The Crown Royal Diamond

THE CROWN ROYAL DIAMOND

          A gentle cool wind blew through the leaves of the trees, making them flutter and shake ever so slightly. The sun had set hours ago and only a sliver of moonlight showed in the night sky. The steel gray clouds shielded the stars, making it almost pitch black out. The stillness was almost frightening and twenty-year-old Maggie Stone shivered as she walked down the overgrown path, using only the thin beam of a flashlight to pick her way through the brush.
         Why she had let John talk her into this she would never know. Meeting him at the old Jones house in the dead of night was definitely not her idea of fun. Not that she believed in ghost or any of the old tales that she had heard about the house. It just gave her the creeps walking alone, not knowing what was lurking out in the darkness.
         Her lifelong friend, John had called her earlier in the day, excited and almost breathless as he rambled on about the fact that he had found something and wanted her to meet him at the house. Since he went to college classes in the morning and worked afternoons, an evening meeting was necessary, but why at 11:00 at night?
         The house was inaccessible by car, the drive overrun with brambles and scrub so that you had to walk for almost a mile to reach it. The old two-story house had been empty for years and stories of murder and suicide had kept any possible buyers at bay.
         Maggie eventally reached the edge of the large front yard. The clouds having drifted away gave Maggie a little more light with which to see. Even though the yard had gone untended for years, Maggie could still see the outline of numerous flowerbeds and walkways. The outline of the large house still stood majestically in the darkness and Maggie could not help admiring it.
         As she approached the large porch, that encircled the front and one side of the house, she could see that the house had fared well; no vandals had been there to break the windows or write graffiti on the walls. With the exception of the overgrowth of the plants, the house looked as if someone still lived there.
         Maggie hesitated, suddenly afraid that the lights would come on and some angry homeowner would come out the front door demanding to know what she was doing there.
         “Hey.”
         Maggie jumped her heart racing.
         “John! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Maggie scolded her friend, turning so quickly that the beam from her flashlight hit him in his face.
         “Hey! I am sorry. How was I to know you were going to be so jumpy?” John apologized, lifting his hand in front of his eyes to shield them from the glare of the light.
         “Well, what did you expect, having me come way out here in the dead of night alone?” Maggie retorted, lowering the light beam so that it landed on the middle of John’s chest.
         “Sorry Mags, I just wanted to get out here as soon as we could, in case someone else found out what I did.” John explained.
         John was a few months younger than Maggie was, but that had never been an issue. They had grown up in the same small town, gone to the same schools, and even had decided to attend the same Community College.
         They had never dated and the thought of them being romantically involved had only been a brief fleeting thought in Maggie’s mind. She had not wanted to ruin their friendship by making things complicated if it did not work out. However, Maggie sometimes wondered if their friendship had something to do with John’s lack of interest in going out with other women or with her dating other men.
         John was not movie star handsome, standing five ten with his dark brown hair and hazel eyes. John had dated a little during his high school years, but no more than once or twice with any one girl. He seemed to be content just to hang out with Maggie and Maggie was content to do the same.
         This had worried Maggie’s parents for a time, but after Maggie had an unpleasant date with another boy; they decided that Maggie was happier and safer with John.
         “So what did you find?” Maggie asked. “And where have you been for the past few days?”
         “I’ve been doing research at the Library.” John explained, heading for the house porch. “I have to do a research paper, so I decided to do one on the Jones place. I know you’ve heard all the rumors and stuff about the place.”
         “Yeah, so who hasn’t heard them?” Maggie replied, still confused as to why they were there.
         “Well, I decided to do some in-depth digging.” John continued. “Going back through newspapers, deeds, anything I could find on the old place and who owned it.”
         “Okay, and what did you find?” Maggie was getting a little impatient.
         “You won’t believe this, Mags, but I found a little article about some jewelry and other stuff that came up missing back in the fifties. They believed that a handyman that was doing some repair work stole them, but they never found the stuff and the handyman was killed in a freak accident. He fell out of a tree that he was trimming and broke his neck.”
         “So, you think the stuff is still in the house somewhere?” Maggie asked.
         “I don’t think; I’m pretty sure it’s there.” John said confidently. “Look at this, Mags.”
         John sat down on the porch steps, unfolded some papers that he pulled from his pocket and spread them out on the porch floor.
         Maggie sat down next to John and shown her flashlight onto the papers.
         “What are those John, they look like building plans to a house?”
         “That’s exactly what they are. The plans to this house and these are the description of the house from a real estate company. Look here, Mags, see this room here?” John pointed at a spot on the house plans that looked like part of a pantry in the kitchen.
