Home

Buried Secrets

 

Welcome to our Modern Day Appalachian Woman book! Headed up by Savannah, our staff is composing and writing a book, chapter by chapter for our readers. Each month, we will have a new chapter, with its’ completion by the end of the year. Join in the fun and share your thoughts on our Facebook. Follow each chapter as the story develops!

 

Chapter One

By Savannah Bailey

 

Evelyn listened to the rain as it hit the rooftop like hundreds of tiny feet running from one side to the other. It was only St. Patrick’s Day, but April showers had arrived early, making the past week cold and sopping wet. The empty wine glass in her hand glinted off the gaudy, green beads around her neck, and she wondered how long she’d be stuck at work.

 

In years past, the staff St. Paddy’s party at Cavern State Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina had been the most exciting event all year. It marked the start of Spring. This party was meant to give way to upcoming park events, and promised that every day would soon be filled with visitors– children and their families, lovebirds on romantic walks, and early morning joggers starting their day with fresh air. Evelyn most looked forward to those who came to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries, promotions or engagements, each group ready to share their joy with the park staff, passing strangers, and nature.

 

A slammed desk drawer drew Evelyn’s attention out of reminiscing. She glanced up from her chair to see her boss, Leo, leaving his office with a pack of cigarettes. He walked outside without ever looking up from his feet. Evelyn noticed her coworkers looking at her expectantly, the room having gone almost silent. She knew they expected her to go console him, but she wasn’t sure where to begin. Despite usually being the one who to find an answer for almost any problem, Evelyn was just as panicked as the rest of the park staff. If the state wanted to demolish Cavern Park, she had no idea how to stop them.

 

Without warning the lights on Leo’s truck flooded the window behind her head. They all waited in silence as he backed out of the rocky parking lot and drove away. As the sound of Leo’s engine softened, frantic questions fired across the room, all directed at Evelyn.

 

“How long do we have until it closes,” Bella, the Wildlife Ecologist, sounded on the verge of crying. She’d been with the park for nearly eight years.

 

“Is there no combatting the state’s decision?” Robert, the Bookkeeper at the Welcome Center, seemed less saddened and more ready to stage a battle, but Evelyn doubted any of them– herself included– were prepared to go head to head against the state.

 

It was Hally, the Archeology Intern, who shouted out the question Evelyn had on her mind as well. Hally’s voice was an octave higher than the others, demanding the room’s attention as she asked, “Why the hell are they shutting us down in the first place?”

 

Evelyn suddenly wished she had more wine as her coworkers stared at her, waiting for answers she didn’t have. She put her free hand up in surrender. “I don’t know…,” she began. “I wish I did. But Leo told me at the same time he told all of you.”

 

Evelyn hated to admit it, and she doubted from the looks she received that anyone believed her. But despite being Leo’s second in command, he’d told her nothing extra. I received word today that the state is reclaiming this land for other uses. I’m sorry to say the park will soon close. That had been the start and end of Leo’s St. Paddy’s Day speech, after which he’d hidden in his office until moments ago when he stalked out with his cigarettes.

 

Honestly, Evelyn was incensed. She and Leo had worked side by side at Cavern Park for 15 years. They’d had their fair share of disasters– a financial crisis, an infestation of wasps on seemingly every building, and even a child who was kidnapped from their grounds by an estranged parent. Still, Evelyn and Leo had fought to keep the park thriving, and every year seemed to get better and better. Until now, of course.

 

“You honestly can’t tell us anything,” Hally pressed.

 

Evelyn didn’t meet the prying eyes before her when she answered, “When I know something, I promise that you will too. Until then,” she paused, not sure what to tell them to do next. “Let’s just keep moving forward.”

 

Even to her the words sounded fake. Her coworkers regarded her as though she were nuts, and perhaps they were right. But for the moment, Evelyn just wanted to lock up the Welcome Center and go home.

