Romance of the Iron Maiden
Valley of Shadows
Chapter twenty one: The Key
"Let's begin with this…" Velma said, pulling out the old map from her bag, handing it to Long John. "What can you tell from this?"
Long John took the map, carefully examined it closely before commenting, "Fake, there are dozens of maps claiming to be to the McDuff treasure, I have four myself. There is one difference with this map; it shows the location of the treasure right here at this house." He handed the map back to Velma who placed it back in her bag. "If you paid for that map, you got taken."
"I didn't pay for it but someone paid a dear price for it" Velma thought of Bruno and 'Boss', marked for life. "Any idea where the treasure could be hidden?"
"No, not really, those maps I mentioned, led nowhere. One ended in a bog. If the treasure is there, it's at the bottom of the bog. Without the key we'd just be guessing. I've guessed for five years.
"What key, I've never heard of a key" a flabbergasted Velma said.
"With buried treasure there is always a key. Local legend has it that after McDuff buried the treasure, he either made or more likely had two necklaces made. The key was you had to have both necklaces to have the key.
One was known as the "Valley of Shadows" because the sea forms the valley, which causes shadows, and named after the ship, 'The Shadow". It has been lost through time, long forgotten.
The second was silver dolphins, which you see all over this area. The dolphins were alternated with tear shapes as pendants. It was to represent the tears loved ones shed for the crewmen who didn't get off in the sinking. Legend has it that the crewmen took off the treasure, but my research shows not all of the crewmen survived the sinking. We need both necklaces to have the key to the treasure."
Velma looked around the table for confirmation. "It's time." Fred said. "Agreed" said Shaggy and Daphne. Velma picked up he bag once more, extracting the necklace that had caused so much trouble, "Some one wants this very badly, I hope it helps" she laid the necklace out on the table.
Long John looked at the necklace a long time before turning to his wife, "Get my strongbox please Mari" he said very low, barely above a whisper.
In only minutes, Mari was back carrying a metal box which she placed in front of Long John. He took a key ring from his pocket, selecting a key and opened the strong box.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, before you is the lost necklace, the 'Valley of Shadows", may I present to you the second necklace, "the Tears of Shadows". He pulled a necklace of silver dolphins and black tear shaped pendants, laying the necklace beside the other. "For the first time in probably centuries, the two necklaces are reunited. Partners, we now have the key!"
"We have the key, where do we find the door that fits the key?" Daphne asked.
"I have an idea; let's begin by eliminating some areas. Long John, you said you basically remodeled this house; was there an area that you didn't have to repair?" Velma asked.
"I found it in pretty bad shape; I completely remodeled the upper part; the basement was the only area that only needed some minor work and touch up."
"This place has a basement?! Then that's where we begin" Velma declared.
"Do you know how many times I've searched the basement? I thought the same thing!" Long John told her.
"But now we have the key!" was her reply.
Daphne insisted on cleaning and rewrapping Tommy's foot; with the delay it would be mid morning before the six trooped down the basement steps. The basement was well lighted…and empty. Daphne gave out a loud gasp when she saw the skeleton sitting on an old chest.
A laughing Long John had to wait several minutes before he could explain," Don't worry Daphne, he's harmless. I put in a generator for lighting and since this is a pirates' house, I put in the chest around the generator and added the skeleton."
"Jeepers! It's still creepy."
"The basement is pretty much as I found it. We do store some things down here from time to time."
After carefully examining the basement for an hour, they had found nothing except crosses cut into the wooden walls but only two came close to fitting the 'Valley' necklace.
"Nothing!" A disappointed Velma exclaimed. "Let's try to narrow our search. Fred, go outside, take a walking measurement. Shaggy, do the same in here."
"Looking for a hidden room? Long John looked skeptical.
"More like a 'Priests hole' or the pirate equivalent."
"Can we break for lunch after our measuring exercise?" Shaggy wanted to know.
"I'll need to open the door for Fred. Mari can get something ready for lunch and I'm sure Daphne will want to check on her patient. It's been here for two hundred years, if it's here at all; another hour for lunch isn't going to matter."
--xxxxxxx
"So now what? We've been over and over the basement." Daphne pushed her chair back, wiping the last crumbs of lunch from her lips.
"May I make a suggestion?" Shaggy interjected. "I think we've been going at this the wrong way. We've been thinking in twentieth century terms. We need to be thinking like a pirate in the late seventeen hundreds. Vel, your uncle's friend, Gil, gave us a clue, but we weren't listening. He said that the silver backing could be polished to a mirror finish. Daphne, what do you see when you look in a mirror?"
"A beautiful young woman, me of course. Shaggy, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Because you don't! you see a mirror image of yourself! Look at the 'Tears' necklace, tears are clear, not black. A mirror image of the real thing!"
"Again, so what?" Daphne just wasn't getting it.
"I think I see where Shaggy's going with this" Velma said. "We've placed the 'valley' necklace in the cross slots backwards. The pirates wouldn't have electricity; Long John can you imitate torches to go in those torch brackets?"
"I think so but the smoke would be unbearable; I might be able to cut the smoke down."
"Good thinking darling, I think you just may have solved the mystery" Velma told Shaggy.
"Long John, do you have a table we could take down with us?" Shaggy asked.
"I have an old table we no longer use, if Fred will help, I think we can take it down."
"I wondered why two necklaces when one would be sufficient. Now I know." Shaggy began after inspecting the torches Long John had placed in the brackets; one in each corner of the room. "If I may, Vel, I'll use us as an example. I think the good captain was in love, it takes two to make a marriage. In the case of Vel and myself, I knew I loved her, could teach her how to love, but I was helpless until she unlocked the door to her heart and let me show her. I think the good Captain McDuff was in the same spot. He made two necklaces to show that fact. One to show the way, the other to unlock the door. One won't work without the other. Let's kill the lights."
The room was thrown into near darkness, lit only by the four torches. Shaggy placed the 'Valley' necklace into one of the cross cutouts, gem side inward; It was a perfect fit!
"Now, let's see if my theory is correct. The pirates may have had larger torches, but this shows what I had hoped to see" Shaggy walked around the room until he arrived back where he began.
"Each of these torches has a dolphin theme which explains the dolphins on the 'Tears' necklace. With the exception of this one reflected in the 'Valley' necklace, it's missing its dolphin, and I do believe this dolphin on the 'Tears' necklace will fit just right. We can have the lights back on now."
The room was bathed in bright light as Bruno and 'The Boss' walked down the stairs.
"Don't let us stop you. Let's all take a look" 'Boss' said. The light from the nearby torch reflected menacingly off the barrel of the gun he carried in his left hand.