Page 139 of Risky Obsession

“Yep.”

“It must’ve been a huge effort to take prisoners and supplies from here down to the shoreline.”

“Archer said there was a set of stairs,” I said.

“Maybe they took the gold down the stairs, too.”

“Yeah. And then they put them on a boat that sank somewhere out on that ocean.” I flicked my hand, indicating to the vast blue expanse that dominated the view.

“Well, aren’t you a bundle of joy.”

“Don’t.” I eased back from the wall to glare at her.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t give me that shit. I’ve been searching for this gold for ten years. What about you? Oh, you have never searched for this gold. You’re just leeching off me.”

“That’s not true. I brought intel to this partnership.”

“Bullshit. And this is not a partnership.”

“You’re right. It’s not. But I did find that clue back at the train station.”

“A clue that was inmyphoto.”

She rolled her eyes. “I have told you things about Emmy Sonnemann that you didn’t know, and about castles she owned.”

“None of that led us here.”

“I found that map in Gunter’s shop.”

“Wefound that map.”

She put her hands on her hips. “But I was the one who found the lion on the map.”

“No. I lined up the teeth on the map to make the lion.”

Her eyes brightened. “The maps!”

“What about them?”

“Maybe there’s another clue on them. They led us here. There has to be a connection.”

I fumed at her excitement but also conceded we were running out of ideas. “Let’s get back out to the sunshine and take another look.”

We retraced our steps back through the dark passages, and the blazing sunshine blinded me until my eyes adjusted.

A few feet from the arched doorway, we cleared a section on a stone pathway, laid down the maps, and squatted down to view them.

Lacey pointed at the two fangs on the map we bought from Gunter. “Here’s the lion’s teeth. And this is one part of the x that we used to find Cuxhaven.”

“And here are the matching markings on Pops’ map.”

She leaned into my side. “Is there anything around this area that stands out on yours?”

I shook my head. “I can’t see anything.”

“We must be missing something.” She traced her finger along a random line on the map. “What’s this for? Do you have this line?”