Chapter 7
They returned to the diner.
Clara spread Samuel’s notebook across the counter.
Most pages were filled with notes about the mountain.
Dates.
Coordinates.
Names.
But the final section was missing.
Daniel noticed something.
The remaining pages were numbered.
- 42. 44. 45.
Page 43 was gone.
He looked at Clara.
“Your father didn’t lose this.”
“No.”
“He removed it.”
“Why?”
Daniel thought about the letter.
Trust the one who seeks answers, not the one who seeks the treasure.
“Maybe because someone was watching him.”
They searched the diner.
Behind an old photograph frame, Clara discovered another note.
It contained only one sentence:
The gold was bait.
Daniel stared.
“Bait for who?”
Clara didn’t answer.
Then she noticed something behind the photograph.
A second message.
Find the man without a face.
They returned to the mine.
The scratched photograph became their guide.
They studied the clothes of the unknown man.
His boots.
His watch.
A small ring.
Daniel suddenly recognized the ring.
His grandfather had owned one.
He had seen it in family photographs.
He whispered:
“No.”
Clara looked at him.
“What?”
“That man…”
Daniel pointed at the photograph.
“…is my grandfather.”
The realization changed everything.
If Daniel’s grandfather had been there, then the story had started decades before Thomas disappeared.
And if his face had been scratched away, someone had wanted Daniel never to know he was involved.
They searched the mine again.
Behind a loose stone, Daniel found a metal plate.
It bore an inscription:
ELIAS COLE — 1931
His grandfather’s name.
Beneath it:
THE FIRST MAN WHO KNEW.
Daniel stared at the words.
Then footsteps echoed from the tunnel.
Someone was coming.
This time, they didn’t run.
They waited.
And when the man stepped into the light, Daniel recognized him.
Richard.
His uncle.