Gabe spent the rest of the night watching Raylene from a safe distance. He didn’t know what to make of her run-in with the Rodriguezes. Her reaction to seeing Lucky and Tawny on those two occasions at the Ponderosa didn’t jibe with someone who would intentionally look for a confrontation, especially at her brother’s wedding.
The one sure thing he could say about Raylene was that she cared for Logan and Annie and wouldn’t deliberately try to mess up their party. He propped his hip against the wall and observed her talking to Harper Matthews, Emily’s little girl. They were over by the dessert table, eating wedding cake. Gabe was too far away to hear what they were saying but it looked animated. Raylene smiled at something the kid said and her whole face lit up. Even from the wall, he could see those baby blues of hers sparkle like the Pacific Ocean. Despite her reputation as a viper, she was a knockout. This morning, as she’d snooped through his bedroom, he’d been sorely tempted to go for another kiss. And when her sweater and jacket kept hiking up as they hung the ranch gate together, he’d had a powerful urge to touch all that creamy skin.
Soon, she’d be leaving. Until then, he better check those urges. Tomorrow, they’d hunt for her stupid gold, and when they came up empty she’d see the search for what it was: an exercise in futility. It’s not like she needed the money. Her father had left her a pile of cash, and Gabe assumed Colorado was a community property state and she’d gotten her share in the divorce. In any event, he’d go along with the treasure hunt but wouldn’t feel too bad when her gold didn’t pan out. Then he’d find a place to tuck her horse and she’d be on her way out of here. The town would likely throw a ticker-tape parade when she was gone.
Jake joined him on the wall with a drink in his hand and flicked his gaze at Raylene. “She’s a real piece of work.”
Gabe simply shrugged, because his allegiance was to Logan and that was his sister Jake was talking about. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think she deliberately did it. I’ll admit, I did at first, but on closer examination not so much anymore.”
Jake leaned his head back and laughed. “She’s bewitched you, too, huh?”
If Gabe hadn’t respected the hell out of Jake, he would’ve told him to take a swan dive off the Golden Gate Bridge. But Gabe was man enough to know when he’d heard the truth, and the truth was Raylene had bewitched him. Not to the point where he was blind to her faults, just enough to occasionally close his eyes to them.
“It’s happened to the best of us, buddy.” Jake slapped him on the back. “I’m a career homicide detective and have heard every lie under the sun. Yet a beautiful woman still has the power to make me question my instincts. Take some advice from a man who’s been married four times.” He nudged his head at Raylene. “That woman is toxic. She’ll burn a hole through your heart faster than a cigarette lighter.” With that, he pushed off the wall and headed for the bar for a refill.
Gabe waved across the room to one of Annie’s friends and went back to watching Raylene. She was still talking to Harper, which was interesting. Raylene didn’t strike him as the maternal type. Then again, the kid was probably the only person in the place who would give Raylene the time of day. Still, she seemed pretty invested in whatever they were talking about, nodding her head and gesturing with her hands and giving Harper, who even from a distance appeared to be talking a mile a minute, her full attention.
Gabe thought about joining them, but they had a good thing going and he didn’t want to interrupt. Besides, Raylene had made it crystal clear she was pissed at him. He couldn’t exactly blame her. He’d rushed to judgment. But, like his mom liked to say, “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” And her collision with Lucky certainly had looked like a duck to him.
He took a visual lap around the room. The party was winding down, and there was no sign of Lucky and Tawny. He suspected they’d left shortly after the incident. Out of his side vision, he saw Clay approach Raylene and Harper. Gabe’s ability to read body language was above average, saving his ass in the field more times than he wanted to remember, and Clay’s was sending off all kinds of warning signals.
His assessment was proven correct when a few seconds later Clay grabbed Harper’s hand and led her away, leaving Raylene standing alone. Apparently, he didn’t want his kid picking up any bad habits from the wicked witch of Nugget, even if their only crime was eating cake and laughing. It wasn’t as if Raylene was teaching Harper how to build a nuclear bomb. Cold, man. Gabe thought Clay was cold.
