“Put down your gun, Kellie, or I’ll shoot her. Lucie’s the one who killed Prescott.”

“No,” I said. “She’s lying.”

It happened fast. Kellie aimed at Victoria as I dove behind the tree. Kellie’s shot hit Victoria, who screamed and grabbed her shoulder. By the time Kellie reached the two of us, I had gotten the gun away from Victoria once again and put on the safety.

“Where were you?” I asked her.

“Pop-pop’s wine cellar,” she said. “I’ve been going there to get away since he died. I came out when I heard the shots. Thank God he kept a loaded gun in that Masonic room of his.”

“I need medical help.” Victoria spoke through clenched teeth. “I’ll bleed to death.”

“Do you want to go outside to call 911?” I asked Kellie. “I can handle her.”

“No, you do it. I can manage just fine.” She looked down at Victoria. “Move and I’ll shoot you in your other shoulder. Understand?”

Quinn was my next call after 911. He and Bobby arrived in Bobby’s unmarked car just as Victoria was being lifted into an ambulance on a stretcher.

“Clay’s expecting Victoria to pick him up after he finishes hunting,” I told Bobby as the ambulance pulled away.

“I’ll tell him,” Kellie said.

“I need to handle that,” Bobby told her. “I need to find out how much Clay knew about what Victoria was up to. Whether he was involved or not.”

Kellie turned pale, but she nodded as another car pulled up and Scotty and Bianca got out. Kellie ran into her mother’s arms and Scotty embraced them both.

“Let’s get you home,” Quinn said. “I want Doc Turnbull to look at that bruise.”

“I’ll be all right. It’s over, Quinn. Victoria was the one who helped Clay purchase the Declaration of Independence. She knew everything, including what he was looking for,” I said. “And there’s something else.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“I know where the Bruton Vault documents are.”

Twenty-four

It took two days to get permission to dig under the staircase at the Red Fox Inn and bring together everyone I thought ought to be present when the site was excavated—Tana Rossi, Josie Wilde, two historians from Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown, two archeologists from the Smithsonian, Kit, Bobby, and, of course, the entire Avery family.