The Edenbury Chronicles - Vol 2 - Chapter 15

Monday morning, an express courier dropped a package in the mail slot at the newspaper office. Eric was in early writing at his desk, well into another brilliant Chronicle article. 

He felt it was only fitting to write about his new desk and was almost disappointed by the interruption. 

Since the hacking incident, Eric was sure to follow Zeke’s recommendations on using his computer, and while disappointed by the interruption, he was relieved to have a possible resolution in hand.

Eric pulled a floppy disk from the package along with some instructions. He read over the steps and locked the disk into the computer. After typing a few commands, the computer connected to the Internet, and the monitor screen blinked several times. After a few beeps and more blinks, a message appeared.

Package Delivered.

“Package delivered?” he asked. “I don’t see any package.”

When it became apparent nothing else was going to happen, Eric removed the disk. He knew Zeke had left town, so he abandoned his work and headed off to get a message to him.

— 

Inside the diner, Eric found Cheryl at the coffee maker and Olivia sitting at the counter doing schoolwork. 

“Cheryl, I need to get a message to Zeke,” he said.

“Another rock jump in your path?” she teased.

Olivia snorted.

“Very funny,” Eric replied. “Can you page them for me? When they call back, please tell Zeke the package was delivered.”

Cheryl withdrew a pen from behind her ear and scribbled on a napkin.

“You got a package?”

“Well, yes, but I’m talking about another package.” 

“So, you got two packages?” 

Eric was having flashbacks to his conversation with Lucy a few days prior about being hacked. He remembered Cheryl and Lucy were best friends and just decided to move on.

“Maybe you can page them now. I’ll wait here until they call back,” replied Eric. “With some coffee, please.”

After punching numbers into the phone, Cheryl poured Eric a cup of coffee and then disappeared into the back of the diner.

“This is about that hacking incident, isn’t it?” asked Olivia without looking up from her schoolwork.

Eric took the stool next to her.

“What do you know about these things?”

Olivia closed her notebook. “You’re looking at the Vice President of the Computer Club at my school.”

“I just put a disk in my computer, and a bunch of stuff happened that I don’t understand,” Eric explained as he presented the instructions from Marcus. He handed the paper to Olivia. “What did I just do?” he asked.

“Looks like Zeke’s friend had you upload a little present for the hackers.”

“Oh dear,” Eric replied.

“The guy who sent you the disk is a brilliant programmer,” explained Olivia. “Marcus and Zeke made a lot of money off of technology side projects.” 

“I wondered how Zeke and Lucy managed after being fired from the Heathrow agency.”

Olivia finished off her orange soda. “They manage quite well.”

For the next several minutes, Olivia tried to explain how computer files and hacking worked to Eric until the phone rang. Cheryl appeared and stretched the chord across the counter. 

“Zeke, this is Eric,” he said. “I received the disk from Marcus and followed the instructions. After a bunch of blinking and beeping, Olivia says I uploaded a horse.”

“A Trojan Horse,” clarified Olivia.

Cheryl was still standing nearby and rolled her eyes while Eric waited for Zeke to respond. 

“Right. Okay. Thanks,” Eric said, handing the phone back to Cheryl. “All he said was we just need to wait. Marcus will take care of the rest.”

“Mr. Eric, do you need any interns?” asked Olivia. “I worked on my school newspaper.”

“Is that so?” he asked.

“And I know how to use a computer,” she added.

Eric took a sip of his coffee. “That, I believe. I can’t pay you, but our last issue did really well, and advertisers are already wanting a piece of the action. Maybe you can take my old job selling advertising, and I can focus on writing.”

“If you keep writing great articles, the job will be easy.”

“When can you start?” he asked.

“Let me talk with my mother and get back to you,” Olivia replied, packing up her books. “Do you think I’d get to meet Andrea Glenn one day?”

Eric finished his coffee and laid some change on the counter. “There’s no telling who you’ll run into at the Chronicle, Olivia.”

—

After hanging up with Eric, Zeke took another look over his Ames Hill research materials which were laid out on the small desk in their motel room.

“I still don’t understand this map,” he said to Lucy. “Why would Father Gregory leave it hidden for us at the rectory guest house? It’s really no different than the street map we purchased at the gas station.” 

“Except it has my ancestor's initials on it,” Lucy added.

Zeke hesitated. “What if that’s it?” he asked. “What if these are not the initials of Albert Henry Greyson, but they stand for something else?”

Lucy seemed disappointed. “What else could they be?”

“What if they stood for Ames Hill Graveyard?” replied Zeke, comparing the two maps.

“You think?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, because the letters appear right over the location of the graveyard.”

Lucy took the maps from Zeke. “That’s the graveyard Father Gregory and Loretta visited,” she said as she held them closer. “I think you might be right.”

Zeke sat back in his chair. “I think Father Gregory also assumed they were the initials of a person, not a place.”

“A place we definitely need to visit,” added Lucy.

—

Thirty minutes later, Zeke and Lucy sat in their parked car near the center of downtown Ames Hill. In front of them, a poster-sized headshot of agent Nelly Williamson hung in the window of her real estate office. 

“Were you serious about buying the mansion?” Lucy asked. “I mean, it’s nice and all, but what would we do with it?”

