Freedom's Treasure (20 page)

“And you’ve been researching old Samuel, I understand?”

“Yes, ma’am, I have.”

“Quite a bit of excitement at his cabin, I hear,” the older woman stated.

“Indeed,” Anna replied, wondering where this was going.

“Well, good luck to you, young lady. I think you’ll need it. Many a person has looked for that gold. You’re the only one who’s come close to finding anything significant. If you ask me you should be forgetting about looking for gold and worry about keeping that handsome man happy. Then again I do want you to find that treasure.”

Anna fought the urge to show the woman the journal, map and coin. “I appreciate your support. Is there a pool in town yet?”

The woman shot her a smile. “There is. If you find it this week I win $25 so get to it, please.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Anna saluted the woman and took the pages to a near-by table. She didn’t know exactly what she was looking for but she hoped she’d know it when she saw it.

The maps didn’t make much sense to her. In fact, Anna couldn’t tell if they were upside down. Instead of fretting she quickly took her phone out of her pocket and pulled up the camera application. She made sure the lighting was just right and snapped several angles of each page. They wouldn’t be the greatest pictures but she knew they’d refresh her memory in a pinch. Finally satisfied with the day’s work she took the pages back to the librarian and thanked her again.

“Remember, my week ends on Saturday. After that old man Peterson’s week starts. You should make Hunter some pot roast. I always found my Abner was a happy man when he had a full belly. Don’t forget the biscuits with that.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Anna wondered when she’d turned so agreeable and quickly made her escape.

It was a struggle but Anna made it the two blocks to the diner while using her cane and
carrying her heavy purse and backpack with her laptop and various notebooks inside. Anna was stopped repeatedly by people who wanted to know about the coin and the cabin and had all sorts of good advice on where to look for the treasure and, apparently, how to keep a man like Hunter interested. She began to feel a headache brewing and a cup of tea sounded like just the thing to put a stop to that.

When she finally reached the diner she dropped everything and, with a sigh of relief, sank gratefully into a well-worn booth. She had another half hour yet before Hunter was supposed to meet her.

When Becca came over she ordered water and, after remembering the last time she’d been there, a cup of hot tea. She booted up her laptop and connected her phone so she could download the pictures of the maps that she had taken. Becca brought the tea and Anna thanked her while staring at one of the images. It looked familiar and Anna couldn’t quite place why.

Anna had the map that Samuel had drawn with her, it was tucked away in her laptop case, but she didn’t want to pull it out here at the diner. There were only a few other customers but she was afraid it would draw more unwanted attention. Instead she closed her eyes and tried to picture the map.

With her computer open in front of her Anna had thought no one would disturb her. It was a common enough in Grand Rapids and people generally waited until a computer was closed up before they came over to be social. Not so in small towns, she discovered. Just as she thought the memory was within her grasp she felt a presence looming over her in the booth.

Anna’s eyes popped open and shot to the right and way up. Dock stood at the edge of her table, a respectable distance between them but he was close enough to startle her.

“Sorry,” he started, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Anna smiled. “You didn’t scare me, Dock. I was just, surprised, I think.” She huffed out a half laugh.

“Yeah, you looked pretty intent on whatever you were thinking about. I’m sorry I interrupted now.”

“Don’t be. Why don’t you have a seat?” Anna waved to the other side of the booth. “I think I’m due up for a distraction right about now anyway.”

“Not making any progress on your book?” Dock slid into the booth, his long legs gently knocking into hers. “Coffee, please, Becca,” he requested when she scurried over.

“The book is moving along. I’m actually taking some time off to work on an article for a magazine. They saw two and want a third to run as a series. I’ll send that this weekend and get right back to the book.”

“Busy girl,” he commented.

“I think you meant woman,” she cocked her head to the side. She was always interested in people’s word choices and that one had told her more than she needed to know.

“Yes, I did. You’re a very busy woman, Anna. I’m surprised you have time to go treasure hunting.”

“We find time for the things that are important to us,” she said simply.

“That we do,” Dock agreed. “I heard about what happened to your cabin. I’m sorry you were inconvenienced. Did Elisa find you another place to stay?”

“She didn’t but Hunter did,” Anna reflected for a moment on Hunter’s suggestion that she move in with him. “I find I don’t enjoy being a nomad as much as I thought I would. It always sounds romantic in books but living out of a suitcase or with nothing at all is not the least bit fun.”

Dock snorted a laugh. “No, I can see that it wouldn’t be. I thought I heard you sold everything and came here with only what fit in your truck?”

“That’s true,” she nodded. “But I also had a plan. It was working out, or so I thought. I feel like it bit me in the butt now. Normally I would have had a friend send me some of my things from storage but I obviously can’t this time around.”

“This time? Have you had something like this happen before?”

“Not necessarily like this. I’ve been caught in hurricanes and had to evacuate, things like that.”

“Ah, that makes sense. I guess I didn’t realize you’d been caught up writing stories like that for the paper.”

