20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Sophia watched Harvey patrol the house, making his rounds to check out the front door before taking his place by the back door off the kitchen.
Yesterday morning, after Tack had dropped her off, she’d checked Harvey’s wounds and deemed he was well enough to be in the house.
He didn’t even need a cone because his wounds were good enough that he wasn’t trying to lick them.
The sigh he gave as he settled on the rug near the door brought a smile to her face before the anger coursed through her again.
She’d had plenty of time to think after Tack had dropped her off on his way to his shift.
Although watching the squirrels scare Jolene and Rufus was fun, it didn’t seem quite enough because they had a lot to atone for.
Rufus had stabbed Harvey, causing him pain, and Sophia had almost lost him.
They’d orchestrated the accident that had killed her parents, and Sophia had never had a valid marriage.
There were numerous other things they’d done, including the marks she’d wear on her skin forever.
With the information the club had now, Cuffs was diving deeper before the club decided what to do with Jolene and Rufus.
Despite everything, Rufus and Jolene were refusing to name the “he” that Rufus had mentioned when she and Ruthy were listening in.
Sophia didn’t want to have to testify at a trial, and she never wanted to see them again.
She’d left it up to Tack and the club to give them a satisfying punishment.
What really shot her anger through the roof was that Rufus and Jolene had done it all because of the promise of a treasure—a treasure that might not even exist. Which brought up the point that she needed to check the tree.
She could wait for Tack, but she didn’t want to derail their evening.
He promised he’d have her cut tonight and that they’d go on a date.
She’d seen the patients she needed to this morning, eaten lunch, and she had the afternoon free. She wondered if Freedom and Lake wanted to help her do a little treasure hunting.
“Freedom, Lake,” she called.
Freedom walked into the kitchen and cocked her eyebrow. Lake came tramping down the stairs. She had on jeans, a T-shirt, Jolene’s journal, and a compass.
“Ready and waiting to go search for a treasure,” Lake quipped.
Sophia giggled at her friend. Offering Freedom and Lake room and board had been one of the best decisions of her life. “Umm, we know where to check because, hello, the tree. What’s the compass for?”
“You never know when we’ll need it. I watched so many treasure movies last night—The Goonies, National Treasure, National Treasure 2, (not as good in my opinion), and Holes.
What if when we dig by the tree, there’s a note that says go five paces to the northwest?
I want to be prepared,” Lake informed them, nodding her head.
“I’m not going to say no to a compass, but we probably need a couple of shovels. Let’s grab those and take one of the ATVs there,” Sophia suggested.
“Oh, good idea. If it’s a chest with ten thousand dollars of gold, then it might be heavy,” Lake said.
Sophia shook her head at her friend. Lake had the unwavering belief that they were going to find the treasure.
She grabbed her phone, slid it into her back pocket, and headed outside.
She spotted Pudding with his new lady friend, Honey Bun.
She’d been busy and let Lake and Freedom name the new miniature donkey.
She had to admit that Honey Bun had been a good influence on Pudding.
He still tried to headbutt the guys in the crotch but not quite as much because Pudding didn’t like leaving Honey Bun’s side.
“Let’s do this,” she grinned, hopping on one of the ATVs with Lake and Freedom driving their own. Lake didn’t like being last and quickly took the lead, getting to the tree first.
Sophia stared at the tree, wondering where to start. She didn’t want to damage the tree because she still liked seeing it on the property.
“I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we do it systematically. Dig on one side down to where we think the treasure might be, and if we don’t find it, we could fill that back in and dig in the next spot. Did anybody think to bring a metal detector?” Freedom asked.
Sophia walked all the way around the tree. The picture with Ma Jo had the tree to the right of the house. If she were Ma Jo hiding the treasure, where would she put it? Maybe behind the tree, between the tree and where the house would have been.
“Let’s start here,” Sophia decided, grabbing a shovel and pushing it into the ground. She, Lake, and Freedom dug a small hole behind the tree. When it was about a foot and a half deep, they paused.
“How deep do you guess they would have dug it back then?” Freedom wondered.
“Depends on how big, but I’d be surprised if it was deeper than two feet. It would have taken someone a decent amount of time to dig this much, then they’d have to cover it,” Lake said, wiping the sweat off her face.
Even though they hadn’t dug much, the August heat was making them all sweat.
“I agree. Let’s fill this in and check the opposite side of the tree,” Sophia directed, scooping dirt and dropping it back into the hole. They filled the hole, then walked to the other side of the tree.
Lake dug first. Freedom followed and Sophia was last. She shoved her shovel in deep to get a decent amount of dirt and paused at the sound of her shovel hitting metal.
“Oh, I’m so excited,” Freedom exclaimed. Lake leaned over to watch as Sophia lifted the dirt out of the hole. A small piece of metal glinted in the sun.
Sophia knelt on the ground. “Should we hand dig?”
Lake and Freedom dropped down beside her, pulling dirt out with their hands and tossing it on the pile.
Sophia moved dirt and smoothed it off the metal.
In minutes, they could see what it was. It wasn’t a box.
It was a flat piece of metal with a symbol painted on it.
The symbol looked familiar, but Sophia couldn’t immediately recall where.
