All right, here's the next part! This chapter is actually two and a half pages longer than I typically make the chapters for this story, but I know you all love long chapters and the information they give you. There's a lot to cosume in this chapter, and I hope you like it! Thanks to all those wonderful reviewers out there, and of course those who read as well. I'm working like mad to keep up the 'update every Friday' thing, but just so you know, the July 18th chapter might not come on time, as I will be on vacation July 11th-19th. Thanks in advance, and read on! :D
- Dis/Claimer –
x x x
. Chapter Three .
"Until the wedding?" Myers cast Maddox an abashed look as their car pulled out onto the road, spitting slush and salt from under its speeding wheels. "Maddox, that's insane! You should've taken her to it! You know where it is-"
"I have an idea," Maddox corrected. "I can't say for certain until her or husband-to-be log into the mainframe of security and gain access themselves. The system's been shut down since Ian's death."
"Then how were you able to get into it before?" Myers asked.
"Well, they didn't cut it off the minute he died," Maddox said, "It took them about a week. I wanted to know where it was, and I got as far as I could with Dom hacking through it before it was cut off. Patience, Joseph; I know what I'm doing."
Agent Myers snorted doubtfully. "Leaving her to wander that house, she'll eventually find it."
"I know she will."
"And do you know what'll happen next?"
"She'll take it to him, cry about my little threat, and they'll call me," he replied nonchalantly. Maddox sighed at Myers's unconvinced look. "Okay, listen. She doesn't know everything her brother did. She's catching on-"
"Catching on?" Myers repeated accusingly. "She can't 'catch on.'" Maddox shrugged.
"She drew a rather accurate conclusion then, if anything." Myers brought his hand to his face, overwhelmed with affliction. Maddox hinted at smiling; the man got so upset over the most meagerly of details. "Oh, so she knows about the treasure," Maddox said dismissively, not wanting to admit he had accidently let it slip. "It's not the end of the world."
"No, Maddox, you don't understand," Myers said. "Gates isn't just going to turn the other cheek about this. He's going to want to jump right in and find this thing. That's what he does."
"He has no business in the matter, and if he does, you move in and arrest him for… whatever you arrest him for at the time," Maddox said with an indifferent shake of his head. "Stealing, for example. Well, technically I gave it to Ian… detaining another person's personal property then? I don't know all the terms; I'll leave any intrusion to your department if I need it. Then I get my compass and get on with my hunt.
"So she can go ahead and take it right to him and try to play keep-away all they want," Maddox said, facing forward as the street lights passed continually over his face in rapid recession. "In the end, I will get it one way or another."
If Myers had any remaining concerns (which, he had many), he chose not to voice them.
x x x
Carolyn stood before the door and sighed resolutely, weighed down with an unyielding anxiousness as she reached out and opened the door. Her left hand grazed the interior wall blindly until it found the light switch; she slid the buttons up quickly, and the room went alight.
The study, like most of the rooms in the house, had undergone some form of change while Ian reigned supreme, but it did not look like substantial appearance altercations had taken place. The large, dark-stained walnut desk that had belonged to their father had not moved an inch, its solid frame sinking into the thick green carpet for decades now. Carolyn discovered that everything atop it had acquired a thin layer of dust after swiping her finger across the head of the gold desk lamp. It was covered in a scattered mess of paperwork, quite unlike Ian. Carolyn walked around and pulled the high back chair out of the way, pushing it towards the fireplace behind her. She picked up a paper and skimmed it curiously.
It was a photocopy of the Gates Manor layout, dated at almost eight months. Her old bedroom was circled; the one Ben and Abigail had given her to stay in when they thought she was really a continuing college student looking to housekeep for financial help. Her cheeks flared with shame momentarily, not wanting to think of it. She pushed it out of her mind, crumpled the paper, and threw it in the wastebasket as she looked around the dank room.
The wall to her left looked like one at a post office. It was filled with many boxes, each little door embedded with sophisticated decorum and a six-digit number. Under them were four large filing cabinet drawers horizontally arranged beside one another. Carolyn quickly knelt by the fourth drawer and pulled it open, flipping through the files expertly. She stopped near the very back.
'WHITTACRE, MADDOX A.'
She pulled it up slowly, wondering briefly what his middle name was despite the insignificance. Carolyn opened the thick file, leafing through scans of the excavation plots, equipment orders, conventional paperwork, contracts... On the inside cover was an attached sheet of their appointment dates, the last being about two years before the Templar Treasure was discovered. She swallowed, feeling it an uncomfortable notion that there was truth to all this. At the top of the sheet, however, she found the box number she had been looking for.
'410074.'
