Treasure Sleuth Read online

  "That's it?"

  "That's it."

  Abby put the yellow cupped headphones on and began swinging the machine left and right. "This is so heavy, how do you swing this and hold that heavy sand scoop at the same time?"

  "You get used to it, but I'll carry the sand scoop, you just concentrate on the detecting. It is a heavy machine, but it gets lighter in the water."

  Mark followed a few steps behind, too busy watching Abby's body move than watching her technique. After a few minutes of nothing but the machines threshold hum, Abby turned and asked "Am I doing this right?" catching Mark off guard.

  "Er... yes, that's right. Let me see again," he said. Concentrate. Concentrate.

  Abby had a habit of lifting the search head up at the ends of her swings adding an additional several inches and losing depth.

  "Here," said Mark taking the machine from her. "Watch the search head. You're swinging left to right and lifting the coil into the air each time. Twist your arm as you move left to right and you'll keep the search coil as close to the ground as possible."

  "What if I hit the ground?"

  "It doesn't matter if it happens but try not to hit the ground. More like skim the ground."

  Mark gave her the detector back and she tried to copy his technique.

  "That's better," he said, "But you're still going up slightly at the ends."

  He stuck the sand scoop into the ground and stood right up behind her. Putting his arms around her, he placed his hand on her hand and moved the detector with her. His lips were close to her ear and the scent of her perfume was intoxicating. Wisps of her hair brushed lightly against his cheeks as the wind blew.

  "It's more like this," he explained as he moved her arm left and right making sure it twisted down slightly as it swept above the sand. "Left and down, right and down in a rhythm."

  Mark eased his grip and gave Abby the freedom to move on her own. She started to slow down and turned her body to face Mark. Her eyes looked up and said all he needed to hear. Without saying a word, Mark cupped his hands around her face, leaned in and kissed her. She relaxed her grip on the detector running the fingers of her other hand around his neck, pulling him in closer.

  Abby suddenly heard a high-pitched squeal in her headphones that Mark could hear also. He let her go and she marked the spot with her foot while Mark got to work placing the metal sand scoop over the area and pushing his body weight on top.

  "Let me try," said Abby as she handed him the detector and took hold of the sand scoop. "Geez... This. Is. Ridiculous. How the hell are you supposed to lift this?" she asked panting with sheer exhaustion.

  "Here, let me get it out of the sand for you," Mark said holding the detector in his left hand while lifting the sand scoop out with one mighty pull of his right. Placing it back onto the sand by Abby's feet he motioned for her to take over. Using both hands she lifted the scoop up into the air to attempt to shake the sand through the small holes in the side.

  "Don't worry about doing that," Mark said. "The sand is too wet so it all sticks together. Just tip it up onto the beach."

  Abby tried but just dropped the scoop onto the sandy floor. Mark laughed.

  "I didn't mean throw it down," he joked.

  "I didn't mean to, it's so damn heavy!" Abby laughed back.

  Lifting the scoop back up, the sand inside slid out in one lump into a mound on the beach.

  "Here, detect over the hole to make sure we've got it," Mark said handing back the machine to Abby.

  "Nothing," she said hovering the detector back and forth over the hole now filled with water. Mark motioned for her to go over the scoop's mound.

  "Yes!" Abby said. "It's in there somewhere."

  Mark crouched down pulling out a short stubby plastic probe.

  "This is a pin-pointer," he said pressing a button and making it bleep. "Move it slowly through the sand until the bleeps get quicker, and it will zone in on the target."

  He handed it to Abby who was crouching down alongside him. She guided the pin-pointer through the sand until it bleeped in quick succession and gave a small vibration. Losing the bleeps she moved it back until they started again and then guided it in the direction that made the bleeps sound like an alarm until finally a continuous flat-line bleep could be heard.

  "There it is," Mark said as Abby reached into the sand and pulled out the object.

  "A coin!" she exclaimed.

