Chapter 10 

Richard stared at Daniel.

“What watch?”

“The one in the photograph.”

Daniel remembered his father’s old belongings.

He had kept the watch in a box at home.

He had never understood why the back was scratched.

They returned to Daniel’s apartment.

The watch was exactly where he had left it.

Daniel opened the back.

Inside was a tiny rolled piece of paper.

Coordinates.

Clara unfolded them.

They led to an abandoned church thirty miles away.

They drove through the night.

Inside the church, they found a hidden compartment beneath the altar.

And there it was.

The missing evidence.

The complete record of the conspiracy.

But there was also something else.

A letter.

Thomas’s handwriting.

Daniel opened it.

Daniel,

If you ever find this, then the false treasure trail worked.

I’m sorry.

I wanted you to believe I was chasing gold.

It was the only way I could keep the truth away from you.

Samuel and I knew that if the wrong people discovered what we had found, they would come after our families.

So we created a treasure story.

Let everyone chase gold.

Let no one chase the truth.

Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.

Then he read the final paragraph.

If I disappear, don’t come looking for me.

That is not because I don’t love you.

It is because I do.

Daniel lowered the letter.

Clara put her hand on his shoulder.

Then Richard spoke.

“There is something else.”

Daniel looked at him.

“Your father didn’t disappear when you thought he did.”

“What?”

Richard swallowed.

“He was alive for almost two years after everyone believed he was dead.”

Daniel froze.

“Where?”

Richard looked toward the door.

“He came back to Black Pine once.”

“Why?”

“To finish one last thing.”