WWIV_The Last Finders Page 6

  “Who’s gonna take the time to pack up the silver? That don’t make no sense.” He pulled open the remaining drawers, finding tablecloths and various utensils. He itched his lips between his thumb and index finger. He pulled the tablecloths and placemats out of the middle drawer and shook them. “Not in there,” he said, dropping the ornate material to the ground.

  Sharon started digging through the shelves below the drawers. “Here’s a nice silver tea service,” she said, holding the tray up for his inspection. “Some candle sticks; pewter. Too heavy for silver. Little creamer and bowl here. Both are tarnished, so they’re silver.” Sharon continued to dig and Wilson faced the table, deep in thought.

  Slowly, he picked up one of the dark oak chairs and flipped it upside down. Carefully, he ran his fingers over the screws holding the cloth-covered seats in place. A smile came to his face.

  “These screws aren’t all flush,” he said, inspecting the next chair. “Some are in good, some are a turn or two from flush.” He turned a third chair and nodded. “This one’s missing two screws. Someone’s been doing some work, I think.” Sharon rose and inspected his discovery.

  She carefully studied the heads of the screws. “You know, they could have just reupholstered these before the power went out,” she said, now looking at a fourth chair. “Doesn’t mean they hid anything in here.” She pushed firmly on the floral-patterned cushion. “I don’t feel anything.”

  Wilson headed for the basement. “There’s a Phillips screwdriver down on the workbench I saw yesterday. I’ll go grab that and we’ll see,” he yelled through the kitchen. When he reached for the basement door handle, he froze. The door stood ajar by a good three inches. “I could have sworn I shut that last night,” he whispered to himself. “Sharon?! You been downstairs at all?”

  Sharon was still busy searching the dining room, he supposed. Maybe she hadn’t heard him. “No,” she called out. “That was your job I thought?”

  Shaking his head, Wilson ran down the steps. Guess I’ll have to ask Tiny, he thought. If he ever gets up. He spied the tool instantly and retreated up the stairs. At the doorway again, he stopped and listened carefully. No sounds; good. He shut the door tightly and returned to the dining room.

  As he rounded the kitchen entryway, Wilson noticed Tiny descending the mauve carpeted steps. Big oaf probably has food on his mind, he thought.

  Continuing his way to the dining room, he heard Tiny rustling through the food. He also noticed Judy had joined her cousin with paper and pencil in hand. A few moments later, Tiny’s large frame filled the doorway.

  Wilson gazed up at his friend and smiled. “Thirty-two pieces, Tiny. Twelve spoons, forks, knives and soup spoons,” he stated proudly.

  Sharon bowed her head and chuckled. “That’s 48, goofy. Twelve times four is 48, not 32.” She shot Tiny a small grin.

  “Whatever,” Wilson said, dismissing Sharon’s sarcasm. “Mom and dad thought they’d be clever and hide them all in the chair cushions. Didn’t think anyone would look there.” Wilson beamed, proud with his find. “I suppose others might’ve missed it. Not me; can’t fool me that easily.” He looked around the room, soaking up unspoken praise.

  Judy rose from the floor with her pad of paper. “Sometimes I don’t know what we’d do without you, Jim,” she said. “You can find stuff hidden in the oddest places. I just don’t understand how your mind works.” She patted Wilson’s shoulder as she passed.

  Wilson puffed his chest out and pulled up his jeans. “Yeah, I might not know much about learned stuff, but my mind is a mystery even to me sometimes,” he stated to the group. “What’s that old saying, ‘a terrible waste is a good mind’?” He scanned the group for confirmation. Seeing none, he continued. “Whatever.”

  Sharon finally gave in to his speech. “Wilson, this was a good find. You’re probably the best out here at doing this,” she said sweetly. “But don’t screw it up by trying to give a speech. You’ll just make a bigger fool of yourself, sweetie.” She finished with a pat to his back.

  Wilson stared at Tiny. “Get enough sleep?” he asked.

  Tiny nodded slowly. “Yeah, but I had weird dreams. I dreamt there were kids poking at me. And when I’d open my eyes, they all disappeared. Then I’d close my eyes again and they would appear,” he said, shaking his large head. “I gotta eat some more; I’m still starving.” He changed directions quickly.

