[spoiler]Perhaps they dispensed with the search for jewels angle because once they decided that the Collinses wouldn't be as rich as they once were, it would seem odd that no member of the family (and so far as the present goes, Roger) wouldn't have tried to find them long ago and probably succeeded.
What fascinates me, though, is just where IS Barnabas buried that construction would unearth him? It would appear that he's not in a mausoleum, so where the hell did Angelique bury him?![/spoiler]
231 days 11 hours 14 minutes 44 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!