Sunday, December 5
After returning from Joyelle Babineaux’s studio, Drayco spent much of the evening surrounded by print and digital maps. Map-lover Christi Allingham would be positively drooling over that. At the same time, he questioned his mental faculties. Why hadn’t he seen sooner that the printed numbers from the puzzle represented latitude and longitude?
He almost made another mistake as he matched the coordinates to the maps. Initially, he was thrown off because the numbers in the solved order marked a location in the Kasan District of Uzbekistan. But that would mean the stolen treasure wasn’t in the United States, so why would someone search for the treasure here?
The case’s ties to Uzbekistan had blinded him to an alternative. He tried the same numbers backward and found they were the latitude and longitude for a region in southern Maryland near the Calvert County cliffs.
According to aerial survey maps, the numbers matched the site of a house formerly owned by a man named Alec Van Sandt. He’d died five years ago, and the place was now the property of a bank. Drayco’s interest was further piqued when he discovered the same man had also owned the “prison” house he and Sarg investigated.
The thing that sealed the deal, and the main reason Drayco got up early to drive to Maryland, was that Van Sandt died under mysterious circumstances a couple of weeks before Graham Tibbs’s arson and disappearance. Another hit-and-run.
Was that why Graham vanished? He was involved in Van Sandt’s death? Ezra Layton made it quite clear Graham Tibbs never wanted to go back to prison. And Tibbs had asked his former girlfriend, Christi Allingham, if there was any room in heaven for people involved with someone else’s death. Even “if they’re innocent.”
Drayco made it into Maryland, but when he pulled up to the site at the coordinates, his heart sank. The house he’d seen on the aerial maps was no longer there. An empty yard with a walkway leading to nowhere was all that was left. It was unlikely any treasure remained buried here, if it ever was.
Maybe that was what Alistair was referring to when he said they’d used Drayco’s puzzle solution, but it turned out to be unhelpful? Well, somebody believed the treasure was located around here, or there wouldn’t have been two hit-and-run deaths and now, maybe a third. Three was not a “charm” in this case.
One helpful sign perched on the otherwise vacant lot had a “Property For Sale” marker with the name of a realtor, Sherry Salton. He called the number on the sign, and Salton agreed to meet him on site.
When a car parked in front, and a tall woman with a bob haircut and red glasses strode toward him, he asked, “Ms. Salton?”
She stuck out her hand, which he shook. “And you’re Scott Drayco. I have to admit you got my hopes up. I did a little happy dance when you called, thinking we were finally going to unload this place.”
“Sorry to disappoint you. You’re representing the bank that owns the property?”
“That’s right.”
“When I first saw the house was owned by a bank, I assumed it was repossessed.”
“That part is true. But the house got torn down in the past year because it was derelict. The bank decided it would be easier to sell the land on its own.”
“Was the property repossessed before or after the owner’s death?”
“A few months afterward. The estate went to Mr. Van Sandt’s daughter, but it wasn’t enough to cover the mortgage. Well, two mortgages. There’s his other property, too.”
“Other property?” Drayco thought she was going to mention the “prison house,” but she surprised him.
“An old resort over on the coast. It’s been closed for years. You can’t even find it on maps anymore.”
“I didn’t know he owned such a place.”
“Probably because it was listed under an LLC before it also became bank property.”
“I’d love to see it.” Drayco tried not to get his hopes up.
Salton put her hands on her hips. “I don’t have other client showings today. So, sure. I guess you can follow me?”
He did, and within ten minutes, they were standing in front of an imposing structure that wouldn’t look out of place in a Gothic movie. It was likely a pleasant, welcoming haven in its heyday. Now, it just looked old, sad, and suicidal.
But it was the sign that hung over the entrance that fascinated Drayco the most. The faded letters spelled out Heaven’s Embrace.
Drayco’s excitement must have been evident because Salton saw him staring at it and asked, “Does that mean something?”
“In Latin, Heaven’s Embrace could be translated as caelesti amplexus, but that’s a long story.” And with that, he had the last piece of the kidnapping-puzzle he’d worked on.
Salton punched in a code into the realtor lockbox, and in they went. Some of the boards covering the windows were missing, which proved beneficial since there was no electricity to the building. But the streams of sunlight through the cracks in the boards made it clear the interior was empty. No furniture whatsoever.
When he pointed that out, she said, “All sold to pay off the debt.” That made his recently buoyed spirits sag. Any treasure hidden in the furniture might also be long gone.
