“You get anything else from him?” Diesel asked.
“Nope. That’s it. Can I keep the skull?”
“Sure,” Diesel said. “Maybe someday I’ll bring you the rest of him.”
Neither of us said anything until we were out of the building and back in the Porsche.
“Bellows was holding the stone when he died,” I said to Diesel. “It sounds to me like the stone makes you go nutty with the whole greed and Mammon thing. Devereaux had a similar reaction when he got the entire coin in his pocket.”
“Where’s the coin now?” Diesel asked me.
“So far as I know it’s still with Devereaux. He had the coin on him when he fell. I suppose Rutherford or one of his men could have picked it up on their way out of the cave, but no one mentioned it when they were gathering up the treasure pieces, and I have a feeling it was forgotten.”
“And the diary?”
“Ammon has the diary locked away somewhere. Probably in Marblehead.”
“I see a road trip in my future.”
“We’re going back to the island?”
“Me. Not you. I can do this faster on my own. I want to get there before Ammon or Rutherford or whoever is running the show decides to send his minions back for the rest of the treasure.”
“I don’t think Rutherford runs anything. I think he’s in damage-control mode, hanging on by his fingernails. I can tell you how to get to the tunnel. It might be easier than using the water entrance. Devereaux and I crept down a dangerous staircase carved out of the rock face. Rutherford and his men rappelled down. It was quicker and safer. Devereaux is at the bottom of the staircase. Another narrow tunnel connects the staircase to the cave and underground lake.”
An hour later, Cat, Carl, and I watched Diesel drive off.
“Just the three of us today,” I said to Cat and Carl. “What should we do? Clean the house?”
Cat pretended not to hear, and Carl climbed onto the couch and turned the television on.
I was halfway through vacuuming the living room rug when there was a lot of commotion on my front stoop and someone kicked my door down. It wasn’t difficult to do, because the door was showing a couple hundred years of dry rot, and the lock was equally ancient.
Rutherford crept in around the mangled door. “Hello,” he called. “Anybody home?”
“Yes, I’m home! What the heck do you think you’re doing breaking my door down? That’s a historic door. You’ll be in big trouble with the Historical Commission.”
“I knocked but no one answered.”
“I was vacuuming. I didn’t hear you.”
“Yes, yes, I can see that. I’ll have Mr. Ammon square it with the historical commission. Mr. Ammon is a big contributor.”
“I guess that would be okay,” I said, inching my way toward the kitchen, where I had a big carving knife.
“I must say I’m relieved to see you somehow escaped from the cave. That was a mistake on my part. I should have been more clear with my directions to Mr. Carter. I meant for him to safely see you to the top of the canyon. When we realized the error we returned, but you were already gone. Very clever of you to take matters into your own hands. As you know, Mr. Ammon has plans for you. He just loves your cupcakes. And you’ll play a very large role in our future.”
“So you came to apologize?”
“Yes, yes, of course. But there is one other issue. It’s the coin. We don’t seem to have the coin.”
“Devereaux had the coin.”
“Mr. Carter assures me that the coin wasn’t on Devereaux. Of course, Mr. Carter is no longer with us. He’s been…um, reassigned. But we feel confident that the coin was removed.”
“Not by me,” I said. “I don’t have the coin.”
“I totally believe you. Totally. But I’m sure you realize how important this coin is to our lord Mammon. We must have all essential elements to complete the awakening ceremony. And the coin seems to be one of those elements.”