Page 8 of She Saw What He Did

Five minutes later and we still don’t see anything.

‘Maybe it’s not here any more,’ I say, wiping my forehead with a tissue. Jared, however, is not giving up. He climbs higher, treading cautiously on some rough steps that have been carved into the slope. He helps me up and we look around.

‘What’s this?’ he excitedly points to a pile of stones. ‘This must be it.’

He pulls out the stones that have been put into a gap in the rock.

‘Your hands are smaller,’ says Jared. I reach in but find nothing.

‘I’m not sure this is it,’ I say, disappointed.

‘It must be,’ says Jared.

Then my hand lands on something cold and smooth. It’s a small metal box. I pull it out and give it to Jared.

‘There doesn’t seem to be a way of opening it,’ he says, turning it over in his hands.

We both stare at it curiously. It’s pretty in an odd way. I study its mosaic style. The assortment of colours sparkles in the sun. Sam would love it. She likes anything shiny. I rummage in the hole for the notepad and pen but there’s nothing. Usually there’s a pad to write your name and the date you found the geocache.

‘There’s nothing else,’ I say.

‘It’s certainly different,’ says Jared, studying the box.

‘Let’s put our things in the hole and we can look at the tin later,’ I suggest. My mind is on the pasties. Jared nods and pulls out the fluffy toy and pencil case we had brought to add to the geocache.

‘I still think we should open this, take the contents and put ours in it,’ he says, studying the box. ‘That’s what we normally do.’

‘But there’s no way of opening it, and it’s too small. I think the box is the treasure.’

‘You could be right.’

‘Perhaps it doesn’t open,’ I say, twirling it around in my hands.

‘Take a photo,’ says Jared. ‘We’ll post it on the website to see if anyone recognises it. We can always bring it back another day.’

I agree and take a photo of the tin.

‘Right,’ I say, ‘let’s find a picnic spot.’

Chapter Six

Abby

‘Wow, you couldn’t get a better view than this,’ breathes Jared, looking down. ‘You can see St Cecilia’s from here. If we look hard enough, we can probably see our holiday home.’

The view is spectacular. I hadn’t realised we had climbed so high. The sun shimmers on a calm sea. I’m pleased because I’m not as good a sailor as Jared.

‘It’ll be a good journey back,’ I say.

‘There’s not a cloud in the sky,’ says Jared, looking up and shielding his eyes.

‘At least we’re not totally alone,’ I say. ‘There’s another boat on the jetty.’

‘What a shame,’ smiles Jared. ‘I was thinking of devouring you under the midday sun.’

I pull the pasties from my rucksack; their savoury aroma making my mouth water.

‘I’ll take some photos,’ I say.

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