Mountain Heiress: Mountain Midwife Read Online Free Page A

would have been found by now. And I guess that makes sense. People have been searching for over a hundred and fifty years.”
    “When it comes to secrets,” Gabby said, “time doesn’t matter.”
    What the hell was she talking about? He knew that asking for an explanation would open a can of worms, but he couldn’t let her statement stand unchallenged. “Tell me more.”
    “Think about the archaeologists in Egypt. They’re still finding artifacts in the sand, and those things have been hidden for thousands of years.”
    He hadn’t expected her to talk about archaeology.
    “I went to a King Tut exhibit in Manhattan,” she said. When she gestured, her blanket slipped, giving him another glimpse of the leopard bra. “You wouldn’t believe all the gold. And those thousands of years didn’t matter. Finding things is just a matter of knowing where to look.”
    “This is different,” he said.
    “Think about the last time you lost something and couldn’t find it,” she said. “You search and you search and you just can’t locate it. A couple of days later, you remember that you were in the kitchen when you lost it. You go to the drawer by the door and...ta da! There it is.”
    Her logic made a certain amount of sense, but Zach wasn’t going to concede. He was right about the treasure map. “Michelle used to travel a lot. She’d leave the house vacant for days at a time. We tried to keep an eye on things, but anybody who wanted to search could have gotten in.”
    “Zach’s right,” Rhoda said. “Treasure hunters have had plenty of chances to poke around at the Roost.”
    “Why is Charlotte so worried about it?” Gabby asked.
    Rhoda made a tsk-tsk sound. “On the day of Michelle’s memorial service, her house was broken into and some of her things were tossed around. They took the typical stuff like computers, a television and electronics. Sheriff Burton thought it was just a burglary.”
    “But he investigated,” Gabby said. “At least, I hope he investigated. That’s his job.”
    “The sheriff did all he could.” He didn’t appreciate her implication that law enforcement in this area was less stringent than it would be in a city.
    “Did he find fingerprints?”
    “The thieves wore gloves,” he said. “Even out here in the middle of nowhere, criminals know how to avoid being caught.”
    He’d been with the sheriff when his deputies studied the crime scene. They’d all come to the same conclusion. Michelle was a wealthy woman, and the thieves had hoped to find something of value while everyone was out of the house at the memorial service. The only person who thought of the Frenchman’s Treasure was Charlotte.
    “Maybe Michelle’s death triggered some kind of clue,” Gabby said. “Was there anything in her will?”
    “That’s a thought,” Rhoda said. “We should check with the lawyer.”
    Zach shot her a glare. He couldn’t believe Rhoda was considering Gabby’s nonsense. “Michelle’s will isn’t public information. The thieves wouldn’t know about it.”
    Gabby wasn’t deterred. “Bad guys could have broken into the lawyer’s office and—”
    “Forget about the treasure.” He paused to sip his tea. “If I believed there was a real danger from treasure hunters, I wouldn’t leave Charlotte alone in the house.”
    “Is that so?” Gabby arched an eyebrow. In spite of being a drenched mess with her hair hanging in limp strands and makeup smearing her cheeks, she managed to look sophisticated. “And I suppose you’re never wrong.”
    “Seldom,” he said.
    For a long moment, she held his gaze. He recognized the defiance in her dark brown eyes. She wasn’t the sort of woman who was going to take orders and back down. Everything he said, he would have to prove. For the first time, he saw the family resemblance. Gabby was a lot like her great-aunt.
    Rhoda stood. “Why don’t you come with me, Gabby? I’ll get you some dry clothes. Then Zach can take you back to the