The Last Treasure by Erika Marks

Author:Erika Marks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-06-22T13:55:08+00:00

• • •

The air is soft with evening. The sun slides down the sky, a honey-colored lozenge about to be swallowed by the horizon. Liv tries to keep pace with Sam and Beth, but their long legs carry them farther faster and the sandy path is really only wide enough for two, or maybe this is what Liv tells herself so she can hang back in silence and tie off her dangling thoughts. Sam’s resignation, his lack of doubt, confounds her, enhances her own doubt. Has no one else found the entries curiously uneven? Beth called the details discrepancies, as if they were a few missed pennies in an accountant’s books. Liv wishes she could see it that way too. She’d been so sure after reading the journal, the mystery solved, she’d feel the shawl of relief and understanding draped over her, would know how warm and cozy it would feel at last to know the truth.

But then, so much of this moment isn’t as she imagined it.

At the top of the beach, they leave their shoes in a pile and pick a spot to sit. While Sam scans the water, Liv helps Beth unpack the basket. Smoked meats and blocks of cheese. Grapes and figs. A container of strawberries, plump and shiny. A flush of embarrassment courses through her as Liv sets down each carefully wrapped item. This is a feast for lovers. The flavors of seduction. How very disappointed Beth must be to have to share it.

Sam joins them. “This is quite a spread.”

“It was nothing, really.” Beth sweeps the dark curtain of her hair behind her ear. “I never asked you where you’re staying.”

Sam glances at Liv. “We’re not.”

“I don’t understand.” Beth looks startled. “You’re driving back to Topsail tonight?”

“It’s not a bad drive,” says Sam.

“But it’s almost seven,” Beth says.

“We have to get back.”

Liv looks up to meet Sam’s eyes, seeing a curious flash of question in them. Is he waiting for her to disagree and give them permission to stay on?

“If you’re driving, then I suppose you won’t want any of this,” Beth says, returning the bottle of Prosecco to the basket.

“Don’t bury it on my account,” Sam says, looking at Liv. “Not all of us are driving.”

Liv concedes. “Maybe a little.”

Beth hands Sam the bottle and he tears off the foil and points the Prosecco toward the water. The cork gives with a fat pop. Beth holds up the glasses and Sam fills them. The sparkling wine is the same copper as the melting sun.

Beth raises her glass. “To Theodosia, may she finally rest in peace. . . .” She turns to Sam, her eyes warm. “And to old friends.”

Liv takes a full sip, the carbonation prickling her tongue.

“It won’t be long before the hunt for the wreckage starts up again, now that there’s proof where she went down,” Sam says.

Of course, the ship. Liv’s focus has always been on Theodosia, but this information will provide answers about the final resting place of the Patriot too.

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