Treasure Point Secrets

by Sarah Varland

  This morning, as she navigated her new cruiser toward the station, she considered her options. Running was not one of them, as far as she was concerned. If they’d bothered to track her here, they’d track her anywhere, and she didn’t want to live life continually looking over her shoulder. Besides, as part of the law-enforcement community, she could keep an eye on things. Wasn’t that the reason she’d left behind her job as a history professor and had become a cop?

  Her cousin’s face flashed in her mind. Keeping an eye on things wasn’t the only reason. Shiloh owed it to Annie to finish what she had started.

  Maybe Shiloh was looking at this wrong.

  Regardless, she didn’t have time to worry about it right now. She parked her car and entered the police station in time for roll call, when the day’s assignments were given out. She learned she’d be patrolling an area near Widow Hamilton’s house that included several miles of Treasure Point’s coastal marshes.

  “Officer Evans, the chief needs to see you in his office. Anyone have questions?”

  Lieutenant Rich Davies scanned the room, brows raising when he came to Shiloh as though he expected her to have a question. Her cheeks burned with a blush she hoped no one noticed; she felt like a kid who’d been called out for talking in class. She hadn’t been paying attention but wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of admitting it.

  The meeting was dismissed, and Shiloh walked to the chief’s door and knocked. Uneasy flutters danced in her stomach as she tried to figure out what he could want.

  “Come in.”

  She pushed the door open, willing away the tumultuous thoughts while forcing a pleasant smile on her face. “You wanted to see me?”

  The chief nodded. Shiloh stepped in to take a seat when she noticed that one of the desk chairs was occupied. Her step faltered. “I can come back later if you’re already in a meeting.” That sandy-blond hair could belong to only one person.

  “No, now’s a fine time.” The chief cleared his throat. “Lieutenant Davies already give out assignments for the day?”

  Shiloh nodded as she sat.

  “What I told him I’d tell you myself is that you have something of an extra assignment for the next several weeks.”

  The flutters in her stomach returned full force.

  “You already know Adam is the new chaplain...”

  With the words “extra assignment” and “Adam” in such close proximity, the flutters turned to concrete bricks. There was no good way for this to turn out. Shiloh straightened in her chair, listening closely. There had to be a way to get out of whatever her commanding officer was suggesting; she never gave up without a fight.

  The chief shifted in his chair. “What you may not realize is the difficulty of a man in his position. He’s here to help the department and the town, and he can’t do that if he doesn’t know people, doesn’t fit in like a local. For the next few weeks I’m assigning Adam to ride along with you. As you get the chance, tell him about the town, introduce him to people. As the other officers see you accepting him, they’ll start to. Everyone loves you, Shiloh. They look to you.” The chief nodded as though he was as pleased with his decision as Shiloh was displeased. “Do this for me and for Adam, would you?”

  “Sir, I’m flattered that you think this would help him, but wouldn’t my time be better spent pursuing whoever tried to run me off the road the other day? Or checking out Widow Hamilton’s house for her?”

  “Your time is best spent doing what I’ve asked you to do.” The chief’s voice was still kind, but she could hear the steel in it. Nothing about this was optional.

  Or fair, in Shiloh’s opinion.

  “I understand the two of you knew each other in Savannah. I would think you’d be eager to help out an old friend.”

  Shiloh’s eyes darted to Adam as the chief spoke. Was it her imagination or was there a degree of pleading in those gorgeous eyes? Once upon a time those eyes had melted her like chocolate on a hot summer day. Even now their effect was difficult to resist.

  She let out a breath. “You’re right. It’s the least I can do to help an old friend.”

  The chief nodded, the matter settled to him. “Good.”

  Shiloh could feel Adam’s eyes on her and knew if she looked she would read his thanks in them. But the fact that she couldn’t bring herself to intentionally hurt him like he’d hurt her didn’t mean she was ready to buddy up to him, either. Without another word to either man, she started for the door.

  “And, Officer Evans?”

  Shiloh turned.

  The chief leaned back in his chair, folded his arms behind his head and grinned. “Try to keep this car intact.”

  She made a face. “I’ll do my best.”

  Adam followed her to the parking lot. At least, Shiloh assumed he did so. She certainly didn’t wait for him, but when she unlocked the car doors, they both climbed in. She turned the key in the ignition and drove toward the area she had been assigned to patrol.

  At least her shift today was seven to three. She’d be home well before dinner, safely inside before darkness sneaked in. Logically speaking, she was no safer during the day, as the attacks on her so far had already proved. But darkness reminded her of the night Annie had been killed.

  “Beautiful scenery.”

  What was he, Chatty Cathy? Why did the man feel compelled to talk?

  She grunted in response. Men could do it, so maybe it would work for her.

  “Shiloh...” He shifted in the seat beside her, and his tone said more than a dozen words could have. He touched her arm. Her breath caught and she stiffened. “Look, it was years ago. Whatever happened, can’t you let it go? Or do you hate me that much?”

  * * *

  Adam hadn’t realized how much touching her—even on the arm—would affect him. His heart drummed a crazy rhythm in his chest, and he knew reaching out to her had been a bad idea.

