Final Resort (16 page)

TWENTY-THREE

L
uca made it to the victim in seconds, shoveling the snow away with his hands. Tate, Stephanie and Ava joined in, freeing the body from its snowy entrapment. First the head, still covered in a ski mask, then the body, legs, arms.

Luca reached for the mask and pulled it off.

Ava cried out at the sight of Sue Agnoti, eyes closed.

Harold jogged up and dropped
to his knees at her side. “Is she alive?” he croaked.

Sue answered the question for them by opening her eyes. Her gaze immediately fastened on Ava. She groaned.

Ava stared. “Sue? You shot Goren? Why would you do that?”

Sue blinked the snow from her eyes. “I was going to fix everything. Bring Bruce home.”

Ava shook her head, her mouth open in shock, still staring at Sue. “You
were Goren’s partner?”

“Not at first. I heard Paul talking to Goren. Later I snooped on Paul’s cell phone and saw his texts to you about a treasure. I wanted to know what Paul was up to, so I contacted Goren. We made a plan to get the treasure away from Paul.”

“Why?”

“Paul would waste it, squander whatever it was and besides—” she winced as she tried to move her leg “—Bruce would
never accept help from Paul even if Paul had found the lost treasure of the Incas.”

Luca could see in Ava’s expression that she recognized that was the truth.

“So what were you going to do with the treasure, Sue?” Ava asked, voice nearly inaudible.

“I was going to save Whisper. Bring your father back home. We could all be together again, like it used to be.”

Harold’s mouth
twisted in grief, but he held on to her hand.

Sue coughed and went on. “Goren was going to double-cross me and take the treasure for himself, so I had to stop him.”

Ava’s eyes filled. “All this, all these terrible choices. You made them to get my father to come back, but he doesn’t love you. He’s never loved you.”

She shook her head. “I kept Whisper going, held things together after
your mother died, all these years,” Sue murmured. “He’ll see my devotion once he comes home. He’ll come to love me in time.”

Luca looked away from the naked sorrow on Harold’s face. Harold loved a woman who did not love him back. Just like Sue had wasted her life and squandered her future for a man who could not return her affection.

He felt an uncomfortable stirring in his gut as the
truth bit at him.

You love Ava. You can’t lie to yourself anymore.

But there was no indication that she loved him in return.

An ambulance rolled up the slope and two paramedics leaped out, carrying a rescue toboggan.

Ava and Luca moved back to allow the rescuers to do their job.

Ava walked away, back turned, gazing out on the slopes. He joined her, putting an arm around
her shoulders.

“Whatever it was,” Ava whispered, “whatever this treasure was is buried under a ton of snow. My uncle died because of it and Sue turned into somebody I don’t recognize. I’ll never even know what it was.”

He squeezed her gently. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey,” one of the paramedics called. “Can you grab this?” They turned to find him holding the wrapped package, the one Ava had
taken from the locker.

The medic held it out to them. “She had it zipped in her jacket.”

Luca snatched it. Harold followed the toboggan back to the ambulance, leaving them staring at the package.

Ava’s face was white. “You open it, Luca.”

He untied the string, stomach in knots as the paper slipped away.

They leaned forward to get a closer look.

Luca held up the contents.

Three books.

Romance novels.

Each bore the sticker from a long-ago garage sale.

Three for a dollar.

* * *

Ava felt like laughing. Romance novels. Three for a dollar. Another one of her uncle’s crazy tricks.

She watched them load Sue up into the ambulance, next to the wounded Charlie Goren. Harold was told he could not ride along with her, so he headed for the
car. He stopped before he got there and turned to Ava. “She didn’t mean to hurt you or Paul. I know she loves you in her own way.”

Ava’s heart clenched. “Harold, I’m sorry about all this. My father never encouraged her.”

He nodded. “I know. I guess sometimes the heart just goes where it wants to regardless of the facts.”

And that’s what had no doubt happened to Harold. The love
on his face was clear, along with the hurt.

“What will you do now?” she asked gently.

He shrugged. “Stand by her, even if she doesn’t want me there.” He got into the car and drove away, following the ambulance.

