Authors: Kathleen Pieper
Upstairs Tommy was sitting, resting among the old clothes, newspapers, and boxes. Maddy handed him a can of pop and he grinned, gratefully.
"Hey, thanks Miss Maddy, I sure am thirsty."
"Well, Tommy, you don't have to work yourself to death up here." She looked around in astonishment. "Goodness, I thought this would take a couple days and you're almost done."
"Aw, it wasn't so hard. Most of them boxes piled up in the corner were empty. I just smashed them flat." His face clouded, "Miss Maddy, I did accidentally knock a little hole in the wall when I was in that bedroom though. I'm awful sorry, the doorstopper is gone and the knob went through because of the rain and, I can fix it though. I helped Miss Madeline once before in the same spot, we put wads of paper and she made glue out of flour. It was fun."
Jumping up excitedly he wanted to fix it then and there, but Maddy sat back and shook her head. "Tommy, don't worry about it. You come back tomorrow and we'll fix it properly with some plaster. Come on downstairs and I'll pay you for today."
They chatted amiably as they went downstairs carrying armloads of garbage sacks, it was getting late by the time they said good-bye. A half hour later, hamburgers sizzled on the stove and a salad was tossed and waiting for Alec while she sat daydreaming.
"I thought I told you to keep the doors locked." Alec stood in the doorway, hands on hips, a disapproving look on his face. Maddy jerked back to the present.
"Oh, I guess I forgot to lock it when Tommy left a little while ago, sorry."
"You've got to be more careful." Shaking his head, he took off his gun belt and hat and laid them on the counter. Taking her in his arms, he chuckled, "I sure can't stay mad at you for very long. Like maybe thirty seconds. What were you thinking so hard about?"
"Well, to make a long story short, Al Capone invested money, the money my aunt wouldn't accept, in the stock market. Even though it crashed in 1929, she didn't lose it all. In this last letter, his attorney is supposed to have sent the actual bonds to her. Get this: $20,000.00 worth and that was back then." Eager to hear more, Alec's dark eyes widened and he gave a low whistle as he settled into a kitchen chair.
"So, where are they?"
"I said I found out what we were looking for, not where they are. I just hope she didn't toss them like Leland thinks she did."
"Hmmm, twenty thousand dollars in 1929 was a lot of money then. If the company's still solvent it could be worth a lot."
"It is. I called a friend of my dad's on the stock exchange, it changed names, sold or something, and it's still worth a lot of money if you have the actual bonds."
"Wow, again. Maddy this could mean a lot to you, money wise."
"I'm not going get my hopes up, yet. But A.C. is definitely Al Capone, everything fits, names, dates and places. And because she wouldn't accept the money, he hired someone to make the investments for her. Look, I copied them." Handing the copies with her notes on them to Alec, he began to read intently.
"There are seven or eight letters. The first one is okay, but the rest are only partly readable. The third and fourth ones indicate the investment being done for her without her knowledge and then this one, this is cool," she pulled up a chair close to his and flipped the pages, "the very last letter is typed, written by his attorney. This says it all."
"Okay, I see. He sent her the bonds and said to keep everything to her self."
Maddy sat back smugly, passing the hamburgers. "I rest my case. She was left a legacy by old Al Capone himself, for saving his life. Isn't this awesome?"
"Sure sounds that way." Alec leaned back in the chair thinking hard. "But where are they? Did she accept them? Give them away, or burn them?"
"Well, that's the question we all want answered." Maddy said putting the papers down neatly, her story loosing momentum. "That's all I found out."
"Well, that's a lot more than we knew before. I've been thinking about that all afternoon, too. What would she have done with a bunch of paper bonds? There has to be another safe deposit box or a secret hiding place." Alec folded his arms thoughtfully.
"Where would someone keep bonds?" Alec wondered aloud.
Just then the doorbell rang and they both looked guiltily at each other. "Let's not say anything to anyone yet." She said quickly and Alec agreed.
"Hey, Leland, what brings you out and about? You look a little rushed." Alec said as Maddy returned with Leland Lancaster following. Nodding a greeting to Alec, he sat down and accepted a cup of coffee
"I've been busy, real busy, is how I've been. I came across a few things that don't add up concerning your aunt's estate, Maddy."
"Like what?" Alec and Maddy exchanged uneasy glances.
"I want you to know I just found these copies stuck together in a file among her income tax records. They were in some things Jack Drake brought down from Omaha. I don't know if he meant to give them to me, they were folded and stuck to some other folders. They date back to God knows when, 1925, I think, when Drake's grandfather ran the firm. Anyway, they indicated she owned over twenty thousand dollars in corporate bearer bonds. She filed this in 1952, acknowledged the interest in subsequent tax years and then all of a sudden, the year she took ill, they disappear from her records." Leland looked upset and frustrated. "I just hope the taxes and such have been kept up."
"These bearer bonds, are they good?" Maddy sat forward expectantly.
"Good? Good is a mild word for it. I wish I owned five hundred dollars worth. If they were bought in 1929, they bought cheap because of the crash. Those bearer bonds have multiplied in value by now. They could be worth a small fortune!"
Alec whistled and looked at Maddy, her father's friend was right. The bonds were still worth something.
"Well, I'm no mathematician, but I can tell you twenty thousand dollars worth of bonds will be six or seven figures today. But what's bad is--"
"What could possibly be bad about six or seven figures or more, Leland?" Maddy said excitedly, her voice high pitched at the thought of no more money worries.
"Let me finish. The bad thing is bearer means just that. Whoever has them can convert them into cash or transferred into common stock. And that means whoever has them can cash them."
The three of them exchanged looks. Alec placed a hand on Maddy's arm.
"So, someone else knows about this then?" Maddy said and sat down, her bubble popped in front of her.
