06 Uncovering Hidden Treasure by Karen Ward Page B

house
where she plans to sit down with Leaf Leblanc to question him about
what he has learned about the lost cave.
    Leaf Leblanc is Pinky's wife, Jasmine's
brother. He works for the government and does some consulting for
Drake Security. He is a computer genius and Scoot had asked him to
find out what he could about the legend of the lost cave.
    When Sam gets to Pinky's house she knocks on
the front door and it is answered by Jasmine, Pinky's new wife.
Smiling, she says, "Samantha, hello, what brings you over this way
so early this morning?"
    Blushing, Samantha says, "Hello Jasmine, I
apologize if I'm intruding, but I wanted to ask Leaf what he has
found out about the lost cave."
    Jasmine smiles and says, "Sure, come on in,
we were just finishing up breakfast. Have you eaten?"
    "Yes, thank you for asking," replies
Samantha. As soon as Samantha walks into the kitchen little Timmy
Thompson Williams flies into her arms. Samantha saved his life when
he was kidnapped after his parents were murdered in Tennessee. She
wraps her arms around him pulling him close to her chest and fights
back tears as she says, "Oh, Timmy, how are you? I've missed you so
much. You have grown at least a foot! Just look at you."
    "I've missed you too Miss Sam," replies
Timmy. "Come and see my room!"
    She stands as Timmy grabs her hand and drags
her to view his room. He is so precious. At one time she had hoped
to be Pinky's wife and Timmy's mother, but that was not meant to
be. Pinky and Jasmine have loved each other since they were
children. Jasmine was kidnapped as a fifteen year old and held
prisoner in a militia type compound by a crazy man, the same man
that shot at Samantha and stabbed Stump.
    After making all of the appropriate comments
to Timmy about his room she returns to the kitchen where she looks
over at the others and says, "Hello Leaf, Sherrie. Leaf, have you
been able to find out anything about the lost cave?"
    Leaf replies, "As a matter of fact, I have
found quite a bit of information. Come on in the study and I'll
show you."
    Leaf and Samantha retire to the study where
he shows her stacks of information he has pulled off the internet
about the lost cave. He shows her maps that people have drawn up
that show where they believe the cave is as well as dozens of
articles written by people that have searched hundreds of different
locations looking for the cave.
    Sam spends a couple of hours looking through
the file and then asks, "Would you mind if I carry this stuff over
to the Drake Security office?"
    Leaf replies, "No, I don't mind. I have it
all on disc if you would rather take that."
    Sam says, "Oh that would be wonderful, thank
you."
    So when Sam leaves Pinky's house and heads
back to the main ranch house she is thrilled. She is going to study
all of the information Leaf gave her and she is going to find that
lost cave!
    As Sam is driving back to the main ranch
house she spots a new house under construction across the pasture
near Bear and Jesse's home and she can't resist walking through it.
She loves to see what others are doing with their houses so she can
plan what she wants to do when she finally builds one of her own.
She wonders who is building this house. It may be Leaf and Sherrie
Leblanc's though she would have thought they would build closer to
Pinky and Jasmine. Well, possibly it belongs to Bud and Mary Wilkes
or Bob and Virginia Kenner. Hmmmm, she just doesn't know.
    This is a two story ranch style with a porch
extending the entire length of the front of the house. It has floor
to ceiling windows looking out across the pasture toward the snow
covered mountains. She can picture groupings of rocking chairs
along the front with ceiling fans above to offer relief from the
hot summer nights.
    When she walks inside she is amazed at how
closely this house mirrors the one she has had pictured in her mind
for years. The front door opens directly into a large family room
with a big natural stone fireplace and built in bookshelves