Ophelia's Gold

map dowsing

Captain Harville's obsession with the jade statue of Tara reaches fever pitch as he returns repeatedly to the hidden temple, driven by desire that he perceives as purifying love. The statue's iridescent green-pink jade becomes his only hope for salvation from the horrors of war.

Marcus and Ophelia, both teenagers, share their first kiss beside his family's pool on the night his mother died. He gives her the "cursed" treasure maps, and she promises to help uncover their secrets—a vow that will shape decades of her life.

In a flashback to his Vietnam service, young Captain Harville navigates a blood-dark Laotian river to a vine-covered Buddhist stupa where a diminutive monk warns him about becoming one of the temple's "Keepers." He awakens with no memory of his return—but a dragon tattoo seared into his palm.

Ophelia and Stanton meet in South Beach, Miami, their dangerous professions hinted at through references to death squads, surveillance, and an "Ambassador" who assigns questionnaires. Their mutual darkness creates an instant, violent attraction as they discuss what it means to be "God's Hostage."

Inside the Cave of Whispers, Stanton reveals the "Trap Door"—a collapsed limestone floor above a raging underground river. The perfect booby trap for hiding treasure, it could also claim the lives of the unwary. Their passionate embrace at the cave's edge is interrupted by two young men in black ties.

Stanton pulls Ophelia back from the entrance of a limestone cave near Three Horses River, warning her of a deadly drop into an underground river. The cave's "whispers" are the sound of rushing water—and possibly the perfect hiding place for stolen jade.

Ophelia's father demonstrates his plasma-ball Vector Generator, which can theoretically locate treasure by matching frequency signatures. However, treasure typically registers as "infinitely negative"—a warning that seeking it may destroy the seeker.

Dad explains the legend of the Pink Lady Bandits—Captain Endes-Wicker and Miss Rosamund, displaced Confederate refugees who became Robin Hood-style thieves in northern Arizona. Their treasure, hidden in a "Blue Cave," becomes another thread in the novel's tapestry of buried secrets and dangerous pursuits.

In the aftermath of Marcus's mother's sudden death—killed by a falling plaster Michelangelo head while reaching for something beside her bed—young Ophelia receives a bundle of old treasure maps purchased at a yard sale. The maps belonged to Farley Kritzoff, a Russian immigrant gold prospector, and Marcus believes they are cursed.