Chapter 9 

Richard took them deeper into the mountain.

At the end of a collapsed tunnel was a sealed chamber.

The door opened with Daniel’s compass.

Inside was the real treasure.

Gold.

Jewelry.

Stacks of old coins.

Enough to make them wealthy for generations.

Clara stared.

“So it was real.”

Richard nodded.

“But your fathers didn’t come here for it.”

Beneath the gold were boxes.

Inside:

Documents.

Photographs.

Ledgers.

Names.

Payments.

Orders.

Proof.

Daniel opened one file.

The first page contained his grandfather’s handwriting.

They didn’t steal the gold. They stole the truth.

Daniel finally understood.

The gold had been hidden because the people involved believed it would eventually be found.

But the documents were what could destroy them.

Thomas and Samuel had hidden the evidence separately.

The mine contained only part of it.

The other part was at the diner.

Daniel looked at Clara.

“The letter.”

She nodded.

“The truth is beneath the floor.”

They returned to the diner.

But when they arrived, the door was open.

Everything had been destroyed.

The counter was overturned.

The floor had been ripped apart.

Someone had been searching.

Clara ran inside.

“My father’s room.”

They rushed upstairs.

The old wooden box containing Samuel’s letters was gone.

Daniel searched the floor.

Then remembered the photograph.

The tiny pine tree.

He examined it.

The mark wasn’t decoration.

It was a symbol.

He pressed the corner.

The photograph folded open.

Inside was a tiny strip of paper.

THE WATCH REMEMBERS WHAT THE EYES FORGET.

Daniel looked at the old photograph.

At Thomas’s wrist.

His father’s watch.

He suddenly understood.

“The watch.”