Free The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons by Barbara Mariconda Page A

she wrote, looking to the three of us for confirmation:
    1.  Great-grandfather E.S. and pirate Mary Maude Lee had a child—Marni!
    We glanced at Marni. Then, as if to prove the point, Pru unrolled and smoothed the scrolled document portraying the Simmons family tree. We stared at the branches illustrating how we were all connected to one another—and to the curse.
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    Pru penciled the next clue:
    2.  E.S. stole Mary Maude Lee’s treasure and M.M.L. placed a curse on all the Simmons men, killing three generations thus far.
    â€œNot to mention the loss of your mother and Aunt Margaret,” Marni added. “And the close calls all of us have had. It seems no one related to the family is safe.” She paused for emphasis, then pointed toward the lyric sheet. Pru wrote:
    3.  The ballad explains that the treasure must be returned to Mary Maude Lee’s kin for the curse to be lifted.
    Pru and I exchanged a knowing look. Three of the once-famous female pirate’s relatives sat around this very table—Pru, Marni, and myself.
    4.  E.S. had fled to Australia, but we didn’t find the treasure there.
    Walter laughed. “I’ll never forget all those holes you dug out there in the outback looking for ‘J-3’—only to find it here on Clare Island.”
    Pru smiled ruefully, waving one hand under our noses. “I still have the callouses to show for it—and little else!” She bit her bottom lip and went back to her list.
    5.  Another group is desperate to find the treasure—Quaide, the pirate, and the green-eyed man.
    Walter nodded. “They’ve been tailing us every step of the way. The question is, are they just treasure hunters following the rumors of Edward’s exploits? Or are they connected in some other way? What do they know that we don’t?”
    â€œGood question,” Pru said, tapping the pencil on the table before going on.
    6.  The cards my grandmother—your great-grandmother—Molly O’Malley designed depict the treasure being buried in a grave on Clare Island. But the treasure is gone.
    â€œAnd,” I added, “besides Old Peader, there was no corpse in the coffin. Either it has been removed or it was never there to begin with.”
    â€œGood point,” Pru said.
    â€œMaybe your great-grandfather faked his death,” Walter suggested.
    â€œAnd buried his treasure in his own grave!” Pru scribbled furiously:
    7.  Edward’s wife, Molly, carved a message on the coffin—suggesting she’d stolen the treasure to double-cross him.
    With that, one of the cards flipped up from its spot on the table and hovered around us. Before I even looked I knew which card it would be—the queen of diamonds, Molly O’Malley. My great-grandmother leaned off the card, her jowly face raised defiantly, wagging her chubby index finger in the air. “Nobody deceives me and gets away with it!” she crowed.
    My aunt’s voice rose to a shrill cry. Her cheeks were flushed and her mouth pinched. “But Lucy and I are your own flesh and blood,” Prudence cried. “Why don’t you help us? Tell us what you know? Holding back has led to many deaths already—your own son, Edward the Second; my brother and Lucy’s father, Edward the Third; my brother, Victor; not to mention Lucy’s mother, Johanna, and Victor’s wife, Margaret! When is enough, enough? You’re no better than Mary Maude Lee! In fact, you’re worse!”
    The force of Pru’s emotion caused the animated card to quiver and dip. I almost expected it to revert to being just a plain old card again and drop, lifeless, to the table.
    But it flipped up again, the queen of diamonds’s face like that of a spoiled child, her bottom lip petulantly rolled. “What makes you so sure I know where the treasure is?”
    â€œYour message carved on the lid of the