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"Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope said after Midsummers. The group has traveled back to John Bs where they sat around a bonfire.
JJ sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair before turning to John B. "Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed."
"Excuse me?" Quinn asked. JJ turned to her, a small smirk on his face as he nodded. John B let out a single breath, making the group turn to him. "You ready for this?"
Quinn, Kie and Pope nodded and John B stood up from the spot he was sitting on so he could look at everyone. "So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant."
"Oh, my God. Here we go again with this." Kie groaned, pointing the bridge of her nose. JJ quickly turned to her, pointing at her as he shook his head. "No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right? It's been here the whole time. It's on the island."
Quinn slowly looked up from the fire, her eyes wide as she looked at John B. "Are you serious?" Before John B could answer her question, Pope raised his hand from beside Quinn. "I'd like to voice my skepticism."
"Of course you would, Pope." Quinn said in a sarcastically happy voice, making Pope hit her shoulder, small smiles on both of their faces.
"Can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John B asked and Pope sighed, nodding his head. "Proceed." John B nodded, turning to look at the rest of the group. "All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny."
"Who the hell's that?" Kie asked and John B turned to her as he pulled out a piece of paper. "Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out."
John B quickly passed the paper to Pope and Quinn since they were closer to read over the copy of the original letter. "Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom. After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please, because that farm is... Tannyhill Plantation."
Quinn instantly winced as Kie's jaw dropped. "Tannyhill?" John B nodded. "Yeah. So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him. So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."
"And how do we do that?" Quinn asked, looking up from the letter to John B with furrowed brows. The boy pointed at her, a small smile on his face. "Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except... there's no wheat."
Quinn brows furrowed, looking to Pope beside her. "What the fuck does that mean?" Pope shrugged as John B continued. "You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out. The gold is in parcel nine, near the water." Quinn's mouth fell into an 'o' shape finally understanding.