 

 After a few minutes, Robert was the first to head out for the evening. He was followed by Carlton, the Grounds-keeper, and then by Bella. Hally was the last to leave after lingering by Evelyn for answers that weren’t there. Finally, Evelyn was alone with nothing but her own sharp inhales to fill the silence as she tried desperately to suck her snot and brimming tears back into her head. She faced the loss of her career and of the park– her home– head on without the buffer of coworkers, Leo, or even white noise to distract her. It was heartbreaking, but being kept in the dark on all the gory details was unbearable.

 

 The dim light of Leo’s computer screen caught Evelyn’s eye from under his office door. She pursed her lips, not considering whether she should scour Leo’s email for answers, just if there was a chance of getting caught. She left her empty wine glass on the window sill and made her way into Leo’s office. The monitor light was a shining star in the pitch-black room, but she almost preferred it that way. The darkness felt safe to her as she perched on the edge of his desk chair.

 

Evelyn had nearly all of Leo’s passwords memorized, and she typed his email login while wondering if the keys on the keyboard or her hurried heart beats were louder. The first email in Leo’s inbox was addressed to him from the State Department. The subject line read The Future of Cavern Park. She clicked on it.

 

Chapter Two

 

“Evelyn, are you here?” Leo’s voice shattered the silence throughout the small, Cavern Park Welcome Center.

 

Evelyn’s body jolted in fear. She closed the browser on Leo’s computer and shoved herself up from the chair at his desk, thankful she had at least closed the door behind her after slipping into his office. She hadn’t heard his truck or noticed his headlights coming up the hill to the center. Then again, she could hardly see anything but the constant replay of words in her mind’s eye. Nothing in Leo’s email from the North Carolina Parks and Recreation department had been what she’d expected. Dear Mr. Carter, it has been brought to our attention that there is reason to believe historical U.S. artifacts are buried somewhere on the grounds of Cavern Park.

 

Evelyn held her breath as she crammed her body behind the two large, corner chairs in Leo’s office, ducking her head just as he stepped into the room. She expected him to call out for her again, or at least turn the light on. Instead, he crept across the floor like a thief. She heard him fumble in the dark at one of his desk drawers, and then the tell-tale jingle of keys before he snuck back out of his own office. He stepped on the only creaky floorboard in the Welcome Center as he exited through the front door.

 

The minutes passed like hours as Evelyn waited for the sound of Leo’s engine roaring to life, but the world around her stayed quiet. As we understand it, you or your staff are aware of the above-mentioned possibility and have been personally attempting to retrieve said artifacts. Evelyn cursed under her breath as realization struck her, and she’d bet what little time of her beloved job she had left that Leo had taken the keys to the Groundskeeper’s shed. For years Leo had been a man she trusted, someone who cared for Cavern Park as much as she did. But now, as she surged forward from her hiding place and followed her boss’s footsteps into the chilly night air, she questioned how long her faith in him had been misplaced.

 

How long had he known about the possibility of historical artifacts – something she was sure translated to ‘treasure’ in the minds of the state and of Leo – being lost on park land? How long had he been searching for his big break in the dead of night? While we appreciate your help in unearthing key pieces of U.S. and North Carolina history, it is our duty to inform you that Cavern Park is state owned property. As such, any significant construction, renovation, or excavation must be approved by the department of Parks and Recreation. The state’s email stuttered through her mind like a song played on a shaky Walkman. She pulled the hood of her jacket over her head to guard against the biting wind. Though the rain had paused briefly, every step she took squished through puddles and mud.

 

The door to the Groundskeeper’s shed was flung open when she arrived. It knocked against the wooden walls in the breeze. Seeing the dilapidated building nearly empty of the few shovels, flashlights, buckets, and other tools the park had, Evelyn didn’t figure leaving the door unlocked made much of a difference. All current and future attempts to recover any artifacts from Cavern Park land are to immediately cease. Evelyn used the dim light of her phone to glance around the shed, hoping Leo had left at least one flashlight behind. Though she hadn’t seen or heard anyone besides her boss, the thought of one man needing four or more flashlights was absurd. In fact, it was almost as ridiculous as one man being able to locate and recover even one historical artifact on grounds this size in the span of one night.