  "Hey not bad, your first find and it's a coin. That sure beats a pull tab."

  "It's a bit dull, but I can see a lion on it."

  "It's a pound coin. Just another three hundred and ninety nine thousand of these and the lighthouse will be yours!"

  Like having her first taste of blood, Abby wanted more. "Come on," she said. "Let's see what else is hiding in here."

  After fifty minutes of swinging the machine, Abby's arm was well and truly aching. She rested the detector against her leg and took off her lace over-dress and let it fall to the beach floor. "Come on, let's go into the water," she said.

  Mark took off his shirt and Abby was drawn into his rock hard abs.

  "I guess all this digging and pulling up sand keeps you fit," she said reaching out and brushing down his abs with the tips of her fingers.

  "The world is my gym," he replied looking intensely into her eyes. "You look stunning," he said leaning in to kiss her. She put her hand at the back of his head running her fingers through his hair. Letting go and grabbing his hand, Abby led the way into the surf. The cold surf. Although it was a beautiful sunny day, spring wasn't anything like the summer for venturing into the water. At least not without a wetsuit.

  "Oh my god!" Abby shrieked as the waves splashed over her hips. She gripped hold of Mark's hand as she tip toed up getting as much of her body out of the water.

  "I guess this is nothing like the surf back in the States?" Mark asked with a smirk on his face.

  "Are you kidding me? This is freezing!" She turned and started to make her way back to the warm sands when the headphones let out a sharp buzz from around her neck. She stopped and moved the detector slowly under the water, looking through the clear waves at the sandy bottom. Mark put his hand on her shoulder to steady her as each wave rocked her slightly back towards the shore.

  "It's here!" she said pointing with her foot. Mark moved to her side and put his foot on top of hers.

  "Okay, let me see," he said as he placed the sand scoop over the edge of his foot. Then he placed his foot on top of the scoop and stood up with all his body weight sinking the metal scoop under the ocean floor. A large sand cloud turned the water murky as he heaved it back up swishing it through the water. Abby watched as sand filtered out through the side holes until it surfaced and the remaining water drained out. Peering inside revealed three small stones and a shell.

  "Must have missed it," Mark said. "Try again, and see if it's still there."

  Abby moved the headphones over her ears and listened intensely as she moved the search head through the water. As soon as it gave a high pitched squeal she stomped her foot down like she was squashing a cockroach.

  "Right here," she said.

  Mark moved his foot over once again as to prevent their prey from escaping. He stood on the scoop pressing his bodyweight and moving the handle up and down like a giant lever, digging the scoop deep into the sand. It was so deep, it took both his hands to heave it back out of its hole. An even bigger sand cloud erupted in the water around them. As the sea water drained out into the open air splashing back into the sea, Mark heard the fruitful sound of metal clanging against metal. Peering into the scoop Abby reaching her hand in and pulled out the find.

  "A ring!" she said with satisfaction, holding it tightly as she waded her way back to shore. "It's beautiful," she said holding it up to the sun. "And unusual."

  It was a large chunky silver ring, rectangle in size with distinctive markings.

  "It's looks African," Mark said trying his best not to shiver in front of Abby. "Those markings
look like Tuareg."

  "Tuareg? As in from the Sahara?"

  "Yes, they look like hand crafted markings from Tuareg tribesman, from the Saharan parts of Niger or Mali. It's a lovely find, well done. Worth getting cold for?"

  "Yeah, for sure. How does a silver Tuareg ring end up on an English beach a few thousand miles away?"

  "That's the beauty of making finds like this, you'll never know the how's or the why's. It could be from a shipwreck of old and sat preserved in the clay base under the sand until a storm churns it all up. Then it sits a few inches away waiting to be discovered all these years later. Or a tourist from the Sahara neck of the woods lost the ring while swimming here. Or most likely, someone brought it as a souvenir whilst on holiday in the Sahara from one of the Berber families and then made the mistake of getting into this cold water and it just slipped off."

