"Right. But when you completely discount those possibilities, as I did because I knew the Gordons weren't capable of that, then you have to rethink the whole thing."
She nodded and observed, "As Dr. Zollner said, When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."
I nodded.
"Tell me all of it. Go ahead."
I knew she was trying to get my mind off Emma's murder, and she was right that I had to work the case and do something positive. I said, "Okay… when I was on Plum Island, these archaeological digs struck me as totally out of character for Tom and Judy, and they knew I'd think that so they never mentioned it to me. I believe they were thinking ahead to a day-after they supposedly discovered treasure on their own land-when certain people might remember their digging on Plum Island and make a connection. So, the fewer people who knew, the better."
Beth remarked, "It wouldn't be the first time something valuable was moved and suddenly discovered in a more convenient place."
"That was the crux of the entire plan. The X on the pirate map had to be moved from Uncle Sam's land to Tom and Judy's land."
She thought a moment and asked me, "Do you think the Gordons knew exactly where the treasure was buried on Plum Island? Or were they trying to find it? I don't remember seeing too many fresh digs on the island."
"I think Tobin's information was reliable and believable, but maybe not very accurate. I learned a few things about pirate maps from Emma… and from this book here…" I pointed to the book on the end table. "And, as I learned, these treasures were meant only to be buried temporarily, so some of the landmarks on a map or some instructions turn out to be long-vanished trees, rocks that have been quarried or fallen into the sea… that sort of thing."
Beth asked me, "How is it that you decided to interview Emma?"
"I just wanted to check out the Peconic Historical Society. I was going to give it about an hour, and I really didn't care who I spoke to… then, I met her and in the course of conversation, it turns out she was once Tobin's girlfriend."
Beth contemplated all of this for a while as she stared out at the bay, then said, "So, next you interviewed Fredric Tobin."
"No, I interviewed him before I interviewed Emma."
"Then what led you to interview him? What possible connection would you think he had with the murders?"
"None, at first. I was doing junior detective work, talking to friends, not suspects. I'd met Tobin at his vineyard, back in July, with the Gordons." I explained about that and added, "I didn't care for him then, and I wondered why the Gordons did. After I spent a few hours with him on Wednesday, I decided he was an okay guy, personally, but he wasn't giving me the right answers to simple questions. You understand?"
She nodded.
"Then, after I spoke to Emma, I started to triangulate some relationships."
Again, she nodded, stared out at the rain, and seemed to be thinking. Finally she said, "I spent the same two days with forensics, the ME, Plum Island, and all that. Meanwhile, you're following a completely different scent."
"The very faintest of scents, but I didn't have much else to do."
"Are you still annoyed at the way you were treated?"
"I was. Maybe that's what motivated me. Doesn't matter. Point is, I'm giving this to you. I want Fredric Tobin arrested, convicted, and fried."
She looked at me and said, "That may not happen, and you know it. Unless we get some real solid evidence, this guy is not going to be convicted of anything. I don't even think the DA would try to indict him."
I knew that. I also knew that when the problem was a nail, all you needed was a hammer. I had a hammer.
Beth asked, "Well? Do you have anything more in the way of evidence?"
"Actually, I found a small flat-bottomed boat in Tobin's boat-house with a pole-the kind of thing you can use to move through wetlands. Also, an aerosol foghorn." I related my encounter with Tobin in the boathouse.
She nodded, then said to me, "Sit down." I sat in my wicker chair, and she sat in the rocker. She said, "Talk to me."
I spent the next hour briefing her, telling her everything I'd done since we parted Tuesday night, up to and including the fact that Tobin's girlfriend, Sondra Wells, and the housekeeper had been away on the afternoon of the Gordon murders, yet Tobin had led me to believe they had been home.
Beth listened, staring out at the rain and the sea. The wind was getting heavier and actually howled once in a while.
When I finished, Beth said, "So, the Gordons' purchase of the Wiley property was not to double-cross Tobin."
"No. Tobin told the Gordons to buy the land, based on this legend of Captain Kidd's Ledges. There is also a place called Captain Kidd's Trees, but that's a public park now. Regarding the ledge or the bluff, this spot is not as well pinpointed in history books as the trees are, so Tobin knew that any bluff in the area would do. But he didn't want it to get around that he was buying useless land up on the bluffs-that would lead to all sorts of gossip and speculation. So he had the Gordons buy the land with their own money, which was limited, but they got lucky with that piece of Wiley land-or maybe Tobin knew about it. The plan then was to wait awhile before burying the treasure, then discovering it."
"Incredible."
"Yes. And because it's almost impossible to fake the age of a vertical shaft, they intended to tuck the treasure chest into the side of that bluff-on that ledge that we found-and then say it was exposed by erosion. Then, when they hacked it loose from the sand and clay, using picks and shovels, the site is basically destroyed, and the chest itself is in splinters, so the recovery of the chest makes it impossible for anyone to study the site."
She said again, "Incredible."
"These were three very bright people, Beth, and they had no intention of screwing up. They were going to snatch ten or twenty million dollars' worth of treasure right from under Uncle Sam's nose, and the first that Uncle was going to hear about it was when it made the news. Enter the IRS, which they were prepared for." I explained about the treasure trove laws, income tax, and all that.
She thought a moment, then asked me, "But how was Tobin to get in on the money after the Gordons announced their find?"
"First of all, these three established that they'd been friends for almost two years. The Gordons had developed this interest in wine, which I don't think was real, but it was a good way to get Fredric Tobin and the Gordons seen together in public as friends." I explained what I'd discovered from Emma about the nature of the relationship. I said, "However, that didn't agree with what Tobin had told me about the relationship. So I had another interesting inconsistency."
She nodded. "Being friends is no reason to share millions of dollars in found treasure."
"No. So they concocted a whole story to go along with the discovery. Here's what I think… First, they pretended they had developed a mutual interest in local history, and eventually that interest led to some information on pirate treasure. At this point, according to what they were going to put out to the press, they entered into a friendly agreement to search for and share whatever they found."
Beth nodded again. I could see she was mostly convinced of my reconstruction of what had taken place before the murders. I added, "The Gordons and Tobin would say they all pored through old archives in the various historical societies here, which is true, and they did the same in England, and so forth. They became convinced that the treasure was on the land owned by Margaret Wiley, and while they had some regrets about having suckered her out of that parcel, all's fair in treasure hunting, and so forth. They'd give Margaret a nice jewel or something. They'd also point out that they took a twenty-five-thousand-dollar risk because they couldn't be positive the treasure was there."