Page 113 of You'll Be Sorry

“Don’t be ridiculous, we were flat-out told—that area, absolutely off-limits.” Lydia Baird glared at her sister.

Mandy waited.

“In our younger days we were prone to explore.” Ninety-year-old Lana again, whose statement generated more nods of assent. “We were given explicit instructions never to inspect the ledges. That place…something bad had happened.”

Mandy gave both elderly sisters a look. “In other words, you headed straight there.”

A few titters around the room.

“Kinda,” Lydia allowed. “But our father wasn’t wrong. Wandering those woods, getting near those ledges…Bad juju there. No doubt about it.”

“What did your father actually tell you?”

“The sins of our past,” Lana stated immediately. “Our forefathers had discovered a grand, cathedral-like space. Magnificent and otherworldly.”

“And we should never set foot in it,” Lydia added. “Terrible things happened. Times of shame and horror. Our father told the truth. Dark, dark energy there. We adventured our way to the base of those rocks, then immediately turned back around. ’Sides, couldn’t make out any sort of opening anyway.”

Mandy gazed around the room, where here and there some locals were nodding. But mostly, blank stares. It appeared the cave itself wasn’t common knowledge.

She went with her next instinct. “And the legend of the lost Continental treasure?”

“Ooh, ooh, oh!”

This got her a solid dozen hands in the air. She went with Dean, a longtime friend of her parents who happened to own the local diner.

“During the Revolutionary War, a chest of currency was being transported through the mountains when it got lost in a snowstorm. Which at the time was bad but maybe not so bad, as the Brits had figured out how to counterfeit the bills and devalue the colonial funds. Still, if the chest proved to hold authentic denominations, well, the historical value alone would be priceless.”

“And you’ve spent how much time searching for them?”

“Oh, in my younger days I might’ve done some poking around in the woods, but who hasn’t?” Fresh round of shrugs.

Time to cut to the chase.

“Has anyone here been in the cavern in question? Any year, any time. Who’s actually visited this place?”

Mandy’s neighbors eyeing each other, then, one by one, shook their heads.

“Even during the Dixon search and rescue efforts?” she pressed.

Still nothing.

Well, shit. She turned back to Austin, who’d clearly inflicted some sort of damage to the Dixon family that night. She had a feeling, however, that was the beginning of the story, not the end.

“Did you know?” she asked him softly. “The cave this morning. Did you know?”

Austin sagged, mumbled, “Never saw that place till we entered it.”

Which left her with…

One distinct villager who was not present, and yet clearly knew more about that night than anyone. Isla McLean, who lived in the vicinity and, Mandy was more convinced now than ever, had played an integral role.

She sighed heavily. Handed off Austin’s rifle to Officer Childs. Gazed outside where the night had gone white with snowfall.

She knew what she needed to do next.

35

I don’t know. The snow is really piling up.”