Page 78 of Cross & Crown

pointed at JD. “You can’t remember your own name, but you

can recite facts about the fucking Irish Rebellion of seventeen whatever it was?”

JD shrugged one shoulder, looking a little perturbed. “At

least I can remember he doesn’t like coffee,” he said with a jab of his finger at Nick.

“Ha!” Nick barked.

“Friendly fire,” Hagan said. He put on a fake Irish accent.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.”

Nick fired up his computer. “We’ll just Google this bitch.”

A few moments later he’d brought up a search page for the

British lieutenant’s name. Almost every result was about the

lost Revolutionary War treasure. Nick clicked the first one.

JD moved his chair so he could see the screen too. It was

a chat board for amateur treasure seekers, with each post

offering theories on where the gold had gone, stories about

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the poster having gone searching for it somewhere, and the

occasional person telling everyone else they were stupid.

“See?” JD said. He pointed at one of the posts. “Right

here in Boston.”

Nick looked sideways at him, studying his profile while

JD’s attention was elsewhere. It was hard to forget the

many warnings that had popped up about JD’s authenticity,

including the one from Kelly, but Nick hadn’t felt like he was

being lied to once. The man struck him as genuine.

Kelly cleared his throat as he approached the desk. Nick

looked up at him, still scowling thoughtfully.

“Everything okay?” Kelly asked carefully.

“You know our treasure hunter theory?” Nick asked,

wincing at their private joke. Kelly nodded. “We might have

been a little too on the nose.”

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