 

We feel it is best for everyone involved if the Parks and Recreation department reclaims the entirety of Cavern Park for further research into any historical artifacts or significance. Consider this email yours and your staff’s official letter of termination. You will have until Friday, March 25, to collect your belongings and vacate the premises. A representative will be dispatched to Cavern Park on Friday, March 18, to ensure that the following week goes smoothly.

 

Evelyn strained to listen for any sound of movement through the constant dripping of water from the forest above. Though she knew the park’s trails better than she did the layout of her own home, she wasn’t confident in her ability to scour the woods in the dark, after heavy rains, with the hope of dropping in on Leo and the group of half-assed treasure hunters she suspected he had gathered. Leo was no historian, and Evelyn doubted he was digging holes in the ground in search of glory. She wondered how much he knew about the supposed artifacts, and how close he was to finding them. How much money was Leo looking at if he found whatever was hidden out here?

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Parks and Recreation Department. Evelyn considered it. She could call the state police or the park ranger. She could clue the Parks department in first thing tomorrow morning. She could wait for Leo by his truck all night if she had to, and confront him about his betrayal of the park, of the whole staff, and of her. But before she could choose which road to travel, the tell-tale sound of heavy machinery rang out in the night. A blinding light shone broken and staggered through the trees, and Evelyn’s feet led her toward it all on their own. If whatever was out here was big enough that Leo thought he needed a digger, Evelyn was determined to see it for herself.

 

Chapter Three

 

Evelyn stood under the thick darkness of an oak tree, left over rain water from the leaves dripping down periodically on to her head. She watched as Leo directed a small digger towards a rocky hillside. Including Leo and the driver, there were five men with shovels and head lamps, digging through the forest floor in search of riches.

 

Evelyn noticed at least four trees that Leo or his men had taken down. The ground was full of holes and ditches where they had been digging. Leo had to have known about this spot for weeks. She wondered how he’d discovered it in the first place.

 

By following the light and noise of the digger, she’d made her way to the area well enough; it wasn’t more than three quarters of a mile from the Groundskeeper’s shed. But it was hidden in the thick of the woods, an area that most park guests wouldn’t stray to. Even if someone had seen it, the torn ground and fallen trees could easily be passed off as a construction site. Evelyn figured if the state hadn’t found out that Leo could’ve kept going until he found whatever he was searching for. Now, he’d likely have only tonight, and he might never find it.

 

She considered that deeply. She could leave, head home knowing what she knew, accept the end of her career and Cavern Park itself, and let Leo hunt in vain until the state took over tomorrow. She peered through the darkness behind her, back the way she came. Damn, she loved these mountains. She loved this park with her whole body; it gave her chills each morning she got to watch the fog rise and the sun break through the foliage below. Her passion smoked

and crumbled under the heartbreak of leaving Cavern Park— her park— behind.

 

“Leo,” she hollered as she stepped out from behind the trees. No one could hear her over the sound of the digger. She marched forward until flashlights started to flick in her direction. All the while she was shouting out for them to stop, for Leo to look at her.

 

Finally at the pointing of the digger driver’s hand, Leo turned to face her. His eyes grew wide, and he held up his palm for the machine to be shut off. The forest grew quiet again, save for the stomp of Evelyn’s feet as she advanced, not stopping until she was close enough to pin Leo with her glare and then smack him across the cheek. His jaw dropped; he raised his hand to his face.

 

“I want my job back,” Evelyn demanded. “How dare you risk this park for your own damn greed.”

 

“Evelyn, I never meant—,” Leo began some excuse, an apology, a manipulative statement with the aim of quelling Evelyn’s anger and getting on with his business, she was sure.

 

But she cut him off. “You will get me my job back. This park will not close and you will fix this.”

 

All five men looked at her, aghast.

