for the past week, and now we dare to hope that the Drow't is ended. Papa tells me that s
everal of our neighbours lost much in the past month. I hope it is early enough in the season to plant our garden again for the autumn harvest. We have been lucky papa says because of the many streams, or burns as he calls them, which come down from the hills in our woodlands and as yet have not run dry, in spite of the heat and the months without rain.

  Yet despite the recent rain coming, it is still a burden to the farmers as the strength of the waters wash away their labours; the curious heat continues day after day, stealing strength from heart and limb.

 

  July 18,1868

  Much of the hardship of recent days seems to have passed even as it grows cooler, yet for the second time this month papa has gone away suddenly and quite unexpectedly under peculiar circumstances. Mrs. Brodie tells me not to worry as papa's business thrives more than ever before, but as far as I may tell, circumstances seem quite the opposite. I heard papa arguing over the price of a new team of horses, and even at home I feel that we are beginning to grow tight with our purse. Perhaps I have no reason to worry so, but I must admit that in my state of confusion, to do so seems most natural.

  On a happier note, I am spending the day tomorrow with my cousin Susanna, and papa should be returning to take me up to the town tomorrow morning. Thrice oneley have we met since my last birthday. Although these visits are more frequent than they had been, I feel a peculiar sense of dread when Susanna is parted from me that I shan't see her again.

  August 2, 1768

  These past few days my dearest papa has been affected by troublesome news concerning his business I am sure, for he will not partake of supper and wanders thro' the house; I fear he frets over concerns which he will not disclose. Only today did I succeed in dispelling some of this unpleasant humour, as we rode this afternoon into the forest glen, where the troubles of this material world matter not.

  Papa and I are so very much alike in temperament. He tells me that he is sorry I have had no mother to care for me and to teach me, but I have been content. In the serene wild of the world I find I am comfortes as much comfort as he; and I may forget for a time my cares and my concern for his unease, which weighs on my mind now perpetually.

  August 31, 1768

  Susanna and I went on an excursion by the sea today to enjoy this last day of August, which may be the end of our warm weather. Something in the air has sent a chill to my heart and a vision came to me to-day, terribly real as some event destined to befall me.

  Yet I doubt if I am able with quiet resignation to accept a fate brought wantonly, met without sacrifice and for no purpose.

  Why it should occur to me today that I would die young as my mother before me I cannot guess, yet as we played, in my joy I thought that I felt the stirring of my soul within me and I thought how fragile my life must be. It will probably seem idle folly when this I read years from now, and I shall laugh at my own childish anxiety. Papa says I am a healthy child, and that there is no cholera in Massachusetts.

  September 17, 1768

  As the harvest begins, the cold weather has set in. Overnight it seems that the winter has fallen from the frozen north and brought with it the icy winds that make travel on the county roads so difficult. Papa says that it will be warm again before winter truly arrives, yet the sudden change of weather and season is enough to discourage me from going to town to acquire provisions with Mrs. Brodie.

  Some of the farmers who lost their crops have run into debt, and for many this year will end bitterly. It seems that our family has prospered well enough, both papa and my Uncle John, and Uncle Ian as well.

  Last night I overheard an argument between Papa and the Englishman Mr. Davenport, who had come to re-evaluate Papa's assets after the harvest profits had been counted. I knew t'would be wrong to stay to listen unheeded, but in passing I could not help but hear Papa; he has said to Mr. Davenport that he would not disclose news concerning some man secretly indebted to him. The name of this strange gentleman remained unspoken even in the security of Papa's study.

  Mr. Davenport sought to protest against this; but papa refused to discuss the matter. Papa has secur'd Mr. Davenport's promise to keep the information from our small community and from the family. I could not imagine why Papa should speak with such force; it troubles me that my gentle father should be so disturbed.

  November 12, 1768

  Papa seems to have dealt with his business quandaries. I believe he is faring better and his nerves much calm'd. The weather has turned warm again just as papa said it would, and the air is become clear and healthy. I have resum'd my daily rambling walks into the woods which gives papa an opportunity to review his paperwork before dinner.

  I must admit that I enjoy these evenings the best, when papa and I sit by the fire to read Shakespeare or Marlowe or Donne, or else he might tell old tales of Scottish heroes, battles, and defiant kings, while Mrs. Brodie works on her embroidery; she is a kind soul to me and smiles at me as she woks and listens to out tales. I suppose she feels I am spoilt, with no honest work to do as most of the children of town. Papa is a man of considerable Fortune, so that I am not requir'd to make many visits into town. I have all I should need, thanks to God; but I am without companions my own age.

  November 27, 1768

  Papa and I passed the traditional season of gratitude for the harvest with Mrs. Brodie. To-day Susanna, Collin, and theier father John came uncalled for a visit and stayed for a dinner of roasted Beef and bannocks. It has been a month or two since I last saw Collin or Uncle John. Collin spends much of his time hunting now that the leaves are fallen and the fowl are easy prey.

  December 1, 1768

  Papa seems to have become increasingly agitated by some business concern, and I cannot help but wonder if it is not the same problem as troubled him before. Now even Mrs. Brodie has heard papa and Mr. Davenport in argument in his study, though papa keeps his voice decent and low; if he knows that Mrs. Brodie or I am nearby. What I have heard of his words perturbs me as I ponder their meaning in my daily thoughts. I hear again papa saying he will not ruin a man, since it is against family loyalty. I cannot imagine what he should mean by this.

  December 26, 1768

  I could not force myself to wrightt today were it not that I cannot speak to any one.

  My beloved papa is dead. He has been murder'd. Even as I write these words, I cannot force myself to understand why this has happened.

  I have never been so alone, even as all of my closest relatives and family friends gathered round me today for the burial of my father, and my only waking thought is to discover his murderer. As angry as I feel, at the same time an overwhelming fear consumes me, as suspicions I dare not name rob me of my security. Uncle John, Susanna, and Collin came to stay with me for a little while, though Collin spent much of the day out hunting.

  Collin. I cam scarcely write his name, and still my pen falters before I may finish. Collin whom I admired and loved--I cannot now hear his name without recalling the hunting knife and remembering the moment when I saw the instrument of my father's death lodged gloating victoriously in his back as he lay in that horrible pool of blood!

  I have asked myself why any should desire Papa's death, and I have thus come to the conclusion that only one who would stand to benefit most from the deed could have performed it, and much as I am loath to believe it, my heart dares to suspect Collin.

  To write his name sends my hand trembling. Would he also seek my death to inherit Papa's wealth? For what good would come of such a plan as long as I lived to claim my father's assets? And my beloved Susanna, how do I treat you or tell you of your own brother's treachery? Was this the reason why Collin kept away while his victim was enterred? Until I know the truth I shall not feel safe, at least not until he is gone.

  December 27, 1768

  In papa's study today, I discovered a plan to the house within his confidential drawer. Mr. Davenport has yet to come by to sort through p
apa's belongings; I suspect that he is deeply affected by papa's death and may not come back until after the New Year.

  Curiously, papa's plan showed rooms and corridors that do not exist, so thus I decided to search his study and a secret passage, well hidden in the wall, became revealed to me.

  In my eagerness, I set out at once to explore the first tunnel, yet I must be ever cautious owing to the presence of possible danger. I shall explore the passages all around as much as I may over the next few days until the morning of the thirtieth, when Susanna and her father and brother are to return to town.

  Mrs. Brodie has suggested that I meet with them for the new year, but I would rather not go out into this chill air, for though I fear even to remain here, I feel safer than I would riding towards danger and to the fate I know might befall me upon the road. Mrs. Brodie has offered to come to live with me here as papa suggested in his will, and I have pressed her to take up residence soon, perhaps before the year's end.

 

  December 29, 1768

  I know not what to make of the unexpected news which today I overheard from the secret passage within the wall.

  Uncle John and Mr. Davenport were conversing in papa's study, Mr. Davenport having been summoned by Uncle John to discuss with him some of papa's affairs, and he left shortly thereafter as I later discovered.

  'Tis a pity Uncle Ian wasn'y here fer all this, as 'es awa' in Boston,' uncle John was saying. 'Is he now?' Mr. Davenport questioned him. 'Aye, but ye ken how he doesn'y like funerals. Now about James' estate, he left it t'Emma?' 'Yes, and to you and your family a yearly purse of three hundred pounds, a fortune really, ' Mr. Davenport answered.

  'What! He didn'y?!' I know my uncle John well, and he sounded genuinely surprised by this news. 'Well. 'twill help,' he went on. 'Help, sir?' Mr. Davenport asked him again. 'Aye,' Uncle John replied. 'I didn'a want ta tell James, but I've borrowed some money frae Ian. I was setting up a law practice y'ken and though James said he'd be happy ta lend me a hand should I ever need the money, I couldn'y borrow frae ma younger brother, not after a' the help he'd already given me, and 'twas to be a surprise. Anyway, noo I can pay Ian wi' the money frae the purse.'

  Then there was a moment of silence until Uncle John spoke again. 'Eh, now, whatever is the matter, Davenport?' Mr. Davenport replied, 'It's nothing, sir. It's better that you don't know and quite... unimportant really.' The voices faded away as Mr. Davenport and Uncle John must have left the study just then.

  Though I know him but a little, I am still a bit more acquainted with papa's clerk than Uncle John and know him to be a thoroughly decent and honest man as well as quite intelligent, but the said gentleman is unable to disquiet his manner when something troubles him, and I suspect that the matter of this interchange worries him a great deal more than he will say. For my part, I am trying to remember every particular from past discourses between papa and Mr. Davenport. I only hope that it will lead me to the identity of the murderer and the punishment to which he is entitled.

  December 31, 1768

  What a silly fool I have been! This morning it did occur to me that papa had refused to forsake a man in his debt, and so accordingly I went to view the contents of papa's confidential drawer out of a casual interest and perhaps to discover a clue to the many questions surrounding his untimely death.

