Heart of Gold

  C O N T E N T S

  Dedication

  Map

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  P.S.

  About the book

  Read on

  About the Author

  Other Books by Mary Hogan

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  D E D I C A T I O N

  To Regina (Sarita) Jackson.

  Her work with EOYDC positively impacts the lives

  of children every day. You rock, girl!

  M A P

  P R O L O G U E

  Autumn 1885

  Kansas plains—outskirts of Henry Adams

  Illuminated like a specter by the light of the full moon, Neil July sat his horse and voiced his doubts. “I don’t know why you’re burying the gold way out here. You’re never going to find it again.”

  Griffin Blake tossed another shovelful of dirt from the hole he was digging. “Sure I will.”

  “We’re on the plains of Kansas. No trees. No landmarks. Nothing to remember where it is when we come back for it.”

  Griffin paused. “We? This is my gold. I robbed that train.”

  “Well, yeah,” Neil admitted a bit sheepishly, “but suppose Shafts and I need to bail you out of jail.”

  Griff glanced over at the big Comanche sitting silently on his mount. Two Shafts was Neil’s half brother. He rarely spoke and didn’t now, so Griff resumed digging. The three outlaws had been good friends for years, but the Julys, known as the Terrible Twins, were the physical embodiment of the mythical trickster Coyote. Griff trusted them about as far as he could toss them—and considering Shafts’s mountain-like size, that wasn’t very far. “Since I’m not going to jail, you won’t need bail. But if I come back and find this hole empty, I’m sending the Preacher to hunt you down.”

  The Preacher was another mutual friend, but also a gun-toting, Bible-quoting bounty hunter, and the only one of his kind ever to apprehend the Julys and turn them over to the law. Granted, they escaped less than a day later, but the Preacher still wore the crown.

  Griff dug down another three feet. Convinced that the hole was deep enough to guard his cache of purloined double eagles from predators both animal and human, he tossed the leather saddlebag inside. The bag also contained a newspaper account of the daring robbery, complete with an artist’s likeness of Griff, who thought himself far more handsome than the sketched rendering. But what was a wanted man to do?

  With the hole now refilled, Griff used the sole of his boot to push a few rocks into the soil to mark the spot.

  Neil shook his head. “You’re never going to find it.”

  “Sure I will, and when I do, I’ll buy you a drink.”

  “Nope. It’s going to be dug up a hundred years from now by some farmer putting in fence posts for a pigpen, and you’ll have been dead for so long, all you’ll be able to do is curse him from hell.”

  Griff swung himself into the saddle. “Then I won’t buy you a drink. Let’s ride.”

  And with a slap of the reins three of the most wanted outlaws on both sides of the Mississippi rode off into the night.

  C H A P T E R

  1

  My Bonnie lies over the ocean.

  My Bonnie lies over the sea.

  My Bonnie lies over the ocean.

  Oh bring back my Bonnie to me . . .

  Traditional Scottish folk song

  The present day

  Henry Adams, Kansas

  Saturday was Zoey’s favorite day of the week. There was no school, no getting up early to be there on time, and the day was entirely her own. Sometimes she jumped on her bike and rode over to the garage to help Amari and his dad work on cars, or she rode over to the rec to see what town matriarch Tamar July and friends Miss Marie and Miss Genevieve were up to. Or she hung out with her friend Devon, which was occurring less and less lately because he’d become a real pain in the butt. Usually her Saturdays were as idyllic as a ten-year-old kid could want, but this one was an exception. Her friend Crystal had run away from home last night. The seventeen-year-old had promised to text or call when she got wherever she was going, but hadn’t, and Zoey was so worried that she’d tossed and turned all night, imagining any number of horrible outcomes. Crystal also made Zoey promise not to tell anyone, and so far she’d kept the promise, but the secret was weighing on her like an engine block around her neck. She was pretty sure Crystal’s mom, Ms. Bernadine, was probably going crazy with worry, as would everyone else in Henry Adam once word got around. Being caught between her loyalty to Crystal and wanting to tell someone what she knew was a lot for someone her age to be carrying around.

