Page 79 of Cross & Crown

“What are you talking about?” Kelly craned his neck

to see the computer. Nick watched his changeable eyes as

they darted over the screen, scanning the posts. “Stolen

Continental payrol ?”

“They were paid in gold bars and coins,” JD provided.

“Meaning if it was hidden somewhere and left there,

it’s worth millions today,” Kelly surmised. “Yeah okay, that’s

worth killing over.”

“Before you guys go all Indiana O’Flaherty on me,” Hagan

drawled, “what does that lost treasure have to do with our

case?”

Nick took a breath to answer, but he realized he didn’t

exactly know. They all looked to JD.

“I . . . I didn’t say it had anything to do with the robbery,”

JD reminded them, his blue eyes going wider. “You gave me

three things to associate, I associated them.”

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Kel y sat on the edge of Nick’s desk, turned sideways so he

could still see Hagan and the computer screen. “What was the

other thing stolen from the place? One was the brooch, what

was the other?”

Nick tapped Kelly’s knee to get him to scoot over, and he

unlocked the desk drawer beneath him and reached in for the

file. He set it on the desk and opened it up to find the photos.

“It was a bundle of letters.”

“Bundle of letters,” Kelly echoed. “What the hell?”

“Yeah, the brooch I get, it had a few precious gems on

it,” Hagan said. “But the letters are . . . parchment. Tied with twine. No value whatsoever.”

“The value of words is measured by those who read them,”

JD told him. He stopped short, scowling hard. “Is that a

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