✯ North Star ✯

17 - Fixing The Past

Once Limbrey finally disappears into the trees, Pope doesn't waste a second. He bolts toward the casket like something inside him snaps loose, the desperation of it landing hard in my own chest even before I fully understand what's driving him.

"Pope. Pope— wait. Wait! Shit." JJ jumps up, and the rest of us scramble after him.

"Wait, wait," I warn, stopping just short as Pope drops to his knees in the dirt, staring down at the open casket.

"Cecilia Tanny. Denmark's wife. He wasn't talking about the cross. He buried her at the foot of the angel."

"The true treasure," Kie whispers, and something in her voice tells me she feels the weight of it too.

"His wife," John B adds quietly. When I meet his eyes, he's already looking at me, something soft and understanding passing between us.

"Denmark was hung for burying his wife and now they defiled her grave," Pope says softly, and my chest aches at the injustice of it, layered on top of everything else this family lost.

I gently lift a small gold ring resting beside her, the metal cool and worn smooth with age.

"This must have been from Denmark. Her wedding ring." I glance at John B again — he still hasn't looked away.

"We can't leave her like this," Pope says, voice tight.

"We won't," John B says.

We work together — John B and JJ lowering the lid, all of us hammering it back into place, the sound of it echoing strange and solemn through the clearing. Pope gathers a handful of wildflowers and lays them on top like he's placing them directly on her hands, the gesture so tender it makes my throat tighten. Then we bury the casket again, covering her with dirt until the ground is level, all of us working in a quiet that feels like the closest thing to a prayer any of us know how to give.

Pope steps back, shaking his head.

"I... I just don't get it. I mean you guys saw the map. He hides his gold so no one finds it for 170 years. And then he sends a message to his son Robert to come here to his mother's grave but the message never gets to him. Denmark wanted him to find the cross. I know we're in the right spot. It just feels like—"

"Like we missed something?" JJ finishes.

Before Pope can answer, JJ's climbing onto the van.

"There he goes," John B mumbles.

"Guys— come here," JJ calls.

I climb up next to him. He points toward a hole in the tree.
"That looks like—"

"The painting in the island room," I finish, my pulse already picking up.

"It's worth a shot right?"

"Yeah," I nod.