by Dana Mentink
The officer’s eyes hardened for a moment. “Actually, I’m quite eager to take custody of your uncle. He’s the reason I lost part of my front tooth last week.”
Her mouth fell open. She was vaguely aware of Luca standing in the doorway, but she was too dumbfounded to pay him much heed. “My uncle broke your tooth?”
“To be fair, I walked into a dispute between your uncle and a local here in town. The local was extremely angry and threw an ashtray which intercepted my tooth instead of your uncle’s face, although he deserved it more, no doubt.” Another ghost of a smile that left no warmth in his eyes.
Ava groaned. “What did my uncle do this time?”
“Seems he sold the gentleman a necklace claiming it was an expensive antique.” Sergeant Towers raised an eyebrow. “It was more along the lines of cheap costume jewelry. Of course the local was booked for assault, but by the time I’d sorted that out, your uncle had already taken off.” The slight smile didn’t leave his face. “So you see, if your uncle is still alive, I’m looking forward to speaking with him.”
Towers wished her a good afternoon and promised to contact her soon before he left. Ava bit her lip. Uncle Paul’s sins were catching up with him. Or was he already dead? Buried under a ton of snow and ice until the spring would release his body?
Through blurry eyes she saw Luca approach the bed. He was no longer the rambunctious teen she’d known. His shoulders were now impossibly broad, face filled out and the shadow of a beard showing on his unshaven face. How could he look so strong, so healthy in that all-American way as if he hadn’t nearly drowned along with her? Someone had supplied him with dry jeans that clung to his long legs and a T-shirt that was too tight for his biceps. She swiped at her eyes with the sheet.
Luca stared at her, eyes wandering over her bruised face. “How are you feeling?”
“How am I feeling? How would you be feeling if it was your uncle?” She clamped her lips together, mortified. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, she wanted to say, but she could not summon up the strength to make herself say it.
His cheeks colored slightly, the only reaction. “Right. Dumb question. Sorry. Let’s stick to business, then. I’ve done some checking around. Your uncle didn’t make many friends here. He was looking for something, following the trail of a wealthy man who used to live up the mountain.”
She looked Luca over more closely, noting a bruise that darkened his cheekbone. He had no business walking out on that frozen lake to get her. She should be gracious, express her thanks. Instead, she wished with all her heart that he would go away and take his calm “I’m in charge” attitude with him. Now, above all things, she did not need him around, this wealthy successful man who made her stomach jump for some strange reason.
He continued to regard her with a contemplative look. “You said your uncle thought he found a treasure. What was it?”
“I don’t know.”
“He didn’t give you any idea? Coins? Old stock certificates? Did he mention anything like that?”
“I said I don’t know.”
He thought for a moment. “We have to find out. It will lead us to whoever did this.”
She gritted her teeth. “Look, I know you hunt for treasure professionally now, but...”
He suddenly flashed her a mischievous grin. “My exploits have reached even this humble hamlet?”
Her cheeks burned at the slip. So she’d kept tabs on his career. Who wouldn’t? It was just an occasional internet search on an old high school friend. No, an acquaintance. She knew about the Gage siblings and their treasure hunting business that had recovered numerous rich prizes for private clients. But she had no intention of allowing him to become involved in her current mess. “You’ve done enough.” She swallowed hard. “Thank you for getting me out of the water.” She kept her eyes riveted to the faded Smokey the Bear on the front of his shirt. “I’ll find out what happened to him on my own.”
“How?”
“I’ll hire someone. A detective.”
Luca cocked his head. “It just so happens that Treasure Seekers is setting up a temporary satellite office right here in town until Uncle Paul’s situation is resolved. Stephanie and Tate are already hard at work. Victor promises to join us when he can.”
“No.” She shook her head, sending a pain shooting up her neck. “You have a business to run.” No doubt a girlfriend waiting in San Francisco. “I don’t want you involved.”
His smile was gentle. “I already am.”
“You’re not. You should leave.”
He folded his arms, brows drawn together. “I almost didn’t make it out of that lake, either. That’s something I take personally. Whatever your uncle found, someone was willing to kill you to get their hands on it. Maybe it’s not a treasure, but then again, maybe it is.”
She closed her eyes. “No, Luca. I don’t want your help.” When she opened them again, he was staring at her.
He sighed. “All right. Cards on the table. I have another reason for staying. I got a call from your father.”
She stiffened. “Is he...”
“He’s fine. The police called him to notify him about your accident. Because he couldn’t talk to you, he called my father.”
She should have known. Bruce had been friends with Wyatt Gage since their days serving together in Vietnam.
“He said to tell you he’ll come as soon as he’s fit to travel.”
Ava groaned. She did not want her father on a plane so soon after a surgery to relieve pressure on his lower back. She’d just returned from visiting him. “I’ll call him. Tell him I’m okay.”
Luca nodded. “The doctors filled him in. He asked me to look into the situation, to find out what happened to your uncle and what he was after because he thinks it might endanger you.”
