The Investigators, Inc. The Black House Mystery. Chapter 12. Treasure.

Well, our fake ghost visitors discovered they were no match for our real ghost. Jennifer just touched the back of their necks and they fell to the floor unconscious. That is a new one for me, I did not know she could do that. Perhaps another invention from Kat, I will ask about that later. Right now, or at least when our fake ghosts wake up, we will begin to ask some serious questions of them. Annelie has searched out that family history very thoroughly and there are no living relatives anywhere.

These two definitely look like John Silverton and his wife when they were young, but that is something that can be done with a little surgery or even just a mask. Making a mask to wear can be very realistic and that is something we can check on before they wake up perhaps. Unfortunately, they were not wearing a mask as Jennifer and I checked them closely. Oh well, it will be interesting to hear what kind of story they came up with to justify their claims to any Silverton family treasure.

Since there are no heirs, if there is any treasure it will automatically go to the present owner of the property. I called Rock and Bear to take these two people down to the living room for us, after we put handcuffs on their hands and feet. I don’t want them trying to run away. It was nearly morning now anyway, so we decided to stay up and get some breakfast. However, when we got to the kitchen, Martha, Rock’s mom, was already there getting ready to make pancakes and bacon for breakfast.

The cats were all eagerly waiting, bouncing up and down all over the floor. “By the way,” I said to Jennifer, “why didn’t we sense these ghostly visitors in our room?” “I guess we must have been too tired,” she answered as she tried to help Martha. However, Martha said the coffee was ready and to help ourselves while she finishes breakfast. That meant she didn’t want any help. So, we got some coffee and went to the living room where Amerie and her friends were already sitting with some coffee.

“I still am not sure if I should forgive you for lying to us,” said Amerie, “telling us that Cricket was dead and yet she is still alive.” “I’m very sorry Amerie,” I said, “but in our business we must be very careful at times, especially when it concerns the lives of others. But, Cricket is dead and buried. Katresa is my younger sister.” I apologized to each of them for the deception and they all agreed to forgive me.

“How come Katresa and Amerie get to be your sisters,” asked Suzette, “but not us?” “I can’t wait to hear this one,” said Jennifer quietly, as she sipped her coffee. Just then our two captives began to wake up. That was perfectly timed, at least for me. “Okay,” I said, “let’s start at the beginning, who are you and why are you here? And forget your story about being John Silverton and his wife. If you were truly ghosts, we would not have you secured right now.”

“I told you this wouldn’t work, you idiot,” the woman said to her companion. A little questioning brought out some truth from these two. They had read about the family history of this place and also discovered there is a family treasure in here somewhere. They have spent three years at the house looking for it, on their days off and after work. They both have jobs in the city, he is an accountant and she works as a secretary.

But, so far they have found nothing and can’t even figure out what the clues mean. We didn’t know there were clues to help find this treasure, that makes it a little more believable. I asked them for the clues. The woman repeated them for us and Dawn, who had joined us by now, wrote them down. Simple clues really, which were, “Down under the ground, Where it may be found, Just find a nice door, Right there on the floor, No need to be quick, Look behind the brick.”

We had already found the spot, in the underground rooms beneath that shed out back. So, after breakfast, which Martha insisted we eat before our treasure hunt, we then went to the shed and down to the end of the long tunnel to the bricks behind the door. The only large tools we had were axes, so Rock and Bear began chopping away at those bricks. It didn’t take them long and that brick wall came tumbling down. Behind it was a… large rock. Well, so much for easy clues.

Everyone was rather disappointed in that. Suzette, however, was standing there looking quite happy. Dawn looked at her. “I don’t remember you wearing that necklace at breakfast,” she said to Suzette. “I was not wearing it before,” she said, “I just now found it, along with this lovely gold bracelet.” “Where did you find those?” asked Jennifer. “Behind the brick, like the clue said,” she replied. Then she took us into one of the rooms and behind a wood box was an opening in the wall where a brick had been.

While the guys were smashing the brick door to pieces, Suzette was carefully chiseling this brick out of the wall with a hammer and knife she found in the room. She stood by the opening and smiled. She reached inside and began to pull out more jewelry and some gold coins, about a hundred altogether. “The clue did say, behind the brick,” she explained, “not bricks. I like to figure out problems and clues.” She had a nice big smile on her face now, as did all the girls.

“Maybe I did not save your life, but I was a big help now, yes?” she said. “Yes, you were a very big help Suzette, thank you,” I said. “Maybe big enough help to be your younger sister too?” she asked, blushing a bit. “This should be more interesting than the other,” said Jennifer smiling. Theresa wanted to give us some of the treasure, but we declined. She did insist that we take the gold coins for our orphan fund though, so we accepted that.

Alfred looked at the jewelry and said all the stones and pearls were genuine and all set in pure gold, with a few in silver. There were three perfect pearl necklaces. He estimated that if sold at auction, the jewelry would likely bring at least a million dollars. As for the White Cowboys, they disappeared from the area completely which was good. So, now we are heading back home to relax for a while. Rock and Bear are staying behind for now, to help Theresa and Martha get settled into their new house.

We never did discover what happened to that disappearing window, I completely forgot to ask our “ghosts” about that one. Oh well. We turned those “ghosts” over to the police to deal with since they did commit some crimes. It is nice to relax while we fly home. It seems the only time we truly get to relax these days, is when we are flying. And now we wait to see what will come our way next.

The End. A new story will be coming our way very soon.

©2024 Steve McLeod.