We’re Rich

The moment they enter the sitting room, the atmosphere changes.

Jessica stops and rubs her arms.

Brenda does the same.

“I feel something in here,” Brenda says quietly. “Stronger than yesterday.”

Jessica scans the room.

“I feel it too. It’s like someone doesn’t want us here.”

William looks from one to the other.

Neither appears excited by the sensation. They look concerned.

Jessica takes a step towards him.

“William, maybe we should go.”

But William has spent too long wondering about the curtain to leave now.

He begins searching the room.

Whenever he moves towards the window where the traveller disappeared, Jessica reacts.

The first time, she shivers.

The second time, Brenda feels it too.

Brenda watches William approach the curtains again.

“Whatever is causing this, it seems strongest when you go near that window.”

Jessica nods.

“Every time you get close, the room feels different.”

William’s curiosity turns into determination.

He does not like seeing his friends frightened, and he certainly does not like the idea that something might be trying to scare them away.

He walks directly to the window.

“Then there has to be a reason.”

He kneels and checks beneath the nearby furniture.

Nothing.

Then he reaches for one of the curtains.

Jessica gasps.

Behind William, a reddish-orange patch of mist seems to form in the air.

Brenda sees it too.

Before either can warn him, the shape rushes towards William.

An icy sensation tears through his body.

He jumps to his feet.

The hair on his arms stands straight up.

“What the heck was that?”

Jessica and Brenda stare at him.

Neither answers.

William looks between them.

“Seriously. What just happened?”

Brenda finally speaks.

“We both saw something behind you.”

“What?”

“A reddish-orange mist. It appeared behind you and moved towards you.”

William rubs his arms, trying to shake off the chill.

He looks back at the window.

“Then I’m even more convinced there’s something about these curtains.”

Jessica suddenly remembers the video camera in her hand.

She looks down at it.

“Oh no.”

She rewinds the recording.

The camera was pointed away from William when the mist appeared.

He walks towards her.

“Did you get it?”

Jessica’s expression answers before she speaks.

“Sorry. When we saw it, I completely forgot where the camera was pointing.”

William sighs.

Then he turns back towards the window.

Whatever happened, he is not finished.

He pulls the first curtain away from the wall.

Nothing is hidden behind it.

He checks the floorboards and the area around the window.

Nothing.

Then he grabs the second curtain—the one that barely moved in the original video.

As he pulls it aside, something feels different.

The bottom swings awkwardly.

“Heavier,” William says.

Jessica comes closer.

“That curtain is definitely heavier.”

Brenda lifts the bottom edge.

“Curtains were sometimes weighted along the lower seam to keep them hanging properly and stop them from blowing around.”

William crouches.

Near the bottom, a small hole has been chewed through the fabric.

He peers inside.

“What did they use for weights?”

“Could be metal rods or small weights. Depends on the curtain.”

William feels along the seam.

“There’s something right here.”

He works the object towards the hole.

A small piece drops through the opening, hits the floor and rolls beneath the sofa.

William groans.

“Of course.”

He grips the sofa and slides it aside.

Then he stops.

Sunlight catches the object beneath it.

Gold flashes across the floor.

Nobody moves.

William slowly reaches down and picks it up.

It is not a curtain weight.

It is a coin.

Brenda steps beside him.

William turns it over in his fingers.

There is a Liberty head on one side, surrounded by thirteen stars, with the date 1862 beneath it.

On the other side is an eagle beneath the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

TWENTY DOLLARS.

1862.

William looks at Brenda.

She takes the coin and studies it carefully before handing it to Jessica.

“I think we may have found the missing gold.”

Jessica’s eyes widen.

She stares at the coin in her palm.

“We’re rich!”

William immediately turns back to the curtain.

“If there’s one…”

He feels along the bottom seam.

Another solid round object.

He works it towards the hole.

A second coin drops into his hand.

Then another.

And another.

With every coin, William’s smile grows.

