Love Your Entity(51)
“Is there a key?” Ronan asked.
“To the map?”
“To the treasure,” Ronan said.
Mary shook her head. “I don’t know anything about a key. Maybe the map leads you to a key and the key unlocks the treasure box? I don’t know.”
“The treasure is in a box? Is it money?” Ronan demanded. “Gems? Gold bars?”
“I don’t know,” Mary said in a monotone.
Ronan returned his attention to Bob. “You will write a glowing story for your paper about S. J. Brennan and her books. You will not return to her house or bother her again. You will no longer believe Hal’s treasure is real.”
Bob nodded as if in a trance.
So this was compulsion. Sierra could see how that ability would come in handy.
“Hal’s treasure is not real. You will not return to Sierra’s house or bother her,” Ronan told Mary. “Now you and Bob will leave.”
Sierra didn’t say a word until they were gone. The way her luck had been going lately she might just somehow knock them out of their vampire trance or something if she spoke up.
But the minute the door closed after them, she said, “Wow, that really works. I mean, I’ve seen it on TV, but never for real. When will it wear off?”
“It doesn’t.”
“Not ever?”
“They’re human. They don’t have forever.”
“They … um … they really were human, right? I mean, you can tell if they weren’t? If they were vampires, I mean.”
“I can tell, yes. They were human. Compulsion wouldn’t have worked on them otherwise.”
A knock at the front door made Sierra jump.
“Relax,” Ronan said. “They aren’t coming back.” He opened the door. “It’s Bruce.”
“I saw the reporters leave,” Bruce said. “How did the photo shoot go?” He nodded his approval of her outfit. “I told you that black would look good on you with your coloring. Of course, the fashion pundits are saying that this season is all about color. Red and orange are supposed to be hot, although not necessarily worn together.”
“I think your bearded lady came to the séance today,” Sierra said.
“Mother was here?” Bruce looked around eagerly. “Is she here now?”
“No.”
“I didn’t know you were going to hold a séance today,” Bruce said in a hurt voice.
“I didn’t know either. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing,” Sierra explained.
He looked at the chairs and the candles. “It looks like you still have everything set up. We could reconnect with Mother.”
“Not right now. I’m too drained,” Sierra said. “Maybe later.”
“Sure.” He sighed and gave her a sad puppy-dog look. “I understand.”
She felt guilty and might have given in had Ronan not hustled Bruce out.
“So now we know why Hal is eager to get rid of me and why he’s hung around for so long,” Sierra said when Ronan returned to the living room.
“It could just be an urban legend like the treasure in Al Capone’s safe.”
“Maybe it’s tied to your story,” Sierra suggested.
He shook his head.
“How can you be sure?”
“I can’t,” he admitted.
Personally she found it hard to believe that there were two supposed treasures in this house. Although all Ronan had said about his missing item was that it was a key. But it could be a key to a hidden safe holding a treasure. Hal’s treasure.
Consisting of what? She doubted the angry ghost would reveal any details about his treasure, like what it consisted of. Cash? Gold bars? Those would be worth a nice sum given the way the price of gold had skyrocketed in the past decade.
But gold bars were heavy. Okay, maybe gold coins. Oh wait, hadn’t there been a story about a rare Liberty silver-dollar coin worth three million dollars? Maybe the treasure consisted of rare coins?
Her head was spinning with all the possibilities. How could she find out more? Google, here she came.
Too bad that Mary didn’t have more information on what the family legend was about the missing treasure. Maybe Ruby knew something.
“Did you know that Hal had a treasure?” Sierra asked her once the two of them were alone in Sierra’s bedroom.
Ruby shook her head. “How was I supposed to know? He doesn’t confide in me. That woman could have been lying about being related to him. Maybe she made the whole thing up.”
“It would explain why he stays here and why he is so adamant about getting rid of everyone.”
“You can’t get sidetracked by Hal. Just get rid of him, that’s all I asked.”