“It’s pretty hard to divorce someone when you can’t find them,” Gina said. “I didn’t want to be associated with you anymore, so I changed my name legally. How did you know I was in Shell Cove?”
“I did some digging. Contacted someone who we used to know and would help me. They mentioned something about a seaside motel, and I remembered your grandmother had owned this one.”
Gina stared at him. She didn’t even want to know who it was that had mentioned Shell Cove. Clearly, Hugh had some resources if he’d done some “digging” that resulted in Ellie finding out someone was looking for her. But what exactly did he want with her? Hopefully, he wasn’t entertaining thoughts of them getting back together.
“What do you want?”
Hugh took a deep breath. “I need your help. You’re the only one who can save me.”
“My help? Why would I help you after what you did to me?”
He tried the puppy dog look. She was immune to that now. She didn’t want to help him either. She wanted him to go to jail, but not before she got her share of the money.
“For old times’ sake?” Hugh ventured.
Gina shook her head. “Not for old times’ sake. For my half of our life savings. You owe me that at least.”
Hugh shuffled his feet as if he was going to argue. “Well, I don’t know.”
“Okay, fine. No help. I’ll just call the police, then.” Gina grabbed her phone.
“No, no!” Hugh held his hand up. “Half the money. I suppose that’s only fair. But only if you have what I need.”
Was he referring to the document she’d taken?
“What’s that?” She asked, just in case he was referring to something else. She didn’t want to tip her hand.
“I think you might have a document. It was in the safe in my home office. I never got a chance to go back in for it because Holly and I had to leave so abruptly.” Hugh looked at her hopefully. “You did know about the safe, right?”
“Yeah, I knew about the safe. And figured out your combination.”
“So you have the document?” Hugh’s relief was evident in the tone of his voice and set of his shoulders. He must really have been in trouble.
“Yes, I have it. What is it?”
Hugh let out a sigh and collapsed into the overstuffed chair. “It’s the thing that can keep me from getting killed. Mark Richards doesn’t take lightly to being crossed, and he tends to settle his issues with baseball bats and guns. Holly was so stupid to take that money. And honestly, Gina, I thought we would leave you with the thriving business, so I felt like taking our savings was a fair trade. That document has some dirt on Mark Richards that I can use to get him to back off, and it might even keep me from having too long of a jail sentence.”
Gina didn’t really have any options. She had to believe Hugh. It didn’t really matter as long as she got her money. Then she could be rid of him, and who cared what happened to him after that? She wasn’t the meek little lamb that he’d married, though. She was going to make sure she got her money first.
“Can you get the money into my bank account?”
Hugh nodded. “If I can get on the internet, I can transfer it.” He glanced around the room. “So where’s the document?”
“Not so fast. Money transfer first.”
Hugh’s eyes narrowed. “At least let me see it. Then I’ll transfer.” She thought she saw a new respect for her in his eyes.
“I wasn’t stupid enough to keep it here at the motel. It’s in my safety deposit box at the bank.”
“Great! You go get it first thing tomorrow, and when you come back, I’ll wire the money into your account.”
“Well, that might be a little bit of a problem. The bank is closed until Tuesday for the town celebration.”
“Tuesday? But that’s two days away.” Hugh settled back in his chair. “I guess I’ll have to hide out there until then.”
Gina did not relish the idea of having Hugh underfoot until then, but what else could she do? She couldn’t let him live outside. Ironically, she needed to make sure he stayed safe until she got her money.
Hugh was looking around the room as if sizing it up for his stay. She’d fixed it up with furniture she’d found in storage, but it was still sort of small, especially for the two of them. And there was only one bed.
