The Mandie Collection (17 page)

“The will!” John and Uncle Ned said at the same time.

“Right, and you'll never guess where we found it,” Mandie continued.

“Where?” John Shaw asked as he removed his hat and coat.

Mandie began, “Before I tell you everything, I have to say that I think I ruined the wallpaper in your office.”

“Wallpaper in my office?” John questioned. “Amanda, cut out the suspense and tell us what happened.”

“All right, you see it was like this,” Mandie began, and she related the events that had taken place that morning.

John and Uncle Ned looked at each other as they still stood there in the hallway.

“Good hiding place,” Uncle Ned said as he also removed his jacket.

“But who did it?” John asked thoughtfully. “If the door into the tunnel from my office was locked, whoever it was couldn't have come in through there.”

They all walked down the hallway.

“Mother and Grandmother are in the parlor,” Mandie told the men. “Mr. Ed Wilson also sent you a message, Uncle John.”

By that time they were at the parlor door and Elizabeth gave John the message as soon as they went into the room. She also told him what reply she had sent.

John read the message aloud to Uncle Ned as they sat down. “There are some strange things going on,” he said as everyone sat down. “I think the best thing we can do is pack up right now and go to Dr. Woodard's house and find out if we can see the judge.”

“But, John, what if that Mr. Jacob Smith comes here? He won't know where you are,” Elizabeth reminded him.

“Mother, he knew where my father lived, so he would know how to find Dr. Woodard's house,” Mandie reminded her.

“Yes, I won't be going, so I can explain to him,” Elizabeth agreed.

At that moment Liza appeared in the doorway and said, “Mistuh John, dis heah Mr. Burns he be waitin' to see you on de back poach.”

“All right, Liza, please tell him I'll be right out,” John told her. Then to Elizabeth he said, “I wonder why he came here. Uncle Ned and I were just by the mine to speak to him.”

John Shaw left the room, and Elizabeth told Mandie, “I think you'd better run upstairs and get your things together. Your uncle John will be wanting to leave right away.”

“Yes, Mother,” Mandie agreed as she stood up.

“And I'll get my stuff,” Joe said as he rose.

“And I'll also go up,” Mrs. Taft said, rising from her chair.

Mandie lingered a moment hoping Uncle John would come back and tell them what Jake Burns wanted. And she wasn't disappointed.

“Well, we've cleared up one mystery,” John Shaw said as he entered the room. “That bucket with the gold in it came from another one of our mines over in Buncombe County. They got mixed up because my
name was on both of them. The assayer sent a man out to the ruby mine after we left to explain what happened.”

“Come to think of it, we were all so full of news about the will when y'all came back, we didn't stop to ask if you and Uncle Ned found any trace of Zack Hughes,” Mrs. Taft said.

“No, nothing. No one had even seen them,” John Shaw said. Turning to Elizabeth he said, “Dear, if you would ask Abraham to get the rig ready, I'll run upstairs and get a bag packed.”

“Of course, dear,” Elizabeth said.

Everyone left the parlor and went their various ways. Mandie finally found Snowball and put his leash on so he couldn't run away. And just as they all gathered in the backyard a few minutes later to get in the rig Abraham had waiting, a huge, burly, gray-haired man came riding up on a horse.

Mandie caught her breath as she instantly recognized the man. She had not seen him since she was four or five years old, but she remembered him now. He threw his reins over the hitching post and quickly dismounted as everyone silently watched.

“Well, howdy, little lady. You've grown up to be quite a lovely girl,” the man said as he quickly strode over to Mandie, and to her great surprise, he playfully picked her up off her feet and swung her in the air. She let go of Snowball's leash but Joe grabbed the cat. As the man set her down, he laughed and said, “You haven't forgotten our old greeting, have you now?”

“Oh no, Mr. Jacob. It's just that I was surprised to see that you are the man we were waiting for. I didn't connect the name,” Mandie said, straightening her skirts. “And I haven't seen you in so many years. I'm thirteen years old now, Mr. Jacob.” She was beginning to feel the happiness of those years long ago when this man came often to visit her father. Memories of love and joy were associated with him. She could see her father happily entertaining his visitor.

