A Treasure

It had been 50 years since the last person went in search for the hidden treasure of Professor Williams at Truckee Meadows Community College, until June 2, 2003 when Detective Joseph Little decided he was going to unlock the secret to the unsolved mystery.

It has been a myth for 100 years that an old Professor at TMCC named Steven Williams had a hidden treasure somewhere on the campus of TMCC that no one has ever been able to find. Williams disappeared on February 1, 1903 and was never to be seen again. It took his family five years of searching until they finally gave up. One day, when his wife Sara was going through his old things, she found a letter he had written and planned to give her, telling her about a hidden treasure. In the letter, he explained that he had a buried secret at the school, but the letter was never finished and he never got to tell her where the treasure was. Sara and her family searched a great deal for the treasure and were never able to find it. Sara never told anyone what Williams' secret was, but she was in such a great rush to find it that it obviously must have been something spectacular.

Twenty years had passed and Sara sadly died one night in her sleep. Many people had since then gone in search for the treasure of Professor Williams, but it still had never been found. No one knew where on the TMCC campus it could be. People had looked in every place possible that they could think of to find this secret. It is a mystery that many had wished could be solved, until Detective Joseph Little was hired by Cindy Robertson (Williams's last living relative) to go in search for his hidden treasure.

Joseph Little is said to be one of the best detectives in the United States. He lives in San Diego California and is very pricey, but Cindy was willing to pay any price to find her great, great, great grandfathers secret. Monday June 2, 2003 was the first day of Josephs hunt for the buried treasure. He went all over the school searching for clues. The school has been worked on and remodeled many times since Williams was alive, which made it a lot harder for Joseph to find any clues at all, but he knew he could get the job done.

He searched in old newspapers, talked with retired professors, looked in Williams' old classrooms, and anything else he could try to find with his naked eye. One day had passed and Joseph had yet come across anything that could lead him to Williams treasure.

The next day Joseph had notice different types of markings all over the school. Many had different letters, numbers, colors, and styles of writing. Joseph started asking around to find out what those markings meant. No one could give him a straight answer, but said to have always seen those markings there since anyone could remember.

Joseph gathered a bunch of old photos taken of the school during Williams early years of teaching there and photos soon after he disappeared. In the all of the old photos he looked over, none had any of the markings he found around the school. He looked in some photos taken right after Williams disappearance and he was able to identify two of the markings that are still on the walls. The two markings in the photographs spelled out DO2R and RDO3.

The markings are all in the colors red, black, or white. They all contain the letters and numbers D, O, R, 2, 3. Joseph went through the entire school and wrote down every one of the markings he found. Some had two different colors and numbers. Others were written in a single color and had only one number. They all were something different and Joseph was eager to find the hidden meanings behind these codes.

After 2 more days of investigating he figured out that these were codes were like a map, giving directions throughout the school. The letters meant what section of school to go to, the numbers were what room, and the colors symbolized the color of the specific spot to look in. It was a scavenger hunt and Joseph had just solved the first step. He followed each direction and found the exact locations of each one. They all lead to tiny little cracks and crevices in each of Williams old classrooms that he taught in. Most had been in the exact or fairly same shape as when he had taught at the school, making it easier for Joseph to find the clues. In each of the spots there was a torn off piece of paper. He finally got to the last piece of paper. Joseph had collected a total of 25 pieces of paper. He sat down and laid them all out. These torn off pieces fitted together like a puzzle. After 20 min. of piecing the puzzle together, Joseph discovered Williams great hidden treasure. It was a letter that he wrote to his wife. It was a farewell letter, which explained why he disappeared and his last words of love for her.

Williams was an extremely rich man, but this letter explained his sadness that he carried through his life. He was depressed and very sad. He told his wife that he had set himself on fire out in the woods of Mt. Rose. He said he was very sorry, but that he had something to give to her and wanted only her to have it. He gave the exact directions to the spot he killed himself at in the end of the letter. At the end of reading the letter Joseph was very happy to find that there was more to the hunt. He packed up his things and headed to Mt. Rose.

He put on his hiking shoes and changed into some comfortable clothing. He got to the mountain at around 4:30 pm and began to hike. After an hour of hiking the sun began to set. The bugs began to come out and he could hear an old owl in the tree above him. He kept going, until he finally found the spot. It was right next to a large tree with the name "Sara", scribbled out in red and black ink. Joseph began to dig in the ground around the tree. He hit something hard and pulled it out. It was an old black metal box with scratches and the names Steven + Sara scribbled in red on the side. Joseph perged the box open and found it full of diamonds. He was so excited to find this treasure. He wanted to keep it for himself, but knew he had to give it to Cindy.

The next day Joseph called Cindy to tell her the great news. She was so happy and drove straight over to his office. Cindy thanked the detective endlessly and paid him his money. She decided to give him one of the diamonds from the box. He was grateful, but not as grateful as for the other secret he decided to keep from the box that he had not told Cindy about.

When Joseph got home he took a shower and changed into more comfortable clothes. He plopped himself onto the couch and let out a great big sigh. He pulled out a crinkled piece of paper from his pocket and began to read it. This was another clue to the rest of Williams treasure. Joseph was not really a detective, he was greedy and he wanted to become very rich.

Joseph was a good-looking young bachelor from San Diego