Jack Begley and Dan Henskee spend days washing and sorting the Borehole H-8 spoils from the Money Pit area. Their painstaking work turns up additional pottery fragments with patterns unlike any previously found on the island, a dense piece of wood bearing an unusual surface pattern that Charles Barkhouse and Rick Lagina agree looks artificial rather than natural, a scrap of leather that Dan Henskee believes may be from a shoe based on the outline of an eyelet for a lace, and a paper-like material reminiscent of the parchment fragment William Chappell recovered from the suspected vault in 1897. Rick sends the most significant pieces for testing at the scanning electron microscope at Saint Mary's University. There, Dr. Christa Brosseau and Dr. Xiang Yang examine the object archaeologist Laird Niven identified as bone and the dense specimen the team initially thought might be lignum vitae. Both register calcium phosphate rather than lignin, confirming both are bone. The second fragment still retains soft tissue and hair, with follicle spacing that Brosseau suggests is more consistent with skin than animal hide.
Rick Lagina is absent from the island for the first time anyone can remember, sidelined by a pounding headache and a bull's-eye rash that Marty recognizes as likely Lyme disease. Marty drives his brother to a local doctor, who confirms the diagnosis and prescribes 30 days of antibiotics. Rick, who has not visited a doctor in decades, is forced to stay out of the sun during the treatment, but the early detection prevents the severe neurological and cardiac complications that untreated Lyme disease can produce. His absence leaves a visible gap in the team's morale.
With 35 of 44 boreholes completed, geophysicist Mike West of GEMTEC Limited joins geologist Terry Matheson at the Money Pit to run a dual induction probe through the PVC-lined holes. The device emits an electromagnetic field two feet in diameter, taking readings every two inches as it rises through each shaft to detect conductive objects in the surrounding earth. Most holes return unremarkable data. Borehole H-8 is different. At approximately 155 feet, the probe registers a rapid, high-amplitude spike that goes off the chart before decaying, a signature Mike confirms is a real metallic anomaly rather than instrument noise. The depth corresponds closely to where driller Ivan Gough clipped a hard object weeks earlier and to the level at which William Chappell encountered his vault in 1897. Craig Tester, Marty, and Jack Begley watch the reading come in, and Marty declares that if they had to sink a large caisson today, H-8 would be the site. He drives to Rick's recovery room and delivers the news: he believes they have found the Money Pit.
Three days later, Rick returns to the War Room with results from Saint Mary's. With Marty joining by video, Craig, Dave Blankenship, Charles Barkhouse, and the team hear Rick read the report verbatim: both bone samples sequenced successfully, and both came back as human. The two fragments appear to be from different individuals. Further analysis may reveal region of origin and possible ethnicity. The team agrees to pursue carbon dating immediately, recognizing that bones predating 50 years would fall outside provincial notification requirements. Marty calls the discovery a breakthrough, and Rick acknowledges that while it is not the single piece of treasure evidence he had hoped the Geotech program would produce, human remains from two different people at 160 feet underground may be equally significant.
