“Ready to rock and roll, gentlemen,” she said, starting the engine. She glanced up in the rearview mirror, noticed he was looking at her, and she flashed a brief smile at him. She was really, really pretty. The kind of pretty that stayed with you, deepened the longer you looked. He thought of a comment his mother often said—a person’s looks became subjective the moment you got to know them. They grew more attractive, or less. Scout was definitely in the more list.
Naki turned to her. “You brought gloves?”
She patted her pants pocket.
“Good. You’ll need them.”
Why? What did Naki know that Chase didn’t?
As the jeep pulled away, Chase shifted in his seat, unable to shake that reporter’s instinct that he was missing something. Naki wasn’t just hard to read—he was controlling the narrative, and Chase wasn’t sure where it was heading. For the first time, he wondered if finding the gold wasn’t the main story.
Maisie scanned the rendezvous spot for the park’s maintenance crew for the fifth time, her nerves prickling. Frankie was a no-show. She’d texted him four times, each message getting progressively more exasperated. When he still didn’t reply, she slipped away from the group, ducked behind a parked car, and called him.
He answered on the sixth ring, his voice sharp and annoyed. “What?”
“Frankie! Where are you? They’re ready to get started.”
He scoffed. “Frankie Franklin does not spend his days cleaning up behind horses. Frankie Franklin did not come all the way to Maine to pick up trash.”
“Don’t talk about yourself in third person. It’s super creepy.”
“Whatever. I’ve got better things to do.”
“Like what?”
“Like finding Enzo and getting that envelope back.” The line went dead before she could respond.
Maisie stared at her phone, her pulse quickening. She wasn’t exactly surprised, but Frankie’s recklessness made her stomach churn. Enzo was a bad dude. Twice the size of Frankie.
Hunched behind the car, Maisie scanned the area for eagle-eyed rangers, the kind who would call her grandfather and report her, then tiptoed toward the road. She spotted an Island Explorer bus stopping just ahead.Perfect.Fun fact, she thought, wishing she could tell someone: Those buses were free and went everywhere. They started and stopped at the Village Green notfar from Sophie’s coffee shop. If Frankie was looking for Enzo, Sophie would be his first stop.
Fifteen minutes later, Maisie hopped off the bus and cut across the Village Green. The sweet smell of fresh-cut grass hung in the air, something that would normally inspire her to stop and sniff, but she tried to stay focused. Squinting, her gaze narrowed on the figure crossing the road ahead of her—Frankie. He was walking fast, head down, hands jammed in his pockets.
“Frankie!” she said, breaking into a jog. “Frankie Franklin!”
He stopped and turned, not at all happy to see her. “What areyoudoing here?”
“Helping you.”
“Forget it, Maisie.”
“Don’t even try to stop me.” Maisie closed the distance between them. “You’re hopeless at talking to people. You make everybody mad. If you want Sophie to help, you need me.”
Frankie scowled but didn’t argue. After a long, theatrical groan, he muttered, “Fine.”
Maisie grinned and fell into step beside him. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Sophie’s our only lead,” he said, his voice low. “We need her to tell us where we can find Enzo.”
As they rounded the corner to the coffee shop, Maisie’s eyes widened. This errand just got a whole lot easier. Standing just outside, deep in conversation with Sophie, was Enzo.
Text conversation between Scout and her counselor, Elizabeth:
Elizabeth
Hey Scout,just checking in. Any reasonfor canceling our Zoom session this week?
Scout
