Authors: Leighann Dobbs
“So who are these people that search for treasure. Do you mean like that guy who has the boat that looks for old shipwrecks?” Morgan rubbed her forehead.
What was that guy’s name?
She snapped her fingers. “Ballard.”
“Sort of. Except these guys aren’t nearly as nice. Ballard is legit. The guys I am talking about do it under the radar. They want to steal the treasure and keep all of it, without paying taxes or giving any to the rightful owners it was originally stolen from. And they’ll do whatever they have to do to keep from getting caught.” Cal’s blue eyes drilled into Morgan’s. “They are very dangerous people.”
Morgan felt her stomach clench. “But he’s dead now, so we probably don’t have to worry, right?”
Cal shook his head. “I wish. But they usually travel in groups. There are probably others and if that guy thought your property had treasure, then the others might too.”
Morgan and Celeste exchanged worried glances.
“When was your house built?” Cal asked.
Morgan wrinkled her brow and looked at Celeste uncertainly. “I don’t know, sometime in the early 1700s I think. At least that’s when the first part was built and then they added to it over the years.”
“Did your family own the land before that? There were pirates back in that time … maybe …”
“You don’t really think there would be pirate treasure there do you?”
“You never know.” Cal shrugged. “What did you say your ancestor that build the house did for a living?”
“He was a merchant,” Celeste said then her eyes went wide. “A sailing merchant.”
Cal raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t you guys find some old journals of his in your attic?”
“We found old journals, but we’re not sure what year they are from,” Celeste said. “They did look very old, but I don’t know if they could be 300 years old.”
“Well, maybe it’s worth going up there and taking a look. Who knows? You might find an old treasure map or something.” Cal winked at Morgan.
“A treasure map would be great.” Morgan laughed, “but even if he was there looking for treasure, which I highly doubt, how did he end up dead?”
“Well, you said he had that black mark on his hand. Legend has it that when a pirate woke up with that mark on his hand, he’d better watch out because it meant he was marked for death. And that’s exactly what happened to him.” Cal wiggled his eyebrows at Morgan and Celeste. “So you see, it makes perfect sense.”
“Pfft.” Morgan waved her hand in the air. “I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for all of it. There has to be, because believing a pirate ended up dead on our cliff because of some old curse is just too crazy for anyone to believe … even me.”
“All this pirate stuff is nonsense, don’t you think?” Morgan asked as they left the pawn shop and headed down the sidewalk.
“It is rather fanciful, but anything is possible, Morgan.”
Morgan sighed. Leave it to Celeste to believe in something like pirates and curses.
“Hey, you wanna stop in at
Riley’s
for lunch?” Morgan glanced at her watch. “Fi isn’t expecting me back at
Sticks and Stones
until noon and all this pirate talk made me hungry.”
“Sure. I love their veggie burgers.”
They took a right down the side street that was a shortcut to
Riley’s
—one of the city’s most popular burger places.
The route wasn’t the most scenic and would take them through an undesirable section of town, but it cut a half mile out of the walk so it was a good trade off.
An uneasy feeling came over Morgan as they walked—like a heavy feeling of doom deep in the pit of her stomach.
Probably all this pirate talk has me unsettled
. She tried pushing the feeling away, but it insisted on staying like an unwanted houseguest that won’t leave no matter how many hints you give them.
“… dying to read more of that journal,” Celeste was saying.
“What?” Morgan asked, the strange feeling deepening as they turned down an out of the way street that housed a few abandoned buildings.
“I was saying, ever since we discovered that journal in the attic, I’ve been dying to get back up there and try to figure out what it says.” Celeste stopped in her tracks her face a mask of concern. “Is something wrong?”
“No.” Morgan shook her head. “This street just kind of gives me the creeps.”
Morgan’s thoughts drifted to the journal they had found in the attic as the girls walked a little faster down the street. None of them ever went in the attic. Ever. Their mother had told them it was off limits when they were little girls and the threat had carried over into adulthood. None of them wanted to go in there—the place creeped Morgan out and she was sure her sisters felt the same way.
But when Morgan had been arrested for Prudence Littlefield’s murder, earlier that summer, Fiona had been forced to go up there in the hopes she could find something of value to hire a lawyer. After all, the place was loaded with several generations of Blackmoore family “stuff” so there was bound to be something of value.
And that’s when they’d found the journal. An old, handwritten leather bound book, tucked in a bookshelf. Celeste had tried to make sense of it, but the writing was old and faded. They hadn’t been back up there since.
Morgan’s thoughts were interrupted by a prickly sensation running through her body. Like a current of electricity that started deep in the pit of her stomach and put her senses on edge. It was like her usual “gut feeling” times twenty.
Morgan’s attention was drawn to a narrow alley that opened up onto the street about ten feet ahead of them. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she had an overwhelming urge to run back in the direction they had come from. She glanced down the street in either direction. It was empty. No one would run to their rescue or hear them scream.
This is silly.
She tried to push her feelings away, but they wouldn’t budge.
Just as they approached the alley, Celeste’s message from her grandmother echoed in her mind.
Trust your feelings.
Morgan reacted without thinking. She pulled Celeste back just as a man lunged out from the alley. Her quick reaction caused him to just miss grabbing Celeste!
In a second Celeste crouched down and kicked her foot up, connecting with the guys jaw and sending him staggering backwards but not before a second man made a grab for her.