She felt like screaming. “He can’t stand Uncle Paul. He just wants him out of my life.”
Luca appeared unsure how to respond.
“My uncle was looking for something, some sort of treasure. All I know is he was planning to buy an unclaimed storage unit. He told me a while back that he thought it might have belonged to a rich family, I think the name was Danson, but I don’t know anything else, okay?”
“Okay. That’s a place to start.”
She drew herself up as high as she could against the pillows. “I don’t want help. I can take care of myself.”
He grinned. “That much I already know. I remember how you could make it down the mountain no matter how rough the snow or how bad the weather. You beat me every time we raced, and that bugged me like nobody’s business.”
She felt a small thrill that he remembered their time together as vividly as she did. “Proves my point,” she said.
He bent slightly so he could look her full in the face and her stomach fluttered just like it had in high school when she drew near the popular, easygoing Luca Gage.
“Your father and my father go way back,” Luca was saying. “He’s asked me to look into this matter. I’m going to find a treasure if there is one and figure out what happened to your uncle Paul, because that’s what I do.”
“So it doesn’t matter what I want?” she demanded, sitting up higher against the pillows.
“No,” he said, turning to the door and giving her a cheerful smile. “It doesn’t.”
* * *
Luca found his sister waiting in the lobby, drumming manicured fingers against the dark denim of her jeans.
He shrugged. “She’s okay. No permanent damage.”
Stephanie’s lips curved. “And I’m guessing from the look on your face, she wants you to leave her alone?”
He didn’t answer.
“And I’m also guessing you’re not going to cooperate?”
He paced to the window. “This isn’t about Ava. I gave my word to he
r father. We’re going to find out if there really is a treasure. It’s the only way to find the person who abducted Paul and sent us to the bottom of the lake.”
She watched him pace the beige tiled floor. “Typically, that’s the police’s job, crime solving and all that.”
“This time they’re going to have help. What do you know about John Danson? Paul might have bought his unclaimed storage unit.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Danson? I remember we came across that name in one of our cases way back. He was a bit of an eccentric, the sole survivor of a wealthy family, but mentally unstable. I read in the paper he died six months ago, leaving no heirs and not much of an inheritance because he donated the family fortune to charity over the years.”
“Not all of it. I remember reading that there was one item in the Danson treasure trove, a particularly valuable one, that never turned up.”
She stretched her slender arms over her head and yawned. “And you happen to think Paul found that particular item?”
“Ava said her uncle was after Danson’s storage unit.”
She stood and smoothed her leather jacket. “Luca, even though you’re a big dope sometimes, I love you anyway, so I have to say, this is dangerous.”
He grunted. “What’s dangerous? It couldn’t be worse than getting caught in a burning building.”
She shivered, no doubt reliving the perils of their last treasure hunt for a stolen violin that almost cost both Stephanie and Tate their lives. He was sorry for his joke. Another stupid remark from big-mouth brother. “Hey, I’m sorry. Poor taste.”
She waved a hand. “Not that kind of dangerous. The kind of danger that comes from getting involved in complicated family business. Bruce doesn’t like Paul. Ava loves him. Is the truth going to make things better or worse?”
He turned away, gazing out the window into the piles of dirty snow churned up along the newly plowed road. “I don’t know.”
She came close and put a hand on his arm, voice soft, her head barely reaching his shoulder. “And I remember how you used to show off for Ava. I always thought you had a thing for her.”
“I showed off for all the girls, not just Ava.” He gave her a squeeze. “This is professional. Treasure hunting only. That’s all I’m here for.”
Stephanie chewed her lip. “Did you tell her Dad is interested in buying Whisper?”
“No, that seemed like a little much for the moment. I’ll tell her at a better time.”
Something flickered in her eyes, but mercifully, she did not comment. “Because I know better than to argue when you have your jaw set like that, I’ll work on the details. The first thing is to find a temporary space for Treasure Seekers. Gold Summit is booked solid for the next two weeks. I’m still looking for a place.”
He nodded, relieved to be hammering out a plan. “Doesn’t have to be fancy. An internet hookup, a couple of mattresses on the floor, and I’m fine.”
“Speak for yourself. I require better accommodations than that, and it’s gotta take dogs.”
“Dogs?”
She nodded. “Until Ava is sprung and takes possession of Mack Dog, he’s your new hairy little brother.”
He laughed. “I always wanted another brother. Victor is no good at fetch.”
“Swell, then you can share your mattress with him. Tate filled up his pockets with dog biscuits and took him for a walk.”
Pockets.
The word sizzled through him and he jerked. “I can’t believe it.”
“What?”
“Some investigator.” He groaned. “I’m an idiot.”
“Not all the time,” Stephanie replied. “But what did you do this time?”
“It’s not what I did, it’s what I didn’t do. I know how to find out who abducted Paul. The answer has been in my pocket the whole time.” He jogged for the door.
“What?” Stephanie said. “What are you talking about?”
He didn’t reply as he sprinted into the late-afternoon sunlight.