Carolyn held the file close to her protectively as she stood, repeating the number above a whisper and scanning the golden security boxes.
"Four-one-zero-zero-seven-four, four-one-zero-zero-"
It jumped out at her surprisingly fast, and she triple checked it. Certain this was the right one, she ran her fingers over the crevice below the number; no doubt a card of some kind was used to unlock the cell. Her hand fell back to her side despondently, and she quickly searched the file for the card in hopes that it would be there, but no luck.
Then, it struck her.
Carolyn spun around to the window behind her, staring at the marble sill. She walked past the desk and set the file down, moving to a framed document next to the window on the wall. She bit her lip, hoping Ian had not moved it since she discovered it as a young girl, and her hasty prayer was fortunately heard and answered. Attached in the upper left corner of the back of the frame was a tiny gold key reminiscent of the one she used to lock her first-grade diary with. She snatched it and eased the frame back to the wall, stepping over to the window sill.
Carolyn ran her hand along the underside of the overhang, stopping when she felt the keyhole just off to the right of the center of the window sill. Pushing the key inside, Carolyn turned it, and a handle fell on the top of her hand. Quickly, she withdrew the key and pushed the handle back until it clicked, giving it a very forceful push up. The heavy slab of marble stopped halfway up the window, revealing a shallow inset filled with a layout of cardkeys. A set of red, crisscrossing laser beams hovered over them. She bit her lip, not knowing how to get passed them.
Carolyn found the number to match Maddox's box; it was directly under one of the beams. Grimacing at the thought of snaking her hand through such a small space, she looked around for something to turn the lasers off. Her eyes fell on the wood outlining the left side of the window, noticing tiny little hinges on it. Curiously, she pulled on it, and it opened. A small screen was there. Upon touching it, a keypad glowed to life on it. Carolyn didn't know any code to unlock it, so she turned back to the inset uneasily, rubbing her sweaty hand on her pants.
She flexed her fingers above the warm beams and twisted her arm strangely as it skirted past them. Rigid, Carolyn finally got hold of the cardkey from the foam padding, slowly withdrew her hand with a triumphant smile, and walked directly back over to the opposite wall.
She inserted the card and took it out quickly, and the small gold door clicked open half an inch. Carolyn smiled at her success and opened it, greeted by opaque darkness. Was there anything even in there?
She reached in, feeling around a shuffle of papers. Maybe the compass wasn't here after-
Carolyn went to take out the sloppy pile of unkempt papers, but something heavy sat atop them towards the very back of the cell. Curiously, she slid the papers out more, and a small, square wooden box met the light for the first time it what was probably years. Carolyn was rendered speechless, awestruck.
It was there. It was really there.
Finally snapping out of her trance, Carolyn took the box and papers, holding them close with the file. She also put the cardkey in the folder, too, for safe keeping. She closed the gold door before walking over and shutting the window sill. She hurried to replace the small gold key to the back of the document frame before heading out of the room, shutting the door definitively.
x x x
Riley flipped on the light of his old bedroom to see that half of Charlie's things had already been moved into it. His face fell, posture slumping and putting a strain on his arms that held a moderately heavy plastic bin of his own underwear. He let out a long sigh as Charlie and Sally came running down the hall, squeezing past him into the room.
"Hey Uncle Riley, guess what?" Charlie said teasingly, climbing on his bed with his sister and starting to jump high. Riley sighed again, the weight of the day settling on him gradually as he stood there.
"What?" he grunted, slack jawed.
"Mom and Dad said I can have your room now."
"Really?" Riley deadpanned tiredly.
"Yep!"
"And I get my own room, too!" Sally said excitedly, her voice bouncing evenly with her jumps. "I'm gonna have lots and lots of room!"
Riley was pouting now, only half-listening to them. He was really going to miss this room. A lot. So much. To no end. Forever. He silently apologized to the room, feeling as if he had betrayed it. Especially when it was being left for a room in Ian's house. Sulking, he slowly turned away and began to shuffle toward the stairs.
At the top, he saw Abigail seated at the bar in the kitchen looking over paperwork that was surely National Archives related while poking at a plate of leftover dinner. She looked over her shoulder when she heard him coming down.
"Got everything?" she asked.
"Yeah…" Riley sat the bin at the bottom of the stairs with Carolyn's computer stuff and walked over to her. "You've already let Charlie claim my room?" He leaned on the counter beside her.
"You sound like there should be period of-" Abigail stopped herself short. At Riley's look, she jerked her head over her shoulder at Ben, who sat in the living room behind them reading a book. Riley nodded his understanding, now seeing the comment as slightly inappropriate to be used in reference to
his room. Abigail continued with a quieted voice and bite of turkey. "Charlie was the first to ask, so we said okay. Ben moved his bed and dresser in there before you got here."
