“No, I think justthat wall.” Decker pointed to the ground. “That’s why the crypt is only sunken on this side. That was the reason for the concrete foundation—to keep it stable because of the added weight of the gold. Only over the years it didn’t work out so well. The gold’s under the brick veneer.”
“Check it,” Ross ordered another of his men.
The man grabbed a chisel and hammer and workedaway at the brick until he had chipped off part. He gasped and looked up. Ross held a work light over the brick. The veneer of brick was gone and underneath was a lustrous gold color.
Decker said, “Now you can see the connection to Australia.”
Ross glanced at him. “But what is this Kalgoorlie place?”
“Kalgoorlie is the site of the Golden Mile, perhaps the greatestconcentration of gold deposits on earth.”
Lassiter said, “But how did you figure that out?”
“I couldn’t think of another reason why Baron would have gone there. From all accounts, he just cared about making money, not taking vacations. He engaged a private ship, and brought back a fortune, probably in gold dust and nuggets. And then he turned it into gold bars covered by abrick overlay, using the molds he ordered from O’Reilly’s.”
Ross looked at the large wall of bricks and did a swift calculation. “There must be hundreds and hundreds of gold bars in there.”
“Must be,” agreed Decker.
“But Decker, how did you work out it was in the wall of the mausoleum?” asked Lassiter. “Not just from the thing being partially sunk in the dirt.”
“I knew something that you didn’t, and neither did Costa.” He pointed to Baron. “He let me in the mausoleum when we first came up here. Inside, I saw that a couple of walls were fouled with the stains that you would expect to see in an old burial vault. But on the interiorthatwall was all covered with white streaks just like it is on the outside. Over time brick and mortar will leachout white alkaline. You’ve probably seen it on brick chimneys and walls. It actually happened to my house back in Ohio, and the guy who repaired it told me about it. Now, marble is a porous material, so what’s underneath it will eventually end up on the outside of it. Knowing from the O’Reilly letter that Baron had purchased molds and clay, I knew he was going to make bricks. I also figured the brickwas probably under the marble and that the white alkaline had eventually leached through. Coupled with the trip to Kalgoorlie, it made me think that concealed in the brick were the gold bars. And on the inside of the mausoleum I noticed that the interior was about a foot narrower on that side of the wall.” He rubbed his leg. “I smacked my leg on a crypt because it was jutting out farther thanthe ones on the other side.” He glanced at Ross. “Sort of like in your office. The extra space was to accommodate the brick. The other walls didn’t need that additional space. They were just solid marble.”
“But why bother covering the gold with brick veneer if the bars were going to be inside a wall?” asked Ross.
“Well, even though they were heavy, it would at least hide thegold bars from the workers who built the mausoleum, and if the marble ever got damaged it would just reveal bricks underneath and nothing more, just like you thought when your guy opened up the wall.”
“But who killed the men and put them under the crypt?” asked Baron.
Decker shrugged. “For all I know, Baron the First and his butler did. They could have put the bodies insidethat chamber and then had somebody come in and close it up. In fact, in the letter to his son, Nigel said it was possible that he might end up in hell and he was sort of asking for God’s forgiveness. That might have been his guilt as a murderer coming out.”
“What would a wall of gold be worth, do you think?” Ross asked.
Decker quickly tallied the number of bricks on the wall.“Gold’s over thirteen hundred bucks an ounce now. A gold bar like that weighs over twelve kilos or about twenty-six pounds. So that one bar would be worth nearly six hundred thousand dollars.”
Lassiter exclaimed, “Oh my God. Each bar?”
“Yeah,” said Decker as he ran his gaze over the crypt wall. “I’d say you’re looking at maybe nine hundred bricks or so. Maybe more.”
“So that means…”said Ross, obviously trying to do the math in his head.
But John Baron answered. “That comes to over half a billion dollars in gold.”
“And despite the old saying, Baron the First apparently wanted to take itallwith him when he died,” quipped Decker. “That’s why I knew the gold wouldn’t be in the potting shed.”
Lassiter said, “God, I knew oldman Baron was rich, but damn.”
Decker said, “Well, gold was a lot cheaper back then. Turned out to be a good investment.”
Ross lifted his gaze from the gold bar to Decker. “So, do we have a deal?”
“Actually, I don’t really see how that could happen,” said Decker. “You’ve killed at least ten people that I know of, including my partner’s brother-in-law, not to mentionthousands more who’ve overdosed on the crap you’ve been selling. So I’m actually here to arrest you.”
Ross looked at Decker like he was insane. “Okay. But you’re outgunned and in no position to negotiate. And I’ve got hostages you want back. All you’ve got is my old man, who I could give a damn about.”
“No, you’ve got it all wrong, because you made a big mistake.”
“What’s that?” said Ross warily.
In answer, Decker used his free hand to take out his phone. It was on, and in speaker mode. “Assuming I’d be stupid enough to come here without any backup.”