The bride and groom were getting ready to leave, and the wedding party was supposed to hand out sparklers and little bags of rice. The sparklers had been Sam’s idea but Annie’s family grew rice, so no way were they cutting that particular tradition out of the wedding, even if it was allegedly dated. For the last three months, Gabe had gotten a blow by blow of every detail from Logan, who’d been drowning in wedding planning hell and wanted to share his pain.
Gabe deliberated on whether to act as Raylene’s escort for Logan and Annie’s grand exit or to leave her alone. He’d all but decided to give her space when his protective side won out and he circled around to get her. She was finishing her cake.
“You ready?”
“Jeez, you’re like a bad penny, Moretti.”
“I figured after the Lucky incident you might need a bodyguard. The knives are out.”
She sighed and put her cake plate down on an empty tray. “You saw Clay, didn’t you?”
“Let’s walk this way, so we can grab a bunch of sparklers.” He steered her toward the door. “Yeah, I saw. Maybe he just didn’t want the kid getting hopped on sugar.”
“Good try. But I saw Donna Thurston go over to him, whisper something in his ear, and next thing I know he’s swooping Harper up like I’m Ted Bundy.”
“Now that you mention it, you kind of look like him.”
“Thanks,” she said. “And thanks for believing the worst of me tonight. I really appreciate that.”
She was trying to pass it off as if she didn’t care, but he could tell she did.
“Give me a break, Ray. What would you think if in a room filled with more than a hundred people, I happened to plow into my archnemesis and knock his wine out of his hand?”
She put her mouth close to his ear. “Everyone here is my archnemesis.”
Raylene had a point. No question that the good folks of Nugget hated her guts.
“Someday, you’re gonna tell me the whole story.”
“I told my whole story to the police. Now I’m done talking about it. Forever.”
They scooped up the rice and send-off sparklers and Gabe made sure everyone in his general vicinity got one. Gia and a few of the kids handled the rest. They went outside and everyone formed two rows for the bride and groom to pass through on their way back to the Lumber Baron, where they planned to stay the night before leaving the next day on their honeymoon.
A cheer went up and the crowd began waving their lit sparklers in the air and chucking rice at Logan and Annie as they walked the path.
When Logan got to Gabe and Nick they shouted,“Hooyah,” and pounded on each other’s backs. Logan picked up Raylene and swung her around while Annie hugged Gia. There were a lot of kisses and crying and congratulatory embraces and two weepy mothers who fussed.
“It was a beautiful wedding,” Emily told Annie.
“Thank you for making the cake. It was the star of the show.” Annie gave Emily a squeeze.
“No, you were.”
Gabe walked the newlyweds to Logan’s truck and tucked Annie’s dress in the door. “You kids take care, now. Bring me back something nice.”
Logan whispered in his ear, “Take care of my sister.”
“You got it. Godspeed, John Glenn.”
He watched them drive off with strings of tin cans tied to their bumper and a “Just Married” sign taped to their tailgate, thanks to Chad and a few of Annie’s friends. The guests milled around for another half hour or so, but by eleven Annie’s farm stand-turned-wedding venue emptied out.
He and Raylene loaded his truck with gifts and Chad caught a ride to Annie and Logan’s with his parents.
“I guess I’m taking you,” Gabe said, since Raylene had ridden with the Sparkses to the reception.
“Either that or I’ll walk.” It wasn’t too far, only about a mile up the road, but no way in hell was he letting her get home on foot in the dark.
“Hop in, Ray. We’ve got a long day tomorrow.”
“I’ll go first thing in the morning to get the metal detector.”
Clearly, she wasn’t too mad to let him off the hook. More’s the pity. Gabe could’ve done with a day at home, watching football instead of digging in the dirt for rocks with an off-limits temptress. Take care of my sister. If Logan only knew.
“I’ll get it.” That way he could grab some breakfast before she came banging on his door. “And meet you at the property at ten-thirty.”
“Ten?” she whined.