  After getting dressed, Zoey went downstairs for breakfast. The house was quiet and filled with morning shadows. Mama Roni was away on a concert swing through the West Coast but was due home later that day, and Zoey couldn’t wait for her to return. She found Daddy Reg seated outside at the table on their big deck.

  “Morning, Zo.”

  “Hi, Daddy. How are you?”

  He held up his mug. “My coffee and I are doing fine. How’re you?”

  She shrugged. “I’m okay.”

  Something in her tone must’ve set off his inner dad alert because he looked at her real seriously. “You sure?”

  “Yep,” she lied. “Mama Roni still coming home today?”

  “As far as I know.”

  “Good. I’m going to get me some cereal, then see if Amari and his dad will be working on the cars today.”

  “Okay, but make sure you check in with me so I know where you are.”

  She nodded and went inside. The kitchen’s glass-door wall looked out onto the deck, so as she sat and had her cereal, she could see her dad’s face. He looked really sad, and the reason behind that was also worrisome. Her parents weren’t getting along. Mama Roni was a world-famous award-winning singer. Daddy Reg was a doctor. He was in the dumps because Mama Roni had been away from home a lot recently because of her career. Even though they’d built an awesome new recording studio in town so she’d be nearer, it didn’t seem to make him any happier because he still missed her a lot. Zoey missed her too, but she and her mom had talked about it. Zoey understood that her mom’s love of singing didn’t mean she loved her daughter any less, and besides, Zoey knew how important the music was to her mom. Why it was so hard for Daddy Reg to understand that too was something Zoey had no answer for. When the adults did something the kids didn’t get, Amari called it “grown folks business,” so she stayed out of it, and hoped they weren’t thinking about a divorce.

  Done with breakfast, she put her dishes in the dishwasher and stepped back outside to give her dad a parting hug and a kiss on his cheek.

  “I’ll be here working on charts, so make sure you check in,” he reminded her.

  “I will.”

  “Oh, and I have some really sad news.” He gently took her hands in his. “Crystal ran away last night, honey.”

  Zoey swallowed.

  “No one’s heard from her, and Ms. Bernadine’s really worried, so if she calls or texts, make sure you let me know. Okay?”

  She nodd
ed and left him sitting on the deck.

  After grabbing her green Danica Patrick jacket, riding gloves, and helmet, she went to the garage to get her bike. She felt really bad about not volunteering that she’d talked to Crystal before she took off, but she justified her silence by telling herself her dad hadn’t asked. The promise she’d made to keep her mouth shut was becoming a major dilemma because she prided herself on telling the truth. But the moment she pushed her bike out into the sun, the dilemma worsened. Sheriff Will Dalton’s police car was parked out in front of Crystal’s house. Guilt rose. She needed to talk to someone. Ideally it would be her mom, but with the time difference between Kansas and California, Zoey wasn’t sure if she was awake, or at the airport, or what, so she went with her second choice. Walking her bike next door, she parked it and climbed the steps to the porch.

  Devon answered the bell, and before she could ask after his brother Amari, he gushed excitedly, “Crystal ran away from home last night. She’s in so much trouble. Sheriff Will’s at her house right now, along with all the adults and my mom and dad.”

  He reminded her of the gossipy old ladies at the church down in Miami, where she used to live. “Is Amari here?”

  His eyes riveted on the patrol car, he answered with a question instead. “Where do you think she went?”

  “I don’t know. Where’s Amari?”

  “At Preston’s. Crystal’s going to have to paint Ms. Marie’s fence a thousand times, I bet.”

  Once upon a time, Zoey had loved Devon as much as breathing. They’d come to Henry Adams as the youngest of the town’s five foster kids and done everything together, but last year his adoptive parents, Ms. Lily and Mr. Trent, took him down south to visit his grandmother’s grave, and he hadn’t been the same since. He no longer wore his perennial black suit and clip-on bow tie and had given up on being the town’s preacher, but she was liking the new version less and less.