"I don't know. But I used to think she destroyed them, and she might have but look around. She didn't spend anything frivolous on herself. Probably didn't know their worth, especially after they sold or resold the company. Then, she forgot all about them. We just don't know what she did with them. This is very unsettling."
"It might just be an old treasure story, you know, the old widow with wealth hidden under the mattress, especially since she didn't want the money, she might have gotten rid of it." Leland injected and then sighed and waved his hands.
"I lived about here all my life and I never heard any rumors like that, and I heard them all." Alec said and looked at Maddy.
"Well, I have to get home, I'm beat." Leland got up to go, "I'm going to call Jack Drake, her attorney in Omaha, tomorrow. Maybe he knows something. It's probably before his time, he didn't take over the practice until the late 60's, but maybe there are more records."
"Leland, I do appreciate your trying." Maddy extended her hand and he grasped it, smiling.
"It's my pleasure. It's the least I could do for Nielsen's newest citizen. Do be careful until this thing is straightened out. Someone might believe any story having to do with easy money."
Shutting the door behind him, Maddy looked at Alec, even more puzzled than before.
"One minute I'm sure he's in on it and the next one he's trying to help." Alec threw up his hands. "Maybe you're right Maddy and he's just an astute businessman."
"Do you think we should tell him about the Al Capone connection?" She asked tentatively.
"I don't trust him that much yet." Alec replied grimly, but shrugged, "I don't know. Let's wait a little while longer."
"Come on, we've got work to do." Maddy pulled him along.
"Work? What work? What I have in mind wouldn't be considered work, my Love." Pushing and prodding, Maddy made her way to the library and stood in front of a solid paneled wall. Patting the old wood, she smiled at him. "This is it. Start going over every inch of this paneling and see if there's a hidden compartment. It's the only thing we haven't tried." Alec rolled his eyes.
"Maddy, you watch entirely too much TV." But dutifully he started tapping on the polished wood surfaces.
Maddy awoke the next morning with sore knuckles and the knowledge that Alec had wanted to do more than knock on wood last night. A good jog in the country would help clear her brain as she tried to figure out where they could look for her aunt's missing bonds.
It was already warm for early morning, so she put on shorts and a tee shirt, cinching up her worn running shoes she stretched and got ready to run. Good thing she was running early; later it was going to be really hot. She headed for her favorite trail, the one with softly rolling hills and little farmsteads tucked here and there.
Maddy was so intent on her thoughts she only casually noticed the sound of an engine behind her. She moved closer to the edge and kept up her pace. Only after it passed did she feel apprehensive. Two men in a beat-up old pick-up whistled and shouted, speeding by and leaving her in a cloud of dust. What a mean trick. Closing her eyes against the grit that settled around her, she suddenly saw the brake lights go on and the vehicle back up.
In her haste to get going this morning, she'd forgotten her mace can. The man hanging out the passenger window kept yelling and Maddy whirled and went the opposite way. They turned around and pulled alongside and leered at her.
"Hey, Baby, need a lift? I could go for a girl like you." Vile laughter and comments soon grew more and more suggestive until she panicked and changed direction again. They quickly followed and her stomach rolled with fear, she knew she was in trouble.
Pulling their rattletrap vehicle in front, they expertly blocked her way. Quickly she turned and went the other direction once more but they were too quick for her and blocked any escape route. Bending over to catch her breath, she glared at them and tried to think.
"If you’re thinking of screaming, scream all you want, Missy. There's no one to hear you way out here." He laughed and grabbed her arm. Maddy kicked him as hard as she could. The useless gesture just made him angrier and his grip tightened.
"Hey, save some for me. I don't like them bruised." The other man was getting out of the truck when a tremendous explosion ripped through the air. Maddy stopped struggling and looked up to see a tractor racing over the hill with one of her friendly farmers she always waved at hunched over the wheel. She'd never seen a tractor move so fast, and then she realized he was holding a shotgun in one hand and charging like John Wayne to the rescue.
The cowboy hesitated a minute and loosened his grip enough that she could jerk away, running towards the green John Deere tractor. Angrily they cursed and climbed back into their old truck, gunning the engine and making gravel fly behind them in their haste to escape. Maddy had never been so glad to see anyone in her life.
"You okay, there Miss? Darn bums come around stealing gas and fertilizer or digging up the ditches for wild marijuana. Dang dopers. You catch your breath and I'll take you into town." Propping the very large gun on the even bigger tractor tire, he took off a battered straw hat, wiping the band with his handkerchief. His tan face looked like wrinkled leather but held crisp blue eyes and a square jawed, jaunty grin.
"Never seen the like, every year it gets worse." He muttered again then helped her up on the tractor. "You're Miss Madeline's kin, I hear. Been seeing that young deputy, too. I’m the one who farms that eighty acres across the road. I wave at you when you run by. You’re mighty quick, too." Speechless, Maddy nodded. "By the way, I'm Ezra Mick."
"I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Mick. And thanks for the rescue, but how do you know so much about me?"
"Small town, miss, everyone knows everything about everybody." Ezra revved up the engine and with her carefully perched on the fender, they headed off down the road, a spotted dog trotting happily alongside. A long drive way led to a rambling farmhouse surrounded by neat, red farm out buildings. An elderly woman stood on the porch, cats scattered all around her feet.
"Howdy, missus, everything's all right now. I just ran off a couple of bums trying to scare off our little jogger, here. Shep and I scared the pants off of them, didn't we boy?" The old man cackled and lit a pipe while the dog barked in agreement.
"Are you okay, my dear?" The older woman looked from one to the other with concern. Maddy assured her she was fine. "I worry more about you and that darn gun, Old Man. You're too old to go around the countryside shooting it up. This isn’t Dodge City." She chided him lovingly, but he just patted her arm and they headed for town and a talk with the deputy.