Wow, I actually got two chapters out in almost as many weeks! I feel like I've accomplished something :)
I also have a couple of chapters about ready to be edited right now, thank you to Sparky Dorian, my new beta, she's great. :)
Oh, if you watch Criminal Minds, there's a guest appearance by one of my favorite characters. This won't become a crossover though, I think this is the only chapter I'll be borrowing her.
Chapter 7:
Peter Sadusky opened his cell phone and quickly dialed the number for the tech girl in the BAU unit; Sadusky's tech woman had gone on Maternity leave and wouldn't be back until after the Christmas holiday.
"Penelope Garcia, speak if you wish to learn," a perky voice answered after a single ring.
"Garcia, its Sadusky," Peter said, this tech girl was supposed to know that Sadusky and his team would need her help until his team got their tech girl back.
"Hello sir, how can I help you?" Penelope sounded a little horrified at how she had answered the phone.
"Can you look up somebody for me?"
"Sure, who?"
"The name is Molly Prewet, however, Prewet is her maiden name; she might have changed it by now."
There was the sound of typing on the other end of the line. "I'm going to need more than that; I've got 116 of her," Garcia said.
"We know she lived in Virginia from 1988 to 1994, it's possible she moved in 1995, we're not sure where. She was married to Benjamin Gates. The divorce was final in May of '95."
"I've got her, she still goes by Prewet;" there was some typing and Garcia spoke again. "She moved several times, mostly around the DC area until 1999, she now lives in Portland Oregon, with her little boy Brandon, from his birth record, he'll turn seven in January."
"All right, can you send me the info on her?" Peter asked.
"I'm sending it to Agent Dawes' phone right now," Garcia said, just before Agent Dawes' phone beeped as an incoming file came in.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome Sadusky," Penelope said, they hung up and Peter turned to Agent Dawes.
"Do you have Molly's phone number?" Peter asked.
"Yes and her address," Dawes said.
Peter glanced at the clock, it was nearly midnight their time, but Portland Oregon was three hours earlier, meaning it wasn't even nine o'clock Pacific time.
He flipped his phone open again and dialed the number Dawes read off. It rang once, twice and was finally picked up in the middle of the third ring.
"Hello?" It was a boy who picked up.
"Hello, is your Mommy home?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, who's this?" the boy asked.
"My name is Peter Sadusky, I'm with the FBI," Peter said.
"Are you like a police officer?" the boy asked.
"A little bit, I work for the President."
"Cool." The little boy sounded impressed. "Mommy, a policeman for the President's on the phone!" Peter heard the phone being handed to someone else and a female voice said faintly.
"Brandon, go to bed, I'll tuck you in when I'm done on the phone." The voice came closer as the woman asked, "Hello, who is this?" The voice sounded confused
"Am I speaking with Molly Prewet?"
"Yes, this is she." The woman voice was now guarded.
My name is Peter Sadusky, I'm with the FBI; it's about Lydia Gates."
"Oh dear God, what happened?"
Peter paused it was probably best that the entire conversation was held face-to-face; "I think it would be best for you to hear the entire story when you're in Washington DC," Peter started to say.
"Is this about the treasure?" Molly asked; sounding very weary.
"What treasure?" Peter asked this was the first time he'd heard anything about any treasure.
There was a deep sigh on the other end of the line. "It's hard to explain but I think it should be done in person."
"That would be helpful; my office is in Washington DC. Dulles International is the closest airport."
"All right, I'll be out there within 24 hours. However; I may need to bring my son."
"That's all right," Peter said. "Here's a number that you can call me at if you need to." He listed his phone number and both he and Molly hung up.
"Is she flying out?" Dawes asked.
"Yes."
"What are you going to tell her? That Lydia is wanted by the FBI?"
"From the information I've gotten, there's a chance that Lydia's being forced to do this. Her father may not be giving her a choice. I'm hoping to have separated Lydia and Ben by the time Molly gets out here."
Meanwhile in Philadelphia, Riley, Ben Dr. Chase and Lydia had the declaration spread out on the dining room table ready to find the treasure map.
"It looks like animal skin," Patrick said from the hallway. "How old is it?"
There was an awkward pause before Ben spoke. "About 200 years."
"You sure?" Patrick asked, he seemed surprised at how old the document was.
"Pretty darn," Ben said. "Dad, it's really late, why don't you get some rest?" Lydia's father was obviously trying to get rid of the older man.
