Treasure Hunting part 3

Lou spent a restless night at the cabin listening to the gentle sleeping breath of her friends. The cabin was a one room building intended for short stays and equipped with bunk beds. Lou fought her tears for a long while before allowing herself to cry. All her fear from the last two years. All the resentment and all her anger poured out of her as she quietly let the tears run.

In the morning they set off after breakfast. The ridge was only a short way out and they would camp at the cabin again on their return. Lou was tired, but somehow felt cleansed and happy.They arrived and Wash stepped off looking up at the blue mountains that loomed over them."Wow... the blue mountains are actually... blue," he said awestruck by the looming cerulean tops."Yep. Some kinda cobalt they say. Had some fancy folks out here before the war wanting to mine them. Not seen them since," Lou smiled. Mal looked at a small creek at the bottom of the ridge. "Even the water is blue," he said."Yep. If you wanna drink it you need to filter it first," Lou replied. She led them down a small ledge down the ridge and stopped as the ledge widened and flattened to a terrace. Lou placed her backpack at the back wall and sat on a boulder."Here we are," she sighed feeling the weight of all her memories with her husband. This was where he'd said he'd leave. This is where she yelled at his selfishness. This is where they made up and later where he proposed after some persuasion from Shepherd Book. She wiped a stubborn tear before standing up again. "This is Danny's spot," she explained. "So where's the money?" Jayne asked oblivious to Lou's turmoil. Somehow his focus helped her dertermination."He wrote he left me a sign," Lou mused."What kind of sign?" Zoe asked."Not certain, but it won't be obvious," Lou said. "What about this," Wash asked having wandered a small way further down having found a carving in the rockface of a heart with a D+L carved into it. Lou laughed out loud."That most certainly ain't it," she giggled."Why not?" Wash asked."That is too cheezy for Danny. Most likely that one is bound to a booby trap," Lou said.She walked along the ridge rounding a small outcropping when she stopped dead in her tracks and drew a sharp breath."That, on the other hand... is more Danny's style," she grinned. In front of her the entire slope was bright green with small trees and bushes."What am I lookin at?" Wash asked."I see it," Zoe smiled."I don't," Jayne mumbled."Wanna explain?" Mal asked.River danced into the thicket and returned with a bright pink rose in her hand. The bush she had picked it from, was ratty and weathered after not being tended to or properly pruned for years, but the flowers were unmistakable."That is a Rose Louise," Lou smiled. "How do you know?" Wash asked."Coz I have one in my garden and two planted by a set of hives over in that direction," Lou said and pointed eastward.The men looked at her with puzzled looks."It's so obvious!" Zoe said rolling her eyes."Danny bought a box of them because of the name," Lou hinted receiving blank looks."The rose is called Louise," Zoe said indicating Lou with exaggerated gestures."Oohhh," the men exclaimed. "Does that mean gold?" Jayne asked looking eager."It might. Or it might give us a hint," Lou said."So let's get diggin!" Jayne said grabbing a pickaxe.Lou stepped foreward into the bushes and pushed the thorny branches away."I knew it!" She muttered and crawled on hands and knees under all the greenery. Behind the rosebush, she found exactly what she had suspected. A small cave entrance into the rockface. Turning to her friends she waved them to follow before unhooking her flashlight from her belt and entering the opening.Once inside she crawled along a narrow corridor a few metres in before it widened out into a large cavern. She was stood grinning as the rest of them entered."Now what?" Jayne asked. Lou smiled in the dusky darkness and swung her light around frontwards. Four other beams of light did the same revealing a dusty, scrappy, dented and burned out shuttle from a class 5 Tornado freighter. Behind the shuttle there was a mass of boulders. Evidence of some kind of cave-in that closed the old shuttle in.Lou grinned widely."This place wigs me out. Let's get the loot and skedaddle," Jayne mumbled. "Skedaddle?" Lou asked. "Yeah...," he mumbled.Mal led the way to the shuttle door looking around for traps."Do you think he had this place rigged?" He asked."You never know, so be careful," Lou replied. They got to the door of the shuttle and Wash did his computer magic with the doorlock."It's been played with," he grumbled as he tried to hack through. He worked at it, making the airlock door fall open after some persuasion.Lou jumped back with a disgusted shriek as the bare bones of a previously human form fell out the opening and hit the ground in front of her with a clattering thud."Well... who the hell is that?" Mal asked. "I have no idea," Lou said staring at the poor soul piled in front of her."She was trapped. She was in there, in darkness," River murmured.Lou shot River a suspicious look. So did everybody else."River?" Mal asked carefully."She was in there," River said giving them condecsending look."How do you know it was a she?" Lou asked aiming her light at the dead person. River smiled."Her pelvic bone indicates a female of fertile age. Judging by her thighbone and teeth she was an adult. Her wrists indicate being bound up for a long time and four of her ribs have healed fractures. Kinda obvious, " River shrugged and took Lou's flashlight to look around."I wonder who she was," Zoe said. "I wonder why she was still in there," Lou said."Well that's just shiny. Could we move past this creepy ass pile of bones and get on?" Jayne asked looking at the corpse with disgust.Mal took a few steps into the shuttle. It was seemingly intact despite the outside being burnt out. They entered a small cargo hold not unlike the ones on Serenity's shuttles and swiped the lights across.River entered last and stopped by the wall where a pair of handcuffs hung limp."He promised to come back," River murmured. Lou whipped around and took two steps over to River grabbing her shoulders."River. I know you have your qualities, but right now I am struggling. Are you telling me Danny left this woman in here, cuffed up, on purpose?" Lou asked feeling a cold shiver down her spine.River jingled the handcuffs and skipped into the depths of the shuttle. Despite the presence of death and apparent suffering, River seemed cheerful. Lou exhanged a glance with Zoe who looked calm but her eyes betrayed her confusion. Lou found an empty cargo box and took it outside where she put the bones in it. Jayne followed her with his flashlight."What are you doing. Those bones give me the creeps," Jayne asked."The least we can do is give her a funeral," Lou said."You taking some dusty bones home?" He asked. "Yep," Lou said thinking that by giving this woman the respect she deserved might atone for Danny's potential maltreatment."Well, I'm gonna find some gold," he said and headed into the shuttle again, taking his flashlight with him and leaving Lou in darkness. She picked the box up and carried it carefully up the ramp towards the remaining flashlights before placing it by the entrance and heading into the shuttle. A sudden whoop caught her attention and within seconds all the lightsources were focused on three medium sized cargo crates.Jayne wedged the end of a pickaxe under the lock of the neares one, popping the lid and revealing a crate full of shredded paper and sawdust.