* * *
It was nearly noon the next day when Ava eased out of her car, her ribs and legs sore and complaining, tired from the effort of convincing the doctors to discharge her. Even though she’d wanted to head immediately to the spot where the police were concentrating their rescue efforts, she’d been clearly ordered in polite tones by Sergeant Towers to keep out of the way. He further informed her that the contents of Uncle Paul’s truck had been seized and would be returned when the police were good and ready.
Didn’t matter. Ava knew where Uncle Paul had been staying to spearhead his ridiculous treasure hunt. It was a start anyway.
The Peak Season Trailer Park was as tidy as it had been for the last twenty years, nicely tended units with cement walkways between that were cleared of snow. Uncle Paul often stayed at the place over the years when he was avoiding facing Ava’s father.
“Paul’s a scammer and he always has been. Every time he shows up here he wants money for some ridiculous scheme,” her father had said with increasing frequency in the months before a blown tire caused the wreck that paralyzed him.
Marcia, her mother, would not reply, dipping her head and chewing her lip. Ava knew what she was thinking then.
He’s my brother. He needs my help.
The thought startled her, so like the words running through her own mind at that moment.
He’s my uncle. He needs my help.
But now a grimmer thought chased right along behind.
If he’s still alive.
He was her mother’s only relative. If he was dead, wouldn’t she feel it? Have some sense that his life had blinked out?
No, she acknowledged. She would not feel it. The place where her soul had been was sodden and numb. A nebulous hope was all she had left and she would hold on until it was pried from her cold fists.
Resolutely, she crunched through the snow to the caretaker’s trailer.
A familiar man with ruddy cheeks and a crew cut prickling his big head greeted her. His jowls were fleshier than she remembered. His overall rumpled quality remained the same from the faded jeans to the tattered down vest he might have been wearing steadily since she’d seen him some ten years before.
“Ava Stanton, you’re all grown up,” he said, squeezing her in a hug that nearly made her cry out.
“Hello, Bully. Good to see you.”
“You, too. Pauly told me you’re a real looker, and I can see he’s not joking.” Bully’s smile dimmed after a moment. “Uh, you know the cops have been here. Said he’s in trouble. Said maybe he’d been abducted.”
She told him what she knew.
Bully considered. “You think he’s dead?”
She sighed. “I’m not sure.”
His rounded shoulders slumped. “Ah, things finally caught up with Pauly.”
Her heart sped up a tick. “What things?”
Bully looked away. “You know. Pauly’s a scammer, no disrespect intended.”
“But what was he involved in this time, Bully? Who was after him?”
“Dunno. He was scared about something. Told me not to tell anyone he was staying here.” Bully’s eyes narrowed. “Wouldn’t even tell me what was up, and haven’t I known the guy for twenty years?”
She felt an inexplicable thickening in her throat. “Don’t let it get you down. He didn’t tell me, either.”
Bully’s shrugged. “Heard you was going to sell Whisper Mountain.”
She raised an eyebrow. “That’s the plan. Did Uncle Paul tell you?”
“Naw, just heard it somewhere.”
She wondered where, but she did not press the point.
Bully pulled a toothpick from the dispenser on his small table and chewed it. “Told Pauly I heard about the sale, and you know what he says to me?”<
br />
He leaned in close enough for her to catch the scent of bacon that clung to his flannel shirt.
Bully’s brow wrinkled. “He tells me, ‘Don’t believe everything you hear,’ and he flashes this smile like I-got-a-secret-that’s-going-to-turn-things-upside-down. What do you think that means?”
Ava could only shake her head. “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“I’ll let you know if I think of anything.”
“That’s fine, then.” Bully nodded and handed her a key. “He’s staying in the one he always does, number 17. Some people came this morning and wanted to rent out a few trailers, but I ain’t about to rent that one out even though the police have cleared it. No one is staying in that trailer ’cept you until we figure out what happened to Pauly.”
Ava nodded, unable to speak, accepted another crushing hug from Bully and followed him outside, shivering. Bully’s puffy vest had a tear down the back, but the man seemed completely impervious to the temperature, as if he was showing her the way to some beachside cabana instead of a trailer parked in the snow. She trudged along the path to number 17, feeling the weight of the past twenty-four hours slowing her down.
What could she hope to discover in her uncle’s trailer?
“Here you are,” Bully announced grandly. “I just put a new microwave in not two months ago. Works slick as a whistle.”
She thanked him again, grateful that he did not trap her in another rib-crushing hug before he left.
Sliding the key in the lock, a movement caught her eye. Someone looked out from the trailer that faced hers.
Someone familiar.
FIVE
Mack Dog pulled out of Luca’s slack grip and bounded over to Ava.
Ava rubbed the dog’s ears, but her eyes were on Luca as he leaned on the porch railing of trailer number 18, dead across from the one Ava had entered a moment before.
He should wave, give her a cocky smile as if she was an old pal meeting them by chance, but he found he could not. The look frozen onto her face stopped him, an expression that said she did not want him there. It was not a surprise, but he felt a twinge anyway.
