His footsteps crunched through the dropped leaves and over fallen branches. Birds called from tree to tree, and squirrels scattered from his path. What a perfectly normal place, he thought, for so many people to be buried here.
Between two gigantic trunks, a podium-shaped slab of polished gray stone announced a shift in line formation and a forced retreat by the Alabama regiment that Andrew had been in.
The black pyramid beside it stood for the loss of the troop’s commander, Thomas Winder, who had fallen on this spot—or approximately on this spot, Pete remembered—on the nineteenth of September.
“Same day as Andrew,” Pete said aloud. “That fits with the letter, anyway. Maybe he’s somewhere around here, too. ”
He slowly turned himself in a full circle, looking for any sign of shallow graves or a divine hint. Pete didn’t really believe in divine hints, but he was open to the possibility. Nothing short of a divine hint was going to get him anywhere today.
“I’ll never find him. Not without…” He stopped himself. Not without what? What sort of equipment might be required to find a specific body underground, buried with many other bodies? Even a metal detector wouldn’t turn up anything more interesting than buttons or bullets.
Or, maybe…
Pete quit his calculating pivot and held stock-still.
Or maybe a silver watch. But talk about your long shots.
If Andrew had been wearing or carrying the watch on the battlefield, and if he had been somewhere near this commander when he died, and if no one came along and decided to liberate that silver watch from Andrew’s corpse while it lay exposed for over a month…then maybe.
Maybe.
Maybe an ordinary metal detector might do the trick.
Pete didn’t know where he might come by this piece of equipment, but he figured it couldn’t be that hard to find. Pete knew that a detector was likely to sound off at all kinds of trinkets, medals, buckles, and lead shot, but his dim idea of how the machines worked made him think that a detector might make a louder bleep for a bigger item.
He could experiment. It wouldn’t be that difficult, he didn’t think.
Pete was elated by his own genius. He smiled so high the corners of his lips almost greeted his eyebrows.
Back at home, he began making phone calls. The army surplus store didn’t have anything he could use; and the people at Sears could hook him up, but the price was well beyond his reach. There was an industrial supply rental place out in Henegar, though. The kid on the phone didn’t know if they had anything or not, but they were open and Rudy wasn’t yet home or in need of the car.
Pete sped into town and pulled up at Marty’s Industrial Supply. Inside, the store was a dirty tangle of specialty saws, drilling equipment, plumbing peripherals, and more.
An older man with a tall shock of gray hair offered his assistance.
“I spoke to someone on the phone about finding a metal detector,” Pete explained.
The old man wheezed and nodded. “A metal detector? We may have one in the back. You looking to rent, or buy?”
“Just rent. ”
“Okay, then. Come on back. Let’s see what we have. ”
Together they climbed through the metalwork jungle and fought their way into a room even more dense than the storefront. Tile and concrete dust filled the air, and the old man gave another little wheeze.
“Sorry ’bout the mess. We don’t get a lot of call for these things, not too often. You going looking for bullets?”
“Bullets?” Pete thought fast. He hadn’t realized he might need a story.
“Bullets, you know. From the war. That’s what people usually want these for, though you know you can’t take ’em into the state parks. They’ll arrest you, and throw you to the Feds. ”
Yes, Pete had known—but in his excitement he’d forgotten that one niggling fact. “Sure, that’s what I need it for, but this is a private property thing. A friend of mine down in the valley, he’s thinking about putting in a pool. ”
“Started digging and turned up some goodies?”
Pete nodded vigorously, even though the storekeeper was facing away from him, picking through a pile of miscellaneous hardware. “Sure enough. Some lead ball shot, and the like. Probably nothing too wild, but he thought he’d take a look to be sure. ”
“You never know. Where’s your friend live?”