“It’s just a theory.” I leaned in to kiss her nose. “Trust me, Nana.”
She sighed but smiled anyway. “All right. Stay out of trouble, would you?”
“I’ll do my best.”
My heart felt lighter as I jogged out the front door, steam from the mug rising in the crisp air. The sky was pale blue again, streaked with thin clouds that promised a calmer day. I took a long sip of the tea and hurried back to my Fiat, the map folded safely under my arm.
For the first time since the explosion, the fog in my mind started to clear. The map, the tunnels, and the missing boxes were all connected somehow. I didn’t have the full picture yet, but as I started the car and pulled onto the road, one thing was certain.
I was onto something.
Chapter 28
I drove down the river road, the tires hissing against wet pavement, and hooked left toward Shanty’s Peak. The rain had eased to a drizzle, soft and persistent, mist curling up from the trees. I’d ridden this route a hundred times on my bike as a kid while chasing legends, camping with cousins, pretending the hills held gold. But now, my hands stayed tight on the wheel, the folded map on the seat beside me tugging at my thoughts.
The lines on the paper were faint and warped with age, but the angles of the ridges matched the ones I knew by heart. It wasn’t labeled, but I was sure of it. It had to be Shanty’s Peak, close to Bear Mountain.
I slowed, squinting through the fogging windshield as the road narrowed and turned to gravel. When I spotted a faint turnoff that looked like it hadn’t seen a vehicle in months, I eased the Fiat to the side and cut the engine.
The silence hit first with the low whisper of the wind and the steady drip of water from the trees. I stepped out, boots sinking slightly into the muddy ground. The forest around me was dense, alive with the hush that comes after a storm.
Following the map’s faint lines, I moved between the trees. The ground was slick, the trail uneven. Ferns brushed against my jeans, and the scent of moss rose with every step. I searched for the two jagged rocks that had been drawn on the map, the ones my cousins and I had never found as kids. Back then, it had been a game. Now, it felt like something heavier.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, rolling low and slow across the valley. I kept walking until the path vanished into thick underbrush. My foot caught on a tree root, and I stumbled, catching myself against the rough bark of a cedar. Its trunk was wide and ancient, the kind of tree that had probably been standing when Silverville was still a mining camp.
Wait a minute. What was that?
I pressed a hand to the bark and just breathed for a moment, the rain pattering softly around me. Then I brushed bushes out of the way, finding a bear trap. An illegal one. Grabbing a stick, I wedged it between the trap’s teeth and snapped it shut.
Something rattled in the bush. Adrenaline flooded through me.
I glanced at a barely there trail leading into the trees and then paused, noting a weird wire strung inches off the ground. Taking a deep breath, I inched closer, bending down.
What would happen if someone accidentally tripped on the wire?
A bird cried in the distance.
Something loud sounded down the trail.
Instinct bellowed, and I ran. Fast and hard, back to my car. Who had booby-trapped that area?
I slid into the driver’s seat just as thunder rolled again, closer this time. Fat drops of rain hit the windshield before I even started the engine and hit the gas pedal.
My first call was to the sheriff, and his answering service told me he was at the hospital, so I headed that way.
I called both my sisters to check in as I drove over the pass and to the hospital, jumping out of my car and hurrying inside. I hustled toward Aiden’s hospital room just as Sheriff Franco was heading out, cane tapping against the tile.
“Hi, Sheriff,” I said, resettling my purse over my shoulder. “I went out to Shanty’s Peak and found a bear trap as well as wire strung across a trail.”
His white eyebrows rose. “Like a boobytrap?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Close to where you were shot at, I think.”
He frowned. “Might be a hunter staking an area, or it could be an illegal cannabis operation, but that’s rare because of the climate. I’ll send some deputies out to investigate. Thanks.”
“Sure.” It felt good turning that over to him and giving myself one less thing to worry about. There were some very territorial hunters in our neck of the woods, and it’s possible that wire would’ve only led to a good tripping and nothing deadly. But it was out of my hands now. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m good. My leg hurts, though. They want me to do something called PT.” He scowled, leaning heavily on the cane. “I’m not doing PT.”
