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Did I dream you, or did tonight really happen?
And then she laid the phone beside her pillow and closed her eyes, thinking he would get the message when he woke up the next morning. But moments later, her phone signaled a new message. She quickly opened it and then sighed.
It’s real, and it’s just the beginning. I want to take you home with me after work tomorrow. I promise good food. Mom’s cooking. And there’s a great view of the sunset from the back porch. Will you come up the mountain with me?
She sighed. He didn’t know it yet, but she’d follow him to the ends of the earth if he asked.
I would be honored. See you then.
Awesome. Probably pick you up a little after six.
Dani disconnected, put the phone back on the charger, and closed her eyes. Within minutes she was asleep.
The headline in the local paper said it all.
SHOOTER CAPTURED
The ensuing story elaborated on the capture with no mention whatsoever of treasure hunting, praising both local and county authorities in their diligent pursuit for justice. Nyles Fairchild was painted as a backpacker who was knowingly trespassing, and the shooting as an accident compounded by the fact that he ran off and left Charlie Raines for dead.
Every citizen of Jubilee was relieved that justice was served, but while the residents on Pope Mountain were overjoyed by the news, they had deeper concerns. Concerns that somehow the reason for Fairchild’s presence on the mountain would become known and trigger an invasion of treasure hunters.
Cameron Pope had been thinking about this ever since he read the journal, and once he learned the shooter was in custody, he went into his office with Ghost at his heels and called Brother Farley, the pastor at the Church in the Wildwood.
The old man was having coffee out on the front porch of the parsonage when his phone rang. He set his cup aside and took his phone from his pocket to answer.
“Hello?”
“Morning, Brother Farley. This is Cameron Pope. Do you have a minute?”
“Yes, certainly, son. What can I do for you?” Farley asked.
“We need to have a family meeting, and by we, I’m talking about the residents of Pope Mountain. I was wondering if we could have it at the church? It’s the only place I can think of that would be big enough and private enough for what we need.”
“Of course,” Farley said. “Let me know the day and time, and I’ll make sure to have the air-conditioning set properly.”
“Thank you so much,” Cameron said. “And, if it’s not too much trouble, your presence would be welcome.”
“I’ll make a point to join you, and await your call,” he said.
Cameron disconnected, then looked up as Rusty walked into his office.
“Are you going to use the church?” she asked as she sat down on his knee.
Cameron slipped his arm around her waist to secure her, and then gave her a quick kiss.
“He said we could, but now we need to start notifying as many people as we can to let them know.”
Rusty nodded. “Okay then, when do you want to do this?”
“As soon as possible. Maybe day after tomorrow? And we should probably do it after hours. Maybe seven o’clock. That will give a lot of people time to get home from work. I have a list of everyone’s info on my computer. I guess I’d better start calling.”
“Give me half the list. I’ll help call,” Rusty said. “But what do we say to impress upon them the importance of coming?”
“Just tell them we have a mystery to solve, and it’s going to take all of us to make it happen.”
The calls went out, and then the family grapevine began speculating. What was wrong now? The man who’d shot Charlie was in custody. Nobody they knew had gone missing. Nothing they knew about had been stolen, but by the time the sun went down on the day, everyone had come to the same conclusion. They were going to the Church in the Wildwood to find out what was going on.
Like everyone else, Shirley got the call about the meeting, but she was busying about the house getting ready for company. Aaron hadn’t even pretended interest in a woman since the world came down around them until he met Dani Owens.