"He's got more than that in there," Riley said.
"I told him anything he could pick up and move he could take in there, but we'll move the rest of it tomorrow." She inhaled deeply and released it with a groan, tensing her shoulders a little. She put her head in her hand and continued skimming her work. "There's so much going on right now. I hope it'll be over soon. Moving, the wedding, Emily…"
Riley knew all too well this was a big period of transition and change for them all and easily sympathized with her. He ran a comforting hand over her back to which she gave an appreciative smile. "We're all going through it right now," he told her.
"I know. It's going to be very different around here without you. And Carolyn. Charlie and Sally already miss you," she laughed. "I think even Alex does at times, too."
"We'll still be around," he said. "What can I say? I think after all this time I've grown to kind of like them." He felt better having made Abigail chuckle and stood up, stretching. "Oh! Actually, I don't have everything. Ben!"
"What?" the historian asked from the couch.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark; where is it?"
Ben looked up in confusion. "Why?"
"Carolyn wanted to see it, and I-" He paused, eyes wondering to the second floor. "Never mind," he said quickly. "I remember. Be right back. Abigail?! Can you get me some cocoa?!" he shouted, now running up the stairs. "We're out!"
Abigail smiled, more than happy to put her pen down. "Sure, Riley." She shrugged when she got up and met Ben's eyes, opening a nearby cabinet. Ben shook his head, turning back to his book.
For the umpteenth time, however, he discreetly looked over the top of the book at the unopened envelope on the coffee table. He had been able to keep himself from opening it for three days, but it was becoming too strong of a distraction now. It wasn't that he didn't want to open it; by all means, the exact opposite. Part of him wanted to rebuild his sense of excitement and curiosity to the point that he couldn't stand it so that he'd feel a little more like himself again. It was rekindling slowly but surely as his peeks over the book became more numerous and lingered longer. By now, he was simply staring at it.
And he couldn't wait anymore.
Ben closed the book with a heavy snap and set it aside, picking up the envelope and tearing away the seal. Abigail looked up from the kitchen at the sound, slowly setting a box of hot chocolate on the edge of the counter for Riley. She couldn't believe he was finally opening it.
"Ben?"
"Yeah?" He slid the papers from the envelope and collected them on his knee before looking at them. Abigail stopped at the edge of carpet and tile, stunned at how fast he read it.
"Wh… What does it say?" she asked, thinking it a better alternative than 'are you okay?'
"I don't know," he said, reading the paper. All of these words not telling him what his mother had left him were making him impatient. "I'll find out in a mi-"
The doorbell then rang.
"-a minute," Ben finished, looking in the direction of the front door.
"I'll get it," Abigail said. "You finish reading that."
"Right."
x x x
Abigail wrapped her sweater around her tighter before opening the large front door. The cold February air rushed in as expected with some snowflakes, and Carolyn stood on the step bundled up and clutching her bag. She smiled faintly at Abigail's surprised face.
"Carolyn, what are you doing here?" she asked, opening the door more as Carolyn came inside and removed her hat and gloves quickly.
"Where's Riley?" she asked without hesitation, throwing off her scarf.
"He's upstairs looking for something before he left." Carolyn hurriedly removed her coat and hung it on the coat rack with her other things, keeping her purse close. Abigail watched her with concern. "He'll be right down. What's going on?"
"I need to see Ben," Carolyn said as the pair of them began walking briskly.
"He's right over here."
Abigail led Carolyn to the living room library where Ben was still hunched over reading through the papers. Carolyn registered amazement as Abigail had.
"You opened it?"
Ben looked up and right back down at the papers. "Oh you're here. Hello."
"Yes, he did," Abigail answered for him. "Find out what she left you yet, Ben?"
"Not… yet…"
Carolyn was silent a moment longer, but she couldn't keep it in any longer. This was seriously important.
"Ben, I'm really sorry to be interrupting you right now, but this is extremely important and I need you to help me with a few things," she said on a single breath. "Something just happened. Something big."
Ben's train of thought went off track at the urgency in her voice. Lowering the papers, he removed his glasses and looked up at her, both he and Abigail not sure what to think. His mouth was opened to speak when Riley came trotting down the stairs noisily, jumping over the last few and landing loudly on the floor.
"Got it, thanks, I'll- Carolyn!" He walked up to her in confusion. "What are you doing here?"
"Maddox Whittacre just broke into our house-"
A clash of simultaneous 'whats,' 'huhs,' and 'whoas' drowned her out. Carolyn looked at the three of them, startled at their uncanny chorus and livid stares of expectation. She didn't know who to explain it to first, but Ben spoke before her mouth could stop stumbling over her jumbled words.
