I rode up stream at sunrise, the trail was a bit difficult for my horse but we were making our way. The sun was rising in just the perfect spot to illuminate the narrow pass. There was, however, a haunting feel to the small path by the stream. It constantly felt like you were being watched, very few animals other than birds were here, which wasn’t something you’d expect in such a wild place. There were strange cracking noises among the trees, the white bark of the birches made it even more haunting as they seemed to be pale in fear.

There were game trails all the way up that went through the path, but I stuck to the river. If Ross and and that prostitute Rose weren’t waiting for me up the path Nate would have something other than his father to fear. I’m not going to waste my time with games when my money could be in Ross’ hands, which would be unacceptable. When I find Ross, money or not, he’s going to have some answers to give. However today plays out, someone is going to die.

Just above me over a waterfall was a winding tree that certainly stood out, perhaps it’s my tree. I spotted a narrow rocky path that curved up to the top where the waterfall was. At the top I was slightly pleased at what I saw. Ross hung by the noose over a hole and a woman, who was a bad actor and was probably Rose, was sitting pretending to cry. She looked up at me and ran towards me with her arms out calling, “Help! Help me!”

I cocked my pistol and pointed it right at her face, “Cut the shit woman, what did you and Ross find up here?”

She still attempted to act, “What are you talking about?”

I fired a shot into Ross’ corpse and he spun around a bit, “I’m not up here to play games whore, you cooperate or a bullet is going right into your whore mouth!”

“Fine I’ll cooperate, but only if you take me with you”

I smiled at her to show my nice side, “Now we’re talking, why is Ross at the end of a noose, where is his gun, and where’s his horse?”

“He put himself up there, I have his gun, and he ditched the horse at the creek”

“Give me the gun, and I didn’t ask who put Ross there, I asked why”

She pulled the gun out of a leg strap and handed it to me, holding the the barrel, “The treasure was a lie, just a stupid poem”

“I guess Ross really was stupid, grab me that poem and his map”

Rose picked the poem up out of the hole and gave it to me, something in her whore mind thought it was the right time to make a move, “He threw the map into the river darling”

“Cut that darling shit”

I held up the poem. It was written in a very orderly and practiced style. There was no wear on the paper, “What was it stored in?”

Rose said to me, “A metal box, there was nothing else in it, Ross threw it off the ledge”

I laughed a little and looked at Ross who was spinning in the other direction now, “You died in a fit huh?”

Rose kinda laughed too. I decided to read the poem:

Where we lie our heads to rest

The place we make our nest

Is where we’ll leave the harvest

To ensure our lives are best

When I leave you do your will

Within greener pastures

And down from the creek

That’s where you find my will

In the middle of our nest

Where we did our very best

Along the mountains

You’ll find our fortunes

Where we settled ourselves

Under the mountains shelves

Between the rising sun and the mountains

Down from the creek you’ll find our fortunes

It was so simple that I was amused that Ross gave up on it. I smiled at Rose, “It’s a map, poor simple Ross couldn’t figure it out”

Rose laughed, “That useless pig”

“Let’s get moving, I’m not spending more time with you than I need to”

She hopped on the back of my saddle and I went back down the pass. I went south at the creek and followed the mountains, Rose asked, “Where are we heading?”

I responded, “Be quiet”