“I traveled pretty far for some stories when I first started. Leaping before I looked. I’ve since learned I like having something steadier. It only proves that I’m a homebody after all.”

Both were so intent on their discussion they didn’t see Hunter’s truck enter the parking lot. He came in the door and immediately noticed Anna and Dock having what was definitely a too intimate conversation. His vision began to haze over and it took all he had not to go straight to Dock and punch him in his arrogant face.

“So sorry to interrupt,” his voice was tight and Anna looked up immediately, curious about the look on Hunter’s face. Dock smirked while trying to look polite. He failed miserably.

“Hunter! Is it time already?” Anna snuck a peek at her clock. Somehow she and Dock had been talking for most of an hour.

“I was a little late.” Hunter stared directly at Dock’s face as he continued, “I had a stop to make first. It took slightly longer than I thought it would.” With satisfaction he saw Dock go slightly pale under his summer tan.

Anna realized she felt twitchy and suddenly recognized the tension. She knew the two men had problems with each other but this was too much. She wondered which man would pull out the glove, slap the other and announce a duel challenge. She would have felt flattered but she knew, instantly, that this had nothing to do with her and everything to do with the shared past and egos of these two men. She silently berated herself for not getting the story from Hunter when she’d had the chance.

Dock didn’t speak, merely tapped his fingers on the tabletop a few times before swinging his legs from under the booth. He hated that Hunter was currently standing above him and it was time to level the playing field.

Hunter reached down and took a firm grip on Anna’s elbow. “It’s time for us to go.” He gently pulled her from the booth and then looked back at Dock. “That sure was a nice scope you had.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Hunter watched Anna gather her laptop and other essentials and had never felt more impatient with a woman in his life. “I bet it worked real well at night, too, didn’t it?”

In one motion Dock sprang from the booth and punched Hunter in the jaw, pushing him back a step. “You son of a bitch!” He followed with a roundhouse kick that missed Hunter by a fraction of an inch.

“No, that distinction is yours,” Hunter chided. He shot his arm out and used an open palm strike on the center of Dock’s chest, knocking the breath from him. “Always nice to see you, Dock. Let’s go, Anna.”

Anna watched over her shoulder as Dock struggled for breath on one knee and Hunter essentially dragged her from the diner and pushed her toward his truck. That scene had happened so fast Anna wasn’t sure how she felt about it but being manhandled was something she definitely had strong feelings about. She planted both feet and her cane causing their forward momentum to stop immediately.

“What’s wrong, Anna?”

“For one, don’t you ever huff at me again. For two, what in the Hell was that all about Hunter?”

“What do you mean?”

Anna goggled. “What do I mean? That guy just hit you. You hit him back and then dragged me out of there like some sort of caveman heading back to get his rewards. So you tell me, and tell me now, what that was all about.”

“We’ll talk about it later.” Hunter wanted to be in the truck and gone before Dock emerged from the diner with retribution in mind. Public humiliation always sucked and this wasn’t the first time they’d had a scene like this one.

“No. We’ll talk about it now.”

“Anna, he’s going to come out of there like a raging bull. The situation will only get worse if we hang around talking. As much as Dock wouldn’t care, I really don’t want to sit in jail over the Fourth. So, please, can we go and talk about this later?”

Anna shook her head. “We have to talk about this now. I don’t like what happened. At all.”

He dropped her elbow, looked intently into her eyes, “So talk.”

Anna’s mind went blank. She wondered if she was being unreasonable and decided she didn’t care. This was too important.

“You’re the one who’s supposed to be talking.”

“Then it’s going to be a short conversation. I don’t want to talk about this here.” Hunter began to turn to the truck. Anna reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“Fine, then explain when it became okay to drag me out of the booth and out of the diner.”

“It’s not like it was a good idea for us to stick around then or for us to stick around right now.”

His non-answers were starting to really annoy her. She felt a fight brewing and decided to embrace it. “You know what? If you want to leave, go. I’m not stopping you. But I’m not going with you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I see no point in being with someone who shows such an absolute lack of respect for me as a person, as a woman, as an adult who can damn well come and go when she pleases.”

“Anna, it’s not like that.”

“You could have fooled me. I am not a child to be ordered around. Nor should my questions be ignored when they involve a fundamental issue. You hit someone, Hunter, and then dragged me out of there.”

“He hit me first.”

“Are you kidding me with that?”

Hunter saw Dock through the window of the diner. He nearly felt the daggers being heaved into his soul. Out of Anna’s view he shot Dock the bird. “What do you want me to say, Anna? Do you want an apology? I’m sorry. Can we go now?”

Anna saw red. She shoved his chest with both hands, surprising herself. “What is wrong with you? What happened to the sweet, caring guy I met my first day in town? I’ll tell you what. It was an act. And I freaking fell for it. Well, guess what, I’m done. I’ll pick up my stuff later.”