  “You want to hang out later?” he asked.

  Zoey didn’t like lying to him, but . . . “Um, let me find out if Amari’s going to be working on the cars today first.”

  His face instantly soured. “I still don’t get why you like doing that. All that oil and stuff is just nasty.”

  Zoey’s newly found joy in all things automotive had become a major sticking point in their relationship. In spite of him being raised by the fiercely independent Ms. Lily, Devon had issues with girls working on cars.

  Rather than say something mean, she left the porch. “See you later.”

  Amari was indeed at Preston’s. The two teens were BFFs and in the house alone because Preston’s adoptive parents, the colonel and Mrs. Payne, were in Florida for a marines reunion. “I need to talk to you guys,” she announced, taking a seat on one of the armchairs.

  They were playing Madden on the television. “What about?” Amari asked, controller in hand, doing his best to evade Preston’s defenders.

  “Crystal.”

  “What about her?” Preston asked, holding his own controller and not taking his eyes off the screen. “You know she ran away last night.”

  Amari added knowingly, “Fence painting in her future for sure. What a dummy.”

  “No, she’s not!”

  “Yeah, she is,” Amari countered.

  “She’s just having issues.”

  “Uh-huh, like what?”

  “She didn’t tell me.”

  Both teens turned. “You saw her last night before she left?” Amari asked, searching her face.

  She nodded.

  Preston, also known as Brain for his sky-high IQ, paused the game. “Okay, tell us everything, and don’t leave anything out.”

  So she told them about visiting Crystal last evening and finding her packing in her bedroom.

  “Did she say where she was going?” Amari asked.

  “No, but she talked about hooking up with her old friends.”

  “That means Dallas,” Preston concluded.

  Amari exhaled a sigh. “Stupid. Have you talked to Ms. Bernadine yet?”

  “No. Crystal made me promise not to tell anybody.”

  Once again Amari shook his head, “That’s a helluva thing to do to a little kid.”

  Zoey wanted to argue that she wasn’t little anymore, but both he and Preston were pushing fifteen and sixteen. To them a ten-year-old probably was still a little kid. “You think I should tell her?”

  “Yes!” they replied with one voice.

  “But what if she makes me paint the fence for not saying something last night?” So far, Zoey was the only kid in town who’d yet to whitewash Ms. Marie Jefferson’s fence as punishment for doing something dumb: Devon’d had a turn for lying and stealing money, and Crystal and the boys were busted last spring for creating a secret e-mail address in order to cruise the Internet in places they weren’t supposed to be.

  “I don’t think Ms. Bernadine would do that, Zoey,” Amari offered reassuringly.

  Preston concurred. “Me neither. You want us to go with you?”

  “No. I’ll go by myself.” She didn’t want to go alone, but the need to get out from under the secret made it necessary.

  “You sure?” Amari asked. “Might be good to have some support if the grown folks start yelling.”

  “I know, but I need to step up. Crystal said she was going to hitchhike.”

  “Double stupid,” Amari declared.

  It was hard for Zoey to defend Crys’s decision to leave behind the good life they’d all been given with their adoptive parents. Before Ms. Bernadine came into their lives, Zoey had been homeless in Miami, Amari was in Detroit, stealing cars for fun, and Preston had been trying to survive the foster care system in Milwaukee. “Do you know whether Ms. Bernadine’s heard from her yet?”

  “No. We started texting Crys this morning as soon as we found out she’d taken off,” Preston explained, “but she hasn’t come back at us.”

  “But whatever happens, I’ll bet she won’t be gone long,” Amari declared sagely. “She can’t make it on the streets anymore. Kansas makes you soft.”

  Preston wasn’t so convinced. “I don’t know, man. She could be gone for a while.”

