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“You’ve found it.” A woman’s voice.
Lauren couldn’t see who it was until the person reached the bottom step. Shining the flashlight toward her, she gasped.
“Joyce?”
“What are you doing here?” Zoe asked. “Where’s Tammy?”
“At the lawyer’s office dealing with probate matters.” Joyce laughed as she walked toward them, wearing dark slacks and a khaki blouse. “I caught up with her yesterday after she left the café and she told me what her plans were this morning.”
“I saw you talking to her for a minute yesterday,” Lauren said slowly. “She stopped by your table on her way out.”
“That’s right.” Joyce nodded. “I offered her my condolences. Although our families haven’t been close for a long time, we still know each other.” She took another step closer to the treasure. “Now tell me, just what exactly do you have there?”
“A gold nugget,” Zoe replied, excitement in her voice. “And some smaller ones.”
“Brrt.” Annie stood by the chest, as if guarding the contents. The big nugget lay on the dirt floor just in front of her.
“I knew you girls were up to something – it was obvious Zoe and Martha were eavesdropping on the café customers, and I heard them talking about clues, and noticed Zoe found her missing button.”
“But if Tammy is with her lawyer, then why did she send a note asking to meet us here?” Zoe asked.
“She didn’t!” Lauren stared at Joyce. “You sent it!”
“Very good.” Joyce nodded. “I thought you two—” she glanced at Annie “—three – couldn’t resist. And I was right.”
“But why?” Zoe frowned.
“To see how far you’d gotten with finding the clues to the gold nugget. I certainly didn’t expect you to find it first, though.” Her eyes lit up as she stared at the nuggets. “I must apologize for being late – my son called from New York and I couldn’t pass up the chance to talk to him – he doesn’t often phone.”
“But this is – was – Shirley’s gold nugget – nuggets,” Lauren said. “Or Tammy and her sister’s now.”
“No.” Joyce shook her head. “It’s mine – and my family’s.”
“What are you talking about?” Zoe asked.
“Brrt?” Annie furrowed her velvet brow.
“Something happened between your family and Shirley’s, back when they founded Gold Leaf Valley,” Lauren hazarded a guess.
“Very good.” Joyce pointed at her. “They both mined for gold out here, and they both found some decent nuggets. That’s how they each paid for their houses – with the gold they found. And then Shirley’s great-great-grandfather Ambrose Bosworth stole my great-great-grandfather’s last gold nuggets.”
“Why would he do that?” Zoe asked.
“Because he was greedy.” Joyce’s eyes narrowed. “That’s what my great-great-grandfather said.”
“Was he still alive when you were born?” Lauren crinkled her brow.
“No,” Joyce admitted. “But that’s the story that was passed down from each generation.”
“Was his name Ebenezer Dibwater?” Zoe flourished the note.
“Yes! How did you know?” Joyce snatched the note from her and read it, looking bewildered. “This makes no sense. I’ve never heard that my great-great-grandfather Ebenezer was a gambler! And I’ve never heard of this other person – Silas Hawes.”
“So, it looks like Shirley’s great-great-grandfather didn’t do anything wrong after all. He actually helped your great-great,” Lauren mused.
“But why would I grow up hearing that Ebenezer was cheated out of his gold nuggets?” Joyce looked bewildered.
“Because he was too embarrassed to tell the truth?” Zoe tapped her cheek.
“So it looks like you have no claim on any of the gold nuggets, after all. We’ll put everything back in the chest and tell Tammy where she can find it.” She picked up the big nugget – it was heavy – and placed it in the chest.
“Not so fast.” Joyce stepped closer. “I want to know how you found the treasure.”
“We found another clue in a recipe book in the kitchen,” Zoe replied. “‘The treasure you seek is down the hatch.’”
“But how did you know where the hatch was?” Joyce asked, bewildered.
“Annie found it.” Lauren looked proudly at her fur baby.
“Brrt.” That’s right.
“My clue said: ‘Cookies don’t exist on scraps of paper.’ Oh!” She gasped, alarm flickering over her face at what she’d just revealed. She took a step back, and bumped into the back of the stairs. A scrap of paper fluttered out of her slacks’ pocket.
“Brrt!” Annie pounced on it, and slid it over to Lauren.
“‘Cookies don’t exist on scraps of paper.’” She laid a hand over her thumping heart. “Did you find this in the cookie jar that was used as the murder weapon?”
Zoe gasped. “You killed Shirley!”
“Don’t be silly,” Joyce blustered. “Of course I didn’t.”
All three of them stared at her and she seemed to shrink a little.
“Okay, so what?” Joyce seemed to realize she had no other option but to come clean, and straightened her spine. “She acted like her family was the only one who founded this town. They weren’t! Neither was mine. There were several families who mined here together and were co-founders, but you don’t hear about their families bragging about it, do you?”
