“I’ll be right over.” Susan hung up the phone so fast that David stared at it in his hand for several seconds. Shoving the device back into his pocket he raced to his room to change into his best shirt and get his backpack ready. He didn’t know if he was more excited about putting his idea to the test or seeing Susan, either way it was a win-win situation.
Double checking his pack, David caught himself humming and then began to laugh. He liked Susan Holmes and no matter what the past differences and reputations of their families, he was determined to pursue the new relationship and see where it led.
He would tell Susan he liked her and that he wanted to start dating. He had never understood this hedging around ones’ feelings. If you were going to go out with someone, wasn’t the idea to find out if you were compatible? The idea of dating was to determine if there was a future, so he would tell her how he felt and go from there. If she didn’t feel the same way, he would know sooner rather than later and could put an end to the whole thing.
The sound of the Jeep pulling into a spot at the front of the apartment building had David racing down the stairs, his eyes dazzled by the bright sun and the radiant smile on Susan’s face.
“You look a lot more ready for a hike today,” Susan grinned. “Did you bring water proof gear this time?”
David chuckled tossing his bag into the back of the Jeep, and feeling the Georgia heat already baking his face. “That depends do you intend to toss me into the creek?”
Susan revved the engine pulling into traffic and making the quick loop around the block before heading back the way she had come.
“Only if you get hot headed and do something stupid.”
The smile on the lovely young woman’s face took any bite from her words as she flipped the thick pony tail over her shoulder and away from her face.
“I’ll try not to,” David’s voice was whisked away on the wind, but he was sure he had been heard.
“So what are we headed to the cabin for?” Susan asked. “We didn’t find anything there last time.”
“I was thinking over this theory you had on kick back and someone putting pressure on the moonshiners to share profits. “What if grandpa had been working for the sheriff to identify who was doing that? I think if he was trying to ferret out corruption in the police force or something like that, he could have been a target of that person’s rage.”
Susan shook her head concentrating on the winding road up the mountain, as her pony tail of soft brown hair swished. “That would be dangerous work.”
“It makes sense,” David turned half way toward her. “Grandma Watkins was certain that her husband would never make and sell moonshine, even though the family had a long history of such things. It wasn’t until a year or two before Harcourt disappeared that he even went into the woods. Maybe the picture of my grandfather with the police commissioner was taken because they were friends and Pap-pap was working for him.”
A cloud of dust kicked up behind the electric blue Jeep as they made their way over the side road into the forest, aiming for the small tributary that led to the larger stream.
“That fits,” Susan agreed, slowing as she made the final turn, “but what do you think you can find at the cabin? You’ve been here dozens of times.”
“I started thinking about it,” David said as they rolled to a stop under a grove of thick pines. “If Pap-pap was collecting evidence, he wouldn’t have wanted it to be readily available or obvious to anyone who might show up at the cabin. We know Coatins arrested him once on suspicion of moonshining. If I were Harcourt, I would have kept my evidence hidden, he couldn’t trust anyone involved in the clean up operation other than the sheriff. The cabin is too simple to have anywhere much to hide things. You’ve seen it, just a collection of old logs, a dirt floor, and a sod roof.”
“So where do you think he could have hidden something?” Susan hopped out of the driver’s seat, reaching behind her to grab her back pack and gear.
“That’s why I brought you along. I figured two of us might be able to figure it out. You have only been to the cabin once and fresh eyes might make all the difference.”
Susan smiled, filled with delight at the confidence David had in her. “I’ll do my best.”
The hike to the cabin was uneventful and soon the duo was searching every part of the cabin for a hiding place. The floor, hard packed over years of use and neglected, offered little hope so Susan, and David examining each log with bright flashlights from their bags.
Starting at the door way Susan worked left while David moved to the right, both squinting, poking, and prodding the age darkened logs.
“It wasn’t much of a cabin, was it?” Susan asked as she passed the corner. So far every log was as solid and dense as the other. There were no signs of any form of alteration to the wood and not even the joined corners offered any hint of a place for safe keeping.
“I think it had been in the family for a long time,” David called back. He had reached the single window in the dark little hut and was peering under the faded wooden sill. “If I remember correctly the original Watkins started right here in this little house.”
“Do you think you could ever live in a cabin like this?” Susan turned meeting his eyes across the room. Even with modern conveniences it is tiny.”
“I’d like to think I could,” David grinned looking around him. “My apartment isn’t that much bigger anyway.”
Susan’s laughter