  To my horror I have discovered a letter of credit to Uncle Ian by papa in excess of two hundred pounds, and I cannot but assume that my Great Uncle is the member of the family whose reputation papa so long protected. I must say that the news was shocking, as Uncle Ian seems to be the most prosperous of the family apart from papa, yet the letter to papa indicates that Uncle Ian met with difficulty during the drought and was obliged to borrow from papa to maintain a plantation of significant size which he had recently purchased.

  Another correspondence from Uncle Ian is here sent in reply to a letter in which papa must have advised Uncle Ian against an undisclosed business venture that must have subsequently failed, as my uncle promises to follow papa's advice in future if only he may again borrow still a little more money. Then again I found another credit for five hundred pounds, but there is nothing more.

  It occurs to me now as I write this to myself that with papa's death, Uncle Ian will receive the money owed him from Uncle John, and perhaps Uncle Ian may not have to repay his debts to papa at all, for who now knows of them but Mr. Davenport and me? Could Uncle Ian have killed papa? Surely not. He would not inherit a penny, unless I, too, were dead…

  Oh what a fool I was to suspect Collin! Dear Collin who loved me as a sister and taught me how to ride and told the best stories to Susanna and me on our summer picnics into the woods. Forgive me!

  I now feel unsafe alone in this house writing these words, and though it is still but mid-afternoon, the sun sets earlier each day. Mrs. Brodie is coming to stay this evening and every day hereafter shall bide with me, just as papa would wish.

  I am frightening myself, for though it is silly, I now wonder how safe it is to remain here, for I cannot believe Uncle Ian is away on business in Boston. From what I now know, he alone had motive to murder papa, but surely he would not come now to kill me as well? He could have killed me with papa could he not? No... I was out on a walk in the woods.

  If he knows that I am alone here, I must not wait for Mrs. Brodie. I shall chance a ride to Uncle John's house in town. Oh Susanna, how I long to see you again and never again feel alone. But how can I leave when Uncle Ian might be watching the road? I can only pray that my suspicions are proven false or else these words written here may be my only witness.

  My diary. I must get it safely away from here. If I cannot, at least it must remain secure for others to find. I will see to it that in this game you do not win, Uncle Ian!

  I have tried to hide my diary outside but no safe place can I find in these last, desperate moments. Barney is saddled and ready to take me down the road, and the sun is setting. Instead I shall hide my diary in papa's great trunk in the attic as there is only one key, and this I shall throw from the window of his study. As it rained this week, the ground must still be soft enough to conceal the precious key to all of my secrets until I arrive home again safely or until those beloved to me may discover it and read this and permit me righteous vindication.

  Oh dearest Susanna, if these words you read and I am gone as I feared, remember always that I love you and that I will forever be your

  —Emma

  Claudia flipped through the rest of the book, composed now of only empty pages. Dust leaped out in gusts that irritated their noses. For a long time there was complete silence in the room. No one knew what to say now that they had found out what really happened, and Caera's gesture to replace the crumbling book in its long-time prison was the first move anyone made. Claudia was sure they all felt the same way she did; Emma was a real person and her great uncle had really killed her--wiped away were her talents and feelings and expectation of a happy future. And for what? A debt that his nephew had enough money to pay for him if he would only listen to sound advice?

  The events were revealed in all their ugliness, but they were at last revealed. It had been Ian Alexander and not Aaron Davenport. History was wrong, and they had the proof.

  "No wonder she could never be at peace," Caera said softly, "knowing her life was ended for such greedy, pathetic reasons..."

  "And especially when the wrong man was unjustly accused of it," Andrew broke in. This was what he had been wanting to discover.

  "True." Claudia nodded. "And most likely Ian was responsible for the death of Aaron Davenport as well, because he was the only other person who knew about the debts Ian owed to Emma's father."

  "Well, their names' are clear now," Ana laughed, lightening the heavy atmosphere, "at least for what their ancestors did." Everyone, even the Davenports, were able to laugh a little at this remark.

  "I think," Claudia continued, "that he killed
Emma and Aaron Davenport since they knew about the debt and so that once the treasure was revealed great uncle Ian could claim his share."

  "But they never found it, Claudia," Todd interrupted. "And Emma never said a word about where it was in her diary."

  "Well either she didn't know where it was," Ana explained, "or else it really didn't mean that much to her once her father was gone. But I have a suspicion that maybe she did know. Claudia, will you hand me the diary for a sec?" Claudia did so, and after first feeling around in the black trunk, she examined it carefully.

  After a long pause she felt along the spine and slowly extricated a folded up scrap of paper from between its outer cover and the stitched pages. "It's just as I expected," she announced to their puzzled faces after she was done. Remember she spoke of the plans to the house showing hidden corridors. Well, these are the plans."

  Suddenly everyone's faces were aglow with excitement, except for Ana's.

  "I don't mean to spoil your fun, guys, but I wouldn't get too enthusiastic yet."

  "Why?" Caera took the plans before Ana could explain. Her loud, "Oh no!" effectively ended the mirth in the room.

  "What is it, Caera?" Claudia demanded.

  "The writing's all faded. And what's more, the doors aren't even marked. The paper's so creased, I can't tell what's a room and what's a passage. This won't be any help at all!" She practically threw it at her sister in exasperation.

  "Careful, Caera!" Claudia scolded. "Well, at least we know now why no one but Emma ever knew that there were secret passages in this house. I wonder where they really are."

  "And what's in them!" Ana's eyes shone.

  "Let's go and look for an entrance," Alex suggested, a look of determination settling between his eyebrows.

  Caera put the diary back into its longtime home and followed the others down the stairs to the library.

  Three hours later the six of them flopped down on the living room sofa and several chairs in defeat. There were no openings anywhere to be found, yet they still weren't ready to deny their existence. Todd suggested that since nobody had discovered them in over a hundred years, they were probably well concealed, and the others were willing to agree.

  Before the twins' friends left, they made a solemn promise to each other not to breathe a word about the diary, but that didn't keep Claudia or Caera from feeling edgy, though neither one of them talked about it.

  Inside the Diary

  It was a cold night, one best spent indoors. The family was gathered in the parlour for evening tea beside the fire. The only sound was an occasional rustle as papa turned the pages of his newspaper. But then the past few evenings had been unnaturally silent, owing to the premature death of Uncle James.

  John Campbell found himself unable to concentrate on the story he was reading. He found himself thinking about his brother as he went over office accounts, but it was considerably easier to forget when he had work as an excuse.

  Relaxing by the fire with his family brought back happy memories of the days when he and James were children, and he remembered how he used to take his younger brother to explore the wilderness that surrounded their beloved childhood home, the old wooden house outside of town.

  James had retained his love of nature throughout his life, and John supposed that was why he had built his own home so far away, skirting the forest land.

  The grandfather clock struck loudly, and Susanna and Collin stood to wish their father a good evening before they retired. The peaceful quiet resumed for a moment when a rapping sound came from the front door.

  John got up to answer it, his son and daughter lingering behind him with watchful patience.

  "Mrs. Brodie?! How very good ta see ye!" He exclaimed with some surprise in an undiluted Scottish accent. "Please come in."

  "Thank you," she answered perfunctorily and allowed herself to be drawn into the parlour. She glanced around anxiously as she took a seat.

  "I told maself not ta worry til I got here and see if the poor dear is alright. So where is Emma? Why is she no' by the fire? Is she off tae her bed already?"

  John looked confused. "I don't understand. Emma's not here."

  "Were you expecting to find Emma here?" Susanna enquired placidly. But inside, her heart leapt into her throat. She began to recall shadows of memory, nightmares perhaps, reaching her from some far-distant place...

  ...fearing that Emma had discovered him, it is believed that the murderer strangled her and dumped her body into the harbor on New Year's Eve, just four days after her father's death...

  Then she heard Emma's voice, somehow changed and distorted, reading aloud...

  ...I shall chance a ride to Uncle John's house in town...

  But somehow Susanna remained locked into the events, unable to relay any of the information she was receiving. Instead she could only listen, struck dumb, to Mrs. Brodie's near-hysterical explanation.

  "She asked me to come live wi' 'er, ye ken, but then I got there and I see all the doors and windows left open and ken, it's rainin' awfy bad... Well, ken I could see something was wrong, so I called t'Emma , but no answer came. There wasn'y a sign of ;er, nor a note. I thought maybe she came here because Barney wasn'y there either."

  Susanna, or the silent part of her that had understood the signs, drifted for a moment. It was as if her mind were wandering at the mention of Barney's name, and she couldn't see her surroundings any more. Her vision rose above the house and into the dark night.

  Like a silent apparition, formless and invisible, her conscious descended into the town with frightening speed, and a distant blurry shape on the outskirts focused suddenly as the big chestnut horse, scraped with mud and red patches of its own dried blood where it must have fallen. Tangled vines and leaves wove a matted, sopping net over his feet.

  Why was he here? Had something frightened him? Had he reared, fallen, and bolted in a panic, leaving Emma alone to face the danger?

  Uncontrollably, her conscious rose and focused on the pier and the docks, where a great ship was just coming into the harbor. Foghorns echoed into the silent air. Something floated dark on the water's surface by the pier, tossing limply on the stormy waves.

  Horrified, Susanna was jolted back to the parlour room where Mrs. Brodie was sobbing. "Oh the poor dear, supposin' something awfy bad has happened to 'er?

  The other Susanna began to worry now, even though it was as if she hadn't seen or heard the strange visions. Her intuition was telling her that something had happened; warm, fat tears rolled from her eyes. Everyone soon agreed that Emma must be found, so Susanna fetched an oil lantern while Collin and papa hurried away to get their coats.

  Not wanting to wait for the others in her desperation, Susanna opened the front door and called out into the dark, misty air.

  "Emma!" her voice echoed down the street. No answer came but the distant sound of waves lapping the shore.

  She sat on the step and buried her head in her arms, regretting that she would come too late.