 

“How in the hell,” Leo questioned, his voice incredulous.

 

Evelyn chewed on her cheek, debating whether or not she really wanted to go down the road she had mapped out in her mind.

 

“We’re going to find whatever the heck it is that y’all think is out here. And we’ll use it as leverage to keep the park open, and our jobs intact.”

 

All five of the men around her looked as if they were holding back chuckles. Leo couldn’t even look at her as he covered his lips and cleared his throat.

 

“I’m not sure how you think that’s going to work, Eve.” Leo’s eyes were almost full of pity. Evelyn wanted to hit him all over again.

 

“Don’t you dare. We are not friends, Leo. You screwed that up. You lied to me— to everyone! So, don’t call me Eve and think that you can patronize me into backing off. You will help me do this. Or I will call the state trooper on every single one of you.”

 

For the first time since she’d interrupted their party, one of the other men spoke up, but not to Evelyn. “Look, Leo, I’m not  even certain what you asked me here for tonight, but whatever this,” he waved his hand in a circular motion, indicating towards Evelyn and Leo, “is— I’m not interested. From what I’ve heard, you don’t even know if there’s junk buried out here or not. Robby and I are going home.” He looked pointedly at one of the other guys, whom Evelyn was now realizing could only be 16 or 17. Then he dropped his shovel on the ground and the two of them started

out of the little hollow they were all standing in.

 

Leo glance around to the two remaining members of his late night heist team. “All right. Fair enough. Anyone else heading for the hills?”

 

The slim, bearded, older gentleman to Evelyn’s left piped up. “Leo, I can’t help you out of this one. But if you want my advice...”

 

Leo shrugged, a sad smile tugging at his lips. “Do I ever, Dad?”

 

“You better do right by this one,” Leo’s father referenced Evelyn’s angry stance, her arms crossed, eyes still full of fire. Then he, too, started out of the woods.

 

Evelyn realized in all the years she’d known Leo, she’d never met his father. In some ways, she was shocked that Leo had drug the old man out into the dark forest for an illegal treasure hunt. Then again, there weren’t many things about Leo she felt confident she knew anymore.

 

“Allen.” Leo looked up to the digger driver. “Can you walk my dad out?”

 

Allen clambered down from the machinery. He nodded to Evelyn, and announced, “I’m still in. I’ll be back.”

 

And then she and Leo were alone.

 

“Tell me everything you know,” Leo demanded.

 

She smirked at him, calming down a little. “You first.”

 

 

Chapter 4

 

Leo’s tale seeped into Evelyn’s ears along with the soft chirping crickets that surrounded them. It seemed as though even the trees were listening, processing, planning the next steps in this contorted and foolish adventure Evelyn was embarking on.

 

Two months ago, a man had scheduled a meeting with Leo. He’d arrived at the Cavern Park Welcome Center during a time when Evelyn and most of the other employees were out to lunch. He carried with him a binder of evidence to support his belief that historical artifacts dating back to the early days of Prohibition were lost on park grounds. According to Leo, the man’s credentials as a historian were extensive and impressive.

 

 “I told him we couldn’t help him.” Leo shrugged. “This is state property, whatever search he wanted to conduct had to be approved by the Parks and Recreation Department.”

 

“Oh but your search didn’t?” Evelyn rolled her eyes in disgust. She’d never known her boss to be so slimy.

 

He ignored her. “The state is normally perpetually slow. Every time we’ve needed something approved or needed funding they’ve dragged their feet for six months or more.”

 

The way he said ‘we’ made Evelyn cringe. The ‘we’ they were now was much different than what they had been even a few hours ago. Where they had been good friends and coworkers, they were now begrudging partners in crime—their new relationship built on distrust rather than loyalty.

 

“I asked him to show me where he thought all these artifacts were buried and he circled a range of like three or four miles. Well hell, three or four miles is nothing, ya know?”