Morgan watched, amazed, as Celeste’s elbow shot out into the man’s face. She heard a crunch and saw a spray of blood. The man fell back into the alley holding his nose.
The first guy had recovered quickly and made a grab for Morgan while Celeste was giving the second guy a bloody nose. Morgan kicked out, connecting with his crotch and the man went down in a heap.
A noise in the alley across the street caught Morgan’s attention. She saw men running toward them. The two men they’d been dealing with were rolling on the ground and she didn’t feel like taking on anymore so she grabbed Celeste.
“Run!”
They ran back the way they had come, toward their car. Morgan glanced back over her shoulder and saw the men coming out of the alley weren’t running for them, they went straight after the men that had attacked them. That didn’t stop her from running though—her gut told her to get the hell out of there and, from now on, she was going to trust her feelings.
It wasn’t until they were safely locked inside the car that Morgan realized one of the men who had come running out of the alley across from them looked an awful lot like Luke Hunter.
###
Morgan gasped for breath as her white knuckled fists clutched the steering wheel.
“Are you okay?” Celeste maneuvered her arm to inspect her elbow for damage. Morgan noticed her sister didn’t seem nearly as out of breath as she was. Maybe she should take up yoga and kettle bells?
“Yeah. What was that all about?” Morgan twisted in her seat to look down the street. It looked like a normal sunny day in the city. People were window shopping casually. No one was coming after them. It was hard to believe they had just been attacked.
“Apparently those guys were meaning to grab us. For what, I don’t know.” Celeste shuddered visibly in her seat.
Morgan narrowed her eyes at her sister. “Where’d you learn to fight like that?”
“Oh, I take Karate and self-defense.” Celeste turned concerned eyes on Morgan. “You might want to think about taking a class or two yourself, although you do have a mean crotch kick.”
The girls giggled. Then Celeste turned serious.
“What made you grab me like that—at that very second?” Morgan saw Celeste’s brow furrow.
“I trusted my feelings.”
Celeste smiled. “So you did listen … and it’s a good thing too, because if you hadn’t pulled me back when you did, this whole incident might have had a different ending.”
“Speaking of endings, did you see those guys that came running from the other alley?”
Celeste nodded.
“At first I thought they were after us, but I think they were trying to help us. Or at least they were going after the guys that tried to grab us.”
Celeste turned to look out the back window. “Maybe we should go back and thank them?”
“I don’t know. It’s strange but one of those guys looked just like Luke Hunter.” Morgan felt her stomach clench.
Could Luke be back in town?
Celeste swiveled around to face Morgan. “Luke? What would he be doing here? Besides, wouldn’t he contact you if he was back in town?”
Morgan’s heart tightened in her chest. “I don’t know. We broke up almost ten years ago, so he certainly doesn’t have to tell me where he goes. Besides he’s probably married with kids by now.”
“I thought he was still in the military?”
Morgan shrugged. “Yeah, it was probably just someone who looked like him.”
“Didn’t you see someone you thought looked like him a couple of weeks ago?” Celeste raised a brow at Morgan. “I think maybe you need to start dating again.”
Morgan laughed as she started up the car. “Yeah, you can say that again.”
“Do you think we should tell the cops?”
Morgan bit her lower lip. Given her experiences with Overton, she didn’t have much confidence in the police. “Nah. We’re not hurt and I’m sure those thugs are gone by now. What would the police do?”
“Yeah, I guess there’s not much they can do. Do you think this has something to do with the guy on the cliff?”
Morgan’s stomach churned.
Did it?
“No. How could it? I mean we’re not even near home. That was probably just a couple of thugs who were waiting around to mug the next person that walked down the street.”
“Yeah, probably.” Celeste looked in the side view mirror uncertainly.
“But, let’s not tell Fiona or Jolene. I don’t want them to get all worried.”
“Okay,” Celeste agreed.
Morgan eased out of the parking spot, glancing nervously behind her one last time.
Did she really believe it was just a random mugging?
Her logical brain told her it was, but her gut was telling her something else entirely. And, if her gut instincts were right, she’d have to find out who the dead guy was, and what he wanted, quickly … before something worse happened.
###
Morgan sipped a steaming cup of chamomile and valerian tea to calm her nerves as she sat at her worktable at
Sticks and Stones
and filled Fiona in on the meeting with Cal.
“Do you really think he was after some sort of treasure?” Fiona looked at Morgan with wide blue eyes.
“No. Don’t you think if our family had a treasure we’d know about it?”
“Maybe it was buried there before any Blackmoores got here. You did say that pirates were rumored to bury treasure all up and down the coast, right?”
“Yeah, but that’s reaching pretty far to think treasure could be on our land.”
“Well, if it is, I want
us
to find it, not some treasure hunters.”
Morgan laughed. “Me too. But even if that
was
why he was there, it doesn’t explain why he ended up dead.”
“True. Well, maybe it was just one of those things and we’ll never hear anything about it again.”
“I wish,” Morgan said looking out the front window of
Sticks and Stones
where she could see Sheriff Overton’s car pulling up to the shop. She watched him get out, hitch up his pants and stomp to the door which he yanked open, then stood in the opening silhouetted in the sunlight.
“Good afternoon, Sheriff. Come on in,” Morgan said with feigned cheerfulness.
Overton glared in her direction, stepped inside and shut the door.
“What brings
you
here?” Fiona stood up from her workbench and narrowed her eyes at Overton.
“I have some questions for you girls. You can answer them here or I can take you down to the station.”