Seizure(35)

Wow!

I waited, hands clasped in impatience. Finally they saw it.

“Holy smokes!” Hi.

“My God!” Shelton.

Ben looked up, eyebrows high on his forehead.

“Congrats guys,” I breathed. “We just discovered what really happened to Anne Bonny. The truth.”

Hi read aloud. “‘Thank goodness your worthy father saw fit to claim you home.’”

“Worthy father?” Ben asked. “Like God? She died?”

“No! No! Her father. William Cormac! He did ransom her!” Shelton clapped his hands once. “Bonny went back to Charles Town.”

“You sure?” Ben sounded unconvinced.

“Yes.” My lips spread into a dopey grin. “She wasn’t hanged.”

“Letter two,” Hi said with a flourish.

We crowded together again.

“This one’s from Bonny to Read,” Hi said. “A month later, in February 1721.”

“Not dead,” Shelton noted. Ben shrugged in agreement.

The handwriting was stronger, the language more sophisticated, reflecting a better education. The correspondence consisted of two pages, the second largely covered by an enormous signature.

Anne Bonny. Clear as daylight.

Even better, Bonny had sketched the bent cross in the corner of both pages. “That symbol must mean something,” Hi said.

“Decorative?” Shelton mused. “Like handmade stationary?”

“I’m thinking something practical,” I said. “Like a calling card.”

“Watermark.” Ben stated it as fact.

I looked a question at him.

“It’s a security feature.” He pointed to the image. “Not a typical cross, but one that’s slightly flawed, so the reader knows exactly who drew it.”


“Of course!” I said. “Read and Bonny both sketched the symbol on every page, like an authentication: I really wrote this.”

“Let’s read the bloody thing,” Hi suggested again. “Sound good?”

He set the pages side by side so we could see the whole letter.

I read both pages quickly.

“Oh!” My disappointment was obvious.

“I see.” Ben frowned.

“Ah.” Shelton ear-tugged.

“That blows!” Hi crossed chubby arms. “They didn’t let her go?”

“Not according to this.” Shelton reread the passage. “Bonny wrote that colonial authorities only transferred her to Charles Town to face more piracy charges.”

“What is Half-Moon Battery?” Hi asked. “That’s where she said she was being held.”

No one knew.

My heart sank. Bonny had still faced execution. And given her notoriety in the Carolinas, her chances might’ve actually been worse.

“This is exciting!” Shelton wasn’t feeling my empathy. “We may rewrite the history books!”

I considered the new facts in Bonny’s letter. “Bonny was transferred to Half-Moon Battery at Charles Town. Subsequently, her father’s petition for release failed.”

“Scheduled to be hanged,” Shelton added. “They were really gonna do it.”

“Last correspondence,” Hi said. “Read to Bonny. March 1721.”

This letter was longer, stretching five pages. When we’d finished, everyone spoke at once.

“She’s talking about the treasure map!” Shelton squealed.

“Escape attempt?” Hi began to pace. “Wow!”

“We were right,” Ben said. “It’s all about the docks!”

“Hold on!” I raised two palms. “Organize. What do we know?”

Shelton pointed to the second page. “Mary wrote, ‘the sketch is safe, as is the subject.’ She must be talking about the treasure map. And the treasure! What else?”

“Could be,” I allowed. “Or she could be talking about someone’s portrait.”

Shelton looked at me as though I’d lost my mind.

“I’m only saying it’s not certain,” I said. “I tend to agree with you.”

“‘Keep faith and wits about ye.’” Hi read aloud. “‘Even the darkest holes may be breached, the stoutest locks tickled.’” He slapped a thigh. “Tell me she’s not hinting at escape!”

“Again, I agree. But we should avoid unfounded assumptions.”

Ben tapped the second-to-last page. “Read mentions a place called Merchant’s Wharf, and describes it as ‘thy favorite landing.’”

“We know Bonny used the East Bay docks,” I said. “Merchant’s Wharf must’ve been one of them.”

“I still can’t believe she’d tie up in the center of town,” Shelton chortled. “That’s beast!”

When Ben cleared his throat, we all went quiet.

“Bonny wrote she was being held at Half-Moon Battery. Then, in this last letter, Read said the dungeon was close to ‘both favored wharf and recent earthen works, a happy chance of fortune.’”

“And?” Shelton didn’t get it.

“‘Recent earthen works,’” Ben repeated.

“That could be a reference to where they buried the treasure,” I said.