Page 89 of Stay for Forever

“There are. But there’s only one tree with the initials PH and RA carved into it with a heart surrounding them.”

PH as in Patricia Hall and RA as in Robert Adams? My jaw drops open. “No way. You found a tree with those carvings?”

Her smile stretches from ear to ear. “I did.”

This, I’ve got to see. I motion her forward. “Lead the way.”

“I told you this is an adventure,” she shouts as she runs toward a tree. “It’s here. Do you see it?”

I kneel down and lo and behold there it is – a carving with the initials of the black hat bandit, Robert Adams, and his lover, Patricia Hall.

“What are you waiting for? Get to digging.”

I remove my sweatshirt and lay it on the ground before tying my hair up in a ponytail. “I hope you brought drinks and food. This may take some time.”

Fortunately, I’m used to digging and my work at the Wildlife Refuge keeps me in good shape. Even so, I’ve sweated through my t-shirt within fifteen minutes. I wipe a hand along my brow.

“Here.” Ashlyn shoves a bottle of water at me. “You need to keep hydrated.”

I drink half the bottle in one go before stretching my back muscles from side to side. “If I don’t find anything within the next fifteen minutes, we’re going to have to fetch help.”

“You’ll find something,” is Ashlyn’s immediate answer.

“Uh-huh. I’m sure your belief has nothing to do with not wanting to confess to Rowan what you’ve been up to.”

“I hate how much you understand me.”

“You love me, and you know it. It’s why I’m the baby’s godmother.”

“I never asked you to be the baby’s godmother.”

“But you will,” I claim before beginning to dig again. The shovel hits something hard and the reverberation has me clenching my teeth.

Ashlyn drops down to her knees next to the hole before picking up the trowel. “What is it? What did you find?”

“It’s probably a tree root. Don’t you dare go digging now.”

I wrench the trowel from her and kneel next to her. I use the small shovel to dig around the hard patch. Once I’ve managed to free up the area, I tap where it’s hard and it makes a clanging sound.

“That is definitely not a root,” Ashlyn shrieks.

I dig until a metal lockbox is revealed. “This better not be another clue,” I grumble as I lift the box out of the hole and set it on the ground next to Ashlyn who’s now holding a pair of wire cutters.

“This is it. I can feel it.” She cuts the lock and flings the box open. Her eyes widen when she sees what’s inside. “Yowzah!”

I’m speechless. I can’t believe it. The box is filled with cash. I grab a stack of bills to be certain I’m not hallucinating after all the hard work I performed, but the paper in my hand is real. Old and brittle but real.

“We found it. We freaking found it.” Saying the words out loud doesn’t make it seem any more real.

“We found the loot and solved the mystery of the Black Hat Bandit’s Missing Loot,” Ashlyn screams into the sky.

I fall down on my behind next to the box. This is unbelievable.

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