He sat back, lips pursed together, an expression I knew well. If he opened his mouth, he’d regret whatever flew out, especially if he hadn’t thought it through first.

“I’d like to find out what they were looking for, what was so important,” I said. “I thought we could start with doing some research to find out more about the documents in Leland’s safe-deposit box.”

“We?”

“Yes, we. Will you help me? Please?”

“Lucie, Seth and Clay told you to forget about this, and Prescott said whatever he was looking for was dangerous. Even if there is a there there.”

“How will we know if there’s a there there if we don’t look?” I said. “And it can’t be dangerous because no one knows that Prescott told me anything. Nor does anyone know about Leland’s documents. Seth said he never opened that envelope and looked at what was inside.”

Quinn worried on his lower lip with his teeth and shook his head as if he wanted to say no. Instead he said, “I don’t know about this, sweetheart.”

“What harm would there be in doing some internet research? If it’s a dead end, we’ll stop.”

He stared at me for a long time. Finally he said, “What kind of internet research?”

I smiled. He was in.

“First I want to find out what ‘Francis Bacon’s Vault’ is. In four years at William & Mary, I never heard anything about it. Plus Josie Wilde was at the second excavation in the Bruton Parish Church graveyard where people from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and someone from the church said the vault never existed. I was going to call her anyway. Now I can ask her about it.”

He grunted in agreement and said, “Do you think your father thought this vault existed?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Prescott and Jock must have thought there was something to it for both of them to be present at excavations that were more than fifty years apart. Each looking for the same thing.”

Quinn got up and started clearing away our dishes. “This is beginning to sound like looking for pirate treasure.”

“Maybe. People do find pirate treasure, you know.”

He turned around from the sink and faced me. “You’re excited about this. Aren’t you?”

“Intrigued. Curious.” I stood up and blew out the guttering candles.

“Plus I know how much you love all the Indiana Jones movies.”

I made a face at him and said in my haughtiest tone, “Indy was looking for real things.”

“Yeah, the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant. Which he, of course, found. Both of them.”

“You can be such a wet blanket sometimes, you know?”