  But how was she reacting? Did he still affect her at all? She’d gone rigid when he had first rested his hand on her arm, but she was softening now, relaxing. No, whatever she was telling herself, he knew the truth. She didn’t hate him at all.

  Relief battled with tension in his shoulders. Her not hating him made this much more dangerous. All he wanted was to make sure that she stayed safe. Maybe be friends with her again.

  He’d already experienced firsthand the heartbreak she was capable of inflicting. He wasn’t eager to sign up for round two.

  “Can’t we forget the past?” he asked.

  Her pause was so long that he was sure she’d say no or have some kind of comeback for him. But, instead, after a minute of ear-deafening, heart-pounding silence, her answer stunned him.

  “Okay.” She let out a breath. “I’ll try.”

  Adam wanted to say so much more but only nodded and said, “I’m glad.”

  He glanced over at her, as he thought about how much had changed since the past he’d just promised to forget. She wasn’t the Shiloh he’d known. That Shiloh had been a bit of a risk-taker, sure. She’d loved to go rock climbing and whitewater rafting, and she had even talked him into hang gliding up in north Georgia once. But she’d been sweet, gentle and not at all the intimidating, in-charge woman she appeared to be now. It seemed she’d left that personality in the past along with her history-professor job.

  Something niggled in his stomach. Gut instinct told him the changes in her personality, her job, were somehow tied to whatever reasons she’d had for breaking up with him five years ago. Adam had never considered himself dumb when it came to women, but those few months of Shiloh’s life, the last few months of their relationship, had been so hectic with Annie’s death and Shiloh’s reaction to it that he’d never known what had made them hit their breaking point. All she had said was that they weren’t right for each other. At the time he’d been too
stunned to press for more of an explanation, but now that she was back in his life, he intended to get an answer eventually to replace the question mark that hovered in his mind, if only to satisfy his curiosity.

  Riding along with her would help him achieve two goals. He’d finally get some answers—and he’d be close at hand to help if any more attacks materialized. He may have put the past behind him and moved on from his feelings for Shiloh, but he was still determined to make sure she stayed safe.

  Shiloh pulled the car off into a secluded parking area next to another stretch of Hamilton Creek. In town, where he’d seen the creek before, it looked like any other creek. A little marshy but pretty civilized in general.

  Here the water flowed freely through the reeds and grass. It was guarded by centuries-old oak trees—whose creaky branches were draped with gray Spanish moss—and Georgia pines taller than he could guess. Adam could smell the salt in the air coming through his rolled-down window and figured they must be close to the coast.

  “Is the ocean near here?” he asked Shiloh.

  She nodded. “A hundred yards or so through some of the thickest coastal forest you’ve ever seen.”

  “Ever walked to the beach from here?”

  Shiloh raised her eyebrows. “It’s not a beach like you’re thinking. Not sandy like Tybee. There’s a little sand, but mostly the water meets the marsh, and that’s the end of that. And, no, I’ve never walked from here. There are some trails not too far from here, half a mile or so away, but it’s too dangerous to try from here. The woods are chock-full of snakes, and it’s so thick it would be easy to get lost.”

  “That doesn’t sound like my adventurer.”

  She speared him with a look before turning away and opening her car door. “I’m not your anything anymore, Adam, except maybe your friend, and that’s still kind of probationary.”

  Probationary? She’d always liked big words, but they’d been words like historicity. She even talked like a cop now.

  “I see.” He opened his door to follow her. “So, where are we going?”

  “I’m not sure you should be going anywhere.” She frowned, looked at the car and then back at him as if deliberating what she should do.

  “Worried I’ll slow you down?” He couldn’t resist the urge to tease her. She’d always been competitive, and it had grated on her anytime he had managed to finish a hike before her, which was often. Shiloh was in great shape, but his boxing days had made him even more fit, and since exercise was a stress reliever for him, he hadn’t lost much muscle tone since.

  “No, but aren’t you supposed to be riding along and getting out if I’m talking to a townsperson? This is more like investigating.”

  “I’ll be fine. Tell me about where we are.”

  Shiloh seemed to consider it, then shrugged. “It’s your call. This is one of the areas closest to Widow Hamilton’s home. She’s kind of town royalty, I guess, or as close as we get in south Georgia. Her family was among the founders of the town, and their homestead is almost as old as the dirt it’s built on. Anyway, she’s had trouble lately—prowlers, or so she thinks.”

  “What do you mean, ‘so she thinks’?”

  Shiloh frowned again.

  What was it about him that made the woman frown so much? He was going to have to work on ways to get her to flash that brilliant smile she had.

  “Honestly, I think she’s probably a lonely old woman with a big imagination. But I feel bad that I can’t do more to make her feel better, so I’m hoping that telling her I checked out this area—since it’s adjacent to her property—and came up empty will put her mind at ease.”

  Adam nodded. “Got it. Sounds fun. Let’s go.”

  “It could be dangerous. As a civilian, I feel like you should know that. I would hate to put you in danger.”

  She sounded passionate about that last line, as if she spoke from experience. Another aspect of this new Shiloh that mystified him.

