Free Treasure Sleuth by Amy Shaw

nodded, his eyes scattering over the site taking in as many details as he could.
    "Just the other side of the wall, is a grave with an iron edging fence about knee high. In the middle is buried a heavy bag with twenty two pieces of gold inside."
    "You actually buried your stash over someone's grave?"
    "Well it seemed like a good idea at the time. Your Grandpa encouraged me to put my savings into gold saying it always rose above inflation. And having it in metal form was more secure than the banks, I mean look at what happened in Iceland and Cyprus, he was right."
    "Yes Mark, but why bury it all out here and not keep it at your house?"
    "A few reasons. Firstly, I was keeping it at my house. I hid chunks behind light switches, in the attic, a few bits in the garden and I even bought some cat litter just so I could hide some in there. But once I got over ten pieces it became hard to remember where I'd hidden it all, and I couldn't exactly write it down, else it would be like having your own treasure map."
    Abby laughed.
    "Secondly, when word got around some of the clubs that I used to belong to, I knew my house would never be safe. I've known of other metal detectorists getting burgled and their gold coins stolen. So I put them here. All of them."
    "Haven't you heard not to put all your eggs into one basket?"
    "Well I always preferred Mark Twain's version - 'put all your eggs into one basket... and watch that basket!"
    "Did you need so many eggs? Couldn't you have swapped them for one bigger bar?"
    "Yeah I would have but I wasn't planning on keeping them for long. I was saving up for a car."
    "Wouldn't be a blue car by any chance?"
    "Might have been."
    Abby smiled. "Were you really going to give up your dream Lamborghini to help me buy my Grandpa's lighthouse?"
    "Well I figured owning half a share of a lighthouse wouldn't be so bad, especially if we made use of some of Gene's research. Then maybe I could afford a brand new Lamborghini Aventador one day."
    "A half share?"
    "Sure. Anyway, doesn't look like I'm going to be buying a half share in anything, not a Lambo or a lighthouse."
    "What are we going to do?"
    "Well, we have two options. We could come back in a year when they have finished the houses..."
    "Or?"
    "Or, you could take your top off and run across the field and distract them while I jump over the wall and get digging."
    Abby laughed and hit Mark on the arm. "C'mon, seriously."
    "Or, we come back tonight when these monkeys have gone home and it's dark."
    "Tonight?"
    "Yes, if the auction is on Friday, then I only have tomorrow to drive up to the dealer and cash in my bricks. "
    Without any notice Mark reached over and put his hand behind Abby's head pulling her into him, kissing her passionately on the lips. She tried pulling away but his hold was too strong. Feeling overwhelmed she gave in and kissed him back, losing herself in the moment and nearly losing her balance from the gate.
    "Excuse me!" a voice bellowed out.
    Mark let go of his hold and they both turned around to see a foreman standing there looking up at them.
    "Sorry to breakup your canoodling," said the foreman. "We got a digger that needs to get in this field."
    Abby look embarrassed and jumped down from the gate. "So sorry Sir, we were just..."
    "Here, watch yourself darling," he said as an excavator barged it's way along the track scraping the hedgerows.
    "We'll be on our way," Mark shouted back above the diesel chug of the excavator. The foreman nodded and waved giving a friendly smile.
    "What was that about?" Abby demanded to know.
    "Sorry it was just a spur of the moment thing. I saw him walking up in the corner of my eye and thought we'd look more innocent if we were, you know...," Mark wondered if she wasn't happy. "I hope it didn't make you angry."
    "Why would it make me angry?" Abby asked playfully. "Actually, it wasn't that bad."
    As they approached the car, Mark unclipped the spade and threw it into the trunk. "Oh really? It wasn't bad?" Mark