  When Susanna lifted her head again, she blinked twice, afraid she was hallucinating. Suddenly it all came back to her. Lights danced in the puddles of melted snow lining the streets, and a cold wind made her shiver as she sat barefoot in her pajamas on the front doorstep of the house.

  Salty tears lingered on her lips and dried tear trails made her cheeks a stiff, itchy mask. Her tangled hair flapped in the wind.

  Ana stood and stared into the night one last second before opening the front door and returning to her bedroom.

  It was the middle of March, almost time for spring break, and Claudia was despairing. They still hadn't found a hidden door, and no more clues had been discovered in the last week and a half. At school, however, life was returning to normal, as people tired of the treasure rumors.

  Of course, Caera and Claudia still had their suspicions where Marie was concerned, but after a while her gossip column steadily moved on to concerns of more importance to the student body. The last
afternoon before spring break had her out and about, asking everyone if they had plans and if they would share them.

  As Claudia fumbled her locker combination, Ana came from around the corner to meet her for lunch. The hallway was busy and noisy, and there was a festive mood in the air coupled with an anxious restlessness. Claudia knew the warm weather that had unexpectedly come in from southwestern fronts had everyone thinking of baseball, sunbathing, swimming, and various other activities unrelated to school. That, plus the fact that it was Friday afternoon.

  "Where's Caera?" Ana asked, scanning the hallway.

  "Oh, she's at a swim meet at the high school."

  "And she didn't tell me about it?" Claudia shrugged.

  "Maybe she didn't mention it in case she lost, but I don't think so. She's been acting kind of strange recently, you know, forgetting things. I mean more than usual, that is," she added with a laugh.

  Ana didn't say it, but she had noticed the same thing was happening to Claudia of late. That was partially the reason she had decided not to reveal her dream just yet. Ana shivered inwardly. It had just been a dream hadn't it?

  "Well, I wanted to have you both here when I suggested it, but anyway, here it is. You see, I was thinking we should take the diary to the capital, to that museum that Marie and her friends went to--you remember, from the story I told you that Jessica blabbed to me in a moment of weakness?"

  There was no way she could know, but Ana suspected the dream experience had been the same for the twins, and after she dreamed about Susanna, she had spent several days considering what they should do with the diary. She realized that they would never have any peace until Emma did.

  "Yeah, I remember it. But we have to talk to the others about it before we decide to go ahead and do this. I'm sure they'll agree, though. It's a good idea, Ana."

  "Ok. Fine." They had better agree, she thought, if not on this idea then on something else, before she had the chance to dream again.

  "Hello, Alex?"

  "No this is Andrew. Caera?"

  "No, this is Claudia. Ok. Listen up. Ana thinks it would be a good idea if we took the diary to the museum tomorrow, to see if we can get someone there to announce it or whatever to the general public."

  "But why now? We know what really happened. You found the diary so you wouldn't be having those dreams anymore, and it worked, so what else is there?"

  "Are you forgetting about clearing your ancestor's name?"

  "Oh yeah." Claudia sighed and he continued. "But how are we going to get there?"

  "We've already worked that out. We'll take a bus. All you have to bring is the fare and yourselves." Claudia laughed. "And just tell your parents you're going into town to look at... comic books? bikes? sports stuff? I dunno. Whatever you guys usually go shopping for. Okay?"

  "Yeah, I guess."

  "Look, I know you probably hate to trick your parents, but we can't tell them the truth yet. We were going to surprise everybody, remember?"

  "Yeah..."

  "Right, so you'll tell Alex and Todd?"

  "Sure."

  "Well then we'll see you tomorrow, bright and early. I'll call you later tonight with the exact times. Don't forget. Bye!"

  "Goodbye."

  Caera woke with a shiver and a start. It was raining hard outside, and her bedroom shutters had come open, straining on their hinges and banging against the wall. The moon was full, casting silver-blue beams through her opened window and lighting her room with an eldritch midnight glow. She got up to close the shutters and resume her sleep, but suddenly her breath caught when she caught a glimpse of someone walking towards the guest house outside. It was Claudia.

  Her feet thumped down the stairs, making soft slipper music. In one hand she held another pair for her sister. She opened the front door quietly, so as not to wake her parents, and then ran over the hard earth and wet, mossy, muddy grass to her sister. Claudia was not far now from the guest house. When Caera caught up to her, her eyes were open wide, but she was sleeping, mumbling softly,

  "...safely away from here..." Caera shook her vigorously, and she started to sob. A moment later she seemed to snap out of it, and her crying intensified. Caera put her arm around her sister's shoulder and tried to hush her. She was freezing cold, and Caera made her put the slippers and her robe on before they returned to the house.

  Claudia glanced at her wristwatch. It was already twelve fifteen, and the boys still hadn't made an appearance. Another bus rattled its way down the road across from the library in the central part of town. The bus station was crowded, and she figured that particular bus was headed to the northeast suburbs. She looked around for her sister and her friend. She spotted Ana eating a tunafish and tomato sandwich she had bought from a vendor's stall to substitute for the breakfast she hadn't had that morning, and Caera was off somewhere, looking at the screen of departures and arrivals. Claudia sighed and hoped they wouldn't miss the bus to the capital.

  The girls had told their parents they were going to be window shopping in town all day, but really they were to meet with the Davenports and Todd to go to the museum that morning. They'd been there a couple of times with family, and even once on a school field trip, but they hadn't gone in several years, and Claudia was looking forward to it. She looked at her watch again. Another fifteen minutes had passed, and the first bus, the one they had been going to take, was leaving. She sighed and went to a nearby bench to sit down.

  Ana had finished her sandwich and came over from where she had been eating under an umbrella-shaded table.

  "So what's the deal? Why aren't they here yet?"

  "I dunno." Claudia couldn't help recalling the Davenports she knew and hated of old. "But if we don't take the next bus, we'll have to put this off till next week."

  "No way!" Ana said this so vehemently that a few people on the quay turned around. Claudia wondered at that, but felt similarly strongly about it. And anyway, how could the Davenports stand them up on something so important?

  "Ok, then. So if they're not here we go without them?" Ana nodded. "All right. I'll go tell Caera."

  An hour and a half later the bus was nearing their stop. They had been traveling through the city center for about fifteen minutes, stopping at several red lights and getting wedged bumper to bumper at times by traffic jams, but now the museum was in sight. The bus drove into the far right lane and disembarked its passengers. Caera had to nudge Claudia and Ana awake, but soon all three were mounting the great stone steps of the museum and walking past the twin lion sentries on either side of the thick oak doors.

  On the inside, sports shoes squeaked on the gleaming floors, and a low mumbling of scrambled conversations rolled into their ears like a tide. Ana seemed to know where she was going, though, and weaved their way through the throngs and the various sections of the museum to the display cases of local pieces.

  "This is where Marie and the others went for clues. There's supposed to be a curator's office around here or something. Maybe someone in there could lead us to whoever's in charge." Ana looked around hopefully for a sign and soon spotted the office she was looking for.

  It was located at the corner next to where two pathways met, near the center of the room, and there was a plaque on the door which read: Professor Glenn Hedrick. The door was slightly ajar, and the three girls heard someone inside talking on the telephone. Caera rapped softly on the oaken door and peered in, pulling her head out a second later.

  "There's just one guy in there at a desk, but he didn't see me because he was turned around on the swivel chair."

  "Well, so what are we waiting for!" Ana pushed her friend forward. "Let's go in and wait for him to notice us." Caera went hesitantly inside, followed by Ana and Claudia. It was another few minutes before the man on the phone finished his conversation and slammed the receiver down in agitation.

  "How dare he tell me there's no more—Oh!" He had swung his chair back around and no
ticed the three girls for the first time. He couldn't stop staring at them for several long moments, but even when he finally greeted them and asked if he could help them, Claudia got the strangest feeling that he already knew them, and there was something else she could not read in that stare that unsettled her.

  She looked at her sister's face and saw an expression there that must have resembled her own. Nevertheless, she reached for her satchel and withdrew the diary and copies of it, which were neatly wrapped up in protective plastic, while Ana was explaining.

  "Well, Professor Hedrick, we need to speak to whoever's in charge about something very important." He was now regarding them with amused interest, his fingers steepled and elbows resting on the desk.

  "I see. Well, you've stepped into the right office, then." He looked at Claudia fidgeting with the snap on her bag. "Is that something you'd like to show me?"

  "Yes," Claudia answered. "You see, we've been trying to find this for half a year now, mostly for personal reasons really, and well... well, you'll see. I'll just open it and let you ask the questions." Claudia began unfolding the plastic and brought the diary into full view.

  The professor looked like he still didn't know what it was, so she brought it over to him and flipped it open to the first page. He glanced down at it and scanned for only a few seconds before he turned three shades of red.

  "I don't believe it.." he stammered.

  "Believe it," Caera beamed triumphantly.

  "Why this is... this is... amazing!" He gaped in awe for a few moments, then snapped out of it and began flipping excitedly through the pages, almost madly, Claudia thought. "It must say something about where the Campbell treasure is located." He flipped faster, prompting Claudia to lay a hand on the diary.

  "Be careful with it. Look, it doesn't say anything about it. We've read it already." The professor's look of rapture was suspended in mid-air along with the rest of his body. "But it does finally reveal once and for all who really killed James and Emma Campbell, and we want to get that information published." The professor recovered his composure, smoothing his hand over his hair and closing his eyes.

  "Yes, of course. I'll see to it that it's done." He reached for the diary again, but Claudia moved it out of his grasp.

  "No, we're keeping this for now, but we made copies of every page for you to keep here in the museum."

  "Are you serious? My colleagues will need to see the original to believe that it is what you claim—"

  "In that case they can schedule an appointment and we'll bring it," Claudia countered, "but in the meantime we would feel better if it remained in our possession. We'd know it was safe. I'm sure you understand, Dr. Hedrick." The professor looked as though he had been slapped but answered,

  "I think I do."

