The Treasure of the Penelope

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: You may already know I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Following my story Into Africa.

This is a sequel to Into Africa. I've tried to explain the backstory, but you might want to read it if you haven't already. Don't worry, I'll be right here and won't start this story until you're back.

By the time Ron was through with Rick, the police had arrived. They took a report and promised to send a crime scene unit out the next day.

"Not much hope of getting any fingerprints or DNA off the bottle. Whatever was there is all burned to hell now." The officer said as he was leaving.

Everyone went back to bed, but both Rick and Kate slept fully dressed and with their pistols close at hand.

The CSI team arrived just after dawn. Rick and Kate gave them a brief statement and then left them to their jobs.

Over breakfast, Rick brought up something he'd been thinking about.

"We have to consider that what's happened here are not an unfortunate series of coincidences. Someone wants us out of here."

"I agree. But who, and why?"

"As to the why, the only thing that makes sense is the lost British gold."

Kate shook her head. "No, that doesn't make sense. If the gold was here, the British would have taken it with them when they left in 1783. Everyone says it was buried to the south of here."

"Yeah. Everybody says. That doesn't mean everybody's right. Maybe, Dr. Beckett, world class archeologist, we should look into this ourselves. We can start with Sheriff Bloodstone's mom, the county historian."

"Okay. We can do that later today. But I have to talk to the students first."

"The next problem is who."

"It could be anyone." Kate protested. "We'd have to check out thousands of people."

"I know. We don't have the ability for that. But we should think about the people who've shown an interest in the dig. Someone who's looking for the gold, or has some another reason to want us out, would want to keep an eye on us."

"Someone hiding in the swamp? All Special Forces creepy-crawly like?"

"Not necessarily. What do we know about Buddy?"

Kate shook her head. "I don't see Buddy as being a violent criminal and he's certainly not racist."

"Okay, but he has a boat that needs work. We don't know how much it needs. You could buy a really nice boat with British gold."

"And everyone would know who did it once you started trying to sell it."

"Gold can be melted down. And he could move to Florida, the Gulf Coast of Texas, or California."

"He was with Alicia when Bob Ford got beat up."

"You don't think he doesn't have some redneck buddies who'd do it to just to steal the beer? I'm not saying we have any reason to suspect him, but we have to wonder about everyone. And what about Sheriff Bloodstone?"

"Him?" Kate frowned. "He's a cop."

"And the sheriffs around here are elected. He's ambitious and money is the mother's milk of politics, as they say. The same goes to Congressman Johnson."

Kate glared at him.

"Johnson got me the grant for this dig. Why would he want to sabotage it?"

Rick shrugged. "I'm not saying he did. I just want us to consider the possibilities."

"What about Clark, the chicken king of North Carolina?"

"Just like the rest. No reason to suspect him and no reason not to suspect him. He's rich, but who couldn't use some British gold?"

"Just like about half the state. Everyone knows about the lost British gold and I'll bet there are lots of people who'd happily kill for it."

"So, we just keep our eyes open."

Kate snorted. "You always have your eyes open. The problem is that they're always looking down my blouse."

"Can I help it that you're so beautiful that I can't keep my eyes off of you?"

She laughed. "Seriously, I need to talk to the students."

Kate gathered the students around her.

"Someone could have gotten killed last night. And by someone, I mean me and Rick. Consequently, I'm releasing all of you from the dig. That includes you, Buddy. I will not risk your lives. Rick and I will stay here and work on the dig. The rest of you will have to leave."

Beta Brown stood up. "No way. I'm not going to let some redneck bastards bury my race's history. I'm staying."

"Beta, your part in the dig is over. I'm in charge of the dig and I say it's over.'

Beta glared at Kate, then nodded. "Okay, but this is public land. If I want to stay here for the summer, you can't stop me. And if I want to dig a trench someplace, you can't stop me."

"Beta! There'll just be Rick and me here to protect you. You could get hurt. Killed even."

Buddy spoke. "You know, I need a little rest. I think I'll take me a little vacation right here. You have any problems with that, Beta?"

She shook her head and smiled. "No problems at all."

Alicia then spoke. "A vacation sounds like a good idea. Beta, Buddy, do you mind the company."

In the end, everyone decided they'd vacation right where they were. Kate knew she was beaten.

"Okay, I know when I'm licked."

"So do I." Rick whispered. "You scream."

Kate kicked Rick in the shins.

"You're now officially on the dig's payroll again. Rick and I have an idea that all this is somehow connected to the lost British gold. I know that everyone says that it's buried to the south of here, but I'd like some confirmation of that. Rick and I are going to the county historian for a start. Buddy, is Mrs. Bloodstone any good as a historian?"

