TAKE ME HOME (33 page)

Two million dollars. Lying across Evan’s lap.

“Holy shit,” Evan said. “How much was stolen?”

Nate finally lifted his head and spoke. “Ten million dollars.” For sixty years, ten million dollars had been stuffed under a floorboard in his grandpa’s barn. Kyle had to let the shock of that settle before he spoke. “The bank was a regional drop, and the robbery was timed just right, or they never would’ve gotten away with that much.” Although, the robbers hadn’t really gotten away with it. His grandpa had.

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Nate laughed—a high-pitched sound that confirmed the crazy theory. Kyle shone the light on the man’s face. Nate stared at the money while he spoke. “I used to hate that money. My mom talked about it like it was evil. That it was more important to my father than she was. She said he left us to go find it. Which I guess wasn’t true. He knew where it was all along. When she learned he’d gotten sick, she said he didn’t fight to live. I thought he had been miserable, had left us, because he’d let that money slip away from him. That he wanted it more than he wanted us.” Nate looked up at Kyle. “But it wasn’t the money he wanted. It was your grandfather.” Shit. “You’re Victor Morrison.”

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“Victor Morrison?” Evan asked. Where had Kyle heard that name?

Kyle glanced his way. “I did more searching today and found Joe’s obituary listing his only son.”

“Named after your grandpa?”

“I guess.”

Nate nodded. “But since I never knew my father, I didn’t want to use the name he’d given me. I go by Nate, short for the middle name my mother picked out, Nathaniel.” Evan felt the weight of the money on his lap. Kyle looked like he felt the weight of the world.

Nate continued. “My father left when I was a baby. Right before he died, he sent me a letter, told me about traveling with his friend from the war, about the bank robbers they’d met, and the money he’d hidden for them. I was just a little boy then, but he said if I ever needed anything, I should come to Ohio and talk to Victor Bennett. He said he wished he could’ve been a dad to me. Wished he could’ve loved my mother, married her, and had a life with us. Twenty years ago, before my mom died, she finally told me the truth. That my father was gay and was in love with Victor. It’s why he said he couldn’t stay with her. He tried to live a different life when he first came to San Francisco and met her, but he couldn’t do it. She said if I ever wanted to go find the money, there was a journal detailing my father’s affair with your grandfather and that maybe it had something in it about where the money was hidden. She wasn’t sure.” Nate looked again at the stack of bills on Evan’s lap. “When Hastings came to see me, he said my father had camped for months in the early ’50s outside Denver with a man named Victor Bennett. He wanted me to tell him what I knew about their time at that campsite and the men they stayed there with. When I said I didn’t know anything, he mentioned the journal your grandfather kept. Guess some of the women who used to visit the campsite saw your grandfather writing in it. I figured it wouldn’t be long before the network found the money. I spent a lot of years hating my father. Hating your grandpa. I thought they were selfish, weak men.” Kyle strode across the length of the small enclosure to the side with the angled beam, the hay crunching under his heavy steps. He stopped and stood with his back to them.

That was better than the punch Evan expected Kyle would hand out to anyone who talked shit about his grandpa.

Nate’s hysterical laugh from earlier was back. “I never thought I’d do something like this. I never wanted anything from that man.”

“Then why now?” Evan asked.

Nate reached into his back pocket for his wallet and removed the photo again. “My granddaughter. She’s dying.”

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Evan leaned forward and let the money slide from his lap to the floor made of hay. He got up and sat beside Nate. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s a rare brain cancer. She’s four years old, and this thing inside her I can’t see is killing her.” He sounded so distraught and helpless it tore at Evan’s heart. “There’s a hospital in Boston with an experimental treatment, but my daughter doesn’t have insurance or the money to pay for it. I’ve already sold our RV, our home, cashed out my retirement to cover the costs of her treatments till now. When Hastings came to talk to me, I pulled out my father’s old letter, and I knew I had to find the money.” He lifted his head and spoke louder to Kyle’s back. “Once I knew you were getting the journal, we came to California to find you, and we followed you to the train station. Penny said we should get on the train and use the opportunity to talk to you. We had to max out our credit cards for the tickets. She said we should tell you about everything and see if we could come to an agreement about the money. I couldn’t take that chance.” He looked at Evan, desperation visible on his face. He was asking for understanding. “But I didn’t hire anyone to break into his apartment or the cabin you mentioned.” Kyle had probably been right.

