Chapter 7: What's Next?

As we gathered things together, we found that we had almost forty-four pounds of gold. The gold cross alone weighed close to six pounds. In addition we had twenty-three uncut emeralds of various sizes, most of which were larger than the tip of my small finger and almost a pound of gold jewelry plus the signet ring. Truly this was a pirate's treasure worthy of the name.

After the emptying of the chest we were quiet and introspective. The only activity occurred when Elise snapped another picture. It almost seemed as if she thought the treasure would somehow slip away from us. This group lethargy may have been the downside of the natural 'high' we had experienced while we were unpacking the treasure. Whatever it was it seemed to have consumed us for an indeterminate amount of time.

I know that in most movies I have seen there are scenes where people dance around and act crazy throwing coins in the air and adorning themselves with pieces of precious jewelry. None of this happened while we were making our discoveries. I believe that most of us were overcome by the enormity of what we had found. Now that the treasure was revealed my thoughts were 'what's next?' I mean honestly what do you do with such treasure? In the quiet of the moment I said as much to Edward and after some thought he bluntly answered, "Hell if I know."

How could he know? What basis of experience prepares someone for this? After another moment of thought Edward added, "I thought we might find a few coins and souvenirs but this is almost beyond my comprehension. I wouldn't even know how to begin to put a value on all this."

Hector had his arm wrapped almost protectively around Camilla as the pair sat quietly in a couple of old folding chairs. It was almost as if they were at some somber religious service. Both had their eyes almost reverently riveted to the golden cross that lay on the workbench next to the gold bars. Hector broke his gaze away from the holy object, his eyes searching for answers. Finally he caught my eyes and asked, "What now, boss?"

There was a pleading in his eyes that along with his words focused everyone's attention on me. Suddenly I realized that they expected me to have the answers. Hell, I wasn't even sure what the questions were. It wasn't as simple as 'What's next?'

My first worry was security. Somehow we had to protect what we had uncovered. I saw no way to do that without sharing the knowledge of our treasure with others. I had a small safety deposit box at the bank but even a simple bank vault seemed inadequate to house such rarities. As everyone's eyes were fixed on me I answered, "Security is our first concern. We need a safe place to keep this for now."

Everybody seemed to accept that but no one offered any further suggestions. I almost laughed at their questioning looks. I wanted to say, 'Don't look at me!'

Instead I said, "How about we put everything except for the stuff in the deep sink into the treasure room in the tunnel under the house? If we get a strong lock for the door that's about as secure as we can make it tonight. Tomorrow we can make some discreet inquiries and find a vault where we can store it for a while. We need to keep this quiet for now. That means we tell no one about it unless we all agree. We'll have to talk about what to do after that. I don't think any of us have ever discovered pirate's treasure before."

Everyone except for Irma and Elise took part of the treasure as we began moving it to the treasure room. Irma guarded the treasure that was left while Elise went to her kitchen to retrieve some large food storage containers to hold the jewelry and precious stones. Camilla reverently carried the cross, holding it much as a priest might carry it during some church procession. We were in the process of closing the garage, having decided to meet in the kitchen, when Edward suggested that we should put the chest back into the water-filled box. I was surprised that we didn't have to weight the empty chest down to get it to stay underwater.

Things were again quiet as we gathered around the kitchen table. I'm sure we were all still processing what had happened. Irma sat down for a moment only to rise up and start coffee brewing and water boiling for hot tea. Elise saw what Irma was doing and stood to help her older friend but Irma said, "Relax dear, I can get it."

My eyes were on Audra. She had been the quietest of all of us since the treasure had been unpacked. I wondered what she was thinking of all this. My gaze found her looking at each of us. As soon as Irma was seated she cleared her throat and said, "A couple of weeks ago I saw a show on the History Channel about treasure recovered from Spanish galleons by a treasure hunter down in Florida. He even had a museum where he had a lot of the it on display."

Every eye was now focused on Audra. I vaguely remembered seeing a similar show but couldn't remember much about it. Audra continued, "The show wasn't just about the treasure, it was also about his fight with the state of Florida over who owned it. Seems the state had laws that said that they controlled all underwater sites and they were reluctant to issue permits to salvage the treasure. The program said that the treasure hunter and the state reached an agreement about that site but that he was still trying to get the law changed for future explorations."

I asked, "I wonder if there is a web site with more information?"

Edward stroked his chin and said, "Probably, but how would that affect us? We're not in Florida and we didn't recover the treasure from a shipwreck. This treasure was found on Irma's land, right?"

Irma spoke up and said, "It's my land alright. I just paid a huge past-due tax bill to prove it."

Elise was following the conversation as she sat and sipped her coffee. She looked over first at Edward and then at me and then spoke. "We need someone who knows what the laws are concerning buried treasure in this state. I'm sure Edward knows someone out at the club but after what happened last time with the two professors..."

I laughed at her discomfort. I said, "That's water under the bridge. Remember we also met Lenora through Edward's connections at the club and in my books she's been a big plus and has given us a lot of information with the translation of Willie's story in the slave ledger."

