The Lost Treasure Map Series (19 page)

“
You
’d
better remove it before they reach
here,
”
he
warned.

Merton started packing it away, and he went
to check on Mortimer. At the top of the stairs, he tried to make
out if he had anything, but he did not hear anything; he was doing
something. He had expected him to be rapidly moving about.

Once at the bottom of the stairs, he
instantly recognized that Mortimer was disappointed, and had
surveyed everything the best that he could have, and he began
helping him pack things.

It was easier to do than it had been setting
up, with the precise work, placing it at key areas, while checking
it had correctly been doing its job at the precise precision.

Bryson checked the thermometers
–
studying their
lowest reading, and that they had the temperature that he had
expected (at what the weather forecast could have told him had been
the lowest temperature!).

He wondered if disturbances did lower
the temperature, and the kinds of readings that they supposedly
received
–
and if it perhaps dropped far beyond what it
should.

He suggested to Mortimer to rush more, and
they were soon heaving it up the stairs.

They then evenly distributed it between them
more, to gain the highest attainable speed, and they headed
back.

Bryson just left the camera that he had put
up in the tree, as there was not enough time, and it was hidden
away. He now doubted that there was anything on it, after seeing
all the negative results. And another day would only allow the
project to be conducted better. Perhaps if any of the others
damaged anything, it would capture it.

Merton placed it on the snow, and moved it
around to another position, to help him carry it better.

“
It should be worth coming
back,
”
Mortimer confirmed, struggling to balance the equipment
evenly on him.
“
It
’ll
be worth it just to see what they do, and
to find out if there
’s
anything else.
”

A faint shout came from deep in the wood,
and another voice hollered out from near them, surprising them at
the closeness of the person, without them hearing anything.

One of them started explaining where they
were heading towards to the people in the other group. There was no
suggestion from either group that they had heard them moving
through the wood, and were listening to them.

A sudden whistle appeared behind them, and
he recognized that someone thought that he had found something,
which clear was the vault. And the person started communicating to
them to come over.

Had James informed them of the vault? He
wondered if there was any chance of them damaging the tombs, while
opening them. They would if they dropped the lids or something! He
doubted if anyone would or would be able to replace them or
properly repair any damage.

It became apparent that they had
entered the region in the middle of their groups
–
spread out
–
as they worked
their way through the wood.

“
We
’ll
have to be more
carefully,
”
Mortimer replied, stopping to listen to the others behind
him.

“
If there
’s
anything dangerous here
...
”
Bryson
moaned.

“
Inspector Bailey said it would be
safe, and even helped them out on where to
search!
”

“
Why did
he do that?”

Bryson could hardly believe it! The same
indications continually emerged, implying that Inspector Bailey was
playing an elaborate game here.

Chapter 38

Unanticipated
Confrontation

They soon started to return, after they had
reached the castle, and had put away the equipment.

Their idea that the last were spirits of the
wood could mean that it was anywhere about the castle though. It
could be even underground, where they were walking. But the point
that they were accepting, which must be the case, was that it would
not be anywhere such as that.

He had to have buried it at a specific
place. He would not have just placed it at any old place
–
and expect
anyone to find it.

Bryson briefly considered the archaeological
equipment available to survey beneath the ground. And that Sir
Richard might not have thought along those lines.

If it was outside after all, they could
continue the search after the ten days allocated to them.

But he doubted it very much if anyone would
bother. They would just be wasting their time.

Mortimer insisted in taking them back to the
vault first, and they soon discovered that more of them had entered
the vault than they had expected. Groups of footprints came in from
many angles. But it proved that they were an efficient force, to
count on in properly searching the wood.

He now saw how useful it would be to use
them in the castle. They could at least triple the amount of
searches, and places that they searched. Though, for some reason,
he was not sure if they would continue using them.

He stood at the bottom steps, with his eyes
following the prints, going from tomb to tomb.

They mostly went to the most obvious places.
And although the lids had all been lifted, there did not seem to be
any damage.

Then his eyes fell on the darkest
region, where he had been unable to observe, and fixed onto a dark
shape, which instantly made his heart race wildly, and chill his
blood. A dark figure was there
–
standing glaring at him!
–
out of the darkest part of
the vault
–
as if from the depths of hell.

It surprised him
–
at there being someone
there, standing watching him, without him noticing.

What is more, he was on his own, in
the blackness, keeping quiet
–
clearly hiding there. And Bryson stood,
frozen to the floor, just trying to see his face, shrouded in
obscurity, and not moving in any way.

He could not recognize any of his clothing,
which looked much more unusual than what the others had (for them
freely and warmly to run about the wood in).

When he pulled himself together, he
saw that the stranger stood staring eerily at him
–
not flinching in
any way
–
as though trying to remain hidden, even though they were
standing staring at each other.