         “Yeah, it looks like a closet or something. What about it?”
         “It’s a pantry in the kitchen. Do you see these numbers; they are the measurements for that room. See four foot by six foot. Now here is the description for the same pantry from the real estate company. It says four foot by five foot.”
         “You think the handyman build another wall and hid the jewelry and stuff behind it?”
         “Yes, I do and we’re going to go look to see if I’m right.”
         “But John, it’s one thing to trespass and go into the house, it’s another thing to go in and tear down a wall. That’s vandalism.” Maggie pointed out, shocked to think that John would think of doing such a thing.
         “I don’t think we’ll have to tear out the entire wall, Maggie. I think the handyman would have been smart enough to make some kind of panel or something so that he could get to the stuff with out making a lot of noise or a mess. I just want to go in and check it out. If we don’t find a panel or something, then I’ll go to someone who has the authority to tear into the wall if he thinks I’m on to something. Okay?”
         “Well, okay. I’ve always wanted to see the inside anyway. So, how do we get in without breaking in the door or breaking a window?
         “We’ll just use these.” John pulled a set of keys from his pocket.
         “Where did you get the keys from?” Maggie asked.
         “I got them from the Real Estate agent. I told him that I might be interested in buying the house. So, he let me have the keys to come out and take a good look at it.” John replied, folding up the papers and returning them to his pocket. He then stood up and offered Maggie a hand up.
         Walking to the door, John put the key into the door lock and turned it. Opening the door, they shone their lights into the entryway of the house. The furniture was still sitting there, covered with dust and spider webs.
         “Um, weren’t there stories about a murder and a suicide in here somewhere?” Maggie asked, suddenly finding herself a little hesitant about entering.
         “That was upstairs in the main bedroom. The husband came home to find the wife in bed with his best friend; he freaked out, killed them both and then shot himself.” John looked over at Maggie and smiled. “Don’t worry, the ghost are all upstairs. We’re going to the kitchen, remember?”
         “Oh yeah, like ghost don’t get hungry.” Maggie grinned back, but felt a little less anxious.
         “I’m sure the kitchen’s this way.” John said as he headed towards the back of the house.
         Maggie followed, making sure to keep an eye out for any critters scurrying across the floor or ghosts coming down the stairs.
         “Here it is.” John stated as he went through a door into the kitchen. “The pantry should be over here somewhere. Yes, here it is. Maggie, bring your light here and shine it on this wall over here.”
Maggie followed John into the pantry that was not much bigger than a closet. On the shelves stood jars of canned goods, long forgotten and covered with dust.
         “Here Maggie hold this for a minute while I move this stuff.” John handed Maggie his flashlight, then started to transfer jars of preserves to the other side of the pantry.
         “John, do you really think there are jewels behind that wall?” Maggie was starting to get excited. The thought of diamonds and gold hidden behind the wall gave her a thrill that she had never experienced before.
         “I don’t know for sure, Maggie, but wouldn’t it be great if they are. I’m sure there is probably some kind of reward for their recovery” John replied, taking his flashlight from her. He started tapping on the wall to see if there was any difference in the sound, indicating a compartment of some kind.
         Maggie smiled to herself. That was John, he wouldn’t think of keeping the jewels for himself. He would turn them in, whether there was a reward or not. John was as honest as the day was long, which was one of the things that Maggie loved about him.
         Maggie stopped herself; she looked at John’s back as he tapped and felt the wall. Yes, she loved him. All these years she had known, but had refused to acknowledge it, afraid that if she admitted it, she would lose him.
         “I found it!” John shouted excitedly, as he pulled on a loose board.
         “My god, Maggie, look!”
         John reached into the cubbyhole, pulled out a blue Crown Royal drawstring bag, and handed it to Maggie.
         “Hold this while I look and see it there’s anything else.”
         Maggie gasped as she opened the bag. Inside was a large diamond and sapphire ring.
         “John, there‘s a gorgeous ring in here!” Maggie exclaimed, as she looked up and saw John watching her.
         John reached over, gently grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her blue eyes.
         “I know Maggie because I put it there and I know I’m taking a chance on ruining a good friendship, but Maggie I want to be more than friends.”
         John took the bag from Maggie, reached in, pulled the ring out and got down on one knee.
         “Maggie, I have always loved you. Will you marry me?”
         Maggie was silent for a moment; she had been so surprised by this sudden turn of events she didn‘t know what to think or say, but then she knew and blurted out the one word that John was hoping to hear.
         “Yes!”
         Maggie suddenly found herself in John’s embrace, being kissed passionately. She did not know who had grabbed whom first, but she knew it felt right and she kissed him back just as passionately.

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