Lake pulled it out and held it for them to see. “So a flat piece of metal with this symbol on it. Have you seen this, Sophia?”
Sophia nodded. “I have, but I can’t remember exactly where.” Sophia closed her eyes, trying to picture where she’d seen the symbol and why it looked familiar.
“I don’t think it’s in the house because I’ve cleaned that place from top to bottom after you kicked Rufus to the curb. I wanted everything about him gone,” Freedom said.
“No, not in the house,” Sophia mused.
Lake stood up, looking toward the tree line with the farm buildings behind it.
“I don’t think it’s in the barn because it’s distinctive enough that I would have noticed it.
I’ve never needed to go in the building beside the barn or the small barn that holds the generator.
Could you have seen it there?” Lake asked.
Sophia stared at Lake. “You brilliant woman. I know where I’ve seen it.
Let’s go,” she called as she ran toward her ATV.
She started the ATV and took off, bumping over the field toward the building where her dad kept his motorcycles.
She skidded to a stop in front of the door.
Crap, she didn’t have the keys. She ran across the yard and into the house.
She opened the drawer and took the keys, running back across the yard.
Breathing deeply, she unlocked the door, flipping the lights on.
She walked over to the wall of pictures, looking through them.
“There,” she pointed at the picture of her mom and dad that was taken in the kennel area of the clinic.
The symbol was painted on a piece of metal behind them.
Her mom and dad both had huge smiles on their faces in the photo.
Despite being excited about the treasure, she’d give away any money she found for one more moment with them.
“That’s the clinic wall, but it’s not in there now, is it?” Lake asked.
“Look, that vent there on the wall. It’s the wall that now has the metal animal cages for after surgery,” Freedom breathed.
Sophia turned to her friends. “Let’s go check.
Last one there has to clean out the barn stalls,” Sophia called, running out the door and across the yard to the kitchen.
She skidded to a stop, going through the clinic door and then through another door to the area where they had floor-to-ceiling metal cages to keep sick animals in.
“Aww, fuck. I hate cleaning the barn, but Lake tripped me as we crossed the yard,” Freedom whined.
Sophia shook her head at their antics. She motioned for them to help her move the metal unit on the adjacent wall. Luckily, it had wheels on it, or she’d be calling for someone to help them. Once that was out of the way, she stared at the wall.
“I think the symbol should be behind this set because it was close to the vent. Do you agree?” Sophia asked.
Lake and Freedom both nodded as they helped her slide the unit out from the wall and to the right.
Sophia paused, seeing the symbol on a piece of metal.
She reached for the metal. It wasn’t attached to the wall but only hanging on a small nail.
She pulled it off, revealing a safe inset in the wall.
She flipped the metal sign over and stared at her dad’s handwriting.
My Sweet Sophia,
If you’ve found this, then I’m gone, and you’ve found the clues I left. I’d planned on sharing this with you when we hit the five-year anniversary of you joining the clinic as a celebration.
When you were ten years old, your mom and I had a horrible year. She found out that she couldn’t have more children, and it devastated her. She and I loved you, but she always wanted a houseful of children.
In an effort to cheer her up, I put together a time capsule of all the good things in our life.
I decided to take her on a picnic by the tree she loved on our property, and we’d bury the time capsule.
I planned on us promising to move forward and quickly stop worrying about what couldn’t be.
You can imagine my surprise when I hit a metal box and found what your mom and I later guessed from all the research we did was treasure from one of the James-Younger robberies.
We used some to get the clinic back on its feet and some to send you to veterinary school debt-free. The remainder we put in the safe for a rainy day that you or your children might need it.
You were the greatest gift your mom and I ever got, Sweet Sophia, and I wish I were there to see your eyes widen when you glimpse the treasure. It’s yours to do with as you will—spend it, keep it, or change the world with it.
With all my love,
Dad
P.S. I was the happiest and proudest when you decided to join my practice. Know that the years I spent working beside you were some of the most blissful and rewarding of my life. The code to the safe is the numbers from the song your mom loved to sing after she saw that movie.
Sophia sniffed and wiped her eyes. She missed them so much, but reading her dad’s words made him feel a little closer today. She stepped up to the safe and punched in 925, changing the ‘to’ in the title to a number. A click signaled the safe unlocking.
“Oh my gosh, Sophia. It’s unlocked,” Lake breathed out.
Sophia took a deep breath and opened the door, revealing the treasure inside.
“Freaking hell,” Freedom exclaimed.
Freaking hell was right. Sophia couldn’t believe her eyes. Gold coins, paper bills, and jewelry were in the safe. Sophia had no idea how much was in there, but there was more than she’d seen in her life.
She turned back to Lake and Freedom with a huge smile on her face. “Girls, guess we’re getting that huge rescue I’ve wanted and anything else we want.”
Lake and Freedom threw their arms around her, screaming and dancing.
Lake paused, stopping all of them. “Anything we want?”
Sophia wasn’t sure what Lake was getting at. “Umm, sure.”
Lake jumped up and down. “Woohoo, we’re getting pigs,” Lake screamed.
Sophia stared at her. “Sure, but you’re not feeding Jolene and Rufus to them.”
Lake rolled her eyes, sighing deeply. “Okay, but they deserve it.”
Sophia chuckled. These women always had her back and made her smile.