Chapter 10 #3
Scout swallowed, straightened, attempting to rally herself. “All right, what’s our plan?” she said, her tone brisk, as if the popover hadn’t just derailed her professionalism for a solid thirty seconds.
“Glad you asked,” Chase said, brushing crumbs off his fingers. “We’ve got plenty of time for one more hunt this afternoon. Then tomorrow, we hit the last couple of clues. First light.”
Scout tipped her head. “You’re sure there’re only a couple of clues left?”
“Positive,” Chase said. “Leaving early tomorrow will give us plenty of time to—”
“I can’t,” Naki said suddenly, his voice quiet but firm.
Both Chase and Scout turned to him, caught off guard. “Can’t what?” Scout said, lowering the butter knife.
“I’m not available tomorrow.”
Scout exchanged a look with Chase, who had stopped mid-bite into his popover. He knew just what she was thinking: If they didn’t have Naki, the chance for cracking clues greatly diminished. Not impossible, but not easy. Chase swallowed. “Why not?”
Naki gazed past them to the still water of Jordan Pond. “Church.”
Chase blinked. He hadn’t thought of Naki as a church guy. “Sunday. Okay. So go to church next week. Or meet us later in the afternoon.”
“No,” Naki said, turning toward him at last, his gaze steady and calm.
The words settled like a stone dropped in water, rippling through the table. Chase set his half-eaten popover down. “Come on. You can’t miss church one Sunday morning?”
Naki turned to him, his dark eyes unflinching. “Not when I’m preaching.”
Chase and Scout exchanged another look—this one of complete surprise.
Discovering that she had no idea about Naki moonlighting as a preacher gave a little lift to Chase’s spirits, like maybe he was imagining that there was more between them than there was.
“Fine,” he said. “Scout and I can handle it. I think I’m getting these clues figured out, anyway. ”
“Oh really.” Scout raised an eyebrow. “How about you give us an example?”
Chase reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “‘The first light finds my secret where sky meets stone, atop the highest peak that greets the dawn before all others.’”
“Cadillac Mountain,” Naki said without hesitation.
“Exactly.” Chase grinned. “See? I’m figuring out this lighthouse keeper’s logic.
We’ll hit Cadillac first thing, then head to the last clue.
” He turned the page in his notepad. “Here’s the one that’s right in front of us: ‘In the mirror of the pond, look to the twin sentinels who guard the northern shore, and there lies the heart of the treasure.’” He turned around and pointed. “Obviously, it means Jordan Pond.”
Naki lifted an eyebrow. “I agree. But where?”
“I’m glad you asked. Most would read that clue and think the twin sentinels are the Bubbles. But we’re smarter than that.” Chase tapped his forehead with his finger. “These clues all have a red herring in them. What seems obvious is wrong.”
Naki nodded. “I agree with you.”
“So, there’s a pair of large trees on the Carriage Road Outlook that frame the pond. They would make a perfect hiding place.” He stood, extending a hand toward Scout with a little flourish. “Shall we?”
Scout took his hand but rolled her eyes. “I am a ranger, you know.”
“Of course,” Chase said, grinning. “But you’re also a lady. You can be both.”
Scout laughed, pulling her hand out of his. “If only my mother shared your opinion.”
Naki rose more slowly, his gaze flicking between the two of them. “Lead on,” he said. His tone was even, but there was a hint of something Chase couldn’t quite place.
Chase clapped his hands together, eager to keep the momentum going. With a little luck, he was going to wrap this story up tomorrow. Ah, one more reason to smile: Spending the day alone with Scout would be the icing on the cake.
Scout trailed behind Chase as he led the way toward the pond’s shoreline, her steps crunching softly on the gravel path.
She stopped abruptly when she realized Naki wasn’t behind her.
Turning around, she saw him still back at their table, pulling some cash from his wallet and sliding it under the edge of a plate.
The waitress, busy clearing another table, caught sight of it and gave him a smile.
Touching.
Chase hadn’t thought to leave a tip.
She waited as Naki approached, his strides steady and unhurried. “Thanks for that,” she said quietly when he reached her.
Naki gave a small shrug. “I waited tables in college. Once you work in the service industry, you become a good tipper.”
“Ranger Rivers said you went to Harvard.”
He nodded, as if it was no big deal. And yet it was a huge deal. She wondered if many of his friends went to college or if he was unusual. She knew so little about the life of today’s Native Americans. Now, after meeting Naki, she’d like to know more.
