Alvarado Gold (18 page)

Clay stood up and walked over to the window. “That’s why we never saw each other. Uncle Joseph was mad at everyone. Dad and your mom fought over Uncle Joseph’s drinking problem and we all suffered.” Mel slid off the arm of the chair and held Susan’s hand.

“It’s all right, Clay.” I put my arm around his shoulders. “We’re together now. That explains, too, why Donnie thinks we’re after something that belongs to him. Uncle Joseph probably told him the gold was his and his alone.”

I glanced over and looked at the digital clock near the television. “We need to go. It’s ten forty-five.”

Without a word, Clay picked up our bags and headed for the lobby. I knew by his actions he must have felt like the rest of us, robbed of our relationships with each other because of our parents. As we left for Cleburne, I vowed we’d change things.
A time to rend, and a time to sew.

Chapter Twenty-Four

After dropping off my rental, we took the same route to Cleburne Mel and I’d taken. I pointed out to Clay and Susan what we’d seen the day before. While Mel told them about our trip to the courthouse, I thought about how Uncle Joseph had single-handedly ripped our family apart. He’d taken away our opportunity to grow up together, then planted the seed in Donnie that we all had turned our backs on him. It saddened my heart this had happened to us and without us even being aware of the details. It made me cherish our time together even more and I vowed we would continue to nurture the love we’d found for each other. We decided not to stop for lunch and drove straight through to the town square.

While he pulled into the parking stall, Clay glanced over his shoulder, “Did you find us a place to stay, Addie?”

“We’re staying at the Comfort Inn Cleburne, not far from here. They were heavily booked for some Labor Day event. I have three rooms.”

“That will work. You and Susan can flip for who will stay with me. I’m sure I’d be the first choice for a roommate.” Mel grinned.

“Does Susan know you snore?”

“We shared a room for a while when we were kids. She knows all my nasty habits.”

“Then I won’t have to tell her you ate pizza in bed last night.” I enjoyed the teasing. I wished I’d had a sister when I grew up but instead I was stuck with Eric. I’d called him one last time on Thursday and begged him to fly down and join us but he refused. He’d never know what he’d missed.

“We need to find a hardware store to get rope and camping shovels. I brought what I had in the garage but we should each have our own supplies.” Clay held the door open and helped me. “You okay? Mel said Gary showed up.”

“I’m fine. I just need to think some things over. I don’t want this to be about Gary and I’ll do my thinking later. Right now, we have three days to solve a mystery no one has been able to figure out for 150 years. From reading your dad’s journal, they knew the same things we do and they couldn’t find it.”

“There was one thing that stuck in my mind from when you were reading. My dad said he felt like they’d dug up half of Alvarado. What were they doing up there? The gold was supposed to be in Barnesville.” Clay looked puzzled.

“I noticed that, too. We need to find out where the property mentioned in the letter was located. It belonged to a Mr. Hansen. How many Hansens could be here in 1870? One thing we can do this afternoon is check out the property records. We’re right here at the courthouse. I’ll see if Ms. McCall can help me again.”

Mel stood in front of the Burger Bar, one of the town’s quaint little restaurants, which was nestled in between two antique stores. The town possessed a mid-nineteenth century flavor. I wondered how much it had changed since our ancestors were here. At least, the antiques were new then. Mel broke into my thoughts. “Come on, you guys. We’re starving.”

Clay cleared the distance between the car and the curb with one giant step. “Great. I can feel the heartburn starting already.”

I put my arm through his and we joined his sisters. “Buck up, Clay. We’ll be back to civilization by Tuesday.”

After lunch, Clay and I went back to the courthouse but Ms. McCall couldn’t find any information on Mr. Hansen. She told me she would call the records department in Alvarado and hopefully would have an answer for me before five. She also confirmed my hunch from yesterday. Donnie came in for copies of the documents, too.

She smiled. “How’s the treasure hunt going?”