  On the bus trip home no one said very much. Claudia was worried that she didn't trust Dr. Hedrick but was angry at herself that she should be so distrustful when she should have been ecstatic that he had agreed to help them publish the diary. Caera felt similarly about the man, and even Ana was having her doubts now, though she was sure they were ungrounded. At about five-thirty the bus returned to town, and Ana's mother arrived fifteen minutes later with news that their parents had said the twins could stay for dinner. They cheered up when they heard that the Robinsons were ordering out for pizza.

  As soon as they came through the back door they headed for Ana's room. In the living room Jason was lounging on the couch watching Love Connection, and on her way up the stairs Ana asked casually if he had seen Erica lately. Jason responded with a look-that-could-kill. Caera, Claudia, and Ana collapsed on Ana's bed, still giggling.

  "Okay you guys," Ana said when she finished laughing. "So what do you want on the pizza?" Claudia stopped abruptly and stared at her friend, amazed that she had actually asked.

  "Canadian bacon, mushroom, and onion, of course. Is there any other kind?" Caera looked skeptical.

  "If you hold the mushroom there is."

  "You can pick them off."

  "You can get another topping."

  "No way! It isn't the same. And besides," Claudia had a sneaky look on her face, "you got it your way the last time, so it's my turn this time, and I say the mushrooms stay." Caera looked defeated--Claudia had resorted to fairness; Ana looked relieved that they had finally agreed. "Well, now that that's settled," Claudia continued, "what are we going to do about Alex, Andrew, and Todd?"

  "We could walk over to the Davenports' house later," Caera smirked, "and personally rearrange their faces!"

  "Come on Caera, be serious."

  "I am. We should go over there after dinner and demand an explanation."

  "Sounds like a good idea to me," Ana concurred.

  "Boys, some of your friends are here to see you," Mrs. Davenport called upstairs after inviting the girls inside. In the foyer Dudley gazed lovingly up at the three girls with his huge, round, sad eyes and wagged his tail frenetically. There was some noise upstairs, and Mrs. Davenport went back towards the living room. Dudley followed her when she promised a treat and in a moment the door shut.

  A minute or two later Alex and Andrew walked down the stairs to see three angry faces staring up at them. Alex was already in his pajamas and was wearing a milk moustache, and Andrew had from the looks of it hastily thrown on some clothes after his shower just when they had arrived.

  "Hi guys," Alex waved before he had reached the middle of the stairway.

  "Don't 'hi guys' us," Claudia retorted.

  "Yeah," Caera interjected. "You stood us up today."

  "We didn't mean to," Andrew protested, "and we didn't forget, either. Mom's car broke down this morning, and Dad took the other one to the airport on Thursday, so we had no way of getting to the station. We even called your houses, but you'd all already left."

  "Yeah, and we spent half the day waiting to be towed and the other half in the car repair shop." Alex sighed.

  "Well, that's okay then, since it wasn't your fault." Ana relented.

  "We're sorry for not trusting you, too." Caera added. She wasn't sure if they were going to be miffed that the girls had assumed they had not showed up on purpose, but Alex was grinning now, obviously happy to see them.

  "In that case, tell us what happened at the museum."

  It was Sunday night at the Campbell house. A cool wind was rising outside, balmy and redolent of the smells of early spring. Trees had begun to show spots of green where their buds had opened after the warmth at the weekend, but they couldn't really be seen anyway, except where a few random boughs swayed near the upstairs windows. The sky was a blanket of ebony, lit by stars that seemed to shine red and blue.

  Inside the upstairs guestroom, Caera, Claudia, and Ana snuggled under the covers. Ana's bags rested on the floor near the fold-up trays they'd had dinner on. A few cans of rootbeer lay fallen by the pizza trays. Claudia couldn't sleep though, even looking about at the familiar sights of the room. Despite the fact that the diary was going to be revealed to the public, she couldn't allay her own doubts that everything would be okay. Caera would say that she was just being a worrywart like always--maybe she was right though. Maybe she should just try to fall asleep. If she could just block out everything and think only about the wind outside. It was so hypnotic. Claudia closed her eyes.

  And opened them. The sun shone brightly through the opened window, and the wind was still blowing. Except for herself, the bed was empty; she had awakened with her legs sprawled out over the entire length of it. Swinging her feet over the sides, she left the guestroom and went downstairs to find Caera and Ana, who she imagined were microwaving blueberry muffins for breakfast. She was wrong. Someone had made fresh biscuits, and the smell wafted to her while she was still somewhere in the living room.

  "Hi, Claudia," her sister greeted her when she entered the kitchen. Ana had her mouth full of biscuit.

  "Hi, guys. Why didn't you wake me up?"

  "You wouldn
't wake up when I shook you, so we left you in bed. Wanna biscuit?" Caera answered offhandedly.

  "Sure." Claudia reached for three and then for the butter, honey, and peach preserves. The kitchen clock said ten thirty-seven. A few minutes passed as the girls sat down to eat at the table.

  "God, I'm bored." Caera announced. "What say we go for a walk and get outta this house." She stared languidly at her biscuit as honey dripped out onto her plate. Dabbing at the puddle with the unbuttered side, she took another mouthful before adding, "It's not like there's much else to do, considering mom left with the car without telling us where she was going at seven o' clock in the morning, even though she has the week off and plenty of time to do whatever it was she felt was so important that she had to abandon her children with nothing to do."

  "Well, where's dad?"

  "Hello? Where have you been the past forty-eight hours? Dad's on a business trip and he doesn't get back 'til tonight. You were there when mom dropped him off at the airport." Caera sounded exasperated.

  "Great. Grumpy and irritable. What side of the bed did you get up on?"

  "Lay off, will ya? I was just looking forward to enjoying some of this summery weather during my spring vacation and since there's nowhere to go and no one around, I think we might as well try to have a little fun. Why do you think I made biscuits this morning? I'm sick of lying around like a potato all winter. We oughtta do something--show some motivation." Caera got up to take their dishes to the sink. Claudia noticed the large stack of dirty plates and utensils but chose not to respond to Caera's last remark.

  "Yeah well, I guess it'd be fun to go on a walk. I've been meaning to tell you guys about this dream I had, but it's kinda hard to say." Ana broke in in an early-morning whisper.

  "Yeah? I thought something was bothering you, Ana. Let's go get dressed." Caera started to head to the door. "Hurry up, Claudia!" She called somewhere between the kitchen and the stairs.

  Ten minutes later, all three of them were nearly ready.

  "Perfect. I've waited all winter to be able to wear these." Claudia admired her reflection in the mirror: comfy shorts, ponytail, light jersey, attire that screamed for spring.

  "I'm ready to go," Ana called from the bathroom, her head appearing in the doorway. "Just gimme a second to brush my teeth."

  Caera was pulling on her hiking boots, a casual pair that she had received for Christmas from a relative who thought her Paul Bunyan spirit "cute", not at all flattering to her way of thinking. And she would have even gone as far as to consider the plush, suede, nondurable pair of ankle-high stylish boots insulting if they didn't match her khaki shorts so well.

  Ana emerged from the bathroom just as Caera opened the door.

  "If we get back before lunch, maybe mom'll take us into town for a milkshake. I hear your brother got a job at the malt shop on Main Street, Ana. Ya think he'll give us a break on the price?" Claudia led the way down the stairs.

  "If mom comes home at all." Caera spat as she thunked every step with heavy feet.

  "Hey, I think I hear someone." Ana called them to attention and the conversation died when they all heard a car approaching from the driveway.

  "Looks like we can plan on an early lunch." Caera grinned.

  "Ssh, you idiot." Claudia waved them silent as they stepped into the foyer. Then she pointed at the far-off dining room window that afforded a view of the driveway. "That's not mom's car," she whispered softly as a white sportscar edged up the driveway. The girls waited a moment longer when a familiar figure got out of the driver's seat. It had only been three days since they had gone to see him, and they recognized Dr. Hedrick at once. He would be heading for the front door in a matter of seconds.

  Claudia's instincts took over. She ran for the cover of the left side of the house, away from the dining room window, praying he hadn't spotted them yet. Down the corridor she hurried, finding herself in the library and at a dead end, closely flanked by Caera and Ana.

  "Do you think he saw us come this way?" Ana whispered.

  "I dunno. I hope not. Whaddaya think he's here for?" Caera panted, too scared to breathe very loudly, but her lungs were near bursting.

  "The diary of course, and the treasure if he can find it."

  Claudia stated almost calmly, but there were tears in her eyes.

  "Oh my God, do you think he's gonna kill us?" Ana's eyes went wide.

  "Calm down, Ana. We're probably just overreacting." Caera took a deep breath. "Maybe he'll go away if no one comes to the door." A moment of silence passed as they waited for the doorbell to ring or the sounds of a car ignition. Or the sound of breaking glass.

  But that wasn't what they heard.

  "Hello? Is anyone there?" A voice came from the front foyer, inside the house. "Mrs. Campbell, girls, is anyone home?" The voice got louder as the intruder's footsteps came closer.

  Caera wanted to scream, but she felt choked. "The closet," she croaked and motioned to the storage room at the back of the library.

  The three girls nodded in unison and tip-toed to the little room, pulling the door to behind them. The heavy door whined in protest as they pulled it shut and waited stock still for any more sounds.

  The door of the library opened loudly. Hard steps sounded on the smooth mahogany floor, followed by heavy breathing. "Hello?" Dr. Hedrick called loudly. "I could swear I heard a noise in here." He muttered under his breath before turning and exiting the library.

  Claudia sighed as they heard his retreating footsteps.

  "We've got to get out of here before he finds us here." Caera insisted.

  "But if we open this door, he might hear us!" Ana whispered fearfully, holding on to the handle tightly.

  "Damn it, Dad! I told you you should get this door fixed. All it takes is a little oil!" Caera was close to crying. "I didn't think it was going to end this way!" Ana leaned forward and gave her a hug.

  "Help me block this door." Claudia suggested.

  "With what? Books and batteries?" Caera shook her head. "Let's face reality. There's not much we can do."

