The Lost Treasure Map Series (32 page)

He listened, but all that he noticed was the
wind blowing the door about up the stairs.

Before he darted out, Mortimer shone his
torch about.

“
There are his
footsteps!
”
Merton announced, pointing.

The police moved in front, with their guns
held out.

By their reactions, he was sure that they
did not have a clue what they were dealing with, and that they had
not seen the place before. They were in a dark vault, at night,
within the grounds of desolate castle, and they were chasing a
vicious serial killer.

The police rapidly shifted up the stairs to
the door, as they tracked the prints. And they easily traced them
out into the dark wood, blanketed in deep snow.

Then they stopped at the door, and Bryson
froze, expecting a gun battle to break out.

When it did not, Bryson moved to their side
to see what the problem was, expecting to see the person in the
thick currents of snow. But instead he saw that the prints
vanished, into the blizzard, and heaps of snow, falling from the
pine trees.

Yet, at the side of his eyes, he
spotted traces of shoe marks, in a sheltered area going along the
side of the building. They were facing his direction, and came back
to the door
–
indicating the killer, for some reason, had moved along it,
back into the vault, and had perhaps taken his shoes off, to stop
him making any further prints. And there was nothing indicating
that he had left.

He slowly
turned, and faced the blackness at the other end of the upper
vault. And the others turned.

Inspector
Bailey stood frozen, holding his gun out at a faintly visible black
figure with a gun.

Bryson’s heart
exploded, beating faster than he could recall it ever beating.

As the
seconds, which felt like minutes, passed, he watched the figure
almost fall over, barely able to stand. Then finally the figure
dropped to the ground, with a thud. And he spotted a trail of blood
going over the floor to him.

They strolled
there, not shining their torches at the killer – as though not
daring to! – approaching in wonder, as though they were going to
meet the devil himself.

But, when a
torch beam shone there, they were only dumbstruck – at what had
happened to the real killer.

And Bryson
stared down in horror at Sir Richard, crippled on the ground!

Was he a form
of ghost? He had died!

A weak
splutter came off him.

“
Do you
know him?” Inspector Bailey muttered, gritting his teeth, avoiding
looking.

“
I’m
sure ...” he muttered back.

And they then
waited for him to say something.

“
Leave
me, for a few minutes!” he finally pleaded, and they moved away, to
the other side of the vault, where they stood silently, panting,
and resting.

He stared down
at her diminishing body, cringing on the ground, holding onto
life.

Bryson fell to his knees, at his side,
staring in horror at Sir Richard! Was he really a ghost?

“
Thomas!
”
his weak and aged voice
spoke.

He pulled out a crumbled bit of paper, and
allowed it to fall at his side, unable to move any further.

Bryson instantly picked it up and examined
it.

“
It
’s
a copy of the missing page from the
diary!
”

“
It
’s
more! It
’s
definite proof of the treasure
–
which
I
’ve
been
searching for: for most of my life.
”

“
So your money doesn
’t
exist?
”

“
That
’s
it! All of you were to find it.
Ever since I inherited this estate, I
’ve
looked for it.

“
When I found that I was dying
...
!
”

“
I
’ve
lived at many places
–
across the globe
...
Spending
money
...
They believed I
...”

He stared down at his diminishing body,
cringing on the ground, holding onto life.

Bryson nodded.
“
Was that reporter your hit
man?
”

“
I didn
’t
ask that bloody idiot to do
that
...
Hit man! Those blasted bugs
...
They were going to ruin it, and
so was he
...
!
”

Bryson saw blood pouring from his
mouth, and that he was about to die. The pain was fading
...

“
Why did you fabricate all those
supernatural disturbances
–
with the speakers in the vents, newspapers,
and
...
?
”

His gaze went straight to his.

“
To cover what we were doing, of
course!
”

“
You
accidentally
shot yourself!” he stated.

His face went blank, and he fell over dead;
and Bryson strolled away.

“
Who was that?
”
a policeman
asked.

“
It was one of the servants who used
to work here
–
many years ago! I met him when I first visited the castle. He
was going to take our money!
”

Chapter 58

The Hidden
Chamber

At a top floor window, Bryson observed the
last of the police cars rolling away into the trees.

A glance behind him, along the corridor,
once again showed him that the workmen had properly removed the
lower ceiling, to reveal the original ceiling, made of solid oak
beams.

The wires from the lights had rot and webs
over them, and had been easily broken, and were in bits on the
floor.

The workmen had been from the village, and
had been surprisingly keen to work in the old haunted castle.

“
So where is it?
”
Helen asked, arriving at
the top of the stairs, in front of the others.
“
We read
the
diary!
”

Bryson marched along the corridor, and James
and Robert followed, occasionally looking into the rooms, which the
others had rigorously searched.

