Cora Flash and the Treasure of Beggar's Bluff (7 page)

"Sorry," I said. "Calvin found something that led me to believe Mr. Burton was the person who broke into my house."

"Mr. Burton? Cora, don't be ridiculous. Librarians don't break into houses."

"He dropped his library card in my room, it was under the dresser. Marty Bass looked it up and confirmed it was Mr. Burton's card."

"So you figured he must have had the other half of the map so you broke into his office to find it? Wow, that's crazy, Cora."

She was right; it was crazy, and dangerous.

"Do you think he knows you know?"

I hadn't even considered that, and the thought made me very nervous.

"I don't know. I don't think so, but maybe he still hasn't discovered he dropped his card. And I doubt he will realize he dropped it here."

"Just be careful, Cora, and you should tell your mom."

I knew she was right, but if I told my Mom, I'd never get a chance to search for the missing treasure. I had to hold out for just a few more days.

"Are you busy tomorrow?" I asked.

"No, why?"

"I'm going to need your help. We have to figure out what the three wise men have to do with this."

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"We're probably going to deny all of the claims in the bus accident case," my mother announced.

We had just finished eating breakfast on Sunday morning and were sitting at the table talking about her insurance case.

"I went to visit the Doctor who signed the medical forms for three of the people involved in the case and you'll never guess what I found out."

"What?"

My mom had a very excited look on her face. "The doctor has never heard of any of them! Their claims were falsified; they made everything up, including the signature on the forms. I compared it to the doctor's real signature and they are nothing alike! Next I'm going to start looking into the other claims and see if there is a similar situation, but it appears as though everyone on the bus was in on this together, I just have to prove they know each other somehow."

"When are you going to talk to the other people?"

"Today, and I'll need your help. Remember when I took this job I said I would need your help with Ethan from time to time?"

I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. I did not like where the conversation was going.

"Yeah..." I said.

"I need your help today. I need you to watch Ethan for a few hours while I conduct a few more interviews."

I was crushed. I had planned to do more work on
my
case, and this would change everything. Unless....

"Can I bring Ethan with me while I work on my project? I have to talk to Mr. French at the town hall."

"Of course," my mom said. "Just be careful. He's been a bit of a daredevil lately."

My mom was absolutely right. Ethan had only been on his feet a short time, but had quickly progressed from walking to sprinting. He would disappear the minute you turned your head. I had my work cut out for me.

"I'll be extra careful," I said.

This made my mom happy. Her face relaxed a little bit.

"Thank you," she said. "You know how much this means to me."

CHAPTER TWENTY

Since Ethan was such a slow walker, I decided to put him in his stroller to keep us moving at a decent pace. I tied Calvin's leash to the stroller to make sure he kept up with us as well.

The Town Hall was one of the tallest buildings in our town, but that is not saying very much. It was only tall because of the large dome that stood on the top of the roof. When I was really little, I used to think that the mayor lived in the dome. I later learned this was not, in fact, true and that it was actually empty up there; it was just a façade.

Once inside the town hall, it was not hard to find the "museum," housed entirely in a glass case at the back of the room.

I pushed the stroller to the glass case and told Ethan and Calvin to stay put. There was no one around so I started to examine the contents: a bunch of photos, mostly from the twenties and thirties, of the old storefronts and people who used to live in the town; a picture of a big fat guy with a big necklace around his neck, the kind a mayor would wear. It did not take much to deduce that he was, probably, the mayor at the time.

Next to the photos sat a large piece of rock, smooth on two sides.

"That's a brick, or what's left of one," said a voice.

I spun around to see Mr. French behind me. He had a full head of grey hair, cut very short, and wore a button up shirt and nice dress pants. He took pride in the way he dressed and from his smile, he was obviously pleased someone had taken an interest in local history.

"A brick?"

"Yes," he explained. "From the original town hall, which burned down in the 1940s. This one was built to replace it, and we kept one of the bricks to remember the building that stood here."