"Wait, wait," Ben said, silencing them all. He scrunched his face up in what Carolyn perceived as shock with mild skepticism. "Maddox Whittacre? You're sure?"
"Yes, no doubt."
"The one that's been all over the news with, with Roanoke and everything?"
"The same," Carolyn confirmed as they exchanged disturbed glances. She sighed. "The Roanoke guy. Him."
"W-What was he doing in our house?!" Riley asked at length incredulously. "Did he hurt you?"
"No, I'm fine, I'm fine," she said dismissively, putting her bag on the top of the couch and going through it. "He tried, but he didn't."
"What'd he do?" Ben asked defensively.
"He threatened my wedding. He also had a gun, but I had one, too."
Riley stared at her in the small bout of tense silence. He had to ask. "You shot him?"
"No, I scared him off," she said peevishly before her tone turned dark. "I should've shot him, though."
"Why would he do that, though?" Abigail mused, folding her arms over herself uncomfortably. At their thoughtful looks, she continued. "I mean he broke into your house and held you at gunpoint; he wanted something."
Riley threw Carolyn a look, remembering her mild infatuation. An unlikely scenario gripped his stomach nervously. "Is there something I should know?"
Carolyn's eyes bored into him seriously, and she punctuated the look with a sharp, "No."
That was all the reassurance he needed.
He nodded timidly at the couch. "O-kay..."
"So what happened?" Ben said, moving over so Carolyn could join him on the couch. "Why was he there?"
"Apparently," Carolyn said, looking around at them, "I have met him before. But only in passing." She pulled out Maddox's file and held it out so that they could see it. With a deep breath, she announced, "Maddox Whittacre was one of the first clients Ian had as an investor." She let Ben carefully take the file from her. He examined it with interest. "He told me he had been. After he drove off, I found his file."
"Look at this," Ben said, handing one of the papers over his shoulder to Riley. He took it slowly, turning his head a little until he realized it was upside down and corrected it.
"What is it?" Riley asked as Abigail joined him.
"It's the plots he's using now for his excavation of the site," Ben said. "Ian had knowledge of all of this." He looked over at Carolyn. "Why didn't they go through with the plans? It was all here."
"You showed up."
Ben did a double take, eyebrows rising at the unexpected answer he got. "I did, did I?"
Carolyn nodded. "Yeah, Maddox said he and Ian weren't far from making this happen when you came to Ian requesting help to find the Templar Treasure. So, Ian dropped Maddox's project for yours. It was more profitable."
Be turned back to the file. "Well that's interesting."
"He never said a word about Whittacre," Riley said, unable to recall an instant that he might have forgotten or overlooked. He looked to Ben. "He didn't mention him around us anyways."
"Well, he wouldn't have," Carolyn said, reminding that it was a typical trait. "That's just how he was with business. Kept his clients in a neat row but separate from each other."
"He'd talk about a few meetings with others when we had to reschedule appointments," Ben said, "but you're right; he never really used names around us."
"No, see, here's what didn't make sense." Carolyn readjusted herself on the edge of her seat, plucking a blue paper out from behind a few that Ben was holding. Riley and Abigail leaned in close as she pointed to a box on it. "This is the initial statement of Maddox's payment. There's the total-"
Riley gave a low whistle. "Whoa."
"I don't know how Ian did his upfront costs, but he had you pay a portion, right?" Carolyn asked Ben. He nodded immediately.
"Yeah, I had to have seven percent within a week of signing with him," Ben said while scanning the statement paper. "He made sure I had every penny, too."
"What?" Riley asked, squinting as he read the paper over Ben's shoulder. "Didn't Maddox pay him or something?"
"Not with money." Her comment made Riley even more confused, and she pointed to a different box on the paper. The faded pixilated ink was a challenge to read, but Riley sounded it out.
"Coommmm-paaasss N." He stood up, casting the document an uncertain look. "Compass N?"
Ben snatched it closer to his eyes. "Did you read it wrong? That's not what it says."
"No, no," Riley said, running his finger under the hard-to-read word. "It says compass. Right there. See?"
Sure enough, he did. Ben shook his head at the word that could pass as a mirage. "What does that mean?"
"I think it means Maddox paid Ian with a compass," Abigail said, somewhat amused by the thought.
"No, see, that doesn't make any sense-"
"I thought the same thing until I heard the whole story," Carolyn said in an attempt to get Ben to listen. He quieted to hear what she had to say. "The compass is supposedly a family heirloom centuries old. Now, Ian never took something like this in the place of money, but he took this on a promise that once they found Roanoke, Maddox would split its 'lost treasure' with him."
