The museum is one of those projects that we started locally, all on volunteer power, without fully realizing what we had on our hands. We’ve had a few consultations with preservationists and archivists and curators, so we’re keeping with best practices as much as we can, given funding and time constraints.
Yes, yes, we could ask Cooper and Waverly for help, but they already do so much. And it makes me proud that we were able to rally everyone in town to support this without having to ask for major donor assistance.
It’s probably time though.
Because someone left two maps out overnight.
That’s unusual.
Everyone on staff pays close attention to proper handling and storage.
Not for the first time in the past few days, a shiver slinks from my scalp to my tailbone.
Tillie Jean says the treasure isn’t real.
Cooper and their other brother, Grady, both say the treasure isn’t real.
Grady’s wife, Annika, told me she thinks it might’ve been real at one point, but also that it was found years ago—before the internet—and that we’ll never know what happened to it.
But is that what the Rock family is supposed to say?
Or is it the truth?
And what does Davis know?
If he was trying to find a treasure to make people quit looking for a treasure that doesn’t exist, he could use his resources to fake-find it instead, pay off the experts who’d authenticate it, and that would be the end of it.
But he’s actually looking for it.
And I don’t think it’s because he’s worried other people will hurt themselves doing the same.
“The treasure… It’s not real,” I say.
He doesn’t answer.
He’s bent over the map, studying it. “You got this from Sarcasm.”
“How do you know that?”
“Only reason it wouldn’t be on display.”
He’s lying.
I mean, yes, I think all men are lying on a regular basis, and I’m well aware Davis has to have his own reasons that he’s not sharing for ninety percent of everything he’s done since Saturday, but I swear on Thorny Rock’s maybe-not-so-imaginary treasure, Davis Remington is outright lying to me right now.
He knows the map was donated by a citizen of Shipwreck’s rival town, and he doesn’t want me to know how he knows it.
Does he know who donated it?
Or just where it came from?
“Say the treasure is real.” Are these words actually coming out of my mouth? Tillie Jean had better be prepared for lunch with me today because I have so many questions for her too. “How do you know it’s still where it was buried? How do you know someone else didn’t find it years ago? How do you know it’s not hidden between the walls in some gazillionaire’s house for his heirs to find six generations from now when they do heavy renovations?”
Davis slides a look at me. “For someone who doesn’t believe the treasure’s real, you have interesting ideas for where it might be located.”
“My grandma used to show us the Muppets version ofTreasure Islandall the time. Knowing pirate lore and believing there’s a treasure in Shipwreck are two different things.”
Davis isn’t touching the map.
