Authors: Kathleen Pieper
Letters From Al (24 page)
Maddy flew downstairs, nearing falling headlong on the rug in front of the front door as she grabbed the phone to call Alec. No answer. She ran to the back door and over to Aunt Polly's where Alec and she were calmly having a conversation by the back gate. When he saw her, he held fast food sacks up like a trophy.
"Alec! Come, quickly!" Maddy caught her breath and screamed his name. The look on her face and the urgency in her voice made him drop the food and start running, his hand on his pistol. Maddy could hardly speak, she was so excited. Aunt Polly came huffing and puffing behind him.
"Maddy, what's wrong? Is someone in the house?" She shook her head and took a deep breath before grabbing his hand and motioning them to follow her.
"No, nothing like that. It's not who's in the house, it's what's in the house. Oh, Alec, I've found them, or rather, Tommy and I found them. He's guarding them now, come on." Still shaking and half-crying in excitement Maddy started up the stairs with her friends close behind, still not sure what was wrong.
"What? Maddy, what did you find? Why is Tommy guarding anything?" Alec tried to calm her down.
"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm just so excited. But Alec, we found the missing bonds."
"You found them where?" Incredulous, he looked at Aunt Polly and then back at her.
"You've got to see this to believe it. They couldn't have been any safer than if they'd been in the bank. Come on." Pulling Alec along, they burst into the back bedroom where Tommy sat staring at the wall. Slowly Alec walked up to the section of torn wallpaper and looked at the neatly pasted bonds on the wall. He gazed closely at them and let out a whoop.
"Maddy, you hit the jackpot. I can't believe it."
Aunt Polly inched closer and removed her glasses as she clucked and shook her head in disbelief.
"That's a lot of money pasted on a wall. What are you going to do with it?" Alec looked at her.
"Not what am I going to do with it, you're going to be my husband, it's what are we going to do with it? Besides, I told you my dream. If what I think is true, the town of Nielsen just got a library and we got a bed and breakfast."
"Maddy, that's great. You still want to do that? You have the most generous heart. That way people won't think I married you just for your money. You're too good to be true and I love you." He was laughing and hugging Maddy. Aunt Polly and Tommy laughed and danced a little jig behind them.
"I was the richest woman in town before I found the money, Alec." Maddy stopped moving and looked up. Her smile was eager and alive with affection and pure delight as she hugged him tightly.
There was a steady stream of visitors to the house until professional wallpaper people came and carefully removed every scrap of the bonds from the wall. The newspaper did a big story on it, the news wires too. They totaled up everything, and Leland and the bank figured Maddy's bonds were worth several million dollars. Which Maddy promptly converted and sold to start the "Madeline O'Keefe Memorial Library Fund," named in honor of her dear aunt. Tommy wasn't left out either. Money was set aside for his education, and a computer he wanted.
Shortly before the wedding Alec came over with disturbing news. After Maddy was attacked, he'd made a lot of trips between Nielsen and Omaha concerning the case. After he returned from his last trip he called both Maddy and Aunt Polly to his office.
"
Well, we finally figured out who told Fred Simmons about the diary and letters and who hired him to scare you and steal them.” Alec’s voice was deep and serious, “Leland did overhear us talking and unwittingly told Jack Drake about it.”
"Of course, my aunt’s attorney, Jack Drake, would have merely had to look in the files. It's the missing piece," Maddy stated, the thread that tied everything together. "The one letter was signed by an attorney named Drake after Al Capone died and left her the bonds. Reginald J. Drake, it was Jack Drake’s grandfather."
"No wonder he was so accommodating when he was here. He knew the bonds were still around and worth something. That's a lot of money to lie around in an attic." Aunt Polly said and wiped her glasses.
"He thought he had plenty of time to search, and then I showed up. That must have really shocked him." Maddy leaned forward and shook her head.
"Leland didn't know about Jack Drake's involvement and innocently told him about the leather case you found in the library, which didn't have anything in it except old receipts."
"What about the body in the truck, this Fred Simmons?" Maddy asked quietly.
"Fred Simmons tried to blackmail Drake for more money."
"How do you know all of this? I mean, are you sure?" Maddy frowned.
"The cowboy's partner, the second guy who stopped you, saw everything. It seems they had a falling out with Jack Drake over money. When they brought him the Al Capone letters and diary it didn't put him any closer to the bonds than before. In fact, it put more heat on than he had expected with the police."
"That's ironic, bad guys blackmailing another bad guy." Maddy said in amazement.
"That's right, and they weren't very good at it. Stealing your aunt's diary and letters was for nothing, too, since the only thing in it was about his father being Al Capone's lawyer."
"You're a good lawman, Alec." Aunt Polly said proudly.
"Thanks Aunt Polly, but it was me and a lot of other law enforcement people working on this case together."
"Did they arrest Jack Drake then?"