“For now, I’m more interested in who wants to control how the property is used,” he replied.

“Can they even do that?”

“I guess Nelly Williamson will have to help us find out,” he replied. “But it looks like she’s not here,” observed Zeke as he opened the car door and got out. 

Lucy watched as Zeke knocked on the door and looked in the windows. After a minute of waiting, he returned to the car.

“This is the time and the place,” said Lucy. “I confirmed it with her.”

“We can walk to the mansion from here. Maybe she went ahead of us.”

The couple left the car. They passed several people on the street as they made their way to the hill in the center of town. When Zeke saw someone he recognized, he stopped.

“Pastor Greg!” he yelled down the street ahead of them.

The man turned briefly and then disappeared into his car. As Zeke waved and yelled again, the car sped off in the opposite direction. 

“Are you sure that was him?” asked Lucy. “The pastor you and Father Vance met with in Edenbury?”

“Yes, I’m positive,” confirmed Zeke. “Looks like someone got to Pastor Greg.”

They continued toward the mansion and turned a corner to find the gate open at the bottom of the driveway. 

“Someone is already here,” observed Zeke. “Might as well go up.”

As they walked, the couple held hands as they did the night they snuck up the driveway in the dark. The view opened up as they ascended the hill, and they stopped several times to enjoy the scenery. 

Just as they approached the porch steps, they heard shouting coming from inside the house, and the front door burst open. Armed with rifles and full body armor, three police officers jumped through the door onto the porch and pointed their weapons at Zeke and Lucy. 

The chaos escalated as several other officers appeared from each side of the building while two police cars raced up the hill behind them.

“Freeze!” demanded one of the officers after jumping down the steps. “Get your hands where I can see them.”

Zeke slowly raised his hands as he looked at Lucy. He was surprised to see she didn’t appear frightened.

“We were set up,” he said.

“How exciting!” she exclaimed with her hands in the air. “I’ve never been set up before.”

“Shut up and turn around!” yelled one of the officers who pushed Zeke against the porch.

Lucy followed on her own and laid her hands on the porch beside her husband. The couple was handcuffed and quickly tucked into the back of one of the police cars. Police radios blared while officers continued to check the area for other intruders.  

In the back seat, Zeke looked over to see Lucy smiling. 

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I was looking forward to seeing the mansion, but this is kind of fun.”

Zeke adjusted his hands behind him. “I think I should have seen this fun coming.”

When the police car hesitated at the bottom of the hill, Zeke saw someone standing on the sidewalk. It was the real estate agent who he recognized from her picture. 

Zeke and Lucy both watched as she mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”

—

Zeke and Lucy sat in a jail cell for more than two hours. A guard sat nearby reading a book. Despite being asked several questions, the officer ignored the couple behind the bars.

“What kind of food do you think they serve here?” asked Lucy.

“They can’t hold us very long for misdemeanor trespassing,” Zeke replied as he looked out the tiny window overlooking the Ames Hill Police Station parking lot.

“We’ve been married only a few weeks, and here we are in jail together,” she said. “What will happen next?”

Just then, a door opened, and another officer appeared with some luggage.

“Those are our bags,” announced Lucy. “Why do they have our bags?”

Zeke continued to stare out the window. “I guess that’s what will happen next.”

As the guard dropped the bags and left, an older man in a suit entered the area outside the cell.

“Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, my name is Mayor Jenkins.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” said Lucy as she stood. “I was beginning to fear we would miss meeting with you today.”

The Mayor motioned to the remaining guard. “Please leave us.”

As the officer closed the door behind him, the Mayor stepped closer to the bars.

“I’m going to keep this short,” he began, without waiting for Zeke to turn around. “Mrs. and Mrs. Hughes, we know you were here a week ago. There’s nothing in Ames Hill for you, and that’s why you are leaving.”

Lucy sat down on the bench in the cell. “Do you have any food?”

“I beg your pardon?” asked Mayor Jenkins, looking bewildered.

“I was really hoping to try some prison food,” Lucy replied.

Zeke laughed. 

“I am not amused, Mrs. Hughes, but I am curious,” the Mayor said, folding his arms. “How did you make those footprints on the hill?”

Lucy returned to her feet and walked toward the bars. “I’ll answer your question if you answer mine,” she countered. “What did you do to Pastor Greg?”

The mayor seemed surprised by her nerve. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “How about we just agree that you never come back to Ames Hill? It would be best for all of us.”

“On one condition,” Zeke said, finally turning from the window to face their captor.

The Mayor dropped his arms. “Mr. Hughes, I don’t see how you are in a position to negotiate,” he said.

Zeke just grinned, fully aware Mayor Jenkins knew better.

“I can see you are in a difficult position,” said Zeke, approaching the bars. “You know all about what happened in Edenbury, and you fear something worse for Ames Hill. Something much worse. How you are involved personally, I don’t know, but—”

“What’s it going to take to get rid of you, Mr. Hughes?” interrupted the Mayor.

“A simple request,” Zeke replied. “Allow us to visit the Ames Hill Graveyard on the way out of town.”

Befuddled again, the Mayor motioned through a window for the guard to return. “You’ll have an escort,” he warned. “Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Hughes.”

—

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