Missy gasped and yelled, “You didn’t tell me this. Your father? What’s your deal, Paul?”
“Shut up, you stupid woman! My father is no concern of yours,” Paul snapped. “My deal? It is you who are unhinged, drawing unnecessary attention with your theatrics.” He took a moment and smoothed his hair, tugged at his cuffs. He smiled at us in the most unfriendly way and said, “My father was a world-class lecturer who helped many people understand this period of time. That’s all. He was an educator, and a highly regarded one, at that.”
“That seems true,” I said. “I am sure it is, but that still doesn’t explain all that has gone on here this past week. Let me tell you what I think happened and then you can tell me where I am wrong, as I am sure you will. Okay, Paul? Missy, feel free to chime in, too. I imagine you have a very interesting perspective. I think you are very much like your father, Paul. You have been studying this area, researching it, and trying to get it right for a long time, which is why you visit here every year. You are trying to find these graves and treasures. It is vitally important for you to find these things, right? How am I doing? Am I right so far?”
“So the part that hasn’t made sense to me, since the first time we spoke, is what was the urgency?” I continued. “What was so time-sensitive that fed this urgent request? It wasn’t that your visit would be ending soon. Your rental is up in two weeks, so it wasn’t that, right? I can’t imagine that was it because you rent the same place for the same amount of time every year, and while I hear you have been demanding and ornery in the past, this urgency is over the top, even for you.”
Julie told me to pause and wait in between these bold statements when we were rehearsing, but it was challenging to pace myself like this. I just wanted to race to the end and know how all the pieces fit into place. I began again, “It was your dad who helped me understand the urgency. ‘All is now lost’ was such an impactful, morose statement. It made me wonder about what he was referencing.”
When Paul interrupted, it was with a voice I hadn’t heard from him. Soulfully, he said, “You have no idea the depth of this loss. Do you know what it is like to live your life and always be an outsider? Do you know what it is like to never be accepted? This is the way our family hoped to earn the recognition we deserve. Generation after generation, serving the court, but never being part of it. This is the way—making this discovery after all these centuries—and then it would be done. We would be recognized and we would never be questioned again.”
I left him with his thoughts for a few moments and tried to decide if I should bring Missy into this yet. She was silent, as if she was judging how much to reveal. I was still not absolutely sure about her role. I made the decision to continue with Paul. We were close.
“Exactly, Paul, that is how I understand it. So, let me see if we got it right. Centuries ago, King Henry VIII decreed that he would offer a solid gold cross to the man who served his king, his country, and the people in the ‘noblest’ of ways. Kind of a vague decree if you ask me, but of course, this gave him the leeway to award it as he wished and was in line with his vision that he would live forever.
“So, every fifty years, on the first day of June, the current monarch has the ability to award the King’s Cross to a worthwhile recipient. And with this award comes the possibility the monarch will make this recipient a nobleman. In your case, you would go from a commoner to being appointed a viscount, which means you would formally enter royal ranks. This would happen in a formal, public ceremony. Right?
“June 1st is an important date in English royal history. From what I can tell, it is when Anne Boleyn was executed, which meant that Henry VIII felt he was liberated, elevated and, as legend goes, it is when he felt he could also elevate others who served him to the highest level. The monarch has kept this award on this date because, through time, other events happened on June 1st as well. It’s considered an auspicious date.
“So Paul and Missy, this is where you come in. Paul, I believe you thought you finally had found the place the British troops were buried, at Governor’s Point. Years ago, you thought it might be over by Beach Road, which is why you and your wife purchased that land. But that turned out to be a dead end, so you held onto that while you continued your search. Somehow you found out that the real spot is Governor’s Point, but you needed access. I am guessing you had Missy work on Carl, maybe even push him to meet with you. Unfortunately, I don’t think Carl saw the potential in the trade you suggested, especially since he had another prospect for a sale. When you met with Carl and he declined your offer, things took a turn, right Paul?”
Missy jumped in, “All I was supposed to do was to tell Carl about the deal and to introduce them. He did ask me to arrange the meeting at the Beach Road property, which I did, but that’s it. I didn’t know he killed him until you told me Carl was dead, I had no idea, I swear. I really did think Carl went off with Theresa to celebrate finally getting rid of that property after all these years.”
I nodded but said nothing for a second, absorbing this information. “So, I guess that is what Carl meant by the green pin on his board. It wasn’t a sold property, and it wasn’t a current listing. The green marked a potential trade.”
Missy shrugged her shoulders and replied, “I guess, yes, he didn’t say. I thought Carl would have appreciated my being interested in his business and would like to work on deals together. So, when he still dumped me, even though I basically dropped this right into his lap and solved a problem for him, I just couldn’t get past that. Theresa was that much better than me? Her deals were better than mine? I don’t think so, but—”
Paul could take no more, “The book you were supposed to find—the eighteenth-century book—has the exact description of the land. I could report that we had finally found this historic site. We could eventually repatriate the remains, recover the artifacts. His Royal Highness would see it, he needed to see that book as proof that—then this would work, do you understand this? I needed the proof of the actual text—not my word, not the word of my father. In London, the council needs to see the physical book before the first of June. I have been searching for the site, for the books—for any proof, for years. Do you understand this? For years. You, and all those others, failed me.”
He was nearly shouting. “But that Carl! That man would not see things clearly. All he kept saying was that Beach Road wasn’t a good enough trade for Governor’s Point, so he didn’t feel it was in his client’s best interest. Well, what about my best interest? What about me? What about my family? He was going to sell it! I know he was, and they would have built houses, and pour new foundations, and—and who knows what. I know he was! That man would not listen. He didn’t care.”
Paul kept pouring out his rage. “We have been part of the royal court for generations, bowing and scraping, but never made noble. Always serving, but never an equal, always thought of like the help. Returning these soldiers and the fortune buried with them is a great service and we should be rewarded. This is worthy of the King’s Cross—others received it for far, far less, I can assure you. Carl wouldn’t listen to any of it. The man was so infuriating that—yes, when things took an unexpected turn, I brought him to Governor’s Point, thinking a new buyer surely wouldn’t purchase this property, given this unfortunate event. I did not anticipate you two would have found him. Honestly, why did it have to be you, and not the other buyer Mr. Campino was pursuing?”
“Unfortunate event?” I said, my voice rising. “You killed someone!”
“He wasn’t worth—” And that’s when Julie and Cole appeared.
Julie read Paul and Missy their rights and they were handcuffed. As they were led out of the store, Paul turned to me and said, “My father was right, Carr—all is now lost.”