Page 80 of Cross & Crown

quote? What is that from? Did I come up with that?”

Nick almost laughed at him. He bit his lip to keep a

straight face instead, and held up the photo the bookstore

owner’s daughter had provided of the stolen items. Kelly took

it from him, looking it over in silence.

“These are Revolutionary War era?” he finally asked. Nick

nodded. “Do we know what they said?”

“The daughter said her father had them transcribed once,

because the handwriting was hard to decipher. She’s trying to

hunt up the file, said she’d email it when she found it. Why,

what are you thinking?”

“I mean, if we go on the theory these people are hunting

this lost payroll treasure, this makes sense,” Kelly said with a tap of the photo. “These are contemporary accounts. And you

said one of the books they stole was a soldier’s diary, right?”

“Yeah, he was at the Battles of Lexington and Concord,

and later Bunker Hill.”

80

“Concord?” JD asked. “After their defeat, several British

columns broke off and scattered across the countryside as they

retreated along Battle Road to Boston. One of those could

easily have intercepted a payroll delivery.”

“Why hide it instead of making off with it?” Hagan asked.

“And desert the British Imperial Army?” JD shook his

head, grinning widely. “Might as well take a knife to the

eye, you’d live longer. The theory is they hid it somewhere,

intending to come back for it when the war was won.”

“Only they didn’t win the war,” Nick said.

JD clucked his tongue. He looked pleased with himself

for the first time since they’d met him, but the expression

faded quickly. He glanced down at his hands, twisting his

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