"I'm fine," Patrick said, he went into the kitchen and threw a few things away in the trash, peeking into the dining room from the kitchen.
"Now if this thing's in invisible ink, how do we look at it?" Riley asked.
"Throw it in the oven," Patrick suggested.
"No!" All four of them said at the same time.
Patrick seemed surprised at the outburst but he kept talking. "Ferrous sulphate inks can only be brought out with heat."
"Yes, but this..." Dr. Chase started
"It's very old," Ben interrupted. Dr. Chase looked surprised and actually a little insulted.
"I wouldn't have said what it was," She muttered in French.
"You speak French?" Lydia asked Dr. Chase in French.
"Yes I do, where did you learn?" Dr. Chase asked.
"School," Lydia said, "I've only been learning for two years, I wanted to learn what Ms. Williams was saying about me behind my back." Lydia spoke of her school's secretary.
"You speak French quite well," Dr. Chase said, sounding impressed.
"Thank you" Lydia said, "Madame Josephine says I'm one of the quickest learners she's ever taught." She glanced at her father to see that he had a lemon slice in one hand and was poised over the document. Dr. Chase looked to see what had caught Lydia's attention and her eyes widened noticeably when she saw what Ben was preparing to do.
"Dad what are you doing?" Lydia asked as Dr. Chase spoke
"You can't do that!" Dr. Chase said, grabbing Ben's wrist to stop him from squirting the declaration.
"But it has to be done."
"Then someone who is trained to handle antique documents is gonna do it," Dr. Chase said firmly.
"Okay."
Dr. Chase took the lemon slice from Ben's hand got some juice on a Q-tip "Now, if there is a secret message, it'll probably be marked by a symbol in the upper right-hand corner."
"That's right." Ben seemed a little impressed, Lydia wasn't. Yes, Dr. Chase was smart for not just squirting the document but still, even Lydia knew that.
Dr. Chase paused as she realized something. "I am so getting fired for this," she said, bending to the document.
Honey, you passed that point a long time ago. Lydia couldn't help but think.
The group of four leaned into the Declaration and they all held a collective breath. Nothing happened and they all let out a breath of disappointment.
"I told you. You need heat." Patrick was peeking in from the kitchen again.
Ben and Dr. Chase looked at each other for a moment before leaning down to the document they both breathed on it. Lydia and Riley leaned in to see if anything happened.
To Lydia's amazement there was writing on the declaration! Lydia felt a thrill shoot through her. This is awesome, she thought, grinning.
"We need more juice." Ben grinned
"We need more heat," Dr. Chase said, grinning back.
It took nearly twenty minutes but Dr. Chase got the lemon juice on the declaration and turned on Lydia's hair dryer and was warming the document; making the writing appear, Ben was writing it all down on a legal pad.
"That's not a map," Riley realized, just as Lydia realized the same thing. "Is it?" he asked.
"More clues, what a surprise," Patrick said from the hallway. They ignored him.
"Are those latitudes and longitudes?" Riley asked.
"These are why we need the Silence Dogood letters," Ben said.
"That's the key?" Dr. Chase asked, turning the hair dryer off.
"Yeah. 'The key in Silence undetected,' " Ben repeated some of the clue off. "Dad, can we have the letters now?"
"Will somebody please explain to me what these magic numbers are?" Riley said, clearly annoyed that he didn't know what was going on.
"Yeah, I'm curious too," Lydia said.
"It's an Ottendorf cipher." Dr. Chase said, she put the hair dryer down and leaned in close to the Declaration.
"That's right," Patrick said,
"Oh, okay," Riley said as if that explained everything.
"What's an Ottendorf cipher?" Lydia asked.
"They're just codes." Patrick obviously knew what it was.
"Each of these three numbers corresponds to a word in a key; usually a random book or a newspaper article," Dr. Chase explained. "In this case it's the Silence Dogood letters. So it's like the page number of the key text," Dr. Chase pointed to the number she was talking about, "the line on the page, and the letter in that line."
"So, Dad, where are the letters?" Ben asked, finally done with writing the numbers down.
"You know, it's just by sheer happenstance that his grandfather even found them; they were in an antique desk from the press room..." Patrick started rambling
"Dad." Apparently Ben had the same knot in his stomach that Lydia did, Grandpa never rambled, not unless he was trying to hide something.
"...of the New England Courant. That's a newspaper."
"Dad, where are the letters?" Ben asked when it was obvious that Patrick was done talking.
"I don't have them, son."
"What?" Ben and Lydia spoke as one.
"I don't have them."