“Oh. It’s coming along nicely. The rest of my group is here now. We’ll get started tomorrow. I’ll be back right before five to see what you’ve found.” Oblivious to my conversation at the desk, Clay stood by the map. I walked over and pointed out the cemetery. “That’s where we have to be in the morning. Let’s go on over to the hardware store and buy our gear. We have a couple of hours to kill before I can check with her.”

“I saw a True Value over on Henderson when we came in.” Clay pulled the list he’d made that morning from the pocket of his plaid cowboy shirt. It looked fairly new. I doubted if he owned many western clothes so he probably bought it for the occasion.

We found Mel and Susan near a fountain in the town square park. The tall, protective oak trees shaded a well-groomed area surrounded by a wrought iron fence. Susan threw pennies into the water.

I joined them and reached into the cool water and touched my hand to my face. “Wishing for something?”

“Good luck.” Susan looked apprehensive.

“Susan. I’m sorry about the fuss Gary and I made at your wedding.” I stood close to her and watched the ripple the coins made as they hit the water.

“Don’t worry.” She smiled as she laced her arm through mine. “No one noticed. It was just one of those behind the scenes things.”

“I was so upset with him.”

“It will be okay, Addie." She patted my arm. “Right or wrong it will work out.” Grandpa must have worked on her a few summers, too. Id heard him say that same thing.

“Susan. Did you visit grandpa here?” I questioned.

“Mel and Clay came once but I was afraid. I was a pretty shy kid. Of course I was the baby so I stepped up to my role.” She threw another penny into the water. “He came to visit us a couple of times. He had wonderful stories, didn’t he?”

“Yes. He did.”

A black bird soared overhead with one last acorn for winter and carelessly dropped it into the fountain and broke the surface. The tight circles caused the reflected blue sky and lazy white clouds to blur. But the sphere widened and rushed toward the edge before the stillness was restored. The pool glistened in the sunlight and returned to its routine. I felt an overwhelming sense that I needed to set things right, too. Or at least return things to the way they once had been.

We piled into the van for the short drive to the store. When we arrived, Clay immediately went to look at the shovels and rope. Susan, Mel and I decided to buy backpacks.

“Going camping, ladies?” The clerk asked as he took the plastic stuffing out of each pack.

“No. We’re on a little treasure hunt.” I made small talk with him while I waited for our final total. Mel and Susan wandered over to join Clay.

“That seems to be a popular thing to do this weekend. We had another fellow in here yesterday buying all kinds of equipment. He said he was looking for gold. He looked a whole lot like that guy over there buying shovels.” The clerk pointed to Clay.

I wanted to ask the salesperson if he remembered the name of the customer but needed to do it tactfully so I didn’t seem suspicious.

“That comes to $129.45.” He handed me the receipt. “Was the guy from yesterday part of your party?”

“He could be. We have several cousins on this hunt of sorts. Do you remember his name?” I thought that sounded natural enough.

“I didn’t pay much attention but you know what? I haven’t gone to the bank yet this week. His check should be right here near the top.” He pulled out the cash drawer and looked at the neat stack of checks. “Here it is. Donald Barnes. Do you know him?” People in small towns were genuinely more trusting.

“I know him.” I handed the clerk a one hundred and a fifty-dollar bill and waited for my change. I knew Donnie was there or very close.

Once we made all our purchases and stowed everything in Clay’s van, we still had time to fill before checking in with Ms. McCall. We decided to walk around the town square and look at the antique shops. Susan, Mel and I had a great time but Clay looked bored. “Why are we spending all this time looking at junk?”

“I’ll run into the courthouse real quick and see if she found anything and we’ll be on our way.” While Susan and Mel convinced Clay to shop in one more store, I headed off in the direction of the old brick building.

It didn’t take me long to get back to Ms. McCall’s office. “Were they able to find anything?

