Mac drove down to the barber shop. He knew there was always gossip going on in a barber shop just like it was going on in a beauty salon. He hoped someone in there would be talking about what happened and maybe they would know something about who was responsible. Mac walked into the barber shop, and there were about seven men in there sitting around talking. They all looked up at him when he walked in.

"Morning," Mac said as he sat down.

"It'll be a while," Howard, the barber said.

"That'll be fine."

"Hey, you're Mac Taylor, aren't you?"

"I am."

"Sorry about your barn. I heard what happened."

"Thanks."

"Do they know who did it?" another man asked.

"Not yet," Mac replied. "But I think they will find out."

"I heard James Stockwell was involved."

"I don't know." Mac knew he could not spread rumors around. "We don't have any idea who did it yet. I didn't recognize the men who attacked me."

The room was silent. Mac realized he was not going to get any information out of this crowd. After all, he was not exactly a citizen of this city. He had only lived there for a year. He stood up. "I'll come back later," he said.

Mac went out to the car and thought as he drove. He did not know what to do next. He would just go to the sheriff's office and see what they had found out. He might not be part of the police department, but he still had a detective's mind. Jo did not want to get involved in the investigation. She had made that clear. He supposed he wanted to be at it again. He missed his work, and now he was out of that for good but…

Mac drove over to the sheriff's office and went inside. "I want to see Sheriff Duncan," he said.

"I'll see if he's busy," the officer at the desk said. "What's your name?"

"Mac Taylor."

Mac waited while the deputy went to talk to the sheriff. He could smell all the familiar smells of a police station, one being that smell of over-brewed coffee, and of gun oil as well. He heard the creak of a chair as someone leaned to one side, and the sound of a keyboard. Mac shook his head. He had to stop thinking about that so much.

Soon, the deputy came back. "Go on in," he said. "The third office on the left."

Mac went down the hallway and the office door was open. "Come on in, Mister Taylor," Sheriff Duncan said.

Mac found that is sometimes bothered him being called "Mister" Taylor rather than "Detective" Taylor. After all, he had been called Detective for a lot of years…almost half his life. He went in and shook the sheriff's hand. "What can I do for you?" Sheriff Duncan asked as they sat down.

"I was wondering if you've found anything," Mac said. "I'd like to see the report if I can."

Sheriff Duncan stared at him a moment. "Why?" he asked. "Do you think we can't do as good a job as you could?"

Mac frowned. "No, that is not what I think," he said. "I just want to know what's going on."

Sheriff Duncan leaned on his desk. "I know you were a detective for a long time but you're not now. Why don't you just let us handle this case?"

"I may not be a detective now, but I have a right to know what you've found in this case. After all, someone assaulted me and burned my barn down, and I don't think anyone is considering the fact that James Stockwell came over there and practically threatened us about not selling that land to him. I think it has something to do with that treasure that everybody thinks is buried out there."

"Treasure?" Sheriff Duncan laughed. "Are you talking about that old legend that's been told around here for years?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Who knows whether it's true or not?"

Duncan looked at Mac. "Why would you think it's true?"

"I have my reasons, none of your business, though. Family affairs, you know."

Duncan frowned. "Did they say anything to you about a treasure?"

"They said something about a map. Whoever did all this wanted that map and they thought I knew where it was."

"But you don't, right?"

Mac shifted in his chair. "You never know," he said. "At the time they were…interrogating me, I didn't know a thing about it, but I just got to thinking that it was strange that all this happened right at the time that James Stockwell wanted so badly to buy our place."

"We've considered that, Taylor. Before you accuse someone like Stockwell of this, you better have some proof."

"I think putting two and two together is enough proof to wonder about it."

"Maybe for you but for us, we have to have something that ties him to it. Surely you know that."

Mac frowned. He knew it all too well. "Alright," he said as he stood up. "I'm going to find proof."

Sheriff Duncan stood up. "Now, you just hold on there," he said. "You can't take the law into your own hands."

"I'm not taking the law into my own hands. I'm going to ask some questions."

"To who?"

"Whoever I want to."

"You better stay away from James Stockwell. You could wind up in jail yourself."

"For what? Asking questions that make him uncomfortable?"

"Just don't stir up any trouble."

"If there's any trouble, it won't be caused by me."

Mac went out to his car. He knew the sheriff was right…they had to have proof. He would get some proof. He drove home and went out to the old stable that was being used to keep the horses until they could get a new barn built. He still felt furious when he thought of what all he lost in that fire. He wanted his truck back but it would be a while before he would get anything out of that.

"Mac!"

Mac sighed as he heard Jo calling him. He knew she would not want him going out getting into trouble. He wanted to be in trouble if that was what everyone wanted to call it. He was tired of sitting around doing nothing.

"Mac!"

"I'm in the stable!" Mac called as he was saddling a horse.

The door to the stable opened and Jo came in. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm going to ride this horse."

"You're getting involved in that investigation, aren't you?"

"Jo, just let me do what I want without having to explain everything."

"I wish you would just let the law handle this."

Mac looked at her. "I can't believe you're not even curious at all."

"I don't want to be in this anymore, Mac. I want to live peaceably now without having to worry about chasing some criminal. I just don't want to."

"Well, I do want to. So just let me be."

"Just don't get yourself killed."

