Page 27 of Whispers of Fortune (Golden State Treasure Book #1)

T WENTY -S EVEN

“This has to be the trail marked on the map.” Josh knew the wilderness better than all of them. “It looks like a draw between two bluffs, carved out by the same stream we’ve been following.”

“I didn’t expect it to be so far.” Lock looked worn out.

The day was wearing down. Brody knew they shouldn’t have gone out treasure hunting quite so soon. Lock was mostly healed, yet he was a long way from being at full strength.

Brody had tried to keep his brother on horseback, but Lock was eager to hike through the wilderness. They’d abandoned any hint of a trail hours ago. Josh had worked at keeping the horses with them, although leaving the critters behind on a patch of grazing land would’ve made more sense. But Josh said they might not end up going back the same way, so the horses needed to come with them. That had forced them from the path a few times, mainly just following the stream. They found that Grandpa’s landmarks all led back to the water.

“I’m hoping we’ll run across a game trail.” Josh looked over his shoulder. His eyes met Brody’s, then they slid to Lock. Worry was evident on Josh’s face. “It might be time to camp for the night.”

Brody went to Lock and looked him over. His cheeks were flushed from the effort, and he’d taken to leaning hard on his horse while continuing to soldier on.

Josh was right in that there was no decent place to set up camp. The ground was so stony, they’d have a hard time finding a place where stretching out wasn’t painful.

Thayne was ahead of Lock. Ellie had fallen in behind her brother, who was in the lead. Thayne glanced back, his forehead creased with worry. He had his copy of the map in hand. Glancing at it, he said, “If we find a downed tree ahead, Grandpa’s map says we’re to fork away from the water at that point. And it doesn’t look like we will come back to it. Maybe we should set up camp by the stream. That way we have water for the night. We may regret taking that fork without a rest and a chance to fill our canteens.”

Brody knew they were all trying to come up with an excuse to stop. There was still sunlight left in the day. Normally, they’d’ve kept searching until full dark.

“What’s that?” Lock pointed at a clump of trees. “I don’t think that was on the map.”

“Is it a cave?” Brody stopped to stare at the dark shadow behind the trees. “There was no aspen grove in front of the cave on Grandpa’s map, but then those aren’t very old trees. Could they have grown that big in thirty years?

“I’ll check to see if that’s a cave or just an indent in the rocks.” Ellie tied her horse off so it could graze on the bit of grass surrounding the scrub brush, fallen branches, and leaves.

“You’re not hiking into a cave alone,” Josh said. “It could be a grizzly den or full of rattlesnakes.” He tied his horse, too. Brody and his brothers did the same. None of them wanted to be left behind in case there was something to find.

“Rattlesnakes?” Thayne gave Brody a nervous look, but he kept moving.

“Grizzly bears?” Brody wasn’t sure which was worse. “A man’s imagination can run away with him on the best of days. And on a treasure hunt, it can run wild.”

“The map goes on ... but this isn’t where the X was marked.”

“Maybe Grandpa marked the cave like he did that green pond. Just as a way to keep on the right path. But we’d better look in it.” Brody rested a hand on Lock’s shoulder. “I can imagine Grandpa finding a cave when he was out here wandering. Maybe he slept in it or took shelter from the rain.”

“How do you suppose he came to be out here?” Thayne grabbed an oak sapling to drag himself onward and upward. “Something must’ve turned him aside from the rest of the gold rush.”

Brody shrugged. “Maybe he heard a rumor of less competition out here. Or maybe his horse came up lame. Maybe he was looking for a piece of good land. Maybe he just wanted an adventure. He didn’t seem to have the same gold fever as Pa. I got the feeling he was restless after Grandma died. Heading into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains might have appealed to him.”

They continued up the rugged slope, and not a foot of progress came easily.

Ellie reached the aspens first. She held on to the closest tree, then turned to smile at the rest of them trudging up behind her. “It’s definitely a cave. No idea how deep it goes. I want to see what’s back there so badly I think I should wait. Let you MacKenzies go in first.”

Josh reached her side, then turned to stand and face them. “I’ll wait too. You’re right that this can’t be the treasure. We haven’t gone far enough on the map. But it’s a place your grandpa must’ve seen. We’re following in his footsteps, and he probably explored this same cave. You brothers should go in first. Be mindful of snakes.”

Brody decided Ellie and Josh were as fine a people as he’d ever met—the rattlesnake comment notwithstanding. Only when they said they’d wait did Brody realize how much he wanted to go in first.

