Cross & Crown
Nick turned and left the office without another word.
Kelly gave Julian a small wave before following his lover out.
“We going after the treasure?” Kelly asked as Nick stalked toward his Range Rover.
“No,” Nick said through gritted teeth. “We are going after my fugitive.”
He opened up the back of the SUV and rummaged around for a duffel bag he kept there. Kelly leaned against the car as Nick pulled out a fresh pair of clothing and began to change, right there in the middle of the parking lot.
Kelly pursed his lips, leering when Nick took his shirt off.
“You’re staring like a pervert,” Nick said without looking over at him.
“So is everyone else in the parking lot,” Kelly shot back.
“You should put on dry boxers too. You know. For your health.”
Nick glanced around the lot, then glared at Kelly.
“Come on, Irish. You did everything right, here. You were careful and he still burned you. No way to see it coming.”
“Maybe. Don’t have to bend over and enjoy getting played, though.”
Once Nick had gotten dry clothes on, they climbed into the Range Rover, but Nick didn’t start the car.
“You okay?” Kelly asked him.
“I just . . . if this was a dead end, what was the point? The plaque we saw on the way there said the original bridge had been dismantled in 1793. Why the hell would you create a clue in 1831 that led to something you knew was gone?”
Kelly nodded, resting his head on the seat. “Maybe we had the clue wrong?” Nick’s green eyes sparkled. “Maybe it didn’t lead us here. I mean, why should it? The treasure was stolen at a tavern between here and Boston. The British were retreating to Boston. They wouldn’t have come back here with the treasure; it’d be hidden between the original theft and the city. So why put a clue that brings you past the treasure? It was a long way by horseback, why all the wasted mileage?”
Nick was nodding as Kelly spoke, his eyes going unfocused.
“What was the whole name on the gravestone?” Kelly asked.
“Russell,” Nick answered. “Russell B. North.”
“We took North as the clue, but what if it’s just the direction we were supposed to head in? Or nothing at al ?”
Kelly mused. “Is the name Russell important? Is it a town or something?”
Nick sighed heavily and shook his head. “I don’t know.
Get your phone out, look it up. I’m going to call Hagan, see if he’s come up with anything in those letters.”
Kelly did a few searches on his phone, trying to combine the words Russell and Revolutionary War with Lexington and Concord. He got results for several soldiers and historians, but one result popped up over and over. “Think I got something,” he told Nick.
Nick had his phone to his ear, but he raised both eyebrows at Kelly. He put the phone on speaker and lowered it to his lap. He was apparently on hold.
“The Jason Russell house?” Kelly said. “This says it was the bloodiest part of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.”
“Where is it?”
“It was in a town called Menotomy. Where is that?”
“That’s what the town of Arlington used to be called,” Nick said as he stuck the keys in the ignition. “It’s not far from here.”
Nick pulled out of the parking lot, sliding his sunglasses on. Kelly grinned at him, kicking his feet up onto the dashboard. “I know I always used to make fun of you and Owen for being history nerds, but I got to say, it’s kind of doing it for me right now.”
Nick glanced at him, and the sun flashed in his aviators.
Kelly nodded, still smiling widely. “The way you just pull facts out of your head like it’s magic? It’s hot.”
Nick chuckled and returned his attention to the road.
“O’Flaherty?” Hagan’s voice came from the phone on Nick’s lap. Nick picked it up and held it against the steering wheel.
“Hey, what you got for me?”
“What do you mean?” Hagan asked.
“The letters you were supposed to be reading over. Have you found anything?”
“Bro, you took the letters with you.”
Nick looked down sharply, then at Kelly. “We didn’t take anything,” Nick told Hagan.
“Your buddy Cross came in before you left, told me you wanted him and JD to skim over the letters last night for a lead. Said you’d decided they would catch more than I could.”
“Fuck!” Nick shouted.
“Did I get played by a CIA hit man?” Hagan asked dejectedly.
“Fuck, f**k, f**k! That’s why Cross ditched us, and that’s why he wasn’t interested in finding anything on the bridge.
He has the right location already.”
Kelly leaned forward and flipped the flashing lights on.
“We better get there first then, huh?”
Nick gunned the engine, and the Range Rover roared to life as he gave Hagan their destination. Kelly settled back to enjoy the ride.
Nick wasn’t trying to hide the Range Rover. It was a distinctive car, especially since everybody and their brother had seen him driving it. He wanted the other players in this to know he was there, that he and Kelly weren’t the stupid grunts they’d assumed.
So he parked it right on the street in front of the swinging white sign that denoted the Jason Russell House. “Site of the bloodiest fighting between the Minutemen and the Redcoats on the first day of the American Revolution,” it claimed.
Kelly gave him a questioning glance, then got out of the car. Between them they only had two guns, and they each carried a knife. Nick had a feeling his badge wasn’t going to be a lot of help to them when this all went down.
“What’s our play?” Kelly asked.
Nick clucked his tongue. “JD and his accomplices in handcuffs. Help Cross retrieve Cameron and then kick his f**king ass. And the location of any possible treasure in the hands of the appropriate authorities.”
“Who are the appropriate authorities in this case?”
“I don’t know. Not me,” Nick growled, and they started off across the lush lawn toward the large yellow house.
“What do you know about this site?” Kelly asked.
“Nothing, why?”
Kelly did a double take as they walked. “Nothing? Seriously? I thought you knew everything.”
“Only thing I know is this is the path the British took when they retreated to Boston. Obviously something important happened and now it’s a museum.”