"Well, this paper is called a 'death bed' confession." Alec tapped a piece of paper on the palm of his hand and threw it on the desk.
"You're kidding. Jack Drake is dead, too?" Maddy was shocked.
"Died three hours ago. It seems that when he and Simmons argued and wrestled over a gun, it went off killing the guy. Drake had the other one cover it up. Jack Drake had a bad heart and couldn't take the stress after that. They rushed him to the emergency room last night but he didn't make it. He thought it would be a simple case of theft but it turned into murder."
"So it's finally over." Maddy said quietly, a strange feeling of relief coming over her. "I wonder what happened to the letters and the diary."
"Sorry, Maddy, but the second guy said Jack Drake burned them, scared he'd get caught with the evidence. Now you can't prove Al Capone invested the money for your aunt, and I'm sorry about that."
"Oh, that's okay. I have the copies I made for the family history if anyone is interested. The bonds more than make up for that. The library is well on its way to becoming a reality for the town. Tommy is set for life, and the bed and breakfast inn will be open for business right after we get married. I think, considering a gangster started all of this, it's come out pretty good."
"May I make one correction? The inn will start up right after the honeymoon." Alec corrected her.
"Hello? Alec? Oh, Maddy you're all here?" Alec's office door opened a crack and Leland Lancaster peeked in. "I just heard the news about Jack Drake, and I wanted to see if it was true. May I come in?"
"Sure Leland, come in. Yes, it's true if you mean Jack Drake was behind all the trouble for Maddy." Alec leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest.
"I heard Jack's dead." Leland continued. Shock replaced his usual professional demeanor. "I'm so sorry about all the trouble he caused you, you could have been killed. I didn't know he was doing that, I swear."
"We know that, Leland. Please, don't worry about it." Maddy was sorry to see him so upset.
"I introduced him to your aunt, Miss Morris and he was my attorney too, the best in the state, I thought. It looks like he embezzled from a lot of his clients. How wrong can a guy get?"
"Leland, he fooled a lot of people. No one's blaming you." Maddy said softly.
"I suppose. Thanks for saying that. It's turned out okay though. I hear Miss Madeline's money is going to start a new library?"
"Well, yes, it did turn out okay. And it brought Alec and me together, too." Maddy slipped her arm around Alec's waist, smiling broadly as she flashed her engagement ring proudly.
"That wasn't hard to see, I knew it right off. I hope I’m invited to the wedding?" Leland asked coyly.
"You're first on the list, Leland, after Aunt Polly, of course." Maddy patted his arm.
"I knew it all along. I'd be honored to attend. We'll be seeing you at the church, then. Good by Aunt Polly." He winked as he slipped out the door.
"He never had a clue about the two of you," Aunt Polly snorted and then laughed. "Oh, well, like he said, it's a small town and word gets around."
* * *
The wedding went beautifully. All present agreed that the ceremony was exceptionally nice. Along with all the traditionally wrapped presents, one in particular Maddy steered Alec to open.
Highly suspicious, Alec carefully looked at the big, blue bow around a sturdy box.
"It won't explode, will it? I think we’ve had enough mystery for a while." He teased.
Maddy urged him on and Alec tore back the lid and found a rollicking, gangly puppy inside. With joy on his face, he happily pointed a finger at his new wife.
"Hey, you remembered, and she's a hunting dog."
"He. It's a he, and he's a purebred. German Shorthaired Pointer, Bubba said you always liked them."
"What a great gift. Just what I wanted. Thank you. How you doing there, Buddy? Gee, guess he needs a name. What shall we call him, Maddy?"
"That's easy." Maddy smiled coyly and pulled a dog food bowl from behind her. The big, red letters on the bowl read simply,
AL.
End
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Author Kathleen Pieper was born and raised in Nebraska. At the age of 8 she wrote her first 'book' and from then on it was all about the written word. She still shows this 'book' when she give talks to school kids. From little Golden Books, Nancy Drew series and early romance novels, she was hooked on reading and writing.
A native Nebraskan, she retired with her husband to their hometown of Grand Island where they now live with two hunting dogs, surrounded by family and old friends. She was a stay-at-home mom before it was popular and it worked out well giving her time to write four novels published by Avalon Publishers.
Her fifth book,
"Letters From Al"
is inspired by an old photograph the author was drawn to as a child at her grandmother’s house. It was of her great aunt Sophia, and the image drifted in and out of her life until her aging grandmother gave her the photo. Visions and ideas sprang to life in the story of an unknown flapper and Al Capone, the gangster. That‘s how
"Letters From Al,"
her fifth novel, a romantic mystery was born.
In 2010 she placed second in the NE State Mother's Assn. short story contest, and first in the National Mother’s of America contest. She is a member of the Nebraska Writer’s Guild, Romance Writer’s of America, Prairieland Romance Writer's group and The Grand Island Critiquers. Her hobbies include reading, crafting and enjoying her family which has grown to include grandchildren.