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“Well, I didn’t know it at the time, but his twin brother, Alex, was looking for me to finish what his brother started. I’d purposely left Louisiana to get away from all that, and I didn’t want to advertise my new location to anyone from home. Then right after you helped me move in, I found out Alex was in Jubilee looking for me. That’s why Aaron came to stay with me. It’s why he asked Sean to install all of the security in my house. Your brother turned himself into my bodyguard and ultimately saved my life.”
The room was silent. The family kept looking at Aaron, and then Dani, and then over again, stunned by what they’d just learned.
“And all of this was going on in the middle of trying to find Charlie’s shooter?” Shirley said.
Aaron nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Dani was indirectly involved in the crime we were trying to solve, and a direct target to a psycho as well. As far as I’m concerned, she’s as good as it gets.”
“No arguments about that from any of us,” Sean said.
“Thank you all, and especially Aaron, for all of the obvious reasons and then some,” Dani added.
Aaron grinned. “No problem.”
“Okay,” Shirley said. “But I’m absolutely certain that’s not why Cameron is calling a meeting. So, what’s up?”
Aaron sighed. He should have known his mother wasn’t going to let this go.
“Cameron finished reading that journal Dani found. He knows the secret Aunt Ella said was in the journal. And I suspect he’s going to let the family know as well.”
“So, what is it?” Shirley asked.
“Well, we now suspect the man who shot Charlie was looking for a missing shipment of Confederate gold, because there’s mention of it in the journal, and that it was supposedly hidden somewhere around Big Falls. But what was important to Brendan on that same day, was that his wife, Meg, went up the mountain to pick berries and never came home. They never found her body. I think Cameron is going to send us all on a treasure hunt, but not for gold. To find Brendan’s Meg and bring her home.”
The shock on their faces was stark.
“I can’t imagine that kind of grief,” Shirley said.
Dani glanced at Aaron.
He brushed his finger down the side of her cheek.
“You didn’t know how intuitive your remark was on the way up here, did you?”
“What do you mean?” Shirley asked.
Dani sighed. “As we were driving up here, I remarked about how beautiful it was, but because of the density of the forest, also a little overwhelming. I wondered how many centuries of secrets this mountain was hiding.”
B.J. had seen Pope Mountain as their saving grace. He loved everything about it, but hearing about this great tragedy had shocked him. He couldn’t imagine anything worse than losing someone and never knowing what happened to them or where they were. His eyes were swimming with unshed tears, and because he didn’t want to cry in front of God and everybody, he picked up his fork.
“This is too damned sad to talk about. I’m eating pie.”
Dani saw his tears, and felt an immediate need to protect him.
“I agree,” she said. “It’s too damned sad to talk about,” and stabbed her fork into the slice of pie before her and took a big bite.
She didn’t know it, but in that moment, she sealed her fate with this family in helping hide B.J.’s tears.
Shirley gave Aaron a look.
“Does Cameron know about Dani’s part in all this?”
“No, ma’am. I don’t think so,” Aaron said.
“Well, he should,” Shirley said, and left it at that.
After finishing dessert and helping clean up the kitchen, Dani finally had to say goodbye. Aaron still had to take her home and he was on duty tomorrow. Shirley and her sons stood beneath the porch light waving goodbye as Aaron backed up and then went down the driveway to the main road.
“That was the best time I’ve had in years,” Dani said. “Thank you for tonight.”