  As he disappeared into the kitchen, Wilson called out for him again. “And you were sleep-walking again last night, weren’t you?” Tiny gave a quick look and shrug and dug into the dried pears. “Either that or you snuck down and ate that meat on purpose. If your breath wasn’t so bad, I’d check your teeth.”

  Tiny reappeared with the bag of pears and a bottle of water. “I don’t remember any of that. I suppose I could have, maybe.” Wilson gave him a nasty stare that made Tiny feel guilty. “How much meat?” he asked.

  Sharon came to Tiny’s aid. “Don’t worry about it, Randy. Just half a bag or so. We have enough and we’ll get more,” she said in an almost motherly tone.

  Wilson began pacing, and thinking. “Hurry up and eat something, Tiny. We’ve got stuff to do while the sun’s still shining. We need to finish checking this level and be upstairs by nightfall.” Turning to the women, he began again. “Sharon, I was thinking about the jewelry just a little bit ago. Remember those houses over by Sioux Falls?” Sharon nodded, but her quizzical look told him she was unsure of something. “You remember all the stuff we found in the ends of the shoes, sitting in plain sight in the closet?” Sharon smiled and nodded.

  “I’ll bet ya,” Wilson continued. “I’ll bet ya all those shoe boxes, stacked to the ceiling in that closet off the master suite, got more than just shoes in them.” He went from face to face, watching expressions brighten. “Yeah? Yeah?” He nodded, grinning widely.

  Judy jumped to her feet. “Okay, so let’s get finished down here and then we’ll all start on the shoe boxes,” she said enthusiastically. Turning to Wilson, she smiled. “Sometimes Jim, I swear I could kiss you.” She reached for him, but he pulled away, blushing.

  “Ain’t no need to get all smoochie, Judy,” Wilson said, walking away. “Just what I do. Just what I’m good at. That’s all.” He was lost deep in a thought. “You know what? I saw some jars hidden on a shelf in the back of the garage. We should check those out later. Maybe there’s some decent food we could use.”

  Wilson stared out the back window of the dining room, enjoying the sunshine of the spring day. Something still didn’t feel right to him. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Was it this house? Or Elk Mound? Maybe it was the idea of going into Eau Claire. Something didn’t sit right in his belly though. He shook off the thought and moved to the living room. Time to search out more loot hidden around the house. That much he knew – he’d find more.

  Chapter Eleven

  While Wilson and Tiny turned the living room furniture upside down, Judy and Sharon dug carefully through the all the cabinets and many drawers. Ten minutes in and Wilson already suspected the room was dry.

  “Just mostly personal stuff. Pictures, notebooks, other books,” Sharon said digging through her fourth cabinet. “Huh, here’s a magnifying glass.” She set it aside for later. “Judy, anything?”

  Judy sat quietly paging through a photo album. This happened a lot when they did a living room. She was naturally attracted to people, Wilson knew, and their hidden stories trying to escape snapshots in time. “Two girls. I don’t know when these photos were taken, but they look young. Maybe five and six,” she said in a daze. “Their mother was so beautiful, so classy.” She laughed, lightly turning the page. “Dad had a little issue with baldness it seems. A lot of pictures with hats. Even the nicer ones have him in nicer hats.” She looked over her shoulder at Wilson and Tiny, cutting open the lining of the couch. “Why are men so vain?”

  Wilson stood and pulled up his pants. Perspiration stained his grey t-shirt, almost to the point of being comple
tely saturated. Pulling his sweaty hair away from his eyes, he stared sternly at Judy.

  “What?” he asked in a nasty tone. “What was the question?” He scowled and went back to work.

  “Never mind,” Judy whispered, mainly to herself. She turned another page and then tossed the photo album aside. Wilson’s last look was meant to warn her it was time to get back to work.

  Sharon stretched, getting up from the floor. She headed for the back wall of the living room, removing the three prints that hung artistically. Flipping over the last one, she spied a bulge. With her pocketknife, she cut around the lump, exposing its contents. “More paper money,” she shouted to the group.

  Tiny’s head shot up from behind the couch, Jim noticed, and he leaped over the askew ottoman to get to Sharon. “How much?” he yelled excitedly. Sharon held up the stack in front of his face. It looked like a lot. “How much? You know I can’t count money, Sharon.”

