The Treasure Map

THE BARD'S COP SHOP MYSTERY - SEPTEMBER 2019

The person I think it was is Parker Baker, who had done community service for not returning the library books.

My 19 sentence summary of what happened.

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Parker Barker took out some library books on the history of the town. According to legend in the books; one of his ancestors married and divorced a very wealthy nobleman that buried most of his fortune somewhere in the surrounding mountains, so she never got the half share of his fortune that she was entitled to. There was also talk of a map to this treasure/fortune but its location was unknown.

Obsessed with decoding the texts and transcripts of the Nobleman's diaries for what he believed to be hidden clues, Parker neglected to return the books and consequently got to do community service in the library, an ironic punishment.

It is there that he got to know about the Time Capsule that lay within the Retired, Yet Valuable Books Storage Room. Having exhausted all other avenues, he concluded that the map must be in the Capsule, but he found the room to be secured and the key kept somewhere in the mayoral champers.

His obsession over the map grew and he became paranoid that when the Time Capsule was opened on the 20th Decade of the Town’s Founding, the map would become property of the government which would use it to uncover the treasure and keep it for themselves.

He also learned on that on Founders Day, Mrs Stone intended to close the library at 4:30pm, go home for dinner, and then return just after 6pm to prepare for the Founder’s Day Annual Story Hour at 6:30pm. His plan was to hold Mrs Stone captive and force the mayor to open the door; then he would claim the map from the capsule.

His scheme was risky and there was no guarantee the map would be there, but he had the help of a few friends in high places, so to speak. For one, the Mayor’s ex-wife, Crystal, was his late stepmother’s best friend and her daughter, Sasha, was Parker’s brother’s fiancée.

Sasha and Parker’s brother lived far-away in a town named Fernmore, and seldom ventured into Bardstown, so weren’t well known. They had recently acquired a red Harley and Sasha agreed to drive it into town and leave it by the Library for Parker to use as a getaway vehicle. She would then get a lift back with Crystal’s rusty Toyota station wagon sometime after the robbery. On the day of the drop off, she was in a hurry to use the library restroom; this is why she was running.

Once they had all rendezvoused in Fernmore they would sort out the exact location of the treasure, and then send some trusted friends to sneak back into Bardstown, unearth it and return to him what he believed to be rightfully his.

Their scheme would have worked, but the mayor's key had been lost. The contents of the capsule remained safe and the criminals were brought to justice.

A year later the key was found. The capsule opened by the mayor and everyone was shocked to find it empty; someone had stolen its contents, but just whom is a whole other story.