I pulled my Swiss army knife out of my pocket and wedged the tip into the crack. I loosened it carefully until one side popped up enough to get my fingers underneath. Then I pried it loose. The whole thing came off in one piece and I set it beside me.

The hole revealed a spiral staircase leading into a dark cellar.

“Oh my god, Gavin,” she whispered. “You were right.”

“Do you want to come down with me?”

I expected her to at least hesitate—or maybe say no—but she nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Fucking awesome.

I went first so I could make sure the steps would hold. They creaked, but felt sturdy. I climbed to the bottom and Skylar came down after me.

We found ourselves in a dusty room with dark walls and a wood floor. I shined the light on shapes covered with sheets of fabric, mostly stacked against the walls, like someone had once used this room to store old furniture.

Skylar got out her phone for more light and turned in a slow circle. “I just got like five new story ideas from this room alone. This would be such a great place for a serial killer to hide his victims.”

“Right? Creepy basement with a hidden door? It would just need some sound proofing and it’s perfect.”

“Exactly,” she said, excitement in her voice.

We peeked beneath the sheets, but it was just old furniture. Skylar found a dresser, but the drawers were all empty. So was the writing desk.

“Look at this,” Skylar said, lifting another sheet. “It’s an old chest.”

“Is it locked?”

She pushed the sheet back and tried the latch. The chest opened with a puff of dust. “I guess not.”

I watched while she opened the lid. This one wasn’t empty.

“Holy shit,” I said softly.

Inside we found old books and leather portfolios filled with yellowed paper stacked on either side of another, smaller chest.

Sky opened it and we both gasped. It was mostly empty, except for a handful of shiny round coins at the bottom.

“Are those what I think they are?” I asked.

She picked one up and I shined the light on it. There was a fancy M stamped into the metal.

“I think this is a gold coin,” she said, her voice slightly breathless. “Do you think this is it?”

“The Montgomery treasure? I don’t know, there’s not much in there.”

She gasped again. “What if it’s a decoy?”

“Or a clue, like a scavenger hunt.”

“The M has to be for Montgomery, right?”

“Must be. What else is in there?”

She put the coin back and closed the lid, then gently shuffled through the rest of the contents. She lifted a small book out of the pile.

“This one is monogrammed,” she said. “SRM. You don’t happen to know Sarah Montgomery’s middle name, do you?”

“No, but I bet we could find out.”

Using just the tips of her fingers, she opened the book and gingerly turned a few pages. The script handwriting was faded and hard to read, and suddenly I wondered if I should have tried harder to learn cursive.

“Oh my god, Gavin, this is amazing. They’re letters, and they’re all signed by Sarah.”

“Letters in a journal?”

“Sometimes people used to write two copies of their letters, one to send and another in a journal so they could keep them. These first ones are addressed to an Aunt Ruth.”

“What do they say?”

“This one just talks about having tea with another aunt named Pollyann, and she sends her regards, and stuff about learning to play piano.” She turned the page and I waited while she skimmed the next one. “This one is kind of the same, although she does talk about having a row with cousin Betsy.”

“A row?”

“It means an argument.”

“Oh. Drama.”

She laughed softly. “Yeah. I wonder if these get better later.” She carefully opened to one of the last pages and gasped.

“What?”

“She wrote to Eliza.”

I crouched down closer. “Seriously?”

Even I could read the words Dear Eliza at the top of the page.

“Dear Eliza,” Sky read aloud. “It has been months since I last saw you, my dear friend. I am all too aware that penning this letter is a waste of time and energy. And yet I cannot seem to stop myself from writing to you, as if someday I’ll discover the truth of your whereabouts and I will have means to deliver these letters. Or perhaps it is my way of convincing myself that you are still alive, when no one else seems to believe that could be true.”

“Holy shit,” I muttered.

“My dearest Eliza, I hope that things are not as they seem. I hope you did not meet your end in tragedy, although my heart fears the worst. And deep down, I think soon I will have to face the truth of your demise. Yours truly, Sarah.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but whatever it was died in my throat. Something above us creaked.

“Is someone up there?” Sky whispered.

Another creak. It sounded like the floorboards.

“Maybe. We should go.”

She nodded.

For a second, I thought about grabbing the journal. This was fascinating stuff, and I knew Grace and Ginny would die to get their hands on it. But borrowing the key to come in here and snoop around was one thing. Stealing historical artifacts was another.

Besides, if Gram found out, she’d kill me.

I went to the stairs and peeked up while Sky covered the chest. It didn’t look like anyone was up there, but it was hard to see much of anything. We’d just have to take our chances and if someone was in the house, hope that I could bullshit my way out of trouble.

I was pretty sure I could.

With Sky right behind me, I crept up the spiral staircase. I didn’t see anyone in the kitchen, so I crawled out and helped Skylar. We quickly replaced the floor and pressed it down, hoping no one would be able to tell we’d been in here. Although the seam did look more pronounced. But there wasn’t anything we could do about that now.

I quietly shut the pantry door and took Sky’s hand. We tip toed our way to the front of the house, peeking into the rooms off the hallway before darting by. We didn’t see anyone, and there weren’t any more creaks. Maybe it had just been the house settling.

We made it outside and I locked the front door.

“See? No problem.”

She tugged on my hand. “Still. Let’s get out of here.”

I ran with her to my truck, feeling a buzz of excitement. But it wasn’t just from sneaking into the Haven House and getting away with it. Sure, that was fun, and finding actual gold coins hidden in a secret basement was pretty badass.

But it would have felt awesome to lay on her bed while she sat at her desk writing. Or to hang out with her on my couch watching a movie. Basically doing anything with Sky was great, whether or not we were doing something mildly dangerous. Or taking our clothes off.

And I found myself wishing, not for the first time, that I could actually date her.

33

Skylar

It was my second time sneaking into the Haven’s drive-in movie theater and my body vibrated with nervousness—or excitement. Or maybe both. We’d gotten away with it once, but what were the chances we’d do it again? Gavin had said about seventy-five percent, which didn’t seem so great to me. But he and Logan had been confident, and it was the drive-in’s last night of the season, which meant it was now or never.