“It’s Sunday, Ray. The hardware store doesn’t open before ten.”
That seemed to appease her. The truth was he didn’t know what time the hardware store opened, only that he didn’t want to wake up at dawn’s early light. He’d seen enough sunrises and wanted to sleep in.
Gabe pulled up to the house and before he could put on his emergency brake, Raylene jumped out of the SUV.
He rolled down his window. “What? No kiss goodnight?”
She waved her middle finger in the air and climbed the stairs of the front porch. His mouth quirked as he admired her backside in that tight dress. Gabe waited for the foyer light to come on and started for home when he remembered he’d left his boots in the office. He’d need them tomorrow for their dig, and he rolled his eyes. Flipping a U-turn, he took the driveway past a row of privacy trees Annie had planted and pulled into the carport at L&G. With the engine running, he dashed into the building, punched in the alarm code, found his boots, and was halfway to his truck when a he heard a crackle in the neighboring woods. It sounded like the snap of a twig and then a cough. Probably an animal or a figment of his imagination. But after more than a decade in the spec ops world, “probably” wasn’t good enough. They stored hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of security equipment, a cache of weapons, top-grade gear, and ammo in the small compound. And though they had a state-of-the-art alarm system, nothing was impenetrable. Gabe ought to know. He reached in the SUV, turned off the engine, opened the glove box, and pulled out a Sig Sauer P226.
Other than the security motion light on the side of the building, the woods were pitch black. Not a problem; Gabe knew how to find his way in the dark. He circled around the building, entering the forest from the back side of L&G. Better to exercise his assault from the rear than the front, giving him the element of surprise. He crept through the trees, hoping his dress shoes didn’t creak. He felt a little like James Bond, doing reconnaissance in a tuxedo. All he needed was a Walther PPK.
With a sliver of moonlight peeking out from behind the mountains, he could see his breath in the cold. He stopped, flattened his back against a tree, and smelled the air. Pine needles, damp dirt, oak leaves, and something that didn’t quite belong. Nothing Gabe could identify, but whatever it was didn’t feel right. Fetid, like unwashed bodies. He stood there listening for a while, but all he heard was the sound of the night. Trees rustling in the breeze and an owl. He suspected if anyone had been there, they were gone now.
Still, he snuck closer to his SUV, searching the woods for shadows or clues. The ground looked recently trampled, like someone or something had compressed the sodden dirt near the perimeter of the carport. He got up close and used the flashlight on his phone. Tread marks from a tennis or hiking shoe had left an imprint. It was too small to be Gabe or Logan’s, but it could’ve been Annie’s, who had access to the building. It wasn’t unusual for her to stop by in the middle of her farming chores to say hi or to use the gym. In the dark, Gabe couldn’t tell how fresh the prints were.
By the time he got to his vehicle, he’d half convinced himself that his instincts were wrong.
Let your gut be your guide. It’ll keep you alive. The words of his commander rang in his head.
Well, his gut wanted to believe he was overreacting, but in an abundance of caution he slipped inside headquarters and cued up the last hour’s security footage. Logan had gone a little crazy with cameras, so they had eyes on practically every corner of the compound—from the carport to the shooting range. He sat in one of the office chairs at a bank of screens and flipped through the frames, alternating between cameras. Nothing looked amiss.
He went back to the footage of the carport and went through it slower this time. Nada. More than likely the noise he’d heard was a deer or a raccoon. Could’ve even been a bear cub, though most of them were supposed to be hibernating. He was about to shut the screens down when he saw something. Just a flash of color, but the hairs on Gabe’s arms went up. He rewound and paused the footage at least a dozen times when he spotted it again, zoomed in, and blew up the frame. It was too blurry to make out. He played with it for a while, using various software programs to get a clearer image. Finally, he was able to hone in on the picture and get a decent view of what he was looking at. It was a tennis shoe. A child’s red high top, if he wasn’t mistaken.
Alarm bells sounded in his head. Gabe sent the frame to his phone and fired it off to Rhys in a text.
