CHAPTER TWENTY
mission ready
I pass the Tipping Point General Store, offering a polite smile through the glass front to the teenager behind the till. Up ahead, Jacinta awaits, leaning against Rupert’s car.
“Lara Jo …” She gestures me over. “I have something for you.” She opens the rear door and pulls out the cactus-leather duffel that I’m assuming holds what remains of her worldly possessions. She plops the bag onto the closed trunk, unzips it, and from its mouth pulls a white tube tied with twine.
She turns to me again, holding a scroll of pages curled into a cylinder. “I want you to open this when everything is said and done. Not now, not until Finan is home.”
“Another buried treasure?” I say, only half teasing. Jacinta smiles and offers me the scroll.
Upon closer inspection, I rea