Before Scout could ask more, Chase’s voice carried across the wide lawn. “Hey! Keep up! Time’s a-wasting.”
Naki cupped his hands around his mouth. “Go check out the twin sentinels. We’ll sweep the eastern side, just to be sure. Meet back at the trail split.”
A beat of silence, then Chase called back, “Suit yourself.”
“What makes you think he’s wrong about the trees as twin sentinels?” It had made sense to Scout.
“Chase’s haste is causing him to overlook things.” Naki started walking, then paused to look back at her over his shoulder. “There was no Carriage Road Outlook in the 1850s. And most likely, those trees weren’t here then either.”
Scout frowned, quickening her pace to catch up. “Even if there wasn’t, people did hike here before it became a national park.”
“True, but most trails weren’t formalized until after Acadia became a park in 1919. That’s when the more popular routes were reinforced—chiseled paths, iron ladders, even small bridges. Before that, the terrain decided the way.”
Scout nodded, letting his words settle in. “Why didn’t you just tell Chase that he was wrong?”
“Would he have listened?”
Probably not. She glanced over to see signs of Chase between the trees, striding down the wooden boardwalk on the western side of the pond, all focus and forward momentum. He had a way of pushing ahead with a relentless drive, which was great—except when it steamrolled over the nuance.
She replayed the clues they’d pieced together so far, like a mental map she was still sketching out. Naki had a knack for zeroing in on the nuance that Chase skimmed right past. And nuance, she was beginning to realize, was where the truth liked to hide.
The farther they walked along the eastern side of Jordan Pond, the more the trail started to change.
More rugged and uneven. Large boulders, rocky terrain.
Scout had to pick her way carefully, stepping from rock to rock.
She didn’t mind. It was the kind of walk that made you slow down, smell the scent of pine that was so thick in the air, notice how the water was as clear as glass.
“The eastern side is a jumble of boulders,” Naki said, giving her a hand to climb over a huge rock. “It’s the perfect spot for something to be hidden—if you know just where to look.”
Did he? Because she had no idea. Some boulders were half submerged, others piled along the shoreline like they had tumbled there on purpose.
“Scout,” Naki said, oblivious to what was running through her mind, “have you been to Cadillac Mountain?”
“Once,” she said. “Years ago. With my dad.”
“Tomorrow morning, right at dawn, you’ll need to look for the light to reveal a unique shadow on a cairn or in a crevice. I highly doubt it would be hidden anywhere on the summit. I suggest looking below the summit.”
Naki’s insights were indispensable, but the thought of tomorrow’s search without him left her uneasy. And then this question circled her like a mosquito: If Naki stepped out of the hunt now, would he come back to it?
To: drjhjohnson@ Subject: Time is ticking . . .
Hi Dad,
Remember Chase Fletcher? I’ve mentioned him before. He’s convinced he’s sniffed out the story of the century to save his newspaper.
Yes, my shipwreck story.
Honestly, he’s not wrong. Gold hidden around Acadia? It’s newsworthy. Imagine the rush of treasure hunters! Can’t you just see people scouring the park with metal detectors?
But Chase’s involvement has ratcheted up the urgency to solve those clues and find the gold in a big way.
That’s what today was all about—would you believe we found three caches?
Credit goes to Naki. He’s the clue cracker.
He takes his time pondering . . . and then he seems to know exactly where to look.
I keep thinking how much you’d love to have this guy on your diving team.
The last cache of gold we found today was downright comical.
Chase was absolutely, positively sure that he’d figured out where it was hidden, and so off he marched.
Naki let him go and went off in a different direction.
And of course, Naki found it easily, like it was almost calling out to him to be found.
When we met up again at the trail split, Chase’s face said it all—equal parts confusion and, “Who is this guy?” I’ve had the same thoughts.
But I have to give props to Chase too. His optimism and determination are driving this hunt. Making it a whole lot more fun. Then again, he’s complicated it too. (Too long a story to get into now.)
The real mystery is shaping up around the lighthouse keeper and his wife. Naki has a theory that the wife wrote the clues and hid the gold. He might be right, but why? And why did the keeper sabotage the ship in the first place? And what happened to the keeper? How did he die?
You’d have this mystery solved in the blink of an eye.
Anyway, early start tomorrow, so I’m signing off.
Scout
She stretched, yawning, and then she hit “archive.”