  "My goodness, how does a ring of this size slip off without you realizing?"

  "Look at your own fingers now. They're white. Fingers shrink in cold seas and most times rings slip off with such ease, especially if the person is swimming and flapping their arms through the water, they won't even feel it. And even if they did, there's nothing they could do. It will sink to the sand and bury itself in seconds. Every slight movement then made on the sand will dislodge it further, sinking it away from the original landing spot."

  "Which is what happened to us when you dug up the first scoop of sand?"

  "Exactly. We almost lost it again using a big sand scoop and metal detector. Without a sand scoop you'd have no chance of recovering this."

  "What do you think it's worth?"

  "Probably about half a million."

  "No way?"

  "No I'm kidding."

  "Oh you asshole! I almost believed that."

  "It's probably worth about fifty quid, maybe one hundred. Next time you're down here, call into the police station and see if anyone has lost a ring, just in case you can return it."

  Mark reached down to pick up Abby's lace dress and his shirt from the beach. He checked his phone for any missed calls.

  "We have another text from Lyons. Party A who offered the two hundred are now offering three hundred after they were outbid. Party B are now offering four hundred. Shit. That is some bloody coin."

  "Are you kidding around with me again?"

  "No, straight up. We've got two offers here, three hundred and four hundred."

  "Oh Mark!" Abby was overjoyed, throwing her arms around Mark. "Is this really happening? Four hundred thousand dollars?"

  "Pounds Abby, pounds!"

  "Pounds! Okay, four hundred thousand pounds!"

  "What do we do now? Can we take it? Should we?"

  "Maybe. I wonder how far we could push them?"

  "I wouldn't want to scare them off. Remember Mark, this is all before the auction. What if the auction day was different and nobody was interested? We might only get a hundred thousand."

  Mark thought for a few moments before answering.

  "You could be right. I've seen some good auctions but this is remarkable. This much, this fast for one bloody coin. I'll go back with a counter offer of five hundred and see what they say."

  "Half a million? That's crazy. What if they don't accept? Please don't lose them, let's take the four hundred."

  It was too late. Mark sent his text reply back to Mr. Lyons and asked for five hundred thousand.

  As they walked back across the sand, a loud high pitched squeal echoed out of the headphones draped around Abby's neck.

  "Oh, did you hear that?" she asked.

  Mark stopped and look back at the sand. "Where was the signal? We need to dig it?"

  "I thought we were going back?"

  "Yes, but I can never ignore a signal. Some of the best finds have been made on the way back," Mark said plunging the sand scoop deep into the ground and pulling it out with one arm. Within seconds the pin-pointer was emitting a continuous beep and Mark was holding a gold ring up in the air to Abby's delight. "See? What did I tell you about never ignoring a signal?"

  A huge single green emerald caught the sunlight and glinted a rainbow of colors. Abby took it for a closer examination while Mark filled the hole back with sand.

  "This is beautiful!" Abby said enthusiastically, trying it on. "But it's too big for my fingers," she said pulling a grumpy face.

  "It would look nice on your hand though," Mark replied.

  "Oh you think?" she asked watching for Mark's reaction. He just picked up the sand scoop and walked off smiling.

  Walking back up the coast path from the lifeboat house, Abby looked down on the sandy beach below and stopped.

  "It would be really amazing if this all turned out right and I could come back to this," she said looking out across the cove.

  "Yes it would be great to have you back here," Mark said.

  "Would you come and visit me if I came back?" Abby asked.

  "Are you kidding? I'd pick you up from the airport," Mark replied without hesitation.

  "I'd like that," Abby said turning to face Mark. "But only if you don't screw this up with your auction gambles," she said before walking off swinging the detector into the bushes as she passed them.

  "Gambles?" Mark shouted after her, running to catch up. "Just trying to do the right thing. Gene obviously thought it was worth more than a hundred and fifty gees, else he wouldn't have left it in the book."

