𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒. ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ¹

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 32.

"Who the hell's that." Kiara replied quickly.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck," John B said. "Check this out," he stepped over to hand Kiara a thick pice of parchment.

Pope looked to me with narrowed eyebrows, for clarification. I nodded.

"So, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest." John B explained, looking to Pope. "So, Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom."

Kiara whistled, handing the paper to Jj.

"After that, he bought his farm." John B looked to everyone, "drumroll please," we all started to pat our knees with excitement, "because that farm is...." he looked down at me.

"Tannyhill plantation." I finished.

"Tannyhill?" Kiara repeated, in disbelief.

"Tannyhill," John B nodded firmly, "So then, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, then sold a shit-ton of rice— which pisses off all the white planters— and then, they decided to lynch him." It went quiet for a second, only the crackling sounds of the fire being heard.

Pope looked up from the parchment, his flashlight shining down on it.

"And on the day they were coming to get him," John B looked down at me to continue.

"He writes a letter to his son as a farewell," I told everyone, while running my hands over the soft silk of Sarah's dress, which I was still wearing.

"In the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold." John B grinned brightly.

Kiara was grinning from ear-to-ear, "where," she whispered with anticipation, her eyes twinkling at me and John B.

"Harvest the wheat, in parcel nine, near the water." John B said slowly.

While everyone listened with curiosity, he went on to explaining how the coded message was connected to the gold, and where it was hidden. Jj stepped over to give John B a bear hug. Everyone was in disbelief when it clicked together.

"And all we needed was an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold!" John B put his arms out to the side. "Charlie got the plat map from Sarah Cameron— and now all we need to do is-"

"Wait, wait, hold on." Kiara interrupted him, her voice stern, "Sarah? Wh-why Sarah?" She looked from me to John B with serious eyes.

I bit on the inside of my cheek, and looked down at my folded hands. John B cleared his throat.

"This is gonna be good." Jj added quietly.

"Sarah, um she— she," John B kept shifting his eyes to me, "got us into the archives at Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where we got the letter." He said lightly.

"You were in Chapel Hill, yesterday, with Sarah Cameron," she lightly raised her voice, growing angry at what he'd said.

"Yeah— um," John B lost his voice.

Jj hummed. "They had a threesome."

My eyes rolled to the back of my head as Pope stifled a giggle.

"Kie— we were, we were just using her for access!" John B quickly defended himself.

A sharp feeling of guilt stabbed into my chest, at the fact that we were talking about Sarah so badly. I then grew a little angry at what John B said, because I certainly wasn't just using her for access. I told myself he was just saying that.