“Your elusive trio may have been snooping around L&G. Call me when you get this.”
It was after midnight, and he figured Rhys was sound asleep. To be safe, he decided to camp out in his office. If anyone was out there, he’d be prepared.
* * * *
Raylene paced the kitchen. Where the hell was Gabe? He was supposed to be here an hour ago. Chad and his parents had headed back to their Yuba City farm at the crack of dawn. After breakfast, Nick and Maisy had loaded up the Winnebago and took off for Vegas. That left Raylene, who’d cleaned up the dishes and was raring to go.
She shot a text to Gabe.
Did you oversleep?
Chill, I’m on my way, came his response, with an emoji of a steaming cup of coffee.
Did he want one, or was he stopping off at the Bun Boy to bring her one? She took out the filters she’d just put away and made a new pot, in case. The man was beyond high maintenance. He did look good in a tux, though. She’d give him that. Ah, hell, who was she kidding? Gabe would look good in overalls, covered in mud. And despite his cryptic emoji, he was fairly agreeable.
But like everyone else in this town, he thought she was no good. Someday, you’re gonna tell me the whole story. Maybe she was no good, but the fact that he sided with her critics made her indignant.
She heard a car and looked outside to see Gabe pulling up. A wave of anticipation at seeing him again spread through her and she quickly willed it away. He got out and she could see that his hair was still wet and that he’d dressed for manual labor. Worn Levis, work boots, and a fleece hoodie peeked out of his jacket. There was no sign of the straw cowboy hat he liked to wear. When she found the gold, she’d buy him a felt one.
“Hey.” He came through the door. “You make coffee?”
“Yes. Did you get the metal detector?”
“Yes,” he mimicked her, and made a beeline for the kitchen. “Is there anything to eat?”
She let out a sigh and pulled eggs, milk, and cheese from the refrigerator. “There goes getting an early start. There’s bread in the cupboard.”
He retrieved the loaf and put a few slices in the toaster, then stuck his head in the fridge. Juggling the butter dish, an orange juice container, and a plate of leftover banana bread, he made his way to Annie’s old farm table.
“Did everyone get off okay?” he asked while setting them places at the table.
“Yep. I already ate. Hours ago.”
“Then you can eat again and keep me company.” He flashed her a mischevious grin.
She made him an omelet because it was one of the few dishes in her cooking repertoire. Butch used to complain that the only thing she was good for was spending his money. Since a good portion of it had been her money, she’d offered to hire him a cook. She’d gotten the back of his hand for her “smart mouth.”
“You don’t have to do that; I’ll make it.” Gabe took over the pan.
“I figured it was the least I could do.” She returned her own mischevious smile.
“Nah, when we strike it rich you’ll be giving me lots of gold.” He laughed and she rolled her eyes.
“You’re gonna be sorry for mocking me.”
“I doubt it.” He sprinkled a good heap of cheese on the eggs she’d already started. “Weezer should be here by Wednesday. We’ll have to figure something out in the meantime.”
If she could find someone to board Gunner it would take the last of her savings. Between feed, care, and barn fees, stables didn’t come cheap. Plus, she owed Gabe, or this Weezer guy, for transportation costs. They’d better find gold.
“How much trouble would it be to build something here?” It still didn’t solve who would take care of her horse until she could buy her own place. At the rate she was going, she wondered if that would ever happen.
“It’s not a lot of trouble, it’s finding the time. I’ve got other stuff on my plate. Maybe you could hire Colin Burke to do it. Do you know him?”
“No. He’s married to Harlee Roberts, right?” She barely knew Harlee but assumed she was in the Raylene Rosser Hater Club. Hell, she’d be in it, too, if she were them.
“Yep. He’s a good guy, builds furniture and does a lot of construction around here.”
“All I need is pipe corralling and someone to put it together.” It would be a lot cheaper than boarding, but she’d still have the issue of Gunner’s care. God, she hated Butch. He’d agreed to keep the gelding in exchange for using the horse on his cattle ranch in Crawford. But Butch never met a promise he didn’t go back on—their marriage vows of fidelity being the perfect example.