  "I just hope you're right. I don't want to lose the lighthouse and I'd never be able to explain any of this to Mom if this goes wrong. 'Sorry Mom, I think we should keep the lighthouse because Grandpa had a secret room and I think we'd be able to use his maps and clues to find some treasure to one day pay for your dog's home. In the meantime, Grandpa's sidekick, who he never told anyone about, has ninety grand buried in a graveyard which he'll happily donate but you'll have to wait for the builders to finish building the housing estate next to the church, maybe a year or two should do it'."

  Mark moved in front of Abby to stop her walking and looked at her quizzically like a dog tilting his head.

  "Sidekick?"

  Abby just walked around him and continued along the grass cliff top. Mark stood shaking his head for a moment, then ran after her again. Grabbing her hand and pulling her to stop he got all serious.

  "Hey, we're not losing this lighthouse and your mum is not going to lose her dogs home, okay? Trust me. The plan is working out well so far. It's a bit tight for time, but shit, I'm working on it. Just have a little faith baby."

  "Oh my God, did you just call me 'baby'?" Abby looked intense as if she was about to bite Mark's head off. He wasn't going to wait around for a verbal assault over one word, so this time he turned to walk away through the gate and towards the lighthouse. Abby jogged after him and reached out to his arm. "Hey Mark?"

  Mark turned and Abby just kissed him. He dropped the sand scoop onto the floor with a "CLANG!" and whilst still kissing took the detector from her hands and dropped it onto his outstretched foot, lowering it to the floor. Fumbling for the key with his left hand while his right hand made its way up the back of Abby's lace dress, he finally opened the door and they stumbled through into the entrance area. Abby grabbed Mark's hand and started up the stairs, he was happy to follow close behind. Reaching the top she turned to face Mark who continued to kiss her, lifting her up in his arms and lowering her onto the curved window sofa. She sat up kissing his cheeks and neck while he reached behind her and gave a short, sharp tug on her bikini string, releasing her top.

  ***

  Mark sat upright, his back against the glass with Abby's head resting on his legs, her naked body stretched out along the sofa under a cream fur blanket. His fingers gently stroking her hair, his head tilted down watching her breathe.

  "What are you thinking about?" Abby asked in a soft voice.

  "About you."

  "What about me?"

  "I was wondering if you have to go back on Friday?"

  "I've been wondering that too. But yes, I
do. I have to be back at work on Monday. I'm in the middle of a case and I feel a responsibility to see it through. What about you?"

  "Yeah I have to be in London on Monday for a client meeting. I was supposed to be working on their website this week from home, but I haven't even thought about it once. I'm thinking about making this the last site I do."

  "And then what?"

  "Well, then, maybe spending some time looking through Gene's notes. There seems to be a lifetime of research down there and it would be a shame to see it all go to waste because I was too busy building websites and then chasing clients for payment."

  "I've been thinking about Grandpa too and what you said about him wishing he didn't leave it too late. Last night I couldn't sleep again so I started writing."

  "You did? That's great."

  "Just a few pages, but it felt good. Actually it was about coming here and meeting you."

  "It was?"

  "I've been wanting to tell my friends about Grandpa's Amber Room, the treasure and you but I knew I couldn't risk anything making its way back to Mom or any of the family finding out. So I pretended I was an author writing a book and imagined one person reading it on the other side of the world. It felt good to be sharing it."

  "Do you think you'd like to write full time?"

  "Yes, maybe. Do you think you could make one more website?"

  "For?"

  "For me. A plan I've been thinking about."

  "Of course. Just let me know what you want and I'll do it for you."

  "Thank you," Abby said lifting her head up to kiss Mark.

  "Talking of plans, look, the sun is setting and we need to get ready. If we don't get this gold recovered tonight then this might be the last time we look out of this window at this sunset."