“We’ll move the copter,” Claus decided. “Come on, Velvet, give me a hand.”
The helicopter was wheeled under some fruit trees and hidden by branches from the road. Then they went back to wait some more, and by now Claus had tucked the pistol back into his belt. They were all anxious to see what two o’clock would bring.
Shortly after one a reporter phoned to ask Hamish about the missing statue. They were playing up the robbery in the afternoon papers. Could he come out for an interview? No, Hamish told him, that would be impossible.
“It’s nearly two,” Silke said.
“We’d better find it,” Hamish grumbled. “Between the reporters and the police we don’t have much time before they discover it’s out here.”
Jimmy Claus nodded. “Let’s get some shovels and start digging.”
They dug in the rose garden.
And found nothing.
“Daylight Saving Time,” Hamish suggested. “Try over to the left.”
Still nothing.
“Deeper,” Claus ordered. “We didn’t go deep enough.”
“We’re still in the rose garden,” Nick pointed out. “In the area where Hamish has already searched.”
Claus cursed. “He probably found it himself already.”
“But then he wouldn’t have needed the statue.”
“There’s nothing to find!” Silke insisted again.
Claus climbed into the deepest hole himself, turning his back to Nick. “I’m going to find his treasure if I have to dig clear through to China!”
That was when Nick hit him with the shovel.
Toward evening Nick flew the helicopter back to the airport. Jimmy Claus was tied up in back, and Silke sat by his side in the copilot’s seat. “What are you going to do with Claus?” she asked.
Nick glanced back at the bound man. “Release him, probably. I guess we’re all convinced there’s no treasure, and we can’t very well turn him over to the police and have the whole story come out.”
“My uncle was ready to make a deal with him.”
“There’s nothing to deal with. By tomorrow someone will have spotted the eagle anyway, and Hamish will have a lot of explaining to do. They might not be able to arrest him for taking back his uncle’s eagle, but they can certainly ask him some embarrassing questions.”
“You never believed that about the bribes, did you?”
Nick studied her face. “Of course not,” he said.
“Where are you going now?”
“I have one piece of unfinished business. Then maybe we could have a late dinner somewhere.”
“What business?”
“My rented car is back at your uncle’s place.”
“You’re going all the way back there?”
“I don’t want the car found and traced to me. I’ll hire a taxi to take me back.” He settled the copter to a perfect landings “Will you wait for me here at the airport?”
“Sure.”
He kissed her lightly on the cheek, then climbed back to untie Jimmy Claus.
It was dark by the time he returned to the Blake estate, but Hamish was still in the rose garden, refilling holes by the light of an electric lantern. “Find anything?” Nick asked him.
“You know I didn’t. What about Claus?”
“I gave him a good scare. He won’t be back.”
“And Silke?”
“She won’t be back either.”
“Then why did you come back?”
“For the treasure,” Nick said.
“There is no treasure.”
“There’s always a treasure for men like Norbert Blake. We just weren’t looking in the right place.”
“And where’s that?”
“The treasure hunt in The Gold-Bug was at night, and even Silke told me of moonlight treasure hunts when she was a child. Judge Blake dated his note at two o’clock, but he didn’t say day or night.”
“There are no certain shadows cast at night. Even the moon would be in a different position each June 24th.”
“He only specified shadow — not sun or moon. You’re forgetting the most obvious source of light in this garden — the spotlight Silke smashed with her rifle shot last night.”
Hamish’s mouth dropped open. “I never thought of that.”
“Suppose we replace the bulb,” Nick suggested. “The light will be at a much lower angle than the sun today, which means the shadow of that eagle’s beak will end up far away from the rose garden — probably almost to those trees there.”
It took them just ten minutes to dig up the suitcase and to find the packets of hundred-dollar bills wrapped carefully in waterproofed cloth. Hamish was just beginning to count them when the police car pulled up the drive, targeting him with its headlights. They had come to find the statue, and found the treasure instead.
Nick slipped into the woods, leaving Hamish to explain it all the best he could. There’d been no time to grab a packet of the money for himself, but at least he still had his fee. And Silke was waiting for him at the airport.
He guessed he’d wait a while before telling her about the suitcase.
