Misty ran up to her husband and put the papers she had copied in his face. “It’s him, it’s really him. I can’t believe it, it’s really him!”
Brian, Misty’s husband, looked up from the television when she barged through the door. “What happened?”
“I actually found him!” Misty said excitedly.
“Who, will you tell me what happened?” Her husband looked bewildered.
The excitement even brought her children into the room, seven-year-old Belle and three-year-old Jacob.
“What’s going on?” Belle asked.
“The old guy on the porch, the guy I saw at Suntree,” Misty began excitedly.
“What about him?” Brian knew all about the curse.
“I was at the library getting some research on St. Johns. The librarian brought a real old book about the ancestors of St. Johns. I was looking through it when I saw this,” Misty said as she held out the paper. On it was an old man sitting on a chair. He was on the front porch of a two story white house. “This is the guy I saw at Suntree.”
Brian took the paper and studied it. “It does look like the description you gave us. Have you read the article on him?”
“No. I just saw him and came right home after I copied it. What does it say?”
“It says: Jasper Alcott was a prominent man who lived in the woodsy area near the south-west of town. He lived alone after his wife, Edith, passed away. A mystery surrounds this sixty-one year old man. He disappeared on July 5, 1855. Blood found on his porch was the only clue to his demise. Who murdered him, no one knows. His killer and his body were never found. Rumor had it that he had a bag of gold coins. His killer may have been trying to get it from Jasper. The gold is only a legend; nobody has ever found the gold coins.”
“Wow, he disappeared.” Misty was fascinated.
Brian smiled, “That’s probably why he wanted your help. It sure seems he needs your help to find his body and that gold of his.”
“The gold is only a legend, there isn’t any treasure. His body though, we could never find that now,” Misty said.
“We could, we do know that there is no building on the spot. His bones would’ve been dug up when they did the foundations.” Brian was interested.
“The whole area is large, how could we find buried bones. It would be like a needle in a haystack.” Misty was not as excited as Brian.
“Let’s get your mom to watch the kids and go to Suntree apartments,” Brian was up and started getting ready to leave.
Misty could not get excited. Her mother was more than happy to watch the kids. “Some help she is,” Misty thought to herself.
She sat in their Ford Explorer and headed towards the place where Misty dreaded the most. “How are we supposed to find a burial place from centuries ago? Odds are against us,” Misty said.