Desperate Enemies 3 by Adam Carpenter (latest ebook reader .txt) 📕

Eldon Court, the sun was already beginning its quick descent toward the horizon, where the Pacific seemed to drop off the end of the earth.

Edgar pulled the car into the driveway and parked. He could see the lamp on in the bay window overlooking the front porch and, as he pulled the shopping bag from the hatch back, saw Jack's face appear in the window. Edgar gave a little wave and, by the time he was on the porch, Jack had joined him, their dog Ollie at his feet.

“Hi, handsome,” he said, throwing his arms around Edgar's neck and kissing him on the lips.

“Hi,” laughed Edgar, reciprocating. “I need to drive into the city more often!”

“How was the city?” asked Jack.

“Wonderful, as usual,” replied Edgar, “but I found myself wishing you were there, too.”

“And your meeting?”

“Fine, I think,” replied Edgar. “But, first, I brought you something.”

He offered the shopping bags to Jack, who took them and sat in the wicker loveseat nearby. He pulled out the pillows first.

“These will be great. . .”

“In the spare room,” said Edgar. “That's what I thought.”

Jack pulled out the bundle of rice paper and smiled.

“Thanks,” he said, “I was running low on this.”

“You're welcome,” replied Edgar. He sat down beside Jack on the loveseat. “How was your day?”

“Interesting,” replied Jack.

“What do you mean ‘interesting'?” asked Edgar. “Did you see something?”

“I did,” replied Jack.

Edgar stared at his partner, hoping for an explanation.

“Well, what?” he finally asked.

“You've got to promise not to be mad,” said Jack.

“Why?” asked Edgar, his brow furrowed.

“Well, I took Ollie out for a walk. . .”

“Jack,” interrupted Edgar, “I'm not mad at you for leaving the house. . . I just said that you should lock the doors when you're here alone.”

“Well,” continued Jack, “anyway, we were walking up the street and I heard this noise. . .”

“What kind of noise?” asked Edgar.

“That's what I'm trying to tell you,” replied Jack. “It was like a digging noise, so I went to look, and there are holes all over the back yard of Number Two.”

“Wait,” said Edgar, “you went into the back yard of that house? What if somebody had seen you?”

“Well, I had to grab Ollie,” said Jack, “he got away and, besides, Parker saw me.”

“What did he say?” asked Edgar.

“He told me to mind my own business,” replied Jack. He decided not to mention the indecent proposal, knowing that Edgar was already unhappy with his story, anyway.

Edgar was silent for a moment and then looked back at his partner.

“Did he happen to mention what he was doing?” asked Edgar.

Jack shook his head.

Of course not, thought Edgar. Why would he tell us what he's up to?

“Could you see anything in or around the holes?” asked Edgar. “I mean, was he digging up something or burying something?”

“I don't know,” replied Jack. “I didn't see anything, but it felt creepy and I couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't looking for bones or something. . .”

Edgar nodded and placed a hand on Jack's leg.

“I'm just glad you're okay,” he said.

Jack stood up, gathering his gifts as he did.

“Dinner should be about ready,” he said, “if you want to go and get cleaned up beforehand.”

“Good idea,” agreed Edgar.

He held the door open to allow Jack and Ollie to enter and followed. As Jack disappeared into the kitchen, Edgar headed up the stairs to wash up. As he passed his study on the way to the bathroom, the sight of his manuscript on his desk stopped him in his tracks. He walked into the study and turned on the desk lamp and, with trembling hands, picked up the manuscript and read aloud the first two words:

Fool's Gold

Jack, who had just pulled a cheese souffle from the oven, nearly jumped at the sight of his partner standing suddenly in the door.

“That was fast,” he said. “What's wrong?”

“Jack,” said Edgar, “I think I might know what's buried here and why Converse wants the land so badly.”

“Why?”

“Gold,” replied Edgar.

“Gold?”

“Think about it,” said Edgar, “this area was settled during the Gold Rush. . . it would certainly go a long way in explaining why Converse wants the land so badly and could explain why Parker was digging in the back yard today. . .”

Jack slowly nodded, taking it all in.

“By the way,” continued Edgar, “he was shirtless, wasn't he?”

“Hmm?”

“Parker,” pressed Edgar, “he was shirtless. Furry bastard.”

“Oh,” replied Jack, blushing a little, “yeah, I guess he was.”

“Bitch,” teased Edgar. “No wonder you were in his backyard.”

* * * *

As they dined on cheese souffle and a salad, a bottle of Pinot Grigio opened between them, Jack and Edgar continued their discussion of the possibility of buried treasure.

“You don't suppose there's treasure buried on our property, do you?” asked Jack.

Edgar laughed.

“I have no idea,” he replied, truly amused. “We don't even know if my theory is correct so, before we dig up our entire lawn and garden, we'd better just hold off for awhile.”

“We could buy a metal detector,” suggested Jack, causing Edgar to nearly choke on the sip of wine in his mouth.

“You're too much,” laughed Edgar, wiping spilled wine from his chin.

A thought occurred to Edgar, however; given the fact that the theory was, for the moment, just a theory, and the fact that, armed with this knowledge, most people would react like Jack and their neighborhood would resemble a block of Swiss cheese in no time, Edgar thought it best to keep the theory of buried gold between him and Jack.

“For the time being,” he said. “If it seems important later then we can bring it up.”

“Okay,” agreed Jack. He stood up and began gathering the empty plates in front of them but Edgar grabbed him and pulled him to his lap, instead. Dining with Jack in their beautiful dining room suddenly filled Edgar with feelings of nostalgia, longing even. Maybe it was just the wine.

“What are you doing?” asked Jack. “I need to clean up.”

“Later,” said Edgar, kissing Jack's neck. “I missed you today.”

“I missed you, too,” replied