Shepfield might be working private security and doing dirty jobs on the side for the network.

Maybe one of those jobs had been to hire a junkie to break into Kyle’s apartment.

“But I did…” Nate hesitated. “I did break into your room on the train. I wanted it to look like a robbery, so I searched all the rooms in your car. I didn’t take anyone’s money, though. I hid it somewhere else in their bags, figuring they’d find it later.” He looked at the picture in his hand.

The smiling little girl had red curly hair. It was short and wispy. Not like it had been cut.

Like it had been lost to chemo and was just starting to grow back. “She’s very cute,” Evan said.

“She’s a sweetheart. Never complains about being sick.” Kyle hadn’t said a word. Hadn’t moved. Even in the dim light of the flashlight, the tension in his body was unmistakable. No matter what Victor had done, Kyle would always love his grandpa.

“I can’t believe the money’s real,” Nate said, almost in a whisper. “It’s really here.” Kyle finally faced them. “You should take it. All of it.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to stuff it under that floor again when you have someone who needs it.

Take the money. Go spend the holiday with your family.” That shouldn’t have surprised Evan, but it did. Like someone had sucked all the air from the hayloft, the breath caught in his chest. He loved this man so damn much.

“But what do I do with it?” Nate asked. “Even if I only spend a fraction of it, how will I explain where I got the money?”

When Kyle didn’t speak, Evan asked, “You didn’t have a plan?”

“No.” Nate laughed. “Stupid, huh? I was focused on getting this far. She needed me to do this, so I did it.” Despair worked its way over his face like someone had drawn a blanket over him, smothering his hopes. Evan could relate. Being so close to something you wanted so badly—something you needed with everything you were—and not knowing if you should go for it was torture.

Nate shook his head. “Now that I’m here I don’t know if I can do this. That money doesn’t belong to me. A man was killed for it.”

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“You can do this,” Kyle said. “For your granddaughter.” The howl of the wind outside sounded louder in the silence after Kyle’s words. The large double doors thumped against the barn, and Nate jumped with the sound. “Where do I say I got the money?” he finally asked.

“The truth,” Kyle said. “We call the police and tell them about the journal, that you’ve found the money. There’s no one to claim it. The bank’s insurance covered the stolen funds. No individuals lost their money. The insurance company took a hit, so did the bank in the long run, but both companies folded in the early ’70s. They can’t even charge anyone for a sixty-year-old bank robbery, even if there was someone to charge. Whoever finds the money will get to keep it.” He looked at Evan. “Isn’t that how it works?”

And that was exactly what the network had been counting on.

Could it be that simple?

Although, this was nothing close to simple.

Telling Nate to call the cops, to let everyone know about the journal, had to be killing Kyle. Evan stood. “All that will take forever. Besides you’ve come this far to keep your grandpa’s secrets.”

“Ev…” Kyle gave him a look Evan knew well. He wanted Evan to know the truth without having to say the words. It was the same look he’d given him on the train when they’d reached Chicago. And at his mom’s house right before Dennis walked in. “Grandpa would never want a little girl to die in order to keep those secrets.”

“I can say it was my father who hid the money,” Nate offered. “That your grandpa knew nothing about it.”

Kyle shook his head. “That wouldn’t be fair.”

“I don’t owe him anything. He’s gone, but you have a family to think about. A promise to keep.”

“It doesn’t matter now.” Kyle looked defeated.

“It does matter,” Evan said. There had to be something. Had to be a way to make this work for Nate and his granddaughter. For Victor. For Kyle. The wind outside surged again, and desperation swept over Evan, as if time was running out, like when he’d been lost in the storm.

Then the howl of the wind died down, and he landed on the perfect solution. One that would help Nate and put an end to any more hired junkies or ex-prison guards coming after them for the journal. He grinned at Kyle. “I know how we can get Nate money right away and still keep your grandpa’s secret.” He turned to Nate. “And not touch a dime of this stolen money. We just have to talk to one man.”

