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get me to sell this land for a coon’s age. He puts on an act that it’s for my safety, but I’m no fool. I can tell he has other reasons.”
    “Sheriff Kane?” Morgan’s forehead pleated as she turned to Celeste and Fiona. “Isn’t that the Sheriff that Dixie said she thought was trying to put her out of business?”
    Emma nodded. “You mean Dixie Sumner down at the hotel?”  
    “Yeah, we’re staying there,” Celeste answered. “She seems so nice and so do you. I wonder why the Sheriff seems to be against you.”
    “We’re distant relations … don’t get along too well since there was trouble in the family.” Emma pressed her lips together. “She seemed to be quite distraught when I saw her out at the mine.”
    “She was at the mine?” Celeste asked. “Why?”
    “Same reason I was, I suppose.” Emma shrugged. “Checking out the goings on out there.”
    “Well no doubt she was distraught,” Fiona said. “I think she’s got a lot riding on that hotel.”
    “She sure does,” Emma replied.
    “Well, we’re sorry if we bothered you,” Luke said. “We didn’t mean to infringe on anyone’s property. We’ll be going now.”
    Jolene looked back at the cars and realized the woman had come on foot. Where had she come from anyway? Probably the trailer they’d seen in the satellite photo, but that was so far away and it was growing darker by the minute.
    “Do you need a ride back?” she ventured. “It’s getting dark out.”
    Emma’s shoulders relaxed and her eyes softened. “That’s nice of you to offer.” She looked around the group. “Maybe I misjudged you folks. I just figured you were a bunch of greedy, inconsiderate treasure hunters.”
    Jolene glanced at Luke who looked down, kicking at the sand with his steel-toed boots. “No Ma’am. Were a different type of treasure hunter.”
    “Is that so?” Emma tensed. “I only know one kind.”
    “We’re not in it to find treasure for ourselves. I work for an organization that recovers old treasure … for historical purposes … and I suppose they make a lot of money at it too.” He held up his palm at the look on Emma’s face. “But we don’t take anything we don’t have permission to take. Usually my company pays very well if they are interested in a treasure on private land.”
    Emma narrowed her eyes at him. “Well sure you would, but if it were on my land, I’d own all of it!”
    “Not necessarily. Depends on where the treasure came from in the first place. For example, if it was stolen to begin with, then it might belong to the original owner,” Jake said. “Anyway my company knows all the laws and goes through the proper legal channels to make sure everyone gets their due.”
    “Oh, well that does sound like you folks are on the up and up. Many have come here with those things,” Emma pointed down at the metal detectors, “but none were nice like you folks. Anyway, I can tell you there’s no treasure here.”
    “Really? We heard this was the location of the homestead of Shorty Hanson—one of the miners here back in the 1800s.”
    “Why would the treasure be buried near his homestead?” Emma asked.
    “Well, he robbed several stagecoaches of their loads of silver and gold,” Jake answered.
    “Did he?” Emma tilted her head, her eyebrows lifting a fraction of an inch. “You folks might be wise not to believe everything you hear.” She hefted the shotgun onto her shoulder, turned and walked away into the dark.

Chapter Five

    Luke and Jake loaded the metal detectors in the back while Jolene, Fiona, Morgan and Celeste squished into the back seat of the Escalade. Jolene tried to claim a window seat but Fiona pushed her into the car first so she was forced in the middle next to Morgan, while Celeste and Fiona got the windows. Jolene said a silent prayer of thanks that she and her sisters were all thin as she wriggled in the seat trying to get comfortable … it was a tight fit as it was.
    “What do you think