Written in Stone (A Books by the Bay Mystery)

stranger.”
    “True, but I have a feeling that Munin wasn’t. I’ll use the memory jug as my ice breaker if need be.”
    The two friends finished breakfast in silence. Lost in their own thoughts, they watched townsfolk and tourists pass by the window, looking carefree and unhurried on the picture-perfect late summer morning.
    “I’m going to bounce,” Millay said, gazing forlornly into her empty coffee cup. “Now that my stomach’s full, I’m turning into a zombie. It’s nap time.” She reached down and gently scratched behind Haviland’s ears.
    “Go to bed,” Olivia said. “I’ll call you if there’s any news.”
    “Just let me know when you’re heading out to the festival. I’ll come with. And I know Harris and Laurel want to go too, so we might as well go green and carpool.” She gestured at her skirt and Olivia laughed.
    Every man in the diner turned to watch Millay’s departure. Olivia knew that Millay believed she drew stares because of her Goth clothing, facial piercings, and dyed hair, but she could do nothing to obscure her unique beauty.
    Olivia briefly reflected on the damage teenagers were capable of inflicting upon one another and then pulled Rawlings’ chapter from her bag. Millay’s chapter was up next for the group critique, but Rawlings had asked Olivia to take a peek at his if she had the time. Since she’d already finished with Millay’s, she’d been happy to oblige.
    She flipped through pages in which the protagonist, an eighteen-year-old boy named Pete, was in danger of failing his second semester of college because he spent too much time researching North Carolina’s most infamous pirates. Pete’s grandfather had spent a lifetime collecting books, maps, and documents about Blackbeard, and on his deathbed, had whispered to Pete about buried treasure. No one had listened the old man. They thought he’d squandered his savings on a fruitless hunt. He was pathetic. Pitiful. And thanks to Alzheimer’s, his family also believed he’d gone completely mad by the end.
    But not Pete. At least not after he’d unearthed an old captain’s log in his grandfather’s dinghy describing a specific location along the banks of the Neuse River. According to legend, a small cache of Blackbeard’s gold had been buried under “Teach’s Oak,” near this spot.
    Olivia had read up to the part in which Pete was perusing the diary of a young woman who’d almost been seduced by Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, beneath a massive oak tree. As she continued with the chapter, she scribbled notes in the margin. Rawlings was treading a fine line between writing a novel and a history text. At some points, the voice sounded too young and at others, too mature. She wanted to circle specific passages, but found that she couldn’t focus on Pete or Edward Teach anymore.
    With a waitress’s keen sixth sense, Dixie suddenly appeared, cleared the table, and placed the check next to Olivia’s coffee cup. “Where you headin’ next? You’ve got that look. The one that says, ‘Don’t mess with me. I’m on a mission.’”
    Taking her phone and wallet out of her purse, Olivia said, “I’m going to track down the Lumbee chief and Willis’s lawyer. I’ve got questions for both of them.”
    “Is
your
chief comin’ along?”
    Olivia hesitated. “No. They might not talk openly in front of him. But the rest of the Bayside Book Writers want to tag along and that’s fine by me. We work well as a team.”
    Dixie put her hands together in a gesture of prayer. “A miracle has just occurred in my diner! Olivia Limoges would rather be with her friends then go it alone.” She swiveled on her skates and shouted, “Praise Jesus!”
    A few customers echoed her sentiment and then turned back to their food. Scowling, Olivia slapped a few bills on the table and stood up.
    “Come on, Haviland. We’ll make our calls from the car. We wouldn’t want to interrupt Dixie’s moment of rapture.”
    Dixie’s theatrical cries of “It’s a miracle!” and “Hallelujah!” followed her all the way outside.
    * * *
    Thirty minutes later, with every seat in the Range Rover occupied, Olivia headed to a coffee shop in the town of Havelock. Fletcher had graciously invited her to join him, Judson, and Annette Stevens at a place called Uncommon Grounds before they all returned to the powwow.
    Leaving Haviland in the car, the Bayside Book Writers exchanged determined glances and entered the small café.
    Olivia wasn’t