“I’m not sure. Twenty minutes? At least.”
“Transporting her to the road will be difficult,” the female officer stated, “and it might take a ground ambulance forty-five minutes to meet us.”
“Call a medical chopper to evacuate her,” Romano said. Then, to Luke, “Do you two have identification?”
“In the backpacks.”
Another officer moved to search the backpacks.
“Your names?” Romano asked.
“I’m Luke Dempsey. This is Finley Sutherland.”
“What’s your relationship?”
“She’s my . . .”Everything. “Girlfriend.”
“We received several reports from people who heard shots fired. What happened here?”
“We learned that her father buried something for her here years ago. We didn’t know what. We came tonight to dig it up.”
Romano accepted the IDs the deputy handed him and turned away to radio their names to dispatch.
The female officer remained crouched beside Finley, monitoring her vitals.
“There are gold bars here,” a deputy said.
Romano neared. “You’re saying this woman’s father buried gold bars for her?”
“Yes. We think it’s Confederate gold that went missing during the Civil War. As soon as we realized what it was, we decided to notify authorities. Before we could make it to an area with cell service, three men drove up in a Polaris ATV with AR-15s. They threw Finley off that cliff, shot at me, took most of the gold. When they heard the sirens, they left, and I carried her back up here.”
“There was more gold?” Romano asked.
“A lot more.”
“Who were the three men?”
“They were wearing masks. We only saw the face of one. His name’s Ken Vance. From Toccoa. I suspect the other two are his brothers, Dennis and Jeff.” They needed to pay for what they’d done to Finley. “Did you hear the motor of the ATV as you were getting closer?”
“No.”
“You’ll find their footprints and the ATV’s tire marks there.” Luke indicated the area. “There should be fired casings from their guns, unless they collected them all.”
A muted voice spoke through Romano’s radio. He listened. “Are you out on parole?” he asked Luke.
“Yes.”
“For what primary charge?”
“Felony theft.”
Romano didn’t react outwardly. But Luke knew that in the officer’s eyes, his trustworthiness had just taken a huge hit. He’d told the truth. But the truth might not seem very true to Romano when spoken by a felon standing next to an injured woman and stolen gold.
“How did Ken know you two were coming here tonight to dig this up?” Romano asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe one of them followed us to the road? And another brought the ATV on a trailer? Was anyone else parked on the road?”
“No.”