It took a few seconds for it to collectively sink in, but Carolyn waited patiently. Riley's face was blank, Abigail's was attentive, and Ben was silent, deep in thought for a long moment.
Lost treasure.
Riley's chuckle eventually cut through the building tumult his mind was experiencing with all of this information.
"Eh heh heh… Waaaait a minute." He rubbed his face with a trounce smile, looking out into space after dropping his hands to his sides soundly. He took a moment to try and reorganize the words he just heard, unable to make them fit any other way. "Treasure?"
Carolyn nodded with caution. "Yes."
Riley laughed again. Unbelievable. "There's another one?" he asked, feigning excitement. "A treasure for Roanoke?"
"As a matter of fact-"
"Don't finish that," Riley warned Ben, defeat marring his face and saddening his smile.
Ben looked right him like he was taunting his younger brother. "-she's right."
Riley sucked in a deep breath and blinked. His smile was grim. "Goodie."
"Riley, trust me, I'd rather be entirely wrong," Carolyn said.
"What if Whittacre lied to you?" Riley asked on the desperate hope that he did.
"I didn't believe him for a second until I found the file and the compass," she said, motioning to the file Ben held. "It fits; it makes sense. I don't know what else to say."
"You have the compass?" Abigail asked quickly, touching her shoulder. "With you now?" Ben's eyes probed her as well.
"Can we see it?"
"Oh! Yeah." She dug into her purse and gently recovered the small, square, wooden box. Its craftsmanship was new, the design of an unmarked compass rose inlaid on the top with assorted shades of wood. Abigail gasped lightly as Carolyn passed the item into Ben's hands, and he felt the smooth wood with an aroused sense of wonder.
"The compass rose," he murmured, running his fingers over the inlay. He turned the box in his hands a few times. He huffed with a light grin. "It's made of rosewood."
"It doesn't look centuries old," Abigail observed. Riley felt more annoyed and bored the longer he looked at it. He kind of wanted to grab it from them and pitch it out into the back yard.
"Don't judge a compass by its box," he droned monotone, earning a reprimanding glare from Carolyn. He shrugged and averted his eyes. "What?"
Carolyn softened her face genuinely worried, but she put her focus back on the box as Ben unlatched the two hooks on the front of it and eased it open. The hinge made hardly a sound as they held their breath, full of anticipation to see what mystery the compass in the box contained (well, Riley only kind of wanted to see; he craned his neck slightly over the others).
Once opened, the light of the room spilled onto the flat, round object nestled safely within the velvet core of the box. The compass had, as Carolyn described, seen centuries worth of time; the wood was partially dry rotted and weathered, but faint traces of paint could still be detected in its intricate sixteenth-century designs on its face. Ben tilted and turned it as skillfully as Riley would a game controller, testing its navigational abilities. The arrow moved smoothly in all directions and surprisingly kept a steady reading of 'North.' Carolyn sat back feeling lightheaded. The story's legitimacy suddenly seemed very concrete.
Too concrete.
She wiped her face with her hand and covered her mouth with it, letting out a deep sigh through her nose. Abigail leaned down further over the couch. Her head stopped right next to Ben's matching the excitement in his eyes.
"Look at the preservation of this thing," she said in astonishment, touching the thin gold rim between the wooden body and the glass surface. Ben nodded enthusiastically.
"I know, and the magnets in it are remarkable," he said, twisting it a few more times to show her again.
Both of them laughed while Riley silently wondered how they could be entertained so easily by another meaningless hunk of historical junk. The two of them blathered on oblivious to the even, agitated look Riley was conveying to Carolyn over their heads. She quirked her mouth to the side, finding some neutral ground of understanding as Ben and Abigail's voices penetrated her attention span again. They had the compass turned upside down, Abigail tracing a giant 'N' carved into the wood with her finger.
"That's incredible; the detail…"
"You think it means North?"
"I'd assume so."
"And-"
"Hey. Hey, look."
Carolyn reached out to the compass and grazed its round edges. She narrowed her eyes, thinking she had seen the ghost of finely scribed words in the wood, but they acquired authenticity at her touch. Ben, Abigail, and Riley were quick to have an up-close view. All of their heads were drawn tightly together over the artifact.
"What is that?" Carolyn asked with mounting intrigue, scooting closer to Ben to see.
"Words," Abigail said as Ben spun the compass around slowly. "They go the whole way around."
Riley couldn't help himself. "What does it say?"
Ben searched for the beginning of the message and stopped with the North end of the compass facing them. He put his glasses back on and slowly relayed the message to the others.
