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“At least that’s helpful,” Lily said. “Anything else?”
Leo dug around for a second before finally handing her the bag. “Nothing the rest of us don’t have.”
Bradley inched his way closer. “What the fuck was he thinking?”
“You know how Terry is,” Leo said, and then awkwardly amended, “or… was. He was always down one rabbit hole or another on some bullshit conspiracy theory. I knew he was gross, but I never thought he was violent.”
“The question is, what are we gonna do about it?” Nicole said. “The fire’s out, and even if we use the sat phone to call for help, they won’t be able to do anything till morning.”
Lily shook her head, struggling with a vague sense that she was floating, imbalanced.
“Nic’s right,” she said finally. Lily hated it, but it was true. With the sun gone, the temperature had dropped. No fire meant it would only get colder and harder to see. The last thing she needed was everyone else stumbling around the edge of a cliff in the dark. They’d call first thing in the morning; she would keep everyone else safe tonight.
“Fire first,” Lily told them. “We can figure the rest out after that.”
* * *
Nicole dropped into the empty spot where everyone had gathered around the now blazing fire, wordlessly watching the smoke twist up into the star-sprinkled cobalt sky. A shooting star arced overhead, and not even Walter pointed it out. The mood was tense as they each marinated in their own panic. Even the crickets seemed to be holding their breath.
Finally, Leo took the first step into the conversation they all knew needed to happen. “Are we in agreement about what we’ll say to the police?”
“Terry held Nic at gunpoint,” Lily said robotically. “When you went in to help, he went over the cliff.”
No one spoke. To Lily’s surprise, the voice to rise out of the quiet was Walter’s. “I wonder if we should just say he went over in the dark,” he said, words trembling. “I’m worried the real story sounds made-up.”
“Sweet Potato has a point,” Nic said, and looked over at Lily. “Could say he wandered off against the rules, went missing.”
Lily nodded, resigned. “Fine.”
Across from Lily, Bradley began to fidget. “Should we talk about the possibility that there’s a map to real treasure in your bag, Lily?” He looked around the fire, and slowly, Leo nodded in agreement.
“He knew who your dad was,” Leo said. “He brought a gun and zip ties. Do we take this treasure thing seriously? Or is this a Terry-is-a-nutjob moment?”
“I’m not sure,” Lily admitted, “but Terry was hardly the first person to come out here thinking he knew something big. People have been looking for this money for over a hundred years. My dad was local, which gave him an advantage, and he’d worked with various archaeologists and historians for decades, so he had about as much inside information as anyone did about this thing.”
“What is this thing, exactly?” Bradley said. “Give us the whole story, not the brochure version.”
Lily exhaled, unsure where to begin. “Duke started chasing treasure when he was a kid. He spent nearly every free moment learning about Butch Cassidy. He worked with some pretty famous archaeological teams, but his first love was always that particular story.” Staring into the fire, she tried to put the words into some sort of order. “I told you a little about Butch Cassidy before, but that wasn’t his real name. It was Robert LeRoy Parker. He was born here in Utah in 1866. When he was a teen, he took a job on a ranch where a cowboy named Mike Cassidy taught him how to ride a horse, how to shoot, and how to steal. Robert’s parents were Mormon dirt farmers who worked their fingers to the bone and had nothing. Mike Cassidy knew how to get ahead, and that’s what Robert wanted.”
Lily glanced at each of them in turn and wondered if anyone was blinking. Even Nicole—who’d probably heard more of this stuff than she ever cared to—seemed to know something was different tonight.
“Fast-forward to 1889,” Lily continued. “Gold fever hits, draws men from all over the country. Robert is in Telluride, Colorado—called ‘To Hell You Ride’ because of the saloons and brothels and gambling. He works loading gold ore onto mules to carry down the mountain. And just like his parents, he has nothing to show for it. But right there on the corner is the San Miguel Valley Bank, and because it’s where they take the gold, Robert knows it’s going to be loaded. He thinks about when the biggest amount will be kept there and who’s working. But more important, he’s thought of how to get away.” Lily picked up a stick, dragging it in small spirals through the dirt at her feet. “Robert was a charismatic guy. He’d been getting to know the people outside of town, making friends, slipping them money, and stashing fresh horses at their places. So, the day of the robbery, he and his buddy Matt Warner wait till there’s only one teller working. Matt holds a gun on the guy while Robert cleans out the safe. They get away, and news explodes about the robbery. Robert is hooked now but doesn’t want to shame his sweet Mormon mama. He starts going by Butch Cassidy.”
