tj jensen 01 - barkleys treasure (14 page)

“Good idea. It’s a little early yet, but maybe in a couple of hours.”

Kyle made a wonderful breakfast for the entire clan, and then I went upstairs to call Garrett. I felt like we were getting close to something; I just didn’t know what. Maybe Garrett had some insight he wasn’t even aware of.

“Morning, darlin’. How are things on Gull Island?”

“Things are good. It’s a beautiful day and I feel like we’re all settling in.”

“Happy to hear it. I really appreciate you giving up your summer to help me and I want you to have a wonderful time.”

“I think we’re helping each other. I really needed some time away, and helping you with the renovations has provided me just the space I needed.”

“Speaking of renovations, Jack sent over his drawings.”

“And…?”

“And although they’re very well-thought-out, I would still prefer to sell to a single owner who will run the place as a small family resort.”

“Did you tell him that?” I asked.

“Not yet, but I will.” I could hear depression mixed with resignation in Garrett’s voice. “In the meantime, don’t say anything. I don’t want to leave him with the impression I came to a decision without giving his idea fair consideration.”

“I won’t say a thing,” I promised. I was planning to spend most of the weekend with Jack at the softball tournament, so I just hoped it wouldn’t come up. I’m a pretty lousy liar; if put in the position in which even a white lie is necessary, I usually fidget and hem and haw. A dead giveaway, or so those who know me well have assured me.

“How’s Blackbeard doing?”

“Really well. He has a new saying I’m curious about: ‘grog and wenches.’ He’s repeated it several times.”

Garrett laughed. “I take Blackbeard to Sully’s with me sometimes. The locals get a kick out of him and he loves to go. When we first pull up to the bar he always says ‘grog and wenches.’ I’m not sure how that started, but everyone gets a laugh out of it.”

The bar. Now that I thought about it, it did seem as if my attacker last night had the stench of beer on him. Could it have been someone who had been in the bar prior to coming out to the house? If so, maybe whoever was tending bar would know which of their patrons had spilled beer on himself the previous evening.

“I must say, Blackbeard is the smartest bird I’ve ever seen. It seems like he really communicates.”

“I’m certain he does. Did you know he was the one who called for help when I had my stroke?”

Garrett has an old corded phone in the kitchen. “He can dial a phone?”

“No, but he can knock the handset off the receiver and peck at my speed-dial buttons. He happened to call Rick, although even I don’t think that was intentional. When Rick answered he said, ‘Man overboard,’ and Rick came running.”

“That’s amazing.”

“It really is. Blackbeard is a special bird. I’m glad he’s at home and you’re willing to take care of him. It means a lot.”

“I’m more than happy to do it. He’s really something special.”

After I finished speaking to Garrett, I dropped Kyle and the girls at kids’ camp and then headed into town. I doubted the bar would be open that early, but perhaps Sully would be around and would know who might have taken a beer bath the previous evening. Luckily for me, there was a delivery truck unloading supplies through the alley entrance, so I let myself in to the bar. The only person there, however, was Frank, who was shooting the breeze with the delivery guy and hadn’t seen me come in. I waited while he completed his conversation.

“It’s been real nice working with you,” the delivery driver said. “I’m sorry to see you go.”

“I never intended to work here for more than the few months it would take to earn bus fare west, but things happen, if you know what I mean.”

“I do.”

“Can’t say I’ll miss the place. Hanging out with drunks all day gets old real fast. Worked the day shift yesterday and some guy was so smashed by five o’clock that he dumped his entire glass of beer on me. Luckily, I had a fresh shirt to put on.”

Frank? Naw. He was such a nice guy, although he was sounding a bit less than nice at the moment.

“Well, good luck with your venture. I’m sure Sully will miss you.”

“He’ll survive.”

The deliveryman left and I was debating whether to continue on inside to speak to Frank or sneak out and regroup when Frank’s phone rang.

“Yeah?”

Frank walked over to the bar, poured a shot of whiskey, and downed it.

“No, I didn’t get it. A whole month of kissing up to the old guy and when I finally got him to talk, he sent me on a wild-goose chase. I’m beginning to think Buck’s treasure was the myth everyone said it was. Talk about a waste of time. Guess now I’m not so sorry I killed him. I’m headin’ out today.”