"'Captive truth, ye worthy, bare
'Rests upon the twilight's air.'"
He stared at it, feeling his mind spark.
"It's a riddle."
"Whoa!" Riley said. He stood up, looking at Ben wide-eyed. "Stop right there. I'm not about to go on another grand treasure hunt," he said absolutely. "No way. I'm out."
"And why are you out?" Carolyn asked with a trace of impatience.
He leaned over the couch to her, ticking off reasons on his fingers. "We have a wedding next week, I don't feel like endangering my life anymore, we're rich enough as it is, and Roanoke did not have a treasure."
"Yes it did," Ben said, looking over at Riley.
"Then why has no one but you heard of it?" Riley asked expectantly.
"Well, if you're not brushed up on Roanoke history and treasure lore, you wouldn't know about it," Ben countered belittlingly. He and Riley cancelled out one another's arguing with a short-lived staring contest. Riley kept his sour comments to himself. Carolyn looked to Ben readily.
"Roanoke has a treasure then?" she asked. "How so?"
"Technically, it's not Roanoke's treasure," Ben began, "but it got the name from the infamous 'Lost Colony' incident that arose in 1590. The 'Lost Treasure' was simply the title given to the first gold of the Templar Treasure trying to be taken to the New World for hiding."
Abigail was confused but smiling. "I thought Oak Island was where the first of the Templar Treasure was hidden?"
"Successfully," Ben added. "And Oak Island was accumulative of pirates, Native Americans, Vikings… Roanoke was wholly British. It was an attempt to start life in the New World with the underlying plot to hide their wealth of the Templar Treasure. It was not very large at the time, but the few people who know this tale speculate that in finding the gold, you will find the answer to the Roanoke mystery."
"So let's hear it," Riley said with a sigh at the inevitable. He just wanted to get it over with. "I need my spoonful of history sugar for the day."
"I'll give you a bowl full," Ben said with a smile. Riley rolled his eyes.
"Just tell the story. It's late."
Ben saw Abigail check her watch as he began to tell them. "As I said, Roanoke was the first attempt at colonizing in the New World as well as hiding the gold," he said. "In 1584, Queen Elizabeth gave the exploration rights of 'remote heathen and barbarous lands' to Sir Walter Raleigh after the death of his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert. She entrusted him with a charter to find these lands, tame them, and claim them for the name of England. A few months later, Raleigh was exploring land in present day North Carolina a little North of Roanoke. They scouted for an ideal hiding place for the treasure as well as an area where they could settle, and with the help of some friendly natives, they were able to accomplish this task and sail back to England with the news.
"Now the next spring, Raleigh sent a colony of approximately 108 men to Roanoke Island, including John White, an illustrator who drew maps and pictures of the area and no doubt had knowledge of the treasure location himself. But when the ships were delayed with supplies from England, Sir Francis Drake showed up and agreed to take the colonists under one condition."
"What?" Riley huffed. "Hand over the gold?"
"No," Abigail said, meeting her husband's eyes. "Drake had just raided the West Indies and Florida and was laden with gold of his own, right?"
"That's right."
Riley gave her a look. "I thought you only had unreasonably extensive knowledge of American documents?"
"And access to a library," she said with a smile, nodding around to the collection of books in the room. Riley's words were lost as Ben picked up the story again.
"Drake had just had a successful raid of the Spanish West Indies with a huge 23-ship fleet brimming with riches," he continued. "He had hardly any room for the desperate colonists, but he trusted them. Drake and Governor Lane reached an agreement to keep six shiploads of the looted gold with their treasure in return for safe passage, and the treasure grew significantly."
"So they just returned to England?" Carolyn asked. "That's it?"
"That," Ben said, "was the first failed attempt at Roanoke. The second is more famous for the disappearance of the colonists."
"There were two tries at settling the land," Abigail clarified. "Natives were friendly at first, too; they helped the colonists to farm, fish, grow crops, and introduced them to things like tobacco that grew into a huge industry later for them. But the second attempt - the Lost Colony – didn't do as well."
"In July of 1587, Raleigh organized a second expedition, this one with 113 colonists that included women and children. John White, the illustrator from the first colony, was named Governor. They were headed for the Chesapeake Bay, but Roanoke was closer so they settled there again. However, the Natives were not as friendly as Manteo or previous tribes. The Roanoke tribe killed a man while he was innocently fishing named George Howe." Ben looked to Carolyn's wide eyes with a smile. "Any relation?"
"None that I know of," she said slowly, looking at the floor between the coffee table and couch. "I guess we can always find out sometime."