  “I’m sure we’ll be fine.” He spoke with confidence, but as she finally started off toward the edge of the woods, and he followed her, he felt eyes on him again.

  And had the distinct impression that, despite her best efforts, they were in danger already.

  “Hey, Shiloh?” He lowered his voice and continued to follow her, not breaking the rhythm of his stride. “Do you feel at all like we’re being watched?”

  Shiloh didn’t look back. But Adam saw her nod. Chills crawled up his spine, and he found himself hoping they were only being viewed through something innocuous like binoculars. And not through the scope of a high-powered rifle.

  Shiloh reached the edge of the woods and began to inspect the perimeter, seeking footprints or other signs of recent activity. She walked slowly along the tree line, scanning around her as she went. Adam kept an eye out, too, but when it came down to it, although he wanted to be protecting her, she was the one with the training and the gun. If any real danger arose, she would be the one keeping him safe. He’d always liked the idea of men being the protectors—an old-fashioned idea Shiloh and Annie had always teased him about. It wasn’t that he thought women were incapable—not at all—he just liked the idea of men filling that role.

  He remembered Shiloh and his father debating the same thing after her cousin’s death. He wouldn’t say that his opinions were as extreme as his father’s, but Adam hadn’t contradicted his dad or said anything to support Shiloh’s position. He was sure he hadn’t imagined the flash of fire in Shiloh’s eyes as she’d said good-night after that long-ago discussion.

  He’d told Shiloh to forget the past, so why was he having such a hard time keeping it from crowding in on him? Adam pushed the memories from his mind in time to avoid running into Shiloh, who had stopped cold in front of the oddest pine tree he’d ever seen. Its trunk grew straight for the first ten feet or so, made a dramatic almost-ninety-degree turn to the left for a stretch and then continued growing upward.

  “Weird tree, huh?”

  “Shhh.” She pressed a finger to her lips and motioned to the ground.

  At first glance he didn’t understand what had caught her eye. He saw only grass, pine needles and palmettos. A second look told him that everything was pressed to the ground as if this had been used as a pathway.

  A third look revealed something at the base of a palmetto plant. He leaned closer.

  The color was duller than it would have been in a movie, likely because of its probable age, but there in the dirt he saw the unmistakable gleam of a gold Spanish doubloon.

  FIVE

  “Is that...?”

  “Shhh!” Shiloh glared at her companion. Adam’s voice wasn’t raised, but it sounded obnoxiously loud to her ears. She knew she was being jumpy, but the unease she’d felt since they had left the car—that hard-to-pinpoint-why feeling that someone was watching them—had grown since she had spotted the gold coin on the ground.

  She’d blinked several times when it had first caught her eye, not willing to believe that it was real. Yet judging by Adam’s reaction, she wasn’t the only one seeing it.

  Shiloh had studied another gold coin like this just one other time in her life. Her cousin had shown it to Shiloh on the night that Annie had been killed. Annie had said it was evidence in the case they were building against the men who had turned into killers in their quest for an old pirate treasure—the case Shiloh had been consulting on against her better judgment. Apparently, the criminals had found a few gold coins somewhere near Savannah, and that was what had inspired them to look for the rumored large treasure Blackbeard had hidden around the same area. They’d branched out into murder not long afterward with the suspicious death of a port-authority officer.

  There had been other victims—men who had, evidently, gotten in the killers’ way. Annie had put the pieces together.

  “Shiloh,” Annie had sai
d, eyes gleaming, “all we have to do now is find where the treasure is, and the men will come to us.”

  Instead, Annie had been the last known victim.

  A hand on Shiloh’s arm brought her every sense to high alert, and it was all she could do to hold back her scream. Adam jerked away his hand, his wide eyes looking at her as if she were losing her mind. Maybe she was. But that coin on the ground was the past and the present all colliding in a hundred different ways, and Shiloh wasn’t ready for it. Couldn’t do it again.

  “Do we pick it up or leave it?”

  “Pick it up.” Shiloh pulled out her smartphone, snapped a picture to note the exact positioning, then reached in her pocket, retrieved a tissue and gingerly pinched the coin between two fingers before dropping it into a small paper bag she kept in her pocket in case situations like this one arose. “It may be evidence.”

  “Evidence that people are prowling around that widow’s house?”

  Shiloh’s thoughts hadn’t been on her shift or Widow since the moment she had seen that doubloon, but she nodded. It was evidence of that, too. She glanced to her right, to the trails that she knew led eventually to the edge of the Hamilton property. Maybe the older woman wasn’t imagining things after all. “I’ll let the chief know we need to keep an eye on her and take her calls seriously.”

  She spun on her heel and walked back to the car as fast as she could. The coin could be a trap, could have been placed there by someone who knew that she wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to pick it up and see if it matched the one found by her cousin. Her history knowledge told her it did, though. It bore all the markings of a coin of the same era, and the irregularities in the edges looked to be genuine.

  After what seemed like forever, they reached the area where she’d parked the car. Without looking up, Shiloh dug into her pocket for the keys, clicked the unlock button and reached for the door.