A figure stole towards the trees just beyond the campsite. Shrouded in darkness, the only source of light was a phone torch, shining on the ground before this figure. They lifted up a sheet of paper with some short phrases scrawled on it.
Examining the sentences, the person sat down under the trees, preparing to dig by its roots with a small shovel.
Meanwhile, at the campsite, Lara and April rushed away to a secluded corner of a tent, eagerly discussing what had just occurred - their supervisor, a Mr Ernest Adams, had been found unconscious on the floor of his tent. The two had alerted emergency services and realised that whoever had done this to Ernest was after the treasure spoken of in a translation of some ancient writings.
The two of them decided to investigate the mystery, knowing their individual talents made them ideal for the task. Lara’s logical brain balanced out April’s headstrong, bold nature. The two of them divided the task into two parts: Lara would pull up the list of potential suspects, ranging from locals who lived nearby to her own colleagues. April would have to sneak into the tent Ernest was found in and either interview him or investigate the surroundings.
While they separated from each other, the figure outside the campsite steadily dug deeper and deeper around the tree roots. Now having abandoned the original spot, they were digging around the whole little copse of trees increasingly frantically.
“Where is it?”
At the campsite, April calmly walked over to a medic standing near Ernest’s tent.
“Sir, I simply have to get into my tent! What do you mean, it’s not mine? I assure you, it is. I have to get in! Do you want to deny my right to stay in my own home? It’s not like you’ve put out a search warrant for my tent or anything.”
Showering the medic with meaningless thanks and apologies, April easily got into the tent and started snooping around. They had moved Ernest out of the room, and she was left alone to do her work. She tied up her long hair, come undone in the activities of her night, and calmly walked around the room. Almost uncaringly she glanced around, but truly she was taking in every detail.
The bed was still made, implying that Ernest never got in it. The scraps of paper with the translation on them were littered near the dustbin, and there were no signs of a scuffle. Spying some papers haphazardly placed on the desk, April walked over to them, looking over the headings. Nothing too interesting, just the monthly payments and similar documents. However, out of the corner of her eye, April spied a seam behind the bench on the tent cloth. This seam stretched across a square shape, just enough for a person to crawl through.
In the bottom corners were pieces of velcro, holding together what was clearly an escape hatch out the back of the tent. This proved that this wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment decision. It was a premeditated, calculated crime. April hurried out to alert Lara of her findings, only to come face-to-face with Lara herself, who was eager to interview Ernest.
“He’s in the next tent over, resting. Time to wake him up.”
On their way, April told Lara all about her findings. Lara told her that she hadn’t discovered anything particularly interesting about anybody, except a few.
“Of course, everyone knows Jacob hates this job and just wants to be relocated or promoted, and Ali doesn’t really care because he just got married and can’t go home yet because he has to fulfil his quota as well, but some people are hard up on money now too. Like Ellie and Dahlia.”
“My sister? She never told me about any of this,” said April, instant to defend her family.
“Well, we both know Dahlia has had a bit of a history with some of the locals here, including that gang that came in a few months back and spoke about how we were imposing on their heritage. She’s been seen hanging about with them in town, and I’m fairly sure she spent more than her monthly budget on some bribes and transportation out of the city recently.”
“It can’t be her. She’s too good.” April, still heatedly denying it, stepped into Ernest’s new tent to find him awake and sitting up.
Lara stepped forward, running her hand through her shorter hair. “We wanted to know who it was, and why, and how long you’ve had that translation,” she demanded, knowing that April was still too angry with her to speak.
“That’s a lot of questions,” said Ernest, chuckling. “It was my partner in this venture of ours. I translated, and she narrowed down the potential spots the treasure could be. Why? Well, our site – and everyone working on it – needs (and deserves) a raise. We don’t have the funds for it. Of course, we got to keep some of the loot too. We had the translation for a week before today. I’m not sure, but I think she wants to make this a solo business venture.”
“Who was it?” asked Lara, making note of the she and the apparent betrayal of their boss’. “You should have told us; it’s a magnificent breakthrough in our studies!”
“Clearly, you had it figured out, which is why you know about the translation. I’m sure she ripped up the papers thinking nobody would figure it out. When I say she, I mean Dahlia Scott, of course.”
Two blotches of red appeared on April’s cheeks as she ranted with rage. She yelled about how this was implicating her sister in a crime for no reason, one which she was likely not even responsible for – a frame-up – but eventually cooled down, admitting that there was some logic to Lara and Ernest’s statements.
“What are we waiting for, then? We have to find her!” she said, outwardly calm but inwardly simmering with rage.
They rushed out, Lara and April, to the edge of camp to where Ernest instructed them to go. The figure was still there, and April instantly recognised Dahlia. She ran up to her, yelling.
Eventually the whole story came out, piece by piece. Dahlia had needed the money to pay off some members of the gang for some odd jobs they did and the transportation they provided her, and this was the perfect way to do it.
April was rightly mad, but they had a duty to do. All three of them dug around the trees, eventually hitting the clunk! of the box of treasure. Pulling it up, they looked towards it eagerly before April stood, dusting off her hands.
“We have to take it to the site first. Everyone deserves to see it open, not just us. It’ll be a special moment for us all. Dahlia – we’re submitting you for consideration under the boss.”
April was slightly harsh and berating on her sister, but ultimately sympathised with Dahlia’s struggle. The three of them headed back to camp, Dahlia between Lara and April, Lara holding the box. She traced the intricate designs and the carved text on the box. Welcome, it read.
As the dawn broke over the sky and the archeologists awoke to a new day and some new developments, Lara smiled over at April. She couldn’t be more glad that she had figured out the translation.
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