Sherry took an offered beer and downed nearly half of it before she looked down and remembered she was still in uniform. She cursed softly, then shrugged and took another slug.
“And where’s Curt and Andrea?” Sherry asked after a moment, needing to change the subject so her mind could wrap around that info. She’d heard about folks being detained, but she’d been working more local issues and traffic enforcement up near Fort Smith.
“They dropped Rob off, and then Andrea got her last cast off. They had to pack up their house, I guess they got a buyer. They’re actually expected any time now.”
“So how are Rob and Angelica getting home if they aren’t with Curt and Andrea?” she asked.
“One of your co-workers is giving them a lift,” Anna said. “Sugar, if you don’t finish that beer, I’m gonna get you a nipple for it.”
“Shit, I forgot I was working, I never should have--”
Anna reached over and smacked the bottom of her bottle on the top of Sherry’s. Beer geysered up, but not as spectacularly as it had when she’d pranked Steven last time.
“Shit,” Sherry said, backing up from the puddle that was threatening to drip onto her uniform.
“Here,” Dante said, pulling the old sheet that was covering things and mopped it up.
“Thanks, oh, what’s that?” she asked, noting the four ammo cans.
“That’s part of what we wanted to talk to you about,” Leah told her, then reached over and pushed the lid up on the closest one.
“Gold and silver,” Sherry said softly. “The Owens girls were right?”
“Partially, at least we think partially,” Dante told her. “The map that Lyle got from Dewayne was an ‘X marks the spot’ type of map. It was made by Dewayne’s wife though, not the Owens matriarch.”
“Are all of these full of coins?” she asked.
“No, one of these is full of bags of rings, necklaces, jewelry and some loose stones. One of them is full of silverware, like, real silver. There's one that has more coins in it, but it’s a mixed collection of gold, silver and really old coins.”
“And you found this… treasure... from a map?”
“Yes,” Leah told her. “Harry calls it pirate booty, but it amounts to the same. Most of this is old, but we figure they were buried sometime in the 90s, judging by one of the coins we found. We have one, maybe two spots left to find.”
“So, Jennifer and Steff’s aunt was Dewayne’s wife, as well as Lyle Owens’ little sister?”
“Yes,” Steven answered.
“So, since you bought the land, the girls have no claim to any of it. All they got was a map from her, but it was on somebody else's property.”
“Yes,” Anna told her. “And finding the cave with the bones was how we figured out how to use the map. It gave us a landmark to start. The part we’re having a problem with, is that Dewey’s wife used steps between things to measure it out. None of us know how long her strides were, but Goldie’s seem to be the closest. Things have changed over time now, though. Trees have fallen down, or an area is overgrown, or the ground’s got worked by a tractor.”
“So, you haven’t found it all yet?” Sherry asked.
“That’s correct.”
A radio squawked. Everybody started turning theirs up at the same time, including Sherry. It was Luis who held his radio up, letting Goldie’s voice come over.
“Harry says Curt and Andrea’s SUV is coming down the road with two state police rigs.”
“Open the gates,” Dante said, a grin spreading across his face.
Everyone got up. Anna covered the ammo cans and, as they all left the barn to wait at the base of the porch of the big house, Steven hit the door opener button he kept handy, closing off the workshop.
“Harry wants to know if he can wait outside with you guys,” Goldie’s voice came over once more.
“Yes, but he has to keep Ranger from knocking everybody down,” Anna said when Luis hesitated.
“It isn’t Ranger you should worry about,” Goldie said, then cursed as the front door flew open.
Harry flew out of it, followed by two dogs who jam piled the door, almost getting stuck. Roscoe let out a hunting howl and jerked himself out first, leaving some fur behind. Ranger started soon after, but Anna was ready.
“Heel up!” her voice was thunder as she tried to imitate Rob’s inflection to a T.
They both took positions on either side of Anna. They waited, Ranger’s butt wiggling so hard he was wearing a spot in the grass. Roscoe tried to stay awake, the excitement was killing him. Harry was straining to see, so Dante swooped him up and put him on his shoulders. Goldie came out a second later, wiping her hands on an apron.
“They already went through both gates, all three vehicles,” Goldie said.
Luis came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. She leaned back into him with a small groan of appreciation.
“I wish my Mommy and Daddy would hurry up,” Harry muttered.
They all heard the crunch of gravel. The drive from the road was a long one, but it took them another minute until the police cruiser came into sight, with Curt and Andrea’s Suburban in the middle, and another state police cruiser bringing up the rear.
Ranger let out a nervous whine. Roscoe looked at him, and then turned back and let out a louder woof. He wanted to wiggle and dance the way Ranger did, but that took energy, and he hadn’t quite eaten a bucket of food yet and didn’t want to deplete his energy stores too horribly. That went out the window when his Andrea stepped out of the Suburban.
He took off like a furry missile, ignoring Anna, and came
