The Hidden

She smiled and turned to Terry, who was just standing there, a blank look in his eyes.

“Guess what, Terry? I do know where the gold is,” she said.

“You do?” Diego asked her.

She shrugged. “I didn’t until tonight. But that mannequin... It’s the heaviest thing I’ve ever tried to move. Nathan Kendall gave the gold to his wife for safekeeping. Her father apparently decided to keep it safe, too. There’s going to be some kind of panel in that statue. We’ll find the gold behind it.”

“I knew she’d find it,” Terry said to Gwen.

She told him exactly what he could do with himself.

Diego ignored her, drawing Scarlet into his arms. “I nearly died a thousand deaths, watching her holding that gun on you,” he said.

She smiled. “That’s because you love me. And I love you,” she said softly.

“Hey!” a voice suddenly thundered.

The cemetery suddenly seemed to be ablaze with light. Brett rode straight toward them, followed by a half dozen cops.

Diego turned to Scarlet. “They can take it from here.”

Suddenly he realized just how badly he was shaking. He’d almost lost her.

She laid a hand on his face and met his eyes. “I think we can take it from here, too.”

He smiled. And he suddenly knew, there in a mountainside cemetery, in the dark and surrounded by the dead, that they had wonderful lives ahead of them—together.





Epilogue

It was the next day before the events were finally and entirely untangled.

John Williams, the man known as Terry Ballantree, was not only a descendant of Rollo Conway—through the bastard child back East—but also of Nathan Kendall, since his great-grandmother had headed west and met up with one of Zachary Kendall’s multitude of grandchildren.

Gwen Barton had met Terry at the Twisted Antler when she and some friends had spent spring break in Estes Park, and they’d recognized each other as kindred spirits. Together they’d devised a way to get away with murder—and hunt for the gold. She hadn’t known about the gold until Terry told her about it and explained how he knew, through family lore, that it existed. After that, they just needed to find it.

Her poor husband had been, in her mind, a necessary and completely disposable pawn.

Of course, things had started to go to hell when their attempt to frame Ben failed, so eventually they’d realized that they had to kidnap Scarlet—who, they were both convinced, knew where the gold was—and escape before they were caught. Terry had managed to slip past Matt and Meg to get to Angus, but that was his last piece of good luck. He and Gwen hadn’t counted on Scarlet’s love of history and knowledge of antique weaponry, much less the spectral posse that had come to her assistance.

Adam and Scarlet had spent a lot of time talking about the fact that the Krewe always needed more historians and archaeologists, and they didn’t have to be trained agents if they chose office work.

An understanding of life after death was always a plus.

Scarlet had to admit she liked Adam very much, along with every other Krewe member she’d met so far.

In Diego’s mind, what was there not to like?

Not to mention love.

It was twilight—that perfect moment when the sun was falling and the sky was alive with crystalline color—and the Krewe were together on the porch of the main house. They had the ranch to themselves. Ben and Trisha were on an extended trip to the Caribbean, Clark and Gigi Levin—who’d been easily located having lunch after going missing—were headed “anywhere but here,” and Linda Reagan was down at the station, tearfully begging not to be arrested for being an accessory to murder.

Terry and Gwen were under arrest, of course.