Risen (Haunted Series Book 22)

asked.  “Any feelings?  Glimpses of unexplained phenomena?”
“Sabine said she saw a ghost ship,” Mia blurted out.  “I doubt it has anything to do with this demon, but it is unusual.”
“She told us.  Do you think it’s the Flying Dutchman?” Patrick asked.
“Don’t know?” Mia said.  “Not my area of expertise.  I better go up and spell Murphy.  He doesn’t tolerate being on the water well.”
“Neither does his father,” Mason said.  “Kevin spent the whole time with his head on Sabine’s lap.”
“Lucky stiff,” Burt said.  “In the morning, we should see if we can retrieve the ghosts and get out of here.  We may avoid running into Whitney and his crew.  Mia, I suggest you find a way to communicate with him and warn him off.”
“Mia, hang on a moment,” Patrick requested.  “Burt, you said, with a lot of certainty, that the treasure wasn’t here, and Mia confirmed it was never brought to shore.  Where is it?”
“Two places come to mind.  New Orleans is the first, but where I have no idea.  And the second is an island one would never expect would hold a pirate’s treasure.”
“Manhattan Island?” Mia guessed.  “The place is full of pirates, but not the George Wall type of pirate.”
“No.  Not Manhattan.  Although, it is technically an island.  And you call yourself geographically challenged,” Burt said with a twinkle in his eye.
“You said the ship was seen heading to Montreal,” Patrick said.  “Mason, you need to check and see if we can get any information on the captain of the America and what his relationship may have been with Olympe de Gouges.  Maybe he took the treasure for himself.  And if he did, what happened to it?”
“Or you can follow a hunch from this ghost hunter,” Burt said slyly.
“What do you want?  I can’t give you a piece of the profits unless I get an okay from the primary investors.”
“I want film rights and complete access,” Burt said.  “Regardless of the outcome.  That means, success or fail.”
Patrick looked at Mason.  Mason hunched his shoulders.  “I will have to speak to Sabine first, but if you can shortcut this treasure hunt, I believe she wouldn’t mind the camera being around.”
Burt looked over at Mia.
“Don’t look at me. I’m camera shy and not part of this.  The only treasure I need is sitting at that computer.”
“Would you be willing to help us?” Patrick asked.
“Ted and I have a few weeks until the boys are back in town.  What do you think?” she asked her husband.
“It sure beats watching Cid pounding nails.”
Mia lifted an eyebrow.  “I guess we’re in.”
“Well, where is the treasure most likely to be?” Patrick asked Burt.
“Turtle Island.”
“Which one?  There are hundreds of Turtle Islands.  North America was reputedly given the name of Turtle too,” Ted said.
Mia’s face brightened.  She looked at Burt.  He smiled.  The two of them had talked about this island when they were a couple.  It was well known in the ghost-hunting circles as being haunted.  “May I?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Mackinac Island, Michigan.”
“Impossible,” Mason said. “A Téméraire-class, seventy-four-gun, French naval vessel would not have been able to make it through the Great Lakes at that time.  Not to mention by the British.”
“It could have been transferred to a smaller ship.”
“How do you know all of this?” Ted asked.
“You know that library I’ve been amassing over the years?”
“The Garage Sale Books of the Macabre?” Ted asked.
Burt narrowed his eyes at Ted’s title and quickly dismissed the dig.  “Okay, in my library, there is a self-published tome from a New Orleans spinster that has quite a few tasty bits of gossip. During our investigation of Edward’s ghost-napping, I became intrigued by how Jake was able to find the island of Guadeloupe using the clues left in the books we found in the wall.  The only thing that irked me was Santa Rosa.  It didn’t seem that Olympia would just send the hoard to a place.  Of course, this was nothing more than Bea guessing.  You remember, all the jewels were either rose colored or had roses on them.  What she missed was that she thought Rosa was a place.  In actuality, Rosa was a woman, Olympe de Gouges’s cousin, according to the spinster, a Rosa de Familiare.  I’m proposing the theory that Olympe was sending the fortune to her cousin for safekeeping.  Unbeknownst to Olympe, Rosa had left Guadeloupe for New Orleans, where she became known by the spinster as a fortune hunter with an eye for military men.  She then, according to the gossips, moved on to Montreal.  There she had fallen in love with Captain Daniel Robertson and went with him when he was commanded to Michilimakinac by General Haldimand.  I think the treasure was delivered to Rosa, and she took it with her, first, to Montreal and then on to Mackinac, where she left it there for George Wall to find.  I’m sure it was looted by Rosa for the best pieces of jewelry.  There was talk in the spinster’s book about the jewels Rosa was sporting at the last ball she attended in New Orleans, which I took as confirmation that the jewels made it to Rosa de Familiare.”
“That’s a lot of research,” Patrick said, impressed.  “Were you by chance going to look for the treasure yourself?” he asked, his voice a bit too even for Mia’s comfort.
“I don’t know, maybe.  I was looking at it from a different angle.  I had no idea that you and Mason had already started your investigation until Mia called me for advice.”
Patrick shot Mia an angry glance.
“I doubted whatever was left of the treasure would be worth funding a hunt of this extravagance, but from a historic stand point, it would make a hell of a documentary,” Burt said.  “I’ve always wanted to film a documentary.  Don’t