fade away youth// rafe cameron

31-Just like that

When we get to Heyward's we find him on the back dock beaten up a bit. I put a Band-Aid on his forehead where he has a cut.

"Let me know if I'm hurting you," I tell him.

"You're doing just fine," Heyward tells me.

"Okay," I tell him as I finish.

Heyward winces slightly. "Thank you, darlin'."

"Pop, what happened?" Pope asks.

"Oh, I should've known better. He came in just as I was about to lock up. Caught me by surprise. Once he had me down, he put his knee in my chest, and he asked me about that... that... that key from that... that drawing you showed me," Heyward explains. "And in case you're wondering, I ain't tell him nothing. Now did you track it down?"

Pope pulls the key out of his pocket and hands it to his dad. "I found it in Mee-maw's old apartment above the pharmacy just like you said," Pope tells him.

"Shit, boy, you should've gave this to me. I wouldn't have had to take a beating. What's the big deal? It ain't worth anything. Why they want it so bad?" Heyward asks.

"I don't know," Pope confesses. "First, I get this letter telling me that I need to go to Charleston. And then I meet a rich lady who wants me to give her a key that I didn't even know was in my family."

"None of it makes any sense," Kie states.

"Well, don't y'all just sit here whining about it. Figure it out!" Heyward tells us.

"No. I'm just gonna give the key to that lady. It's not worth..." Pope starts.

Heyward cuts him off, "No, no, no. Did I raise you to back down from a fight, boy?"

Pope shakes his head. "No, sir."

"Well, all right. Now, I... I didn't think about it before. I admit that. But now..." Heyward points to the Band-Aid on his forehead. "Now? I'm interested. Well, did they say why they wanted it?"

"Something about an old cross. I think it might be some kind of lost treasure," Pope tells his dad.

"You know who you should talk to? Your great-grandmother, Mee-maw," Heyward tells him.

Taking Heyward's advice, we head to the nursing home Pope's great-grandmother is in.

"Guys, the thing that Limbrey said, I don't think she meant to let it slip. She said the key leads to the Cross of Santo Domingo," Pope tells us.

"Wait. Can I see that?" JJ asks.

Pope hands him the key.

"Are we supposed to know what that is?" Sarah asks.

"I'm guessing it's some sort of historical artifact of great importance," Pope offers.

"Well, according to the interwebs, it was a gift from New Spain to the Spanish king," Kie tells us.

"New Spain? Is there an Old Spain?" JJ asks.

"Shit, talk about over-gifting. Look at that thing." Kie holds her phone up with a drawing of the cross. "Looks like there's a person standing next to it."

"So it's a giant-ass cross," I state.

"It was widely considered at the time to be the most extravagant tribute ever from the provinces. It was lost off the coast of Bermuda in 1829," Kie tells us.

"Did you just say Bermuda?" JJ asks.

"Oh, no. Not the triangle," John B remarks.

"It always leads back to the triangle, dude," JJ insists. "Like every single time something's weird, it's Bermuda."