Ben cleared his throat. "Where are they?" Ben asked; obviously fighting for patience, he sat down and pulled one of the gloves off with his teeth.
"I donated them to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia."
Ben's head dropped back in frustration. "Great," he muttered sarcastically.
Ben looked around the table as Lydia stifled a yawn; she glanced at the clock and realized that it was just after midnight. She wasn't used to staying up this late, even on a weekend. Finally Ben looked at Patrick again; when he started speaking it was obvious that he didn't want to be asking his dad this question. "Dad, can we spend the night here?"
"I don't have very many guest bedrooms set up, only Lydia's," Patrick said, "But if you want to get things set up then sure, you can stay here for tonight."
"Thanks Grandpa," Lydia said, stifling another yawn.
"Thank you Dad, we've had a long day," Ben said.
"A couple of you will have to double up; I've only got three guest rooms," Patrick said.
"My room is the only one with two beds," Lydia said.
"Looks like the girls will be sharing," Ben said.
Lydia bit back a groan; she was not looking forward to sharing a room with Dr. Chase. "Okay. I'll show you where my room is Dr. Chase." Lydia tried to sound polite.
"Thank you Lydia," Ben said, smiling at his daughter.
"I still can't believe it. All this time no one knew what was on the back." Lydia's eyes widened as she realized that Dr. Chase had spoken loud enough for Patrick to hear.
"The back of what?" He asked, leaning over a chair and picking up the document.
"No!" All four of them, Lydia Riley, Ben, and Dr. Chase spoke as one, but it was too late.
"Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Patrick saw the title of the Declaration and started to freak out.
"I know," Ben said, he moved to the other side of the table, making Lydia take a few steps to the side.
"Oh, my God. What have you done? This is... this is the..."
"I know!" Ben spoke sharply to get his dad's attention.
"This is the Declaration of Independence!" Patrick was finally able to finish a sentence.
"Yes. And it's very delicate," Dr. Chase said, gently taking the document from Patrick's hands, she started to put it away as Patrick turned to Ben.
Lydia looked over at Dr. Chase, trying to figure out if the woman had said what she had on purpose. Dr. Chase seemed to sense somebody looking at her and she looked up, her eyes landing on Lydia.
"I'm sorry!" Dr. Chase mouthed, as far as Lydia could tell, the woman's silent apology was genuine.
Lydia turned back to her father and grandfather as Patrick was saying, "There is no treasure! I wasted 30 years of my life. And now you've destroyed yours. And you pulled me and Lydia into all this."
"I went in willingly!" Lydia objected loudly.
"Well, we can't have you in the middle of it," Ben stated, he turned to the two youngest members of the group, "I changed my mind, we're leaving, Riley go get the duct tape from the van, Lydia go get some extra clothes from the spare room closet."
"I already did get some extra clothes for Dr. Chase, remember?" Lydia asked. "Right after I got here."
Ben nodded remembering that Lydia had packed a bag.
"I think some of this stuff would fit her," Lydia waved her hand in Dr. Chase's general direction but then turned to the woman who had just finished putting the Declaration away. "I'm not trying to be rude Dr. Chase, but you'll stick out like a sore thumb in that dress."
"You're right, I should change here," Dr. Chase said. She walked towards Lydia and the girl held out the pillow case.
"I know you're a little taller than I am, but the jeans might fit. I like longer jeans anyway," Lydia said. "I put a belt in there too; you look a little smaller than me."
The woman nodded and took the pillow case into the downstairs bathroom.
"Lydia, we will talk about your attitude later," Ben said quietly.
Lydia had to fight to keep from rolling her eyes, fathers could so over react sometimes, yes she could have been more polite, but it's not like Lydia had been insulting the woman.
By the time Dr. Chase came in again, Grandpa had been taped to a chair and Lydia was giving her grandpa a glass with a straw, "I don't want him to get dehydrated," Lydia was explaining to Ben and Riley. She stopped when she saw Dr. Chase come in to the room. Like all women, she'd looked pretty in the dress, but she still looked pretty, even though she'd changed into Jeans and a T-shirt. Lydia felt a little twinge of jealousy; she couldn't look that pretty in just jeans or a T-Shirt if she tried.
Ben and Riley turned when Lydia stopped talking and they saw Dr. Chase come in.
"Hey," Ben's voice had gotten soft as he looked at Dr. Chase.
Lydia took in breath and shared a glance with her grandfather; "With the anniversary being this week, he shouldn't be looking at her like that," Grandpa muttered quietly enough that Ben didn't hear them. "Not in front of you at least."