  "Maybe you're right, Caera, but what else can we do?"

  "He'll leave if we're lucky." Caera went to sit down near the bookcase, her back resting against the wall, her feet propped up against the old wooden frame.

  A few minutes passed when they heard footsteps again.

  "He's coming back. What now?" Claudia asked. Ana shook her head.

  "Maybe we can use this thing," Caera kicked angrily at the bookcase with her feet as tears sprang to her eyes.

  "Are you crazy? Be quiet or we'll get--"

  "Oh my God. I think it moved, Claudia."

  "Shouldn't it do that?" Ana questioned with her ubiquitous sarcasm. "You know, force on an object makes work. That thing has mass if I'm not mistaken. Mrs. Johnson could tell you all about it if we ever see her again. Of course it moved, Caera. Just get the stupid thing over here."

  "No, I mean you didn't feel this--how it moved." Claudia watched as Caera's eyes grew misty, and she knew her sister would begin to babble at any moment. "We've never tried to as far as I can remember," Caera added thoughtfully. "Seemed like it belonged here and we didn't have a reason to move it--" she gasped. "It all makes sense now! The old books we found in here were connected to the story. Remember last time when you hit your head, Claudia? Then in the dreams Emma's father had a study and a library--this room used to have a window before they filled it in to remodel this wing! Our library was his study and this--this was his library!"

  "What are you babbling about?"

  "Just get over here and help me. And push harder than you ever have in your life."

  Something in the way Caera was talking brought them to her side. Shoulder to shoulder, they gave a great push, and the bookcase gave inch by inch. Faint light flooded like a beacon into the dark little room. Suddenly the bookcase gave way completely to reveal a passage behind the wall and a descending stone stairway.

  "Let's go!" Ana shouted excitedly. They
reached the third step when the bookcase swung back into position, triggered by some hidden mechanical device activated by the pressure of their feet.

  The stairway was steep and led down about twelve feet below the house. Where it ended a narrow passageway began, wide enough only for one person. The girls followed it for a moment when it widened to a four foot by six foot area. Then the passageway continued as it had before for about twenty-five feet. Though it was less dim than the closet had been, the passage was dark enough to hamper their speed, and they moved slowly, fearing that there might be no exit.

  Caera almost tripped over the step when she came to it. At the end of the passageway a staircase identical to the first one led upwards but appeared to be roofed by a slab of stone. A crack around the stone and gaps in the roof let in the dim daylight that had guided their progression.

  "Great. We're sealed in." Ana announced.

  "Do you see a way out, Caera? Maybe there's a lever or something that triggers the roof."

  "Oh yeah, like the bookcase just slid open for us by itself." Ana sighed. "Let's just try to push it aside. Move over a bit, Caera."

  "Do you think that will work? What if that thing falls and crushes us? If we don't do this right, it may be geared to kill us."

  "Well we have to try something. We can't just stay down here. He may still be in the house. I'm not going back to be strangled. I think we should take our chances."

  "Well, I'm game. I just wanted to be sure you felt that way before we do anything stupid." Caera moved aside and Ana squeezed in beside her. Both girls dug their fingers into the earth around the stone near the cracks and got a grip around the edge before pushing it hard. Claudia steadied them from below, making sure that neither of them fell.

  In a moment, they felt the stone begin to give. Caera could swear she felt it sliding into a groove, but time and decay had deteriorated the workings of the exit and layers of dirt had fallen and covered the stone. It also seemed to have sunk several centimeters, and they had to push a little upward to get it to move.

  All at once, the stone slid quickly aside, and Caera and Ana nearly fell with the force they had been using to push it. Once they climbed to the surface, it appeared that they were inside a small aboveground tunnel only twenty inches wide and a few feet long. The floor was all stone with dirt in between. At both sides the walls were wooden, but to their left, smooth white plaster peeked from holes in the rotting wood.

  At the end of the tunnel, there was a tiny opening. Caera squeezed through it tentatively at first to ascertain their position. To her left, she could make out through the gaps in the wall the rear of the guest house where it met the walls of the remaining stables no one in the family had really used since the early part of the century. Turning to her right, she found that she could just squeeze into the tiny hay-littered room. Tripping a little on a clod of dirt, she nearly fell into the small musty stall in front of her.

  "We're out, you guys!" she called back into the passage. "You guys can seal the tunnel now." She extended an arm to help Ana through. They waited silently for Claudia to follow.

  "Thanks for leaving me with the dirty work," she said sarcastically as soon as her head came into view. "But I didn't have to do much. I just gave it a little push and it snapped back into place. Scary." She shook her head.

  "I'll tell you what'll be even scarier--if we don't get outta here." Ana whispered.

  "I'm with you, Ana. Let's get out of here." Caera led the way to the door once Claudia was on her feet.

  "Where exactly can we go? He might see us if we hightail it for the woods. And he's got a car. I don't relish the idea of being mowed down." Claudia interjected from behind.

  "Don't worry. Everything's taken care of. I've got a plan." Caera turned around to smile at them.

  That was when Claudia really began to worry.

  They had tiptoed to the back of the house without being seen, or so they believed. Anyway, Professor Hedrick's car was still on the driveway. Caera left them at the back door to carry out her plan. They watched as she crept into the garage on all fours and emerged a few moments later with a set of keys grasped in her hands to keep them from jangling.

  "What are those for?" Claudia indicated the keys with her chin.

  "Dad always keeps an extra set of keys in the freezer, just in case he loses the others or gets locked out."

  "So?"

  "So," Caera paused for effect, "he has a set of every key on this little darlin'." She swung it around once for effect. "Now let's go."

  "Where?" Ana asked innocently. Caera was a little disappointed in them. Hadn't they gotten the message yet?

  "Just follow me." She ordered and led the way back into the garage.

  "Get in." Claudia glanced up at her father's shiny electric blue car. In spite of the situation, she wanted to laugh. Leave it to Caera to come up with an escape like this.

  The car purred beautifully the first try. Caera wasn't sure how to use a stick shift, or how to reverse for that matter, but she figured she'd have to learn. Quickly.

  Ana and Claudia were both in the front beside her.

  "Hurry!" Ana coached, casting worried glances backwards towards the house now that they were making some heavy duty noise.

  The car screeched backwards at forty-five miles an hour to the road, where Caera backed right and got ready to switch gears. Claudia was trying to help her move the stick (which always looked easier to budge when her father was driving) when Ana let out a shriek.

  "Oh my God, he's coming!" All three girls looked up as Dr. Hedrick hurried across the lawn, calling to them. "Movit!" She yelled and began furiously rolling up the windows.

  Caera didn't hesitate in following her advice. They took off like a bullet down the road, sure that no one would catch them as they fled to the safety of friends and family.

  The car bumped up and down and from side to side as Caera swerved and coasted over road that wasn't built for such speed. Claudia gripped the carseat tightly in terror, but when she did get enough courage to open her eyes, she realized they hadn't crashed yet. Feeling better, she glanced over at her twin. Caera had stopped jacking the steering wheel so much and actually looked as though she might become a capable driver, one day. Ana had her head craned around to see if Dr. Hedrick was following, since Caera didn't dare take her eyes from the road, even to check the rearview mirror. There was no sign of him, however, and they weren't far from Ana's house.

  "Do you guys hear something?" Claudia scanned the road ahead.

  "Nope." Caera slowed the car down a little so that she could figure out how to stop it before they parked at Ana's house.

  No sooner than they were out of the car, Ana's front door flew open. To their surprise, Marie and Mrs. Summit stood beside Ana's mother, who ran out to hug her child and the twins in turn.

  "Thank God you're all right!" She exclaimed before ushering them indoors.

  Ana gave her mother a questioning look, but Mrs. Summit cut in before Mrs. Robinson got the chance to explain things.

  "Marie heard everything with those radio walkie talkie things she gave you. Then she came running in to me with some story about a murderer breaking into your house. Well, naturally we called the police, but they said it'd take a moment to get a car out here. Elizabeth was just about to try to reach your mother when you girls pulled up outside."

  "I think I'd better get to it," Mrs. Robinson said before excusing herself.

  Caera nudged her sister's shoulder as Marjorie Summit gave her a plastic smile. "I don't get it--Marie didn't give us any 'walkie talkie things'." Suddenly she remembered Mrs. Summit's disappearance at the Christmas Party, and realized that either she or Marie must have bugged their library. After all, Marie had guessed that something was going on long before the treasure parties formed. But how did Marie have access to a bug or know how to use it?

  "Your mother is on her way," Mrs. Robinson called as she re-entered the foyer. "She's over at the Davenports' helping Mrs. Davenport
organize her yard sale for the church benefit. We're lucky because she just went inside to fix them some lemonade. She said she'd get here as soon as possible."

  "What about Mrs. Davenport?" Ana asked.

  "She's coming with the boys just as soon as their friend gets there, I think."

  Explanations

  As it turned out, Mrs. Campbell and the Davenports arrived at nearly the same time. The twin's mother was confused about what had happened, and her daughters were trying to tell the story at the same time when the Davenports pulled into the driveway.

  The party that had gathered on the front porch turned to see the boys hurrying from the car and running across the lawn, worried expressions on their faces.

  "What happened?" Todd wanted to know.

  "Thank God you're okay." Alex added, suppressing a sudden urge to hug Claudia, at the same time amazing himself that he was so concerned.

  "Professor Hedrick came after the diary," Caera blurted.

  "And us!" Ana finished.

  "But we managed to get out--just like the diary hinted. There was a way out of James' study for the murderer, and I don't mean the window." Claudia added.

  "What are you girls talking about?" Mrs. Campbell had an amused expression on her face. "And what is all this nonsense about a diary?"

  At that moment, a familiar sound came to the attention of the six best friends. Marie had her pen and paper out, her face lit up by the knowledge that the moment had revealed, the discovery that the girls had kept secret since they had found what Emma left behind.

