Page 36 of In the Pursuit of Haven
“Yes, of course. Mariah is looking at it—the workmanship on that Bible is still old, quite intricate really, although I can’t see how we have much use for it here. Perhaps, you’d like to take it for your Boston exhibits.”
I was having a hard time paying attention. My brain was consumed between getting my new stalker off my tail and the mystery of Phips and La Concepcion.
And I had one of the greatest minds standing in front of me. Forget the slow dial-up internet search in Haven’s room tonight, I could just ask this walking encyclopedia. If anything, it was the perfect way to stall until that guy went away. “What does Governor Phips have to do with La Concepcion?” I asked.
Luther didn’t seem to notice the abrupt change of topic. His lips pursed in that old professor way of his. “La Concepcion was a sunken Spanish ship off the coast of Hispaniola.”
So, the Bahamas.
“Let’s see, it sunk around 1641?” Luther raised his voice like he was lecturing a crowded auditorium. The restored British monarch commissioned Phips to go after it, and anyone associated with that expedition became filthy rich.”
Yes, yes, they formed the Bank of England from the money they found from it.So this was about Phips’s pirating days… Crabb’s too! They’d brought up that sunken treasure together, I didn’t doubt it.
“Some say there was so much treasure that they didn’t have room enough to carry it all away in the ships they brought,” Luther said, “so they had to leave the bulk of it behind. By the time other British ships had returned to haul away the rest, they discovered the vast waterlogged treasure had been picked off by vultures.”
Matthew must’ve been sailing for the Bahamas when his ship went down. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together.
“Either way,” Luther said, “King Charles II was so impressed with Phips’s ‘recovery’ skills, he commissioned the former pirate to be governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, much to the anger of some Puritans, although Cotton and Increase Mather pushed for his appointment.” He let out his signature nasally laugh. “Thatwas a bit of drama, since according to their charter, Phips couldn’t hold public office, not being a selectman, but he was hurriedly baptized, and the next day became a governor and a saint all at once. All went well until the witch trials happened and he got in the way…”
I let all this information slide past me as Luther waxed- more eloquent and plunged me further down the rabbit hole.
“Jessie told me about his pirate ancestor,” I said. “Do you think he got his hands on that treasure in the Bahamas?”
“No telling, really, but I’ve heard that the Crabbs have done some treasure hunting over the years.”
“Not lately,” I said. They were thwarted.Thankfully.“They lost a pretty big clue—a ruby locket—about fifty years ago.”
“Did they now?” Luther looked thoughtful. “Well, artifacts like that tend to show up in our field. They can’t stay hidden forever. Do you want me to look through our collection? I can send out an inquiry to see if anyone’s caught wind of its whereabouts.”
The way Jessie was acting, that might not be a good idea, and yet, I was itching to get my hands on it myself. After a brief inner struggle, I agreed. “Would you?”
Luther nodded. “You’d be surprised at what turns up nowadays; we could have this mystery wrapped up in no time. You know, with the technology we have, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get our hands on the lost Cities of Gold next.” He went off on how light-based remote sensing was uncovering Mayan ruins in the Amazons.
All fascinating, though now I was desperate to escape. My brain was on fire, and I needed a moment to figure out what this all meant. The shadows were lengthening outside. It was getting late, though the sudden storm made it even darker, creating a fitting backdrop to my dismal thoughts.
Matthew had thrown away his life for no reason. He might’ve thought this treasure was in the Caribbean, but no… no Crabb had gotten a lion’s share of it somehow and hidden it away—close to here. I’d stake my career on that.
La Concepcion was just the treasure’s origin story, and yet… why were Corwin’s “witch hating” ancestors in on the secret with his silver-handle cane? Would Crabbs ever trust that family enough to give any of them a clue or had they stolen the cane from someone else?
Either way, the magistrate knew enough about this treasure to send his evil cousin after Crabb to arrest him and throw him into prison.
A part of me wondered if I should get my hands back on that cane to inspect it more closely. “Luther!” I cut off his diatribe. “Do we have connections to the witch house? They have this cane that I think would be perfect for an exhibit.”
“A cane?”
My phone rang, cutting off my perfectly laid plan. “Oh, sorry, let me get this,” I said.
Bette Ann was on the line. “Honey, I don’t know how to say this…. it’s Jessie!”
“What? What is it?”
“You might want to come to Zak’s tavern, honey. Um… you might not like it, but… it’s best you see this for yourself, I think.”
My throat felt like it was closing in on itself.Jessie? What have you done?Bette Ann wouldn’t call me if she didn’t think it was serious.
Glancing back out the window, I saw my random stalker was gone. The storm was a mixture of snow, sleet, and rain. I turned back to Luther. “Thank you,” I said. “I’ll come back later, and uh… take that Bible piece and finish up, uh… with whatever else you need.”
“Of course.” He gathered an umbrella from the collection at the door and handed it off to me. “I hope that call wasn’t something serious?”