I watched as Frank poured himself yet another shot.

“Yeah. Okay. I’ll call you when I get there.”

Frank had killed Buck? I was trying to make sense of what I’d heard when I decided it was time for me to go. Unfortunately, I tripped over a discarded beer bottle, alerting Frank to my presence.

“Who’s there?” Frank called after he downed the second shot.

I stood perfectly still. I could feel my heart pounding as I waited for Frank to find me or not.

He did. “What are you doing here?”

“Just saw the door open and stopped by to say hi, which I’ve done, so see ya.”

“Hang on a minute. How long have you been standing here?”

I tried for a light and airy tone, but I suspected the panic I felt was evident in my voice. “Not long. I just got here. Really. So like I said, I’ll be going.”

Frank grabbed my arm. “What’s your hurry? You wanted to pay me a visit, so let’s visit. Want a drink?”

“No. Thanks. But I really have to go.”

“Sorry, dear, but you ain’t going anywhere. I’m not sure if you heard anything, but I can’t take that chance.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Of course not. I’m just going to lock you in the walk-in refrigerator. Don’t worry; it’s cold but not freezing. Sully will be by in a bit to open up for the afternoon and will let you out, but I’ll be long gone by then.”

“Wait.”

Frank paused.

I realized I needed to stall. I wasn’t sure what time Sully would be in, but I did know the less time in the refrigerator the better. “Maybe I will take that drink.”

“Too late, sweetheart. Now move it.”

“Why are you doing this?” I tried to free myself of his grasp while he pulled me toward the kitchen.

“Like I said, I need time to get off the island, and I suspect your little visit may have to do with more than just a friendly stop-in. I wondered if you recognized me last night. I thought not, but I can see I was wrong.”

Frank opened the door to the cooler.

“Can you at least tell me what you were doing in the attic?”

“I was looking for the map. I figured you knew that.”

“I did. Sort of. What I don’t know is how you knew where to look. Did Max find it on the night you killed Buck and you waited to retrieve it for some reason?”

“No, Max didn’t find it. There was nothing to find. The hiding spot was totally empty. I should have known Buck was full of baloney. Now get in there.”

Frank shoved me inside. It didn’t seem that cold. Yet. I knew that would change.

“The least you can do is tell me how you got hooked up with Buck.”

“Now why should I do that?”

I really didn’t have an answer for him. “Please? If I’m going to die in here, you may as well assuage my curiosity.”

Frank tossed me a sweater. “You aren’t going to die. Sully will be here in an hour. But for reasons even I can’t explain I like you, so I’ll tell you. Like I said when we met, Buck and I were friends. I took this job only intending to stay for a few months, but near the end Buck and I were chatting and he saw some guy come into the bar and went berserk. When I asked him about it he said the man who’d just come in was a ghost. The guy didn’t look dead to me, but I played along and asked him whose ghost we were looking at. He said Max Hanford. He went on to tell me about the treasure map the man supposedly had, and that he’d died while looking for the treasure. Max only stayed for one drink and then left, but Buck and I devised a plan to track him down and make him tell us where the treasure was. Problem was, the guy got arrested, and the next thing we knew he was checked into the old folks’ home.”

“Where you didn’t have access to him.”

“Exactly.”

“So you decided to volunteer at the home as a means of gaining access to Max.”

“You’re a smart one. That’s exactly what I did, and it worked. It took a while, but eventually I was left unsupervised with the residents in the high-security unit.”

“So you helped Buck break Max out of the home and then demanded he lead you to the treasure.”

“Bingo. Problem was, when we got to the attic the guy had this blank stare on his face. He didn’t seem to remember where the treasure was, or even where
he
was. Buck and I tore the place apart looking for it to no avail. The longer Buck looked, the madder he got. Eventually he grabbed Max’s cane out of his hand and threatened to hit him with it. I’m not sure what happened exactly, but the next thing I knew I had the cane in my hand and I smacked Buck with it. I didn’t mean to kill him. In fact, I was aiming for his arm, but he turned at the last minute. I grabbed Max and hightailed it out of there.”