Jessica stands beside him, almost bouncing with excitement.

When William has removed everything he can find from the damaged seam, he grabs the other curtain.

His smile fades.

“These feel different.”

He runs his fingers along the bottom.

“Long and thin.”

Near a small tear, he can see part of one of the weights.

“Looks like iron or something. Definitely not coins.”

For a moment, the three simply stare at what they have found.

Jessica looks towards the kitchen.

“Maybe Mrs. Johnson hid the sack after she realized her husband missed it.”

Brenda considers the idea.

“Maybe. But we don’t know that.”

Jessica looks at her.

“The dream led us here.”

“It may have helped you notice something important,” Brenda says. “But that doesn’t tell us who put these coins in the curtain—or why.”

William looks at the small collection of gold.

“So what happens now?”

Brenda’s expression becomes serious.

“First, nobody puts anything in a pocket.”

Jessica laughs.

“There goes being rich.”

“This is a historic property. We document everything exactly where we found it, photograph it, count the coins and report the discovery to the city.”

William looks disappointed for only a moment.

He knows she is right.

The three begin documenting the scene.

They photograph the torn seam.

The curtain.

The sofa.

The place where the first coin landed.

Then the coins themselves.

Brenda records the number of coins and the markings they can see.

William looks at Jessica.

“For about thirty seconds, I really thought we were rich.”

Jessica smiles.

“We found buried treasure without the buried part. That’s still pretty amazing.”

Brenda laughs.

“If these are authenticated, the city and museum will decide how they should be preserved. And I’ll make sure everyone knows the Group’s investigation led to the discovery.”

William looks back towards the window.

The mystery that has bothered him since their first investigation suddenly makes sense.

One curtain moved freely in the wind.

The other did not.

It was weighted with gold.

Jessica follows his gaze.

“The curtain.”

William nods.

“That’s why it barely moved.”

The tiny detail he could not stop thinking about was not meaningless after all.

Jessica looks towards the spot where the traveller appeared.

Finding the coins does not prove what they saw in the house.

It does not prove the traveller has been trying to communicate with them.

But one part of the old story is no longer just a story.

Some of the gold remained on the property.

As they prepare to leave the sitting room, Jessica pauses.

Something warm touches her shoulder.

She turns, expecting William.

He is already near the front door with Brenda.

Jessica touches the spot.

The frightened feeling she had when they entered the room is gone.

She smiles faintly and follows them.

Outside, Brenda locks the front door.

Jessica looks back at the house.

“It feels different now.”

“How?”

“Lighter.”

Brenda does not try to explain it.

“Let’s document what we found and let the evidence speak for itself.”

On the drive back to town, they discuss how they are going to tell the others.

Brenda sees no reason to keep the discovery secret.

The rest of the Group helped build the investigation that eventually led them to the coins, even if safety concerns prevented everyone from entering the deteriorating mill buildings today.

When Brenda stops at William’s house, he and Jessica thank her for bringing them.

Brenda smiles.

“Well, now that we’ve solved one mystery, I guess we’ll have to find another one.”

She drives away.

William and Jessica head downstairs to the recreation room.

William checks his phone.

Several messages from the others are waiting.

“Looks like everyone wants to know where we disappeared to.”

Jessica reaches for her pocket.

Then remembers.

“I left my phone at home.”

William sends the group a quick message explaining that Brenda took the two of them back to inspect the unsafe mill buildings with a smaller team.

He adds one final line.

We found something. We’ll tell you tomorrow.

Jessica suddenly looks at the time.

“Oh no.”

“What?”

“My mom has an old friend coming for dinner. I told her I’d be home.”

She heads upstairs.

William follows her to the front door.

“I’ll call you later,” Jessica says.

“Okay.”

She hurries home.

William watches her leave.

His thoughts should be on the gold.

Instead, they return to Brenda’s pendant.

And the suspicion he still has not shared with Jessica.