Page 57 of Shakedown in Savannah

“Which is why we plan to keep it under wraps, at least until we can figure out what we have.”

As soon as Vinnie finished smoking his cigarette, he followed the couple up to the apartment. Pete carried the piece of wood into the kitchen and set it on the counter.

“This looks like an old timber, even older than the floor currently in place.” Pete ran a light hand over a pair of corner notches. “These notches are significant.”

“Notched out to fit with another piece of wood,” Vinnie guessed.

“I was thinking the same thing. It doesn’t fit in with the ceiling structure. My guess is this was created for an entirely different purpose.” Pete squinted his eyes. “Why didn’t I think of this before?”

“Think of what?”

“I’ll be right back.” He ran down to his office and returned moments later, waving a roll of paper above his head. “This is it. Proof of what I’ve suspected all along.”

Carlita squinted her eyes. “Proof of what?”

“This timber is from a pirate ferryboat, or as we’ve been calling it, a jolly boat.” Pete unrolled the parchment paper, showing a detailed diagram of a jolly boat in the upper corner. “You can clearly see the notches. They match the notches in this piece of wood.”

“But how did a piece of the boat wind up getting wedged in the ceiling, aka the restaurant floor?” Carlita asked.

“Imagine this.” Pete set the timber on the end of the paper to keep it flat. “At one time, the river came up close to the restaurant. It was filled with water, sludge, mud. Who knows what else? The jolly boat somehow became marooned on shore. With a great deal of effort, the crew managed to get it back into the water.”

Vinnie picked up. “While the crew was struggling to get it back into the water, a part of it broke off and became wedged in what is now the restaurant’s floor.”

“It’s a perfect match.” Pete beamed. “If my theory is correct, it’s possible the area contains more gems, coins. We might be on the brink of finding cargo left behind by the crew.”

“But why leave it behind?” Vinnie asked.

“Pirates were a wily bunch. Many of them spent time in prison. Few, if any, had squeaky clean backgrounds. It could be they found themselves running from the law, were forced to leave in a hurry and left some goods behind.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Carlita leaned her elbows on the counter. “You don’t have to wait for Poindexter’s professional opinion or Elvira’s expert, for that matter.”

“True, although I would hate to disturb a piece of history, a piece of Savannah’s history, because I didn’t want to wait.”

“It’s your call.” Vinnie shrugged. “What if the city finds out? They could step in and try to seize the property.”

“Although Georgia doesn’t have eminent domain—seizing private property for public use, they might try. Even if they do, I’ll hire an attorney to stop them.” Pete rolled the parchment paper up. “I need to sleep on this and consider my next step.”

Ting. Ting.

The outer bell chimed. Carlita ran to the wall and flipped the monitor on to see who it was. “Hmm.”

“Who is it?” Pete asked.

“You better put the stuff away. It’s Elvira, and she brought someone with her.”

Chapter 23

Carlita ran downstairs and unlocked the apartment door. “Hello, Elvira.”

“Hey, Carlita. I hope I’m not intruding.”

“Vinnie, Pete and I were just upstairs chatting.” She motioned to Snitch, hunched over inside her birdcage. “You brought your parrot with you.”

“Remember when I said she wasn’t eating very much?” Elvira didn’t wait for her to answer. “She has barely eaten all day and I’m really getting worried. I called the vet. He said to hand feed her baby food.”

“Did it work?”

Elvira tipped her hand back and forth. “A little. Have you ever tasted baby food?” She made a gagging sound. “Some of that stuff is gross. The peas were downright inedible. I might try some fruit next.”

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