“And then you left him on the road.”

“No. I took him back to the home and told everyone I found him on the road.”

Okay, that at least made sense. Frank was a well-liked volunteer; no one would question his assertion that he’d found Max wandering around.

“So why did you stay? Why not leave the island then?”

Frank shrugged. “At the time I really thought Max knew where the map was, so I figured I’d hang out a while longer to see if I could get him to talk. No one knew Buck was dead. Everyone just thought he was off on some extended treasure hunt. I knew Garrett wasn’t coming home anytime soon, so I thought I had time. I didn’t know about you.”

“And yesterday Max finally told you about the map?”

“Yeah. He just blurted it out. It was the strangest thing. One minute he was talking nonsense about seagulls and turtle eggs and the next he was telling me the map was in the wall. ’Course once I got to the house and went to the wall panel I realized it wasn’t there. The whole thing was most likely a scam. What a waste. I could really use a treasure.”

If Cuervo hadn’t found the map, chances were Frank would have. I had to wonder who’d accessed the map in the first place. It seemed as if neither Buck nor Frank knew what the map led to, and Max had been out of sorts since he’d been here. Or had he?

“Did Max remember that you killed Buck?”

“No. He didn’t remember that day at all. I tried to talk to him about it a few times, but he just looked at me blankly or reminded me that he didn’t like broccoli. Not that I’m in charge of the meals the residents receive, but I guess I was around often enough that he figured I could talk to the kitchen.”

Frank started to close the door.

“Wait. You don’t have to do this.”

“Yeah, I’m afraid I do.”

“Please. I’m really scared.” I looked frantically around the refrigerator. “What if Sully doesn’t show or he comes in late for some reason?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Even if Sully is late you’re wearing enough clothing to stay warm for quite some time. Now I really do need to get a move on. It’s been nice knowing you.”

With that, he closed the door.

The worst part wasn’t the cold, at least not yet; the worst part was the dark. I pulled out my cell, but there was no reception. At least I had some light until the battery died. I tried to jimmy open the door to no avail. Frank had locked it from the outside. I looked around, although I didn’t expect to find a means of escape. It was a refrigerator; there would be no reason to provide a back door or alternate escape route.

I just hoped Sully wasn’t late for his shift. I wondered if he’d even come in to the kitchen when he first arrived. It was over three hours until the bar actually opened, so he wouldn’t have any reason to begin preparing the food that was served. I decided I’d bang on the door every fifteen minutes. If Sully didn’t open the refrigerator door for some other reason, surely he’d hear the banging.

Chapter 10

“Better?” Kyle asked as he wrapped yet another blanket around me. It had been over an hour until Sully found me, but I still was having a hard time staying warm.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I tucked the blanket up to my chin.

“It’s a good thing Sully showed up when he did. The refrigerator is air-tight. You might not have frozen to death, but eventually you would have run out of air.”

“You know, I really don’t think Frank thought of that. I don’t think he wanted to kill me; just detain me. He even gave me a sweater. Have they tracked him down yet?”

“No. But they will.”

Echo was lying next to me with his head in my lap. He’d been with me the whole time since I’d been home. It was like he knew I’d appreciate the extra body heat.

“Jenna called my phone when you didn’t pick up yours. She had an intuition that something had happened to you and was in a panic. Do you feel up to talking to her?”

“Yeah, but my phone is still dead.”

“You can use mine.” Kyle got up, handed me his phone, and kissed me on the forehead. “Holler if you need anything.”

I watched as Kyle walked out of the room. He really was the most awesome friend. I adjusted the pillows behind my back so I was in a more comfortable position, then dialed Jenna’s number.

“Kyle!”

“It’s Tj. My phone is dead, so I’m using Kyle’s.”

“God, Tj, are you okay? I’ve been frantic.”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry you were worried.”

“I was doing the dishes this morning and all of the sudden I had this feeling you were in trouble. Then, when I couldn’t get a hold of you, I thought I’d die. Are you sure you’re okay?”

I adjusted my positon as Cuervo joined Echo and me. “I’m sure. Although maybe you should come out and make sure for yourself.”