“I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, we have to find temporary housing.” He flipped his omelet, and it flopped against the side of the pan and fell apart.
She pointed at some of the melted cheese that had dripped on the floor. “You might want to keep your day job.”
“It’ll still taste good,” he said, in that cocky way she was learning to expect from him.
After plating the omelet, he took it to the table and waited for her to sit before digging in. “Mm, good. You sure you don’t want some?” He got up, reached over the counter, and got his toast.
She nodded and poured them both coffees. “What took you so long?”
He looked over the rim of his cup and lifted his brows. “Were you having Gabe withdrawals?”
She snorted. “I can see why you’re still single…a little too high on yourself, don’t you think?”
Gabe threw his head back and laughed. “Ray, I’m single because I choose to be single.”
She didn’t doubt it but had no intention of feeding his overinflated ego. The only thing bigger appeared to be his appetite. After devouring the omelet, he ate the toast, slathered with butter, and two slices of banana bread.
She cleared away his dishes, hoping to move them along. Daylight was burning and she needed to find that gold before she called Dana. “You ready?”
“It would help if we had something to go on, like a map.” He stared at her pointedly. “All the stories I read said there’s supposed to be one. We’ve only got the metal detector for a day, and two hundred acres is a lot of land to comb.”
She thought about it. It would be nice to have someone more experienced in map reading take a look. As a Navy SEAL he probably knew his longitude from latitude, which is more than she could say for herself. And it wasn’t as if he didn’t know the legend. If he wanted to screw her out of the gold, not having the map wasn’t going to stop him. But what finally made her give in was the fact that Gabe was Logan’s best friend, and she trusted Logan implicitly.
“Fine,” she said, and went to the hallway to find her purse. When she came back Gabe was polishing off the rest of the banana bread. “But it stays in my custody at all times.”
“You got it.” He winked and she got the distinct impression he was mocking her. The man probably had a photographic memory. He waggled his hand. “Let me see it.”
She pulled the map out of her handbag and he spread it out on the table, hunching over it.
He examined it for a while and shook his head. “You’re kidding me, right? This looks like something a two-year-old drew. There’s no compass rose, no grid, no scale indicator, no nothing. This isn’t a map. From what I can tell, it’s a sketch made by a drunk. Where’d you get it?”
“My dad. It’s been passed down from generation to generation and is based on Levi’s instructions.”
“According to everything I’ve read, Levi wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, so at least the map’s consistent with that.” He looked at her. “Ray, honey, what’s it going to take for me to talk you out of this? Think of all the ways we can spend the day instead of breaking our backs, digging in the dirt while freezing our asses off. The forecast said snow. Wouldn’t you rather spend it here, in front of a fire, or in bed?” Gabe tossed her a cheeky grin.
“I’ll do it myself,” she said. “Just give me the metal detector.”
He huffed out a breath. “Stubborn, just like your flipping half brother. All right, let’s go break rocks in ten degrees.” Gabe shrugged into his jacket and she followed him outside. He opened the passenger door and ushered her in.
Five minutes later, they were at the site, unloading the equipment. Gabe was right. It was easily ten degrees outside, and Raylene could feel snow. Not the best conditions for finding buried gold. But the clock was ticking. Gabe took another look at the map and cursed under his breath.
“What’s this?” He pointed at a row of scrawl, maybe numbers, at the bottom of the paper.
“I have no idea. It looks like someone was doodling.”
He studied the scribbles for a while and shook his head.
She pulled the metal detector from the back and tried to figure out how the thing worked.
“Hang on, there,” Gabe called. “I’m thinking over there.” He pointed to another cluster of trees. “Don’t ask me why. It’s not like I can make any sense out of this.” He held up the map. “It’s just a hunch.”
His guess was as good as hers. She carried the detector to the spot and Gabe brought the shovels and the pickax.
“You do realize that thing will only detect metal a few feet down, right?”
No. “Duh.”
