“The treasure?” Gabriel asks eagerly.
I shake my head. “Not yet. But its location, hopefully.”
Gabriel runs a hand through his hair. “Okay, this is crazy. None of us came here with a clue, even, and somehow you have the entire thing figured out?” He pulls up the drawing of the scroll on his phone. “Which part of the picture were you working on?”
I bite my lower lip. “The three women in the corner. They’reThe Three Shadessculpture at the Legion of Honor museum.”
Julia cocks her head. “Another art museum? I thought we were supposed to be digging for this.”
“We are,” I say quickly. “There used to be these outdoor installations near the museum that popped up every June during the Pride celebrations. In 1983, the installation was a clockface, but without any arms to indicate a time. Look at the grandfather clock picture on the scroll. I think we’re supposed to dig where the clockface installation was, right outside the four o’clock mark.”
No one says anything. Gabriel, Julia, and Sunny poke around the picture on their phones, squinting. I notice that Julia hasn’t written anything down in her notebook.
“That’s…interesting,” Gabriel says finally. Except he makes the word “interesting” sound exactly like the word “stupid.”
“Why not the nine o’clock mark?” Julia asks after a minute. “The clock in the picture is pointing there too.”
I pull out my laptop, then connect it to the projector. Once the machine warms up and the image flashes over the back wall, I walk directly to it.
“See this woman?” I ask. “She’s wearing the same necklace as the one we found in the box. And her arms are doing the same thing as the clock arms. They’re pointing to nine and four. But there’s nothing near the nine.”
“Well, nothing in the drawing,” Sunny clarifies.
“Which is important,” I say, exasperated. But no one looks convinced. I rack my brain to figure out what I’m missing from earlier—why the solution felt so obvious when Cam and I first found it. “The boundaries of Gilbert’s picture have to be there for a reason, right? There’s nothing outside nine o’clock. But look where her four o’clock arm is pointing. Right atThe Three Shadesin the Legion of Honor museum!”
Gabriel folds his hands in his lap. He looks like a sad combination of confused and disappointed. “What about everything else? How is Harvey Milk connected?”
I throw my palms up. “I don’t know! The librarian from the history center said the installations could be related to the San Francisco Gay Pride marches. They popped up in late June from 1970 all the way to 1983. I think that’s pretty fascinating!”
Sunny lunges forward, elbows pinned on her knees. “Wait. You went back to the history center yesterday?”
Ohhhhh no.
“Is that why you weren’t at school?” Gabriel asks softly. “You…you couldn’t wait for us?”
Sunny tuts and shakes her head. She would be pulling offthe distant, judgmental vibe perfectly if her eyes didn’t look so hurt. “So I guess you two lovebirds weren’t just playing hooky for a date, then.”
The room goes completely silent.
Sunny eyes me menacingly after dropping the bombshell. I can only look back at her, beyond guilt-ridden, as Gabriel and Julia put two and two together.
“Cam,” Julia says. “You were with Cam.”
I swallow. “He’s a good researcher.”
“So why are you standing in front of us right now?” Sunny asks. She motions at me with one arm. “If you and Cam wanted to sneak off and find this thing yourselves, why aren’t you out digging it up together?”
“I wanted to bring it to you—”
“Bullshit,” Sunny says. “You didn’t say a word about this on Monday or in the group chat yesterday. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re only here right now because something happened with Cam, and you’re out looking for placeholders again.”
I wince and close my eyes. I feel like I’ve just failed a lie detector test.
“You’re not placeholders,” I whisper. But even my voice refuses to prop up such slippery, spineless words.
Sunny stands and grabs her bag. She breezes by me and trots up the stairs without a word. Gabriel shakes his head as if in disbelief. Then he stands, resigned, and picks up his own backpack.
Julia studies me as the sound of Gabriel’s footsteps fadesinto the distance. Instead of tucking her notebook away, she holds it out to me.