Salton said, “This place has been broken into on more than one occasion. Another reason we want to dump the place soon.” She waved her hand around the room. “But no graffiti, which is odd, like you’d expect from teen prankers.”
“I witnessed that somewhere else not too long ago. When was the last break-in?”
“About six months ago. But there’s nothing valuable left. Except maybe the copper wires or bathroom fixtures, and even those weren’t stolen. Guess it was a lovers’ tryst. Or curiosity seekers.”
He asked, “How did they get in?”
“Through some of those broken windows.”
“That would explain the missing boards.”
“I really need to have our standby contractor come around to make sure they’re all sealed up again.” She sighed. “In fact, we’ve got an inspector who’s supposed to look at it again soon. He keeps getting delayed by more important projects.”
“An inspector to appraise current resale value?”
“For safety purposes. In all honesty, you may be one of the last people I show this place. Mother nature may take it off the bank’s hands soon. Storms and climate change have conspired to take down several homes along the cliffs. This one could be next.”
Now Drayco wanted to search the resort more than ever. “Surely it could be renovated. It still has good bones.”
“Personally, I think the place should be torn down. Just like the house. I’m pretty sure I could sell the property for a ton of money, but not with this eyesore on it. Condos or several high-end homes, now those would bring in a lot more.”
“I hate to see historic buildings left to rot.” He felt even more unhappy to think of a wrecking ball hammering away at the building when she took him on a tour. Whoever the puzzle-writer was surely loved this place. The labyrinthine layout of the resort was dizzying.
Not a single straight hallway crisscrossed throughout the interior, nor was it laid out like the spokes of a wheel. Entrances to the larger rooms on the main floor had doors offset from any other, which must have confounded former patrons. Maybe that was the point? Part of its unique charm?
The decor, what was left of it, was different in every room. One sported wallpaper with a yellow-and-gray paisley design, and another was painted with various shades of blue in a wavelike pattern. Yet another had a tiled-fresco chair rail like something out of an ancient Roman villa.
The architectural eccentricities were particularly evident in the great hall area, where Drayco noted carvings and scrollwork on the darkish wooden panels. Oak? Ebony? Cherry? With all the different colors, it was probably a mix.
Many panels were plain, but others had symbols, a few with numbers from zero to nine. Some were carved with letters of the alphabet, and some with elaborate characters such as a dragon, a unicorn, a Greek cross, and a wizard.
Still others bore astronomical—or were they astrological?—symbols. Earth was represented, along with the moon, then the sun, and then a larger planet that could be Jupiter, plus clouds and a rainbow. Another cross lay below the sun. More of Van Sandt’s whimsy?
But if the treasure was hidden here at one time, why not use the latitude and longitude of the resort instead of Van Sandt’s former home? Whatever the reason, it might not matter. Whether in the house or the resort, anything the man hid must surely be gone by now.
And yet why the two mysterious hit-and-runs that killed Graham Tibbs and Johnny Burdell? It had to mean someone believed the treasure was around here. Even Alistair believed it.
But as Drayco peered out the rear of the building and saw how the house lay perched on the edge of the cliffs, he had a feeling the realtor was right. Mother Nature might have the last laugh at the expense of just about everybody—Van Sandt, the realtor, the bank, Drayco, the young lovers or whoever had broken in here, and potential treasure hunters.
Salton was eager to get back to her office and didn’t seem inclined to indulge his desire to poke around a bit more. He even hinted there might be a secret safe somewhere on the premises, but she shrugged. “Didn’t see any signs of such. I got a peek at the original blueprints to help draw the layout for our website.”
He waved at Salton as she drove off, but he didn’t leave right away. Out of curiosity, he decided to look around the back of the property. It was easy to understand why the resort developers chose this spot since the views were pretty spectacular. But they couldn’t foresee time and the terror of mother nature’s wrath carving out a chunk of the cliff, leaving the building perched on the edge.
Not that it would matter to Drayco since he doubted he’d be allowed inside again without a search warrant. What magistrate in their right mind would grant him one based on an inscription via a puzzle-from-beyond-the-grave? Or the ghosts of the hit-and-run victims, whose deaths could be argued away as mere accidents?
Disappointed he might have found his pot at the end of the rainbow only to find it empty, Drayco headed back to his car. After all of this—his kidnapping, his pursuit of the case, two, or possibly even three, murders—and this was how it ended?