“What’s the likelihood your gold is buried that shallow? Don’t you think if it was it would’ve surfaced by now?”
“Jeez, Gabe, you’re hellbent on sucking all the joy out of this, aren’t you?”
He zoomed in on her pricey sheepskin gloves, a treat to herself from Rodeo Drive when she’d still had money. “Joy? Easy for you to say, since I’m the one digging.”
“How do you turn this thing on?”
“First, you’ve got to set up the treasure-vision feature on the touchpad.”
She shot him a look. “Ha ha. Very funny.”
“It’s not a joke,” he protested. “See this?” He showed her what appeared to be a compact computer screen at the top of the detector. “It’s an imaging display and can hone in on a target. Basically, it was invented for treasure hunting. According to the dude at the hardware store, there are even better ones on the market, but this is the one they rent out to all the morons who come up to the Mother Lode, looking for buried gold.”
He fidgeted with the settings, his expression filled with glee. Even though Gabe didn’t believe the gold existed, he sure seemed to love playing with the detector. Raylene suppressed an eye roll. If a gadget with lots of bells and whistles was what it took to get him out here, he could slow dance with the metal detector for all she cared.
She stood on a mound of leaves underneath two massive oak trees and scanned the area. It was at least forty feet from her original spot. A grove of trees had been depicted on the map. They could’ve been pine, oak, fir, or cedar for all she knew. Gabe was right, the map was so crude it was difficult to distinguish south from north, let alone which species of trees her great-great-uncle had buried the gold under. “Why here?”
“Your original trees had trunks with half the circumference of these. I’m no tree expert, but Levi buried the gold nearly two centuries ago, right? I’m guessing those weren’t even around back then.”
She hadn’t thought about that. “All right, makes sense. Brawn and brains, who would’ve thought?”
“Hey, ungrateful girl, watch it.” He grinned, and it made her belly do flip-flops. Brawn, brains, and charm. A lethal combination.
He fired up the detector and they spent the next hour hovering over the small swath of land inside the grove, going back and forth and back and forth. Nothing. Not so much as a soda can. Gabe even chopped at the dirt to break up rocks in case they were getting in the way.
“This must be the wrong spot,” she said. “Maybe we should go back to where we were.”
“Or maybe we should go home and snuggle up on the couch with something warm in front of a fire.” He let his eyes slowly sweep over her and she remembered the kiss, the hot pull of that glorious mouth of his, and got goosebumps.
Gabe was a tease, and this wasn’t her first rodeo. There’d been a lot of pleasurable kisses in her past and they’d all ended in pain. Besides, he was her brother’s best friend, and messing around with him would be tempting fate. She didn’t want anything to come between her and Logan. They’d just found each other and she wanted to hang on to her half brother with all her might.
“How ’bout we keep working, and at noon I’ll buy you lunch?”
He leaned both arms on the handle of the metal detector and considered her offer. “I want steak.”
“For steak, you can’t break until one o’clock, and if we don’t find anything by then, we have to change locations when we come back.”
“Come back?” He raised his brows. “Sweetheart, I’ve got other things to do.”
“Seriously, you’re willing to quit this early in the game? So much for badass SEALs.” She flapped her elbows and made chicken noises.
He threw his head back and laughed. “You really think you can goad me into doing this? Raylene, read my lips: There’s no gold, and we’re wasting our time. The only reason I’ve agreed to this fool’s errand is because I find you highly entertaining.”
“Why?” She sat in the dirt, pulling her knees up under her chin. “Is that your way of saying I’m ridiculous?”
“Not ridiculous, though this is.” He gazed around at the ground they’d already covered. “All I’m saying is there’s never a dull moment when you’re around. And as long as I’m on vacation, I could use a little excitement.”
“Glad to be of service.” She wasn’t sure if he was telling her he enjoyed her company or whether it was his measured way of saying she was a giant pain in the ass. She wished it didn’t matter to her one way or another. But it did. “You think we could get back to work now?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted her and turned the detector back on.
She got to her feet and followed behind him. If they had two detectors they could cover twice as much ground. She was just about to suggest it when the detector went off.