Well, first along with his brothers. This was Lock and Thayne’s adventure, after all. He wouldn’t be here without their reckless fever for treasure. He waved a hand in an exaggerated gesture. “You two go first. Be careful.”

Thayne and Lock both grinned and stepped forward.

Brody looked at Ellie and saw an almost foolish smile on her face. He suspected it matched his. She looked away from the boys, and their eyes met.

Quietly, she said, “They’re having the time of their lives.”

“I am too.”

Josh added, “I think we all are.”

“Treasure or not,” Brody added, “we’ll always have this grand adventure to look back on.”

The boys went ahead, and Brody followed. He’d gone only a single step when Lock shouted, “Brody, everyone. Get in here!”

Sonny grabbed Loyal’s arm when they heard shouting.

Loyal was ready to run toward the sound. Sonny’s hand gripped like a vise, and he pulled Loyal low. As they crouched, Loyal focused on the direction the shouting had come from.

“I see someone.” Sonny’s voice was just above a breath. “Someone else is on MacKenzie’s claim. Get lower so you can see what’s going on.”

Loyal dropped to his knees and looked through a thick barrier of scrub pines. He gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth.

“What is it?”

They were far enough back it was probably safe to talk quietly. Only when folks had started shouting had they heard anything.

Anger burned in Loyal’s chest as he watched. “That’s Beth Ellen Hart, my former fiancée. She’s out here on the trail of that treasure.”

Just like she’d found gold on the Two Harts Ranch, and Loyal had a chance to grab it until her big brother knocked him cold. Just like she’d abandoned him, which precipitated his father kicking him off the Kelton family’s mother lode.

Now an already wealthy, pampered woman was going to find more when she already had plenty.

“Why did she come out here to this remote place?”

“I see only her and another man.”

“That’s Josh Hart, her big brother.” A former sailor, now a rancher. He probably had the same iron fists as his big brother Zane.

“I saw someone else go in the cave ahead of her. I didn’t get a good look, but that’s who shouted. It echoed, which means it came from inside.”

“They’ve found the treasure. They’re in there right now, gathering it up.” Loyal surged to his feet.

Sonny grabbed him and dragged him back down. “The weak part of our plan was always how to locate whatever treasure old man MacKenzie found out here. Sure, the land he claimed wasn’t much, but if we have to dig up every acre, it’ll take the rest of our lives. I’d’ve thought we weren’t to the claim yet, not by my figuring. But if they found a gold mine or a treasure chest, then they just saved us a lot of work. We can’t go charging in there until we’re sure what they found. For all we know, the shout was about a rattlesnake or something. No, we wait and watch, and we let them do the toiling. Then when they’ve found our treasure, we rush in there and kill every one of them and take it.”

Loyal hadn’t quite descended to murder yet, but he knew Sonny had killed before. Loyal had been imagining a fight, but bullets flying balanced out the strength of two against three. Except one of them was Beth Ellen. Loyal swallowed hard. He bore a grudge, blaming her for most of his problems.

Yet to shoot that pretty woman, a woman he’d once held in his arms, even kissed a time or two, to shoot her... Loyal’s stomach twisted. He wasn’t at all sure he could do it. He wasn’t sure either if he could step back and let Sonny do it.

Maybe waiting and watching was the better idea. Maybe he could find a way to avoid turning cold-blooded killer.

A noose seemed to be tightening around his neck as he considered the price a man had to pay for murder. Kill a woman and for certain he’d hang if caught. And when the judge passed the sentence, and the executioner walked him to the gallows, there’d be no one to utter a single word of protest.

Not even his mother.

“All right. Yes. We watch and wait.”

Loyal sank to the ground, relieved to put off turning killer for a bit longer. Whatever twists there were in his soul, he wasn’t stupid. If he was Sonny’s partner, and Sonny went and killed someone, according to the law Loyal knew he’d be deemed just as guilty.

Relaxing, Loyal decided waiting was exactly what was called for.

“Grandpa, what is it? What happened?” Cord heaved a sigh of pure relief to see Grandpa sitting up, looking fine. “I was afraid you’d be in the hospital or—”

Grandpa cut him off. “Someone’s out to steal MacKenzie’s Treasure.”

Cord didn’t roll his eyes, but oh he wanted to. That stupid treasure again. “Grandpa, your wire made it sound like something terrible had happened.”

“It has! Some no-account lied his way into meeting me and asked me questions about the treasure. He thought I was an old fool.”

Cord didn’t respond to that like he wanted to. “Who was it? He didn’t harm you, did he?” After his initial relief, he wanted to know whether Grandpa had indeed been threatened. Maybe something terrible had happened.

