“It isso crowded,” Sloane replies, which makes me smile.
The Rocks issued a statement a few months after we found the treasure, and they laid it all out there.
That Shipwreck was founded by Walter Bombeck pretending to be Thorny Rock. That the real Thorny Rock founded Sarcasm. That they’d split the treasure, and both halves have been found and will be on display at the museum.
“Raised ticket prices, and it’s still sold out through next March,” I tell Ingrid.
“And it’s paying for itself, even with the increased security to handle guarding a real pirate treasure.”
“Some bigger museums have reached out to ask if they can display parts of it.”
Sloane smiles at me, and my heart does what it always does when she smiles at me—it breaks into a happy dance.
Impossible to not smile back at that. “They want some of the canned vegetables Sloane used as weapons to keep the treasure from falling into the wrong hands too.”
She laughs. “Shush. They do not.”
They do. I’ll show her the email later.
“Is Sarcasm doing anything to compete more in the pirate tourism world now?” Ingrid asks.
“Nope. They said fu—eff you all, we’re keeping our Unicorn Festival, and we’re going to do it bigger and better than the Pirate Festival because we’ve always been better. Direct quote.”
“From Annika’s sister,” I supply.
“Is the museum displaying the mortar ball?” Ingrid asks.
Sloane’s grin grows to epic proportions. “It’s been defused and we should get it back in the next few weeks.”
“They figure out who was buried under the stairs in that cabin?” Levi asks.
Sloane squeezes my thigh again.
“They did,” I confirm. “Thorny Rock’s oldest grandson. The real Thorny Rock.”
“One of your relatives,” Ingrid says.
“Yep.”
“Do they know why?”
Sloane and I share a look.
“We have a theory,” I finally say.
“It’s very logical,” Sloane adds.
Levi grins. “Usually is with this guy.”
“Spill,” Ingrid says. “I’ll believe whatever you tell me.Oh my god.Davis. You need to write a book. You need to write a book about all of this.”
I pull a face as Sloane straightens. “That’s what I told him too. But he’s not ready to hear it.”
I love that phrase.
He’s not ready to hear it.
She said it to my mom at Christmas the first time when Mom asked if I was going to do anything with the land my camper’s still sitting on, and I said no.
