“Yeah. Do you want to go out to dinner tonight?”
Georgie jolted and glanced at him. “You mean a date?”
He smiled and tipped his hat. “Yeah. I figured we haven’t done anything normal yet.”
She loved the idea of going out in public with him. “What about the treasure hunt? We’re supposed to search the gulf tomorrow.”
“We can come back. I’d much prefer to sleep in your bed tonight.”
“Absolutely.” She stretched, shifting some of the kinks. “Where do you want to go?”
“How about the brewery?”
“Sounds good.”
They retraced their steps. Along the way a racehorse goanna trundled down the slope and into the riverbed in front of them. They both stopped to watch. Goannas generally weren’t aggressive, and they looked so slow with their careful steps, but they could run fast when provoked.
Georgie sighed. “Those smugglers had dozens of reptiles of all sizes in the back of their car. I can’t understand how anyone can look at one and only see a pay check.”
“Not everyone respects nature,” Matt replied. “What are the police doing?”
“Like Dot would ever tell me.” Georgie snorted. “Why don’t you ask Nhiari?”
“Same reason. Did Darcy ever tell you we found signs of a camp on Retribution Island?”
“No.” She’d have to ask Amy and Faith if they knew.
“It was packed away in one of the caves. Looks like they leave supplies there for when they need to use the island.”
So Stonefish could be out there at any time. She hated the thought. Her family often went swimming at the gulf and the idea someone was spying on them gave her chills.
“It’s why I went with you when you were searching for the shipwreck,” Matt continued. “I didn’t want you going on the island alone.”
“I’m glad you did.” It had led to this moment.
“Me too.”
Chapter 16
Another hour went by as Matt and Georgie searched the riverbed. It was a little shaded which kept the heat down. Nothing around them could be the shelter Lilian spoke of and Matt hadn’t seen any evidence of a camouflaged hide. They were probably wasting their time in terms of the treasure search, but being with Georgie, alone, was never a wasted opportunity. As they navigated around a particularly rocky section, half a dozen stacked rocks on the riverbank caught his attention. “What’s that?” Matt pointed and his pulse raced as they both scrambled over. The rocks were piled in too orderly a fashion for them to be natural.
“Anyone could have piled them up,” Georgie said.
He nodded. “But it looks like a directional cairn. Take some photos from each angle.” She always had her phone on her.
Georgie did as he asked and then they both examined the pile of rocks. “So which way does it point?”
“North.” He looked west and in the distance he saw the homestead almost directly across. It was luck Amy and Lara hadn’t destroyed the cairn while they’d been gathering rocks for the campgrounds. Or maybe Lara had built it when she’d grown bored.
That was the most likely scenario.
Georgie slipped her hand into his and a rush of affection swept through him. “Do you think anything is buried underneath it?”
He studied the base of the cairn. “Looks like it’s on more rock.”
“You didn’t build it with Charlie as kids?” she asked. “Charlie went through an explorer phase.”
“Not that I remember, but Charlie might have built it on his own.” And if he had, he would have thought it a hoot they were following it.