“Oh my God, we’ve got something.”
“Don’t get excited yet.” Gabe crouched down on the ground and maneuvered the detector closer. “Right here.”
She grabbed the shovel, but the ground was like granite.
“Let me try.” Gabe took it from her and dug enough of a hole that they could use their hands.
She got down on her knees and pawed at the soil. Gabe grabbed a miniature detector from his SUV.
“The guy at the hardware store told me this would come in handy.” He squatted next to her and waved the handheld one over the site until it made a piercing noise. “Right here.”
She took off her gloves and went to work on the spot he’d honed in on. He went back to his truck and returned with a trowel and began digging alongside her.
“Can you believe it, Gabe? This could be it.”
“Or not.” But he seemed as excited as she was. “What’re you planning to do with all your loot?”
“Split it with Logan and Annie, pay off debts, and give a big chunk to this women’s shelter where I volunteer.”
He stopped and stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. “I don’t know which one shocks me more: the fact that you’re willing to give half your money to Logan, or that you volunteer.”
“If I wasn’t about to become filthy rich I might actually be offended.” She pried a rock loose and tossed it away. “Run that thing over here again.”
He waved the small detector over the hole they’d dug. “Sounds like we’re getting closer.” Gabe picked up the trowel and chipped away at a few more stones. “This is rocky soil, that’s for sure.”
“Should I get the pickax?”
“I’ll get it.” He got to his feet and Raylene thought if Gabe were Butch he’d bludgeon her to death with the pickax and run off with the gold.
“Move away,” Gabe said, and lifted the pick above his head.
“Be careful. I don’t want you damaging the gold.”
He rolled his eyes and hammered into the ground, making real headway. “Get the handheld detector again.”
She bent over the hole, turned it on, and moved the wand the same way he had. “Oh, oh, I think it’s right here.”
“I think you’re right.” He got down on the ground and used the trowel, shoveling out small batches of dirt at a time. “I feel something.” He banged the trowel against a hard object in the dirt.
“Is it a box?”
“Can’t tell.” But five seconds later he pulled up an old rotted log.
“That can’t be it.”
“Hand me the detector.”
She gave it to him and he tested it on the log. “It’s in here.”
“How can that be?” According to Rosser legend, Levi had buried the gold in the ground, not a tree.
“I don’t know, Ray, but we’re about to find out. Stand clear.” Gabe put the log on the ground and began splitting it with the pickax.
“There’s nothing there.”
He crouched down with the small detector again, and it signaled on a piece of the log.
“That can’t be right.” But maybe Levi had hidden gold nuggets inside the tree itself, and over the years the oak had died and parts of the trunk had been petrified under the ground.
Gabe used his knife to dig around in the bark. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He plucked something out and Raylene held her breath.
“It’s it, isn’t it?” She looked down into the hole they’d dug. There must’ve been dozens of rotted logs, petrified wood, and roots down there. How long would it take them to extract the gold? “Let me see.”
She held out her hand and he dropped the small orb in her palm. It wasn’t as heavy as she would’ve thought, and it didn’t glitter.
“Pretty cool, huh?”
“It doesn’t look like gold.” She rubbed her fingers over it, trying to clear away the dirt.
“It’s a musket ball, probably leftover from the Gold Rush. I got dibs.”
She dropped her shoulders, let out a frustrated breath, and handed it over. “It’s all yours.”
He examined the ball under the sun with a stupid gooey smile on his face. You’d think Gabe had won the lottery. He hadn’t shaved and his face was covered in scruff. With a boonie hat pulled over his ears, a pair of camo cargo pants riding low on his lean hips, and endless amounts of rippling muscle, he was every inch the former Navy SEAL. A former Navy SEAL who’d just reverted to a twelve-year-old on Christmas morning.
He gazed over at her, that same silly grin playing on his lips. “Never a dull moment, Ray.”
“Glad I could oblige. You ready to get back to work?”
He checked his watch. “I believe it’s steak time.”