Prologue

It was a weary morning when seventeen year old Samantha "Mischief" Summers woke up in Daylight tower off the coast of the Boston beach in Massachusetts. Her hands had been tied up behind her back and her mouth had been tied up with a piece of cloth. Her neighbor’s son, eighteen year old Robert Matthews was only a few inches right next to her was also tied and gagged. Robert was passed out. Samantha tried to wake him up but couldn’t. She looked around and panicked and passed out as well.

On the bright morning of spring of 2017, twenty years later, Samantha Summers, now Mrs. Horne was a married woman with two children, Oscar and Tiffany. Her husband, Drew Horne a Pharmacy technician at the local pharmacy in Yonkers, New York worked long hours to support his family. Mrs. Horne ran a part-time catering business from the house they had inherited from Drew’s grandparents, usually at birthdays, weddings, dinner parties, holiday celebration, etc.

Oscar, eighteen years old had completed high school and was working as a cashier at Joe’s Burgers. Tiffany, sixteen years old was junior at Rosewell High school in Yonkers. Two blocks from the Hornes’s house lived the Browns and across the street was a white family, the Thompsons. The Brown family, who ran a family laundromat, just like the Hornes were African Americans who’s great grandparents had migrated from the south during the first great migration in early 20th century. The Browns had four kids, Jerome, nineteen years, Linda, sixteen, Porsha, fifteen and Jason, twelve.

The Hornes, Browns and Thompsons often hosted each other at their homes and their children got along with each other. Nathaniel Thompson, a middle aged Insurance agent, who was married to his second wife, Giselle, a bank teller, had one child from a previous marriage and two children with his current wife. Dorothy his first born was twenty two years old, his two sons Sydney was eighteen and Hal was seventeen.

“Ring, Ring, Ring,” Oscar’s cell phone rang. It was Uncle Rodriguez.

"Hello Oscar," Uncle Charles said.
"Hi Uncle Charles, what’s new," he replied.
"Just checking the family. What have you been up to lately?" Charles asked.
"Nothing much, just the usual. I am on my lunch break now. You caught me at the right time." Oscar noted.
"Yeah, I figured noon would be a good time to reach you. How are things at the restaurant?" Charles asked.
"Ok, can’t complain. Don’t like the pay which is slightly above minimum wage. Hope, I get a promotion soon. Also one of my co-workers was fired, about a week ago for stealing money from the cash register."

Oscar had worked at Joe’s Burgers for about a year. The company offered some great perks and promotions after working there for two years. This included the opportunity to become a supervisor with a pay increase, group insurance and 401K benefits, which Oscar didn’t currently have but was aiming for. Oscar was on his family’s insurance plan.

"Shocker, it is always embarrassing to get caught stealing. Glad you kids turned out ok" Uncle Charles commented. "Listen, I need to get a hold of your mum. I called her a few minutes ago but couldn’t reach her."

"She was probably busy at that time. Is it ok if I put us on a three way call or is this issue private?" Oscar asked.
"Sure, you can put her on a three way since it involves everyone. I will go into details later..." Oscar responded.

Oscar dialed him mum on a three-way.
"Hi, Oscar" his mum picked up.
"Hi mum, I am on a three way call with Uncle Charles. There’s something he urgent he wants to discuss," Oscar nosily continued.

"Hi Sammy, how are you?" Oscar greeted
"I’m good. What’s the matter?" she asked.
"Remember, the stories grandpa William often told us about the lost treasure that was smuggled in from Africa that belonged to our family?" he asked
"Lost treasure, for real.." yelled Oscar.
"Yes, I do. What about it?" She inquired.
"I received a note in the mail with some instructions on how to reclaim it, if it exists...haha," he laughed.

"You’re kidding," she and Oscar both laughed back.
"I may or may not be. We will soon find out. I had the authenticity of the contents of the mail checked out. I am waiting to hear back in the next few days,"
he stated.
"Can you elaborate on this?" Oscar pressed.

 "Well, the contents of the mail was a mysterious painting, that had a centuries old letter hidden in the back of the painting. Grandpa William’s older brother, Frank Summers, in the early 1900s worked as a manager of a local bank which through a series of mergers and it is now Mayberry Financial Bank in the South. They have copies of the his signature. This letter in the painting was signed by him containing instructions on how to retrieve the treasure with a hidden message in the painting," Charles went on.

"So you sent the letter to Mayberry Bank for them to identify if the signatures are a genuine match?" Samantha asked.
"Yes, I sent it to their headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia," Charles said.
"Sounds interesting..." Oscar observed.
"Well keep us posted on this," she said.
"Most definitely," Charles responded.
"Bye" the all said and hanged up.