“I first got suspicious when he mentioned the Two Harts Ranch.”

“So he really is onto something.”

“Yes, Cord, and I knew you’d stop and loiter at your grandparents’ home.” Grandpa slammed the side of his fist on his desktop. “I figured I would catch you.”

“You did know. I was riding in that direction. I always stop for a visit whenever I can.”

“My business was urgent. Not as urgent as now, but if this Loyal Kelton character beats me to the treasure, it’ll be because you lingered.”

“It’s lucky I did stay for a while, so we can talk this over before I go to the Two Harts. If the MacKenzies are there like you think they are, then I’ll need all the information I can get.” Cord stumbled over his next words. “D-did you say Loyal Kelton?”

“That’s right. He’s the son of one of the richest men in San Francisco. His father is a banker like me. I’d heard his name, but I’ve never met him. I’d never heard of the son until recently.”

“I have.” Cord had heard enough to be very worried. “Loyal Kelton got fired from his father’s bank for ... well, the whole affair was hushed up, but word got out. Loyal was no good.”

Grandpa paused from his grumbling and met Cord’s gaze. All the fussing was set aside as Grandpa’s keen mind worked over what Cord had said. “No good, huh? I wonder what that young pup is planning.”

“So do I.” For some reason, Cord was more upset about the treasure hunter going to the Two Harts than he was about possibly losing out on a treasure.

“Just how bad is Kelton?”

Cord searched his memory. “It’s been a few years since he was run out of the bank. Only whispers, you understand.”

Grandpa nodded. He knew how damaging rumors could be for a bank.

“Kelton always had too much money and was reckless with it. Being a rich man his whole life, it wasn’t easy to raise eyebrows with rash spending.” Cord shouldn’t gossip. After all, they were just rumors. “There was a broken engagement, and it was said his father was very unhappy about that.”

Grandpa waved him off with a grunt. “No father would fire his son over such a thing as a broken engagement.”

Cord couldn’t help but smile. “That agrees with the rumors. Even so, that was the story put forward by Old Man Kelton. Of course, the whispers always claimed it was more—lots of money missing, gambling, things like that.”

Grandpa’s brows shot up. “Gambling using bank funds? That’s the kind of thing that can ruin a bank. His father wouldn’t put up with that sort of behavior.”

Cord nodded. He had no interest in being a banker, but even he knew that to be true. Taking good care of their funds was the most important function of any bank. And if a man with access to all that money had a problem with gambling, well, that couldn’t be allowed to stand.

“Should I head out now?” Cord asked. “I was going to ride horseback to the Two Harts, but the train would get me there faster.”

Grandpa opened the belly drawer of his desk and pulled out a small purse that jingled with coins.

“I can get myself to the ranch, Grandpa.” Cord shook his head at the leather bag with the drawstring. “No need to pay for it.”

Grandpa giving out money or withholding it, that was how he controlled folks. Cord had grown up watching it fail to work on his father and knew that such giving would have strings attached. Grandpa’s money always did.

“I’m sending you on behalf of myself. I want you to go down there and find my treasure and bring my money back here. This isn’t a bribe or charity. You’re working for me. You’ll need money to do that work.” Grandpa tossed the leather bag at Cord, and he caught it.

“Grandpa—”

“Go on now, Cord. I know you’re careful with money. You’re trying to get ahead, and I respect that.”

But he didn’t know that Cord’s plans to get ahead included buying a farm and leaving Sacramento for good. He looked down at the purse. “I don’t need this, Grandpa. You pay me a fair wage at the bank, and I save up. One train ticket down and back isn’t going to set me back.”

Grandpa’s eyes flashed then. “You’re a good grandson, Cordell. Hearing about this Kelton boy possibly stealing from his father ... well, it reminds me that I’m lucky to have you as my grandson. I don’t say it often enough, but I’m proud of you, boy. Take the money, and if you don’t spend it all, you can have it as a gift or give it back at the end of your journey. Sometimes a bit of money can smooth the way. I can’t do much from here, but at least I can help by providing the funds.”

Cord smiled and closed his hand around the leather bag. “Thank you, Grandpa. I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone, but you should visit my church while I’m away. Tell the pastor what’s become of me. I sent him a note that I wouldn’t be there to play the organ for a while.”

Maybe it was Cord understanding what had gone unsaid, but Grandpa managed a genuine smile in return. “I might just do that, my boy. Now, a train is heading south before nightfall, and it’s getting late. Be on your way.”

Cord nodded and headed for the door.