“We did.”
“And eventually you found a way to sell your share?”
“Yes.”
“Which lifted you from financially stable to financially affluent. You added on to your house, bought cars, started taking trips.”
He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. She could see the affirmative answer on his features.
“Do you still have any of the gold?” she asked.
“No.”
“How come the Vance brothers didn’t go after you and your gold?”
“They tried. Early on, after Ed’s conviction, they attempted to hack into my computer. They followed me. They threatened me. They never could find any evidence that I was in possession of gold. Eventually, I was able to get a restraining order against them. That stopped them.”
“I wish you’d warned me.”
“I assumed Ed had gotten rid of his gold long ago.”
“You never asked what happened to his share?”
“I asked, but he’d only say it was safe. Nothing else.”
“I can’t imagine why he gave it to me.”
A pause. “Can’t you?”
Her curiosity was piqued. “Can you?”
He leaned toward her. “I believe he was giving you an opportunity to do what he felt he couldn’t do, for fear it might incriminate me.”
“Which is?”
“Make it right. As soon as you found that gold, did you plan to give it up?”
“Yes.”
“Your dad knew you well enough to know how you’d react. He trusted you to do the honorable thing.”
Emotion knotted in her throat, because yes. That made perfect sense to her. Her father trusted her to do the honorable thing.
“Are you going to tell the police everything?” he asked. “June doesn’t know about this. My kids and grandkids.. . They don’t know.”
“I’m not going to volunteer information about your involvement. But if and when they ask me how Dad came into possession of the gold, I’ll answer their questions truthfully. Lies have done more than enough damage.” She pulled in a painful breath. “When the police catch up with the Vance brothers like Luke thinks they will, the Vance brothers will have to answer for their actions. You may have to answer for your actions, too.” Her words rang withcompassion and determination both. “My dad’s no longer here to protect you, Robbie.”
Immediately after Finley woke from her coma, Luke had promised her that she’d be okay. It was proving harder to convince himself of that.
Days passed. Two, then three, then four of them. Finley’s progress was so impressive that they transferred her from the hospital to a rehab facility. Yet he still felt foolishly protective of her. On edge.
Every night since the one when they’d had their middle-of-the-night conversation, she’d insisted he return to his apartment to get quality sleep. What she didn’t know was that quality sleep was no longer an option. Nightmares infested his dreams. In them, Ken dragged Finley closer and closer to the cliff. Luke fought to reach her in time, but he never did. Each time he failed, he watched her fall.
At most, he got five hours of sleep a night. Which left him with a lot of time, alone and awake. He no longer watched TV or read news on his computer. He spent every free hour chasing down information on the Vance brothers, their families, their friends. Or writing about what he’d experienced before, during, and after the earthquake in El Salvador. Or praying.
Near seven o’clock on a Wednesday morning, six days after Finley regained consciousness, Luke received an email from CeCe.
It included a long list of all the people connected to the Vance brothers and every detail about them she’d unearthed. She’d even attached a photo of a drawing she’d created that showed the Vance family tree.