Her heart broke for him. She turned to find Luca talking quietly to Stephanie and Tate. She did not want to face Luca now, while her feelings felt like fragile flakes of
snow. It was all over. Finally. There was no escaping that now the place would be sold. With the truth about Sue coming out, there was no friendly face here at Whisper. And Luca would go back to his treasure hunting. Back to San Francisco and another life waiting for him there.

Whatever she had felt or discovered in their mad treasure hunt would remain here, swirling in the winds of Whisper
Mountain.

She heard them follow her, but she still did not turn.

“I’ll go get Mack Dog. He’s probably still asleep in that truck,” Tate said from behind her.

That old truck. It would probably be sold for scrap. How it would grieve Uncle Paul to lose the rusty B42.

She stopped dead for one moment and then took off at a run for the garage.

“What is it?” Luca called.

She didn’t answer, running as fast as she could in spite of her recent battering.

They finally caught up when she yanked open the door of the garage and barreled inside.

“What?” Luca said, taking hold of her arm.

She whirled on them. “The B42 in Mack’s collar. It was another one of my uncle’s little jokes. The locker number was just a diversion. It was all about this.” She gestured
behind her.

Luca’s eyes widened as he figured it out. “The truck. It’s a...”

“B42,” Tate said. “My dad used to work with a guy who owned one. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?”

Mack Dog woke from his nap and popped up from the back of the vehicle. Catching sight of Tate he leaped down and made a beeline for him. Tate obliged him with a thorough scratching. “Have you been guarding
a treasure, boy?”

With shaking hands, Ava yanked open the door of the truck. The interior was cold and dark. She climbed up on the running board. She saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Luca crawled up and slid into the driver’s seat. Ava did the same on the passenger side. She took it all in, the worn interior, the glass with the tiny star chip in the corner, the seat that squeaked with
every movement she made.

Her fingers found a cut in the rubber of the seat. Tracing along the edge she discovered a slit that ran the width of the cushion. Dropping to her knees on the cramped floor, she carefully removed the rubber which slid easily away where it had been cut. Heart hammering, she found a metal box that filled the entire cushion space.

Luca’s eyes shone. “Ava, you found
it.”

She fingered the latch that held the box closed. Nerves tingling, she opened it. Inside was a layer of thick oilcloth and underneath she saw the sturdy cover of a book, a very large volume. The cover looked to be made of leather, blackened with age. Stephanie and Tate crammed in to see.

No one spoke.

Luca pulled his sleeve over his hand and gently lifted the cover. Each massive
page was divided into two columns, the first letter enlarged and elaborately decorated. Ava squinted at the text. “I can’t understand it.”

“That’s because it’s in Latin,” Luca said, a slight tremble in his voice as he gingerly closed the cover. “This is a Gutenberg Bible.”

Stephanie gasped. “Less than two dozen of these still exist. That makes this volume...”

“Priceless,” Luca finished.

Stephanie leaned closer. “What’s that? In the oilcloth?”

Ava picked up the corner of a small photo. It was a grainy picture of Ava wrapped in her mother’s embrace, both of them grinning at the camera. Through a veil of tears she turned it over. On the back in Uncle Paul’s dismal handwriting she could make out a single phrase.

I count myself the richest of men.

She stared at
the photo as waves of love and grief crashed through her.

“He was rich, Ava, even before he found the B42, and he finally realized it,” Luca said softly. He took her hand. She was numb, her mind a hopeless jumble. The only thing she could feel was the warmth of his fingers clasping hers.

The richest of men.

Ava carefully wrapped the priceless book back up in the oilcloth, but she
clung tightly to the photo. Then she stepped out of the truck and closed the door behind her.

* * *

Two days went by in a blur. The lodge was quiet now, having hosted a series of scholars and museum curators in various stages of euphoria as they photographed and packaged the precious Bible before it was taken to a bank for safekeeping. It would be donated to a museum; she was not sure
which one nor did she care. She’d asked Luca to see to the arrangements.

She’d heard whispered estimates. Five million dollars. Ten. She would not sell it, this extraordinary expression of God’s word, His promise that had become so real to her since that last precious time with Uncle Paul at Melody Lake.