Kyle stared at him for a minute, his expression serious, and then he returned the grin with a slow, drawn out acceptance. “Hastings.”

“They were willing to pay you just to get a look at the journal in case it had any information. A little negotiation and I bet they’ll be willing to pay whatever Nate thinks he’ll need to know exactly where the money is.”

Kyle stepped closer. “I love the way you think. They’ll pay.” He moved to stand in front of the hay bale where Nate sat. “That’s if you don’t mind being on TV.”

“American Treasures?” Nate asked. “How would that work?” 178

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“First we put the money back under the floorboards. Then you call Hastings and tell him you know what he’s really after and that you know where the money is hidden—that you’ve seen it for yourself. Then you make a deal with him and get the payment before you tell him the rest.” Nate sat taller, more animated than he’d looked yet, even on the train. “What rest?”

“Let me think for a sec…” Kyle paced the small hay enclosure. He wore a concentrated frown like when he was stuck on a scene and had to make a decision on how to press ahead.

Then the frown dissolved. He faced Nate. “The story your mom told you. About how your father got the scar over his right eye.”

“He got that in the war.”

“Yeah, but I think your granddaughter’s life is worth one lie.” He asked Evan, “You okay with this?”

“So far. How do you get from a scar to this barn?”

“Joe got the scar when he was visiting his war buddy’s home. He decided he’d found the perfect hiding place, so he’d crept out of the house in the middle of the night, alone, to hide something, then he’d fallen and cut his head on a nail.” Kyle looked back to Nate. “Your mom wouldn’t tell you what he was hiding or why, but she did tell you where he hid it. After Hastings came to see you, you were curious, so you went to find out exactly what your father was hiding.

When you saw the money, you were too freaked to touch it, so you left it right where your father had hidden it sixty years ago.”

“Hastings will pay me before I tell him all that? Before I tell him where the money is?”

“If you tell him you’ve seen the money? Yeah, I think he will. It’ll be the biggest treasure they’ve aired yet.”

“This,” Evan said, “might actually work.”

“Yeah, it will.”

“Okay.” Nate had his gaze locked on the picture in his hand. “I’ll tell them whatever I have to if it means there’s a chance for her.”

It took them an hour to return the money to the bag, put it back, secure the floorboard, and rearrange the hay bales. They drove to the motel in Liberty Falls where Nate had left Penny earlier that evening. It was snowing again, and all three men rode in the cab of the truck in silence. Maybe Nate and Kyle were on the same shocked page as Evan. After all, they were driving away from ten million dollars in cash.

At the motel, Nate got out of the truck, and Kyle rolled down the driver’s side window.

“Have a good Christmas.”

Nate gave a nod and said, “You’ve given me the best gift this year. Hope. Thank you.” He turned and went inside.

Kyle stared at the closed door of the motel room for a moment more. “We better get back.”

“Yeah,” Evan said. Time to go to his mom’s house. Alone. He wanted to crawl into Kyle’s bed with him and sleep for three days, even if they would miss Christmas. But they also needed to talk. Maybe Kyle thought so too. He hadn’t driven away yet.

“How are you doing with all this?” Evan asked.

“I’m fine.” Kyle laughed and dropped his head to the headrest behind him. “It’s been one hell of a week.”

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“Yeah.” Evan turned in Kyle’s direction and rested his temple on his own headrest. “You didn’t once think of keeping that money for yourself.” It wasn’t a question. He knew the truth.

“I guess I didn’t.” Kyle faced him. New snow was falling, and the windshield was covered again, transforming the truck’s cab into a cocoon made for two. Like they were lying in bed, the covers over their heads as they talked. The motel’s neon vacancy sign cast a muted blue glow through the layer of snow. “How’d you know that?” Kyle asked, his brown eyes dark and serious even with the eerie shade of blue surrounding him.

“I know you.”

“Yeah. We make a good team.”

“We do.” A surge of need rushed through Evan. Nothing sexual about it this time. It was a longing for words and promises that had gone unsaid. Or had they?

Kyle studied him for a moment. “You look exhausted. How’s the ankle?”