A Touch of Gold Read Online Free Page A

just saw him at the museum. He was waiting for his ultimate proof that Theo Burr lived on the island for years after everyone thought she was dead.”
    “I’m sorry. He wasn’t as lucky as you, Agnes, and the kids. He was still in the museum when it exploded. Cailey Fargo is working through the debris with the new arson investigator from Manteo. It’ll be a while before we know what happened. But they called me a few hours ago about Max.”
    “But if there was an explosion, how can they tell for sure? Everything must be all over the place. Even if they think Max is dead, he might not be. They make mistakes about these things in the early parts of an investigation. I’ve heard Chief Michaels talk about it before.”
    I knew I sounded a little hysterical, but there was that jackhammer going off in my head and I couldn’t believe Max was dead. My mind raced away from that reality and wondered how our little museum could explode. It seemed impossible, but I knew if Gramps was telling me, it must be true.
    “I shouldn’t have told you,” he said. “I’m sorry, honey. You have to get better, and then we’ll worry about the rest of it, okay?”
    “Okay.” I bit my lip to keep myself from becoming a sniveling, whining mass. I had to get myself together and get out of the hospital so I could find out how this could happen. “Is everyone else okay?”
    “You were the closest one to the scene. There were a few accidents when you flew out into the street. Some debris hit a few cars and caused some problems. But all of the kids and their teachers were far enough away. I haven’t talked to Agnes yet, but Ronnie said she was okay physically. I wouldn’t want to imagine how her mental state is.”
    I stared at all the little plastic tubes around me. Some of them were plugged into me while others seemed to be waiting for their opportunity. The doctor came in and told us that I was banged up a little but essentially whole. He wanted me to spend the night but said that as long as there were no changes in my condition, I could go home in the morning. He told me a nurse would bring me something to help me sleep since it didn’t look as though I had a concussion after all.
    He sounded like some bad TV show. Even his smile seemed off to me. Gramps waited until he was gone to tell me again how happy he was that I was okay. He reminded me how important it was that I spend the night in the hospital since the doctor thought it was necessary. “I don’t want to wake up in the morning and find out you sneaked back during the night. This is for your own good, Dae.”
    “You don’t have to convince me,” I assured him, settling back against the pillow again. “Don’t worry. You can go home and get some sleep. I’m going to do the same.”
    “I’ll be here for you in the morning.” He stood up and kissed my forehead. “I love you, honey. We’ll get to the bottom of what happened when you’re feeling better. You’ll see.”
    After he was gone, I stared at the blank white ceiling for a long time. I drifted in and out, thinking about Max and the explosion. It didn’t seem real. My mind rejected it like a bad dream.
    A nurse came in and gave me a pill along with a pep talk about going home in the morning. The pill helped the jackhammer in my head, but it couldn’t quiet my restless mind. The pep talk didn’t affect me. Of course I was going home tomorrow. With everything else that had happened, the idea seemed trivial and stupid.
    I went over and over everything that had happened at the museum and afterward. I saw Max waving to us from the doorway as he always did. We all began to walk away, and I answered the phone call from Kevin as I started back to the museum after realizing that I still had the gold coin.
    The gold coin. It seemed to whisper to me from across the room. I wondered if the doctor was wrong and I had a head injury after all. While I had strong feelings for certain objects, I’d never experienced anything