“Did he have any other thoughts?”
“The last thought he had before he was shot was ‘At least McCoy will never be able to find the treasure without all eight pieces of the coin.’ And his attitude was odd. The guy was almost happy. No, not happy. Gloating. That’s the closest I can come to it.” Nergal exhaled a long breath. “I can’t tell you how good it feels to talk about all this. Can I have the names of other people in the club? Do we have a Facebook page?”
“No and no,” Diesel said, taking the piece of coin from him.
—
“This is going to be a real pain in the ass,” Diesel said when we got back to the car. “Some idiot cut the coin up into eight pieces.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Clara was rolling out cookie dough in the kitchen when we returned. “Have you finished saving the world?” sh
e asked Diesel.
“Just starting,” Diesel said. “I assume by now Glo’s told you about the skeleton in the cage at the Pirate Museum.”
“I know every detail,” Clara said.
“We’ve been doing some detective work, and it looks like the skeleton in the cage might be Peg Leg Dazzle,” I said to Clara.
Clara stopped in mid-roll. “Are you serious?”
“Pretty much,” I said. “Do you know anything about him?”
“Peg Leg was my great-uncle,” Clara said. “His real name was Collier. He was my grandfather’s older brother. Gramps didn’t know him very well because Collier disappeared when Gramps was just a kid, but we’ve all heard lots of stories about Collier. He was a cod fisherman who lost his leg when it got tangled in rigging during a storm. He chose a wooden peg leg over a prosthetic, gave up on cod fishing, and went into business with Billy McCoy.
“Gramps said Collier used to drive him to a soda fountain on Essex Street, buy him milkshakes, and tell him stories of pirates and buried treasure. He even gave Gramps a couple pieces of a coin that was supposed to be a clue to finding the most fabulous treasure of all time. Collier said he got the coin from a pirate named Bellows. And Gramps said the pieces matched up to a couple more pieces Collier kept in his peg leg.”
I looked over at Diesel. “Oh boy.”
“No kidding,” Diesel said.
“Did you ever get to see the pieces of coin Collier gave to your grandfather?” Diesel asked.
“I did,” Clara said. “Gramps used to show them to me all the time when I was a kid.”
Diesel pulled the pirate prisoner’s chunk of coin out of his pocket and placed it on the workbench. “Did they look like this?”
“Yes!”
“Do you know what happened to them?” Diesel asked.
“I assume Gramps still has them.”
“He’s still alive?”
“The Dazzles have surprisingly long lifespans,” Clara said. “Unless you partner up with Billy McCoy. Collier isn’t the first McCoy partner to mysteriously disappear. I suspect McCoy wasn’t good at sharing the wealth.”
“How old is Gramps?” I asked Clara.
“Gramps is ninety-eight, and he doesn’t look a day over a hundred and ten.”
“I’d like to talk to him,” Diesel said.
“You’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” Clara said. “He’s on a seniors’ bus trip to Mohegan Sun Casino. He likes to play the slots. He won’t get back until late tonight.”
The front door to the shop opened and a beat later Josh poked his head into the kitchen. “Ahoy there,” he said. “Permission to come aboard and procure cupcakes.” His attention immediately moved to the fragment of silver on the counter. “Is that part of a doubloon?”