"I don't intend to."

Jo walked over to Mac and he stopped what he was doing. "I promise I am going to be careful," he said.

Jo touched his face. "You better," she said. "I just don't want to get involved in this."

"You don't have to. Just be careful around here."

"I will." Jo kissed him. "Don't get into trouble either."

"Stop worrying."

Mac got on the horse. "I don't know how long I'll be gone."

"Are you going snooping?"

Mac smiled. "Hey, I call it surveillance."

Jo smiled as he rode away. She knew what he was going to do. She just hoped he would not end up beat up or something.

Mac rode out to the woods behind the property and down to the lake. He remembered when Jason had come down to this area and had gotten into trouble. He intended to find the property line where James Stockwell's property joined theirs. He knew approximately where it was since he had seen the land map. He rode out until he could see into Stockwell's property which was surrounded by a fence.

Mac tied the horse where it could not be seen and then sat down beside a tree to watch and see what he could see. He saw two men out beside the barn. One of them was shoeing a horse and the other was sawing some wood. He could hear them talking.

"What do you think about it, Matt?" one of the men asked.

"Think about what, Andy?" Matt asked.

"About that map he's always talking about?"

"I think I'm about sick of hearing about it, that's what I think. I want to get the shoes on this horse and get to doing something else."

"You mean you don't think there's anything to it?"

"I don't."

Andy shook his head. "Well, for something that isn't true, he sure is going to a lot of trouble for it."

Matt stopped what he was doing and looked at Andy. "Some people go to a lot of trouble for things that they just 'think' are true. It doesn't mean it's true."

"Do you think Steve and Barry are the ones who burned that barn down?" Andy asked.

"I don't know, and I don't want to know. I am having nothing to do with harassing people. Do you know those two people who own that over there used to be detectives in New York City?"

"New York? What are they doing here?"

"From what I know, the woman lived here when she was young and then moved away and became a detective, an FBI agent…something. Anyway, I don't want anything to do with that. Even if someone found that map, it would still belong to them."

Andy stopped sawing a moment. "You know what I heard?" he asked. "I heard that Mister Stockwell actually found what was buried on his land and he knows the other exists."

"How would you know that?" Matt asked.

"I was standing outside the window once and heard him talking. He knows that stuff exists. He said there was jewels in it. He didn't say anything about money."

"I'm not worried about it because it wouldn't be mine anyway."

Mac frowned as he realized that Stockwell must have sent someone over there to intimidate him into telling them where that map was. He wondered if Stockwell knew they were going to burn the barn down or if that was just something that they decided to do out of their own anger. Matt and Andy did not seem to know what happened, but they had mentioned someone named Steve, and Barry. Mac wanted to know who they were and if they were the ones who came over to his barn. If they were, he had a bone to pick with them. He wished he knew their last names. Last names were important when one was working on a criminal case, and that was what this was…a criminal case.

While Mac was sitting there, he saw James Stockwell come out of his house onto the back porch and there were two men with him. Mac moved to another tree that was closer to the house to listen. "It was stupid!" Stockwell said. "Do you know what will happen if someone finds out that we were involved?"

"Nobody is going to find out," one of the other men said.

"I'd like to know why you think they wouldn't."

"Duncan isn't gonna go against you. He knows where his butter's breaded at."

"I wouldn't bet on it. He 'is' the sheriff in these parts."

"Yeah, but you're the biggest land owner and richest man around here."

Stockwell sat down in a chair. "You were just supposed to intimidate him, not burn his barn down. All I told you to do was go over there and talk to him and maybe rough him up a little, but you two had to take it to the next level. Now, you've committed a crime!"

"Well, if we go down, you're going with us because you sent us over there," one of the men said.

"I never told you to burn down his barn. Who do you think they're going to believe?"

"You think they're going to believe that you sent us over there during the night just to talk to him?"

"That's what I said, and my word's as good as gold in this town."

Mac could see that Stockwell was making the two men angry, but he had not heard their names. He thought maybe this was Steve and Barry. He opened a pack of peanuts that he had in his pocket and started eating them while he listened to them talk. He knew he had found the two who burned down his barn and the evidence he was collecting was not illegal because he was sitting on his own property. He could not help it if they were talking loud enough that he could hear them. Mac smiled at that thought. As long as he was not trespassing, the evidence could be used and he was hearing everything he needed to hear. He was also writing down a description of the two men who committed the crime. If that sheriff gave him the runaround, he would call someone else to report this. They would not get away with destroying his barn and beating him up and scaring his wife half to death. It made him angry to think of how they scared Jo. She had been thinking that he was in that barn when it was burning. From what he had learned, if it had not been for Ellie, Jo would have probably been hurt trying to find him.

Mac decided to be a little mischievous. He stood up and stretched so that Stockwell and those two men could see him. "Howdy, neighbor!" he said. "This sure is a nice place to sit down and rest in the shade." Mac could see that Stockwell's face turned a shade whiter. "See you folks later."

Mac was chuckling as he went to his horse. He had just wanted them to know that he heard their conversation. He mounted the horse and headed back home. He knew those men were dangerous but he did not think they would try to do anything to him out here in these woods…it would be too suspicious. He would get home and tell Jo what he had found out and he would go into town and tell that sheriff. If he would not listen…well, he would find someone who would.