Riley's groan went unnoticed. "Yay, a history project…"
"Did the colonists retaliate against the Roanoke Indians?" Carolyn asked.
"They did, but the friendly Croatoans deterred the mess and established neutral grounds of forgiveness between them and the Roanoke Island Indians.
"And then, a few days later, Governor White's daughter gave birth to the first child in the colony named Virginia Dare. He was separated from them not two days later when the ships had to return to England for supplies, but it was the last time he'd ever see them. Any of them.
"War broke out with Spain when they were about to return to the colony," Ben said as they listened attentively. "Raleigh and White were forced to give up the ships for the Armada until war slowed. After three years, they were able to return to Roanoke for their colonists in 1590. But, White found no one."
Riley, again, found his curiosity speaking before his brain could stop it. "What happened to them?" he asked quietly.
Ben laughed dismally. "Well, that's the question, isn't it? Nobody knows."
"Governor White found the colony a ransacked ruin when he came back," Abigail said. "The houses were destroyed, fences uprooted-"
"And the single clue of what may have become of them," Ben announced, "were those three letters: C-R-O. But the word 'Croatoan' was actually carved in one of their main trees with a Maltese cross above it."
"What's a Maltese cross?" Carolyn asked.
"Sign of distress," Ben explained. "White told them to use it only in emergencies, and here it was carved above 'Croatoan.' Did the colonists flee to Croatoan Island with the friendly tribe after another Roanoke attack? Did the Croatoans themselves slaughter and take the colonists? There were many theories ranging from a hurricane to a plague, but no bodies or bones of the colonists were ever found."
"I thought they were all killed in the settlement," Carolyn said, rethinking her beliefs at the new information. "But then that makes no sense."
"The colony didn't show signs of nature overtaking it, either," Ben said. "So the departure of the colonists was recent up to the time of Governor White's return. The most popular theory now is that the tribes left the settlement consciously and split; the smaller of the two groups merged with the Croatoan tribe. The larger group went to the Chesapeake Bay and were slaughtered by Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas."
"That wasn't in the movie," Riley laughed to himself.
"Neither is this: Powhatan admitted to killing them to John Smith after befriending him. Another fun anecdote is that during the slaughter of the larger group, Powhatan found Virginia Dare as an infant and raised her as Pocahontas."
"What?" Abigail asked disbelievingly. "No."
"Yes!" Ben argued. "Pocahontas was known for her fair skin, and she was twenty, twenty-one years old when the Jamestown settlement was established in 1607. Twenty years before? 1587."
The three of them looked at him dumbfounded. Riley shook his head. "I can't… no. Too much."
"For over four hundred years now, historians, including Whittacre, have been trying to discover the truth of their disappearance off three letters," Ben said. "Something so small led to the biggest mysteries of all time."
"So enlighten me on how this has anything to do with the riddle," Riley said. "Colonists disappear… Whittacre's found the colony, so the gold's gotta be there, too. Oh but wait," he said before Ben could speak. "The gold went missing with the colonists, didn't it?"
"You're getting better at this, Riley," Ben said. Riley smiled falsely.
"Aren't you the one that told me history repeats itself?"
"It tends to." He lifted the compass up again. "As far as the tale versus the riddle here…"
"'Captive' could mean the colonists were taken against their will," Abigail mused.
"No, 'captive truth,'" Ben said. "The truth of the mystery is captive, not the colonists. 'Ye worthy, bare…'
"Only the best and the brightest?" Carolyn said with a knowing smile to Ben.
"I'd imagine so," he said, returning her compliment in a smile of his own.
"'Rests upon the twilight's air?'" Riley asked. "How does a truth rest on air?"
"I don't know," Ben said. 'Twilight' didn't seem to jar anything special to the mystery in him. He looked at the face of the compass. "Twilight is when the sun is rising," he said, trying to work it out to himself. "The sun rises in the East."
"Perhaps we have to go East?" Carolyn asked. Ben shook his head.
"Where would we start from, though?"
A collective sigh of momentary defeat came from them, Carolyn sinking back into the couch rather sadly. "Maybe there isn't even a start point."
"I don't even know why you're all dwelling on this," Riley said, all eyes moving on him. "This is not our hunt. Maddox wants his compass, and I say we give it to him. It's none of our business. If he's threatening us for this, it's not worth it." He had an uncharacteristic plead in his eye. "Please, just… not now. We're dealing with enough and a treasure hunt isn't going to make life any less stressful."
As much as Ben didn't want to admit it, Riley was entirely right. It wasn't their treasure to find. Despondently, he placed the compass back in the box and closed it slowly. Riley let out a sigh of relief as Abigail and Carolyn stared at him.