"Oh," I said. "Did you live here at the time?"

I did not want to risk insulting him, but he looked to be in his seventies, so I knew it was a reasonable shot that he may have been alive.

"Yes, but I was just a boy. I remember the fire, though. It was terrible. We didn't have modern fire pumpers like we have today, we only had men with hand pumped water hoses. I don't think that old building stood a chance, being mostly made of wood."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"I don't think so. Not from what I recall, but my parents would not have said as much, I suppose. I do remember that there was talk it had been arson, but I don't think they ever got to the bottom of it."

"What a terrible thing for someone to do," I said.

"Aarf!" interrupted Calvin, reminding me to get to the reason we were here.

"Oh," I said. "Do you know anything about the boat that went missing?"

"You mean the S.S. Guppy? Why, yes, of course. It was full of gold bars from upriver. Went missing on its way out of town."

"Do you know what happened to it?"

"There were rumors that the crew hijacked the boat and took off with the gold. People said they were probably living the lives of kings somewhere in South America, but I can't see that at all. My family knew a few of the sailors on that boat, and I can't see them doing anything like that. They were good, upstanding citizens. They didn't have enough greed in their system to attempt something like that."

As much as Mr. French's character witness said of his belief in the sailors, I could not discount the possibility that the rumors were true. I had to keep it under consideration.

I decided to switch gears and ask about the treasure map, but not in an obvious way.

"What do you know about the Three Wise Men?" I asked.

"You mean from the bible?"

"No, I mean around here. Is there something around here called the Three Wise Men?"

"Oh! Of course, I should have guessed. The Three Wise Men are over in Beggar's Bluff. It's a formation of three rocks, side by side, that people always thought looked like three men with crowns on, so they nicknamed them the Three Wise Men. It's way over on the other side of the bluffs, but the water is so choppy and dangerous on that side that most people avoid it."

It was all making sense now. The map pointed to Beggar's Bluff, and the clue said "THE THREE WISE MEN KNOW ALL."  That probably meant that the treasure was somewhere near the Three Wise Men.

"Can anyone get there by land?" I asked, imagining myself pushing the stroller and dragging Calvin all the way to the cliffs.

"Oh, good gracious no," he said. "There is no way to get there by land, only by boat. And you have to be a very experienced sailor to get there."

I only knew two experienced sailors, and one of them was Tricia's father. I doubted he would be willing to take me there, at least not without asking permission from my mother. Permission that she would never give. The other was Gerald Pape. I had to ask Gerald to take me to the Three Wise Men.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Later that afternoon, I video chatted with both Shelby and Tricia. I would need all the support I could get from them when I went to Beggar's Bluff.

"No way, not a chance," said Shelby. "That is too dangerous, Cora. You'll get us all killed."

"I hate to agree with Shelby," Tricia added. That was true, she
hated
to agree with Shelby. "My Dad won't even sail there, he said it probably caused at least a hundred shipwrecks."

I was so disappointed in both of them. I thought they would be really excited when I asked them to come.

"It's a treasure hunt!" I yelled.

"Still no," said Shelby.

"Sorry, Cora," said Tricia.

"I think you're both overreacting," I pleaded. "Boats today are capable of sailing in very dangerous waters now, it will be fine."

Despite my plea, both girls declined to join me on my adventure, even after promising we would return at the first sign of trouble.

"Well, Calvin," I said. "Looks like it's just the two of us."

"Blurg!" yelled Ethan, who was in the hallway smashing two of his expensive toys together.

"Oh, right. Just the three of us."

I arrived at Gerald Pape's boat slip with Ethan and Calvin just as he was handing off his catch of the day to one of his customers.

"Thanks Gerald, this looks great," said the appreciative customer.

"See ya tomorrow," he said.

When the other man left, I stepped up to the boat, taking his place.

"Hi Gerald."

"Oh hi, Cora," he replied. "And Ethan too. What brings you guys here?"