Edward spoke up and added, "I think there are a couple of lawyers that are members of the historical society. Lenora would know if any of them have the type of knowledge we are looking for. Of course we'd have to take her into our confidence."

Audra spoke up and said, "I trust her. I think that she and Matt are nice people."

I purposely made eye contact with each person and that quickly it was decided to invite Lenora back to evaluate what we had found so we could pick her brains on what to do next. Camilla added that we would also need experts to appraise the value of what we had found.

After the next step was agreed upon, everyone was still worked up and no one wanted to end the evening. The previous evening I'm sure we had visions of treasure dancing through our heads and now we had found the reality far exceeded our imaginations. I know I was still a bit numbed by the experience and pinched myself several times to ensure I wasn't dreaming.

I had Hector contact Jorge and put him in charge of the next day's work crews. Hector and Camilla decided to sleep in their own house and so they left early to go home. Elise and Edward followed soon after and I sat at the kitchen table while Irma and Audra cleared away the cups and plates from the table. As she walked back to wipe down the table Irma had a far away look in her eyes.

Curiosity got the better of me and I caught her attention and said, "Penny for your thoughts."

Irma paused looking out over the back yard and with a bit of a faraway look said, "Oh, I was just thinking about all the years we lived here with that treasure just over the hill and no idea in our minds that it was there. As marshy as that ground is, I still must have walked over that treasure dozens of time over the years with no inkling it was there. I once wanted to build a small cabana on the shore right on that spot. I even went so far as to measure it out and put stakes in the ground."

Audra spoke up and added, "I don't remember that."

Irma smiled, evidently almost lost in her memories. She finally replied, "It was right after Chad purchased the property. Lord, you were just a toddler then. After Chad bought the property I decided that I wanted a sailboat and we talked of building a dock there. Then I decided that a small beach house there would be even better. We discussed it but eventually I turned into an antique junkie and lost interest in the idea."

Audra said, "Just think, if you had built your beach house there on that spot you might have found the treasure years ago."

Irma shook her head and said, "Not likely."

I pressed, asking what she meant and she added, "If we had built a cottage there it would most likely have been built on pilings. Chad talked to an architect he knew, and he said that what he called a conventional foundation would be very hard to do that close to the water. Except for running sewer and water lines, there wouldn't have been that much digging so I doubt we would have found anything."

Irma gave me a wan smile and said, "You've been much more persistent finding out things than we ever were. We were content for the most part just to enjoy this place as our home."

With that we said our good nights and I headed up to join Audra in the master bedroom where she was sitting up in bed waiting for me. I found that she had some concerns of her own about the events of the day. She didn't even wait for me to undress but spoke while I was removing my boots.

"Honey, don't you think all this is a bit much?"

The question puzzled me and I continued to undress as I pondered what she meant. Finally as I was heading into the shower I asked, "What do you mean, a bit much?"

I kept waiting for her to say something as I quickly showered but she waited for me to come back into the bedroom after I finished my shower before she swept her arm around and said, "You know, all of this."

Still not sure I understood what she meant I asked, "You mean the house or the treasure?"

Looking a bit exasperated with me she answered, "All of it. I mean how could all of this have gone undiscovered for so long? I've almost put a bruise on my arm pinching myself today. I lived here for all my life and never had any idea that there were secret passageways and tunnels and treasure. I did the normal exploring that any kid does but had no idea there were any tunnels until I found out what dad was doing."

I got under the covers, laid my head back on the pillow and after giving what she said some thought said, "That's not really true. I mean about this going undiscovered. Irma found the tunnel years ago. Remember the flashlight we found. So did Chad and so did your father. If your father hadn't had his eyes on the treasure in the basement who knows what else he might have discovered? We also know someone else was in the secret passageway because of the footprints we found."

Audra lay back and turned her face towards me on the pillow. I could tell she was thinking of all of that as she gently let her fingers play across my chest. She finally said, "Yeah, I can see all of that, but the house has been here over 200 years and the tunnel and treasure for 350 years. It just seems funny that in all that time no one has discovered all this. I'm starting to feel like I'm living in a museum."

Saying that, she scrunched over closer to me and gave me a hug and kiss. I was tired and her proximity was keeping me from concentrating on what she had said. Suddenly, I thought about what she had said and asked, "Does that mean you would rather live someplace else?"

She used her hand that was on my chest to push her head off her pillow and look at me. I think I surprised her with the question. She hesitated as if she was thinking carefully about it and then answered, "I don't think so. I did when I was growing up, but now I don't think so."

I noticed that she got a faraway look in her eyes as she continued, "I grew up as the servant's girl and I always tried to hide that. I think I was always a little embarrassed by who I was. I know I wanted more than anything to live like my friends and be normal but now that I think about it I'm not sure that I know what normal is."

Audra then lay back on her pillow staring at the ceiling thinking.

Lying back on my own pillow I stared at the same ceiling and said, "This is a long way from normal but I'm happier than I've ever been. I love you, honey."

Audra snaked her arm over and pulled me into an embrace. Pressing her lips into my ears she whispered, "I love you too."

Sleep was forgotten as I turned to meet those lips.