  Mrs. Campbell spoke loudly then to get the girls' attention again. "Does this have something to do with the break-in Elizabeth told me about?"

  "Oh mom, it's terrible. We went into town to talk to someone about publishing Emma's diary. We found it. The one everyone's been talking about for years. But the guy from the museum came to our house to get it!"

  "Professor Hedrick?" Mrs. Campbell laughed loudly. "I told him to make himself at home if I didn't get back before he arrived. I was hoping to get home at eleven or so. You see, your father and I knew Dr. Hedrick in college. In fact, he was one of your father's best friends. He called the other day to tell me that he'd had a visit from you girls, and I suggested that he drop by for lunch this afternoon.

  "He wasn't after your diary, girls. He donated most of what is in the museum from his private collection. He was considering making an acquisition, he told me, but he wasn't sure about how much it was worth and asked if I could give him some advice. I told him I didn't see how I could be of help at the time, but it seems clear that he was preparing to make you girls an offer on behalf of the museum."

  No one said a word for a moment. Even Marie seemed to be having difficulty holding her pen.

  At that moment the police car arrived on the scene.

  The two officers got out of the car with one prisoner in tow--Dr. Hedrick--who appeared to be extremely baffled by his predicament. The beefier one introduced himself brusquely to the adults as Officer Snyden, then directed himself to Mrs. Campbell, asking her to come down to the station to start the procedure for pressing charges.

  When she told him that she wasn't going to and that this was all just one big misunderstanding, however, Dr. Hedrick was released (relief all over his face) and the story was explained for those who had not already heard it. Satisfied, the policemen returned to their duties in town.

  It was an awkward drive back to the Campbells' house. Dr. Hedrick rode with the Campbells and Ana in their car (Mrs. Robinson drove the other one back to the Campbell's house), followed by Todd and the Davenports. Marie and Mrs. Summit appeared frustrated that the little group was to part company so quickly, but Caera figured they wouldn't be in the dark until the Campbells managed to find Marie's electronic spy.

  The girls had refused to explain anything, insisting that everyone come back to the house so that they could see for themselves. Once they arrived, Professor Hedrick left in his car, insisting that he had to get back despite Mrs. Campbell's protests that he should join them for lunch. After the girls' mother had secured a promise from him that he would come for a visit sometime, the three girls stood waving apologetically as he sped down the road.

  Then they led the way into the Campbell's library.

  "So what're ya gonna show us?" Andrew looked around, remembering the last time he'd been here. That was back at the beginning of his knowledge concerning the murder of Emma Campbell, before he and the others had really gotten involved. But even then, he'd felt that something important had yet to unfold here, something he hadn't wanted to admit at the time would have a lot to do with him.

  That night he and Alex had been listening at the door, and he'd felt uneasy, unwilling to involve himself but realizing that Emma's story was too far connected with him to not become involved. Of course he hadn't thought so at the time, but he'd been warming to the idea that they were all meant to come together to solve the murder mystery that had wrongfully tarnished his ancestor's name throughout time.

  "I told you I ran in here because we thought Dr. Hedrick had come to get us," Claudia began.

  "Then I suggested we hide in the storage room in case he followed us," Caera continued, and the party moved to just outside the storage room door. It creaked open noisily, and the twins propped it open with a chair.

  "I don't see anything," Todd announced as he peered into the little room.

  "You're not supposed to, dummy," Ana teased. "Why do you think they call secret passages secret passages?"

  "Secret passages?" The boys echoed excitedly.

  Ana moved to the side of the bookcase and shoved while the boys watched. It seemed to give much easier than before, perhaps because the device had recently been triggered after so many years.

  Single file they all descended the staircase, Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Davenport bringing up the rear.

  "The passage continues up into the stables." Claudia updated. "Right up into that old wall you and Dad wanted to knock down but never got around to." She added, directing the last remark at her mother.

  As they came into the wider space again, everyone stopped for a moment. The confinement of the narrow walls did feel a bit suffocating, but the boys were too excited about being in a real secret passage to mind. However, Alex was a little curious as to why the tunnel suddenly widened and then continued just as narrow afterwards.

  "Maybe Emma's father was claustrophobic," Todd suggested.

  "Maybe..." Caera looked ponderous. "I've got a hunch, you guys." She announced and started to feel the wall. "Didn't Emma's diary mention secret passages? Well, this is just one passage. Who's to say there aren't any more and that this isn't just a crossroads intersecting with another one. Come on, you guys, look for a lever or something!" She hadn't even finished speaking before all hands set to work at the walls.

  Andrew turned to his right and started to push little blocks of stone. He was about to give up when it felt like one of them moved. Pushing it hard, he watched as the stone oozed backwards into the dirt, but nothing else happened.

  "Drat!" he cursed, breaking the silence and drawing the others' attention. Claudia laid a hand on his shoulder.

  "What happened?" she asked.

  "This stone moved backwards, but that's all," he told her. True enough, one round, fist-sized stone in the wall had left a shadowy hole four inches deep where Andrew had pushed it.

  "You know," Alex began, "there's gotta be a reason for that. 'Looks too perfect if ya ask me. See that wall," he observed. "The stones interlace like a brick wall until right about here. Maybe that hole is some kind of handle and that door opens into another passage."

  "Alex, you're a genius!" Claudia shouted.

  "Hey, what about me!"

  Caera patted Andrew's shoulder. Then everyone began to push at the wall. Sure enough, the stone door swung back on its hinges. As they all moved forward into the wider passage, Todd looked back at the door and shut it part of the way again. The back of the door was wooden,
the stone exterior merely a facade. A stone doorhandle stuck out where Andrew had pushed it.

  "I see," Ana whispered. "That stone was there so that someone could shut this door without anyone else discovering this passage even if they managed to find a way down here."

  "Well, then that must mean that there's something important down here," Caera started forward eagerly, but the room was pitch black as they moved away from the dim light of the other passage. "Great. Now how are we supposed to see anything?"

  "Maybe this will help dear," her mother passed her something which turned out to be a flashlight.

  "You're the greatest, mom." Caera called back, already shining the light about.

  "I try."

  "What do you suppose this room is for--" Ana began, but at that moment everyone's heart leapt into their throats. A beacon of light had landed across the corner of the room where four ancient Colonial chests had been stowed. Caera moved closer to inspect them as everyone watched, struck dumb. She lifted the latch of the closest chest.

  "All this time, it's been right here," Claudia whispered. "Emma or her father must have hidden it here."

  "The missing Campbell treasure." Andrew breathed, voicing the awe they all felt.

  Everyone stood several moments just staring at the chest of gold coins. Claudia found the whole situation confusing. She had expected to feel so excited, like they all had whenever they got together to plan where to find it and how to spend it when they did. She felt relieved somehow, but even if she decided that they must have satisfied their ancestors' wish that the truth be known, a lingering presence of Emma remained here, guarding the chests. After all, hundreds of years before, she had been the last person to visit this room.

  It seemed to her that the others felt it too; in any case, none of them rushed forward eagerly as they had all expected to do. Alex felt that he'd stepped across time. Staring at Caera, he imagined Emma standing there before the Campbell treasure, glad that she would have her revenge for her father's death by ensuring that his killer never found his prize. For the first time he was really able to imagine how she must have felt. It would always be a memory he carried with him.

  Andrew felt relieved that everything had finally been resolved. The mystery had been the central part of his activities for the past few months, and now that it had ended, he felt as if something he'd been waiting for his whole life had at last taken place. The frustration and anticipation he'd known was leaving him. Even though he'd always tried to hide it by appearing not to care about anything, he did care about things, but it didn't hurt so much if he acted like nothing ever got to him. Maybe that was why he'd stuck that chewing gum on Caera's head in preschool--he'd wanted to get Caera's attention, but just didn't know how to.

  Ana was remembering her dream as Susanna. She had felt so much affection for Emma in that dream, not merely pity or sympathetic understanding. She imagined that Susanna would have cried had she been here to see the reason her friend and cousin had been killed. How many times after her family moved to James' home had she wondered why it had happened and where Emma's diary was hidden? Susanna had never been able to read Emma's final message to her. So many unanswered questions. She, too, had never found peace of mind.

  Todd reflected on the chance that he was included in this miraculous discovery, but he felt for his friends, and he was glad that they had found what they had been looking for, together.

  Caera shone the light on the other chests and signalled for the others to help her carry them. Ana asked if they were going to open them down there, but Mrs. Campbell suggested that they bring them into the library first, so they all picked up a chest and headed back to the passage.

  Caera's mood improved as they stepped from the dark storage room into the bright afternoon light of the library. Everyone sighed as they dropped the heavy loads they had been carrying and stood back a moment to catch their breath. Ana felt as if her arms had been dislocated, and her back ached from stooping over.

  "Hadn't we better take a look inside these things?" Andrew interrupted the silence. "You guys all look like your cat just died. We're supposed to be enjoying this. They don't look too hard to open." He observed. "Just think what can be done with whatever's inside."

  "You're right, Andrew." Caera agreed, but had to admit that she was a little nervous about opening the chests. What if there wasn't anything valuable inside? She put her hand on the lid of the chest she had carried.

  The chests had decayed a little over time so that the lids came off easily. Everyone watched closely as one at a time their contents were revealed. The first contained a trove of old gold coins from the seventeenth century. Most were Spanish mixed with English shillings, crowns, and other coins minted during the reign of George I. A bag of early American coins had also been thrown into the first chest.

  The second chest contained expensive jewelry and heirlooms, colonial glasses, and baubles. The third contained Colonial silverware fashioned out of pure silver. Caera thought that made sense, since she had read that there wasn't enough minted money to go around in Colonial Days, so people turned their silver into silverware to keep their wealth around them.

  The largest and final chest had been dragged up by the two mothers. Inside, Emma's great-grandfather's clan Campbell sword. An old musket and a few pouches of gunpowder lay beside it as well as an original copy of the King James' Bible. Some old faded letters which proved to be from Emma's mother to her father and James' mother to him were also in the chest.

  Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Davenport sequestered themselves away from the children, talking in hushed conspiratorial voices, and left the group of friends to themselves.

  "Boy is dad gonna be surprised when he gets home," Caera laughed.

  Before Mr. Campbell had even come home, the Summits had ensured that the news spread to the entire town and even across the county. Before long, the phones began to ring with enquiries, and the police assigned a security unit to guard the house once word reached the department that unknown millions of dollars were lying around on the library floor in the Campbell mansion, and a possible state of threat was established.

  Meanwhile, after a long trip, Mr. Campbell was looking forward to steamed malted milk, his robe, slippers, and being with Mrs. Campbell on the sofa for an evening of Perry Mason on t.v. Maybe, if he was lucky, some of the Cadbury's chocolate he had bought at the grocery store the week before had even managed to escape the notice of the twins while he was gone, if they hadn't discovered his new hiding place.

  But the phone was busy or broken, and when he couldn't get through to call for a ride from the airport, Mr. Campbell elected to take a cab. But he didn't expect to be stopped by the deputy sherriff while approaching his own home, nor to have to be escorted inside at the man's insistence.

  Mrs. Campbell and the girls were inside in the front foyer, surrounded by cops roaming backwards and forwards and on dozens of phones that seemed to have sprouted like melons off the vines of cords twisting their way around the house. Mr Campbell swept his eyes around the room. Police in various office and street uniforms sat on his sofa (his eyes rested wistfully there for a moment), on the Queen Anne chairs in the living room, on lawn chairs, wooden chairs, stools, against tables, and the staircase. Nearly every one gripped a coffee mug from one of the Campbell's many sets as they munched on a deli's profusion of sandwiches. Mr. Campbell looked down and took in the coffee stains on the oriental rug with calmness, offhandedly wondering how many people had been manning the kitchen in whatever was going on around here.

  Mr. Campbell could hear the sherriff's voice booming out through the hum from somewhere near the kitchen, "...biggest case in years... mayor has it made for the reelection... oh yeah.... you don't say?... Yeah, well, I'd personally like to shake hands with the fellow!.. Ha!Ha!Ha!... (Slap!)... yeah, well, you just keep trying to reach him okay? Ha!Ha!..."

  The Deputy brought Mr. Campbell over to the circle around Mrs. Campbell, and the cops parted li
ke the Red Sea to let him through. Mrs. Campbell greeted him with a smile that almost made him forget the stains on the oriental rug.

  "Oh, there you are dear. I'm so glad you're home." In the background the twins were saying,

  "Hi, Dad. Glad you're back." He looked over at them to make sure all of this wasn't frightening or disturbing them and was rather alarmed when they had their complacent, conspiratorial, we-know-something-you-don't-know looks on their faces, as if somehow they thought they were in control of the situation. He didn't get a chance to answer back, though, because Kate was continuing.

  "Now, James, something's happened since you've been gone, and things around here are a little chaotic because of it, but everything's under control, and we're coming to grips with the situation." Why did he somehow think of that tangled mass of cords when she said that everything was under control?

  "Well would someone mind telling me just what did happen?" Caera came running up to him, and Claudia followed to make sure that she wasn't beaten to the punch by her twin.

  "Dad. You're not going to believe this," they began, "but we, well you see we were looking for it for months and--" Claudia sensed that Caera was about to rush ahead and spill the beans before she could and blurted out,

  "We found Emma Campbell's diary!" ending in a triumphant grin, and appearing ruffled when her father looked at her mother for confirmation instead of satisfying her with a shocked expression. Caera saw this as her cue.

  "But that's not all, Dad. It led us to the missing Campbell treasure, and that's why all the police are here!" Mrs. Campbell was nodding her head.

  "Ohboy," Mr Campbell raised his hand to his temple. "I think I'd better sit down," he said, as a cop just vacated his spot on a picnic bench in the living room.

  All that night and following day, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell spoke with the police, and then when federal representatives arrived in their starchy black suits and dark sunglasses, gleaming briefcases and gold watches, they spoke with them. Tax representatives and Museum curators (including Dr. Hedrick, who'd been researching the story for years and wanted to get the artifacts for his museum) continued to arrive for two or three more days, and the guesthouse saw more use that week than it had in several centuries. Both parents were given leave off work by their understanding bosses, once it was clear that the appearance of the tresasure was going to require several weeks of sorting out.

  Caera and Claudia weren't allowed to leave the house until the furore died down and thought they were going to die of boredom. So Claudia took it upon herself to enter the inner sanctum of the conference room--the now debugged library--where she had seen her parents enter several days before.

  Dozens of heads connected to the imposing figures of important personages looked up in startled unison as she opened the library door. Some appeared offended by the interruption, but Claudia was indignant. After all, it was she and Caera who had found the diary and the treasure, not them.

  "Mom, can Ana come over today?" Claudia directed across the room to where she spotted her mom, wondering if she could even free up a telephone line to call her.

  "Who is this Ana?" one of the federal men interrupted briskly. An informed person to his left leaned over and whispered something in his ear.

  "Yes, honey, as long as you play upstairs, okay?" Mrs. Campbell answered tiredly.

  "Thanks, mom," Claudia said as the heads resumed their positions over tables and tables of paper and continued their transactions, closing the door sofly behind her as she left. Caera waited on the other side of the door.

  "Well?" she demanded.

  "You got a phone?" Caera brought her hands around from behind her back to reveal a cordless. "Where'd you get it?"

  "Let's just say I've been following the good ole sherriff around all morning, and he's snoozing on the couch right now."

  "Great! Let's go upstairs! Beat ya!"

  The doorbell rang a few minutes later, and Caera was down to get it before anyone else in the house could tell the little girl on the doorstep to go away. Caera led Ana through the house and up the stairs, much to the disapproving eye of the cops, and into Caera's bedroom. Claudia was sitting on top of Caera's blue comforter, and the three girls began their own conference when the door closed.

  "Wow, so what's been going on guys?" Ana exhumed in one breath.

  "You mean Marie hasn't filled you in?" Claudia teased.

  "No, well, I guess the cops found Marie's bug because she's been asking me questions all day at school."

  "School started today?" Caera asked as if she'd forgotten the concept.

  "Yeah, silly, it's Monday. Anyway, you should have seen everyone today--it was like anarchy. Todd, the Davenports, and I disrupted every class we were in. No one was listening to the teachers. They just kept talking about the mystery, the diary, the treasure--pretty soon, the teachers gave up and started asking questions just like everyone else.

  "Marie said that she wanted to interview us for this week's paper, and that next week she'll issue a special as soon as you guys get back and she can interview you, too. Ellison Davis said she was really sorry that you couldn't go outside yet, and so did Brian Anderson, and Jessica Ford wants to invite you two to her birthday party next week. She said it's going to be outside and that you should bring a swimsuit. I'm sure pretty soon she'll call you to give you all the details." There was a pause after Ana said this, and then Caera and Claudia and Ana burst suddenly into gales of laughter.

  "Okay, now for the bad news," Ana resumed. "Mrs. Smith, Mr. Sudge, and Mr. Hoffmeyer gave me assignments for you guys in the chance that I got to see you. I've got them in my knapsack, but don't bother doing them yet. Just pretend like you never heard about them and you'll get a longer extension. Mrs. Winters just says 'bonjour' and don't forget to practice your French. "Oh, and Mrs. Johnson had a substitute today, and there wasn't any homework because Justin Porter hid that part of her notes under the overhead. Anyway, that's all that's really been going on at school. Except Alex and Andrew invited all of us to go with Todd and them rollerskating at the rink on Saturday, but I told them that I wasn't sure if you guys would be free until after then."

  "Yeah, it looks like our jailers will still be deliberating for quite a while, but tell them that we'd love to do something when we get out of here." Caera tossed a kush ball aimlessly from one hand to the other.

  "Well, we could go now, but we might be missed," Claudia sighed.

  "What do you mean?" Caera looked up at her sister sharply.

  "Well, I found another set of secret passages before the circus started..."

  "You mean, not connected to the library?" Ana asked.

  "No, it does connect, but you have to press a lever to revolve the door open into the treasure passage, and if you don't press it and go just along that passage, you can spy on the library, living room, and dining room. And the passage extends to the other side of the house and all around it." Claudia wore a wry smile, "And upstairs."

  "Upstairs?" Caera and Ana looked at each other, wide-eyed.

  `"Yup."

  "Where is it?"

  "I thought you'd never ask." Claudia hoisted herself up in one big jump off Caera's bed and proceded to the little fireplace on the wall nearest the guestroom.

  "No!" Caera laughed. "That's the cheesiest place. It's always in the fireplace."

  "No, it isn't. That's just where I hid the map I made of the tunnels." Claudia had hidden her map in a tin on the mantel, and got it out and walked to the closet. "Follow me, guys." They did, and Claudia jumped up on the second shelf and used a stick she had left there to push upward on a certain spot of the ceiling several feet to the right of her reach from the shelf. The ceiling slid open, and Claudia stood up and prodded it with the stick until the hole reached her and she could jump up inside. "Come on, guys, let's go."

  Caera and Ana by turns crawled up into the passage and took a look around. Claudia had a flashlight in hand that she ha
d left from her previous exploration. Illuminated by this light, they could see that the passage was lined with wood and extended in a branching cloverleaf at the intersection they found themselves in. On her map, Claudia had marked which sections led to her own room, the guestroom, and downstairs.

  "Wow," Ana breathed. "This would be a hit for a slumber party. Do your parents know about this?"

  "Not yet. Nobody but me does, and now you guys, too, but they'll probably find it once they have time to start looking, and in the meantime I thought we'd enjoy it ourselves."

  "Good idea," Caera grabbed the flashlight and started for the pathway that led downstairs, Claudia and Ana hurrying to catch up with her. Caera proceded down for maybe forty feet before she came to a very narrow spiral stone stairway.

