“Coffee?” Richard offers, moving to the woodstove where a pot sits warming.
“Just talk,” Caleb says firmly.
Richard nods, pouring himself a mug before sitting at the table. “Margret doesn’t know I’m meeting you,” he begins. “She thinks I’m checking on the livestock.”
“Why the secrecy?” I ask.
“Because she wouldn’t approve of what I’m about to tell you.” He takes a sip of coffee, his hands trembling slightly. “The Wolf treasure isn’t what you think it is.”
“Meaning?” Caleb prompts when Richard pauses.
“Thomas Wolf didn’t just hide gold and maps to copper deposits,” Richard continues. “He hid evidence—evidence of crimes committed by the mining company that forced him out. Murders, land theft, corruption.”
I frown, trying to process this. “Evidence from over a century ago? Why would that matter now?”
“Because the company still exists,” Richard says grimly. “Under a different name, of course—Northern Tier Mining. NTM. They own half the mines in this province alone.”
The name clicks in my memory. “They’re the ones pushing for the access road through Jake’s property.”
“Exactly.” Richard nods. “They know what’s buried on that land—both the minerals and the evidence. They’ve been searching for decades.”
“And Margret?” Caleb asks. “Where does she fit in this?”
Richard’s expression softens. “She believes her great-grandfather wanted the gold used for the community. She’s not wrong, but she doesn’t know about the evidence. I’ve kept that from her to protect her.”
“What about Danny?” I ask, swallowing and feeling the pain where his arm had pressed.
“Danny discovered some of this on his own,” Richard admits. “But he’s only interested in the gold and mineral rights. He has no idea what he’s stirred up by making his search so public.”
“And you know all this how?” Caleb’s voice is skeptical.
Richard stands and moves to a bookshelf, where he pulls out a false panel, revealing a hidden compartment. From it, he withdraws an ancient leather portfolio.
“Because Thomas Wolf wasn’t just Margret’s ancestor,” he says, placing the portfolio on the table. “He was mine too, my great, great Uncle, through my mother’s side. Margret and I are distant cousins; she doesn’t know it.”
He opens the portfolio, revealing yellowed documents, newspaper clippings, and photographs. “I’ve been collecting this information my entire adult life, adding to what my grandfather left me.”
I step closer, drawn by the historical treasure before us. One photograph shows a group of men standing before a mine entrance, their faces grim beneath coal-smudged skin.
“That’s Thomas,” Richard says, pointing to a bearded man in the center. “Taken three months before the mine collapsed, killing twenty-seven men. A collapse that NTM’s predecessor company caused deliberately to silence workers who were organizing.”
The implications are staggering. If true, this goes far beyond hidden deposits of gold or copper. This is about corporate crimes buried for generations.
“What exactly are you asking of us?” Caleb questions, his voice measured.
Richard looks up, his eyes intense. “Help me find the final cache. According to my research, Thomas hid the most damning evidence in a location he called ‘the heart of darkness’—somewhere on what’s now Jake’s property. With what you found today, we might finally have the key to locating it.”
“And once we find it?” I ask.
“We take it public. All of it. The historical crimes, the corporate lineage to NTM, their current attempts to seize the land.” Richard’s voice grows passionate. “This could stop them from destroying more communities, more lives.”
“Or it could get us all killed,” Caleb points out bluntly. “Corporations with that much to hide don’t play nice.”
Richard’s face hardens. “They already killed Margret’s brother. Jeff didn’t fall from that ridge—he was pushed, not by Danny, but by NTM’s security contractors. Danny just happened to be there, arguing with his father. He’s a convenient scapegoat.”
My head spins with these revelations. If Richard is telling the truth, we’ve stumbled into something far more dangerous than a treasure hunt.
“Margret believes Danny killed his father,” I say slowly.