"I have a favor to ask of you."

I knew this was going to be hard sell.

"I have a school project that I am working on, and I really need to take some photos, up close photos, of Beggar's Bluff, and I was hoping you would take me."

Gerald's expression turned to one of confusion. "But I saw you taking pictures out there on the Morgan boat just yesterday."

I knew I would have to tell a tiny lie to get Gerald to agree to take me out on his boat.

"They didn't turn out. I got home and checked the camera and they were all blank. And my presentation is due soon, so I really need to get the pictures."

Gerald considered my request and finally agreed to take me to Beggar's Bluff.

"All right," he said. "I'll take you. I got in a little early today, so I have some time to spare. But we'll have to get going right away before it gets dark, and you can't bring that onboard."

He was pointing to Ethan's stroller. I would have to leave it on the dock and take Ethan with me.

"Fine," I said. "I can just leave it here."

We climbed on board the boat and sat down at the front.

I knew there was only a short period of time before I confessed to Gerald about my true intentions. It wouldn't be long before he realized I didn't even have my camera with me!

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

We followed the same route that we'd taken with Tricia's father for the first part of the trip, but headed out much farther from shore than Mr. Morgan had.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," said Gerald. "Your mother is going to kill me!"

Shortly after we left the dock, I decided to tell him the real reason for my wanting to go to Beggar's Bluff. I knew if I did not confess early on, there would be no way he would be convinced to continue the trip.

"It will be worth it," I said. "Don't worry."

We rode through the waves, which began to crash higher and higher against the side of the boat the closer we came to Beggar's Bluff.

"I think the Three Wise Men are just around the other side," Gerald said.

I looked at Ethan, who was sitting in the seat beside me, bundled up in a lifejacket. Calvin sat on top of his seat, looking out at the bluffs. I could tell he couldn't wait to get there and start exploring.

After cruising for nearly forty minutes in the direction of the red X, it was beginning to look like we would
never
find the spot where the treasure was.

"Cora," said Gerald from the wheelhouse. "I don't know if we're going to find anything, I don't see anything around here. It's all just rocks."

He was right; everywhere we looked was rocks and water—no signs of anything that might lead to treasure.

"We have to just keep going for a little bit longer," I pleaded.

Gerald shook his head in doubt, but agreed to keep going, but only for a short while.

The boat puttered along, with Calvin and me keeping watch for anything that might look out of the ordinary. I was beginning to lose faith, and wondered if I had not read the map correctly. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at it again.

Impossible
, I thought to myself.
It has to be here.

No other place fit the map as well as Beggar's Bluff, but I was beginning to think I was wrong. I joined Gerald in the wheelhouse to tell him we should turn back.

"I'm sorry I led you on a wild goose chase," I said to him. "I must have read it wrong."

Gerald looked down at me and tried his best to console me. "Oh, Cora," he said. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. If the treasure is not here, then I'm sure you'll figure out where it is."

"I guess so," I said, crushed. "We can go back now."

"All right then," Gerald said. "Let's turn her around."

He started to turn the big steering wheel of his boat to begin our trip back to shore.

Just as the boat started to turn, Calvin spotted something and started barking ferociously—almost as intensely as when he encountered a squirrel in the park.

"What is it, Calvin?"

He continued to bark, staring straight ahead at a rock formation. I looked at the formation that had caught Calvin's attention. Three large rocks jutted out of the water at least fifty feet in the air! I had never seen them before, I was sure of it.

"Gerald!" I yelled. "Look ahead. What is that?"

Gerald squinted his eyes, trying to make out what was in front of us. "I don't know, Cora. Let's bring her in a little closer."

Gerald started to steer the boat back over to the rock formation Calvin had been barking at. The rocks grew larger and larger the closer we got to them. I could see where people thought it looked like three men with crowns on, but if I hadn't been told first, I don't think I would have arrived at the same conclusion. I thought it looked much more like three beer bottles with the caps on upside down.