Ghosts ⚔️ Blackbeard's Treasure

Chapter 14

"What the hell are you doing? Stop!" Outside, a man in a black hoodie is rifling through Dylan's truck. I hear the Stingray colored Jeep's door slam as the stranger vaults out onto the asphalt.  Dylan races down the sidewalk after him, furiously pumping his arms. I'm frozen as my heart surges with adrenaline. He's going to get away. I see a bearded man in a threadbare coat, sitting on a pile of flattened cardboard boxes, throw out a scrawny leg. The hoodie-clad thief trips and sprawls face first onto the sidewalk. My wooden box of bells flies out of his hands and hits the ground. The stocky man staggers to his feet. Most of his face is hidden by the hood, but what I can see of it is scraped and bloody were he hit the pavement. Picking up speed, he cuts through a pharmacy yard and scales a metal fence.

Dylan picks up the splintered box and jogs back to where I'm standing. He carefully hands it to me. "Here, Lizzie. I hope the bell's aren't damaged. That jerk must have thought they were collectibles he could pawn."

"Thanks, Dylan. I'm glad you weren't hurt." I hold the wooden box and bite my lower lip. I have to tell him. This break-in wasn't a coincidence.

I walk over to the elderly man, in the ragged gray wool hat, seated on the sidewalk. He looks up at us from under shaggy brows and smiles. His teeth are dark brown and tobacco stained. The steel gray hair, surrounding his face, reminds me of dirty straw blowing in the wind. "Damned thief-he broke your window. Glad he didn't get away with your stuff. I'm Larry." He hawks up a gob of phlegm and spits it onto the sidewalk. He uses the back of a fingerless glove to wipe his mouth. "Sorry, Miss. All those years of smoking catches up with you."

I look across the street at the construction crew. They're busy shutting down for the day. I doubt the workers saw or heard anything over the noise. I open my purse and pull out a twenty dollar bill. "Thank you for helping us, Larry. These bells mean a lot to me."

Dylan returns from his Jeep and shakes his head. "Window's smashed. That'll cost a pretty penny." He looks down at the elderly man. "Thanks for tripping him. Are you all right?" Larry kicks his legs like he's sitting on the edge of a pool. "Never better." He pops the money into his jacket, then leans forward and confides. "Don't worry about me, I'm not homeless." He pulls out a new phone. "I keep an eye on the Mayor's crew across the street for Roland. He let's me stay in a nice studio apartment in exchange for telling him what's goin' on in the area."

"That sounds like a sweet deal. Nice to meet you, Larry. Thanks again for your help." Inside the Jeep, Dylan says, "I wonder why your friend, Roland, had Larry spy on the Mayor's construction crew?"

I take a deep breath. "I think I might know. Dylan, there's something I have to tell you about these bells."

~~~~~

As we pull into the Blair's South Boston neighborhood, Dylan's incredulous. He's completely forgotten about his Jeep Gladiator's broken window. "Black Beard the infamous Pirate?"

I can't help chuckling at the look on his face. "Honesty, I thought the idea was ridiculous. Until, everyone started pursuing Julia's prop bell. Now, I'm wondering if there might be a real treasure."

"Dylan's brow raises. "People have asked you about these nautical bells?"

I tilt my head forward, trying to recall the last two days. "First, it was the young man who's apartment we just visited. He drowned a few days ago, but I remember he was in my Ghost Tour two weeks ago. He asked to look at the bell." Dylan's eyes widen. "Two nights ago at Pirate's Republic, the Mayor's Project Coordinator, Jack Keller, asked to buy it. Thank goodness, Julia refused. She thought he was disingenuous."

Dylan nods. "Being sneaky herself, your grandmother has good instincts about men. Wasn't he overseeing the construction across the street at the warehouse today?"

"Jack told me he was working in the area. Maybe seeing him was a coincidence." I place the bells on the seat beside me. "While you were looking at the U.S.S. Constitution, Roy McGuilacuddy identified the bells as the belonging to The Queen Anne's Revenge."

"That was Blackbeard's ship. I remember they found the wreckage offshore from a beach town in Beaufort, North Carolina."

I raise my finger. "Roy said they excavated the ship, but they never found Black Beard's Treasure."

We arrive at Witchy Business. Dylan pulls into the overgrown driveway of the white and lavender, peeling, Queen Anne. He turns off his ignition. "I don't understand how these bells could locate Black Beard's lost Pirate Treasure."

"That's the mystery." I don't share with him my other thought, If these bells, Julia gave me, lead us to Blackbeard's hidden treasure, our lives will be forever changed."