“Right. He helped Ben get that first clue. Ben never would have gotten to the Declaration of Independence or seen the map if it weren’t for Ian, and he just, what? Sends Ian to prison? And then buys some fancy house with his treasure money and lives happily ever after?”
“You’re missing the entire point,” I said. “Ben and Ianwereworking together, until Ben realized that Ian didn’t actually care about American history at all. He just wanted the treasure.”
Cam gave me the side-eye. “Um, they both definitely just wanted the treasure.”
We stared each other down for a few moments, until it became clear that neither of us would give. Cam bounced off the bed and sat at my desk.
“Come on, no more movies. Let’s get to the good stuff,” he yelled out.
“You mean the treasure,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.
That’s when my suspicions started. Cam may have been the one to find the treasure book. It might have been sitting in his uncle’s old trunk. But when push came to shove…Cam didn’t really care about gay history at all. That had to be why he brought the hunt to me in the first place. I would play the part of the history nerd, and only once I found all the answers would Cam come swooping in, shovel in hand.
Suchan Ian move.
“You need to ask him,” Sunny says.
I shake my head and look at her. “Sorry, what?”
Sunny pokes the manila file in my arms. “You need to talk to Cam.”
I groan and roll my head back. We’re standing outside of Bolerium Books, triumphantly holding a scroll from the Library of Alexandria. Well, it may as well be an ancient scroll, considering the salesperson inside told us this was probably the last intact flyer from Harvey’s 1979 birthday.
That wasn’t the case back in the early 1980s, of course. Like Mr.Wong said, the Castro neighborhood and surroundingareas used to be plastered with this same flyer. Its ties with the White Night riots made it a symbol of the gay rights movement. No wonder Gilbert Baker decided to use it as a clue in his chapter on Harvey.
The downside of our trip to Bolerium is what I’m not holding.
Julia slumps outside the doors. “I can’t believe they don’t have a single record ofGay Treasures. They have everything! The book had to have come through their store at some point!”
“Except, obviously, it didn’t,” Gabriel says, shuffling after her. He nods toward the flyer. “If Ivy’s right and this is a cipher key, that means it’s completely useless without the actual puzzles left in the book.”
“Yes,” Sunny says. “Although…the book is just as useless without the key.”
I sigh. “So what am I supposed to do?”
“Make a scan of the flyer,” Gabriel suggests. “And trade it for Cam’s book.”
Sunny frowns at him. “Why the hell would Cam want to give up the book in place of the flyer that goes with the book?”
“Uhhhhh…” Gabriel blows a raspberry.
“Maybe I do the opposite,” I say, thinking. “Maybe I try to downplay the treasure hunt as much as possible. Try to grab the book for another reason.”
“For the yearbook!” Julia says.
“Yes,” Sunny adds. “That’s good. Say you want to take some scans of it. Hell, we can take a full scan of just the San Francisco chapter and then give the book right back.”
Gabriel grins and nods. I can see the plan taking full form in front of me. And it’s definitely not a bad plan. I daresay it’s even more solid than Ben Gates stealing the Declaration of Independence. But I know Cam. He’s much smarter than he lets on. Much smarter, and much more conniving. Exactly the way Ian was inNational Treasurewhen he left Ben Gates marooned on a ship in the Arctic.
I shiver.
“I’ll do it,” I promise the others. “But just by myself, okay? Cam will know something’s up if the four of us are asking.”
We walk together all the way up to Market Street and grab the Judah line back for home. Julia jumps off early to hit up a bakery before going home. Then Gabriel. When Sunny gets off at Twelfth Avenue, she glares at me from the door.
“You won’t mess up,” she says. I can tell this is Sunny’s way of being supportive, but it comes out a lot more like an order.
“Right,” I say. “I won’t.”
