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“How’s the conference going?” Wiley asked me as Archie guided the car out to the highway.
“Really good,” I said. “It’s my first, so it’s a little overwhelming. A lot of information.”
“Archie says you’re a travel writer and that you’re going to write about us,” Aubrey said, an edge of suspicion in her voice.
“I am,” I confirmed. “That’s part of why we’re going to the church.”
“He told us.” The suspicion was still there. “If you solve the treasure hunt, what’s in it for you? Did Archie promise to share his booty?”
“Aubrey,” Archie groaned.
“No,” I laughed. “Nothing like that. But if I can help, and if we really do manage to get to the end, I’ll get the cover story for the magazine I write for. It’d be kind of a career-maker.”
“Cool,” Wiley said.
“How long are you here?” Aubrey asked, and I had the sensation of being interrogated. I tried to keep my voice light, realizing I would have been protective of Jake, too, if a woman showed up suddenly seeming over interested in him. Had Archie told her about the kiss?
“A week for sure. Maybe longer.” Technically, I was leaving with Christine when the conference ended, but if we were close to the solution of this hunt, I’d stay. I just hadn’t figured out the logistics of that yet.
“Oh, okay,” she said. Her tone implied that something wasn’t okay, though, and I wondered if it would be hard to win her over. Or if I needed to.
“Aubrey, cut it out.” Archie’s tone was light, but his words were not.
“I’m just saying,” she went on, undeterred. “We’ve been working on it for what, three years now? And we found the answer. We just didn’t like it. So what makes you think there’s some other answer, and that you’ll be able to figure out what like ten of us couldn’t in one week?”
It was a valid question, one I’d thought about a lot. “I don’t know that I can,” I said honestly. “I’d just like the chance to try. And maybe I can bring a fresh perspective to it.”
“Makes sense,” Wiley said, his easy nature soothing a bit of the tension Aubrey’s questions brought.
“I guess,” she said, and I was relieved she seemed content to leave it for now.
The sky hung low over the highway as Archie guided the big car around the tight curves, and instinctively I knew some kind of weather was coming.
“Think it’s going to rain?” I asked.
“Snow, probably,” Archie said. “Temperature’s been dropping all day.”
“Snow?” It came out of me like a squeak, and the sound earned me a concerned look from Archie.
“Maybe a bit,” he said, the forehead wrinkling. “Not a big deal.”
Snow was not something I had experience with. And for some reason it was a terrifying prospect, being out on this road in the snow.
“I’ve actually never seen snow,” I admitted.
“Thought you were a travel writer,” Aubrey said.
I turned to look to the back seat, ready to put whatever weird conflict Aubrey had with me to bed. “I am, but since I live in San Diego, I usually sell pieces that focus on southern California. I don’t really have to travel much.”
“You wouldn’t need to, I guess,” Wiley said, and his easy accepting tone was reassuring.
“Snow up here is beautiful,” Aubrey said, seeming to have decided to lay off the questioning for the moment. “And we’re built for it, so nothing to worry about.”
Her words did make me feel a little better, and even though the sky looked ominous as we pulled into a parking lot in front of the Kasper Ridge Lutheran Church, the worry in me eased a bit.
“I called ahead,” Archie told us as we all got out of the car. “Pastor Fred is meeting us here.”
The air circled around us, a crisp chill that felt laced with ominous promise. I shivered as we approached the modest wood and metal structure. I wouldn’t have identified it as a church,except for the metal cross jutting from the top over the peaked doorway.
