‘How long will it take us to get there?’ Michaela asked. She had the roadmap open on her lap.

Caro sat forward between the two front seats and looked at the map. ‘It won’t show on there,’ she said. ‘It’s not part of one of the mound parks, I found some reference to it on the Net and figured out where it was by looking on Google Earth.’

‘It’s on private property?’

Caro shrugged. ‘I guess. Maybe. It’s in this kind of wooded area. Not farm land or anything. Took me a couple hours to get there, but I was hitching.’

Trisha glanced at her. ‘Hitching? I thought you said you took the bus? Don’t you know you’re not allowed to hitchhike?’

‘I said I hitched and I made it there and back, didn’t I? No harm done.’ She squeezed an arm between the seats and pointed at a small dot on the town. ‘It’s about half an hour outside of that place. Walking.’

Michaela looked at the map. Judging by the size of the dot, it was just a one horse town.’

‘Gas station, pub and dairy,’ Caro said, as though reading her mind. ‘Wasn’t anyone about on the street when I was there.’ She pointed again. ‘Take this road and I guess it’s a few miles down, then off the road for about a fifteen minute walk through the woods.’

‘Through the woods? How the fuck did you manage not to get your idiot self lost?’ Trisha’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

In the back seat, Caro shrugged. ‘I was prepared,’ she said. ‘Had a compass with me. And a typographical type map with me I printed off the Net.’ She rummaged in her back pack a moment and passed a creased piece of paper over to Michaela.

‘Do you have the compass too?’

‘Of course.’

Michaela smoothed out the paper. The typography showed gentle hills and swells in the land, largely covered in trees. In the corner, a road she guessed led to the one horse town.

‘You really were well prepared to look for this place,’ she said, unable to help the admiration in her voice.

‘A fool, more like,’ Trisha interrupted. ‘Hitching, walking in the woods, good grief anything could have happened.’

Caro pouted. ‘Well nothing did, so there you go. You’re not my mother, quit acting like you are.’

‘No, your mother doesn’t have a clue what you’re up too.’ Trisha slowed the car and turned onto a two lane back road. ‘Just as well I came back, that’s all I can say about it.’

Caro leaned back against the back seat and stared out the window, arms crossed.

Michaela was looking at the map still, but couldn’t see anything helpful. She folded Caro’s map up and passed it back to her.

‘We’ll need that,’ she said. ‘Good thinking to bring it with you.’

Caro gave a smile and replaced the map in her backpack.

Michaela rested her hand a moment on Trisha’s thigh, gave it a pat then sighed and opened the laptop she’d brought with her. They hadn’t stopped to watch the recording from the second camera before leaving, agreeing that finding the effigy mound before the day got too late was the priority. Michaela had the camera in her bag on the back seat beside Caro. Along with a couple other bits and pieces. Caro leaned forward and watched with interest as Michaela found and opened up the right programme.

‘How come you could afford to buy all that gear, Michaela?’ she asked.

Michaela shifted slightly in her seat. The subject of money embarrassed her.

‘My grandmother left me some money when she died,’ she replied.

‘Lots?’

Trisha just about choked in the driver’s seat. ‘Caro!’ she said. Then turned to Michaela. ‘Lots?’ she echoed.

Michaela guessed there was no avoiding the issue. And if she and Trisha were going to be together, it would come out anyway. She cleared her throat and stared down at the computer.

‘Yeah, quite a bit,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know when I was a kid living with her, but Gran was pretty astute when it came to business, and she didn’t have much but the orchard to spend money on.’

Trisha gave another sideways glance. ‘How much is quite a bit?’

Michaela laughed. ‘You’re not supposed to love me for my money,’ she said.

Trisha gave a sly smile. ‘I don’t love you for your money babe, but I might just marry you for it!’

Caro hooted with laughter in the back seat and Michaela groaned.

‘Go on then,’ Caro said. ‘I want to know if we’re going to be rich.’

‘Not rich, and what’s this we, anyway?’ Michaela asked, pulling at face at Caro and grinning.

‘How much?’ asked Trisha.

Michaela gave in. ‘About a million in investments and cash. Then there’s the orchard, which is probably worth another couple million.’

No one said anything. Trisha pulled the car over and stopped on the side of the road. She pulled on the handbrake and turned to Michaela.

‘How much did you say? Did I hear you say two or three million dollars?’ Trisha’s eyes were wide.

Michaela nodded. ‘About that, yeah.’

‘You didn’t seem that rich when we were together?’

‘I wasn’t that rich when we were together. It was a surprise to me too. I never had any idea my Gran was that well off. I knew the orchard was worth a bit, but I didn’t know about the rest. My grandmother believed in working hard. She made sure I had everything I needed while I lived with her, but anything I wanted on top of that I had to work for.’

Trisha rested her hands on the steering wheel and stared out the front windscreen. ‘Well fuck me Freddy,’ she said. ‘From now on babe, you’re paying for dinner.’ She grinned and accelerated back onto the road. ‘Well fuck me.’ She was shaking her head in amazement. ‘I have a rich girlfriend.’