"She may be responsible for birthin' Sheriff Bloodstone, but she was my history teacher for two years in high school. She's damned good, just don't tell her where I am. She's probably still after me for some paper or another I didn't hand in. That woman has a memory."

Kate laughed. "Okay, but from now on, your job is security and nothing else. Got that?"

"Sure do. If you don't mind, I got a buddy who'd be a help, and his daddy owns the biggest gun store on all of North Carolina. He's got some cool stuff we could use and he's pretty handy himself, in spite of being a treadhead."

Kate rolled her eyes. "He's a what?"

"He was a tanker in the Army, Beckett. If you're going to hang around me, you'll have to learn the difference between gun bunnies, snake eaters and lawn darts. Not to mention skivvy wavers and puddle pirates."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "We need to go now."

The office that Mrs. Bloodstone had was indeed tiny, but she shot to her feet and smiled as soon as she saw Rick and Kate.

"Oh! You're the wonderful couple that's doing the archeological dig over at Queenstown Point. That's just so wonderful. So few people these days have any use for history other than the Civil War. Would you like some coffee, dears? And how can I help you?"

Over coffee, they explained the problems they'd been having and that they thought that it might be related to someone's belief that the famous lost British gold might be at Queenstown after all.

"We were wondering just what evidence there is that the gold isn't at Queenstown?" Kate finished.

"Oh, there's all sorts of evidence, Dr. Beckett. That story about the lost gold is probably the only thing about local history that anyone cares about around here." She sniffed, "You can't dig a hole in your back yard to plant some flowers any more without a dozen people thinking you're digging for gold. However, since there's so much concern about it, I made up a list of websites that cover the story of the lost gold. Most of them are Canadian, since that's were so many of the Loyalists went to from here, but there are some British government archives." She smiled. "My, but the British do keep records. There are even some US websites. You two can use the computer in the library. Since this is educational, I'll give you a note so they don't charge you for using the computers."

They thanked Mrs. Bloodstone and went upstairs to the library.

Several hours later they were done.

"Every thing we have here shows that the British force was killed off except for one Loyalist officer before they ever got to Queenstown, just like everyone said. And he died without ever saying where the gold was buried."

"And the Brits made a thorough investigation of the loss. "Kate added. "Losing that much gold got everyone's attention. We'll have to conclude that there's no gold at Queenstown."

Rick nodded. "But that doesn't mean that people don't think the gold is there. Like Mrs. Bloodstone said, dig a hole and everyone think you're looking for the gold. Someone may think that because we have a lot of resources, we might know something no one else does. And we are digging holes."

Kate just shook her head.

Once back at the dig, they found Buddy standing by their camper with his Beretta at his hip and his AR 15 slung over his shoulder.

"Any problems, Buddy?" Rick asked.

"Nope, but we got friends coming right behind you."

Rick and Kate turned to see another pickup truck heading down the road towards them. It stopped and two people got out.

"Rick, Kate, this is my good friend George Grey, and his wife, Sissy. George, Sissy, this is Dr. Kate Beckett and Major Rick Rodgers, the people I told you about.'

George was tall, dark haired and had a wiry build. He was dressed in boots, jeans, a tee shirt that showed helicopters and surfers that said, "Charley Don't Surf." On his head was a cowboy hat with a feather in the crown.

Sissy was gorgeous and Kate was sure she knew it. She was tall, at least an inch or two taller than Kate with long, muscular legs shown off by her very short shorts. Kate guessed she had D cup boobs and from the way they bounced under her tee shirt, she was sure Sissy didn't have a bra on. Her long blonde hair and green eyes complimented a beautiful face. As soon as she saw Rick, her eyes lit up. Kate took a step closer to Rick, determined to let Sissy know that Rick was hers.

To Kate's surprise, Sissy stopped in front of her.

"You have a PhD?" Sissy gushed. "Oh, my GOD! If Daddy could see you, he'd bust a gut. "Sissy lowered her voice and adopted an exaggerated Southern accent. "Sissy girl, don't you go fillin' your head with all that book larnin'. The onliest thing a girl needs to know is cookin', cleanin' an' havin' chilluns." Sissy laughed. "I'm still working on my masters at UNC, but since I teach second and third grade, I have to do all of that in the summer. Where did you get your undergraduate degree? How did you decide to be an archeologist? Where did you get your doctorate?"

Sissy carried on with a hundred questions before Kate could answer even one.

George, Buddy and Rick walked to the back of George's pickup.