Lydia nodded tears stinging her eyes. She wasn't sure why this anniversary of her mother leaving hurt so much, it hadn't been half this bad last year, in fact she hardly ever thought about it. Why now?
"Ben." Grandpa got his son's attention. "There's a couple hundred dollars in my sock drawer, feel free to take it."
"Dad…" Ben started.
"I may not support this treasure hunt and I may not like the fact that the FBI is after you," Patrick's voice got low. "But I refuse to let my Granddaughter go hungry or without a bed every night."
"I'll be back," Ben said, he went up the stairs, presumably to get the cash from Patrick's sock drawer. He came back down, stuffing something into his jacket pocket. "Let's go." Lydia, Riley and Dr. Chase began to go out into the garage; Riley had already packed everything they needed into the Cadillac when he'd gone to the van for duct tape.
Riley and Lydia got into the back and Ben and Dr. Chase got into the front seats of the car. Ben started the car and pulled out of the driveway. As he turned to leave the neighborhood a car passed them and they all froze, Ben gave a shaky laugh, "if it were the FBI there would be more cars." He tried to speak in a reassuring voice.
Once they left the neighborhood they all seemed to relax a little bit. "Okay, now, where to go to spend the night," Ben said. "We can't exactly drive around Philadelphia for the next nine hours until the Franklin institute opens."
"We could go to a playground and park…" Lydia suggested.
"We will not be doing that," Ben interrupted. "We need beds, otherwise we won't be able to function properly in the morning; Ian and the FBI are after us, we need proper rest."
"How are we going to pay for the motel rooms though?" Lydia asked she dug into the purse she'd been using that night, waving the dollar in the air, "I've only got a dollar left from the fake Declaration fiasco..."
"You had over seventy dollars!" Riley interrupted.
"I had eighty two dollars, and since we had to pay for the fake declaration and the real one…." Lydia began.
"Lydia, Riley, chill or be chilled," Ben interrupted Lydia and Riley's fight. "We've got money; I stole this from his house." Ben held up a book so that the three other occupants of the car could see it. "We've got the money from his sock drawer and this." Ben passed the book to Dr. Chase "He always sticks a few hundred dollars between the pages."
Dr. Chase opened the book "Common Sense, how appropriate," she murmured setting the bills fall into her lap.
"Riley I want you to rent the hotel rooms; we'll have enough money if we go to the East end of Philadelphia."
"Rooms?" Dr. Chase asked, emphasizing the plural.
"With two single women, we can't exactly have the four of us share a room, so I think we'll split up boys and girls," Ben said.
"Fine with me," Riley said. "Wake me when we get to the hotel." He leaned back as much as he could in his seat and closed his eyes. "Ben, your Dad has a sweet ride, but it smells weird."
Lydia sat back in her seat and stared out the window.
"Lydia, when we get to the hotel I want to have a talk with you about something," Ben said cryptically.
"Right, you want to talk to me about my attitude," Lydia said, she knew she was asking for trouble, but for goodness sake, couldn't her dad at least lay off the doe eyes at Dr. Chase until Lydia weren't around?
Twenty minutes later, Ben had found a motel that he felt comfortable with and had sent Riley in to get a couple of hotel rooms for the night.
"Lydia, I want to talk to you outside, let's go." Ben got out of the car, after fumbling with the seat for a moment, Lydia was able to lower the front seat of the Cadillac and climb out.
"What is it Dad?" Lydia asked folding her arms across her chest.
"Cool off the attitude," Ben's voice was flat and hard but Lydia didn't even react.
"What attitude?" she asked innocently. Lydia knew full well that she was asking to be grounded, giving her Dad that much lip, but she really didn't care much at that point.
"Lydia Emmaline Gates, I'm not in the mood," Ben said sternly. "We have to have Abigail with us. She'd get arrested if she left us."
"And I can tell it's such a burden to have an extra person along," Lydia snapped
"Lydia, please just lay off the attitude, Dr. Chase might surprise you," Ben said.
"Maybe I'd lie of the attitude if you just freaking acknowledged that Mom left! Don't you think that would affect me?" Frustrated, Lydia shook her head and stomped off, Riley was coming up to the car; he had a couple of keys in his hands.
"You and Dr. Chase are in 213," he started, Lydia didn't give him a chance to finish, she grabbed the key he was holding out to her and stomped up the stairs, leaving the rest of the group behind.
