The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,25
it to hide my most secret things when I spent my twelfth summer with her."
Praying she wouldn't find any spiders, Lucy put her hand into the hollow space--and pulled out a bundle of letters tied together with a frayed black ribbon and a folder full of loose papers.
"Jackpot," Lucy said, holding up her prize.
The letters were indeed what they'd been looking for, written by Lucy's ancestor, Paul Morris to his wife Molly during the Civil War. The loose papers were Belle's notes and more computer printouts.
Paul's grandfather, John Morris, was the printer's boy who'd supposedly taken the original Declaration of Independence from Dunlap's in July 1776. Paul had moved south, married Molly, and obtained a homestead grant. Belle had tracked down the Morris' old homestead grant to what was now Cohutta wilderness area.
They struggled to read Paul's chicken scratch, wading through descriptions of military equipment and living conditions and getting misty at the sentimental parts while looking for any reference to the Declaration.
The biggest surprise was the fact that he'd written the letters while wearing a Union uniform. No wonder they'd been worried about losing everything, the Morrises were Union sympathizers.
"This is it!" Lucy said.
"You found something?" Jane asked.
"I think so. He says he hid their most precious possessions in Lover's Cave on the old homestead." She read on, "And he put a map of the cave under the hearthstone at the cabin."
"That doesn't make sense," Jane said. "Why would he need to tell her that if she was living at the cabin?"
Lucy looked at one of the envelopes. "This is addressed to Molly in Atlanta. She must have gone to family in the city when the war started."
"So Belle did have a lead on the Declaration. Our ranger friend said she was planning to find the homestead site," Jane said.
"We have the coordinates of the homestead, right here in Belle's notes," Lucy said. "Maybe we can find the clue there."
"Now?" Jane said.
Lucy nodded. "Yes. If the cops aren't willing to do anything to find Belle, I'm going to do it myself. I can't just sit on my hands and wait."
Break A Leg
They made one stop at a wilderness outfitter for small daypacks and basic supplies.
"I found something that will take us right to the exact spot we want." Lucy held up a phone-sized bit of electronics.
"What is it?" Jane asked.
"Off-road GPS. You just enter the map coordinates you want to go to and follow the arrow."
"Can't you just use the one on your phone?" Jane asked.
"The sales guy says this will work even if there's no cell service and service is bad up in the wilderness area."
"Belle must have had one too, that's why she had those coordinates written down," Mae said.
"Exactly and now we have them. With the GPS and a map of Cohutta, we'll be able to find the homestead with no problem."
"I seriously doubt it'll be that easy," Jane said.
"You really should do something about that pessimism," Mae said.
Jane just shook her head.
Lucy handed over her platinum card. The salesclerk bagged up their supplies.
###
It was almost noon when they pulled into the parking lot closest to the coordinates. Mae turned off the van and Lucy stared through the windshield, speechless. The three sides of the parking area not bordered by the road they'd just left were a horror show of nature run amok. The trees were too close together and the shorter underbrush was lush and tangled. The ground wasn't close to level or even sloped. It all seemed to go mostly straight up or straight down. The whole of it looked like it was made to keep humans out and hide nasty surprises for anyone stupid enough to venture in.
Lucy looked at her compatriots and saw signs of impending mutiny. "Don't worry, the map shows a road. We'll be fine." She opened her door and got out.
Mae and Jane followed suit but neither looked happy about it.
"Maybe we should try the police again," Mae said.
"It's just a hike through the woods for God's sake." Lucy refused to listen to her own doubts.
"Let's just get it over with," Jane said.
They slathered themselves with SPF 100 and tightened the laces on their cross trainers.
Lucy figured they were either completely nuts or incredibly perceptive about their need for a change and their ability to find Belle. Hopefully they'd come out of it unscathed. Or at least not permanently damaged.
She surveyed the perimeter of the parking lot and found a track that seemed to correspond to the map and