  “Then put your money where your mouth is. I give her two days, tops. If I’m right, I get your telescope. You win—I don’t know. What do you want?”

  “For you to stop tripping. No way are you getting my scope, but if I win, you do my chores over at the rec center and vice versa.” Amari nodded, and they shook to seal the deal.

  The bet aside, Zoey hoped Amari was right. Life in town just wouldn’t be the same if Crystal stayed gone forever. Needing to talk with Ms. Bernadine before she lost her nerve, she got to her feet.

  “You sure you don’t want us to go with you?” Preston asked again, looking concerned.

  “I’m sure, but thanks, Brain.” She spoke to Amari. “Are you and your dad working on the car today?”

  “Probably not with all this Crystal drama, but when you’re finished talking to Ms. Bernadine, you’re welcome to come back and hang here with us.”

  Brain nodded agreement. “Especially if you don’t want to hang with Devon.”

  Zoey had been an only child in Miami, but now considered the boys family, and they were the best big brothers in the world. “Okay.”

  Feeling a bit braver, she left them to go talk to Ms. Bernadine. It was only a short walk across the street, but she kept saying “Please don’t let them yell at me” the entire way.

  Amari’s grandfather, Malachi July, answered Ms. Bernadine’s doorbell.

  “Hey, Miss Z.” Malachi owned the Dog and Cow, the town’s diner, and was known to the kids as OG—hip-hop for Old Gangsta. He wasn’t really a gangster but Amari had given him the title because he was so cool.

  “Hey, OG.” She took a deep breath. “I need to talk to Ms. Bernadine. It’s about Crystal.”

  “We haven’t heard from her yet, baby girl.”

  “I know—that’s why I need to talk to her. I might can help.”
>
  Sheriff Dalton was in the front room, talking to the Henry Adams adults: Amari’s parents—Ms. Lily and her husband, Mr. Trent, who was also the town’s mayor; Amari’s great-grandmother, Tamar; Reverend Paula; Ms. Rocky, who managed the Dog and Cow; and the town’s schoolteacher, Mr. Jack James. All looked worried.

  Ms. Bernadine walked over. “Hey, Zoey.”

  “Hi, Ms. Bernadine. I came over to tell you that Crystal might be in Dallas.”

  Every eye in the room swung Zoey’s way, and she had to fight to not squirm under the scrutiny. “I—I talked to her last night before she left. She made me promise not to tell you. Do I have to paint the fence?”

  Ms. Bernadine shook her head. “No, honey.”

  “Crys said she had friends where she was going. I told her hitchhiking was dangerous, but she didn’t listen. A boy drove her away from the house.”

  The sheriff asked, “Do you know his name?”

  She shook her head. “No, sir. But I memorized the license plate.”

  He grinned. “You just earned yourself a county sheriff’s badge, young lady.”

  Trent said approvingly, “Way to go, Zoey.”

  Ms. Bernadine hugged her tight and kissed her on the top of her head. “You rock, missy.”

  Zoey felt a million times better. Crystal would probably call her a snitch when she got back, but at that moment Zoey didn’t care. She’d deal with that when the time came.

  “And free dessert for the rest of the week,” Rocky told her. “On the house.”

  “Thanks! But you have to give some to Preston and Amari, too. They were the ones who figured out she probably went to Dallas.”

  “You got it.”

  Zoey recited the plate number for the sheriff, and he immediately got on his phone. Ms. Bernadine asked, “Did Crys say anything else?”

  “Just that she wanted her old life back.” Ms. Bernadine’s eyes got real sad, so Zoey told her the next part. “I asked her if it was because she didn’t like us anymore, but she said that wasn’t it.”

  “Okay, honey. Thanks. That information helps a lot.”

  “You’re welcome.” She also wanted to tell her that Amari didn’t think Crystal would be gone long, but she kept that to herself. She wasn’t sure Ms. Bernadine wanted Amari’s opinion. “Is it okay for me to go now?”