"That's it?" Carolyn asked. "You're just passing it up-"
"It's not our compass," Ben said, overriding her. "Just return it to him. It's not worth risking what we don't have to right now."
"But-"
Ben picked up the compass and set it in Carolyn's hands without meeting her eyes. "Get it to him." He picked up his mother's bank account information from earlier and read it as if he had never laid eyes on the compass. Even Riley was taken aback at his reaction (but secretly happy to dissuade him). Abigail sighed.
"Ben…"
He suddenly sat up, looking at the paper.
"Is this the bank information?"
Riley looked at Ben with concern. "Yeah, it says right at the top of the page 'Riggs National Bank.' Why?"
"It says 'compass.'"
"What?" Abigail laughed, seizing the paper. She read the box containing the contents of the bank account. There was a single line that read, 'FD-E Compass.' Carolyn and Riley looked at Ben rigidly with Abigail.
"Maybe its bank jargon," Riley said, hoping for a miracle that he'd be right. "Compass might be a kind of account."
"That's what's in the account," Carolyn pointed out. "'FD-E Compass' is what's in the bank."
"You can keep a compass in the bank?" Riley asked.
"It's a Swiss account," Abigail said as Ben compared his paper to Maddox's statement. "You can put anything of great value in a Swiss bank account. Not just money."
Ben couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling of being on the verge of making a breakthrough as he glanced between the two papers. His mind was racing at full speed and igniting a sense of intuition he'd be foolish to ignore.
"They're connected."
"Excuse me?" Riley squeaked.
"The compasses."
"How?" Carolyn asked, leaping forward earnestly.
"Look at the name," Ben said, pointing at the bank paper. "'FD-E.' That 'E' is East. See, Compass N meant the 'N' on the back of this compass, so the 'E' means there's an 'E' on that compass."
"And there's and S compass and W compass, too?" Riley asked mockingly. He was unnerved by the silent look Ben was giving him to confirm his wild accusation as not so far-fetched. Riley swallowed hard. "I didn't mean that. Really. What if it's just cataloguing or filing?"
"'FD?'" Abigail asked.
Carolyn smiled. "Francis Drake?" she tried.
"Yes," Ben laughed, pointing at her. "Exactly! I don't know how my mother got his compass, but… wow. I guess she didn't have time to delve into it and knew I couldn't resist."
"And you can't!" Riley said. "That's the problem! They aren't connected!"
"The sun rises in the East," Ben said as he shook the bank paper for emphasis. "The riddle points to the next compass. And I have it. So I am involved now."
"Thank you, Mrs. Gates…"
"How long until we can get it?" Abigail asked.
"Four weeks," Ben sighed, seeing this as the only problem.
"That's after the wedding," Carolyn said, echoing his tone. "Maddox said if he didn't have the compass by then, he'd show up shooting."
"Then we send it to him," Riley said as gently urgent as he could. He felt like an awful person for causing the look of upset on his best friend's face, but making him see reason was never easy. He gave the historian one last plea, speaking barely above a whisper. "Ben. Please."
Ben grimaced at how selfish he suddenly felt under Riley's begging eyes. He wasn't ready to just throw away this discovery, but he had to for the time being. He swallowed his pride and looked at the design on the couch.
"All right," he obliged civilly as the excitement fled from Carolyn and Abigail. "Send it to him first thing in the morning. We'll let him know it's on its way so he doesn't think we're lying."
"You promise, Ben?" Riley asked carefully. "Do you really promise that that compass is going in the mail tomorrow?"
"I promise," Ben said respectfully. But it didn't seem enough for Riley.
"Do you swear? No treasure hunting? Because I refuse to help." Ben felt a weird stab at the statement coming from Riley he'd never imagined the boy-at-heart to say. Riley was steadfast in his decision, though it pained him to stay that way.
"I won't help you, Ben," he said lowly with great difficulty. "I can't. I won't."
Riley felt he had just crossed a line that never existed, and it made him feel sick. Their stare was intense and heavy. Riley wasn't sure he could hold up much longer, but then Ben finally said again, "I promise. In fact, you can come to the post office when we mail it tomorrow."
Riley nodded, significantly more at ease. "Okay. Carolyn, I'm going to go put the stuff in the car."
"I'll be right out."
Carolyn sighed soundly and stood as they scattered, looking at the compass rose on the box. She looked back up at Ben, knowing he must surely have something else in mind. She continued to look at him until he met her eyes curiously.
"That's not it, is it?" she asked quietly, a large part of her surprisingly responding positively to the thrill of the encounters she could experience again, the danger. Ben looked up at Abigail across the room and nodded with a determined eye, turning back to Carolyn.
"Not a chance."
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