“No. I’m sorry but you’re in luck. Their documents office is open on Saturday mornings. If you’ll tell me where you’re staying, I’ll have them fax over any information they find to your motel. There were several record books they’d have to go through; unfortunately, it isn’t all on computer databases yet. That’s one of the reasons they are working tomorrow. They need to do data input. I’m confident they’ll find something for you.”

I was grateful for her help, but from the little bit of traffic that had been through here, she probably didn’t have much to do. “We’re staying at the Comfort Inn. Do you want me to call with their fax number?”

“No. I can get it myself. This is a small town, Ms. Brown. I know one of the desk clerks over there so it won’t be any trouble.”

I thanked her and left. When I stepped out into the bright afternoon sun, I joined Clay and the girls who sat on a bench next to his parked van. “No luck with the Hansen place but they’ll fax anything they find to the motel. You guys ready to leave?”

“I’ve had all the old furniture I can stand for one day.” Clay nodded.

Susan chided him, “Clay, they’re antiques. You should appreciate things like that.”

“What I’d appreciate is a cold shower and a nap right about now.”

When we were seated in the van, I shared what I’d discovered, “Donnie’s here. Both the clerk at the hardware store and Ms. McCall waited on him yesterday.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Susan won the coin toss, which left me in a room by myself. Their rooms were on the opposite side of the building facing the frontage road, mine, near the back parking lot. We ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and turned in early.

The hard mattress and my excitement prompted me awake at three. Since I’d been left with Uncle Clayton’s journal, I reread it. I looked over the maps, the newspaper article, and the land deeds. It was useless to try to go back to sleep. When five-thirty came around, I dressed, checked at the desk for the fax from Alvarado and headed to meet the others in the front parking lot.

“Hey, thanks for the backpack.” Clay reached for my gear, “What a great idea. Everyone has a breakaway shovel, a flashlight and about fifty feet of rope. Did the fax get here?”

“Nothing. Maybe later.” I inspected my equipment. “You’re quite the outdoorsman. I thought you were just good with pots, pans and sharp knives.”

“I like to go hiking now and then; there’s just not much time for it these days.” Clay lowered the rear door and motioned for me to ride in front. “Let me go roust out my sisters.”

I climbed in and noticed Clay provided each of us with a cup of coffee and a doughnut. He’d already found the continental breakfast. Pretty thoughtful. It made me wonder why he couldn’t hang on to any of his three wives. There was a lot about my cousins I didn’t know.

The sun began to light the eastern hemisphere as we pulled out onto US 67. The sky, red with long streaks of gold as the orange fireball rose up into the heavens.
Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.
Good thing we weren’t going to be near water. I hoped it wasn’t an omen.

Once everyone was seated, Clay turned to me, “You’re up here to navigate. Where are we going, Addie?”

“Head back toward Cleburne. The cemetery is twelve miles east from there but we’ll have to turn off at Alvarado. We have to use county routes.” I hadn’t heard a peep from Mel and Susan. “You two awake back there?”

“Yeah, barely.” Mel mumbled, “It's too early for me.”

Susan didn’t speak. I wondered what was eating her. “How about you, Susan? You okay?”

“I’ve just had this eerie feeling something is going to happen. I don’t know–instinct or something. I’ve had it since we got here.”

“We’ll be fine. We just need to stick together. There’s nothing out there that can hurt us.” I reached over to the back seat and patted her knee.

Her eyes darted between Clay and me. “What about Donnie?”

“He’s using scare tactics. I doubt if we see him. We’ll deal with whatever happens when the situation comes up.”

“We’re coming into Alvarado, Addie.” Clay waited for directions as I scanned the road signs. “Now what?”

“There it is. Interstate 35. Take that south to County Route 204.” I pointed the way as Clay eased his van off unto an old two-lane highway. “Then we’ll go east on CR 107 and south on CR 206. We should be able to see the cemetery from the road.”

“Do you know exactly where it is?” Clay kept a worried look on his face as the road ahead of us turned from highway to sparsely paved roads. “We’re really getting out into the middle of nowhere.”