“Well, Amanda, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?” Uncle John stepped forward with his hand out. “I'm John Shaw, Jim's brother, Mr. Smith. I'm grateful that you came.”

The old man looked closely at John as they shook hands and said, “I do believe you look like your brother except he was redheaded and your hair is dark.” He glanced around and quickly stepped over to Uncle Ned to put an arm around his shoulders and say, “And here is Uncle
Ned. I've missed seeing all of you, Uncle Ned. I'm moving back into my cabin above Charley Gap, and I want you all to come to see me.”

John Shaw quickly made introductions for Mrs. Taft, Elizabeth, and Joe, and Jacob immediately recognized Joe. “You don't remember me, boy?” he asked. “You used to come down to Jim Shaw's and play with this little lady while your papa was out doctoring somewhere.”

Joe gave him a big grin, extended his hand, and said, “Of course I remember you, Mr. Jacob. You used to bring us candy when you came to visit Mandie's father.” They shook hands.

“You barely caught us, Mr. Smith. We were getting ready to go to Dr. Woodard's house and try to contact the judge,” John Shaw told him. “Why don't you leave your horse here and ride in the rig with us and we can talk on the way?”

Before the man could answer, Elizabeth spoke up, “John, Mr. Smith is probably hungry. Maybe he'd like to eat something before you all leave.”

“I'm sorry,” John Shaw apologized. “Why don't you—”

“Thank you, but I stopped just down the road to eat a bite, and I certainly don't want to delay everyone, so let's be on our way,” Jacob Smith interrupted.

“Fine,” John Shaw agreed. Turning to Abraham, who was holding the reins on the horses hitched to the rig, he said, “Abraham, would you please take care of Mr. Smith's horse while we are gone?”

“ 'Course, Mistuh John.” Abraham walked up to get the reins on Mr. Smith's horse. “I take good care of him.”

Mandie knew Mr. Smith would ride on the front seat with Uncle John, so she immediately took Snowball from Joe and sat right behind them so she could listen to them talk on the way. She was so surprised and so happy that this was the witness they had been looking for that she was practically speechless.

When they reached the Woodards' house, the doctor was home, and he and John immediately took the will and went into town to try to contact the judge. Then Mandie decided to take Mr. Smith to her father's house.

“Grandmother, if it's all right I'd like to take Mr. Smith out to my father's house,” Mandie told her as Uncle Ned and Jacob Smith were sitting on the porch steps and talking. Joe was listening.

“Well, I suppose it's all right, but don't stay gone too long now,”
Mrs. Taft warned her as they sat in the swing on the porch with Snowball between them.

“Thanks, Grandmother. Mrs. Woodard is keeping the key for me, so I'll go get it,” Mandie said, quickly picking up her cat and going inside the house where Mrs. Woodard was in the kitchen giving instructions to Mrs. Miller on what food to prepare.

When Mandie asked for the key, Mrs. Woodard took it down from the hook on the wall by a cupboard and said, “Now don't y'all stay too long. Your uncle John may be back soon and things may get busy around here, so we don't want to have to look for y'all, you hear?”

“Yes, ma'am, we'll hurry back,” Mandie promised as she took the key and left the room.

When Mandie asked Jacob Smith to go, he was eager. Uncle Ned and Joe also went. Snowball fascinated Jacob Smith by walking along on a leash.

“I can't let you out of my sight, Mandie Shaw, or you'll be gone off somewhere chasing a mystery,” Joe teased her as he walked along the road with them.

Mandie looked at him, smiled, and said, “You're always happy to join in.”

When they got to the property, Mandie eagerly showed Mr. Smith around, pointing out things her father had done. Then when they went inside the house, Mr. Smith immediately went to the secret compartment in the floor, knelt down, and pointed to the boards. Uncle Ned and Joe, holding the end of Snowball's leash, watched.

“This is where you found the will, isn't it?” he asked Mandie.

Mandie nodded.

“After it was all signed, Tom Kennering and I watched your father place it in the metal box and put it inside this secret hiding place,” Mr. Smith said. He ran his hands over the boards.

“Open it if you like, Mr. Smith,” Mandie told him. “It's empty. We took the metal box with all the papers back to Uncle John's house.”