  Sharon smiled and patted Tiny’s leg. “One hundred, two hundred, three hundred,” she began so everyone could hear. Leafing through the pile, she looked back at Tiny. “Two thousand dollars.” Tiny smiled greedily. Jim saw Sharon notice his glum expression.

  “Leave it,” he said plainly. “Ain’t worth nothing anymore. If you want to take it, you gotta carry it, Tiny.” He went back to digging in the sofa guts. “Last five places didn’t want it. Wouldn’t give us anything for it.” He sat back on his heels and stared at the group.

  “I remember the first few years, everyone took cash hoping it would come back into meaning something,” he started. “Then little by little, it got worth less and less. I mean, a hundred bucks used to get you a couple pounds of hamburger, couple bags of flour maybe.” He paused, staring at the now torn-apart furniture. “Hell, in Northfield, just south of St. Paul, that guy wouldn’t give us anything for a whole bag of the green stuff. Hardly a piece of candy. Well, you see where that’s headed. Nowhere, that’s where.” He returned to his task.

  “My parents never had any money, much less a thousand dollars. I don’t think Judy’s ever did either,” Sharon said, staring at the wad of cash lying on the floor. “I say we take it, stuff it in our pockets. At least we’ll be rich in some way.” She handed Tiny five one hundred dollar bills. He studied them carefully, then folded them and stuffed the wad into his front pocket as he stood. She extended Judy the same, but Judy shook her head at the bounty.

  “The Bible says money is the root of all evil,” she stated quietly. “I don’t need money to live. God has given us food, and water, and friendship. That’s all I need.” She finished with a nod and a small smile. Jim shook his head at the poor misguided soul; Sharon returned the grin.

  Wilson moved to a matching pair of brown leather recliners and tossed the dark cushions aside. “Tiny,” he said cutting into the stuffing between the springs. “Make yourself useful and check those cushions.” His tone sounded serious enough to make Tiny get up right away and start on the cushions. “Judy,” he barked, “get your nose out of those books and check all those other ones for anything stashed inside.” He pointed at the wall case holding dozens of hardbound editions. Judy sighed and went to work. Sharon joined her.

  Late in the afternoon, the group dug through eight tall stacks of shoeboxes in the upstairs master suite. In each box lay a pair of shoes. Each shoe was searched for any alien contents. So far, they’d made it through half the boxes, and so far, they had nothing to show for their efforts. That pretty much matched their recent search of the main floor.

  Wilson rose and grabbed another stack of boxes. He tossed them on the floor and walked out of the large candle-lit closet. Standing in the doorway, he seemed lost deep in thought.

  “Judy,” he asked quietly. “Got your list there?” She nodded. “What do we got so far?” He almost sounded depressed, but knew he was just tired.

  “The silverware, the tea service, six gold chains, five rings, maybe one is diamond, not sure. A carton of cigarettes, some tools you said were downstairs, and two thousand dollars of cash.” She glanced at Wilson as she finished. Something was wrong, he felt.

  Rubbing his left ear and then his forehead, Wilson peered around the closet. “What are we missing here? Something ain’t right. There should be more than this in a house like this. Maybe some gold, like bars. Maybe even platinum or silver.” He turned and looked around the bedroom. “They should have more than this. We’re missing something.” Spinning back, he stared at Sharon. “You check between the mattresses last night?”

  Looking up, she nodded. “Yeah. And I went through most of the drawers in here this morning already. It does seem light though,” she replied, agreeing with Wilson. “In the rafters in the garage maybe?”

  Wilson frowned. “I looked yesterday. From the ground, at least. I suppose we take the ladder and dig those boxes down, maybe we’ll find more in there than I suspect.” He grabbed a box off the shelf and flipped it upside down. Empty. “You seen many coats or jackets around here at all?” he asked the group collectively.

  Judy turned quickly. “You know, when I looked through that front hall closet yesterday, I thought the same thing. Where’s all the coats and boots,” she said with conviction. “Same with another closet by the back door. Just a thin jacket or two.”

  Tiny looked confused. “I thought you and Sharon always said, ‘Don’t waste your time on clothes, Wilson’?” he asked innocently. “Just takes up a lot of room we don’t have.” He glanced at his best friend’s sour face. Wilson shrugged.