  "Be careful, Caera, it's very steep," Claudia called out from behind her as her sister descended. They got successfully to the bottom without injury and continued around turns until they reached the intersection with the library passage. Here Caera went right with the corridor and continued until she could hear voices coming from the library.

  The wall was thin, but if there was a device to open the wall and allow them to spy, they couldn't see it. The girls could hear the library door open and close several times amid a dull roar of paper and voices and wondered what was going on. Soon the noise began to die down, and they could hear more distinctly people expressing their farewells.

  "Quick," Claudia said, "we'd better get back before we're missed."

 

  A few minutes later, the girls heard a knocking on Caera's bedroom door, and Mrs. Campbell entered. "There you are, girls. Hello, Ana."

  "Hi, Mrs. Campbell."

  "Girls, I thought you'd like to know what's going on. Your father and I have decided to keep some of the personal artifacts as family heirlooms in the bank and to sell the rest to museums around the country. Of course, there are taxes to pay, but not so many since the money is in the family and was found on our own property.

  "I'm going to need you to keep out of the way until after this afternoon, though, because there will be some movers arriving to transport the items to where they are going, and they have to load the trucks under heavy security, but after that, things ought to die down."

  "So when are we going back to school?" Caera asked the inevitable.

  "Well, I don't really see any reason why you can't go back by tomorrow or Wednesday."

  "Aw, mom..."

  "Well, Caera, half an hour ago you were complaining that your house was a prison!" Ana teased.

  "Yeah, but that was when I thought that I wouldn't have to go back right away, and I thought the commotion would have time to die down at school."

  "Gotta face it sometime, Caera," her mother tried to say reassuringly, but didn't quite succeed. Just then Mr. Campbell poked his head through the doorway.

  "Kate, phone." Mrs. Campbell went downstairs to pick up the phone in the living room, but Mr. Campbell lingered in the doorway. "One thing's been bothering me, girls."

  "What's that, Dad?"

  "How did you find the diary? When I was your age, I looked for it with my friends, too, but we didn't find anything. Not one clue." Caera and Claudia looked at one another and then at Ana, unsure if the explanation involving the dreams that had found its way to Marie and Dr. Hedrick from the xerox packet Caera had lost months before would reach the ears of their father, or even if it already had.

  In the commotion of dealing with the treasure, they weren't even sure if anyone had yet asked about the clues they had found. But now Caera found herself going to her drawer, taking out the inscriptions they had found in the books and on the survival trip, and showing them to her father. He scrutinized them one after the other thoughtfully for several long moments and then laughed.

  "I don't see how you girls pieced anything together from these cryptic messages, especially since one didn't come from Emma at all."

  "What do you mean?" All three girls looked aghast.

  "This 'x marks the spot' inscription you must've found on your survival trip, right."

  "Right, so?"

  "Well, girls, that slab was left there by yours truly, donkeys years ago, when my friends and I organized our own treasure hunt. I made it in shop class, and we pretended to be pirates!" Mr. Campbell had a starry-eyed look in his eye that smacked of nostalgia.

  "Really?" Claudia and Caera felt their stomachs sink.

  "Yes, so I guess the real mystery is how you found it, anyway. And to think I unknowingly helped you all those years ago." Mr. Campbell snapped out of his reverie and went over to hug Caera and Claudia. "Well," he concluded, "I suppose I had better go help your mother get ready for the movers." In three strides he crossed the room and left, closing the door behind him.

  All that afternoon the girls stayed upstairs until the movers had gone. When all the noise died away, they made their way down the winding staircase to find their father moving the furniture to vacuum the floor beneath it. Ana left to be home in time for dinner, and Caera and Claudia went to wash up in the kitchen so their dad wouldn't be a nervous wreck when he saw all the dirty dishes that had accumulated over the week.

  With things looking a little more like they had used to, the twins returned to the living room and turned on the t.v. When the doorbell rang, Caera got up to answer it, and was more that overjoyed to discover that someone had ordered pizza--one deep dish pan and one stuffed pizza at that. Mrs. Campbell emerged from the dining room area and paid, calling the girls over to discuss some plans she and Mr. Campbell had made.

  The next morning, Caera and Claudia practically bounded out of their father's car. Ana met them in front of the school, and as they made their way inside, people everywhere looked shocked to see them back so soon. Getting their books out of their lockers in time for first period, the twins tried to rush to avoid too many probing questions from the small clot of people around them that looked like it was going to become a full--blown crowd. Emily pushed through, though, and came right up to them.

  "Wow, guys, I just wanted to say that I'm really excited for you." Yeah, well, spare it Emily, because you're not fooling anyone, Caera thought to herself, but didn't have the chance to verbalize it before suddenly Jessica Ford appeared from somewhere out of Caera's vision and presented the twins with two invitations to her party.

  "I really hope you can come. Everyone's going to be there. My Dad's heating the pool and everything, and we're going to have great music and good food, so call me if you can make it."

  "Okay, we'll see." Claudia hedged. At that point the five minute bell rang, and people started heading for their classes. In first period, the announcement was made that the entire seventh grade class was to have the opportunity to go on the class French trip that had been scheduled for the summer, and not only that, it was going to be paid for by the school. Chaos reigned for a moment, as those who hadn't been considering going began to re-evaluate their plans.

  Mr. Jenson's bright voice reminded them in cheery tones over the loudspeaker that it was to last three weeks, and that anyone who wanted to go should get their parents to sign the permission slips and bring them back to their first period teachers by no later than April 30.

  A change of plans had been made, however, since the trip was now to be extended to all the seventh graders, and not just the French class. The school would charter a plane, and follow a course from Great Britain to Spain, France, Germany, and Italy, and accomodations were to be pre-booked in youth hostels, when other arrangements had not already been made. In Scotland, they had been offered to stay in a castle, and in France, Francois' home in the Loire River Valley. Everything but pocket money and money for souvenirs was to be provided.

  Caera fidgeted in her seat for a minute, expecting all eyes to fall on her but was relieved when whooping noises erupted, and friends turned around in their seats to gossip amongst themselves. In short order, the room became an uproar of laughter and excitement, u
ntil the efforts of the teacher quietened everyone down by passing out the forms. For a minute at least, all was quiet as everyone read the terms of the trip.

  At lunch that day, Ana put down her tray of steak fingers and mashed potatoes on the table and seated herself next to Claudia, who was just biting into her tunafish salad sandwich.

  "So, did anyone suspect?" Ana asked and turned expectant eyes on her friend.

  "Not yet," Claudia answered between bites. "I think everyone is still too excited to think, but I don't doubt that if it doesn't dawn on them soon, they'll read as much in Marie's next edition."

  "You're probably right." Ana unwrapped her straw and poked at her orange juice container. "So, how have people been treating you guys lately?" Claudia looked around the cafeteria at the seventh grade, which was busily chattering away.

  "So far only Emily has sucked up to us. Everyone else has been pretty much the same or just hasn't talked to us. Well, actually, now that I think about it, George Stuart passed me in P.E. a dozen or so times today, and every time erupted into a fit of sneezing. Can you believe Coach Poleman thought he was sick and made him go home? And Ellison Davis can't stop smiling at me, and Amy Porter wants to ask me a million questions about the police and the feds. It's kinda funny, you know." At that moment, Claudia and Ana heard a familiar voice and looked up. At the other end of the cafeteria, Caera was walking between Alex and Andrew and appeared to be heading towards their table.

  "Hey, guys," Caera announced with a beam, "look who I ran into." Caera sat down and opened up her lunchbag to inspect its contents, but might as well have just looked over to see what her sister was eating. The Davenports swung their legs through between the table and bench and did the same, and Alex traded Ana her chocolate cake for four fudge covered oreos.

  "So are you guys coming on Saturday?" Andrew asked in the chomping silence which ensued.

  "Um-hmmn." Claudia answered with her mouth full.

  "Great. This'll be a treat for you guys. You'll get to see a real pro in action."

  "Ana choked on her orange juice. "You, a real pro? Why does that seem so hard to believe?"

  "It's true," Alex boasted, sparing the cake he was about to take a bite of. "He can skate backward, and really, really, fast."

  "Well, we'll see," she conceded. "Is Todd coming?"

  "Yeah, where is he anyway?" Caera scanned the cafeteria.

  "They're having food day in Spanish class, but he's coming skating with us on Saturday."

  "Food day! When are we having that in French, Claudia?" Caera whined. Claudia shrugged her shoulders and continued eating, so Caera turned to Alex and Andrew. "Well, did you guys figure it out about the school trip yet? Good idea, huh?"

  "My parents'll think so," Andrew smiled. "And maybe I'll get more to spend now on souvenirs. But there's one problem." Everyone looked up from the table.

  "What's that?" They asked in unison. Andrew laughed.

  "Francois Rochard."

  "Oh, no, not him again," Alex put his hand on his head and groaned.

  In the background, in the direction of the junk food line, Claudia heard suppressed squeals and a sound of paper ripping, telltale signs of Marie's proximity. Yup, things were pretty much getting back to normal, she told herself.

  That night Claudia went to bed early and slept peacefully. At the chime of the grandfather clock at midnight, she began to drift through a familiar fog, past the lighthouse but indifferent to its noisy cries. On the sea cliffs her feet found the earth, and the wind blew fiercely around her as she gazed at the great waves far below.

  As her thought shifted, her dream obliged her and carried her towards her home. There it was beneath her in sonorous repose, nestled between patches of woodlands on a blanket of turf. But as she looked at it, she realized it was not her home anymore and bent her head to the sky.

  Claudia awoke and knuckled her eyes, feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep. She remembered a fragment of her last dream, in which she, Caera, Ana, Todd, and the Davenports were having fun in Europe, and laughed at some of the things she had imagined Emily and Marie doing.

  Like most dreams, it was fading now, and though she wanted to savor it a little longer, she couldn't keep the details from slipping away into reality. So with a yawn, she got up to get ready for school, thinking of the plans they'd make.