“What exactly happened?” Lauren asked.
“All I wanted was to have a quick look for the gold nugget. After Shirley boasted about owning it at the senior center the day the historian gave his talk about the gold rush, I got all riled up again thinking about how her family cheated mine back then. I only pretended to be skeptical – I thought there was a pretty good chance she did have one.”
“But it turned out her family didn’t cheat yours,” Zoe reminded her.
“Well, I didn’t know that, did I?” Joyce glared at them. “I heard she was visiting her best friend in Stockton, so I was just going to take a quick peep in her house.”
“How did you get in?” Zoe asked.
“I picked the lock,” she replied proudly. “One day I accidently locked myself out of my house, but I managed to pick my lock and let myself back in, with a hair pin. You girls might not know this, but back then, things were built to last, including houses, and doors – and locks. But since my door lock was old, it was pretty easy to pick it. So, when I visited Shirley’s house, I tried picking her lock the same way – since hers was ancient as well – and it worked.”
“But how did you know she had an old lock?” Zoe asked.
“I’ve been to her house before.” Joyce waved a hand in the air as if it wasn’t important. “This is a small town and we have been in some of the same groups over the years, like gardening, or knitting for orphans, and we used to meet at each other’s houses. I wasn’t going to miss out on those groups because her family ripped off mine – knowing that actually gave me more incentive to go.”
“Except her family didn’t rip yours off,” Lauren pointed out.
“Brrp.” No.
“But why didn’t anyone see you over here?” Zoe wanted to know.
“No one’s over here calling out for you, are they?” Joyce smirked. “It’s a quiet street. People are at work, or shopping, or inside watching TV or listening to the radio.”
“Mitch said the neighbors didn’t notice any strangers,” Lauren remembered.
“But I’m not a stranger, am I?” Joyce arched an eyebrow. “I live nearby and I’m an old time local. I’m practically invisible!”
Lauren conceded there might be some truth to that.
“That silly Detective Castern asked me where I was at the time of the murder, and I told him I was home baking—” she chuckled “—cookies. I even offered him one, but I’d actually made some the day before. Lucky I didn’t eat them all.” She laughed.
“So, first I looked in the living room for the gold, but didn’t find anything. I heard a noise, and I think I forgot to close that desk drawer, I was so surprised.”
“Annie found a clue under that desk in the living room,” Lauren said. “‘It’s knot in here.’”
“I don’t know why I didn’t see it.” Joyce tsked.
“Maybe it was hidden under the drawer runners and was dislodged when you opened it,” Zoe suggested.
Joyce looked annoyed. “I darted into the kitchen. But then I didn’t hear anything else, so I relaxed a little – big mistake.
I had just lifted the lid of that cookie jar, when Shirley entered the kitchen! I didn’t want to kill her, but I had no choice. I couldn’t exactly tell her the truth, could I? She would have had me arrested!”
“So, you hit her on the head with the cookie jar,” Lauren clarified.
“And then I got out of there. No one saw me.” She looked pleased with herself. “But in my haste I forgot to lock the front door. Another little mistake. But I’m sure no one will see me leave after I take care of you three.”
Lauren glanced at Zoe, and then down at Annie. At the same time, they all looked at the chest containing the gold nuggets.
Joyce didn’t seem to have a weapon, but she knew from past experience that didn’t mean anything.
“My reward will be that big gold nugget.” Joyce took a step forward. “I’m sure it will be worth thousands and thousands –I’ve done some research. I’ll leave the small ones for her daughters – it’s the least I can do.”
“I don’t think so!” Zoe snatched up a couple of small nuggets and threw them at Joyce.
Lauren did so as well, surprised at how heavy they felt.
“Ouch! Stop that! Oof!” Joyce backed away, covering her face with her hands.
Lauren and Zoe continued to pelt her, Lauren aiming for Joyce’s legs, while Zoe peppered her upper body.
“Brrt!” Annie raced around Joyce and dashed up the stairs. She stopped halfway and looked urgently at them.
“Come on!” She grabbed Zoe’s arm and followed her fur baby. Joyce was too busy trying to dodge the nuggets, her hands still over her face, to seem to realize they were leaving.
They raced up the stairs, Annie leading the way.
“Quick!” Zoe tugged at the kitchen table they’d placed over the hatch to prevent it closing. “We’ll lock her in there!”
“Brrt!” Annie said in approval.
They pushed the table away from the hatch and Zoe closed it with a loud thud.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Joyce’s muffled shout.
“We’d better push that table back over it,” Lauren gasped, “so we know for sure she can’t escape.”
“And then we’ll call the police.”
“Brrt!”