 

Evelyn could see Leo’s lips twitch into a smirk. He must have thought he was so clever. She wondered if he still thought that now that he was backed into a corner and on the cusp of unemployment.

 

“I sent him to the Parks office; I was thinking I had at least four or five months to find the treasure and cover my tracks back up. How hard could it be, right? But me and the guys,” Leo gestured to the scraggly path leading back towards the main park entrance, the direction that his buddies had all gone. “We’ve been out here for a month and we haven’t found one damn thing. Not even some lost change! I’ve had like fifty ticks on me and at least three close calls with snakes. Honestly, I’m kind of glad you’re here, Eve, you’ve always been better at knowing the land than I have.”

 

There was that nickname again. He’d called her that so many times over the years they’d known each other that it almost slipped by her now. But the way it sounded falling from his lips was different out here; his words were sickeningly sweet.

 

Leo continued in a sly tone. “The guy speculated there’s something like 450,000 dollars’ worth of crap buried out here, Evelyn. You know what we could do with that?”

 

Evelyn couldn’t help the humorless laugh that burst from her lips. “You won’t convince me to join your convoy of thieves and liars. Don’t expect my sympathy, Leo. If my plan works and we find even a little of what is supposed to be out here—if there is anything—you won’t see a penny of it. With any luck, it will be the peace offering I intend it to be, and the state will let me and the others keep our jobs. Whether you get to keep yours or not isn’t my problem. You brought this on yourself.”

 

Leo’s face looked hurt for the briefest of moments, but Evelyn couldn’t be bothered to decipher whether or not his emotion was real or just another con. If her ‘plan’ as she called it had any chance of coming to fruition, she needed to figure out what her first steps were. Despite her powerful, no nonsense attitude, Evelyn was flying blind, just hoping that she could B-S her way back into a job and in the opposite direction of a jail cell.

 

“Did the historian give you any idea of exactly what these artifacts are supposed to be,” she questioned.

 

“‘Historical artifacts’ is as specific as he got.” Leo’s voice was no longer overly kind and manipulative. Instead, his words were hard and matter of fact, his anger over being caught and forced into an alternative course of action bleeding into his demeanor.

 

Evelyn ran a hand through her hair. “Great.” She glanced around at the over turned land. “How much ground have you covered? Do you have a map?”

Leo stiffly jerked a folded-up park brochure from his pocket and handed it to her. She unrumpled the pamphlet and flipped it over to the map on the back. Her eyes scanned the printed landscape, pinpointing on a circle drawn in red.

 

“We’ve covered a mile-ish,” Leo said finally.

 

“And found nothing?”

 

“Not a thing thus far.” The response came through the trees and Evelyn looked over her shoulder to see Allen’s flickering flashlight beam as he approached them. She noticed he wasn’t returning from the same direction he’d left.

 

“Get lost?” She tried to hide the suspicion in her voice, but she couldn’t deny her newfound mistrust of Leo and anyone that had joined up with him.

 

“Just thought I’d look around a—” Allen’s words were cut off by the crunch of snapping branches. Evelyn heard him curse sharply under his breath.

 

“All right, Allen,” Leo piped up in question.

 

“Friggin’ foot went through the ground! Some ditch or something…” his voice trailed off, replaced by sounds of struggle.

Both Evelyn and Leo started towards Allen’s light. They walked carefully at first, avoiding dug out holes and pooled rain water. But a shout of surprise and the thud of falling rocks and earth brought more urgency to their feet, and both Cavern Park employees stumbled up the small hill towards Allen as quickly as possible. When they reached him, Leo burst into chuckles.

 

Allen, along with the ground he’d been standing on, had collapsed into one of the many caves Cavern Park was famous for. He sat on his behind some ten feet below them, brushing dirt off his face and scowling up at his heckler.

Evelyn stood a ways back from the sink hole, looking over the map at all the little blue triangles marking multiple cave entrances. They were just west of the center of the red circle drawn by the historian, but there wasn’t a single blue triangle within ten miles. She figured here was as good a place as any to start their search.