Seeking Dangerous Treasure

Chapter 15

Early the next morning, Kelsey had ridden with Hayden to pick up his dog, Thor. They'd gathered supplies and now hiked into the woods with their shovels.

"X marks the spot." She laughed. They found a strange marking on the map and decided to dig at that point once they found it in the woods. If that didn't pan out, they would look closer at mining claims or old gold mines like Robert had suggested.

They continued to search the area. "I still can't believe any of this."

"Me either. I'm more than curious to find out what your grandfather would have buried out here. And why keep it buried."

Kelsey found the spot. "Okay, I think this is it, so let's start digging."

"Not enough room for the both of us to dig here. I'll go first," Hayden said.

"What, because you're the man?"

"You got a problem with that?"

"Nope. Not me. None at all. Dig away." She laughed again, though honestly this wasn't a laughing situation. But if they found the treasure, then they had made progress. They could somehow lure this person to them, track them down or offer it up to them. But as long as buried treasure was on her property, treasure someone else knew about and wanted, Kelsey couldn't stay in Ivy's home without fear. This was the right way to go.

"Have you told the detective about this?" she asked.

Hayden stopped and swiped the sweat from his forehead with a rag. "Are you kidding? No. I don't want to be concerned about messing with evidence. I want to focus on what's best to keep you safe."

"Sure you do. You want the treasure," she teased.

He said nothing but just kept digging. An hour into it, she said, "All right. Enough. It's my turn. I can't watch you kill yourself. We'll take turns. That's what a teamwork is all about."

Two hours into digging, they had only gone a few feet.

Kelsey and Hayden sat on a rock and drank water from bottles.

"I don't know, Hayden. Isn't there some sort of equipment we could bring in to survey what's beneath the ground? Because this isn't working. My grandfather wouldn't have buried anything so deep."

"Maybe we're digging in the wrong spot. Or maybe that isn't a treasure map and we got it all wrong."

Thor's low growl startled them both. The guard dog was loosely tied to a tree, so he wouldn't chase the wildlife, Hayden had said. As his growl increased, Hayden crept over to his dog to let him loose.

"Hold it right there." A man pointing a gun at them stepped from the trees.