I count myself the richest of men.

And Ava Stanton was the richest of women
because she’d remembered the truth. She was not alone. God was with her and He had been all along. Through the quiet that nearly drowned her after her mother’s death, the months of self-imposed isolation, He hadn’t left her. And whatever her mother’s choice had been, Ava knew in those last moments, God had been right by her, too, whispering words of comfort into her soul.

That same comfort
now eased her pain as she signed the papers to sell Whisper, as she’d watched Luca pack up and drive away, his green eyes sparkling in her memory.

“I’ll be back as soon as I get some things straightened out,” he’d promised.

They both knew it was well-meaning, a gentle way for them to escape an awkward situation. She wandered around the empty kitchen, thinking of Sue and the devastating
choices she’d made. But even those choices could not erase the joy and tenderness she’d felt here on Whisper Mountain.

Happy days with her mother and father.

Uncle Paul’s wild adventures.

And someone else.

Another vision of Luca rippled through her memory. Ava had come to realize she loved Luca, but they were from completely different worlds. His was a life of adventure in
bustling cities and her heart yearned for mountains steeped in the quiet whisper of snow.

She said a prayer for him, for his family, and picked up the small bag she’d packed.

She opened the door and gasped to find Luca standing on the other side.

“Can I come in?” he asked.

She closed her mouth. “Of course.”

He wiped his feet and entered, eyes wandering around the lodge
as she closed the door. Her stomach had suddenly twisted itself into knots at the sight of him.

“Thank you,” she said. “For figuring out what to do with the Bible.”

He laughed. “Most people I talked to were incredulous that you weren’t going to sell it and become the richer than Oprah.”

She smiled. “Isn’t mine to sell. It’s okay, though.” She swallowed hard. “The agent says he’s
found a buyer for Whisper.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

He nodded, arms folded across his broad chest. “It’s my father.”

She started. “I guess that makes sense.” She tried for a laugh. “You’ll have plenty of good runs once he combines Gold Summit and Whisper.”

“I guess. There’s one little catch, though, a contingency to the sale.”

“What’s that?”

Luca moved closer and
put his hands on her shoulders, his fingers sending shivers up her spine.

“He bought it because I asked him to.”

“You knew it would be a good investment?”

“The best.”

She felt a shiver run up her back. “What’s the contingency?”

“It’s going to be a wedding present.”

“For whom?”

“I’m hoping...” He was close now, so close she could smell the musky scent of his aftershave.
“For us.”

Her mouth fell open. “What?”

He moved his hands to gently cup her face. “I love you, Ava. I’ve loved you since we were sixteen years old and I watched you fly down that mountain. Our lives got in the way for a while, but now it’s time to fix that.”

She clutched at his hands, her pulse buzzing in her veins. “Luca, we’re so different, I...”

“You’re right,” he said,
pressing a kiss to her temple and then one on each cheek. “You’re quiet and thoughtful and at home in the middle of nowhere. And I’m loud and impulsive and I like to be where the chaos is, and you know what?” He kissed her again, this time on the tip of her nose. “I like it like that.”

“But your business, Treasure Seekers.”

“Whisper will be my remote office. I can find treasures just
as well from here as San Francisco. I think Victor and Stephanie will enjoy not having me around all the time. They tell me I get on their nerves now and then.”

She dared to allow herself to entertain the possibility that he loved her. Luca Gage, the boy she’d beaten down the mountain so many times, loved her. Tears prickled her eyes. “What do I say?” she murmured.

He pressed his mouth
to her ear. “Say you love me and you’ll marry me. Together we’ll make Whisper into the gem of the Sierras again.”

A jumble of emotions cascaded through her body. “I...”

He traced her ear with his mouth. “Ava Stanton, I love you. I love you. I love you.”

Light flooded her soul like the clouds parting after a winter storm. Brilliant, clear, jubilant.

“I love you, Luca,” she whispered,
letting the joy cascade through her body, filling every dark place with light. “And I will marry you.”

His voice was hoarse as he embraced her. “In the words of your uncle, I consider myself the richest of men.”