  “Coats and boots are different. We’ve grabbed them a couple times when things were thin,” he said to Tiny. “Here, it just seems odd they’re all missing. It’s just strange; why would they haul all their winter stuff away with them? Can’t say I’ve ever seen that before in a nice house.” He stared at Sharon. “You?”

  Sharon pondered his words. “No, I can’t say we ever have. There’s always real nice stuff, leather stuff we could always grab. Leather brings a good trade still. Always has.” She nodded at Wilson and then Judy as she spoke. “This is weird; I’m with Jim. Why would they haul all that stuff with them? I mean, the doors were locked, so I’m reasonably sure this place hasn’t been hit yet. And why would a finder take clothes when they can search for better stuff?” She rose, standing next to Wilson, staring directly into his eyes.

  “Someone’s been coming and going from this place,” Wilson said quietly to the group. “Someone’s been staging here. Either they’ve moved the good stuff to a hiding spot or taken some of it for trade already.” A small smile pulled at the corners of his lips.

  Sharon returned the smile. “But they’re not like us. They’re regular people. They don’t know how to search a house properly,” she added, beginning to nod. “They just grab the obvious stuff and run.”

  Wilson narrowed his eyes. “That’s why just the back door was unlocked. Otherwise, they all would have been unlocked or left wide open,” he said, beginning to pace again. “They were planning on coming back. That’s that weird feeling I’ve been having. Maybe there was someone watching us in the woods.” He looked past Sharon to the others. “Get downstairs, make sure those damn doors are all locked. Tiny, I saw a couple of ball bats in the garage. Grab as many as there are and bring them in. I don’t want to get surprised by anyone.”

  Sharon grabbed his arm as he spun to leave. “Wilson?” she asked quietly. “Do we stay?” He nodded. “You still think there’s more hidden around here, don’t you?” He nodded again, this time smiling broadly.

  “And we’re gonna take our time, and we’re gonna find all that we can,” he added, satisfied. “I bet you there’s stuff hidden in the garage and downstairs. They didn’t clean it all out. But I sure plan on getting it all.”

  Over supper, the group contemplated their first day of work. Aside from the silver, there wasn’t much to show for almost 12 hours of searching. Moods drooped as the afternoon waned into early evening. Sharon and Wilson both agreed to call it a day earlier than had been originally pl
anned.

  Standing around the granite-topped center island, Wilson stared at the reflection of the burning candles off the double rear doors. “I say first thing tomorrow morning we all go at the garage,” he began, swallowing a mouthful of green beans. “We’ll get up in the rafters and check all those shelves in the back. We’ll find something I bet.” He let his eyes focus back on his group. “If not, that closet downstairs may hold the secrets we’re after.”

  Judy took a large drink of water. Finishing, she joined the conversation. “Normally, in a regular house, we’d be pretty happy with what we have already,” she said, looking at Sharon. “Probably enough for another 20 pounds of food I would think,” Sharon agreed and then looked at Wilson.

  He set his gaze upon her slim face. “This isn’t a normal place, Judy. This is one of the biggest we’ve ever hit,” he said in a nicer tone than he had spoken with throughout the day. “Remember those places in Austin?” Judy nodded. “They were all picked through already. Couple of them were bigger than this. Maybe even more than just a couple.” He looked around the large kitchen. “But we’ve never found one this big and untouched so far.”

  Judy frowned at Wilson. “But what if someone has already taken all the good stuff? Maybe it’s all gone and we’re just finding the last of it,” she said, looking at her food. Wilson shook at her words. “Well, it could be. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “Yeah,” Tiny chimed in. “Maybe Judy’s right.” He stared at Sharon, his words sounding hollow.

  “Listen to me,” Wilson interrupted. “Why would they take 10 armloads of coats and all those winter boots and leave the silver tea set behind? I mean, Sharon hardly had to look at all to find it this morning.” His volume rose as he became more excited. “It was pretty much sitting in plain sight. It takes a lot of clothes to equal the value of three pounds of silver. Just doesn’t make sense.” He shook his head intensely. “Even beginners would know that. There’s something we’re missing here. But I bet we figure it out by tomorrow at this time.”