Jacob Smith carefully opened the place, looked inside, and then replaced the boards. He stood up and said, “Yes, I can see your father now when he put that will in there. He was so happy to have finally made it out with everything to you, Amanda.” He reached to put an arm around her.

Mandie put her head against him and fought back tears as other
memories of Mr. Smith and her father came back to her. He had seemed to be the only one who came to visit, and that was probably because of Etta, who was rude to everyone.

By the time they got back to the Woodards' house, John Shaw and Dr. Woodard were just returning from town.

“We were really lucky. The judge happened to be in his office and we were able to talk with him,” John Shaw was explaining to everyone in the Woodards' parlor. “As soon as he can contact Etta Hughes, he will set up a special hearing and we'll have a decision made on the validity of the will.”

“Today's Thursday,” Mandie said. “Do you think it will be this week?”

John Shaw looked at her and said, “No, I would imagine it will be sometime the first of the week, because Etta has to be notified.”

“So I'm out of school until then?” Mandie asked.

“You sure are,” John Shaw said with a laugh. “Enjoy it while you can because you're going to have a lot to make up when you do return to school.”

On Monday morning a messenger came to tell John Shaw the judge was setting up things for that afternoon. And after the noon meal everyone rode into Bryson City to the courthouse. Mandie took Snowball and left him on the leash tied to a post outside.

This time Mandie noticed Etta Hughes had arrived before they did and was sitting on the front row in the same place she had before. John Shaw motioned them all into the other section of seats. In a few minutes Mandie saw Nimrod, who was married to her stepsister Irene, quickly slide into a seat next to Etta.

“Look who else is here!” she whispered, nudging Joe to look.

Joe glanced that way and said, “I wonder why he's here.”

Then Mandie saw Uncle John quickly rise and slip into the aisle when a tall, thin man came in the doorway. They met halfway and shook hands. John did a lot of whispering to the man as they stood there.

Mandie tugged at her grandmother's hand to get her attention. “Who is that man Uncle John is talking to?”

“That's your uncle's lawyer, Ed Wilson,” Mrs. Taft whispered back.

Mandie looked at the man again. She had always heard the name, but she didn't remember ever seeing him before. While she was watching them, she saw another man enter and go straight to Etta and sit down beside her.
Must be her lawyer
, Mandie decided.
So this was going to be a big thing with a lawyer involved on each side
.

As the judge entered and the hearing began, Mandie watched and tried to understand the process, but she couldn't really make out what was going on. Everything seemed to be so formal.

When Etta Hughes was asked where the witnesses to the will she had were, she looked at the judge and said, “I guess they're late. They oughta be here soon.”

“Unless they're here before this hearing is over, you're going to be in deep trouble,” Ed Wilson told her.

After she was questioned, Mr. Smith was called. He explained in detail how he had seen Jim Shaw sign that will and put it into the metal box in the secret place in his house. When shown the will Mandie and Joe had found, he identified it as the one he had signed. “That's it,” he said. “That's Jim Shaw's will that I signed. There's my signature right there.” He pointed to it.

Then Mandie had to explain how she and Joe had found the will. She was so scared she was shaky all over until she heard Nimrod tell Etta, “Ain't gonna do her no good to claim that will's real.” With that remark, anger flared up inside Mandie and she quickly went into every little detail that she could remember about finding the will in the fire-damaged house.

Ed Wilson examined the will Etta had and the letter John Shaw had turned in. He bent over them with a magnifying glass and then straightened up to say, “I believe the signature on the will Mrs. Hughes has was traced from the signature on the letter Mr. John Shaw has from his brother. They're too exact. One had to be traced from the other, and since Mr. Shaw received this letter from his brother and knew that his brother signed the letter, I would say the signature on the will Mrs. Hughes has has been traced from the one on the letter.”

Then Etta's lawyer got a chance to question John Shaw, and while he was doing this, Mandie caught a glimpse of Snowball creeping in through the open window behind Uncle John. She practically held her breath wondering what he was going to do. To her great relief the cat jumped down and came straight to her. She picked him up, put
him in her lap, and held him tight. His leash was still attached to his collar, and she wondered how he had managed to get loose from the pole outside.