Page 62 of Once a Hero

“I’ve rented a sleeper coach, and it’ll be here after lunch.”

“I can’t leave without my equipment from the van,” Kenichi said. “They towed the van. I’m going to need some help carrying stuff.”

“We’ll stop,” Beatrice said. “They also have our suitcases and whatever else we left in the van.”

Beatrice made a mental checklist of the things they would need to do in San Francisco before they boarded the Gulfstream. For instance, she would have to stop at the bank to retrieve the three-amber brooch from their temporary safe-deposit box.

Speaking of which…

“Where’s the one-amber brooch?” Beatrice asked Jake.

“Well, the price of that is team membership.”

“You drive a hard bargain. Yet we’re nowhere without the two-amber brooch. Where do you think it is?”

“Maybe if we combine Helen’s system with Kenichi’s system, we could find that brooch,” Jake replied. “Perhaps the reason we haven’t found it in the last three years was that we didn’t have enough resources to do so on our own.”

“You also make a good point.”

“I aim to please.” Jake winced again.

“Tell you what, Agent Kessler. Why don’t we let you rest until it’s time for you to check out? Meanwhile, we’re going to the tow truck company to get our stuff. Be ready to sign a contract when we come back for you.”

“A contract for what?”

“Liability. I don’t want to be responsible for your well-being or lack thereof. That’s Helen’s problem. We’re working together in this collaborative effort and that is all.”

“Together. I like that word.”

So do I.

But Beatrice wouldn’t say it aloud.

Chapter Twenty-Six

By the time the rental entertainer coach left Eureka for San Francisco, it was past Beatrice’s bedtime, but she could not keep her eyes closed. Three hours of tossing and turning later, she was still wide awake.

They’d be in San Francisco in a couple of hours.

She had her own bunk bed across from Raynelle, who slept like a quiet baby. Adjacent to them, no sound came from the rest of the sleeper coach where Jake and Kenichi were.

In the quiet of the night—except for the sound of the vehicle moving—Beatrice ran through the events of the day before, and blinked away a tear.

Dad’s cabin—if it had been really his—was completely destroyed by the firebomb. None of Oswald’s militia confessed to setting it. The arson investigator had not completed her investigation.

For all practical purposes, there was nothing left for them to comb through in Eureka.

Except the old leather pouch she had picked up from what she assumed to be Dad’s office.

It had an old golden key and postcard of San Francisco in it. What did they mean?

She had sent Benjamin a photograph of both items. He told her to run through the database—something she planned to do once onboard the Gulfstream.

Maybe it made sense for her to return to Charleston. She needed Benjamin’s knowledge of antiquities right now.

Nonetheless, they had to go back to San Francisco to pick up the brooches and the Gulfstream. She had offered to give Earl and Jake a free flight to Charleston. The two could then get a ride back to Savannah—unless Jake stayed on in her team.

Earl was still at the hospital. He would check out the next day. He had asked the hospital to send his records over to Savannah Memorial, where he expected to do the next surgery on his stomach. The poor dude had much damage from the gunshots in the forest.

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