“
Are you saying that you think that
there
’s
treasure here too?
”
Sarah asked.

Everyone stopped near him, to listen.

“
There
’s
a page missing from
it,
”
Helen
broke in.

“
Yes, and I found
it,
”
Bryson
forced himself to reply, taking the page out of his pocket.
“
It was on the
bottom of the bookshelf, where it had been
...”

Robert took it from him, and spread it out
in front of him. And all their eyes seemed to go on it.

“
It refers to a clue that her father
passed down to her,
”
Robert muttered.
“
But it gives the clue that Sir
Richard left!
”

“
I believe that
’s
because
it
’s
the
same money!
”
Bryson quickly added.
“
I believe that Sir Richard never had a great
deal of money left
...”

For a moment, none of them seemed to
accept it
–
not believing such a horrible fact. But their desperation to
find something made them continue seeking answers.

“
Are you saying that he left us
chasing after a
‘
fantasy
’
?
”
James resumed.

“
No! I
’m
saying that he knew that it
existed, and he spent his life trying to find it. And his last wish
was just to have it found
–
to prove he had been right! But he never
went through with his whole plan
...
And he perhaps forgot about that
video!
”

“
So you think that we should start
looking for it instead!
”

“
No! Because I know where it
is.
”

Bryson opened a long bag, and removed an
antique pole, which he had seen James playing with, and which
resembled an ancient walking stick.

Bryson recalled that it had been at the
fireplace, and that one of the servants might have placed it there,
believing that it had been there to prod the fire.

Bryson held it, and considered what to
say.

“
The clue, given to us by Sir Richard,
which the castle
’s
builder, William Randall, had left, is not
actually a clue. It had been a message that William Randall had
wanted his associates to give to his son, who had been away abroad.
He had made it in case he had died, as he had predicted that it
could occur. His enemies, the castle had been supposed to defend
him and his family against, had then killed him. And the message
had contained where he had hidden his fortune, from his enemies.
But his son had died before he had reached the castle, and nobody
had understood where the fortune had been, because it had been a
message that only his son would have understood.

“
But before William had died, he had
foreseen more trouble from his enemies, than his earlier
predictions, and he had even predicted that his associates might
not survive. Thus he had left a second message, where his son
surely would have seen it, and where his enemies would not destroy
it. He had the message put on his tomb! Thus he had left the
message with tomb sculptors to put there.

“
They
’re
not really riddles!
They
’re
hidden messages, giving a location, saying something such as:
that he had put it at where their last dwelling or sanctuary would
have really been if they had been in the castle, and they had
invaded it.
”

“
So where do you think it
is?
”
James
moaned.

“
Well, I believe that once the castle
had been just about completed, they had believed that they might
not have been able to escape by the hidden tunnel
–
if the castle
had come under attack at night, or they had penetrated their
defenses
–
and that they had somewhere else added, where they could have
gone.
”

Bryson stuck his hand deep in his pocket,
and he pulled out the gold key that had been in the gold pendant.
Then he carefully fitted the end of the key into a key-shaped hole
at the end of the antique pole.

He glanced upwards at the roof, and he
inserted the end of the stick into a minute hole in the ceiling,
which only resembled the other holes in the wooden beams.

He felt and heard a click of the lock of
something.

Suddenly, the corridor roof seemed to come
crashing down, to his momentary horror.

Yet, as they shifted away, the thick beams
opened at their different positions on the ceiling. And the
entrance to a chamber overhead, made to fit into the ceiling,
without being visible, opened out.

Everyone watched in wonder, as it opened up
like the gates of heaven, sluggishly going to the last stage of its
descent, and onto the floor.

It had the workmanship of that era, and he
knew that William had designed it, as well as the castle.

Bryson then walked up into it, not knowing
what was there.

In its blackness, he saw a winch, which they
would have used to hoist the entrance back into place from the
interior.

The chamber was not high, to keep it hidden,
and he had to walk crouched down.

His torch gave him glimpses of insignificant
objects scattered over places.

Robert and James moved to where he was,
while the others silently followed.

“
When did you realize that this was
here?
”
Robert asked.

“
We saw the roof
outside,
”
James continued,
“
and we never saw anything. It did not look
thick enough!
”

Bryson removed a bit of paper.

“
This is a representation of the
castle,
”
he
said, holding out the plan of the castle, which had fallen out of
the book in the library.
“
It has a faint line going under the roof,
which none of the other floors have. And I realized that this had
to be a scribbled copy of an original map of the castle.

“
It was done by the hand that wrote
the diary.

“
It
’s
a treasure map! It was her treasure
map
...