“
What have they
done?
”
Mortimer called down, from the top stair
–
trying to see what he was
doing. Bryson had been so enthralled that he had not even noticed
Mortimer had been standing staring at him from there.

Bryson considered what dangers there were in
such a confrontation, and whether he should back away.

He tried to see what he was doing, but the
blackness engulfed his sight, and he saw nothing.

Perhaps outsiders from the village,
such as poachers, used the wood, or it could be a region where they
walked through. There could be trails leading throughout the woods.
Even though there wasn
’t
the slightest indication of it
anywhere.

Yet one of the people that James had there
might have persuaded someone to look separately from them, to
acquire the money for themselves. It could even be someone who had
overheard what was taking place there. There was a large amount of
cash hidden somewhere.

As Bryson began to back away, he noticed
that not one sound came from him, and he sensed that there was much
more to it. This person was reacting more strangely than he should,
and he did not like it.

Mortimer marched down to him,
fascinated by his strange behavior. And all he did was remain
there
–
almost forced to allow something to happen.

Mortimer jerked, glared at the stranger, and
walked over to him.

Bryson followed him. And a torch clicked on,
and the stranger held it beside his face, as though showing his
identity, but doing it so his features were slightly hidden, and
not clearly recognizable. He saw only his blank expression, with no
sign of any emotion.

“
Did you find
something?
”
Mortimer muttered, to force him into replying.

“
No,
”
a deep voice replied.

“
Who
’re
you with?
”
Bryson asked.

“
I
’m
a journalist,
”
he mumbled, moving the angle of the
torch near them, ready to remove identification.

“
What
’re
you doing here?
”

He made an expression that suggested that
they had caught him doing something.

Bryson was sure that he had relied on
there not being anyone there. As though he had been listening to
them so closely, from a hiding place, that he had believed that
they had been all away out of range, and that nobody would have
confronted him
–
not knowing that they would return there to check it for
damage.

How could the stranger have observed them so
closely and have stayed unobserved? How else could he have so
positively have known?

“
Are you the reporter that the police
caught photographing the castle?
”
Mortimer asked, startling Bryson. And, to
Mortimer
’s
surprise, he nodded in agreement.

“
What
’re
you doing back
here?
”

“
To continue what I was
doing,
”
he
argued, as though continuing with a reply that he had come out with
to someone else, which could have been one of the
policemen.

“
This is private
property,
”
Mortimer warned, forcing him to leave.
“
You
’d
better leave
now!
”

Bryson followed Mortimer to the
stairs, keeping the stranger at the edge of their sight
–
as he followed
them out, staying at the same distance away.

At the top door, he watched the man, who now
ignored them. His appearance was surprisingly more professional
than he had believed. He marched silently and slowly into the
surrounding trees, without reacting in any noticeable way. His
behavior had been nothing like any reporter that he had
encountered.

He did look strong enough to have strangled
the servant.

He was up to something, and he did not like
it!

Before following Merton and Mortimer into
the wood, Bryson closely examined one of his footprints, and it
clearly matched the prints of the reporter that they had found. But
that was not all what he was looking for: he was trying to
establish if it matched the faint prints of the person who had
entered the castle. Yet though it did look similar, he was unable
to confirm it, making him leave, considering the absurdity of the
police at having released him.

Chapter 39

The Cottage

Even as they rushed through the trees,
dodging branches, shoving themselves through thick regions of
undergrowth, a deep chill still gripped Bryson. They had confronted
the killer in the vault, who had been roaming the wood.

However, if they proceeded with enough
caution now, not to make any fatal mistakes, which seemed
inevitable with what they were carrying out, they should be able to
handle the situation.

They had to check everything that they
could, to make sure that this guy never acquired an opportunity to
do anything.

What had he been doing? Had he been
searching for the money, now that one of them was not going to
inherit it? Yet that would mean that someone had been in it with
him all along, and, perhaps, was informing him of their movements
(probably carried out by mobile phones).

What had he been doing in the castle when he
had killed the servant though? Had he realized that she had known
something about his associate, at the castle, and had he decided to
kill her before it had been too late? But he might have been just
trying to hide some clue, which, perhaps, he had left, and the
servant had confronted him.

Deep within the trees, he heard cheers,
whistles, laughs, and shouts.

They were from a large group. The others had
gathered together.

They sounded too cheerful for his liking.
Perhaps as they had joined together for a leisure break.

Mortimer took them away to the side of them,
but stayed obsessed with his intentions of rampaging through the
wood on a straight course.

It reminded him of playing blind
man
’s
buff.
The wood was too dense, and it revealed very little. And their luck
did not seem to be about to change either.

It was surprising how endless the wood
seemed. All the woods he had previously been in were not
endless
–
and had visible fringes, and had such things as gaps, and
hills that could be used to survey land about it.