“What was that noise?” Benny asked. “Sounded like metal.”
“Hit something. Not rock. Oh shit, hold on.”
“Can’t be a coffin,” I said. “It’s not deep enough.”
He threw the shovel aside and began scooping out dirt with his hands, working frantically as we all crouched around the grave. Then I saw it under his fingers as he wiggled it free.
A tin container with a lid. Orange and black. When Seb wiped away dirt, we all saw vintage artwork and the words: “Sir Walter Raleigh Smoking Tobacco.” Seb’s face was wide with anticipation when he looked up at me just for a moment, then he cracked open the lid.
Inside was a piece of muslin cloth that was tattered and falling apart, half-eaten by bugs. But when I reached inside to pick it up, the material fell apart in my fingers to reveal what it had been hiding.
Two gold wedding bands held together by a piece of twine. Initials were engraved inside the bands: “R.T.M.” and “M.E.S.”
“It’s Jack’s and Mabel’s wedding bands,” I said, absolutely floored.
“Oh shit,” Jaz whispered.
“WOO-HOO!” Seb shouted.
“Hell yeah!”
“Is this real?” Benny asked. “These are really what we need to finally get the treasure?”
“I think so,” I answered, feeling stunned. Like I’d been punched in the solar plexus.
But before I could think too hard again about a mystery lock near the cottage that these rings might somehow open, noise farther inside the forest caught my attention. Not just mine: Punkin started barking a loud warning.
We all looked up to see two figures emerging from shadow, one big and one very small.
“Digging up graves is such a bitch, isn’t it?” the big one said, pointing a handgun in our direction.
Pretty Paul.
Somehow the disconnect of seeing his scarred face all the way out here didn’t surprise me as much as the small figure who stepped to his side.
“Lulu?” Benny said, standing up and looking dazed.
“Hi, Benny,” she said, sounding slightly less perky than usual. “Really sorry it came to this.”
My heart pounded fiercely. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew it wasn’t good. As fast as I could, I dropped the rings inside the tobacco tin and shoved the lid back on.
Punkin barked enough to wake the dead. Paul kicked out his foot at her, but she just jumped back and kept barking.
“Shut your mutt up or I will,” he told Seb, who shouted at the dog to get behind him. She sort of obeyed.
“What the hell, Paul?” Jazmine shouted, standing up from the grave. “Have you lost your mind? Put that thing down.”
“Why are you here?” Benny asked Lulu, a look of growing horror on his face.
Paul laughed without humor. “Shit, Benito. They say you’re as smart as little Ivy League, over there, but I’m not so sure. Lulu’s my cousin, you fucking idiot. No one suspects sweet, little Lulu. She’s been playing you all summer.”
Holy shit!Iknewsomething was off about her.
“You rancid little bitch!” Jazmine shouted, and for a second, I thought she was going to jump on Lulu. But she didn’t get a chance.
With an angry shout, Benny went berserk, rushing Paul like a linebacker.
He stopped short when Paul lifted the muzzle to Benny’s forehead.
